flynnibus
Premium Member
No, no one said 'it must be IP to be successful' - They are saying why using IP has proven to be an asset and why across all of marketing and sales the use of licensing is common place.
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DAK “Zootopia” is being created for the Tree of Life theater
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
No, no one said 'it must be IP to be successful' - They are saying why using IP has proven to be an asset and why across all of marketing and sales the use of licensing is common place.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Disney has always used IP as their main marketing tool for their parks. It's one of the reasons people who haven't been or only went as small children assume the parks are entirely just cutesy kid-only offerings and a constant onslaught of the Disney company branding. If you ask the average person to describe a Disney Parks commercial, they will likely say something like "a small kid hugging a character", "teacups", "Dumbo".
But the thing is, for the vast majority of WDW's existence, that presumption people had was false. Walt Disney World was NOT, in fact, a vacation destination where you were constantly bombarded with the Disney brand. In fact, years ago you could spend a week at WDW and have the majority of your time devoid of Disney IP branding if you really wanted to without even limiting yourself much.
The idea that being at Disney Parks and Resorts must equal a constant onslaught of Disney IP branding is entirely modern and has transitioned to this over the course of Iger's run as CEO.
But the thing is, for the vast majority of WDW's existence, that presumption people had was false. Walt Disney World was NOT, in fact, a vacation destination where you were constantly bombarded with the Disney brand. In fact, years ago you could spend a week at WDW and have the majority of your time devoid of Disney IP branding if you really wanted to without even limiting yourself much.
The idea that being at Disney Parks and Resorts must equal a constant onslaught of Disney IP branding is entirely modern and has transitioned to this over the course of Iger's run as CEO.
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AidenRodriguez731
Well-Known Member
I wonder what else has become more and more popular in that same time frame...
Perhaps it could be the absolute MASSIVE rise of fandom culture where people would do anything to "spend a day" or even a short amount of time in the world of their favorite books/games/movies. There of course were massive fans of stuff before but now with the internet being in essentially everyones wheelhouse... its a lot easier to come up on forums and engage with fellow superfans
AidenRodriguez731
Well-Known Member
Certainly wasn't my argument and I think I was one of the main people arguing this point
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
I recall the mid 00's where it was very rare to find anything with merch to Nightmare Before Christmas within the Resort...15 or so years later you can't blink an eye seeing some sort of doll, shirt or other product with Jack Skellington in a Hot Topic, Lunch Box or the resort alone..
AidenRodriguez731
Well-Known Member
Everything has gotten rapidly more popular. I remember remarking to my fiancé when we stepped into box lunch and saw a full section of Disneys “flop” movies with tons of merch from Atlantis, Treasure Planet, etc . The kind of stuff that people freak out when it gets a single mention because it’s so uncommon
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
It's the easy way out though, and now we have seem the long-term effects of catering only to this. With Zootopia it is clear to me that they no longer respect the fandoms enough to give them quality and are just banking on everyone doing the "Leo Points at the TV" meme over and over. Which, unfortunately, a large percentage of people engage with media in this way, but that doesn't mean everyone should accept it as the new standard of entertainment.
I also can't stress this enough - people will flock to good attractions regardless of if there is any popular franchise attached or not. Thinking that they won't is one of the most fundamental misunderstandings of current Disney leadership.
AidenRodriguez731
Well-Known Member
Expedition Everest, Disney World's latest non-IP ride is a ghost town in the mornings and still rn it's pretty empty. 15 minute wait for a rollercoaster is VERY light. Especially considering its quality.
Navi River Journey is usually considered to be a lesser attraction than it, yet it has 3x the wait right now in the same park.
Tron is also 3x Space Mountain's wait right now. I'm not saying that these are definitive numbers or anything but there's something there imo when these rides ROUTINELY get higher waits than their nearby non-IP counterparts.
HM and Mermaid are equals right now.
Now I fully get that this might be an unfair comparison but I think there's something to be said that all 3 of those "newer IP" rides are often considered underwhelming by this forum/the parks fans yet they 100% get more attention from the average visitor.
jah4955
Well-Known Member
Potterland 1.0 was an early significant domino to fall imo.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Expedition Everest has the highest capacity and ridership out of everything at DAK except Safaris.
Navi River Journey has extremely low capacity which is why its waits are so high. It's also worth nothing that Avatar does not really have a fandom (minus fringe stuff as highlighted in HBO's "How To with John Wilson"). Flight of Passage gets high waits AND is highly regarded because it is known to be a great attraction.
It can't be stressed enough - people not only were not excited for an Avatar land, there was a lot of backlash until it was seen in person and realized that what they did was high quality.
Space Mountain is 50 years old and Tron is "new" and a more thrilling coaster, of course it will have higher waits.
Same ride system with same capacity, but Haunted Mansion (also 50+ years old) is one of the most important attractions to ever exist and Mermaid is just forgettable filler. The vast majority of the time, HM has a higher wait than Mermaid.
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JMcMahonEsq
Well-Known Member
That's not the point. In fact, its the exact opposite of of the point.
People will flock to good/great attractions, IP notwithstanding. Having inbedded IP that people are already familiar with doesn't stop that, and might sell more merch and related items. However using already established IP will save on production costs, licensing, and other pre-design costs, and will give you a heck of a risk mitigation uptick because...
Going with a popular franchise will help support a potentially not so great attraction, as you will have a large percentage of the public who will flock to the attraction because of the IP and/or overlook some minor flaws because its their favorite character/show/stuffy. It's not going to turn a 2 into a 10, but it might support a 5 at a level 7-8. That's leaving aside the fact that mass media today, TV, Movies, ect., are filled with sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, same universe stories. People aren't commercially attracted to originality.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The franchise mandate was not a business decision. It was purely emotional and comes from the view that everyone arguing for it is an idiot because theme parks are stupid entertainment for stupid people.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Little Mermaid doesn't get more attention than Haunted Mansion -- based on data, Haunted Mansion generally has a wait time 20-25 minute longer than LM even though it has a higher capacity. LM is actually one of the least popular attractions at the Magic Kingdom despite being a highly popular film.
I agree that IP gives rides a boost, though. You don't have to build a good ride for it to be relatively popular if a popular IP is attached. IP generally raises the floor for an attraction, although it also often limits the ceiling, because there are significant constraints for an IP ride that don't exist for a non-IP ride. It limits creativity.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
Super popular blockbuster IP… Tron.
The comparisons aren’t unfair, they’re meaningless.
HMF
Well-Known Member
I won't believe a perfect plan exists until Iger is retired and a CEO who actually encourages creativity at WDI is in charge.
HMF
Well-Known Member
I don't think an insignificant part of the reason MK's Frontierland is being paved over for Cars is because of the decline of the Western as a genre and it's surrounding social implications. Not that I agree with it but I understand it from a purely business perspective.
HMF
Well-Known Member
To put it more plainly they use the characters for marketing purposes to draw you in. It does not mean that every single attraction exists solely to promote said characters. Which is why I have never really had a problem with walk-around characters in EPCOT. My issue is they have now invaded the attractions themselves.
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HMF
Well-Known Member
A lot of fandom culture has been declining due to the constant brand over-exposure and the belief in Hollywood that they could throw any random crap together put a franchise tag on it and expect it to automatically make money. In my observation audiences are starting to catch on to this formula. The most glaring example of this is the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. I will also point out that Harry Potter is also losing popularity because it's creator won't shut up about her political opinions.
HMF
Well-Known Member
Never mind the fact that it feels like the beginning of a longer better attraction on the scale of DL's POTC but then suddenly ends when it is starting to get interesting.