1. DLR desperately needs a third park to deal with the stupid-crazy crowds they now have. .... And they build another hotel. Brilliant!!! That'll make EMH absolutely worthless.
To a large degree DLR is a victim of its own success. And the AP program Disney keeps changing and raising rates to cut down on the number of APs and they
still keep buying and coming. For sure this is a good problem to have (wouldn't anyone want too many customers???). But it is a problem.
I suspect the 3rd park is still out there on the drawing board. But the timing is not right yet. First, going back a few years, DCA had to be fixed before a 3rd park was built. Disney did that.
Then there was DL. No major new rides in 24 years since Indy was opened (by the time SWL opens in 2019 - Indy opened in 1995). Lots of improvements and upgrades for sure, but DL was in desperate need of something big and new. And Star Wars Land needed a home and fits much better into DL than DCA. So the focus is now on Star Wars Land. At DL. I cannot argue with that.
Now DL is trying to figure out how to handle the SWL crowds. Parking for sure. FP becoming MaxPass. More Disney hotels are like money in the bank for them. The new hotel would have happened anyways regardless of the eastern gateway.
Bottom line is I think Disney has made the right decisions here. I disagree they should have started a 3rd park in the middle of all this. After SWL a 3rd park will make sense. It is something they could announce at D23 Expo 2019 after SWL is open.
2. I do love that at WDW, there's a bubble from all the Disney hotels. Will this bring that bubble feeling to DLR??? Or is it just adding more rooms that we'll NEVER EVER be able to afford?
It will bring more of a bubble but not much more so than it is now. A 3rd park by the way will not add to the bubble as it will be across city streets away from the current DLR an no easy way to connect it into the bubble. Not no way to connect it at all. Just no easy way.
IMO the high rates for DLR hotels has much more to do with supply and demand (the hotels seem to be always full even at the high rates) and with the higher costs in Southern Cal than in Orlando.
3. They're taking out Rainforest Cafe??? I really hate this. That's a must do on nearly every trip we take. The food is better than most everything inside a Disney park (not hard), and they do theming there that's better than most DL restaurants. (And Earl was a fave before Celiac disease - hate this for everyone)
RFC can be moved and IMO most likely will if it needs to be removed from the current location. Maybe it could be worked inside the new hotel in some way.
4. This will make the DLH a second tier hotel - though the prices will never reflect that. With completely blocked views of the park, and a blocked walk to the parks, DLH should see prices fall to PPH levels. But you know it never will.
The DLH hotel has like 10-12 floors doesn't it? The lower floors have no views anyways and nothing will change here. The higher floors do have views from some of the rooms and from what I can see the new hotel will not change that.
5. With 4 hotels, will
Disneyland now switch to the WDW method of FPs and allow their hotel guests to book FPs 30-60 days in advance? I'd like to think they wouldn't, but I'd bet money that they will.
I seriously doubt that. FP+ just will never work at DLR and, to their credit, Disney seems to understand that. And expansion of MP seems more likely but they will need a much better WiFi infrastructure around DLR to make MP the default option.
6. Could they have at least themed it? I mean, it looks like just another blah hotel like PPH and DLH. They should've taken a page out of WDW playbook and created a resort hotel that provides an escape/bubble feeling. They got it right with Grand Cali. They're getting it wrong here. I'd rather stay at Legoland Hotel than PPH, DLH, or this new one. Why? It's all about THEMING! It's amazing to me that th DL imagineers are missing this.
It looks to me like you can't make up your mind whether you want something that increases demand (and increases prices) or increases supply (and lowers prices). A new, cool themed hotel would be a premium destination for Disney fans and would be even more expensive (for guests) as a result. A more bland hotel would, on the other hand, add lots of hotel rooms and would not have the same premium destination feel and thus would not drive prices up as much as it would not be as desirable. Disney fans would be fine just staying offsite on Harbor or some of the nicer places down around Katella.
The Value hotels at WDW have weaker theming. The better themed hotels there are definitely the Deluxe hotels. Even the WDW Moderates do not have that great of theming (except, as I understand, the new Art of Animation). What you are asking for based on WDW is another Deluxe hotel along the lines of GCH (the only true DLR deluxe). And that would carry GCH prices (or higher, since it would be new).
I agree a new Deluxe at DLR with great theming would be cool but would argue it would be best if they built a 5th hotel along the lines of a WDW Value at the same time so they could cater to both ends of the guest spectrum. Maybe they have some of those things in mind when they build a 3rd park???
Security would have to be between the new hotel and the monorail entrance.
