Jim Hill
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The Magic Kingdom's New Tomorrowland
Heartened by the public’s response to their low budget redo of Future World, DDD’s managers ordered the Imagineers to scale back their plans to the redo of Tomorrowland at WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Spending the least amount of money possible, WDI ended up putting in just two new attractions (One of these, “Timekeeper,“ was actually a slightly Americanized version of a Disneyland Paris attraction,“ Le Visionarium.“ Sadly, this charming little show closed at WDW earlier this month. Apparently for good), altering the cosmetic appearance of the area, then changing the names of most of the remaining Tomorrowland’s attractions. Beyond that, this Magic Kingdom land was basically the same. Still, the WDW Press & Publicity department worked their magic again and sold this slight retheming to the public as an "all new Tomorrowland.“ Once again, the people bought it and attendance shot up at WDW’s Magic Kingdom that summer.
These economic redos may have pleased Disney Company management, but they really disheartened the Imagineers ... particularly those working on WDW’s next big project : a fourth theme park. Would DDD’s constant pressure to keep costs down and cut corners creatively compromise their plans for Disney's Animal Kingdom? Those folks who have been patiently waiting for three years now for WDW to finally greenlight construction of DAK's "Beastly Kingdom" area would probably answer that question in the affirmative.
Yet -- as attractions for the parks were scaled back -- construction on hotels on property at WDW was moving ahead at flank speed. And it continues even today -- with this month's opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, December's opening of Disney's Pop Century Resort as well as the Disney Vacation Club driven expansion of Disney's Yacht & Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge.
The Wilderness Lodge Villas for the Disney Vacation
Club
Is this really a sound way for the Mouse to do business? Putting low cost attractions like the recently opened "Flying Carpets of Agrabah" at the Magic Kingdom or the soon-to-be-opened "Tricera-Tops Spin" at Animal Kingdom, while blowing big bucks on building new hotels on property?
When questioned about this, Disney officials point out that attendance levels for its Florida theme parks have -- year in and year out -- remained consistently strong. When attendance at the parks actually starts to dip, maybe then we'll finally see a "Fire Mountain" come off the drawing board.
In the mean-time, seeing as people are willing to pay a lot more for hotel rooms than they are for theme park admission, Mickey continues his on-property building boom.
But one has to wonder: How soon after "Pop" opens will this building boom bubble finally burst?
Discuss It
-- Jim Hill
Jim Hill can be reached using the Talkback form below or by emailing him at [email protected].
Jim Hill is this guy who lives 'way out in the woods of New Hampshire. (Hey, it's not like he wants to live there. But the Witness Protection Program has got rules, you know.) He has one beautiful daughter and three obnoxious cats. When he's not looking for real work, Jim writes about the Walt Disney Company and related matters for LaughingPlace.com, AmusementPark.com, "Orlando Weekly" and Digital Media FX.
The opinions expressed by Jim Hill, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the past decisions and future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted May 30, 2001