Third Disney Property

WHY, given the grossly overcrowded parks, doesn't Disney build a third park? They certainly have the funds, and I'm sure Texas would have plenty of open land for sale plus the climate is agreeable to year-round tourism.

I love going to WDW, but the prices/crowds/lines plus the stress of overplanning just to get your highlights in has become a complete turn-off.

I do a lot of amusement park tourism, so I'm not some uneducated newbie.

Because the cruise ships have better margins?

T2 said:

I do a lot of amusement park tourism, so I'm not some uneducated newbie.

With your listed credentials, I'd recommend sending a copy of your full, original post to:

Robert A. Iger

Chief Executive Officer The Walt Disney Company

500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-4873.

He will be able to give you much better answers and will be much more responsive to your well thought out ideas on this topic than us uneducated newbies.

I didn't say anyone here was an uneducated newbie. I'd rather hear from park enthusiasts HERE than a corporate 'thanks for your suggestion' form letter.

^
Sure, because all of us combined, who make up at least .001% of Disney visitors, have the power to make Disney execs shake their heads and say "Why didn't we think of that"!

T2 said:

WHY, given the grossly overcrowded parks, doesn't Disney build a third park?

What, you mean like the ones in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai?

Alright, never mind. Apparently you'd all rather be smartasses than have a discussion.

T2 said:

WHY, given the grossly overcrowded parks, doesn't Disney build a third park? They certainly have the funds, and I'm sure Texas would have plenty of open land for sale plus the climate is agreeable to year-round tourism.

True, but...

Orlando was selected because major north-south and east-west expressways crossed there. And with no established major tourist attractions, land was cheap. (Except at the very end of land acquisition, after it had come out that Disney had been acquiring land. The last owners to sell raised their prices.)

It seems to me that an east coast and a west coast Disney resort is enough. Helps to position a Disney vacation as a multi-day destination rather than a day trip.

Well, let’s not forget about the ones that were proposed for St Louis and Virginia. For some (good) reason they reckoned Orlando should be the place to concentrate their efforts.

Lets also not forget that Disney World has four theme parks, two water parks, an entertainment district, and a buttload of resorts. Disney alone employs what, 60,000 people? Add to that everything that has grown around the surrounding counties on account of it. It may be a monster, but a prosperous one.

To think that building another Magic Kingdom in Texas would somehow ease crowds in Florida or give us someplace slow to sneak over to makes little sense to me.

Btw, I tried really hard to type this in my least smart-assiest tone.

I imagine it would be a really hard sell, population centers are on the coast, and midwesterners are in love with Florida. I can’t tell you how many people with young children I’ve suggested going to California instead of Florida as it will make their lives easier and the cost is about the same and the plane ride not much longer who still go to WDW. The plains and Midwest states do not have enough population density for a third Disney resort to work.

i would rather they focus on enhancing the resorts they have. After pausing for 10 years, WDW is currently building 6 E tickets in 3 parks and DL is building new lands in both its parks, they should keep doing that.

The weather in texas is far from hospitable year round. It regularly snows in large prts of the state during the winter and almost always has months of 100 degree heat. SFoT closes for the winter for a reason.

It's not so much the extremes in weather in Texas as it is their unpredictable nature. 50 degree swings in temperature from one day to the next are not unusual and multi-day rain events are not unusual in fall, winter, and spring. And this is particularly the case in the major population centers where a park could be located: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio/Austin.

I'm not sure that Disney sees the expensive investment of a third US property with huge operating costs as the answer to any perceived over-crowding problem, if they even see their crowds as a problem in the first place. They seem to be content to invest billions of dollars on new attractions, lodging (in FL), and infrastructure at their existing resorts.

Building in Texas would be expensive.

Building in Texas would cannabalise people from both US resorts.

I see no upside.

Yeah, I'm not sure what a third resort would do that adding to the existing resorts would not. It's not like there are a ton of people who would go to TX but not FL or SoCal.

Maybe the third park in Texas could be for poor people.

bigboy said:

It's not so much the extremes in weather in Texas as it is their unpredictable nature. 50 degree swings in temperature from one day to the next are not unusual and multi-day rain events are not unusual in fall, winter, and spring. And this is particularly the case in the major population centers where a park could be located: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio/Austin.

Also true. We lived in DFW for 11 years and my wife said there are two seasons: Hot and crazy.

I would be thoroughly on board with a Texas Disney park! It would force the two SF parks to up their game.

Disney doesn’t compete with regional parks like Six Flags. They’re different concepts all together.

I think I agree with you in general - not many people think about Six Flags as anything but a day trip, but for people already in the market, there probably is some competition. I mean, I'm sure in the LA market, people do decide between KBF, USH, and DLR. In the Orlando market there probably is more synergy (parasitism?) than competition between the wide variety of parks from WDW to USF to SWO to Legoland to Old Town and Fun Spot. That said, it's not clear to me that dropping a Disney park in the middle of Texas would cause those parks to build. They might just take whatever loss to competition and whatever gain to "rising tide lifts all boats" and carry on as normal...of they might just close up shop and leave.

Different concepts... yes. But businesses battling for the same dollar are absolutely competition. If a family opts for Six Flags passes and decides a trip to Disney isn't necessary, then they compete with each other. Competition doesn't have to be direct.