288 replies to this topic

[Matt R.]

Yeah, lots of acronyms!

In this case, it sounds like Destination GV says because of all the taxes they pay to the City, the City should help prioritize some housing for industry workers.

Hard to argue with that. Give a lot, get a little.

[Barrrister]

Why their workers rather than someone elses. Maybe they need to pay a living wag and not expect others o subsidize their profits.

[Matt R.]

Then perhaps they should keep all of their profits to spend how they see fit, instead of giving so much to the city.

[Victoria Watcher]

(Robin Hood Motel)

 

 

‘Six decades of success’: The secret behind a Victoria hotel’s 60-year legacy

 

General manager Sam Kirsch says the hotel acts as the ‘unofficial ambassadors of the Island’

https://www.vicnews....8ca11b97212fd9a

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 September 2023 - 05:56 AM.

[Lashlarue]

(Robin Hood Motel)


‘Six decades of success’: The secret behind a Victoria hotel’s 60-year legacy

General manager Sam Kirsch says the hotel acts as the ‘unofficial ambassadors of the Island’
https://www.vicnews....8ca11b97212fd9a

“The Robin Hood got its name from politicians who met with Walt Disney in the late 1940s, hoping to create its Victorian-era-themed park in the city.”

I have not heard this before, is this true? Victoria politicians met with Disney in the 40s?

[lanforod]

Imagine how big Victoria would be if a Disney park had opened here...

[aastra]

Especially if it had been the first Disneyland, as per that timeline.

[aastra]

 

Victoria politicians met with Disney in the 40s?

 

Disney's "Story of Robin Hood" live-action movie was released in 1952.

 

Anyway, I was searching for something completely unrelated when I found the following article. Gotta love it when things like that happen:
 

 

Daily Colonist
February 15, 1962

Sherwood on the Gorge?

The Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood and his merry men may be recreated in a wooded area fronting onto the Gorge east of the Gorge bridge at Tillicum.

A $300,000 development is proposed for the parkland featuring drawbridges and moats, dungeons, a village square, Nottingham Castle, a pageant park with outdoor theatre, a millhouse and mill pond, a deer park zoo, and barbecue pits for picnic cooking.

The wooded area stretches along Gorge Road in Saanich from Millgrove to Tillicum. It is owned by Victoria but has never been dedicated for park use.

Two Viking-type longboats are also included in plans, each capable of carrying 50 to 60 passengers from a dock in the Inner Harbor to a landing in the Gorge, outside the massive castle wall.

Alternative approach would be through the main gate on Gorge Road with a drawbridge and a fanfare of trumpets to welcome guests.

Visitors would be required to change their Canadian or United States currency for special Sherwood Forest coins, worth 25 cents each.

Vancouver businessman Milton Tisdale, who is a prime mover in the proposal, said last night one of the major attractions would be the outdoor theatre.

He envisioned symphony concerts, little theatre plays and ethnic group folk dancing as possible entertainments to use the theatre.

Negotiations with city parks committee for a lease on the land are under way.

[Mike K.]

Does this relate to Disney, then? Or was the Disney connection an urban myth?

[aastra]

I'm assuming no connection at all. I could have sworn in at least one of the Disney biographies there was mention of a trip or cruise around the pacific northwest, which included a visit to Victoria. But I can't seem to find it now. Who knows? Maybe somebody had a casual conversation with him at some point. As I'm sure you're aware, for several years in preparation for creating Disneyland he was traveling all over the world to investigate the better parks and amusement parks and to identify the reasons why they were better than the norm.

[aastra]

Whatever grain of truth there might be in that story, methinks somebody is getting the timeline messed up. Because otherwise we'd have to believe some Victoria politicians gave Walt the idea not only for an amusement park but also for a Robin Hood movie.

 

FYI: if Mike K. is interested in diversifying his empire and getting into the theme park business, I'm listening.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, that makes more sense.

[mbjj]

I think Disney's father was born in Canada. That sounds like it would have been a neat project. 

[Victoria Watcher]

“According to Tourism Victoria, the City attracts close to $1.4 billion in visitor spending in a typical year, with hotel revenues estimated at $250 million per year,” the proposal says.

 

“However recent events have impacted the local hotel industry’s ability to manage visitor demand. Over the past decade, nearly 1,200 purpose built hotel rooms in Victoria have been lost to either redevelopment or supportive housing conversion.”

 

https://www.cheknews...l-site-1190083/

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the plan notes that the average daily hotel room rate was up 27 per cent last year from pre-pandemic 2019.

 

https://www.timescol...nd-back-8226140

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 February 2024 - 09:05 PM.

[m3m]

And we just lost about 600 air bnb units, in part due to the hotel industry lobbying. Hotel rates will probably jump about 27% this year alone

[Victoria Watcher]

Ya, it's not great.  This is a single Friday night in July:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 February 2024 - 09:17 PM.

[Mike K.]

$500/night for Robin Hood Inn!?!? Holy smokes...

[Victoria Watcher]

In fairness, the Sherwood Forest setting is quite pleasant.  And the Friar Tuck theme room.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 February 2024 - 10:39 PM.

[Mike K.]

In fairness, the Sherwood Forest setting is quite pleasant.  And the Friar Tuck theme room.  

 

Best night's sleep, though.

[Victoria Watcher]

When I'm lookign for a staycation, it's either Robin Hood or Sandman.  But it seems at the Sandman I'm always sleeping with one eye open.