Actually, I sorta threw the towel in on that. And very soon I'll meander off through the ether for some quality "me time." The problem with this thread, or almost any for that matter, is once they reach a certain number of pages, people just talk about anything.
As to the less chit chat, I was referring to the site in general. I can't ever recall a year when the annual shareholders meeting got no attention here whatsoever (here being MAGIC, not this thread specifically). I don't know why that is really ... not that any news of substance came from the event. Bob's strategy of hiding it in places like Denver (who wants to travel there in early March?) keeps a lot of people away who might make it more entertaining. I stopped attending regularly years ago.
I would caution those fans who are getting hyped up over the idea that major projects (unannounced) are coming to WDW to use a lot of caution. Just what has been announced or is happening is a huge amount of spending ... from Pandora to new 'lands' at whatever they will be calling The Disney-MGM Studios to new road work to gondolas to DVCs etc etc.
People who think that EPCOT will be reinvented with all sorts of major new attractions in four years time are setting themselves up for huge disappointments. There really is only so much work that Disney will do, only so much money that Disney will spend on an annual basis.
Speaking of disappointment, anyone here want to tell me they like the 'rip out all the theming, add a little decoration you could buy at Home Goods and call it a deluxe resort' redos that have happened from the BC to BW at WDW and are now happening in the new Copper Creek Villas at WDW and Grand Californian rooms at DL? I just don't get it ... but I think it actually is coming from Guests who want more ordinary rooms. All at insane Disney price points.
When it comes to the future, there do seem to be a lot of concepts bouncing around right now. With that said, we know a lot of the current projects we've discussed will be done soon. Announced projects we know will be done by 2019:
1) Disney Springs (it's still just chugging along... slowly)
2) Wilderness Lodge DVC
3) Avatar
4) Typhoon Lagoon Addition
5) Toy Story Land
6) Star Wars Experience
Some sort of phase one work should be complete or close to complete on the CBR CSR front. It was also hinted we could see the Gondolas sometime around late 2019/early 2020 too.
All of this to say, most of the announced projects will be done by 2019. There's two headliner lands that will have opened, but beyond that any projects are well placed rumors.
It feels like Parks and Resorts goes in investment cycles. Let's look at what has been announced to open beyond 2019:
1) Cruise Ships
2) Disneyland's new hotel
3) Walt Disney World's hotel "improvements"
4) More money for Disneyland Paris
5) HKDL's (under attack, tiny 100 million dollar a year contribution from WDC) Expansion
Not a lot. Last D23, Disney spelled out what the next 4.5 years would look like. It would actually make sense to be finalizing the plans for the next 4.5+ years about now. The next stage of investments need to get started so they can come online in the early 2020s. That goes for Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
If they base Epcot's plans off of the HKDL/DCA/DAK approach, they'll announce a 5 year+ modernization plan. Then we're looking at project completion in 2022 or 2023. Which isn't ridiculous. Hopefully it's faster, but they seem to like their 5 year improvement plans.
A new headliner, a handful of filler attractions, and placemaking improvements done on a 5-6 year timeframe isn't ridiculous. They could even throw in an attraction or two at the other parks for a 2021 opening.
Seems plausible.
