Friday, July 3, 2015

Will Disney Announce at D23 Expo a Ten Year $3 Billion Overhaul for Disney's Hollywood Studios ?


Will Disney announce next month at the upcoming D23 Expo a ten year $3 Billion overhaul of  WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios? According to Billy Donnelly's article on his This Is Infamous website, the answer is yes. Billy even calls this huge $3 billion overhaul “the biggest theme park expansion Disney has ever set out to do” adding that full information on what is in the plans for the new Disney’s Hollywood Studios will likely be announced at D23 Expo this August during the Parks and Resorts awaited presentation.

Billy also say that this $3 billion massive overhaul of the DHS has been approved by Disney’s board "complete with rebranding to better reflect the shift away from how movies are made to more how they live and breathe inside of us. Along with that money, we’ll be seeing the park dominated by STAR WARS, Pixar and Indiana Jones as a great deal of the park’s older attractions are put out to pasture and about six new ones are ushered in".

So, in addition to the attractions that their closure has already been announced ( Magic of Disney Animation, American Idol ) more will be shut down like Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular or Muppet Vision 3D to make room for the new ones coming all along these ten years plan. I'm a bit surprised about Muppet Vision 3D so take this with a pinch of salt as he may be wrong on this one. In the attractions which are "sure to stay" we have of course The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania - which should double its track soon - and the Great Movie Ride which received a renovation recently thanks to Turner Classic Movies sponsorship. 

However, the most important is what is coming starting by the awaited Star Wars land "that should inject some new energy into the park, with two new STAR WARS attractions tapped to be in the works, including a Dagobah centerpiece for where Echo Lake and Gertie the Dinosaur currently reside. Details on what those attractions will be have managed to escape me for now, but, with STAR TOURS and the Jedi Training Academy, which I hear will be relocating indoors to an existing building, already in place, you’re looking at four STAR WARS attractions on the ground inside the park, not to mention the possibilities for dining and shopping experiences that would mimic what you’d encounter in that galaxy far, far away."


The good news, if Billy is right, is about Indiana Jones as, even if the Indy Epic Stunt spectacle will close, "Indiana Jones will not be staying away from Hollywood Adventure for too long… as an updated version of the Indiana Jones Adventure that can be found in Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, will be breaking ground in Florida finally."

The third new "land" will be a Pixar one with an expansion of the current Pixar land which will include three new attractions being added without counting the expansion of Toy Story Mania currently in the works. Billy sources told him that in fact "construction may already be underway, hidden from public view where the Studio Backlot Tour used to exist. That would make the time from announcement to completion feel much shorter, a strategy Universal has successfully employed in recent years for their theme parks."

All of this should be revealed at D23 this August in greater detail so we won't have to wait too long to know if he's right or not. My guess is that it's "probably right". Billy even have a "one more thing" saying that all this "doesn’t even include the new nighttime show being lined up for EPCOT to replace Illuminations or the new attraction that will be kicking Journey Into Imagination to the curb.

So, if all goes well, plenty of good news coming soon and you can read Billy full article HERE.


6 comments:

Mark Hickson said...

Good thing I have a Press Pass to D23!!

Tom said...

This sounds so great!

So the new name would be "Disney Hollywood Adventure"? I like it! :)

A whole new Star Wars themed land, Indiana Jones Adventure and new Pixar attractions. Wow, then this park will finally be really worth visiting! The "attractions" that close to make room for new ones are of course not really attractions, they are just thing to keep people busy while waiting for their fastpass time slots for the real attractions ;)

I hope they will throw out or totally update Muppet Vision too.

This sounds so promising, as 3 billion dollar is what is cost to build dlp at the time, right?! ;)

So exciting!!!

Anonymous said...

Cool, exciting, hope it's all true! Need more Disney rides though. Also hope they get rid of the word Hollywood in their title; it's passé and lame.

Anonymous said...

This sounds pretty cool. I was under the impression that changes would be less exciting (adding Toy Story Playland over the old backstage tour, replacing some Echo Lake with Star Wars Land, and that'd be about it). Indiana Jones Adventure is definitely exciting although I wish they'd keep the stunt show as the two could compliment each other and it is a really good show. And I'll definitely be sad to see the Muppets go, tho maybe they could put a Muppet show back in the Littler Mermaid theater or somewhere else?

Right now California is the better resort to me because of Indiana Jones and Snow White's Scary Adventures (and the other fantasyland rides). Between the rumored Indiana Jones Adventure, Be Our Guest, and Animal Kingdom, Florida might get ahead of California for me.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear about Journey into Imagination being replaced as it's a pathetic mockery of the classic original version, but they also really need to replace Ellen's Energy Adventure. It's so embarrassingly dated and lame.

Honor H. said...

Hey Alain,

Hopefully this is true but I'll be skeptical until August when D23 opens it's secret boxes, or it doesn't and the crowd starts booing and throwing things on stage.

I know that there are plans for the place, but I can't imagine them pouring that much money into the park. DHS may be the park most in need of care at the Florida Project, but it doesn't have near the problems DCA had and that only got 1.1 billion(as if "only" applies to numbers as high as a billion).

Presuming that Iger and Staggs have approved such a generous update, it would bode well for Tom as the successor to the throne. But I'll still wait until the new head of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts steps on stage in Anaheim next month before I throw a party... if they do then I'll join in as well.

Keep writing the great articles, Alain. I haven't heard from you in a while and hope you've gotten my last few e-mails.

Best,

HH