News Disney CFO Christine McCarthy says Disney will continue to focus on existing intellectual property for new park investments

[EPCOTCenterLover]

I mean Epic Universe is just an IP based park without the "ride the movies" premise. I think it's supposed to be all the "universes" connected? Not a great basis for a theme park, but it will still be uber successful.

And yet, at this point in time, I trust Universal's leadership with regards to what goes in their parks more than I do Disney and what goes into theirs.

Why? On the Disney side, 1- Killing Great Movie Ride to put in a fun, kid focused ride that could and should have gone elsewhere. 2- Their watering down of Epcot, and 3- Taking the Toy Story franchise and building one good coaster but adding two carnival rides as supporting attractions.

All this does not bode well, IMHO, for the future of DAK, the Studios, or the MK. (Epcot is already too far gone even though I love the place.)

On the Universal side, recent additions have been top notch- Velocicoaster, anything Potter, and the upcoming work of Minions land.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Sure, but now that version of the Guardians is now over, so does Cosmic Rewind become more dated with time? Does it feel out of place if you're a big Guardians fan?

I always feel that's the risk with an IP-focus - you're betting on something popular now being popular later.

I think a good ride stands on it's own, regardless of the IP.

How many people watch Wind in the Willows regularly? Very few I'd wager, but the Mr. Toad attraction at Disneyland is still popular. Soaring over London in Peter Pan is great even if someone has never seen the cartoon.

The Little Mermaid attraction on the other hand is geared towards people who have seen the film. I can't imagine going on that one blind and understanding or appreciating it as a stand alone story.

 

[monothingie]

Fair enough.

Things are not looking good for TWDC right now. They're burning bridges with their fans, which isn't a good thing. And as much as they love their little IPs right now, have fun sloshing them all over the parks after you run all your core brands into the ground.

Your issue is IP, with others it's cost, value, quality, politics, etc. It's death by 1000 paper cuts.

They're burning bridges with their fans because they're constantly disrespecting them.

 

[SamusAranX]

It’s hard to comprehend people defending this.

If WD has this same attitude, we wouldn’t have so many popular and iconic classic attractions: BTMR, SM, PotC, RNRC, Matterhorn, Everest. Heck AK would be virtually empty if attractions pre-2016 if you eliminated non-IP.

It’s all about balance, actual park theme, and timelessness too (think Disney renaissance or classic Star Wars) I’m sorry, yes Pandora is fine, but in 15 years who will be viewing it as a classic and clamoring to ride it? Meanwhile there are people (including me) who still get excited about Space Mountain and it’s almost 50 years old. Sure throw in some new IPs that you think will be new classics. But for Walt’s sake please get some imagination or creativity back to the park. Otherwise what sets you apart from Universal? (Swapping attractions every 10 years and not always moving the needle on actual capacity. Wait nvm WDW is almost there)

 

[BlakeW39]

Your issue is IP, with others it's cost, value, quality, politics, etc. It's death by 1000 paper cuts.

They're burning bridges with their fans because they're constantly disrespecting them.

^^^ Exactly this. Different people have different issues with TWDC. As you noted my primary issue with them is their use of IPs in the parks and certain thematic directions (.....or lack thereof) they've taken the parks in. But for others it may be prices, Genie+, politics, MCU and Lucasfilm decline, live action remakes, and so on. All those factors combine to create a loottt of negative sentiment among fans and at some point, that will come to bite them in the butt it's really already starting to.

 

[scottieRoss]

I think a good ride stands on it's own, regardless of the IP.

How many people watch Wind in the Willows regularly? Very few I'd wager, but the Mr. Toad attraction at Disneyland is still popular. Soaring over London in Peter Pan is great even if someone has never seen the cartoon.

The Little Mermaid attraction on the other hand is geared towards people who have seen the film. I can't imagine going on that one blind and understanding or appreciating it as a stand alone story.

But at this very moment, Mr. Toad and Peter Pan have the lowest wait times except for the carousel. And 6 rides have lower wait times for Little Mermaid. The average DCA wait time is 34 minutes and Mermaid is 30min. Kinda defeats your arguement

 

[monothingie]

^^^ Exactly this. Different people have different issues with TWDC. As you noted my primary issue with them is their use of IPs in the parks and certain thematic directions (.....or lack thereof) they've taken the parks in. But for others it may be prices, Genie+, politics, MCU and Lucasfilm decline, live action remakes, and so on. All those factors combine to create a loottt of negative sentiment among fans and at some point, that will come to bite them in the butt it's really already starting to.

Fans tend to be very forgiving, especially when the occasional positive thing is done.

Look at the false hope that Josh Damaro brought......and how quickly that failed. Fix the culture of rot starting at the top down at the TWDC and maybe you'll see a turnaround.

 

[MatheusPG]

When did IP become such a dirty word? In simple terms it is the “creative content” and who it belongs to. Im so sick of this Disney is not creative narrative. While some of these examples may be poor storytelling, you can’t argue they’re not new and creative. Onward, Luca, Soul, Strange World, Encanto, Rays and the Last Dragon, Elemental, Wish, all new ideas.

It's funny how almost every new IP that you cited up were either box office bombs, movies that weren't successful or so bad that end up being dumped on Disney+, for me a big example of how bankrupt of ideas and talent they are...

 

[BlakeW39]

Fans tend to be very forgiving, especially when the occasional positive thing is done.

Look at the false hope that Josh Damaro brought......and how quickly that failed. Fix the culture of rot starting at the top down at the TWDC and maybe you'll see a turnaround.

Man if they came out with just one original attraction I might just give old Bob a kiss

....in other news. I was inactive on the forums a while so I am not familiar with Josh as much. What is he doing wrong?

 

[MagicHappens1971]

It's funny how almost every new IP that you cited up were either box office bombs, movies that weren't successful or so bad that end up being dumped on Disney+, for me a big example of how bankrupt of ideas and talent they are...

Almost all of those movies I mentioned came out during the pandemic, so don’t really think their box office success is fair game here. Regardless, you can’t argue that there’s no creativity and then argue that because some didn’t like the story or what’s have you, there’s no creativity left.

 

[MatheusPG]

Almost all of those movies I mentioned came out during the pandemic, so don’t really think their box office success is fair game here. Regardless, you can’t argue that there’s no creativity and then argue that because some didn’t like the story or what’s have you, there’s no creativity left.

Raya, Encanto and Luca all came out close to Spider-Man No way home and that movie was one of the biggest box office successes of all time. Strange World came out really close to Avatar. With the exception of Soul, all of them were either box office bombs or so bad that had to go directly to Disney+

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

But at this very moment, Mr. Toad and Peter Pan have the lowest wait times except for the carousel. And 6 rides have lower wait times for Little Mermaid. The average DCA wait time is 34 minutes and Mermaid is 30min. Kinda defeats your arguement

Mermaid is a high capacity omnimover. It's usually a reliable walk-on on at DCA. You can't judge popularity solely on wait times.

Mr. Toad tends to have similar wait times as other Fantasyland attractions. People aren't avoiding it in favour of Snow White or Pinocchio which are arguably more popular films.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

It is interesting that D+ is currently dragging down the value of the company, and the Parks are what’s keeping it afloat, so the solution is for the Parks to take guidance from what’s popular on D+.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

It is interesting that D+ is currently dragging down the value of the company, and the Parks are what’s keeping it afloat, so the solution is for the Parks to take guidance from what’s popular on D+.

D+ is a loss leader, as all of the new streaming services to come out of the studios are. The service is still ahead of almost all it's competitors, except for Netflix, and Prime Video (which I don't even think is fair as so many people just have it as part of their prime membership). The service is popular and has produced great content, but unfortunately as all the Studios' are learning, it is too expensive.

My point there, is that judging what Disney fans who watch Disney content on Disney+ and using that information to inform new theme park developments is a plain and simple idea. It's just good business.

 

[JD80]

"cre·a·tive
/krēˈādiv/
adjective
adjective: creative
relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work."

Creating new IP and original attractions in the parks is more creative than leveraging IP that already exists, yes. I think that's pretty intuitively obvious. Endgame has creative merits yes because it's a new story not told in the comics, but nothing Disney has done in its domestic parks over the last 5 years or so has really been creative at all, categorically.

So you think that the only good attractions in the parks have to be based on ideas never before seen in books/movies/tv?

 

[BlakeW39]

So you think that the only good attractions in the parks have to be based on ideas never before seen in books/movies/tv?

No. Are you familiar with something called a strawman argument?

 

[aladdin2007]

Mermaid is a high capacity omnimover. It's usually a reliable walk-on on at DCA. You can't judge popularity solely on wait times.

Mr. Toad tends to have similar wait times as other Fantasyland attractions. People aren't avoiding it in favour of Snow White or Pinocchio which are arguably more popular films.,,(Alice)

jealous of your Fantasyland!! I added on alice lol.

 

[JD80]

It is interesting that D+ is currently dragging down the value of the company, and the Parks are what’s keeping it afloat, so the solution is for the Parks to take guidance from what’s popular on D+.

Are you confusing the global business structure of Disney+ with the popularity of the property on the platform? Seems like it.

 

[JD80]

No. Are you familiar with something called a strawman argument?

You're the one who said WDI is not creative because they aren't making completely original stuff for the parks.

 

[BlakeW39]

You're the one who said WDI is not creative because they aren't making completely original stuff for the parks.

I did. And I was right. As per the definition of creativity that I cited for you. But that has nothing to do with what you just quoted me on and you know that.