Why Disney has no equivelant to a Legoland Discovery Centre

[Disney Studios Fans]

Legoland has a large chain of highly successful indoor parks across the world called discovery centres that aim to bring the legoland experience to those who dont leave near a fullsized park. So my question is why has Disney not attempted to do something similar themselves to try and compete with legoland. Whilst I am aware that disney had a place called disney quest in the 90s it was more of an arcade than a smaller version of a disney park and its attractions.

[linkeq2001]

The answer?

Disney sees no money in it. Previous half hearted attempts failed and cost too much money and instead Disney’s point of interaction with people outside the park is purely through merchandise and media.

The most recent attempt, the magical Disney stores, have quietly become regular retail spaces. You can see remnants in older stores where extensive projection systems hang unused from ceilings and large white trees meant o act as screens. Instead all of the extra magic is now often relegated to a single video screen and activity spot seldom with a castmember present. The whole thing was deemed too clumsy and too expensive and again retail associates are not really children’s entertainers.

Is it a bad thing? Depends on how you look at it. Some would want Disney everywhere but otherwise would argue these would be half hearted and somewhat shallow interpretations of Disneyland anyways. I’m on the fence, they died out before I had kids so I never got to experience it as a parent but wandering through these stores was unique and knowing a large number of people who worked in them I saw how hard people really tried to work at making them magical.

[DisneySpaceAce]

Didn't Disney try some sort of indoor, "Discovery Zone" type thing that ended up underperforming, so they axed it?

Edit: Found it, "Club Disney", there were 5 locations from 1997-1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Disney

[longbeachaztec]

Lego doesn't really have a true equivalent to Disney parks, either. The Legoland parks have some surface similarities, but they're not really the same.

Two different businesses with two different business models.

[DisneySpaceAce]

Lego doesn't really have a true equivalent to Disney parks, either. The Legoland parks have some surface similarities, but they're not really the same.

Two different businesses with two different business models.

Granted, I haven't been there in about a decade, but Legoland really made me appreciate Disneyland even more.

[Disney Studios Fans]

Didn't Disney try some sort of indoor, "Discovery Zone" type thing that ended up underperforming, so they axed it?

Edit: Found it, "Club Disney", there were 5 locations from 1997-1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Disney

Those club disney locations were closer to a childrens playground than a Legoland Discovery Centre. This is because unlike Legoland they didnt have any rides or shows that were based off anything at a disney park.

[Disney Studios Fans]

Granted, I haven't been there in about a decade, but Legoland really made me appreciate Disneyland even more.

Legoland whilst still not on quite the same level as a Dianeyland has definetly been improving their offerings in the last decade.

[Disney Studios Fans]

The reason I proposed this idea is because due to the astronomical costs of opening a Disneyland resort placing a park in less populous countries that are 10 hour flights from the nearest Disney park like Australia or Singapore are difficult to justify to executives and shareholders however a smaller less costly project would be easier to justify.

[Disney Studios Fans]

The answer?

Disney sees no money in it. Previous half hearted attempts failed and cost too much money and instead Disney’s point of interaction with people outside the park is purely through merchandise and media.

The most recent attempt, the magical Disney stores, have quietly become regular retail spaces. You can see remnants in older stores where extensive projection systems hang unused from ceilings and large white trees meant o act as screens. Instead all of the extra magic is now often relegated to a single video screen and activity spot seldom with a castmember present. The whole thing was deemed too clumsy and too expensive and again retail associates are not really children’s entertainers.

Is it a bad thing? Depends on how you look at it. Some would want Disney everywhere but otherwise would argue these would be half hearted and somewhat shallow interpretations of Disneyland anyways. I’m on the fence, they died out before I had kids so I never got to experience it as a parent but wandering through these stores was unique and knowing a large number of people who worked in them I saw how hard people really tried to work at making them magical.

Why would Disney see no money in it Legoland is clearly making a killing from their Discovery Centres as evidenced by how many new locations they keep opening. Even Universal Studios is playing around with the idea as they have proposed a similar concept for location in moscow russia.

As for your point about attempting a similar idea with magical disney stores those are not comparable to Legoland Discovery Centres at all as they are not an indoor theme park as such they didnt feature any rides nor did they charge an entry price.

[spinycactus]

One of my kids went on a field trip once to a Legoland Discovery Center, said it was just ok & kind of boring. She said, "If that was anything like what Legoland is, then I don't want to go there." I'm kind of glad, actually, that Disney doesn't have this sort of set up.

[TLand2055]

Pretty sure Disney Quest was the closest thing to that, but it failed as most people here know.

[Spongeocto4]

Didn't Disney try some sort of indoor, "Discovery Zone" type thing that ended up underperforming, so they axed it?

Edit: Found it, "Club Disney", there were 5 locations from 1997-1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Disney

I'm surprised that I have no knowledge of this! And this is coming from the intended age group, during that time period!

---

A lot of this has to do with the current corporation. If Eisner was still in power, he would of immediately jumped on the chance for a similar project. That was his success...and his fatal flaw.

As mentioned in the Imagineering Story Documentary, the smaller parks of the 90s-00s were a big problem financially. Instead of spending a day in the park, the guest would only spend 1/2 of a day. Like the Star Wars currently, Disney had issues of overmilking the parks/attractions department til Eisner left and Iger took over.

Disney has tried in the past to roll out Disney/DVC Resorts nationwide(Aulani, Vero Beach, Hilton Head), however the movent for them has stopped, as the Washington DC and New York projects were both shut down.

[Nesboy43]

I think people expect a lot from a Disney park and something of that caliber would cheapen the brand.

[Starcade]

Disney stores fit Disney's outreach plan as far they seem to be concerned about. Their business model is to simply get you into a gift shop to buy their merchandise so their stores cut right to the chase giving them maximum profit from little overhead compared to a mini experience.

Plus like others have said they tried the micro park model and it fell flat plus it probably diluted the brand so cutting it was the right move.