Friday, June 11, 2010

The Invisible Tower...

Retro is better than old no?



Yes?



No?



Yes...



Maybe...


I'm sure most of you have seen the artwork for the new renovation of the Disneyland Hotel...

When the Mouse started working on this project they changed the names of the original hotel towers from the Sierra Tower, which is now Dreams (Adventure Tower in 2010), the Marina Tower, which is now the Wonder (Frontier Tower in 2011), and Bonita, that is now the Magic (Fantasy Tower in 2012). Notice that? Each tower will now be named after three of the original four lands of Disneyland. Four lands. Three towers?

Hmmm...

So what about a fourth tower named after the other land? A Tomorrow Tower. Well, that'll have to wait and see. When the original proposal for expanding the park was designed, there were plans to give the DLH an additional fourth tower during the makeover of the park, were the WestCOT designs to get approval. In addition to the other wonderful new hotels (a future post, btw) that were to grace a lovely curving Disneyland Drive, was a revamped version of the hotel that started it all. But we all know what happened to those plans.

But when WDI set about taking all three towers and giving them a retro-makeover, the initial plans were/are to turn the buildings into something akin to the 50's/60's version of the future just as the Contemporary Resort in WDW does. But with everything and every plan, there is room left for future development. And that is one of the bits of blue sky that could happen if and when the time is right.

Before the economy went into the tank, the Disneyland Resort had occupancy rates of close to 90%, compared to around 70% for the Walt Disney World Resort. Not bad, but as we know, when the recession happened there was a dip in spending and bookings. The rates haven't gotten back to those levels from a few years ago, but they don't appear to be decreasing any further. Should the economy start to take off and bookings begin to rise, then that expansion would move forward and a fourth tower would be become closer to being a reality instead of a fantasy. So there are three towers named after three of the original lands, a fourth tower would need a name that thematically went along with the other towers. I wonder what that name could/would be?

I guess we'll just have to find out tomorrow...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the new names.
much better than the generic wonder and magic.
and the monorail pool looks amazing!

Palker said...

The new names are definitely an improvement. Too bad the actual towers will be flashy contemporary structures that don't reflect their names.

You can experience the "amazing" monorail pool (sans monorail) at Legoland. While the "theming" is Retro Disney, the quality is Six Flags (generic structures with simple "themed" appliques. The overall pool area is even less themed than what many non-Disney resorts provide.

Honor Hunter said...

Think of the DLH as our version of WDW's Contemporary...

The Grand Californian is our counterpart to The Grand Floridian.

And perhaps there'll be something else announced or even being build when the new Disneyland opens up in 2012.

Time will tell...

PirateGuy 815 said...

I really love the new direction of the Disneyland Hotel. A perfect mix of retro, contemporary, nostaglia, and looking towards the future. Reminds me of the theme park it is named after.

I've always hated the Contemporary at WDW because I hated the modern look. I prefer this counterpart, as Honor called it.

And PS: Honor, you keep posting the tidbit of the new DLR hotel. I'm dying of curiosity!! Will you expound upon this soon?

Anonymous said...

...except that the Contemporary is definitely the ugliest resort at WDW besides the Pop Century, and one of the ugliest resorts I've seen period.

Anonymous said...

When you say tomorrow. Do you litterally mean tomorrow?

Nathan Birnbaum said...

I think you fail to understand what a metaphor is.

Mike Folf said...

The Tomorrow Tower: To be built sometime tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I very glad that the Disneyland Hotel is getting a remodel! :)
I love Disneyland so much.

Thanks for the post Honor, hopefully a fourth tower will someday get built. Its a shame to leave out "Tomorrow"

..And at the risk of sounding overly-sentimental and preachy, I have to say something;

I have been following your blog for a few years now, making comments off and on. Since I always label myself as "anonymous" you obviously never know when I make an appearance, but I've seen this blog go through changes as far as comments are concerned;
Hard to believe that initially no one noticed your blog at all, Over the years the comments have unfortunately been overtaken by trolls most notably Spokker and his miserable toadie "Spokkerfan" and of course there have been plenty of other condescending trolls who have labeled themselves anonymous.

Trolls come and go..and come again. Still, its a crap-shoot; I never know when a topic will bring in civilized people or if it will attract trolls and fighting. The curse of the Internet I guess. people have WAY too much freedom.

Its because of this that I have recently decided to stop leaving comments on this blog, and this will probably be the last one I make.

But thanks for your great Disney info, opinions, and your love of John Lasseter. I too have faith in all of the projects that he is associated with. I will still read you blog from time to time. Keep up the great work. :)

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be surprised if that fourth tower somehow involved DVC. The Grand Californian is almost sold out and if Disney is happy with those sales then they will be looking for more expansion opportunities. The Disneyland Hotel is the only logical choice right now unless they find other land to use.