Disney's Hollywood Studios (General Discussion)

[Nick]

Aerial pics from WDWNT posted yesterday:

Close up of LMA:

 

[IzzyB]

Starting to make some real progress. I noticed when driving to MK 2 weeks ago that you can see a good bit of the land from the road that SWL will be built on. May be able to at some point get pictures of SWL construction from the side of the road. We just noticed the half torn down LMA when driving by. They have cleared a good bit of trees because you could never see LMA from the road before.

 

[LieutLaww]

What's all that area cleared out in between the trees for, construction access ?

 

[Nick]

What's all that area cleared out in between the trees for, construction access ?

Rumor is they are going to extend the parking lot over that way. They already have a construction entrance and staging area.

 

[Mad Dog]

This construction is taking what was a small park (not counting non attraction backstage areas), to even a really much smaller park, until construction is completed. I kind of wish they would have expanded beyond the park boundaries and kept what they had, then DHS could have been a decent sized theme park. When it's completed, it still will be a relatively small park, customer access areas wise....And what's there right now certainly isn't much of an area at all, very tight traffic space.

 

[Nick]

This construction is taking what was a small park (not counting non attraction backstage areas), to even a really much smaller park, until construction is completed. I kind of wish they would have expanded beyond the park boundaries and kept what they had, then DHS could have been a decent sized theme park. When it's completed, it still will be a relatively small park, customer access areas wise....And what's there right now certainly isn't much of an area at all, very tight traffic space.

This argument has been made time and time again... but SOA was only good for 2 months of the year, LMA wasn't popular and BLT was a shell of it's former self (and also losing popularity). It's not like they shut down Sunset Blvd. and we lost ToT, RNRC, Fant!, & BatB all at once.

 

[Mad Dog]

This argument has been made time and time again... but SOA was only good for 2 months of the year, LMA wasn't popular and BLT was a shell of it's former self (and also losing popularity).

I agree with BLT & LMA, but I would have rather seen attraction replacements for them instead of it being used for SWL. I think SOA added some nice ambiance to the park, and it's footprint was small, so they really could have kept that. If they would have put SWL outside of the present park and put replacements in for BLT & LMA, they wouldn't have the capacity nightmare they're are going to have once SWL& TSL Kiddyland opens and there's no more total attractions than there were in 2012. And then, they wouldn't have a shell of a park operating for three or four years. Horrible foresight & planning.

 

[IzzyB]

I agree with BLT & LMA, but I would have rather seen attraction replacements for them instead of it being used for SWL. I think SOA added some nice ambiance to the park, and it's footprint was small, so they really could have kept that. If they would have put SWL outside of the present park and put replacements in for BLT & LMA, they wouldn't have the capacity nightmare they're are going to have once SWL& TSL Kiddyland opens and there's no more total attractions than there were in 2012. And then, they wouldn't have a shell of a park operating for three or four years. Horrible foresight & planning.

They will have more than 2012.

So Back Lot Tour, LMA, Animation Court, and a playground have shut down

We will gain Star wars experience (which I imagine will be replaced by something else once SWL opens), Slinky Coaster, Flat ride, 2 Star Wars rides.

So 2 rides, a walk thru, and a play ground replaced with 4 rides and a walk thru. I know some people mention Pirates, but that thing has been changed a million times over the years and will be changed a million more. It was just used to promote movies and honestly was never popular. The theater was moved, so no loss there.

While I agree DHS needs more, I think the way they did this expansions gets it to us faster and they still have several places that they can expand for the future. I feel like they didn't make a mistake here since both the Back Lot tour and LMA didn't attract many people.

 

[Nick]

I agree with BLT & LMA, but I would have rather seen attraction replacements for them instead of it being used for SWL. I think SOA added some nice ambiance to the park, and it's footprint was small, so they really could have kept that. If they would have put SWL outside of the present park and put replacements in for BLT & LMA, they wouldn't have the capacity nightmare they're are going to have once SWL& TSL Kiddyland opens and there's no more total attractions than there were in 2012. And then, they wouldn't have a shell of a park operating for three or four years. Horrible foresight & planning.

I like the way it turned out, tbh. Where they wanted to put SWL would've required moving major - and I mean MAJOR - Backstage areas. The CM entrance, CM Costuming, etc, etc, is all back by Indy. This will get demo done much quicker which means faster completion.

Obviously all of that will have to move one day as that is a prime area for expansion. However just think of everything that would've had to go. It would've taken up all of echo lake, Indy theatre, possibly Prime time 50's. I think people would still be complaining if they had done it that way since it would take much harder demo than knowing down hollow facades. The hardest thing about the current demo seems to be the LMA Stadium, everything else has come down quickly when they've actually been active in demolition.

 

[Mad Dog]

Premier theater, Sound theater, SOA, Movie Museum, Pirates (as you mentioned),and two thirds of the Citizens of Hollywood gone, add to the above (BLT , which ate up a lot of time, LMA, & Animation Court) and it's a wash. Maybe better quality because of SWL, but really no more than there was to experience in 2012. A small park will essentially still be a small park once it's all said & done....And Disney Phase Two's never happen, so let's not fantasize about that)....Gotta disagree with you on this one. When SWL opens in 2020, DHS (or whatever it's called by then) will have a "serious" capacity problem when the Star Wars fans flock in.

 

[IzzyB]

I like the way it turned out, tbh. Where they wanted to put SWL would've required moving major - and I mean MAJOR - Backstage areas. The CM entrance, CM Costuming, etc, etc, is all back by Indy. This will get demo done much quicker which means faster completion.

Obviously all of that will have to move one day as that is a prime area for expansion. However just think of everything that would've had to go. It would've taken up all of echo lake, Indy theatre, possibly Prime time 50's. I think people would still be complaining if they had done it that way since it would take much harder demo than knowing down hollow facades. The hardest thing about the current demo seems to be the LMA Stadium, everything else has come down quickly when they've actually been active in demolition.

Agreed. And I still think Indy is more popular and sucks in more people than LMA and BLT. Especially since one had not been open for over a year. I think Indy going down would have been a much bigger hit to capacity.

 

[Mad Dog]

I like the way it turned out, tbh. Where they wanted to put SWL would've required moving major - and I mean MAJOR - Backstage areas. The CM entrance, CM Costuming, etc, etc, is all back by Indy. This will get demo done much quicker which means faster completion.

Obviously all of that will have to move one day as that is a prime area for expansion. However just think of everything that would've had to go. It would've taken up all of echo lake, Indy theatre, possibly Prime time 50's. I think people would still be complaining if they had done it that way since it would take much harder demo than knowing down hollow facades. The hardest thing about the current demo seems to be the LMA Stadium, everything else has come down quickly when they've actually been active in demolition.

Yeah, I agree with you on that Echo Lake scenario that the WDW Insiders thought was happening. But, I was talking about a SWL that would be completely outside of the present park boundaries. That's the only thing that would have increased the size of a really small park. Heck, even before the areas closed down, you could walk from one end of the park to the other in a few minutes.

 

[Nick]

Agreed. And I still think Indy is more popular and sucks in more people than LMA and BLT. Especially since one had not been open for over a year. I think Indy going down would have been a much bigger hit to capacity.

One thing that I really like out of this project, like TSL or not, is that the TSMM entrance is switching sides. To me, having that entrance right in such a narrow area between the giant GMR Show Building and the soundstages on the other side was just awkward.

While TSL may not interest most here, it will at least be a much more open path (to get to SWL )

 

[Nick]

Yeah, I agree with you on that Echo Lake scenario that the WDW Insiders thought was happening. But, I was talking about a SWL that would be completely outside of the present park boundaries. That's the only thing that would have increased the size of a really small park. Heck, even before the areas closed down, you could walk from one end of the park to the other in a few minutes.

Well, when you think about it, they are sort of increasing the size. We never used to be able to walk behind the TSMM Soundstage. And the LMA area was off-limits most of the day and if you did go there, you had to be in the bleachers. There will now be an entire land down by where the show was performed.

Also, I think DHS has to fix quite a few problems within it's current boundaries before expanding.

-Animation needs to be fully bulldozed and a new land put there.
- Possible connection/land between Animation area and RNRC
- There's a few expansion plots along Sunset
- Frozen/Sounds Dangerous complex is a waste of space
- Echo Lake area

Seeing the park expanded would be great, but I just easily laid out 5 different areas within the CURRENT park boundaries that could use a lot of help. Doing just those things would greatly increase ride capacity and the overall quality of the park.

 

[GadgetGuru]

I find Disney's lack of marketing so strange on all of this. DCA's entire reboot was heavily, heavily marketed. There was the Blue Sky Cellar, tons of blog posts. I mean, everybody knew that this park was undergoing something big.

It seems like you lose a lot of marketing upside by not turning this reboot similarly into a big event. If Disney is so worried about losing tourists because of this reboot, then...well, that's a troubling sign in itself.

 

[Nick]

I find Disney's lack of marketing so strange on all of this. DCA's entire reboot was heavily, heavily marketed. There was the Blue Sky Cellar, tons of blog posts. I mean, everybody knew that this park was undergoing something big.

It seems like you lose a lot of marketing upside by not turning this reboot similarly into a big event. If Disney is so worried about losing tourists because of this reboot, then...well, that's a troubling sign in itself.

I am surprised we don't at least see something like a model in One Man's Dream. That's sort of been where big projects have made their way as of late.

I feel like the marketing will kick into high gear after TSL opens and we're getting closer to SWL. I don't think they want people's expectations getting too high for TSL and I also think they need to communicate well that SWL won't be opening at the same time.

 

[LieutLaww]

Are they still going ahead with rejigging the park entrance still ? Or has that been lost to bolster an executive bonus under the guise of cost cutting

 

[Galaxy Defender]

If Disney is so worried about losing tourists because of this reboot, then...well, that's a troubling sign in itself.

Looks like WDW has gone from the worry of losing tourists to the reality of losing tourists. They are also likely remembering the lesson of hyping Rivers of Light.

 

[Nick]

Looks like WDW has gone from the worry of losing tourists to the reality of losing tourists. They are also likely remembering the lesson of hyping Rivers of Light.

I was just thinking about it today and with the lack of Holiday offereings at pretty much every park except MK this year AND the lack of nighttime entertainment, the really better hope that RoL gets up by November. They're gonna need it.

 

[Nick]

Oh, and i'm pretty sure this has yet to make it over here so figured i'd post it. Here's a concept drawing done by @Marni1971 which is fairly detailed and gives a good idea of what this side of the park will look like once TSL and SWL open. Notice where SWL ends and the SOA facades that he shows still standing: