Parks, Hotels, Water, Cruise,… and it is all Disney!
Jay Rasulo spoke about some concepts for future Disney parks and hotels that have attracted my interest. Let’s have a look at the Disney Parks eyes stand-alone hotels article and see what could well be a concept that could ad even more Disney magic around the globe…
The Walt Disney Co. is considering “blue sky concepts” of creating smaller theme parks and stand-alone hotels, retail, dining and entertainment centers, Jay Rasulo, chairman of Disney’s Parks and Resorts told analysts at a conference on Wednesday.
Building stand-alone hotels in urban areas where families already travel would give Disney the chance to reach out to parents who feel their children are still too young to appreciate a trip to a Disney theme park, Rasulo said.
Great idea, especially the stand alone hotels sound great. As I have some plans (for the future) to visit certain US cities I would pick a Disney hotel over any other one if this possibility would be there. Maybe it would make my decision easier to go to those places. As I would normally say to myself “I’ll go to Walt Disney World in stead of (insert any other great place in the US)” a Disney themed hotel with some special entertainment might win me over to see something else and still enjoy a spark of Disney magic. On the other hand, like I say above, would I not shift my holiday from what could be another Disney experience to another area making Disney miss out on my money that I would otherwise spend at the Walt Disney World Resort? While at a WDW holiday my money stays inside the boundaries of the resort, a visit to a Disney Hotel would revolve in spending money on other locations. But of course this is said by a Disney Geek who wouldn’t mind only visiting Walt Disney World (or any other one of the Disney parks) on any vacation while many people might really set a first step in one of those mentioned stand alone Disney hotels to get their first spark of Disney…
Along those lines, Disney could locate versions of its Downtown Disneyland, a high-end retail, dining and entertainment district, in urban areas far from its parks, he said.
I really like the Downtown Disney area in Walt Disney World, but I wonder if this would work outside the resort. How often have I wandered around the Downtown area while it was very deserted. Sure, those are low season moments, but would an area like this attract locals and bring enough interest in businesses that might want to locate their store in a Disney Downtown? If I would be a tourist in one of those towns where there is a Downtown Disney area I would be there (It’s the geek in me – I know), but it is the locals that will have to feed the people working or owning a business there.
The company also was exploring alternatives to full-size theme parks, including “a smaller, deeply immersive park” that would offer consumers a more interactive experience at higher prices.
The small Theme Parks are a whole other stories. While I would stay in a Disney hotel in a city or place I want to visit, would a new smaller park get me there? (well, to be honest, if I could…) But let’s have a closer look. These are not to attract visitors, but to get them experience the smaller interactive places to get to go to one of the bigger parks in the future. I guess this might be a very good idea and might well turn some non believers into future Walt Disney World visitors…
These ideas are “blue sky concepts” that will not be executed unless the new businesses could achieve a high return on invested capital, Rasulo said.
This does hurt a little when I read it. Sure, I do understand, Disney is a business and wants (and needs) to make profits. Would it not be nice these ideas would see the day of light, even if the return isn’t HIGH. Maybe these things might just be nice for some locations around the US (or the world) without trying to make a high return. If it would make a good profit and bring some more Disney to other places could management not be happy? If they would be financial disaster it would make sense not to do them, but only a “high return” should not be the only reason for making them.
Disney also was looking into expanding its water park offerings beyond Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach and possibly adding ships to its two-vessel cruise lines, Rasulo said.
Great! After I fell in love with Typhoon Lagoon I can’t get enough of water parks. Now this might not be related to another water park at WDW but parks on other location, it is sure something that would spur my attention. I am sure there is still some room around the US or the rest of the world to build some new water parks, as long as the colder locations would get an indoor one.
And adding ships, (as in more then 1) with the success of the cruise at this moment we have a future winner for sure. (I so want to go to Castaway Cay)
So, to finish this of; a nice Disney hotel next to an entertainment location with a water park… I’ll be dreaming, I’ll be looking… I’ll be there!
February 12th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
There seems to be an awful lot of ‘fluff’ with this statement and very little hard fact. It is all ‘if’ and ‘we might’ and ‘possibly.’ The Disney hotels seem to have the best likelihood of happening, as it would be easier to test something on that scale. I’m afraid I just don’t see Disney building more ‘Disney Village’ of ‘Downtown Disney’ type complexes as the ones they have are intricately linked with their parks and it is very hard to see the public in, say, Chicago, warming to shopping Disney-style on such a scale – especially when the smaller-scale Disney Stores idea was ultimately a failure (and had to be sold off in most locations). And as for ‘small-scale parks,’ I’m just amazed anyone from Disney could even postulate such a thing. happening. After the miserable failure of the DisneyQuest concept outside WDW (and the rumoured closure of that facility at some point in the not-too-distant future), it seems inconceivable Disney would try something similar but more ambitious. Exactly what a ‘smaller, more immersive’ park might be, without being like DisneyQuest, is hard to imagine, but it certainly wouldn’t be the Disney theme park trademark at the moment – something extensive and involving on an all-day level. I appreciate Disney (and the Imagineers) need to push the envelope from time to time, but these ideas seem to have very little likelihood of happening, let alone of success.
And as for the idea of adding more ships, Disney have been hinting coyly at this for years without EVER doing anything about it, and it is incredibly boring for this to be raised yet again. If you want to build more ships (as Disney should, from their popularity, quality and success to date), then put in an order for more; but don’t keep saying you ‘might’ be doing this or you are ‘thinking’ of ordering new ships. The cruise world has moved on significantly since the launch of the Magic and Wonder in 1988 and 99 (see the latest ships of Royal Caribbean, NCL and Carnival for some magnificent hardware) and Disney had better make up their minds quickly or risk this becoming a matter of derision.
(Oops – sorry, Andy. Didn’t mean to sound quite so negative there!)