5th Park inevitable ?

[The Pho]

I’ve always tried to find a number for how big the park was in Shanghai but always came up short. Was that ever discussed? Edit: 225? It seems a heck of a lot larger than that!

225 is pretty large, especially compared to the other castle parks. If you want to verify the number, you can use Google Earth to measure the area yourself.

 

[umichigan10]

I know, it seems humongous. I guess it looks even bigger though because there's so very few attractions.

So to your previous point they’d have to only double the size of the magic kingdom to get to that size. Let’s start digging!

 

[DanBoris]

225 is pretty large, especially compared to the other castle parks. If you want to verify the number, you can use Google Earth to measure the area yourself.

111 acres...

 

[PuppyJonathan]

111 acres...

View attachment 372820

Suddenly the park doesn’t look as huge as I thought it once did...

 

[Dfan79]

111 acres...

Whoa 111, that's all? Why does it feel like you have to take a Taxi to get to the castle then?

 

[YesterDark]

Not necessarily. There are people that still aren't using it, because they don't really know how to set it up and use it. Groups can't use it yet. People that only go once, there is no data on why they went once. People that only use cards and don't use MB, there is very little information on. And, lastly, people that use different logins (because they can't remember the old one) aren't connected in Disney's database. I'm sure they have some data (probably a lot), but it isn't complete, especially since they have little information on people that don't come back and why they don't come back.

They will still have a lot of data on repeat customers which is what I was responding too. Obviously no data set is perfectly complete, but they have other ways of finding things out. Data is a science and Disney is very good at it.

 

[sachilles]

A 5th gate will always be speculated upon(until built).

A lot of congestion we see now, is related to differed maintenance. I will be curious to see what park capacities are once star wars opens along with the other current projects.
It's now big enough that we can almost guarantee that some section will always be down for maintenance/re-imagination.

At some point it just might make sense to build a 5th gate, if only to mothball one of the four other gates(for a full re-imiganitaion). They are already cannibalizing prime real estate. Imagine being able to shut down one full park(of 5) so that you can take care of the big ticket maintenance issues.....say like a yeti. No guests to worry about during construction, creating all kinds of bizarre delays while you try to work on things. Create a demand for return visits etc., because your favorite park is closed this quarter, but not next.

All speculation. I think the recession is coming, and I speculate it will hit hard. I hope we don't end up with half built resorts sitting empty for years.....again.

 

[Doug M]

Imagine being able to shut down one full park(of 5) so that you can take care of the big ticket maintenance issues.....say like a yeti. No guests to worry about during construction, creating all kinds of bizarre delays while you try to work on things. Create a demand for return visits etc., because your favorite park is closed this quarter, but not next.

You are joking right? Anyone not local will not be able to a) afford the extra vacation time to go again the same year b) be able to afford a second flight, gas/hotel costs traveling again c) be able to afford park tickets and resort costs again
My bet is on all 3. It is already cost prohibitive to go every 4 or 5 years for those of us that live where flying is almost the only option.

 

[umichigan10]

A 5th gate will always be speculated upon(until built).

A lot of congestion we see now, is related to differed maintenance. I will be curious to see what park capacities are once star wars opens along with the other current projects.
It's now big enough that we can almost guarantee that some section will always be down for maintenance/re-imagination.

At some point it just might make sense to build a 5th gate, if only to mothball one of the four other gates(for a full re-imiganitaion). They are already cannibalizing prime real estate. Imagine being able to shut down one full park(of 5) so that you can take care of the big ticket maintenance issues.....say like a yeti. No guests to worry about during construction, creating all kinds of bizarre delays while you try to work on things. Create a demand for return visits etc., because your favorite park is closed this quarter, but not next.

All speculation. I think the recession is coming, and I speculate it will hit hard. I hope we don't end up with half built resorts sitting empty for years.....again.

That’ll make for nice photo ops and playgrounds for urban explorers if the reflections resort ended up as a shell on the old river country area.

 

[disnut4ever]

I guess if they include further developments it is over 200 acres. Which is still almost double what Magic Kingdom is currently. I'd love to have a Magic that has that much space. The crowds are dangerous for the little ones. Especially when it consists of some really rude ones.

 

[Captain Kittens]

I dont think they will create a 5th park..not any time in the foreseeable future. They are investing HEAVILY in new lands (Toy Story, Star Wars), new and revamped hotels, and adding rides to Epcot (Guardians and Ratatouille) as well as completely overhauling Spaceship Earth and its surrounding courtyard to make it more "modern, family and Disney". There is A LOT of money being thrown around right now at the current WDW location so I cant possibly imagine they have a 5th park in mind. The cost alone would be astronomical.

 

[ParkHoppers]

Plus after the 50th celebration how motivated will Disney really be to do the large things they are doing now.

 

[rteetz]

Plus after the 50th celebration how motivated will Disney really be to do the large things they are doing now.

Well not all of the Epcot stuff would be complete in time for 2021 if they go forward with the full redo.

 

[ParkHoppers]

Well not all of the Epcot stuff would be complete in time for 2021 if they go forward with the full redo.

That’s true. And hey I,m not complaining. I am surprised and over the moon with what has been done and what’s in the works. Plus I,m DVC and there a lot of new resorts here and on the way. All the new resorts alone could put enough new people in DW to warrant a 5th park. One can only hope.

 

[disnut4ever]

I would love to see the villain park finally come to realization. It seems like the merchandising alone could make it worth building.

 

[DBDiz]

At some point it just might make sense to build a 5th gate, if only to mothball one of the four other gates(for a full re-imiganitaion). They are already cannibalizing prime real estate. Imagine being able to shut down one full park(of 5) so that you can take care of the big ticket maintenance issues.....say like a yeti. No guests to worry about during construction, creating all kinds of bizarre delays while you try to work on things. Create a demand for return visits etc., because your favorite park is closed this quarter, but not next.

I can't fault your logic, but putting parks on hiatus for revamp/refurb/construction doesn't seem feasible. For example, if they closed Animal Kingdom to fix Expedition Everest, gut Dinoland USA and retheme, and possibly add a ride to Pandora, they would have to displace staffing for that entire time period (you could theoretically use them to staff said 5th gate but then you're severely short staffed once AK comes back online, not to mention Central Florida / metropolitan Orlando is already suffering an amusement park staffing shortage), they would still have the maintenance expenses for all of the the live animals without having park admissions dedicated to offsetting that park's expenses (a 5th gate would only cover expenses within its walls, not those of shuttered parks), and even if you were to close every Disney park in FL each for a year for upkeep, refurb, retrofit, and expansion just to justify the expense of building this 5th gate, you have a full 5th park at the end of that five year window with four other fully functional, expanded capacity parks also online. What do you with it?

 

[Idoc]

I dont think they will create a 5th park..not any time in the foreseeable future. They are investing HEAVILY in new lands (Toy Story, Star Wars), new and revamped hotels, and adding rides to Epcot (Guardians and Ratatouille) as well as completely overhauling Spaceship Earth and its surrounding courtyard to make it more "modern, family and Disney". There is A LOT of money being thrown around right now at the current WDW location so I cant possibly imagine they have a 5th park in mind. The cost alone would be astronomical.

I agree. All that’s being built now is essentially like building a 5th park.

 

[ChrisFL]

There's a new rumor that Disney is going to make a 5th park soon at WDW.

Based on the success of putting a California themed park in California, and a Paris themed area of their Disney Studios park IN Paris....they've decided the fifth park is going to be:

Disney's Orlando Adventure.......or DOA for short

 

[YesterDark]

Sigh. Yeah, take my like.

 

[WDW_Ding]

I can't fault your logic, but putting parks on hiatus for revamp/refurb/construction doesn't seem feasible. For example, if they closed Animal Kingdom to fix Expedition Everest, gut Dinoland USA and retheme, and possibly add a ride to Pandora, they would have to displace staffing for that entire time period (you could theoretically use them to staff said 5th gate but then you're severely short staffed once AK comes back online, not to mention Central Florida / metropolitan Orlando is already suffering an amusement park staffing shortage), they would still have the maintenance expenses for all of the the live animals without having park admissions dedicated to offsetting that park's expenses (a 5th gate would only cover expenses within its walls, not those of shuttered parks), and even if you were to close every Disney park in FL each for a year for upkeep, refurb, retrofit, and expansion just to justify the expense of building this 5th gate, you have a full 5th park at the end of that five year window with four other fully functional, expanded capacity parks also online. What do you with it?

Disney could just pay the idled employees. It is a better idea than any other alternative...