New Project for Dinoland?

[UniversalRBLX]

Wouldn’t surprise me to see a new food festival or event at DAK soon. Any new construction project won’t open until 2026, and they need to entice locals to visit there more often.

 

[SeventyOne]

Wouldn’t surprise me to see a new food festival or event at DAK soon. Any new construction project won’t open until 2026, and they need to entice locals to visit there more often.

Didn't they do one in Harambe once? IIRC it was fairly well-received. But yeah, getting locals out will be big until the new stuff opens.

 

[Nick]

While that works with most things economic, the problem is days at Orlando theme parks is the rare zero sum game. Outside the small group of locals with APs everywhere, guests are likely to only do 1 park per day, and certainly only Disney or Universal in a day. If the average family does 4 park days on a trip, that's 4 visits to be divided up amongst now 7 parks.

A rising tide probably lifts MK as well as EU, maybe even DHS as the demo most comparable to Nintendo Land, but I think DAK will be the odd park out. (Tho I think USF and IoA will take a hit as well, but that's another thread.) Throwing in two of the big 'babysitter" IPs from Disney+ probably seen as a way to shore up families with younger kids at least.

Hey Bluey is a dog ... dogs are animals, right? Get Josh on the phone...

I do think there will be a rising tide and it may lift MK, Epcot, and maybe even DHS. But DAK is the most likely to sink. It needs a lot of attention. So does DHS, but the rides DHS does have are mostly highly enjoyed plus it actually has nighttime entertainment such as the projection show and Fantasmic!

Wouldn’t surprise me to see a new food festival or event at DAK soon. Any new construction project won’t open until 2026, and they need to entice locals to visit there more often.

They did one called “Taste of Africa” in around 2012. I thought it was pretty good but apparently it wasn’t a success.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Wouldn’t surprise me to see a new food festival or event at DAK soon. Any new construction project won’t open until 2026, and they need to entice locals to visit there more often.

I don’t really have info on this, but I’ve heard for years they want to add 2 more large size sit down restaurants to take note from Epcot (aka a park that lacks in attractions but hey, food!) to help guests stay for dinner. 2 restaurants won’t move the needle, but if they add in another attempt at a Nignttime show I think that would change things. Depends on how the show is of course.

 

[tielo]

I'm still baffled Animal Kingdom doesn't have a World of Color "animal version" show on it's lake during the night. It would make visitors stay, dine and watch the show. It's one easy fix to get interest for the park up. Sure it will only be visible from 2 sides (front and back) so you need to close a part of the seating arrangement but you can do two or more shows at night easily.

 

[SeventyOne]

I don’t really have info on this, but I’ve heard for years they want to add 2 more large size sit down restaurants to take note from Epcot (aka a park that lacks in attractions but hey, food!) to help guests stay for dinner. 2 restaurants won’t move the needle, but if they add in another attempt at a Nignttime show I think that would change things. Depends on how the show is of course.

Odd just because a friend hostessed at Tiffin's, part of the reason she transferred was because she hated standing out in the sun on the walkway begging people to come eat there. Admittedly it has a menu (and prices) elevated from typical theme park fare, but if that is already struggling, why two more? Unless they were super kid-friendly like Toy Story BBQ.

 

[Nick]

Odd just because a friend hostessed at Tiffin's, part of the reason she transferred was because she hated standing out in the sun on the walkway begging people to come eat there. Admittedly it has a menu (and prices) elevated from typical theme park fare, but if that is already struggling, why two more? Unless they were super kid-friendly like Toy Story BBQ.

There was a rumor a few years ago about them wanting a sit-down in Pandora. I still think that’s something they may come back to, but it would eat away at Tiffins even more.

Honestly though, Tiffins would have no issue if there was more reason for people to go to the park (and in turn reason for locals to return over and over).

 

[UniversalRBLX]

They did one called “Taste of Africa” in around 2012. I thought it was pretty good but apparently it wasn’t a success.

The problem was that it was a very small test and no significant entertainment offerings. Pair it with something over at the Harambe Theater, and there might be more interest.

I don’t really have info on this, but I’ve heard for years they want to add 2 more large size sit down restaurants to take note from Epcot (aka a park that lacks in attractions but hey, food!) to help guests stay for dinner. 2 restaurants won’t move the needle, but if they add in another attempt at a Nignttime show I think that would change things. Depends on how the show is of course.

Tiffins is rarely booked and usually has a sign saying tables are available. A Pandora one could work.

I'm still baffled Animal Kingdom doesn't have a World of Color "animal version" show on it's lake during the night. It would make visitors stay, dine and watch the show. It's one easy fix to get interest for the park up. Sure it will only be visible from 2 sides (front and back) so you need to close a part of the seating arrangement but you can do two or more shows at night easily.

It's such a simple/obvious idea... that's why it's not happening. Imagineering has to go and complicate things for no reason.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I don’t have anytbing on the restaurants would be, but hearing the number 2 in terms of places makes me think Pandora and, based on what I’m hearing in this thread… a Tiffins re-do? Purely speculating

 

[Nick]

I don’t have anytbing on the restaurants would be, but hearing the number 2 in terms of places makes me think Pandora and, based on what I’m hearing in this thread… a Tiffins re-do? Purely speculating

I like Tiffins as is, but changing the menu might be necessary for long term viability.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I like Tiffins as is, but changing the menu might be necessary for long therm viability.

Ya maybe a re-vamp is more appropriate term.

 

[Jake S]

I think it would be a major bummer to see Tiffin's go too far afield from where it is now — I think it's a great theme park restaurant. That said ... if it's struggling to bring people through the door, it may be inevitable.

 

[Grabnar]

I like Tiffins as is, but changing the menu might be necessary for long term viability.

The redo they did just before covid already made the menu so much worse, if they redo it again it'll just be the same bland themepark crud you get in the rest of the parks.

What they really need to do is add a restaurant to the opposite end of the park, they don't have a sit down over there except for Yak and Yeti.

What's really holding the AK restaurants back is the fact that many of the ones in the area are associated with Tilman Fertitta

 

[Jake S]

What's really holding the AK restaurants back is the fact that many of the ones in the area are associated with Tilman Fertitta

if you have the opportunity to make your expensive theme park feel like galveston, tx... you gotta do it.

 

[Grabnar]

if you have the opportunity to make your expensive theme park feel like galveston, tx... you gotta do it.

Explains Dinoland, that's for sure. Slap some dino stickers on Kemah and it's indistinguishable.

 

[tankart150]

You raise an interesting point here. Is Dinosaur really any less scary than Indiana Jones? Nope. And Indiana Jones had been neglected for so long that the experience was awful up until three months ago, but Disney certainly wouldn't dare remove that ride. I'd even argue the Dinosaur ride experience was equivalent, anyways. Furthermore, Universal is building dinosaur theme attractions to great acclaim, so it's hardly an issue of stale property.

The problem is that there simply aren't enough rides. Kids don't have to see Indiana Jones at Disneyland because there's lots of alternatives, but not so much at Animal Kingdom. I suppose you also run into issues of Disney's "family park" image while Universal is not under the same constraints, but Magic Kingdom has Haunted Mansion and the Snow White ride, so I would simply say it's a ride quantity problem. Point is that Animal Kingdom really should keep Dinosaur, refurbish it, and add more kid-friendly offerings. (They won't.)

Ice Age would be an awesome addition.

 

[Nick]

The redo they did just before covid already made the menu so much worse, if they redo it again it'll just be the same bland themepark crud you get in the rest of the parks.

What they really need to do is add a restaurant to the opposite end of the park, they don't have a sit down over there except for Yak and Yeti.

What's really holding the AK restaurants back is the fact that many of the ones in the area are associated with Tilman Fertitta

Tbh, as I said before, I think a bigger thing holding the restaurants back is the lack of things to do in the park and the fact that the park itself isn’t open late enough for dinner much of the time.

 

[Jake S]

Tbh, as I said before, I think a bigger thing holding the restaurants back is the lack of things to do in the park and the fact that the park itself isn’t open late enough for dinner much of the time.

yeah, it’s a one-meal park right now. on my most recent trip we had lunch at yak and yeti and park hopped to epcot for dinner. getting another mid-major attraction and a nighttime show is probably necessary to change that.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I'm still baffled Animal Kingdom doesn't have a World of Color "animal version" show on it's lake during the night. It would make visitors stay, dine and watch the show. It's one easy fix to get interest for the park up. Sure it will only be visible from 2 sides (front and back) so you need to close a part of the seating arrangement but you can do two or more shows at night easily.

Well they wanted to……

 

[Mad Dog]

yeah, it’s a one-meal park right now. on my most recent trip we had lunch at yak and yeti and park hopped to epcot for dinner. getting another mid-major attraction and a nighttime show is probably necessary to change that.

Yes. There's not a whole lot of people left in AK for the dinner hours. It's an early morning/mid afternoon park for the most part. I don't go there much, but when I do it starts clearing out around 4 or 5 PM, and many of the good food spots are closing around that time. After the travesty of the former night show, and the year long effort of later hours when Pandora debuted that failed miserably, with empty parks, I would doubt there's much appetite at Disney to return to that late closing. One thing they have done though, during most of the past year, is open earlier than they used to. It's generally open before the other three parks.