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WDW Hollywood Studios: General Discussion

Don't they still need most of that area for Fantasmic? You can NOT get rid of that show.
 
Natalie said:
Don't they still need most of that area for Fantasmic? You can NOT get rid of that show.
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Fantasmic is further back behind the ToT. The land in question is along the left and right sides of the path that leads from Sunset Boulevard to Fantasmic.
 
Alastair said:
Natalie said:
Don't they still need most of that area for Fantasmic? You can NOT get rid of that show.
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Fantasmic is further back behind the ToT. The land in question is along the left and right sides of the path that leads from Sunset Boulevard to Fantasmic.
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But surely they would need to use the area that houses Fantasmic to build a decent sized cars land?
 
Natalie said:
Alastair said:
Natalie said:
Don't they still need most of that area for Fantasmic? You can NOT get rid of that show.
Click to expand...

Fantasmic is further back behind the ToT. The land in question is along the left and right sides of the path that leads from Sunset Boulevard to Fantasmic.
Click to expand...

But surely they would need to use the area that houses Fantasmic to build a decent sized cars land?
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It looks as though it would be preferable to use the Fantasmic area, but I doubt they would ever remove it seeing as it's so popular (probably their most popular show) and it has its own custom built theatre. The current area that would be cleared if Beauty and the Beast went is decently sized for a large new attraction, perhaps not a whole area though.
 
Big update from Screamscape...

Screamscape said:
2018 - Cars Land - Rumor - (5/20/13) The date seems so very far away... but according to a new rumor sent in, 2018 may be the date that a Walt Disney World version of Cars Land could open, with an expected construction timetable of about 24 months expected. Ever since Cars Land was announced for Disney’s California Adventure, people have talked about the possibility of bringing it to the Studios at WDW, and from the sound of things, Disney was listening enough to see if it would actually work as a replacement for the aged remains of the Backlot Studio Tour site.
BUT... and you knew there was going to be one of these... from what I’m hearing, if Cars Land is approved for Walt Disney World, this will not be a carbon copy of the one built in California. You’ll still get to wander the streets of Radiator Springs, eat in Flo’s V-8 Cafe and even try out Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree... BUT...
There will be no Radiator Springs Racers.
I’ll let that concept sink in for a second. The iconic ride that all of Cars Land was built around will not be cloned in Florida and as disappointing as this seems on the surface, this could be a very good thing as the concept has two strikes against it from the start.
After all... Walt Disney World has already had the same Radiator Springs Racers ride system running since the late ‘90s as Test Track at Epcot. (Strike 1!)
Disney has also just finished pumping several million into that same Test Track attraction at Epcot to reinvent it as an all new version of Test Track less than a year ago. (Strike 2!)
So as much as most Walt Disney World fans want to experience the Radiator Springs Racers, there is too much of a fear that the end result will simply me a “Meh!” from guests as they cross the finish line, as Test Track is not only the same ride system... but one that also goes much faster through it’s high speed finale.
So what to do? Well, if the rumored project gets the green light and gets built, apparently we can expect to see an all new Cars themed dark ride experience built just for Walt Disney World instead. Given the location, I do have to wonder if they might try to include some of the old Catastrophe Canyon set as part of this new attraction as well. Oh, and you may have noticed that I left Luigi’s Flying Tires off the list as well. As many can attest, the attraction has not lived up to expectations and we should also expect to see another flat ride or two themed to the Cars universe built instead. One possibility is said to be a ride based on the WDI pattent for a “Twister Ride System” discovered earlier this month. (Click here) A version of this conceptin Cars Land, but themed to the new “Planes” film characters (Coming in August 2013) may fit the bill nicely.
A lot can happen between now and 2018... but there are enough rumors going around now claiming that the Studios may have been targeted for a major 5-year overhaul masterplan, much like California Adventure was, and this does fit within the timeframe as a nice finale for the project... much like it was for DCA. Stay tuned...
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Sounds great, but have 2 concerns:

1) It's freakin WDW, space should not be an issue. I know Hollywood Studios is a bit penned in but can't believe that there isn't a way that they could invest in a new area and keep the iconic and still awesome backlot tour?

2) 2018?!? Srsly?!

WDW have been on the back foot for years, whereas Universal are investing relentlessly season after season. I can't help but think that Disney have been slow off the mark again with this.
 
Screamscape said:
2018 - Cars Land - Rumor - (5/22/13) I’ve got some semi-good news this week for everyone who was disappointed in the concept of a Walt Disney World version of Cars Land without the Radiator Springs Racers. In typical Disney fashion, they come up with more than one plan for any given project… and while there are proposed versions of Cars Land without the iconic ride… there are also versions being pitched that will include a Radiator Springs Racers ride… though with a slightly different layout.
If the Dark Ride version is approved, I’m told that the basic plan for the attraction would be to recreate most of the dark ride segments of the existing Radiator Springs Racers ride anyway... but feature some kind of new indoor finale.
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After TOT, the Backlot Tour is easily the best attraction at the Disney Studios park. It's basically what makes the studios park....the studios park.

So to tear it out and replace it with a unimpressive sounding ride based on a kids cartoon is a tad disheartening.

I suppose with limited space though something has to give. And it does take up rather a lot of room.
 
Found this article on IGN before:

IGN said:
It’s been less than a year since Lucasfilm was bought, but it looks like their new owners at Disney may have big plans for the franchise at their theme parks.

A new report at Theme Park Insider, citing multiple sources, says that an entire Star Wars Land will be added to Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL. Don’t get in line just yet – Theme Park Insider says Star Wars Land is projected to be a five-year project, meaning it wouldn’t open until 2018, though there is a possibility of that being accelerated by a year.

Disney of course plans to open a new Star Wars movie every year beginning in 2015 with Episode VII, so regardless of whether it opened in 2017 or 2018, there would be a new Star Wars film to piggyback promotion onto. The Hollywood Studios park is where Star Tours already resides in Walt Disney World, so essentially, Star Wars Land would be expanding onto that. For those familiar with the park’s layout, Theme Park Insider says Disney is currently considering having Star Wars Land either replace the Muppet*Vision 3D theater and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids or, going the other direction, it could be placed where the Backlot Express restaurant and Indiana Jones stunt show currently sit.

Cars Land meanwhile will probably replace the Lights, Motors, Action auto stunt show and Catastrophe Canyon, extending off of the Pixar Place area that is already part of the park.

Cars Land has been a massive success for California Adventure in Anaheim, CA, giving a much-needed boost to what had been a struggling park for Disney – the lines are still formidable in Cars Land, a year after it opened. With Hollywood Studios similarly suffering from a lack of identity, the one-two punch of Cars Land and Star Wars Land would be pretty massive to say the least.

As Theme Park Insider notes, the competing Universal Orlando has had a lot of impressive growth Disney would love to combat, beginning with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opening a couple of years back and plans for the near future that include the addition of Transformers: The Ride, a Simpsons-themed area opening soon and a major expansion to Harry Potter next year. Walt Disney World does have the strong addition of New Fantasyland to boast at the Magic Kingdom, but Cars Land and Star Wars Land would be even bigger, in terms of attention-getting, franchise appeal, and change the perception of the Hollywood Studios in a major way.

Of course, with word of such a major investment of Star Wars at a Disney theme park comes the question… what about Marvel? Disney’s owned Marvel a lot longer, but there hasn’t been any major US theme park presence at the Disney parks as yet. Keep in mind that Disney can’t do anything with Marvel in Orlando or anywhere on the east coast, thanks to pre-existing deals with Universal. But as for the original Disneyland, in California, there was the first step of adding the Iron Man armor display this summer and there continue to be rumors about bigger plans, even while an entire Marvel area is planned for Disneyland Hong Kong.

This seems as good a place as any to throw in a funny personal anecdote. Last week, I was being helped at the Apple Store Genius Bar by a guy who turned out to be a fellow Disney park aficionado. He told me he’d heard they were going to tear down the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride at Disneyland and replace it with an Iron Man ride. I’m not finding any info online about such a thing in the works, rumor or otherwise, so there's nothing to back up what he said. But if it ends up being true, then damn, the Genius Bar guy knew what he was talking about!
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Screamscape have posted more details about the Star Wars plans:

2015/2016 - Star Wars Land - Rumor - (6/17/13) Continuing our story about the big makeover planned for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Star Wars Land is rumored to have been given a final green light along with other park renovations as part of a 5 year land to upgrade the entire park experience. Previously I had mentioned that the Star Wars Land was looking to expand into the back area of the park as well as take over the Backlot Express restaurant site that sits between Star Tours and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. The latest rumors now indicate that there is a possibility of Star Wars Land also expanding in the other direction to take over the site currently occupied by the Pizza Planet and MuppetVision 4D theater. Between the Cars Land project and Star Wars Land, we’re talking about a possible complete rebuild of everything in the park between the Star Toursbuilding all the way down to Catastrophe Canyon. I don’t know if New York Street would be saved or not, as there is also a push to do something different with the old and tired Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playland area as well, which is sitting right at the doorstep to the entrance/exit of the Backlot Tour.
According to our insiders, Star Wars Land may very well be announced at the D23 Expo held in California in August and could have the first phase ready to open by either mid 2015 or early 2016, which matches up quite well with the 2015 release date Disney has given for the new Star Wars: Episode 7.
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And the Cars Land plans:
2018 - Cars Land - Rumor - (6/17/13) The rest of the world’s media just exploded with a big breaking story over the past weekend about a possible major California Adventure style overhaul of the Hollywood Studios park that would see Cars Land and a mini Star Wars Land added over the next 5 years. Of course, this should come to as no surprise to loyal Screamscape readers as we’ve been telling you about both of these pending project rumors in detail for the past 3 months. So what changed this week?
According to many of the new articles, they say that the project has been given the Green Light, though as I mentioned previously, this seemed to clearly be the case as soon the President of the Disneyland Resort, George Kalogridis, who oversaw the 5 year overhaul of the California Adventure park was suddenly transferred/promoted to now oversee all of Walt Disney World. That’s when the all the big rumors for the Hollywood Studios theme park really began to gain traction.
According to many of the latest rumors, as predicted, the remainder segment of the Backlot Tour will be closed down to make room for Cars Land. This will include the Catastrophe Canyon attraction and according to some of the latest rumors, may actually see the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show closed down entirely s well. Previous rumors suggested that a new Cars 2 themed auto spy themed stunt show could be placed into the existing venue. Now apparently a member of the LMA crew let it leak that about one year from now they will be performing their final shows before the venue is shut down.
As of right now the chatter about it including a new version of the iconic Radiator Springs Racers attraction is also most likely. As mentioned before, don’t look for Cars Land to be complete until about 2018 however.
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These developments do sound very exciting. If they both go ahead then they could really transform the park quite drastically. When I was there I did feel that the park probably lacked in real stand out attractions. Disney need to do something to combat Universal and it looks like this is it.

:)
 
I hope they don't remove The Muppets 3D, it's a great film with a retro feel. Surely they can expand rather than reolace?
 
There is some rumours going around at the moment of a new expansion planned for Hollywood Studios. Its expected that the backlot tour will close forever in Early October along with a few of the shops and the counter service food outlet in this area, This opens up a massive area of land which is expected to see Pixar Place massively expanded. The studio 1 building next to Toy Story Mania currently features the frozen playland and shop that was set up for Summer, this is moving out of the building at the end of Sept and Disney planning on adding a third track to Toy Story mania increasing capacity by 50% (something thats needed). They then plan on adding a Toystory playland much like the Paris and Hong Kong version, while only basic family flats this is something needed in the Studios as will add much needed family/kids rides. Its also expected the land could also feature some kind of Monster inc or/and cars attraction.

Its also expected Disney will announce the addition of Stars wars land next year for the front of the park, the future certainly looks good and the large expansion/renovation of the park is much needed. Also Disney are apparantly building an extra 2 theatres for Sourin (doubling the capacity) and should be ready for the new film Sourin over the Horizon when it opens in 2016.
 
Yesterday I visited Hollywood studios and Toy Story Mania was taking part in a trial where there was no standby line available and was only available
For fast pass+ all day. (They ran the trial tues-thurs) they have done similar trials to this last month on sourin and the frozen meet and great. This meant they released alot more ffast pass + tickets on the day and seemed like they were still available at about 3pm. Seemed to work well as meant everyone walked straight onto the ride. However there are some downsides anyone arriving later in the day runs the risk of all passes being issued (yesterday's crowds were only average) and no chance of riding. Plus all the guests who would normally be standing in the hour+ Line are Lilkely to be standing in other queues in the park. For us we already had our fast pass+ booked for the ride anyway.

Disney are doing this as they are working very hard to reduce queue times, as for guests it increases satisfaction but more importantly for Disney people standing in lines are not spending money, the shorter the lines the more time guests spend in stores or buying food/drink. At this stage this just a very early trial and they run things like this all the time with many never seeing light of day again. There was prob 25-30 staff around the ride all day, gagging feedback, helping guests and booking guests fast pass+ tickets.
 
Pointless trial is pointless.

Interested to read that rumours point to these trials possibly being very early thoughts about the Frozen attraction in Epcot. All trials so far have been on rides or meet and greets that have reached 3 hour queues in summer months (Anna & Elsa, Soarin, Toy Story) and have involved closing the standby queue to make everyone get a return time to ride.

Based on Maelstrom having a pitiful capacity (for a headline ride - which it will now be) the rumours are suggesting that Frozen could be the first WDW ride to be built with no standby line at all - at least to start with.

Interesting thoughts anyway - I think trials like this tend to come back with negative reviews and impact on people's days too much. All that's been mentioned is pure speculation and is probably untrue... Besides, you would hope WDI would invent a way to increase capacity rather than cop out with FP+ :p
 
A hastily put together stage topped by a frequent Frozen show. Must be.
 
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