Is there any land left?

[Airamerica]

I've been looking at Google Earth and comparing the land mass that's been built on, with the 'official' resort and park maps and I wonder how much land is left that could be developed?

I'm told that a significant % of what's left has to be kept in its natural state.

With the Shades of Green resort being sold to the US government and land in the north east area of the property being lost to the Four Seasons development, 2 big parcels of land are now beyond Disney's direct control.

Taking into account the 4 existing parks, Wide World of Sports and the 'Downtown' area it doesn't seem like much is left (not to mention Celebration)... does this mean that the chances of a new park have now gone and that in future we're only likely to see the existing properties extended???

Is there an obvious area that could be developed?

[dead_Mau5]

When WDW was being constructed,Disney agreed with Orlando city council that a 1/3 of the resort's land would remain state protected wetlands.With this agreement still in place, one might suspect they are running out of room.

[aimster]

I'd rather see them fix the parks they already have before they build anything new.

[WDW Monorail]

[Airamerica]

I think that map proves the point!

[ORD84]

I think the days of Disney expanding out into their land and building a new park are over and have been over for sometime..however as the map above shows there's room for them to expand the resort properties and possibly build more hotels, golf courses, and maybe if the need proves there another water park but another big themepark? No that land is not there..

[MarkTwain]

I still think Disney's tendency to sell so much land, in particular the huge Four Seasons deal but also the Shades of Green property and all the DVC units, is a baaaaaaad move. It may be quick cash in the pocket for the short run (which, realistically, they don't really need), but that's land they're not getting back for decades, or even ever - meaning expansion they won't be able to do in the long run.

[Airamerica]

Well, I think they have a problem called Dubai - I've been shown the plans for Dubai Land and wow! It's not the same ethos a WDW, being a collection of theme parks from different operators but the scale is astounding.

What's more, the scale of the individual developments is mind blowing. Some buildings are over 1km across. That's a building! In the buildings are the theme parks or portions of them... Keep in mind that the total width of the Magic Kingdom is only .8km and that's open to the weather! They will have theme parks bigger that this, inside.

That's not to mention the ride technology that's being developed to keep people entertained. The 'dark rides' blow away anything in the entire WDW property.

I know that Dubai can't compete with Florida's history, heritage or romance but the new world is coming and it's close to Europe, where a big number of visitors currently travel to Florida. Dubai takes less time to travel to and it's well, frankly cleaner than Florida as it's so much newer.

Clearly, it's not going to happen overnight but in 5 years or so, WDW is going to feel the heat and I'm a bit concerned there's nothing planned to keep WDW in 1st place. I think it needs a big new park to compete but the land doesn't look to be there!

[Imagineer Scott]

They have a lot, a lot, a lot of land left to build on.

Does that mean there will be a future park anytime soon? Probably no. But just know that there is room for several more parks.

[MarkTwain]

Originally Posted by Airamerica

Well, I think they have a problem called Dubai - I've been shown the plans for Dubai Land and wow! It's not the same ethos a WDW, being a collection of theme parks from different operators but the scale is astounding.

What's more, the scale of the individual developments is mind blowing. Some buildings are over 1km across. That's a building! In the buildings are the theme parks or portions of them... Keep in mind that the total width of the Magic Kingdom is only .8km and that's open to the weather! They will have theme parks bigger that this, inside.

That's not to mention the ride technology that's being developed to keep people entertained. The 'dark rides' blow away anything in the entire WDW property.

I know that Dubai can't compete with Florida's history, heritage or romance but the new world is coming and it's close to Europe, where a big number of visitors currently travel to Florida. Dubai takes less time to travel to and it's well, frankly cleaner than Florida as it's so much newer.

Clearly, it's not going to happen overnight but in 5 years or so, WDW is going to feel the heat and I'm a bit concerned there's nothing planned to keep WDW in 1st place. I think it needs a big new park to compete but the land doesn't look to be there!

One thing I wonder about Dubailand is how sustainable the project is... and I don't mean ecologically. WDW started with just one park - and added more and more as the decades passed and its attendance grew on the existing parks.

Dubailand, on the other hand, is building this huge, massive multi-park resort twice as large as WDW (but without any of the natural preservation inside it), really for no other reason then because they can, but they don't truly know whether there will be the numbers to fill it all. Where will all the guests come from - there aren't enough wealthy sheiks in all of the Middle East to fill a resort that huge, and it's a little far to expect people to come in droves from Europe. And how will they staff it all???

Plus, it sounds like the nature of the project is at a questionable status.

Originally Posted by Imagineer Scott

They have a lot, a lot, a lot of land left to build on.

Does that mean there will be a future park anytime soon? Probably no. But just know that there is room for several more parks.

But Disney has sold much of that land - the northeastern and northwestern corners of the property, Disney has sold to Four Seasons and the military, respectively, and the rest of the resort is pretty much either already developed or "preserved". Only a few small developable patches of land remain (there's a map posted earlier in this thread) and none of the patches look large enough to fit a theme park in.

[thedisneyman]

I agree with Imagineer Scott, even with what has been sold there is a lot of land left. If you look at the map and look at the size of the theme parks on the map and compare with the yellow patches there is plenty of room for other theme parks on the property. I also agree that we'll probably not see it happen anytime soon. Who knows maybe they'll sell some more of the available land off.

I also wish that instead of planning a new theme park that they concentrate on the existing ones since all of them could always use plussing.

[lazyboy97O]

A lot of the Dubai Land projects have been put on hiatus. Even the already under construction Ferrari World has seen very little progress in the past year. I think the only projects still truly moving forward are the ones being funded by the Emir.

Do not forget that Disney also sold off Celebration.

[vfire]

Originally Posted by lazyboy97O

A lot of the Dubai Land projects have been put on hiatus. Even the already under construction Ferrari World has seen very little progress in the past year. I think the only projects still truly moving forward are the ones being funded by the Emir.

You're confusing Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Dubai's F1-X theme park is about half done but currently inactive with cranes just sitting out in the sand after the money dried up. Abu Dhabi's Ferrari Theme Park is 65% complete and on schedule to open late next year. The NYT just had an article with a pic and info:

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Offers Glimpse of Ferrari World - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

Dubai got hit hard by the global financial crisis so most of the proposed Dubailand is still just a plan and nothing more. The only things that have had work done is the Restless Planet dinosaur park to open in 2012 now (was originally to open next year), and Universal Studios which has only some preliminary ground work done (to open maybe in 2012 or later).

I think there is a market for some theme parks in the area as there isn't a world-class park within a 3,000 mile radius of Dubai/Abu Dhabi. The Ferrari Theme park will be the first and I think it's going to do great business if it's as good as the plans illustrate.

[PrincessIzzie]

I'd also like to see them expand and fix up parts of the existing parks before branching out on to new projects. I think perhaps AK could use a little TLC as I've seen many people on here voting it as their least-favourite park.

[WorldLover71]

We shouldn't underestimate the value of the Disney characters and the Disney way of doing things. At WDW, the parks are all different but the characters, common system of guest service and manner of presentation tie them all together. I don't think an enormous collection of un-related parks will have the same appeal. It's also too far away and expensive for most Americans and many Europeans. Once they get started, there will be lots of people checking it out once but I wonder about repeat visitors.