Mickey Mouse Heads to the Track in New Formula 1 and Disney Global Partnership
Mickey Mouse Heads to the Track in New Formula 1 and Disney Global Partnership
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News Mickey Mouse Heads to the Track in New Formula 1 and Disney Global Partnership
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Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Oh, if only WDW had a race track they could use...
Splash4eva
Well-Known Member
If this doesnt get the Speedway upgraded in some way shape or form i dont know what will… altho a partnership with Tesla still makes the most sense and would literally be a budget with relatively no limits. Right up Disney’s alley lol
Isn't that more of a NASCAR oval than an F1 track?Oh, if only WDW had a race track they could use...
I think it would take a lot more space to host an F1 race at WDW, but I'm far from an expert.
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
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Disney Irish
Premium Member
Sports remains an important part of the Disney portfolio. And given that F1 is a global brand it makes sense for this partnership with Disney trying to broaden its strength in the global market.
ABQ
Well-Known Member
Careful, that was Indycar, the F1 purests will admonish you for the conflation of the two race sports.They had races with F1 cars on the track .
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
A street race down some of the more backstage roads would be possible... Better than a parking lot!
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
If Miami can stage a street race around a stadium and in parking lots WDW has enough roadways and plenty of parking lots space to create a street course. The NASCAR racetrack experience was a bust, F1 is a different experience all together. The younger (and some older) would enjoy a venue where visitors can drive LEGO F1 cars, a demonstration of such cars was done during the Miami GP.
I was gonna say, they could race bicycles around that track and it wouldn't be the Tour de France...because I'm a smart@ssThey had races with F1 cars on the track .
Far from a purist, I just know that F1 doesn't race on an oval, but NASCAR does, and fair point, so does Indycar just go round and round.
Fixed it....Sorta..Can't really tell a difference
DrStarlander
Member
I'm a big F1 fan, and a big Disney fan, and I get and support these two enterprises coming together...they reach unique markets and can help each other grow.
But I think the emphasis on "Mickey & Friends" characters -- and having Mickey front and center on the launch media -- was all wrong. The Disney company has a lot that global F1 fans can respect -- ESPN, ABC Sports, the ability to do sports-reality programming on those platforms as well as Disney+/Hulu. They could even call back to Walt Disney being a "sportsman" who played polo. They could have showed clips of MLB and NFL heroes saying they're going to Disneyland after winning the World Series or Super Bowl. All this could have been part of a launch video with heart and gravitas, that showed that Disney "got" professional sports.
...and the Mickey stuff...that should have come later (if at all).
The problem is that Disney and Mickey Mouse are not broadly relevant or respected (yet) among F1's core, global fans...the ones who saw this announcement and thought "What the hell is happening to our sport?" Disney needed to come in with some seriousness and respect, and heat up the "appeal-to-moms-and-their-kids-who-like-cars" frying pan much slower.
It all kind of makes me wonder if the marketing people at Disney who thought to put Mickey Mouse out front have any clue about F1 and the psychographics of motorsport fans.
But I think the emphasis on "Mickey & Friends" characters -- and having Mickey front and center on the launch media -- was all wrong. The Disney company has a lot that global F1 fans can respect -- ESPN, ABC Sports, the ability to do sports-reality programming on those platforms as well as Disney+/Hulu. They could even call back to Walt Disney being a "sportsman" who played polo. They could have showed clips of MLB and NFL heroes saying they're going to Disneyland after winning the World Series or Super Bowl. All this could have been part of a launch video with heart and gravitas, that showed that Disney "got" professional sports.
...and the Mickey stuff...that should have come later (if at all).
The problem is that Disney and Mickey Mouse are not broadly relevant or respected (yet) among F1's core, global fans...the ones who saw this announcement and thought "What the hell is happening to our sport?" Disney needed to come in with some seriousness and respect, and heat up the "appeal-to-moms-and-their-kids-who-like-cars" frying pan much slower.
It all kind of makes me wonder if the marketing people at Disney who thought to put Mickey Mouse out front have any clue about F1 and the psychographics of motorsport fans.
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Good times at MK loved hearing the roar of the race car engines until the instructor crashed the Lambo rounding a curve and died. Richard Petty experience was never the same and closed and bulldozed to make a bigger MK parking lot.Oh, if only WDW had a race track they could use...
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
Disney doesn't have the infrastructure to support such an event, nor would they even to spend the money it would take to do so. There are already 3 races in the US, and the Formula 1 calendar is quite full. Races are being dropped to bring in new races such as the one in Spain next year where a purpose-build track was developed (with the Imola race in Italy being dropped).That Miami F1 track was purpose-built along with the stadium, or so I understand.
I think WDW will have a much harder time putting together a successful F1 course. But hey, if Vegas can do it, why not WDW?
I know. I was just trying to be polite.
Disney used to own multiple professional sports teams. They could afford to realistically buy Formula One Group if they wanted to. This is just somebody from PR thinking they can advertise with F1 similar to how they'd do with NASCAR.
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
Sadly true. The realities of F1 and the infrastructure requirements to put on a successful F1 event, truthfully, do not lend themselves well to WDW hosting an F1 race. The needs far exceed simply having a piece of property that could contain such an event. Also, the F1 calendar is already full (true). All that said, it would be quite an event IF the powers that be would ever want it to be.
However, that does not preclude (heaven forbid someone / or some persons with some imagination) developing a venue involving slow speed LEGO F1 race cars that guests could operate. Fully functional (low speed) LEGO F1 cars were already debuted at the MIAMI GP. Just saying.
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