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[experiment627]

According to dlrpmagazine.com there actually was quite an important announcement made: the expansion of Disney Village ...

We already know of the parking garage and the IMAX, of course, which will be the starting signal for things to come in 2005...

There are also plans for quite a huge convention centre, another Val de France hotel -- and in the long term, even two new Disney hotels!!!

Take a look at these amazing model shots that can be found at dlrpmagazine's forum:









 :shock:  :shock:

[Kristof]

Another hotel... should I be glad or sad?  :?

[Anthony]

I know what you mean Raptor.  I'm all for a proper DV expansion with new shops/restaurants/entertainment, but i really don't like the idea of any more hotels.  If they do build another hotel i would hope it would be a proper Disney one so that DLRP would actually (hopefully) see some money back from it.  A 5th VdF hotel would really affect all the hotels, especially those such as Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe.  As i see it, people either want a really cheap hotel (VdF Kyriad) or if they want to pay more then they think that they may aswell pay enough to get a really good Disney experience (eg. Sequoia and above).  This may not be that noticeable, but i can see the lower-end Disney hotels really suffering from lack of repeath visitors if another cheap VdF hotel opened.

Anyway, enough about hotels!!!  WHAT ABOUT ATTRACTIONS!!??? All this Disney Village expansion is good but what about the parks?!  That's what people visit for, and a few more restaurants or shops in Disney Village won't get more people to visit or stay longer will it?

As i see it, Disney Village does need serious expansion to cope with the amount of people that will (or *should*) be visiting the resort in the next few years, but i think that DLRP should also have serious expansion plans in place for the parks.  What's the point in planning where the people can stay if they don't plan ahead with something in the future to get people to the resort and fill those hotels?  :x

[Kristof]

Well, some extra stuff in the Disney Village wouldn't  be bad, but I don't think it's a priority... If they make sure the toilets are clean everyday in Disney Village, it would be already a huge thing...  :wink:

[experiment627]

I'm all for new hotels. Bring them on! Disney's hotels have an amazing occupancy rate with far more than 80% (the average occupancy rate in Germany for hotels is about 35 - 40%!!!!)
By that, they're probably enjoying a great ratio of costs and revenues. That's probably also the reason why they are getting that many partners for hotels at Val d'Europe and Val de France.

Besides, this whole Disney Village expansion program seems to be HUGE and will probably take till (I guess) 2010 - the least.
The first hotel that might open could be the new hotel next to the convention centre ... the centre is supposed to open in the next two to three years. So that would be just logical.

And please don't even start the "but we want rides"-thread. Disney doesn't have to announce new attractions that early. ... But the Disney Village expansion is a major infrastructure project. (Which is probably also a reason why talks with the banks are so difficult - Disney needs more cash!!!).

I'm really looking forward to this bright new resort. Add to that maybe a nice promenade to the heart of Val d'Europe, the new Lake Buena Vista (I just can't call it Lake Disney) hotel and the Center Parcs Resort... wow - this just sounds amazing...

[fortherone]

Sorry, experiments, but more hotels mean more visiors, or not? And where should they go to? Joining the queues in front of Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain etc.? If dlrp grows, it should grow equally, I mean: More hotels, more attractions and a bigger village makes sense.

[experiment627]

Hello fortherone,

I can understand your point of view - I too would love to see a couple of new attractions.

However: new hotels don't necessarly mean that the resort reaches its capacity.
Disneyland Park has a capacity of just under 70.000 guests (if you really want to squeaze them in, I think the park could even hold 80.000) per day. Currently, it reaches these levels just on a few days throughout the year (Halloween, Christmas Day, Easter Weekend, New Year's...) There are many under-developed seasons, in which one-day-guests are hard to get. Judging from the current occupancy rates of the hotels at the resort, one can see that they are going strong almost all year round. A few thousand beds more would not change that by much (actually, with all the new hotels opening, and the bad economy for tourims I was surprised to see that the Disney hotels only had a slide drop in their occupancy rates last year) - and they could use their capacities better during the off-season.

You should also not forget that the first of the new Disney hotels is supposed to be a business travel hotel right next to the new convention centre. I doubt that the clientele they're aiming at will affect park attendance much (except for after-hours special events).

And: the resort has actually lots of capacity, that's not being used. (Did any of you have to wait more than 30 minutes for Rock'n'Rollercoaster???) You could also "activate" a lot of capacity that's not used right now, like operating a second riverboat in Frontierland or having a second day-time parade (like they used to have in the 90's). And then there's Autopia, Les Pirouettes du Vieux Moulin, the Keel Boats...

Of course, a new attraction is wanted and maybe needed to attract people to the resort. But not to add capacity (well, at least not as primary reason), but to get people to visit the parks - and these shiny new hotels.
So I rejoice when I hear them planning new hotels (besides that they fill Euro Disney's coffins a lot better than any new ride could). Besides that this is actually changing the resort's infrastructure (which is a HUGE aspect), new rides and shows might be a small benefit of these added rooms on property...