D-log

WDS: help is on the way?

Door Michiel Veenstra, dinsdag 23 augustus om 21 39

Om meteen te beginnen: deze posting is gebaseerd op he said, she said. Maar toch.

Afgelopen weekend vond in Anaheim de tweede D23 Expo plaats, een driedaagse beurs vol treats voor Disneygeeks: sneak previews van nieuwe films, panels met Imagineers, maquettes van parken ter bezichtiging en een presentatie van alle nieuwigheden in de Parken. Voor een uitgebreide en toffe samenvatting van het weekend kijk je hier.

Over dat laatste onderdeel, de presentatie van nieuwigheden in de parken, waren de verwachtingen hooggespannen op Disney-fora all over the world. Welke spannende nieuwe dingen zouden we te horen krijgen? Nou dat viel nogal tegen: op een nieuw plein in Disneyland Anaheim na werden er alleen dingen toegelicht die we al wisten. Teleurstellend ook voor ons, omdat er door velen op gehoopt werd dat er ook eindelijk iets officieels over de Ratatouille darkride bekend gemaakt zou worden. Niet dus.

Maar dan. Een actief Micechat-forumlid, TreoFred, is vervolgens de hele beurs op Imagineers afgestapt met de vraag of ze nou eindelijk eens iets gingen doen aan Parijs. Prachtig hoofdpark dat nu eindelijk eens goed en grondig wordt opgeknapt maar al in jaren geen nieuwe ride heeft gekregen, met daarnaast het slechtste Disneypark ter wereld. Uiteindelijk kon hij dit posten:

BTW, I finally got SOME news on France after coercing (ok, waterboarding ) the right Imagineer. Turns out the situation is eerily similar to ours. You have a great park (DL) in some level of disrepair which is being plussed up at the approach of its birthday and you've got a second gate (WDSP instead of DCA) which has been under-performing and although it has received a few new ride (like ToT, we did too) and some smaller ones (the whole Toy Story playplace like we got Monster's Inc) which triggered some 'place-making', it's still not 'winning' like Charlie Sheen would say...

... so what do you do?

... well, that's kinda why JL was visiting your WDS recently. He made the same argument about the lack of cohesive theming, the lack of character and the necessity for a large place-making project. In fact, the Imagineers already have an overall re-design similar to what they have for DCA. Yep, a big big deal

However, between the economic situation in Europe and the non finished work in the US (includiing the two major expansions on both coast), it is a matter of spreading themselves too thin. At the same time, the argument is being made for it being almost the best time for such an investment.

Bottom line: keep your fingers crossed for a major announcement from Tom Staggs closer to the end of the year, as the overall 20th of DLP gets on the way.

Or not .

But it is there RIGHT NOW, just laying on ice for a little while longer...

Met andere woorden: er ligt al een compleet masterplan klaar voor een grootscheepse verbouwing van de Studios, dat was ook de reden dat John Lasseter onlangs beide parken bezocht. Nadelen zijn de huidige financiele toestanden in de wereld en de grote druk die er al op de Imagineers ligt met alle werkzaamheden in DCA en het Magic Kingdom. Voordeel is wel, zo lezen we later in een nieuwe post van TreoFred, dat nou net het element dat Disneyland Paris in de vroege jaren zo gigantisch veel verliezen heeft opgeleverd, de laatste jaren juist een grote bron van inkomsten is: de grote hoeveelheid hotelkamers.

The thing is that you can just drop new rides (like Tower of Terror or Ratatouille) but they don't necessarily fit in... Or you can rethink what was wrong in the first place and make tougher and more expensive decisions. The new management has been much more receptive to money spending for quality product and returning to the story telling route. If all people want are rides, they might as well go to La Foire du Trone. Doesn't matter if you put a 150 million euros ride in there, if it's just dropped there, it still looks like a fair with a bunch of rides. High end rides but not a Disney park.

So they tried to make it look better (like DCA) but it is still a somewhat jumbled mess. And Disney Studio Paris has the same problem as California Adventure did: it is very easy for people to walk a very short distance and compare to the fantastic (albeit, aging due to maintenance issues) Disneyland Paris (or EuroDisney ) next door. And when you just do some place-making improvement, the overall glue doesn't stick because the story is still not there or well realized.

However, one of DLRP most maligned asset is slowly turning into one of its biggest resource: the very very large quantity of Hotel rooms available in the resort IS bringing money and has been one of the highest increase in spending in all resorts, worldwide. Gas prices have been escalating and DLRP has both easy road, but also train and even plane (si on considere les acces RER depuis Roissy, ainsi que le TGV parfois... quand ya pas de greves SNCF... bref, passons ...). Of course, a lot of people would rather stay in Paris and commute but if you offer more compelling reason to 'stay in the magic' (again, with a more immersive story telling, a better sense of place), people would rather stay in 'Xanadu or Pandora (if you liked Avatar )' than go back to some realities.

Plans have been drawn, blueprints are all there, management is torn and timing may or may not be right... There's a lot of investment already taking place in parallel and the parks investments are some of the longest ones in terms of ROI, they also don't want to spread themselves too thin...

Bottom line: wait and see for a little while longer. DLP will be 20 next year, WDSP will be 10. Too late to do anything NOW but good timing for some announcements.

Fingers crossed dan maar weer...

 

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