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WDW Magic Kingdom: General Discussion

Disney have announced the new name for Splash Mountain replacement
disneyparks.disney.go.com

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Coming to Disney Parks in Late 2024

Strike up the band because we’ve saved a seat for you on this musical journey with Tiana and friends! The name of the new attraction evolving from the reimagining of Splash Mountain was announced today during ESSENCE Fest in New Orleans: Tiana’s
disneyparks.disney.go.com

In other news Tron been added to the TTA people mover audio
 
I don't know if anyone manage to catch the D23 Parks Panel yesterday....but my word they are getting an absolute hammering for it online already.

They announced next to nothing. Most of the stuff we have already known about for a good few years and they still haven't even announced an opening date for Tron. All they said was Spring 2023 which will make it 5 years from start to opening date for that attraction. Hahahaha

A few meet and greets and night time shows were the highlight of the panel really. Farcical for a company with so much financial muscle.

And the ending was truly bizarre to say the very least. As they had nothing really to announce this year, they went off on a tangent to tell us about some ideas they have that are just ideas at the moment no more. These are known as 'Blue Sky' as they aren't even in production. These included plans for Dinoland at AK being reimagined into a mix of Zootopia / Moana lands and then even more bizarrely to extend past BTM in MK to include lands themed to Coco, Encanto and even the long wished for Villains land.

It was a truly embarrassing presentation for one of the biggest companies in the world. It's clear to see they have had their budgets completely cut. Universal Execs must have been wetting themselves.
 
The extension to Magic Kingdom at least makes sense, they will need to extend that way at some point.

But at Animal Kingdom Zootopia just doesn't fit with the rest of the park! Also they are already using Moana in Epcot.

Doesn't feel like Disney are worried about Epic Universe opening.

Also Universal also need to build out their existing parks a little more, Islands of Adventure still needs a few extra indoor attractions, Studios needs more outdoor stuff.
 
jon81uk said:
The extension to Magic Kingdom at least makes sense, they will need to extend that way at some point.

But at Animal Kingdom Zootopia just doesn't fit with the rest of the park! Also they are already using Moana in Epcot.

Doesn't feel like Disney are worried about Epic Universe opening.

Also Universal also need to build out their existing parks a little more, Islands of Adventure still needs a few extra indoor attractions, Studios needs more outdoor stuff.
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They were only ideas. I don't think we will even get to see most of them come to life tbh with you. Even past projects they have confirmed have been cancelled so I think you can take these with a massive pinch of salt.

Definitely felt like they needed some talking points from the panel so just went with it to me. Embarrassing really. And they are definitely worried about Epic Universe and if they're not they bleeding well should be.
 
I suppose if their worried about Epic Universe they could just delay Tron another year to open that around the same time that'll open.
 
John_P said:
I suppose if their worried about Epic Universe they could just delay Tron another year to open that around the same time that'll open.
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Nah Tron will open in Spring 2023 they confirmed that much.

Actually embarrassing though that an attraction they started 4 years ago still isn't even open when Epic Universe as a whole will only take 4-5 years they reckon. Universal are simply light years ahead of Disney now in nearly everything.

I actually feel a bit sorry for the Disney Parks division though. They clearly want to do a lot more but their budgets are sadly being massively cut and funnelled into Disney Plus.
 
To be fair, has Universal started on many new projects since Covid started? Possibly the Donkey Kong ride for Universal Japan.

Often new parks are fairly quickly followed up by an expansion, for example Shanghai Disneyland had Toy Story Land and now Zootopia’s under construction. Do we know if there’s an expansion for Universal Beijing? Although to be fair, China’s Covid restrictions have dragged on for longer than most.

Universal has cracked on with Epic Universe, but there isn’t much going on in the existing Orlando parks or the second phase of Volcano Bay. I think both Disney and Universal have been relatively slow at getting back into new developments. I’m not saying that’s wrong, or bad from a business point of view, but if Universal were pushing through new rides for Islands of Adventure and the Studio Park, it’d be a bigger worry for Disney.
 
John_P said:
I suppose if their worried about Epic Universe they could just delay Tron another year to open that around the same time that'll open.
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They effectively did that but then Epic Universe got delayed too. Can't see a further delay to Tron now, they are already being slated.

Benjsh said:
They were only ideas. I don't think we will even get to see most of them come to life tbh with you. Even past projects they have confirmed have been cancelled so I think you can take these with a massive pinch of salt.
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I agree, although at somepoint in the next 10-20 years they will look to expand the Magic Kingdom so that area will get used eventually I expect.

Whereas Animal Kingdom does need another expansion, I don't think the current concepts are right!
 
jon81uk said:
They effectively did that but then Epic Universe got delayed too. Can't see a further delay to Tron now, they are already being slated.



I agree, although at somepoint in the next 10-20 years they will look to expand the Magic Kingdom so that area will get used eventually I expect.

Whereas Animal Kingdom does need another expansion, I don't think the current concepts are right!
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Yeah they won't be what we get anyway.

MK definitely needs more capacity as It's unbearable now at peak periods. I think it probably needs two further land expansions in all honesty not just the one.
 
Benjsh said:
Yeah they won't be what we get anyway.

MK definitely needs more capacity as It's unbearable now at peak periods. I think it probably needs two further land expansions in all honesty not just the one.
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In theory if they built out Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom a bit more it would draw people away from Magic Kingdom. The issue with adding a lot to MK is that it might go from a two day park to a three day park so the crowds actually increase as people spend more time in that park. Whereas making sure people want to spend a day at Animal Kingdom or Studios instead of skipping it in favour of a third day at MK would help.
 
Funcone said:
To be fair, has Universal started on many new projects since Covid started? Possibly the Donkey Kong ride for Universal Japan.

Often new parks are fairly quickly followed up by an expansion, for example Shanghai Disneyland had Toy Story Land and now Zootopia’s under construction. Do we know if there’s an expansion for Universal Beijing? Although to be fair, China’s Covid restrictions have dragged on for longer than most.

Universal has cracked on with Epic Universe, but there isn’t much going on in the existing Orlando parks or the second phase of Volcano Bay. I think both Disney and Universal have been relatively slow at getting back into new developments. I’m not saying that’s wrong, or bad from a business point of view, but if Universal were pushing through new rides for Islands of Adventure and the Studio Park, it’d be a bigger worry for Disney.
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I know that Universal were rumoured to have started on a Fast & Furious coaster for Universal Studios Hollywood.

At USF, they recently reopened Mummy after a huge Hulk-style refurb, and they’re also building a new Minions attraction for 2023.

Admittedly, nothing has gone on at IOA since VelociCoaster, but that park has received a pretty good lion’s share of investment in recent years with both VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s built within short succession.

I think Epic Universe being built for 2025 is justification enough for them not pumping absolute mega bucks into both their existing parks for the time being, though. That park is costing somewhere in the multi billion mark, I believe, and the proposal was most definitely in its infancy pre-COVID, so they would have lost very little had they just cancelled it. They pursued it, however, and it looks, well, epic!

Disney, by comparison, cancelled a considerable bulk of their ambitious plans for WDW as a result of COVID, and after Tron in 2023, I think the whole resort might only have these “blue sky” concepts in the pipeline, which apparently aren’t due until the late 2020s.
 
It's not as if Hagrid's or VelociCoaster were small projects either. Both have considerable track lengths and incredible theming too. Just look how quickly that were put up and opened too by comparison to these huge Disney projects.

Disney are sadly just cheating it's fans. They need to step their game up massively.
 
Personally I see little appeal in Disney when considering going to Florida, especially when you factor the price in.
 
I watched the D23 stream. Worst moment had to be when they were hyping up Tron nearly being ready (actually showing staff riding it) then announced it'd be opening next year! Next year is not nearly ready, most regional parks can build a whole coaster in that time.
And the Moana water area also being over a year away, when that looks half finished.
 
Brad97 said:
Personally I see little appeal in Disney when considering going to Florida, especially when you factor the price in.
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I’ve just done a week in Florida just doing the Universal and SeaWorld parks. As much as I wanted to see the new stuff at Disney I couldn’t be bothered with the faff of booking a park each day and working out what I needed to pay to know I can ride something without a multi-hour queue.

Whereas the longest I waited at Universal was around an hour each for Velocicoaster, Gringotts and Hagrids even on the holiday weekend.
 
I agree with the consensus that the parks panel at D23 was underwhelming to say the least.

The crowd were getting excited at the mention of Figment, perhaps like me they thought he would announce a refurbishment or reimagining of that desperately ageing attraction in Epcot…..nope, it was just a meet and greet announcement, which won’t be happening for another year. What?

This happened on a few occasions where they spent an age dragging out a segment, only to advise it was just for a new meet and greet, jeez.

Regarding the lack of any new concrete projects for Florida to compete with Universal. I wonder if their strategy is just not to compete, the new park will bring extra guests to Orlando and many will chose to spend time at Disney too, so actually they might be expecting increased guest numbers without having to spend much in the period.

They will then be lining up new stuff (such as Zootopia at AK etc) for the 2026-2028 period.
 
Universal seem to be smart enough not to announce most things until mid construction, whereas Disney seem to love announcing stuff so it either takes the best part of a decade to open or gets cancelled to the annoyance of people.
 
AT86 said:
I agree with the consensus that the parks panel at D23 was underwhelming to say the least.

The crowd were getting excited at the mention of Figment, perhaps like me they thought he would announce a refurbishment or reimagining of that desperately ageing attraction in Epcot…..nope, it was just a meet and greet announcement, which won’t be happening for another year. What?

This happened on a few occasions where they spent an age dragging out a segment, only to advise it was just for a new meet and greet, jeez.

Regarding the lack of any new concrete projects for Florida to compete with Universal. I wonder if their strategy is just not to compete, the new park will bring extra guests to Orlando and many will chose to spend time at Disney too, so actually they might be expecting increased guest numbers without having to spend much in the period.

They will then be lining up new stuff (such as Zootopia at AK etc) for the 2026-2028 period.
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There's definitely an element of truth in that. Most people who have to travel by plane to go to Florida aren't going to skip Disney entirely just to visit Universal and vice versa. Obviously some will but I'd imagine most visit both brands in some form.

Obviously if you live closer you can probably be more picky.

We probably won't get back to Florida now until Epic Universe opens as we keep changing our plans but we will definitely visit a few Disney Parks when we go as it will have been a very long time since we last went (2013 to be exact)
 
Here at Disney at the moment and staying on property, having a really good time and is amazing to be back in Florida!

However lack of maintenance is becoming apparent in some areas and on some rides too. Splash Mountain is practically falling apart, however I may let this slip due to the refurb but it’s in a really bad state!

The whole Genie thing is super annoying! I went to MK today and it was super busy and it was advising me 2/3 hour waits until my next lighting lane. Admittedly I went a couple of days earlier and used it and it was amaing and managed to practically do everything!

Price incecreases are noticeable too but this could be because of how bad the £ is.
 
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