Friday, September 12, 2008

The Competitors...


I know we've talked before about the competition the Mouse has and how it will intensify over the next few years, so I thought we'd look at what we can count on giving Mickey a run for his money. Not surprisingly, many of these projects are in the East...









































































25 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow this stuff looks amazing!!! Disney needs to step up their game FAST!

Matt said...

Wow... I kinda want to go to Dubai. Then again, I kinda wish I had a couple billion dollars.

Oddly enough, those two go hand in hand.

Honor Hunter said...

Actually, I only posted a few things from Dubai. I could have made the entire article about it alone. What's going on there is huge. But the East is where things are happening. There's a lot of construction specifically in Asia now. That's why Disney is there. That's why you're going to see a much greater focus there over the next decade...

Anonymous said...

Is that Worlds of Discovery (Seaworld) in Dubai Land going to be an island? Shaped like a dolphin?

If so, that's just cool.

I've been looking for information about SeaWorld (about the new resort and any potential buyers), so anything about that would be fine with me, because I love SeaWorld & Discovery Cove!



It's so exciting whats going on in Asia and Dubai Land.

Honor Hunter said...

Swatsi, yes and yes...

It is a man-made island and it is shaped like a dolphin.

You'll notice that it has Sea World, Aquatica, Discovery Bay, Busch Gardens and an entertainment complex. Nice, eh?

Anonymous said...

Great post as always, Honor. Those last pics were of "Harry's Island" in Singapore. It's cool as can be. Check out the YouTube video here.

Honor Hunter said...

Yes, "Harry's Island" would have been great...

It was one of the competing proposals for Sentosa Island in Singapore. It was rejected in favor of the one I showed with Universal Studios Singapore. I included it because the art is stunning. Hopefully someone, someday will build it or something inspired by it? Disney? Oriental Land Company?

You never can tell...

Anonymous said...

Ah Dubai,

If anyone plans to travel there. Be careful not to eat a poppy seed bun before your flight! It will land you a four year jail term with no questions asked if even on seed is found on your person

I aint going to Dubai unless their custom laws are changed!

Take a look

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article3333905.ece

Anonymous said...

Where do you find the concept art you've posted here? Is it just on web searches? Thanks for the great look at some of this stuff!

Eric Scales said...

Honor, can you explain what "the World" is?

Honor Hunter said...

See for yourself...

The World

While you're at it, check out The Palm.

Anonymous said...

Isn't there going to be DreamWorks Animationland in Dubai also?

I shudder to think about how much energy these parks will be using now in a time when energy costs are soaring. I hope they've all got windmills.

Anonymous said...

I think a dedicated article on Dubailand, with some higher res pics, would be great. Thanks - Tasman.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if there any headhunters trying to grab the few remaining TOP LEVEL Imagineers. While Disney has slipped in recent years, it's not due to the lack of talent that remains there.

If Disney doesn't get their act together and allow real creativity to flourish at WDI again, it wouldn't take too much for someone with big money (anyone associated with Dubai) to lure their frustrated best talent (and also maybe the mediocre if we're lucky) away.

Anonymous said...

Ummm... wow.

Eric Scales said...

My nagging concern with any of these, is how long will the money flow to maintenance once the thing is opened? It's one thing for investors to fork over the cash when they see this incredible artwork and fabulous models. It's another thing for what's designed to be easy to maintain and to be able to deliver day after day and year after year at a reasonable cost, and the same investors might balk at maintenance costs. Universal seems like the biggest concern. For me, Dubai's an unknown factor, but obviously rich enough to pull this off if they try, but Universal has shown they would prefer to build an attraction and then live off it for 20 years. I guess that was the old Universal, so who knows, perhaps the new Universal is much more in tune with what it takes to compete.

Anonymous said...

The projects I have seen for Dubai are amazing but I wonder who is going to go there. Is there enough interest/people in this region to sustain these parks? I hope so, but are they hungry for a "western hemisphere" type theme park. Recently, 2 british tourists were arrested for having sex on the beach in Dubai. Charges included public drunkeness, public indecency and sex outside of marriage. They could face 2 years if convicted and this has got to give western tourists pause in going to this region. I don't condone what any drunk fool does but 2 years is way over the line. I guess I'd hate to kiss my wife the wrong way or hold her hand or dance or some other crazy wacked out restriction that could put me in jail.

Anonymous said...

The long term prognosis of Dubai will be interesting. When the region's only source of wealth wanes, what will be left of Dubai?

Anonymous said...

Dubai is gonna be like the next biggest place to go.....Disney should be a theme park here next or they could be in trouble cuz this stuff looks awesome. BTW what is the busch gardens gonna be themed to?

Anonymous said...

I think it’s a bit late for Disney to get involved in Dubai. Unless they went WAY over the top, they could end up looking like DCA across from Disneyland.

With Disney’s recent track record, and the way they have apparently decided to finance new parks (through government support), there is probably little way that they could develop a park that would successfully compete with some of what other companies have slated there.

Anonymous said...

OK it all looks amazing, and Mickey better watch his back. However, the shot of Dubailand (picture #8 under "Dubailand)kind of looks a mess! The themeing is all over the place. Victorian buildings beside rocketships beside a western (barely)themed rollercoaster.
I hope it turns out better then the concept art.

Barry Wallace said...

It's sad when I hear about great, existing parks around the world (Tokyo DisneySeas) and all these amazing planned parks for Dubai, Singapore, etc - and knowing that I'll never see any of them. I can't imagine a single scenario that gets me out of the country, overseas and visiting a theme park.

Harry Potter at Universal, Orlando is high on my list of upcoming attractions, and I'd rather Disney (and other parks) concentrate on continually upgrading and plussing all the American parks than pour a ton of money into someplace halfway around the world 95% of Americans will never hope to visit...

Unknown said...

Barry, no matter where it comes from, money is the same the world round. Don't you think people in Japan once thought that about WDW or Disneyland? Don't they deserve to experience the same (or better as it may be) things Americans do?

Anonymous said...

Would a football fan say, gee, that team deserves to win next year. So I think we'll let them?

No.

There's nothing wrong with wanting the best for yourself so long as you don't wish harm on others.

Nothing wrong with wanting the best for America. That's how it got to be the best. K?

Anonymous said...

Ya, I'm a week or so late but this hurricane made a mess of things.

Do you have any more info on Harry's Island? Last I heard, Eighth Wonder was looking to build it somewhere else.