Is Disney World adding any new theme parks?

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Feb Sun 03, 2008 1:55 am

But eventually they have to just stop building gates. I guess 5 gates would be a good number but it would just get ridculous eventually having more than 5 gates....I would say maybe to wait another 5 years before even THINKING about building one....and remember MGM and DAK both came in the Eisner Era which was all about build build build

cap396 · Post by **cap396** » Feb Mon 04, 2008 6:32 am

WDW's main competition is Universal.

This is true. I live in North Carolina and know people who go to Orlando just to go to Universal and never go to Disney.

Shame on them.

Post by **acp** » Feb Mon 04, 2008 6:52 am

cap396 wrote:
WDW's main competition is Universal.

This is true. I live in North Carolina and know people who go to Orlando just to go to Universal and never go to Disney.

You know some strange people.

cap396 · Post by **cap396** » Feb Mon 04, 2008 7:05 am

You know some strange people.

Yes, indeed. I teach high school and the ones I know who prefer Universal are teenagers. Go figure.

lebeau · Post by **lebeau** » Feb Mon 04, 2008 5:20 pm

There's going to be speculation about a fifth gate until they actually build a fifth gate.

And that's probably going to be a very long time from now.

Right now, Disney needs to concentrate on sprucing up the parks they already have. A fifth gate would be a mistake right now. And Disney knows it.

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Feb Mon 04, 2008 5:47 pm

Giving this more thought, with the way the company is headed I wouldn't be surprised if a fifth gate opened similar to a Disney version of Discovery Cove. I don't know exactly what yet, (and maybe that's Disney's problem too) but I'm sure as soon as they figure out how to make a very limited capacity type of attraction, they'll build it.

Remember all those rumors about Discovery Island? (I don't think that will ever happen) but something along those lines where a certain amount of guests pay big bucks to go to an area for the day.

DIAC1987 · Post by **DIAC1987** » Feb Mon 04, 2008 7:33 pm

The next major theme park should be in Orlando, since its one of the fastest-growing cities that happens to reside in one of the fastest-growing states in the country. Add the fact that its within a 4-hour drive radius of 4 of among the most popular universities in the United States and you have yourself a reason to focus a major theme park project in the Orlando area.

However, the next theme park should contain more thrill rides. The age of exploration and curiosity is being replaced by the desire to be scared and be blown away by rides. Parks like Epcot and Animal Kingdom have had to resort to thrill rides to increase its popularity (Test Track isn't exactly thrilling, but you can't deny the fact that it revived a park with a weak reputation). Nobody wants to learn anymore

I personally have an idea and even built a powerpoint presentation...however, Disney hasn't given me the chance to present it to them

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Feb Tue 05, 2008 1:58 am

lebeau wrote:A fifth gate would be a mistake right now. And Disney knows it.

That didn't stop them from making Busch--er, Animal Kingdom before making the Studios into a real park.

Discomick · Post by **Discomick** » Feb Tue 05, 2008 6:31 am

The essence of Disney is that it is never complete...keep going please!!!

DisBeamer · Post by **DisBeamer** » Feb Tue 05, 2008 2:55 pm

Cheshire Cat wrote:Remember all those rumors about Discovery Island? (I don't think that will ever happen) but something along those lines where a certain amount of guests pay big bucks to go to an area for the day.

The last rumor I heard about the little island was the 'small honeymoon cottages'. I always thought that was an interesting idea, though I'm not sure how they'd handle the lack of transportation options to the island. It's like speculating they're going to rent out the room in the castle after YoMD is over. How much can they charge you for a room they have to lock you in at night? Something Discovery Cove-ish would be a much more workable idea, I think. S'easier to control people coming and going when they're not staying on the island.

To be honest, though, when we went by on the boat in December, it looked pretty scary over there. More like Jurassic Park, post power failure, than a honeymoon retreat.

lebeau · Post by **lebeau** » Feb Tue 05, 2008 4:53 pm

Captain Schnemo wrote:
lebeau wrote:A fifth gate would be a mistake right now. And Disney knows it.
That didn't stop them from making Busch--er, Animal Kingdom before making the Studios into a real park.

True. But I get the impression (through my non-existant insider sources) that Disney has learned their lesson a little with regards to adding another gate.

I've read in several places that there is a shortage of employees in Orlando. All the themeparks supposedly struggle with staffing. And, obviously Disney has its hands full with maintaining their current parks. A fifth would be a disaster in that department.

Maybe they've gotten wiser. Maybe they just don't think a fifth gate would cause people to extend their visits the way a 4th gate did.

Whatever the case, I'll be surprised if a 5th gate gets built any time soon.

stinoi · Post by **stinoi** » Feb Tue 05, 2008 8:52 pm

I can imagine that they're hurting for staffing. There's competition for workers among WDW, Universal, SeaWorld, etc.

Maybe it's that competition that is causing me to find more and more less-than-stellar cast members. I was very disheartened on my last two trips to encounter several different cast members who treated me as though they wished I would disappear.

yodiwan1 · Post by **yodiwan1** » Feb Tue 05, 2008 10:57 pm

with th college and international programs there is no way they struggle for staff...

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Feb Wed 06, 2008 8:26 am

DisBeamer wrote:The last rumor I heard about the little island was the 'small honeymoon cottages'. I always thought that was an interesting idea, though I'm not sure how they'd handle the lack of transportation options to the island.

I heard what did in the treehouses was that there was no handicapped access to the second floor. I can only imagine the insane lawyer action if it took a long time to get someone off the island in an emergency.

It's like speculating they're going to rent out the room in the castle after YoMD is over. How much can they charge you for a room they have to lock you in at night?

Do they really have to lock you in? I suppose they won't let you wander the premises, but you'd think there would be enough maintenance and security people hanging around that...hmm. Yeah, I guess you're right.

That's kinda creepy.

Something Discovery Cove-ish would be a much more workable idea, I think.

Discovery Cove is a really nice experience...that's not a bad idea, although it would another example of Disney following a competitor's lead.

To be honest, though, when we went by on the boat in December, it looked pretty scary over there [on Discovery Island].

It's awfully depressing. And completely overrun with turkey vultures (which have caused Disney a fair amount of trouble before). Interesting to see the shipwreck getting reclaimed by the Earth.

yodiwan1 wrote:with th college and international programs there is no way they struggle for staff...

I don't think it's a matter of the initial hiring, but of keeping the turnover rate from being completely unreasonable.

DisBeamer · Post by **DisBeamer** » Feb Thu 07, 2008 3:06 am

Captain Schnemo wrote:I heard what did in the treehouses was that there was no handicapped access to the second floor. I can only imagine the insane lawyer action if it took a long time to get someone off the island in an emergency.

Yeah I remember hearing it was because there was no way to bring them in line with the building code (well, not without installing elevators in all of them or something, I guess). I personally wouldn't want to stay on a tiny island and always have to wait for a boat; unless they had 4 cottages and 1 boat per cottage or something. It seems like the idea would become too costly/cumbersome to work well.

Do they really have to lock you in? I suppose they won't let you wander the premises, but you'd think there would be enough maintenance and security people hanging around that...hmm. Yeah, I guess you're right.

That's kinda creepy.

Well I admit it's speculation on my part, but short of having a 24-hour concierge who'd be waiting around to escort you to the gate, then around to escort you back from the gate to the room, I don't see how they'd do it without sealing the drawbridge (so to speak). Although I suppose if they did have such a concierge, they could charge through the nose for the room. Time will tell, I guess.

It's awfully depressing. And completely overrun with turkey vultures (which have caused Disney a fair amount of trouble before). Interesting to see the shipwreck getting reclaimed by the Earth.

Life after Disney - maybe next year on the Discovery Channel?

Back on the original topic, I heard rumblings 'round the net about this 5th park business in a few places. There was a Motley Fool article that was speculative (written from the perspective of 2010), saying that Disney'd announced a 5th gate that I suspect may have sparked it all, I dunno. One of the podcasts I was listening to, however, pointed out that WDW would probably have to do -something- to combat Harry Potter coming to Universal. If something was going to inspire them to build a new park in the near future, I have to admit I think that might be a plausible cause.