What’s next for Disney’s Hollywood Studios? That’s a question that’s getting asked a lot these days. The local paper has pitched the idea of it being a park in transition. Which is true, but the question is, transitioning to what? While certain areas have closed… Read More »What’s next for Disney’s Hollywood Studios
2015 is shaping up to be a big year for Star Wars fans. It really gets going with Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and ends with a December release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Dates for the 2015 event were just released.… Read More »Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios 2015 Dates
The huggable white robot Baymax from Big Hero 6 has become the must-have toy from the movie. While the movie is digitally animated, you may be want to make a copy for yourself. Thankfully, Disney’s latest Learn to Draw lesson will show you how. To… Read More »Learn to Draw: Baymax from Big Hero 6
Whoa. Stop the presses. Sources are telling local news that Disney has made a deal with Turner Classic Movies that will involve Disney content appearing on the TCM channels and a makeover for the Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Turner Classic Movies will… Read More »Turner Classic Movies to sponsor Great Movie Ride in new Partnership with Disney
The off-season is not usually a time when we see a lot of new t-shirt patterns appearin in stores at Walt Disney World, but there are two exceptions to that this time. First, it’s the holiday season and boy do we have some doozey’s of… Read More »T-shirt Update from Downtown Disney World of Disney
A few weeks ago, we went over some of the possible scenarios for expansion at Disney’s Hollywood Studios along with completion of on-going and announced projects (Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it). Yesterday, news dropped of a deal that will make it all possible.
What we didn’t mention in those posts was a rumored mega-land purchase by Disney that some fans were saying was a clear sign of a fifth gate being built. I didn’t want to breath life into any crazy rumors like that, so I ended up not posting that story. However, events have changed my mind.
As Walt Disney said about building in Florida, Disney has the blessing of space. 43 square miles is just a little larger than the city of San Francisco. But what you may not realize is that quite a bit of that area is dedicated to wetlands and conservation. Most of the resort that isn’t are already developed is zoned for conservation (see map below).
Read More »Disney World makes land grab for additional resort development
He’s an alien who knows how to get into trouble. But in the end everything is alright because Ohana means family. Our learn to draw subject this week is Stitch from Disney animated feature Lilo & Stitch. Today we’re led by Character Artist Heather Worley… Read More »Learn to Draw: Stitch
In part one of our look at the future of Disney’s Hollywood Studios we examined what changes have already been announced by Disney and those that are rumored to be in the offing. In short, depending on how much money Disney is willing to invest and how fast, Central Florida’s original studios park could be in for a massive makeover.
Before we go any further, I want to repeat, that I don’t have any particular insider knowledge of plans or upcoming announcements. What follows is my learned hypothesis based on available evidence and informed guesses (aka rumors) from sources I trust. Some of this is more speculation than solid info and I’ll try and indicate that when and where I can.
Let’s start with one piece of information that would be a natural result of the changes coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios losing its ‘studios’ theme. The name will have to change. I think there’s one clear favorite for a new name – Disney’s Hollywood Adventure. It captures the shift in theme from making movies, to being a part of them. Instead of learning how the movies are made, we get to celebrate them and all the magic they inspire. This will let the park keep its two main Hollywood themed thoroughfares, expand Pixar Place (which physically is in Emeryville, not Hollywood, but emotionally it’s the same place) and perhaps add on one or two others. You might see some other Hollywood icons come to the park. El Capitan theater, which Disney owns, and the Carthay Theater, which has ties to Disney history and Disney has used as California Adventure’s main icon seem like two likely candidates. But don’t expect them to get too carried away.
Of course, a new name like “Mickey’s Adventure Park” could come out of left field too. That would indicate the park is in for a major re-imagineering. It’s not outside the realm of possibilities, but not the strongest candidate at the moment either.
When people ask me about what’s going to happen at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, I have a certain spiel I provide to give some context to the question. This will help set up some of the financial and timeline issues. The budgets that control those are almost always in flux until they’re not, and the attraction opens. Sometimes, Imagineers get creative with budgets and good things can happen too.
This all starts with some things Disney CEO Bob Iger had been saying to The Walt Disney Company’s investors, that after dropping a lot of money on DCA, New Fantasyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland, the capital expenditures (read: theme park expansion) would be vastly reduced for a few years with only Disney’s Animal Kingdom (for both Avatar and the Nighttime show additions) and Shanghai Disneyland getting the funds. If you look at Disney’s stock price right now you’ll see that investors are very happy with the company and expect its value to continue to rise. In their minds, Iger has been a great steward of their money. So they’re probably pretty psyched he’s planning on sticking around for another year or so.Read More »Disney’s Hollywood Studios – A Timeline for the Future (part II)