Disneyland Adelaide?

[BringADecentParkToSydney]

I know these article’s come out annually and never truly mean anything… but I was wondering if anyone had full access to it? 
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/mouse-of-the-south-wild-plan-to-bring-disneyland-to-adelaide-revealed/news-story/2c77d4d3c83e3e4b95e3643b20bceadb?amp&nk=ce93b60df67de56c6b9ed84a2ab24045-1659818442

Thanks

[Brad2912]

Creating the world’s seventh Disneyland resort in Adelaide was floated by key state economic advisers as an extraordinary opportunity to create a unique tourism attraction. 

The Disneyland concept was generated as a “thought bubble” during talks by the now-defunct Economic Development Board (EDB), under former Labor premier Jay Weatherill’s government.

But the plot did not thicken and the idea remained a Mickey Mouse scheme, with no site considered and no approach made to the Walt Disney Company in a bid to secure a licence.

“The idea was that there would only ever be one Disneyland in Australia – so why not Adelaide?” one former EDB member told The Advertiser.

The former economic adviser said the scheme remained “nothing beyond a thought bubble”.

Disney’s six resorts are in the US (Anaheim and Orlando), France (Paris), China (Shanghai), Hong Kong and Japan (Tokyo).

The Anaheim original Disneyland Resort, opened in 1955, is the Californian city’s biggest employer, generating 19,000 jobs. It attracted 18.7m visitors in 2019.

The 200ha site includes two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, entertainment and dining district.

The Disneyland Adelaide “thought bubble” concept was among numerous tourism ideas discussed by the EDB, which was an independent advisory board charged with generating plans for jobs and investment, after it was reshuffled by Mr Weatherill in 2014.

It is believed the southern Adelaide region was considered for potential sites but none was pinpointed.

The Economic Development Board was created in 2002 by then-premier Mike Rann and the body continued under Mr Weatherill, before being disbanded after Steven Marshall’s Liberal government won office in 2018.

Renowned Australian business leader Robert Champion de Crespigny was the inaugural chairman, while IT entrepreneur Raymond Spencer was the group’s final chairman. Other prominent members included former Liberal premier Rob Kerin, former Santos chief David Knox and Thomas Foods International chief Darren Thomas.

More than 16 years earlier, a secret deal to bringDisneyland to Queensland’s Gold Coast was being negotiated behind closed doors for more than two years but fell apart over an $845m dispute over costs.

In a letter to the-then Queensland premier Peter Beattie, Disney said: “For a Disney project to be feasible, it would require direct government support including land, infrastructure, tax incentives and capital dollars for construction costs of the theme park of at least $US300m ($427m) to $US500m ($713m), most likely toward the upper end of this range.”

But Mr Beattie replied by saying his government was not prepared to commit that money.
 

——————————————————

 

so in short it was a historical idea that didn’t get off the ground as it was ridiculous. 

[Guest 239]

Here's an article that expands on the situation a little bit more: Link here.

[Gazza]

Even if its not a Disneyland, they could do a water park on part of the site. Adelaide could support a gated attraction of that scale.

[Chalky]

Ardent Leisure recently sold its Main Event Entertainment centres to Dave and Busters, it would seems this now pave the path forwards to sell its Theme Park, Water Park and other assets such as significant adjoining land to Dreamworld.  On that basis could Disney be a potential acquirer of the Ardent Leisure assets.  It was recently reported that an entity was running through its books as reported near two months ago in the Australia News paper. 

Any thoughts on the above please. 

[jjuttp]

2 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

so why not Adelaide?

Because it's Adelaide? That should be reason enough between the shit wine, Port Pirie and the locals.

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Chalky said:

Ardent Leisure recently sold its Main Event Entertainment centres to Dave and Busters, it would seems this now pave the path forwards to sell its Theme Park, Water Park and other assets such as significant adjoining land to Dreamworld.  On that basis could Disney be a potential acquirer of the Ardent Leisure assets.  It was recently reported that an entity was running through its books as reported near two months ago in the Australia News paper. 

Any thoughts on the above please. 

We do not have the population or the tourist numbers to sustain a viable Disneyland theme park in Australia.

Disney also don’t take over existing theme parks - they are greenfield developments where they have full control and design over site from the first sod turn. 

The best we can ever hope so in Australia is that way day we may be a port for Disney Cruise Lines and in turn may see a Disney hotel, but even that seems highly remote given by our location on the globe and the vast expanse needed to get here 

[Chalky]

Thanks Parz Crew for the response.  I asked the question because it would seem that dreamworld has been an albatross around the neck of Ardent Leisure and considering the business has struggled and continues to struggle, it may be primed to be gobbled/broken up at some stage.  Regardless of the outcome it’ll be a win-win for the Gold Coast as money starts to be pumped back into the themepark to make it more competitive with its neighbouring theme parks.

However, come May 2023 I would not be surprised to have dreamworld and its other Gold Coast assets announced as being sold. 

[joz]

OMG what an embarrassing conversation to get leaked. Anything someone talks building a Disney Park it's normally pretty cringe but this is next level.

 

As an aside how shit would an Australian Disney park be? Like in 10 years it'd be as good as the Hong Park was when it opened. Maybe. They'd struggle to get more than 2million through the gates which I think would support a Guardians coaster in tomorrow land, a crush coaster and maybe a frozen dark ride in fantasy land with philharmagic, and Adventure Land you'd get Adventurer's down under tree house, Some Phoned In Wilderness Explorer shit (it would literally be called that on the park map) and a static boat in a pond. Day tickets $150, 2 day tickets $295

Edited August 7, 2022 by joz

[Tricoart]

6 hours ago, joz said:

As an aside how shit would an Australian Disney park be? Like in 10 years it'd be as good as the Hong Park was when it opened. Maybe. They'd struggle to get more than 2million through the gates which I think would support a Guardians coaster in tomorrow land, a crush coaster and maybe a frozen dark ride in fantasy land with philharmagic, and Adventure Land you'd get Adventurer's down under tree house, Some Phoned In Wilderness Explorer shit (it would literally be called that on the park map) and a static boat in a pond. Day tickets $150, 2 day tickets $295

Yet there'd still be Disney adults raving about how good it is, and going there daily til they've got nothing left in their bank account aside from the money they got from selling a map and a merch item on Ebay.

Edited August 7, 2022 by joz

[Guest 239]

17 hours ago, joz said:

As an aside how shit would an Australian Disney park be?

The closest thing we'd ever get would something close to the proposed Disney Wharf for White Bay which was essentially a themed shopping center with hotels. But I agree, a Chapek era Disneyland Australia would be woeful.

In saying that, I think Australia has capacity for something similar to Universal Singapore. We don't need anything huge, but if you could capture the same appeal of other overseas resorts without the hassle of international travel then it would do fairly well.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 07/08/2022 at 2:15 PM, jjuttp said:

Because it's Adelaide? That should be reason enough between the shit wine, Port Pirie and the locals.

I mean, yes - and no.

It does seem counterintuitive to build in Adelaide when Sydney, Melbourne and even Brisbane are more populated centres - but Adelaide does have one thing going for it - space. 

There are large tracts of agricultural land less than 30 minutes from the Adelaide airport (if you head north of Salisbury for instance), and the city is in the middle of that path - so potentially 15 minutes to your hotel and another 15 minutes travel to the park... Disneyland was an orange grove when it was first built and the population sprang up around it. 

Neither of the three east coast capitals could offer that proximity.

On 07/08/2022 at 3:02 PM, Brad2912 said:

The best we can ever hope so in Australia is that way day we may be a port for Disney Cruise Lines and in turn may see a Disney hotel, but even that seems highly remote given by our location on the globe and the vast expanse needed to get here 

Not sure about a hotel, but there are very loud whispers within the cruise industry at the moment that DCL is bringing the Wonder Down Under (Just thought of that... that's a great marketing slogan right there too!).

All of DCL's ships have had their schedule released for next year, except the Wonder which has been blanked from September 2023 onwards. The Magic has also taken over the Wonder's previous schedules out of Galveston and New Orleans, and I believe the Wonder is doing the Summer in Alaska which puts them in the Pacific priming them for a trip to the South Pacific. Disney has also registered a company in Australia "Magical Cruise Company" last October, and in April this year they registered the Disney Cruise Line trading name. Further, there are current port 'berthing' reservations for an "Unknown" cruise ship flagged under "Unknown" Cruise line.

While unusual, this isn't proof that Disney is coming, however it's unlikely there are two unknown ships, from an unknown line, berthing at two different terminals in Sydney 30 minutes from each other so it's likely arriving at White Bay after the trans-pacific crossing due to potential customs and quarantine issues, and then transferring to the OPT for overnight turnaround and media previews before welcoming it's first sailing from Oz.

*Can't take credit for most of this info as it was gathered together by others. Try googling "Is Disney Cruise Line coming to Australia".

[Coasterjoe]

I am all for Adelaide getting a decent theme park but I think we will see snow in Darwin before we see a Disneyland in Adelaide. 
 

 

[BringADecentParkToSydney]

On 09/08/2022 at 1:29 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I mean, yes - and no.

It does seem counterintuitive to build in Adelaide when Sydney, Melbourne and even Brisbane are more populated centres - but Adelaide does have one thing going for it - space. 

There are large tracts of agricultural land less than 30 minutes from the Adelaide airport (if you head north of Salisbury for instance), and the city is in the middle of that path - so potentially 15 minutes to your hotel and another 15 minutes travel to the park... Disneyland was an orange grove when it was first built and the population sprang up around it. 

Neither of the three east coast capitals could offer that proximity.

Not sure about a hotel, but there are very loud whispers within the cruise industry at the moment that DCL is bringing the Wonder Down Under (Just thought of that... that's a great marketing slogan right there too!).

All of DCL's ships have had their schedule released for next year, except the Wonder which has been blanked from September 2023 onwards. The Magic has also taken over the Wonder's previous schedules out of Galveston and New Orleans, and I believe the Wonder is doing the Summer in Alaska which puts them in the Pacific priming them for a trip to the South Pacific. Disney has also registered a company in Australia "Magical Cruise Company" last October, and in April this year they registered the Disney Cruise Line trading name. Further, there are current port 'berthing' reservations for an "Unknown" cruise ship flagged under "Unknown" Cruise line.

While unusual, this isn't proof that Disney is coming, however it's unlikely there are two unknown ships, from an unknown line, berthing at two different terminals in Sydney 30 minutes from each other so it's likely arriving at White Bay after the trans-pacific crossing due to potential customs and quarantine issues, and then transferring to the OPT for overnight turnaround and media previews before welcoming it's first sailing from Oz.

*Can't take credit for most of this info as it was gathered together by others. Try googling "Is Disney Cruise Line coming to Australia".

I wouldn’t be surprised… Australians love cruising, and the lack of a Disney presence here makes it a no brainer. 
But I do wonder (ha) how it may play out in the future with the OPT “hitting capacity” prior to covid.

 

 

[wipeout94]

https://7news.com.au/sunrise/south-australian-business-leader-pushing-for-a-disneyland-c-8320261

 

Still Dreaming

[jjuttp]

The downside? Other than the fact it would be severely watered down, it would also be in Adelaide. 

[djmcbell]

Is there something people know that we don't? It really does seem, on paper, that a Disney park in Australia just wouldn't be worth it.

And yet, here we have a businessman who seems to want to woo the mouse. He must have done his homework and decided that it has a good shot at being tenable, otherwise why bother?

Also, let's not forget that Disney nearly did Australia a while back, but went to Singapore instead. That means that, Singapore aside, Australia would still be viable, somehow.

The amount of visitors an Australian Disney would get - I can't see it being worthwhile. Unless you're in Australia or New Zealand, why bother? There are parks that are much easier to access (though when I lived in the UK I would go to Florida often, and only did Disneyland Paris once - still a great park). Guess it's partly about the destination, not just the park.

What do they seem to know, to make a Disney park something worth considering, that we don't?

[jjuttp]

59 minutes ago, djmcbell said:

Singapore

You mean Shanghai? 

[pin142]

1 hour ago, djmcbell said:

here we have a businessman who seems to want to woo the mouse. He must have done his homework and decided that it has a good shot at being tenable, otherwise why bother?

Just because someone is a businessman doesn't automatically mean they do their homework and make good decisions, Fatty McFuckhead (Clive Palmer) is a great example of this.

[djmcbell]

10 hours ago, jjuttp said:

You mean Shanghai? 

Somewhere beginning with S. Could also be Scarborough.

[Gazza]

Sunny Bay:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sunny+Bay+Station/@22.3241205,114.0388693,3392m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x3403fc15915a872d:0x98a6ff95fdd9031a!8m2!3d22.331731!4d114.0289607

[djmcbell]

I thought you meant "Sunny Beach" in Bulgaria, and started having flashbacks. God that place was awful.

[Ashley Jeffery]

https://insidethemagic.net/2022/09/seventh-disney-theme-park-australia-th1/

 

Lol this man is gaining some traction.

[Slick]

On 7/8/2022 at 3:54 PM, Chalky said:

However, come May 2023 I would not be surprised to have dreamworld and its other Gold Coast assets announced as being sold. 

Why May 2023 specifically?

On 22/9/2022 at 7:39 PM, djmcbell said:

He must have done his homework and decided that it has a good shot at being tenable, otherwise why bother?

As others have said, even those with business degrees or profitable businesses aren't inherently great business people. Disney is posting great profits, but a lot of people think Bob Chapek is a sub-par CEO.

Putting aside whether or not this particular business owner is a great operator or not, the macroeconomics of a Disneyland in Adelaide simply don't add up. Maybe in Sydney or Brisbane, but serious state government assistance would be required.

[Dean Barnett]

I reckon Adelaide is more likely - if it did happen here it would need huge state and federal funding.. Sydney/Brisbane don't need Disneyland.. but Adelaide/SA does.

 

I still think the chances of it happening are incredibly low though.  

Edited September 26, 2022 by Dean Barnett