Just returned from a great trip to Orlando. I went to dinner with a friend who works with Disney and we where talking about upcomming attractions at WDW. Avatarland! He was saying the project itself will be scaled back to 1 E-ticket, costing around 150mill in camp Minne Mickey area. With the scale back to the avatarconcept he said Epcot, DHS will get 100million plus E-tickets and WoC type show to DAK. All of this could open 2016.
He also claimed the long term goal is to make Camp Minne, Mickey area a "mythical kingdom"
It kind of makes sence with the huge avatar 500mill$ announcement yet no concepts have been issued
Figment and others have you heard of any of this. He was dead on with mission space, EE, FLE and has been wrong Tron so far Monsters Inc coaster. he did say Iger and TDO are fully commited on spending over half a billion on attractions not including FLE.
There is no way to be sure at this point...but for "cast member friend" type rumors...all of what you said see entirely within the realm of possibilities.
Studios still needs consistent, core investment...and will for quite awhile at their snails pace...
the Avatar announcement always seemed more like a "ride" than a land. Disney was using the announcement to try to make "their own" heavily themed concept like the harry potter addition at universal. I, personally, don't believe they ever intended on expanding past a ride...but were using it to deflect PR/...which is often the goal.
As far as the "mythical kingdom"...that may eventually be what goes in. As it was the original plan and has been pined for by both employees and the core fan base alike since the day it was scrapped by evil mikey eisner to rush the park opening and cut the budget. that of course was to "beat" the opening of IOA - two parks that are apples and oranges and aren't really comparable on any level.
But that sounds like wishful thinking - expanded parks require more staffing and operating costs...which - as we've seen - have been avoided like the plague for quite sometime.
We shall see.
On another related note: i read an article in the wall street journal (which i rarely do - because that paper spews all of whats wrong with the country and what is harmful to disney park fans) yesterday commenting on the expected rising returns on TWDC stocks because they a "exiting a period of heavy capital reinvestment" over the last few years.
Summary: they've spent SOOOO much money in their parks - now we investors can make the money off them we deserved as they begin to shake the money tree...
Unfortunately, WDW - in proportion - will not look a whole lot different after these fantastic expenditures...and if you think about it: the wrecking of pleasure island is almost off-setting the fantasyland expansion.
Which means that the only real huge bump of the last 10+ years are villas, toy story mania (which in reality is a kinda simple theme park ride with lots of money dumped on top), and apparently the failed Expedition Everest.
That's not to discount the money/improvements to fantasyland - which seem to be pretty good effort...but is it enough to keep wdw elite longterm? or better yet...anywhere close to the huge prices that they will slap on it going forward?
your opinion on that...i know what mine is.
But the end result is that i actually look for a significant "dead time" in capital investments to be in order.
And...big and...the impending retirement of Iger is a HUGE deal when it comes to park investments.
whoever they replace him with will probably try to "stamp" the operation - as all egotistical overpaid cutthroats do...
if its somebody young and imaginative like - ironically -the 1984 michael eisner...then the paying customer could benefit.
If its Tom Skaggs...a glorified accountant...my premise is only beginning.
more to come
