2021 D23 Expo Moving to 2022/TWDC 100th Anniversary Celebration Announcement

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't have any knowledge on Iger not pushing for anniversary celebrations in Florida during his tenure, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Florida has done anniversary celebrations in the past. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to make an assumption that something special would be done for the 50th, a number that is generally associated with a very special anniversary.
Also, I was the proud winner at age 4 of a light up visor for the Magic Kingdom's 15th anniversary. I treasured that thing for quite some time as a little tike.

My point is that they no longer do them. The calculus has been done and if there was money to be made...they would make it.

And they coulda just slapped 50th on everything...it’s not only possible but likely that anything more is viewed as bad ROI

 

[FigmentFan82]

My point is that they no longer do them. The calculus has been done and if there was money to be made...they would make it.

And they coulda just slapped 50th on everything...it’s not only possible but likely that anything more is viewed as bad ROI

I'll take one of these that says 50th anyday

 

[dizneycrazy09]

I disagree...at some point your IP infusion becomes “old” all at once. That’s the danger of it.

The “slam dunk” IP overlay for imagination was what? Inside out.

Say they do the coco thing for Mexico...Latin infusion makes sense.


Neither of those are bad properties. But picture 10-15 years down the road....and your slate in Epcot is:

Ratatouille
Guardians
Frozen
Inside out
Coco
Moana thing.


It’s certainly possible that NONE of those have staying power. Very possible. All popular movies...but staying power? I don’t know about that. The park could be decrepit.

I was thinking this when I was in EPCOT last weekend in the Experience Center. I certainly enjoyed the first Guardians film. The second one was fine, but I legitimately do not care about it at all at this point. The coaster isn’t even completed yet, and I feel like the IP is stale. A stage show, a black box ride, a float in a parade, all fine options for the hottest IP. A hundred million dollar ride based on a property that’s been around for less than a decade with a schtick (baby Groot, “funny” Drax, rude, talking raccoon) that’s already tired itself out? I don’t care how cool the coaster is, I don’t think it will have any type of longevity.

It’s like TWDC can’t see beyond their own noses any longer. They’ve stopped thinking about what’s going to have a lasting impression and be popular and relevant in 20, 30, 40 years. Go back to creating original IP for the parks that you can then make movies and merch from (Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Mansion, need I go on?). The IP they’re choosing to shoehorn into the parks has not proven to have longevity. All films to come out in the last decade other than Frozen or Tangled do not have staying power with the masses, IMO.

 

[mk1971]

You’re right...my bad. I - like most others - completely forgot that

Did they do anything for that?

You would get in the parks for free on your birthday. Or, if you had a multi-day ticket or an annual pass, you would get a $75 gift card on the day of your birthday (which was the price of a 1 day ticket back then).

It was the stupidest campaign they ever created. No wonder why that was the last one.

 

[TTA94]

Is Destination D happening in 2021? That was supposed to be this fall.

 

[_caleb]

I feel like the IP is stale

I think the idea is that there will be many more films/series/spinoffs with this IP in order to keep it "fresh."

Most of the comments here complaining about the use of movie IP in rides seems to forget that Disney is aggressively working on ways to make these characters live forever.

 

[UNCgolf]

Star Wars and Potter do have a rabid fan base that will eat up anything that is offered that turns their universe into a tangible experience. That being said, the MCU has something better - an even greater population of casual fans that like the movies enough to make it a point to stop by any land or themed attraction that reflects the films. This is a much wider, more diverse market that can create constant demand for the parks over a longer period of time which should create sustained revenue.

You're right - if Guardians is a decent ride, the GOTG theme will become ancillary over time. Who remembers the TRON movie?

I don't think that first part is true -- I don't think there's much evidence to suggest the MCU has more overall fans than Star Wars or HP. It's not like the MCU films have significantly outperformed those franchises in ticket sales; if anything Star Wars is still way ahead of the MCU using that as a metric. Force Awakens sold something like 15 million more tickets than Endgame, which is the biggest MCU film. Of course the number of Star Wars ticket sales dropped precipitously from Force Awakens to Last Jedi, but it's hard to know what that says for the level of Star Wars fandom in general. The HP movie ticket sales are a bit lower (still very good, of course), but you also have to consider that over 500 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide, so there are huge numbers of people who are fans who either didn't care about the movies or only became fans after the movies were out in theaters.

Basically I think it's hard to argue that the MCU has a wider market than Star Wars or HP because there's no tangible evidence to support that. I'm not saying that means it has a smaller market, though -- just that I think the overall market is roughly the same and HP/Star Wars have a larger percentage of those hardcore fans.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

I do think that with things in flux as of right now, in terms of park project reevaluation, we might see other projects that have not broken ground yet put aside for more important ones in between now, and whenever they greenlight anything to be announced at D23. Then again, it has been mentioned here that Television and Movie announcements are quite prominent at the expo, and Park announcements don’t necessarily have to be as prominent to have an Expo.

 

[flynnibus]

What if the reason they aren’t doing 2021 is just the fiscal planning for fy2021... they know they will be gutted... so they probably don’t have the kind of budget they are used to or ‘need’.

defer a year until the forecast looks better and the planned spending is better.

 

[dizneycrazy09]

I think the idea is that there will be many more films/series/spinoffs with this IP in order to keep it "fresh."

Most of the comments here complaining about the use of movie IP in rides seems to forget that Disney is aggressively working on ways to make these characters live forever.

Try as they might, I don’t think Guardians will matter in 5-10 years.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

You would get in the parks for free on your birthday. Or, if you had a multi-day ticket or an annual pass, you would get a $75 gift card on the day of your birthday (which was the price of a 1 day ticket back then).

It was the stupidest campaign they ever created. No wonder why that was the last one.

I can't believe anyone would want to go back to an era of ever-more tenuous pretexts for a 'celebration' every year. That led us down a path to that stupid hat in front of the Chinese Theatre built to celebrate... Walt Disney's 100th birthday?

 

[UNCgolf]

I can't believe anyone would want to go back to an era of ever-more tenuous pretexts for a 'celebration' every year. That lead us down a path to that stupid hat in front of the Chinese Theatre built to celebrate... Walt Disney's 100th birthday?

Seriously. Take the money they're going to waste on special celebration projects and spend it on actual park maintenance so the regular day-to-day experience is better.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You would get in the parks for free on your birthday. Or, if you had a multi-day ticket or an annual pass, you would get a $75 gift card on the day of your birthday (which was the price of a 1 day ticket back then).

It was the stupidest campaign they ever created. No wonder why that was the last one.

I like that one...it had more of a tangible benefit.

I can't believe anyone would want to go back to an era of ever-more tenuous pretexts for a 'celebration' every year. That led us down a path to that stupid hat in front of the Chinese Theatre built to celebrate... Walt Disney's 100th birthday?

It’s much worse than that.

He was born in December 1901...so they actually built it and started it for the 100th anniversary of his birthdate...not his birthday...which would be December of 2002.

I can remember trying to explain it/have it explained to me at that time internally...it didn’t work well.

 

[_caleb]

I can't believe anyone would want to go back to an era of ever-more tenuous pretexts for a 'celebration' every year. That led us down a path to that stupid hat in front of the Chinese Theatre built to celebrate... Walt Disney's 100th birthday?

I agree but TBH surviving the global pandemic economic downturn might be reason enough to celebrate

 

[HauntedPirate]

I've said for a long time - Lower your expectations for the 50th. Looks like that turned out to be more prophetic than even I thought possible.

 

[doctornick]

I think the idea is that there will be many more films/series/spinoffs with this IP in order to keep it "fresh."

Most of the comments here complaining about the use of movie IP in rides seems to forget that Disney is aggressively working on ways to make these characters live forever.

And one if the big ways to make something “live forever” is to have attractions based on the IP in highly visited theme parks. It becomes a feedback loop of popularity

 

[brb1006]

I can't believe anyone would want to go back to an era of ever-more tenuous pretexts for a 'celebration' every year. That led us down a path to that stupid hat in front of the Chinese Theatre built to celebrate... Walt Disney's 100th birthday?

At least we got Share A Dream Come True Parade

 

[Brer Oswald]

I think the idea is that there will be many more films/series/spinoffs with this IP in order to keep it "fresh."

Most of the comments here complaining about the use of movie IP in rides seems to forget that Disney is aggressively working on ways to make these characters live forever.

I truly believe the whole “Guardians operation” from the very was to find heroes they could both incorporate into the MCU and their parks. That’s just my opinion. Even if you think that wasn’t why they chose to make the first film, you can’t deny that, after the film succeeded, that became their MO. And they are going to try to force Guardians and make that their next Spider-Man. Heck, they even tried, and dare I say almost succeeded, to do that in the films with Iron Man and Captain America when they couldn’t get the rights from Sony.

You can’t force popularity. Not completely, anyways. Mickey, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Star Wars, Spider-Man. The initial successes of these franchises weren’t forced. They reaped the rewards and pushed harder for them afterwards, but the success had to come naturally from somewhere.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

And one if the big ways to make something “live forever” is to have attractions based on the IP in highly visited theme parks. It becomes a feedback loop of popularity

Even large attendance amusement parks are still a niche market. Rides also cater to a clientele that are already sold on Disney before they get there more or less...so longterm IP appeal isn’t really generated from the Parks. It’s like convincing cows to eat grass

 

[denyuntilcaught]

I was thinking this when I was in EPCOT last weekend in the Experience Center. I certainly enjoyed the first Guardians film. The second one was fine, but I legitimately do not care about it at all at this point. The coaster isn’t even completed yet, and I feel like the IP is stale. A stage show, a black box ride, a float in a parade, all fine options for the hottest IP. A hundred million dollar ride based on a property that’s been around for less than a decade with a schtick (baby Groot, “funny” Drax, rude, talking raccoon) that’s already tired itself out? I don’t care how cool the coaster is, I don’t think it will have any type of longevity.

It’s like TWDC can’t see beyond their own noses any longer. They’ve stopped thinking about what’s going to have a lasting impression and be popular and relevant in 20, 30, 40 years. Go back to creating original IP for the parks that you can then make movies and merch from (Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Mansion, need I go on?). The IP they’re choosing to shoehorn into the parks has not proven to have longevity. All films to come out in the last decade other than Frozen or Tangled do not have staying power with the masses, IMO.

So my question is, how much does that matter? Does the IP need to have longevity in order for the attraction to leave a lasting impact? Wouldn't that fly in the face of the argument that IP-less arguments make a greater impact, at least in theory? Will the average guest be more drawn to the fact that Epcot finally has a roller coaster versus the theme the roller coaster is built around? Have I asked enough questions yet?