Making Memories vs. Paying the Bills - What the Future Holds for Disney Parks

Disney's business has been making money off of nostalgia and "remembering the magic" tugging on tear ducts as we remember our first time visiting the vacation kingdom(s). That feeling when you experience Peter Pan's Flight for the first time or hear the trumpeting fanfare of the Main Street Electrical Light Parade with anxiety and curiosities through your child's eyes even though you have seen it dozens of times. 

We all have our favorites but at what point is it time to say goodbye? Surely no one is thinking that Disney is expected to keep all shows and attractions operating as they were on October 1, 1971? Right? Can you imagine how boring that would be? 

There definitely is some discord with fans and guests with some of the recent announcements and rumors going around regarding the future of Disney theme parks. Let's take a look at some of these projects and see how people feel about them.

Current Attraction: THE TWILIGHT ZONE TOWER of TERROR 
Location: DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE   
Will Become: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY -  MISSION: BREAKOUT!
GUEST REACTION: HOT and WARM but cooling
 

Copyright Disney

 

When the rumor/news originally broke on WDWMagic.com by WDW1974, about this refurbishment for the Tower in Florida, people were outraged. Disney denied it and the attention quickly shifted focus to California (and eventually Paris) to concert their Tower attraction into Guardians of the Galaxy. When it was realized that the entire area around the Tower of Terror will be re-themed around Marvel then it makes sense. The California and Paris versions of Tower of Terror pale in comparison to the Florida and Tokyo versions so this actually may be a welcomed change. People are still upset but tempers are cooling as this refurb plays part of a much bigger project including a RnR-coaster/Cap America refurb plus more.

Current Attraction: THE TWILIGHT ZONE TOWER of TERROR 
Location: DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS   
Will Become: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY -  MISSION: BREAKOUT!
GUEST REACTION: NUCLEAR

Since Universal has the lock on 99.9% of all Marvel properties in the East Coast this does not make sense for Disney to pursue since "GotG" would stick out like a sore thumb at the end of Sunset Blvd.. Unlike DCA, this would not become a Marvel themed area and if it did would be pretty minimal. You may have heard this idea is dead...it is not.

Current Attraction: Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
Location: Epcot   
Will Become: Disney - PIXAR Attraction Based on "Coco"
GUEST REACTION: UNKNOWN

  
It appears Donald & Co. will be waiting for their eviction notice in the form of box office totals once "Coco" is released in theaters Fall 2017. No details other than what you can currently dig and find from "Marni1971" and friends on WDWMagic.com. 


Current Attraction: The Great Movie Ride
Location: Disney Hollywood Studios   
Will Become: The Great Mickey Ride
GUEST REACTION: Split - Happy & Confused

 

 "If you are not going to update it, then put it out of it's misery" seems to be the sentiment of many online. Sure "The Great Movie Ride" will be missed but guests will be wowed with a new ride system (rumored to be borrowed/based off of the new Star Wars ride next door) based on the main mouse himself. This rumor has been bouncing around for years and seems to be finally materializing faster than the Wicked Witch of the East in Munchkin-land...or at least for now anyway. There is excitement in that they are FINALLY building a ride around Mickey Mouse but at the cost of a Disney classic. We will see what happens but I feel people will be ok with this one once they see what they come up with.

 

Current Attraction: The Universe of Energy
Location: Epcot   
Will Become: Guardians of the Galaxy
GUEST REACTION: Confused & Mad 

If the Tower of Terror (DHS) to Guardians of the Galaxy overhaul is nixed...this is "Plan B." How does this make any kind of sense for Future World much less Epcot? Anyone? Anyone? Please, if you have a sound reason or theory of how this fits we will be more than happy to publish your theory of how this supports the vision of Epcot.

So....what are your thoughts? Good? Bad? What are they thinking?  

Drop us an email at DisneyCastBlast@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

STAR WARS LAND: What Could the Force Bring?

At this point the disturbance in the force has calmed down quite a bit from the long awaited Star Wars announcement at this year's D23 convention. Wow...what an announcement it was. Time for the rumors and speculation to begin. 

Before we dive into what could be coming I want to state that this is all opinion. None of this...NONE OF THIS...has been leaked or announced. It is all opinion and not necessarily opinion of what we think WILL happen but what COULD happen. We know a lot of our readers, like ourselves, can be passionate and want to initiate dialogue and have fun. Pour yourself a plastic cup of blue milk and let's get started.

 The announcement at D23 mentioned that the overall expansion will include 14 acres and only two new attractions were mentioned. This is great! or is it? Here are a few scenarios when a good thing isn't as good as it seems.

The 14 acres 
14 acres is a pretty big space especially for Disney-MGM Studios/Disney's Hollywood Studios/Disney's Hollywood Adventure (or whatever it will be?) but what has to be questioned is how much will be expansion vs. re-purposed? 

Expansion versus re-purposed? What does it matter? We still get new stuff right? Yes and no. We could be talking about the difference between new structures housing new rides, shows and attractions or existing areas with nothing more than painted concrete. The area around Echo Lake (in front of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular) could easily be re-themed and painted as a transition area leading into the new Star Wars area. No...nothing of real substance but could and would easily be included in the 14 acres. 

A rumor going around the internet is that American Idol or the old Sounds Dangerous stages will be re-purposed as a Jedi Training Academy. (*Interesting side note that some rumors suggest that an advanced audio-animatronic Yoda figure will be incorporated into the new show.) That building is pretty big and easily contributes to the overall 14 acres.

Even with the general transition area (Echo Lake), American Idol and Sounds Dangerous areas you probably still have 12 acres or more to play with.

To be fair the announcement did not mention how much of the 14 acres was guest area and how much was backstage. To prove my point when Disney's Animal Kingdom opened it was herald as "the largest Disney theme park ever built." What guests did not realize was that even though it was the largest park most areas were designated as backstage animal areas and the park opened with the smallest guest area of any Disney park at that time.

Two "NEW" Attractions

The Indiana Jones First Order / Rebellion Adventure

For years fans have wanted a version of the Indiana Jones Adventure from Disneyland to be built in Florida (even though you have Dinosaur...but I guess it is not good enough?). Well, your wish is about to come true...sort of.

It is really easy to use an existing ride system ( a good one at that) as the backbone of an epic battle between the Empire (First Order) and the Rebellion. Imagine being loaded onto Rebellion emergency evacuation vehicles escaping peril until something goes terribly wrong putting you in the middle of peril. 

Of course this would probably be Indy 2.0 but this is our take and wish on what we would like this attraction to materialize into being. FYI the Indiana Jones Adventure in California is right under 1.5 acres.They can even use the same exact ride layout as Indy. It's not like they haven't done it before...right?
 

Millennium Falcon Tours

"Take the controls of the Millennium Falcon" can mean so many things. That could mean almost anything. When you whiz around the track at the Indy Speedway in Tomorrowland you are technically "taking the controls" of the car but then again you also "take the controls" in Mission: SPACE at Epcot. The point is even if you "take the controls" you really...don't. Our guess is you will "take the controls" in the new Millennium Falcon attraction just as much as you do in Star Tours which brings us to an interesting point... (hold on to that Millennium Falcon attraction thought for just a moment)

Say Goodbye to Star Tours 
Disney Cast Blast what are you talking about? Did you not see the announcement? They announced new destinations for Star Tours! It's not going anywhere...or is it? Our theory is that Star Tours is not long for our galaxy and here is why.The new destination(s) announced is merely something to whet the appetite until the first "new" attraction is open. (see Indiana Jones First Order/Rebellion Adventure - IJFORA). Once the IJFORA opens Star Tours will go dark and retrofitted to reopen as the "new" Millennium Falcon attraction. Quite easy to retrofit the cabins to look like the Falcon cockpit allowing you to "take control"...blah, blah, blah...

Something else to support this theory requires us to take a look at Disneyland. We know Disneyland is getting an almost identical version of the announced Star Wars Land. What we know is that it is NOT going into Tomorrowland. What is currently located in Tomorrowland? Star Tours. It does not make sense to have a Star Wars attraction separate from a sparkling brand new multi-billion dollar addition to the park. They will shut it down, convert the simulators into Millennium Falcon simulators and re-install them into the new land in their new location in the park. This will create a huge empty spot in Tomorrowland but that is not for us to discuss what they will do with that spot right now in this post.

There is our take on what was announced. We know there are some things cooking that were not announced. Don't get us wrong. We are excited about the announcement and cannot wait to see what is in store. Hopefully we are wrong about a few things and in a way we wouldn't mind seeing some of the things above actually happen.

Even though what we mentioned is a conservative look of what could happen we could be totally wrong and they could add four attractions on a plot that is a true 14 acre expansion. Most of the fun of announcements is the speculation and excitement of what is coming. The problem is we will probably not see any of this come to fruition any sooner than 2021.

 What are your thoughts? Drop us an email at DisneyCastBlast@gmail.com.

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