Hong Kong is a reclaimed bay. Orlando and Anaheim were orchards/farm land or swamp. Paris was farmland and Shanghai was a village/farmland.

Disney could still own land in Australia under subsidiary company names and we'd never know.

@Jamberoo Fan Just to add to AlexB with a picture. The area you visit might be round in shape but the land needed is a lot bigger.

 

Disney land in CA.

To add to this-

Disney also owns this land.

I've been told by a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who knows somebody that Disney also owns area marked in green and 5 years ago Disney also did a buy back of some of the land surrounding Disney.

Edited December 8, 20169 yr by YLFATEEKS

Thanks @YLFATEEKS but I did say 'Disneyland alone' would require 30 hectares (based off the Anaheim park & excluding DCA). I know they need loads more land if they want to add a shopping district/hotel (11 hectares), another Disney park (approx. 30 hectares again), car parks (depending on demand) & to keep other tourist operators away (I have no clue how much this would be).

@AlexB, I know all that (except that Disneyland sizes have varied - I just based the size off the original):

• I was just pointing out that you just can't buy random pieces of land & assume Disneyland would fit in it just because you bought enough hectares. All the pieces of land would need to form a square large enough to fit a 'Disneyland circle' & any additional park logistics/support in it.
• Whilst each Disneyland worldwide has subtle differences, the general public would treat them as the same.
• Whilst all Disneylands have been, according to you, built in 'the middle of nowhere', they are still near (40km or less from) significant urban areas, which allows ease of travel & transportation/accommodation options. I was being literal in saying 'middle of nowhere'. I can imagine Disney building a 'Disneyland Sydney' near Badgery's Creek or a 'Disneyland Melbourne' near Werribee or a 'Disneyland Gold Coast' near Murwillumbah.

Edited December 8, 20169 yr by Jamberoo Fan

As much as we'd all love a Disney park in Australia, I don't think it will happen now.

We do know that, several years ago, Disney was looking at land in Australia. And they apparently nearly did a deal, but then decided to go with Shanghai instead (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Now, there are two things to take from this - one good, and one bad.

Good - at the time, we nearly got a Disney park. Disney, being a pretty big and good business, will have done their homework and thought "well, we could turn a profit from this" - otherwise, they wouldn't have gotten to the stage of being about to sign documents (if you believe reports). Australia *could* have supported a Disney park, or resort.

Bad - Disney decided to go elsewhere, meaning that a lot of people who would have visited a "Disney Australia" from places like Shanghai now have a different Disney park to go to. So basically, the prospect of a Disney Australia now is probably a fair bit worse than it was then.

A Disney park would require a fair bit of space, not just for the park and initial amenities but also for possible expansion - other parks, other hotels and so on. I'd say this shouldn't really be on our minds - Australia has a lot of space still within an easy distance of major metropolitan areas. And let's face it, it's Disney! They have the cash!

No, what we should be thinking about is how much money Disney would make from it, whether it would turn a profit or not. As others have pointed out, with the current Disney parks around the world, who would visit? Would it be enough?

Edited December 8, 20169 yr by djmcbell

Personally I would really love it if Merlin were to buy Dreamworld. 

I know from having been to Alton Towers that their standards are extremely high. Probably as good as Disney or close enough. 

However their parks are less aimed at little kids compared to Disney. They really appeal to all ages. 

@pushbutton, i'm sorry if i'm misinterpreting you, but are you saying Disney is aimed at little kids? Or that they appeal to all ages?

Re: Merlin, I can see the headline now with regard to Dreamworld:

"Operator responsible for mass casualty collision and loss of limb buys park responsible for killing 4"

I heard many years ago that Disney planned to build in Australia but due to the local government  not supporting the project and not offering finance and land subsidies ect  they chose to build In HongKong instead 

Actually AlexB I think NBCUniversal would aquire Dreamworld even if NBCUniversal owns Dreamworks animation.

Edited December 10, 20169 yr by omega237

I think the company most likely to next build a theme park (or buy an existing one) in Australia would be Merlin Entertainments. They've been doing a lot in Australia and New Zealand in recent years and are currently building a Lego Discovery centre in Melbourne. So its not a huge leap to think they could try and snap up Dreamworld, or are putting thought into whether a Legoland could be viable here.

I reckon it will happen in the next 20 years because a few months ago I went out to Prospect ( Its 2hrs away from Sydney ) for a race day with my Dad ( My Dad was watching me ) and as we were driving home we came pass a few kilometres of land and my dad was saying in the 80's Disney bought a piece of land out here and were going to make a Disneyland for AU. But apparently some complications happened and it was delayed but as explained earlier the idea kept dying and coming back to life.

Prospect is 2h from Sydney?

Righto.

23 minutes ago, Gazza said:

Prospect is 2h from Sydney?

Righto.

He forgot to mention he travels by ride-on mower...

Just now, Brad2912 said:

He forgot to mention he travels by ride-on mower...

Still then its only 45 minutes.

1 minute ago, jjuttp said:

Still then its only 45 minutes.

It only has two wheels, they sold the other two for petrol money...

I guess it depends on where you draw the line as to what 'sydney' is.

Redcliffe is to 'brisbane' what Prospect is to 'sydney' in my opinion - in terms of distance (not anything else).

So a mega bump... please don't let this conversation rehash into disney possibles... I don't see a full scale disney park here for at least 20 years, if not more.

I can't see one ever tbh.

 

The Gold Coast Parks aren't exactly red hot gold mines (maybe they are, I'm just basing this in how long they've been established and their average growth and development over the period) and most other parks would seem to only just get by (Luna Parks, Aussie Worlds etc), or in the case of Wonder Land (the one out of Sydney, if that what it was called) failed.

 

I just don't think we've got the population or tourism to support a Disney park, unless it's a watered down version... then maybe.

 

Speaking of Wonderland - I just googled it as I couldn't recall the exact name and the below article popped up - I assume this has been discussed before but I hadn't heard about it - is it still in the pipeline?

 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nsw-to-become-theme-park-capital-with-worlds-of-wonder/news-story/5512c36528081422c554c0113f1d6d7a

 

Edited April 27, 20178 yr by mission

Old news. Still in the pipeline but a long way off reality

Hopefully in our lifetime