All about DLP future !

[Zarniwoop]

Time to pilgrimage to Alain Littaye's blog and read the lates article:

All about DLP future !

http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/

Spoiler

New attractions and additions:
- POTC scene to Tram tour
- the 3 little attractions to Toon Studios
- GPS's based Ratatouille dark ride
- Little Mermaid to Fantasyland
- Star Tours 2.0
- new wing to Disneyland hotel and Sequoia Lodge
- and more rumors

I hope the company doesn't come to other shareholders pockets again..

[pussnboots]

Whoa, slight overload. €800 million? Ratatouille? GPS? Little Mermaid? Indy? Toy Story Mania? New hotel wings?

I have a few tiny issues with Alain's prophecies, though;

- The Frontierland side of the Disneyland Hotel is hardly a logical place to build a new wing. Of the two wings currently there, the one nearest Phantom Manor has blind walls and obscured windows to keep guests from seeing its show building, while guests staying in the other one now have charming views of such backstage Walt Disney Studios areas as the backside of the Flying Carpets backdrop.
- I just can't believe the Indiana Jones Adventure would be built in 2012 on top of all these other things. It would be the fastest explosion of highly expensive assets in Disney history since New Orleans Square in the '60s.
- He may be full of crap. He also may not be. I don't know his repertoire, haha. Can anyone vouch for him?

But it sure sounds exciting.

[RandySavage]

Alain is co-author of what I think is the best book ever produced (from a visual standpoint) about a theme park, "DLP: From Sketch to Reality." His site often features never-before-seen concept art and background stories about DLP. He also runs the very best Disney blog out there... no one else comes close to providing as much unique Imagineering artwork.

Alain has gathered the current widespread rumors as well as some not-so-wide ones. I don't think he is saying this is what will be built by 2013, but discussing some solid rumors of what the future could look like.

Alain is one the precious few internet Disney enthusiasts that adds a ton of value.

[Zarniwoop]

Originally Posted by pussnboots

- He may be full of crap. He also may not be. I don't know his repertoire, haha. Can anyone vouch for him?

Just browse the articles he has written and you can see he has got true connections in Imagineering and he has interviewed some of them.

[pussnboots]

Oh, so he did have something to do with that book. I thought his name looked familiar, but then I remembered "Didier Ghez", thinking I'd confused one French name for another. My mistake. (Sorry Alain! Love the book.)

And I realize it's all just rumors... But still, his insistence on a 2012 Indiana Jones Adventure does seem slightly ambitious. And other reputable sources have presented a rather modest if not bleak near future. Hence my skepticism.

[Malin]

To be fair a lot of what Alain has wrote about in today's article is information that you can find for yourself on any of the main DLRP forums. Its hardly what I would call breaking news, the rumours about Ratatoulle and the small rides coming to the Studios have been confirmed by some reliable sources already.

[pussnboots]

Originally Posted by Malin

To be fair a lot of what Alain has wrote about in today's article is information that you can find for yourself on any of the main DLRP forums. Its hardly what I would call breaking news, the rumours about Ratatoulle and the small rides coming to the Studios have been confirmed by some reliable sources already.

I thought the rumors of the Ratatouille ride had more or less been killed by the news of those three funfair rides. Which makes sense, considering they were both contenders for the lawn behind Art of Disney Animation.

[Malin]

The three mini rides will open in 2010, while Ratatouille is apparently still scheduled for a 2012 opening. No idea where all these attractions are going to end up inside the Studios, but from what I've read on some forums Ratatouille is still going to happen!

[nathan detroit]

And where does Splash Mountain disapear to within all of this smoke and mirrors?

[fizzog]

"After all, it's the hotel at the entrance of the park, the one where everybody wants to stay"

And the one in which no-one can afford to stay! I can't imagine that this hotel would benefit from 2 additional wings, I mean, can they find that many rich people? Also, I don't believe the hotels are at full capacity even now of all times. As for Indy, I hope they do something original even though I know they won't. I'd be happy with TDS original, the same but different, like PM, but it won't happen, that would be too difficult. I also hope they either drop the horrid 'Indiana Jones Adventure' title, or re-brand Le Temple du Peril as 'Indiana Jones Adventure: Le Temple du Peril' and name the new one 'Indiana Jones Adventure: Le Jambon Noir' or whatever, but I've said that before I know. We'll see!

[tasman]

Walt Disney Studios seems to be becoming the ultimate collection of rides without any theme. DCA is kind of like that but even so seems to have a little more sense of purpose. Pixar seems set to invade the live-action area of the park in addition to Toon Studios. This is the unfortunate part of the future of most Disney parks...they are becoming a random collection of rides rather than a themed experience (although the rides themselves are fine, they don't add up to a coherent whole).

[Sir_Cliff]

Well, hopefully this is all true but it sounds more like a compilation of all the rumours that are floating around the Internet at the moment than specific inside information. I know it's not that simple, but I've always thought Disney should just be done with it and throw a couple of hundred million at the resort to hopefully finally get it into the black. The figure he is quoting is an awful lot, though, considering Disney owns considerably less than 50% of the resort.

[Zarniwoop]

Originally Posted by fizzog

"After all, it's the hotel at the entrance of the park, the one where everybody wants to stay"

And the one in which no-one can afford to stay! I can't imagine that this hotel would benefit from 2 additional wings, I mean, can they find that many rich people?

Disneyland hotel and Sequoia Lodge are the money makers at DLRP. Even though the idea of extension came as a surprise, the selected hotels did not. Sequoia has highest occupancy rate among Santa Fe and Disneyland hotel is usually full on slow season.

DLH needs a bigger pool area so this is very good idea.

But if SL gets 200 rooms more, how are they able to handle already busy breakfast? Makining it optional? Did I just invent a way DLRP can generate more profit with hotels..

[fizzog]

In addition, I am 100% against the idea of any Pixar rides outside of Toon Studios, (it's Pixar Studios really, let's face it, I don't see Goofy, Mickey, Minnie or Donald, the cornerstones of Disney's 'toon' collection), because then they're stamping on the work they've done to establish any kind of theme. They can't just stick stuff anywhere, putting a Pixar ride in Prod. Courtyard (and possibly Hollywood Blvd. if the whole are is transformed) is like putting Space Mountain in Frontierland, yet somehow at WDS different rules apply. I have a nasty feeling they're gonna mess this up, I mean, even Toon Studio and Hollywood Blvd. are certainly not perfect and could have been alot better. Hmm, feeling very pessimistic this morn.

[soundtracker]

Wow, this all seemed to come out of the blue, didn't it!

As has already been pointed out, a significant proportion of these rumours have been doing the rounds for some time now, but it's nice to have them all collated into one report, and there are still some surprising titbits in there. The news that the Ratatouille dark ride might use the Hunny Hunt GPS system has me very excited!

La Rouquine can confirm that a POTC addition to the Tram Tour has been in the planning stages for a little while now, so that's quite likely to go ahead. Oh, and they'll be changing the direction in which the trams circulate through the ride.

I don't think we'll be seeing all the changes listed by loaloa, but with the 20th Anniversary fast approaching, I'd be amazed if some of the bigger projects don't get off the ground soon.