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View Full Version : What's In Store for the Festival Arena



dban3
08-01-2011, 09:03 AM
Now that big companies willing to pay the big bucks on "perks" for their employees are few and far between - Frontierland's Festival Arena (primarily a private corporate event location) sits idle for most of the year. Having been in there for the POTC 4 sneak preview last spring and seeing just how large the space is, there is room for a permanent ride or attraction. There are rumors of reclaiming this area for park expansion, is there a best guess of what to put in there?

SteveK
08-02-2011, 03:36 PM
Nothing for now from what I've read/heard via various sites. That being said, there were quite a few rumors a couple of years ago for an expanstion of Frontierland, with a mix of E, D and C attractions. I believe there was talk that one of the rides would be themed around Toy Story (Woody and Jessie). The good news is that there is clearly space to expand...really just depends on when the company is willing to invest more back into the park especially with the expansion/redux of DCA. I'd personally like to see them revitalize the rest of Tomorrowland (put the Rockets back up top, build a new ride where Innoventions sits now, do something with peoplemover track) prior to adding to Frontierland.

potzbie
08-02-2011, 11:13 PM
Speaking of re-utilizing under-utilized areas . . .
I will plug my idea.

In place of the old "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" building, which already is structured as a theater, I always thought it would be a great idea to use such a building (or any building which is theater-like in construction) as an all-day Disney film marathon.

The all-day program could have Disney shorts in the morning, and a rotating set of feature films later in the day.

Imagine this.
Monday: double feature, "Old Yeller" and "The Absent-Minded Professor"
Tuesday: double feature, "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" and "Summer Magic"
Wednesday: double feature, "Blackbeard's Ghost" and "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes"
etc.

It would be a great place to hang out on a rainy day.
It would be a great place to hang out on a hot day.
It would be a great place to hang out on a crowded day.

Don't you wish there was somewhere in DL or DCA where you could sit, out of the sun, in air-conditioning, for a half-hour or an hour?

oregontraveler
08-03-2011, 06:21 AM
I don't have any guesses, but there is potential. Even if a ride addition doesn't happen for awhile. I'm glad they are using it for other purposes: Pirates preview and the Family Fun Weekends. And if they do go ahead with moving Princess Fantasy Faire
over to the Carnation Gardens stage during the day, why not move the high school bands over to Festival Arena.

dban3
08-03-2011, 09:51 AM
What Disneyland (and DCA) lack is a stunt show. WDW has a couple of them. They do require space. Now if you want to keep with Frontierland theming, you could do a version of a wild west stunt show in the Festival Arena (I think Disneyland kind of did things like that way back when) but I'm not sure if the "California" market would be into this kind of thing over the long term. Of course "wild west" usually involves gun play and this would also be controversial. If you removed the "Frontier" constraints, it opens the options up quite a bit. Also, if they put on a show, they need to put in some kind of seating. That sitting on the ground stuff to watch the Pirates sneak preview really sucked.

candles71
08-03-2011, 01:09 PM
What Disneyland (and DCA) lack is a stunt show. WDW has a couple of them. They do require space. Now if you want to keep with Frontierland theming, you could do a version of a wild west stunt show in the Festival Arena (I think Disneyland kind of did things like that way back when) but I'm not sure if the "California" market would be into this kind of thing over the long term. Of course "wild west" usually involves gun play and this would also be controversial. If you removed the "Frontier" constraints, it opens the options up quite a bit. Also, if they put on a show, they need to put in some kind of seating. That sitting on the ground stuff to watch the Pirates sneak preview really sucked.

Knott's has a wild west stunt show. Being we go off season, mid week, it's usually about half full when we see it.

iceman559
08-03-2011, 02:10 PM
If I'm not mistaken, didn't/don't they have a little skit outside the Golden Horseshoe that involved guns? I don't think it'd be controversial, especially as it's historic. There are Pirates that shoot guns and Jungle Cruise skippers that shoot guns, and they don't seem to be a problem. I think the only thing that could make a stunt show in that style controversial is how "realistic" they make it. If they incorporate blood, language, anything like that, obviously then there might be problems, but I can't see Disney doing that. I think it's definitely an interesting idea to have a stunt show over there, but I can't say as though I personally would ever go see (except maybe once to say that I have).

Also, I don't think the area is big enough for much more than one or two attractions (unless they are really small). That part of the park isn't much bigger than two Thunder Mountains, if at all. So, if they want to put in more than an attraction or two, they would definitely have to push Rivers of America over (highly unlikely), move Thunder Mountain (even more unlikely), demolish the Princess Fantasy Faire (unlikely, but slightly plausible), or expand underground outside the park boundaries. I can't see Dsney doing any of the tree former, or spending the money on the latter, so I expect if anything is infact done, it probably wouldn't equate to more than maybe a single themed ride of some kind.

SteveK
08-04-2011, 09:47 AM
If I'm not mistaken, didn't/don't they have a little skit outside the Golden Horseshoe that involved guns? I don't think it'd be controversial, especially as it's historic. There are Pirates that shoot guns and Jungle Cruise skippers that shoot guns, and they don't seem to be a problem. I think the only thing that could make a stunt show in that style controversial is how "realistic" they make it. If they incorporate blood, language, anything like that, obviously then there might be problems, but I can't see Disney doing that. I think it's definitely an interesting idea to have a stunt show over there, but I can't say as though I personally would ever go see (except maybe once to say that I have).

Also, I don't think the area is big enough for much more than one or two attractions (unless they are really small). That part of the park isn't much bigger than two Thunder Mountains, if at all. So, if they want to put in more than an attraction or two, they would definitely have to push Rivers of America over (highly unlikely), move Thunder Mountain (even more unlikely), demolish the Princess Fantasy Faire (unlikely, but slightly plausible), or expand underground outside the park boundaries. I can't see Dsney doing any of the tree former, or spending the money on the latter, so I expect if anything is infact done, it probably wouldn't equate to more than maybe a single themed ride of some kind.

Yes, there was a show that involved a shootout between the good and bad guys. Our PC world has taken the fun out of that nowdays.

As for the expansion, the talk at one time was pushing outside the berm ala Pirates of the Caribbean, HM and Indy and utilzing the space where the Circle D ranch now sits...that would give them a ton of space as you could probably fit all of the dark rides from Fantasyland in that much space.

The Fantasyland Theater isn't going anywhere. Strong rumors point to it getting new life for a show of some type...something Disneyland really needs. Wonder if we'll hear anything at D23?

SteveK
08-04-2011, 09:55 AM
Speaking of re-utilizing under-utilized areas . . .
I will plug my idea.

In place of the old "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" building, which already is structured as a theater, I always thought it would be a great idea to use such a building (or any building which is theater-like in construction) as an all-day Disney film marathon.


Don't you wish there was somewhere in DL or DCA where you could sit, out of the sun, in air-conditioning, for a half-hour or an hour?

Can't see Disney ever doing this nor do I see the general public wanting to sit for an hour to watch older Disney movies. The animation building is right across the "street" from it and it's plenty cool enough to relax. I'd prefer they use the space for either a ride or new show ala Philharmagic, Voyage of the Little Mermaid or even One Man's Dream. Don't see any of that happening...guessing Disney will let it stay as is for awhile and utilize it for special events.

Same thing with the old food court where Flynn's Arcade is now. So much unused space in that area..prime real estate for new rides at some point

iceman559
08-04-2011, 11:29 AM
As for the expansion, the talk at one time was pushing outside the berm ala Pirates of the Caribbean, HM and Indy and utilzing the space where the Circle D ranch now sits...that would give them a ton of space as you could probably fit all of the dark rides from Fantasyland in that much space.

Yeah, if they go underground to get outside the berm or what not, they would definitely have plenty of space to have a decently sized expansion. I just can't see them doing it for financial reasons. At least not anytime soon that is. I'm sure they'll want to start seeing returns from all of the DCA improvements before they start doing major work elsewhere.

dban3
08-04-2011, 11:45 AM
Same thing with the old food court where Flynn's Arcade is now. So much unused space in that area..prime real estate for new rides at some point

Which leads to an interesting point, whether its the unused space in DCA or what's available for the Festival Arena and the surrounding area, I think the first instinct for everyone is to build a new ride. Disneyland or DCA does not need another dark ride (unless they really want to take one "over the top"). Everyone complains about the off-the-shelf pre-fabbed rides, which leads to rides imagineered and contructed by Disney and their enormous expense. With Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (a C-ticket type attraction by most accounts) reportedly now costing about 100 million dollars, it seems that the future additions to DLR attractions would be shows and show buildings rather than rides.

SteveK
08-04-2011, 01:57 PM
With Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (a C-ticket type attraction by most accounts) reportedly now costing about 100 million dollars, it seems that the future additions to DLR attractions would be shows and show buildings rather than rides.

Supposedly that $100MM rumor is waaaay overblown has been debunked by "people in the know." Actual cost is somewhere around $38MM.

dban3
08-04-2011, 04:19 PM
Supposedly that $100MM rumor is waaaay overblown has been debunked by "people in the know." Actual cost is somewhere around $38MM.

You mean Disney Fan websites exaggerate and stretch the truth? I'm shocked. Let's see what Wikipedia has to say. :-)

racccoon
08-05-2011, 07:16 AM
They should make a stunt show there. That would be fun to watch and the kids would love it. Make it corny and with a lot of slapstick jokes. They can have Woody as the host.