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[Kristof]

Numerous fan sites (including Disney Central Plaza, Parcorama, Micechat, D-Log etc...) are reporting that all future development (Star Wars Land, Marvel at the Studios, Toy Story Mania, Jack @ POTC, ...) have been put on hold by The Walt Disney Company.

As you know, TWDC purchased all the Euro Disney SCA debt last year...

Thoughts?

Read a full article on D-Log here.

[DLRP Roundup!]

I'm thinking temporary hold on spending, until now DLP had control over their own future and could pretty much set their own master plans. However TWDC weren't at crisis point and had to step in, they realistically could have left it longer.

I would imagine since its now on hold they're either going to come up with a master plan, or be considering a full scale buyout and return to TWDC control, the share price is sitting low. Oddly the financial market opened today up on Euro Disney SCA.

[Josh]

The buying of the debt last year seemed at the time like the best solution to DLP's funding problems. But it was easy to forget that the TWDC of today is not a risk taker or investor. So either we were tricked into becoming just another money generator for TWDC, or they want to change the resort's investment plans. But I think it's the former. :/

Come on, Iger. We need a big investment on the scale of the new DCA.

[Kristof]

I have a hunch they are indeed reworking the masterplans for both parks. Most investment that Euro Disney SCA has been doing lately were patches applied to fix local soar wounds, but without thinking about the bigger picture. Toy Story Playland and Ratatouille are well themed areas, but when you look at the rest of the park, they sit alone like an island in an unthemed ocean. It is definitely time that WDS is turned into a coherent park and yes, we need a project on the scale of DCA for WDS and even for Disneyland Park, on a smaller scale, to bring it to the 21th century.

[torstendlp]

In my opinion Kristof is quite correct - and I go even further.
I count this as a good omen, that TWDC has finally realised that the way of only going by small steps will not help to build something sustainable for DLPs future.
I think together with moving the credits to TWDC and the rumours brought up some time ago by Times Magazine about the possible buyout, it looks like the reason for putting everything on hold is that they want to stop to do fast, only reacting decisions and first want to create a sustainable masterplan with a real concept for the future - back to acting instead of only reacting to errors.

Hope I am right with this

[ed-uk]

It's business as usual at DLP.  Star Wars Land, Marvel Land and Toy Story Mania were just rumours and speculation anyway, Euro Disney has been investing heavily in their hotels, refurbishing them and work continues on Disney Village, Ratatouille opens next year and they are also involved in  a big project called Village Nature with Pierre & Vacances.
I'm not clear what future development has been put on hold.
There won't be in my opinion  a  DCA style make over of the WDS because it would cost to much,  although i would love to see it happen.

[DLRP Roundup!]

We possibly don't need to wait too long to hear much on this, Q3 Sales release is due on August 6th, could this be in preparation for an announcement, in time to have something in play for the annual financial report - which also should be stronger than the first half one in May?

[ed-uk]

I always look forward to their financial statements to see how well Euro Disney is doing. The summer season is very important to them and hopefully bookings have been good, but the European economy isn't doing that great at the moment. I don't think Euro Disney will be announcing anything other than the financial results on the 6th. We might get a better picture of future projects, rides and attractions, after Ratatouille has opened in the Studios, don't know what master plan they will be using though.  Just my thoughts.

[torstendlp]

I must admit I am bit scared of this years Q3 results - I have seen too many photos from weekdays in June (and July), when the Parks, especially Walt Disney Studios, looked much emptier than I would ever have expected in Summer.
Yes, on weekends it was crowded - but during the week somtimes only 45 minutes waiting time for Crush etc. does not seem to be a good omen to me...
But I hope I am wrong and they present numbers better than I expect  [-o<

[15MagicalYears]

This is really interesting! I do hope it's due to WDC completely changing the masterplans Euro Disney had planned. I know ED had been investing in the hotels but The Santa Fe, now almost complete, is still looking shockingly below Disney Standard, it still looks so cheap!

[torstendlp]

I know ED had been investing in the hotels but The Santa Fe, now almost complete, is still looking shockingly below Disney Standard, it still looks so cheap!

Does it?
In my opinion (but I can only judge from photos because I have never seen them "live") hotels like the All-Star-Resorts in WDW look even much cheaper that the Santa Fe. So if I would think that they look even more below Disney Standard.
And I only mean this by theming and overall look, NOT by the state the hotels are in, which in Santa Fe was really shocking in many parts before renovations.

But I do have a complete different opinion about Santa Fe's look than most other people
I never really liked staying there, because it didn't really like the rooms, restaurant etc.
BUT I always loved the original architectural concept of the outside and I think Predock as architect did a great job with all the hidden things and ideas - but Disney let it come down in the years after 1992 and destroyed the theming step by step, with repainting the buildings etc.
And the renovations even made it worse. The outside not does not have any consistent theming at all anymore now.
The only way would have been to either give it a complete new theming on the outside, too, like Cars of course to fit with the inside, but not by only adding a few fences on the roofs etc. but by transforming it to a Radiator Springs Hotel.
But as DLP didn't have the money for that I would have loved if they had reset the outside back to Predocks great architectural ideas and just lifted up the rooms to better quality.