Disney's Hollywood Studios (General Discussion)

[ThemeParks4Life]

I simply don't believe Disney will open 2 lands in the same year. While Avatar will be off infinitely higher quality than TSL, Disney can wait until early 2018 and bank on it the whole year. Early 2018 would be a great time to be opening the land anyway as TS4 will probably be winning tons of awards around that time.

Disney can and will market TSL as if it is the best thing ever, just as they'll market Frozen. People will show up just because of the name. No need to open late 2017 when you can save it for 2018. At least that's how i'd look at it.

TS4 and Cars 3 got swapped, so a 2018 opening could coincide with the movie's release.

 

[Brian G.]

Yes, they should have started right after they brought the girl in that was a big part of the DCA & DCA Carsland expansion to look at what to do to fix DHS. If memory serves me correct her name was Cathy Magnum or something like that. That was three years ago, and as BriMan says they could have started on stuff two years ago. This is really going to be a mess. Pity, since I've really liked that park, warts and all.

The park has some true gems with rides and restaurants.

 

[Nick]

The park has some true gems with rides and restaurants.

Ride wise, the park still has 5 D/E's. The problem is that's really it. It's just those rides, a few shows and some Star Wars stuff. As an AP Holder, I still enjoy the park plenty, but if I was coming on vacation, I could see someone getting a bit angry at the current state of the park.

And we have to remember, closings aren't even done yet. IJ Stunt spectacular is almost certainly closing for Star Wars and OMD & VotLM seem to be on borrowed time. Animation Courtyard will likely see a full redo down the line as well, but that won't be until after TSL and SWL open - Launch Bay will likely stay until SWL opens. However, the Launch Bay/Animation building is huge. Knock that thing down and you have a whole lot of room to work with (if you get rid of Disney Junior too)

 

[Brian G.]

Ride wise, the park still has 5 D/E's. The problem is that's really it. It's just those rides, a few shows and some Star Wars stuff. As an AP Holder, I still enjoy the park plenty, but if I was coming on vacation, I could see someone getting a bit angry at the current state of the park.

And we have to remember, closings aren't even done yet. IJ Stunt spectacular is almost certainly closing for Star Wars and OMD & VotLM seem to be on borrowed time. Animation Courtyard will likely see a full redo down the line as well, but that won't be until after TSL and SWL open - Launch Bay will likely stay until SWL opens. However, the Launch Bay/Animation building is huge. Knock that thing down and you have a whole lot of room to work with (if you get rid of Disney Junior too)

Park Hopper has been the park's saving grace.

 

[Nick]

Park Hopper has been the park's saving grace.

I will say, Disney has been crafty in getting people to spend more time than they probably should in such a crappy park over these past few years. From Summer Fun to Season of the Force and even the addition of Club Disney which is all the way practically backstage by RNRC and ToT, everything that's included in these thing help add things to do during the day.

However, the real MVPs have been the pyro shows. The Frozen Fireworks and Symphony in the Stars Fireworks both keep people late and imo, have been impressive displays and much welcomed in a park that hasn't been used to nightly pyro in years.

 

[captainmoch]

Star Tours, TOT, RNRC, TSMM, and GMR are all very good D/E tickets, a few of the shows like Muppets, Fantasmic, and IJSS are outdated, but still fun to do every once in a while, and Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard are superbly themed. But the problem is... that's it. The rest of the shows are both very outdated and not that great, Echo Lake/SoA/Pixar Place/"Animation" Courtyard are thematic messes, and there's not any rides to do that aren't a D/E ticket.

Luckily, some of those are being fixed. TSL will see the end of Pixar Place, SWL will see the end of Echo Lake (Sort of... presumably the lake still may be there, but not as a dedicated area as ST and ISJJ will be gone, and the lake will probably be absorbed into Hollywood Boulevard.), and Phase 3 will see the end of SoA. Toy Story Land and possibly the Phase 3 land will give the park some much needed B-C tickets and flat rides. Most of the shows seem to be marked for replacements, updates, or removal quiet soon. While the next five years are definately going to be painful, DHS is going to be a good park by WDW's 50th anniversary for sure.

 

[Nick]

Star Tours, TOT, RNRC, TSMM, and GMR are all very good D/E tickets, a few of the shows like Muppets, Fantasmic, and IJSS are outdated, but still fun to do every once in a while, and Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard are superbly themed. But the problem is... that's it. The rest of the shows are both very outdated and not that great, Echo Lake/SoA/Pixar Place/"Animation" Courtyard are thematic messes, and there's not any rides to do that aren't a D/E ticket.

Luckily, some of those are being fixed. TSL will see the end of Pixar Place, SWL will see the end of Echo Lake (Sort of... presumably the lake still may be there, but not as a dedicated area as ST and ISJJ will be gone, and the lake will probably be absorbed into Hollywood Boulevard.), and Phase 3 will see the end of SoA. Toy Story Land and possibly the Phase 3 land will give the park some much needed B-C tickets and flat rides. Most of the shows seem to be marked for replacements, updates, or removal quiet soon. While the next five years are definately going to be painful, DHS is going to be a good park by WDW's 50th anniversary for sure.

The first real B/C rides will be added during Toy Story Land. The B-ticket being the Buzz Lightyear ride and C-ticket being the Slinky coaster. Both Star Wars rides are looking to be D/E's.

As far as expansion after SW, Incredibles, Monsters Inc, and Indiana Jones are really some of the only things being seriously considered.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Park Hopper has been the park's saving grace.

Barely. My understanding is the second test WDW parks attract roughly 7 mill a year WITH the festivals and holiday events. It's ugly.

 

[Mad Dog]

Barely. My understanding is the second test WDW parks attract roughly 7 mill a year WITH the festivals and holiday events. It's ugly.

Sorry, but I didn't completely understand that. Are you saying that DHS, AK and Epcot only do about 7 million each per year attendance? Or am I misunderstanding that? Old age & all you know.

 

[adjjb]

Earful tower. It;s the landmark.

Hate the closing of Honey I shrunk too.

 

[Cole]

On pizza planet, thank friggin god. That place is an embarrassment on literally all levels. Nothing like the movie, food is terrible, theming is awful the works. I hope they either replace it with something else or rework it into ACTUALLY being pizza planet. Maybe that would fit better at toy story land though idk

On earful tower, this kinda sucks. MGM has always been an insanely confusing park when it comes to icons, we had tot, tower, dreaded hat, it's always been a mess. However if they are really wanting to change the theme, this needs to be gone. I rather forget HS was ever a thing than to be reminded with old icons while walking through something completely different

On shrunk the kids, kind of a bummer. This was always fun when I was a kid and it was pretty well themed for what it was. However toy story land will most likely have a play area exactly like it so it's not too big of a loss, gonna miss those ants though

And finally, on LMA. Thank you lord for putting this show out of its misery. I have no idea how a show with that name could be as boring as it was. With Indiana jones doing the same basic formula around the corner, it was just a tedious show with nothing that made it special. Got even worse with the cars additions. I'm happy to see it gone

God this is gonna be a terrible couple years for MGM. Barely anything to do and attractions closing all the time. disney seriously has to get moving before people start to strike back after paying that ridiculous ticket price for a couple rides and shows. What a mess

 

[Teebin]

Has the new park layout been released yet? That will tell me if any of this will work well or not. I swear Pablo Picasso designed the first layout and then Jackson Pollack was brought in to clean it up.

 

[*Q*]

Has the new park layout been released yet? That will tell me if any of this will work well or not. I swear Pablo Picasso designed the first layout and then Jackson Pollack was brought in to clean it up.

Not officially. @Marni1971 posted a layout on WDWMagic a couple of months ago of where all of the phases would be located according to the information he had at the time. Basically Star Wars replacing Indiana Jones and extending back out into the parking lot, and Toy Story Land behind Midway Mania. Also other key areas for phases 3 and 4 and infrastructure improvements that I can't remember the exact locations of off of the top of my head.

 

[Mad Dog]

Not officially. @Marni1971 posted a layout on WDWMagic a couple of months ago of where all of the phases would be located according to the information he had at the time. Basically Star Wars replacing Indiana Jones and extending back out into the parking lot, and Toy Story Land behind Midway Mania. Also other key areas for phases 3 and 4 and infrastructure improvements that I can't remember the exact locations of off of the top of my head.

Today on Magic, Marni indicated he may be backing away from that posting. Marni said, "SWL and placement are causing me a huge headache. So many crossed wires and conflicting reports"....And then to a question of is it possible it actually will go in the LMA area, Marni replies, "Right now I'm reaching for clarification both on proposals and which version is actually right"....."I'll admit it's more fluid than the Niagara Falls"....Sounds to me like things may be a changing.

 

[Nick]

Today on Magic, Marni indicated he may be backing away from that posting. Marni said, "SWL and placement are causing me a huge headache. So many crossed wires and conflicting reports"....And then to a question of is it possible it actually will go in the LMA area, Marni replies, "Right now I'm reaching for clarification both on proposals and which version is actually right"....."I'll admit it's more fluid than the Niagara Falls"....Sounds to me like things may be a changing.

I wonder if they are thinking of making changes to the land as a whole due to the massive success of TFA.

 

[Mad Dog]

I wonder if they are thinking of making changes to the land as a whole due to the massive success of TFA.

Possibly. Or maybe it's connected to the unexpected shakeup at Imagineering. Then again, it may be that they're not sure what they want to do. There might be different factions pulling for different results.

 

[Nick]

Possibly. Or maybe it's connected to the unexpected shakeup at Imagineering. Then again, it may be that they're not sure what they want to do. There might be different factions pulling for different results.

I don't think it's that they're not sure what they want to do as much as they have most of it set and the location is up in the air. The reason I bring up TFA is because now they know what fans reacted to well and what maybe they didn't like. So some changes may be being made based on that type of stuff.

 

[Disneyhead]

Martin's original map is correct for phase one of SWL.

 

[Nick]

Martin's original map is correct for phase one of SWL.

You say "Phase one" of SWL and this is something i've questioned myself: Is Disney already thinking of a potential Phase 2 for the land at DHS? And if the land will be eating up the Indy Stunt Show, will Indy be reborn in the park late on with a mini-land (esp. with Indy 5 now confirmed).

All things that would be down the road definitely, but I wouldn't be surprised to see, either.

 

[Mad Dog]

You say "Phase one" of SWL and this is something i've questioned myself: Is Disney already thinking of a potential Phase 2 for the land at DHS? And if the land will be eating up the Indy Stunt Show, will Indy be reborn in the park late on with a mini-land (esp. with Indy 5 now confirmed).

All things that would be down the road definitely, but I wouldn't be surprised to see either.

I would love to an Indi mini-land with something similar to the Disneyland attraction.