Parks and Resorts has become 100% risk averse because they still view Parks and Resorts as mature. The financials are so delicate that they feel they can't afford the slightest misstep. Despite all that, a $1.6 billion investment in Next Gen has yielded next to nothing. Any one of us on this site could have better spent that money in the parks.
You have executives afraid to take risks, and Imagineers that now live to cater to these executives. This means unimaginative, safe projects. A major Star Wars expansion should have been green lit as soon as the ink was dry on the Lucas contract. Fixing Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios should have been green lit as soon as Disney execs saw this pictures:
Instead, you get guys like Bruce Vaughn leading the charge. Making statements at D23 like, "bring it on!" He's just as delusional as the executives living quarter to quarter. I know he's the red headed step child around here, but I need to steal a paragraph from
Jim Hill's series of Beastly Kingdom articles that are 14+ years old:
You see, Disney CEO Michael Eisner is a very competitive guy. He hates to lose -- at anything. If attendance at WDW started to noticeably slip due to the Mouse losing customers to Universal's new theme park, Michael would have to do something. Eisner's enormous ego just wouldn't be able to handle the idea of Disney being No. 2 in the Orlando market.
So he'd turn to the Imagineers and say: "Make the best attractions you can."
Not "Make the best attraction you can on a limited budget." (i.e.: WDI's recent controversial rehab of Epcot's "Journey into Imagination" ride. During its three months of operation, the revamped version of that Future World attraction racked up more guest complaints than most shows produce in a year.)
Not "Make the best attraction you can with minimal changes to the pre-existing ride building." (i.e.: The Magic Kingdom's "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin" actually runs its ride vehicles along the very same track and layout the building's previous tenants -- Delta's "Dreamflight" and the unsponsored "Take Flight" -- used.)
Not "Make the best attraction that reflects the sponsor's agenda" (i.e.: Any exhibit you'll find inside either version of "Innoventions.")
Just "Make the best attractions you can." Period.
Look at Epcot, the two new things going to that park are shoehorning Frozen into an existing facility that doesn't fit it, and Soarin' 2.0. As an Imagineer how, can you possibly get excited about creating some of this stuff? Disney is putting the least amount of effort behind these additions in what is wholly uninspiring. If they can't get behind their own innovation, why should fans?
When was the last time Imagineering was told to "Make the best attractions you can"?
