^The problem with keeping it looking new is the European weather, it just causes it to deteriorate at a much quicker rate compared to in the States. In the last few years they've been changing a few materials used to see if it helps the longevity of the theming, hopefully it works out for them. The restaurant situation is silly though and I hope they make some changes for at least the busy periods of the year.
I wasn't sure if I should post the following rumour because to me all sounds like a fanboi getting excited over nothing but it may be of interest to some of you.
Link to full English article
Things to note:
- Money is on it's way from Walt Disney Company after a long period of research was created on the state of the resort
- There will be 4 celebrated seasons from 2015. Spring (started this year), Summer, Halloween and Christmas
- All hotels will receive and extensive refurbishment. Santa Fe, Sequoia have already been finished, they recently started work on Newport Bay.
- Disney Village will receive a retheme to modernise it and get a new iconic restaurant.
- Disneyland Parc will receive lots of refurbishment projects.
- Space Mountain will be closed for 6 months in 2015 to possibly return it to it's original theme and new trains will be added.
- Some point in 2015-2016 Star Tours will be upgraded to the new version
- Big Thunder Mountain will go under 2016/17 to add a further car to each train to increase capacity.
- The lake may be drained to fix the geyser effect in Frontierland
- Walt Disney Studios will receive an extensive retheme similar to what happened at California Adventure.
- Backlot to become a Marvel themed land. Rock 'n' Rollercoaster to become Spiderman based (though I've also heard Iron Man mentioned)
- Stunt show to become a Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D stunt show
- Armageddon to be themed to Fantastic Four
- General re-theme of the area to turn it into a Stark expo/New York scene
- For 2017 season
- 2018 will see Toy Story Midway Mania added to Toy Story Playland (this has been mentioned previously by the CEO shortly after Playland opened)
- Front lot, Studio 1, Animation Courtyard and Hollywood Boulevard to receive new theming/re-imagining to make them more immersive areas
After 2017/18 will could be seeing any of the following:
- New 2000 seat theatre to the right of It's a Small World for a new 365 day show
- Studios to gain seasonal events again
- Star Wars Land to be added around Star Tours (if based on old rumours this includes Pizza Planet and Captain EO buildings)
- A Soarin' based attraction will be added to Adventureland, possibly themed to Indianna Jones
- Pirates of the Carribbean area could see some Jack Sparrow additions
- Studios to get a new Avengers themed E-ticket similar to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Island of Adventure
- Studios to get a new hotel attached to the park
- Hollywood Boulevard will get a new working tram to transport guests up and down
- The final plan for the Studios is Avatarland
A lot of this is rumours from years ago but apparently has been recently confirmed from several sources over the past few months.
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My opinion is that a lot of it is just necessary refurbs. I think the plan to add more seats to Big Thunder is genius and will definitely make a huge impact.
Star Tours II to open after a new Star Wars movie makes so much sense and might pay off for the resort (rather than opening before the new movie).
I think it's interesting there's no news/rumours on the future of the Tram tour (so much work needs doing to that attraction to bring it up to scratch).
I loathe Soarin', it's just a very boring attraction and it just gets long lines, I don't see why it gets so much love. So to see that coming to Adventureland instead of the proper Indy ride would really upset me.
The Marvel area needs to happen, those IPs are so hot right now that for Disneyland Paris to cash in on them should do wonders for the park. You know Magic Kingdom is currently getting 4/5 hour waits for Anna and Elsa? Well Paris currently has Spiderman with several hour queues. It's a great way to test those waters.
I think turning the coaster into a Spiderman attraction is the wrong choice though, I think an Iron Man theme would work much better (but if this E-ticket is on it's way then I suppose it makes sense to keep him for that attraction).
A Shield stunt show sounds brilliant, but I loved a fan's idea of Armageddon being themed to them even more (imagine the space shuttle re-themed to the deck of the huge Shield ship).
I think Toy Story Midway Mania will be a waste of space, although popular, people might not ride Buzz Lightyear in Discoveryland any more as it's too similar and not as good. Unless that's what they want so they can use that space for something further down the line?
The new show next to It's a Small World is rather random, they already have two theatre's they don't use, why build a third?
Space Mountain I can't see them changing the name again but general improvements definitely won't be frowned upon, especially new trains.
Avatarland? I can't see it coming to Paris yet, I think they'll definitely wait to see how Florida's version is accepted before thinking about that. However I'm one of the few who think that Avatarland will look amazing, and it would definitely help bring some much needed greenery into the Studios.