News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[brb1006]

Here is a clip of the new anamatronics in the Grand Fiesta Tour from Touring Plans.

Panchito's movement is so hypnotic to watch.

 

[Matt_Black]

"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." - Walt Disney

 

[FigmentForver96]

"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." - Walt Disney

Great thing about the original rides was that they were entertaining. Now we just have rides that attempt to entertain but fall flat and then don't educate at all.

 

[George]

"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." - Walt Disney

"Of course, you can make money without teaching or funning things up." - Robert Alan Epcot

 

[PhotoDave219]

"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." - Walt Disney

"With the Lights out, its less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us"

 

[marni1971]

"In a Disney park, everything must work. Poor maintenance is poor show" - Marty Sklar

"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money" - Walt Disney

 

[RSoxNo1]

"Quality is the best business plan." - John Lasseter

 

[DisneyGentleman]

"In a Disney park, everything must work. Poor maintenance is poor show" - Marty Sklar

"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money" - Walt Disney

How far things have fallen, and how long the climb back will be.

Maybe the tanking of basic cable and ESPN will wake them up. One can only hope.

 

[doctornick]

Maybe the tanking of basic cable and ESPN will wake them up. One can only hope.

To be clear: ESPN isn't "tanking". Due to subscriber loss, ESPN is simply making large profits instead of ungodly massive profits.

 

[prberk]

Panchito's movement is so hypnotic to watch.

I like Donald's, too. He looks really fluid there. Looks like they used whatever modern approach to him that they applied to Lincoln to improve his movements in recent updates.

 

[DisneyGentleman]

To be clear: ESPN isn't "tanking". Due to subscriber loss, ESPN is simply making large profits instead of ungodly massive profits.

Not quite true. From 2013 to 2015 they have lost somewhere near $550 million in subscriber revenue. Worse yet, about half the users who are forced to subscribe never tune in. They make about $3B a year off of suscribers who don't watch and who are now cutting the cord. Tie that with guaranteed payment obligations of $6B a year to college and professional sports, and you have a serious problem. The trends are down, and accelerating.

 

[doctornick]

Not quite true. From 2013 to 2015 they have lost somewhere near $550 million in subscriber revenue. Worse yet, about half the users who are forced to subscribe never tune in. They make about $3B a year off of suscribers who don't watch and who are now cutting the cord. Tie that with guaranteed payment obligations of $6B a year to college and professional sports, and you have a serious problem. The trends are down, and accelerating.

I'm not sure how what you said contradicts my point. Yes, ESPN has suffered from significant decrease in revenues due to cord cutting. That is true. But that has resulted in ESPN bringing in smaller (but still substantial) profits -- ESPN is not losing money at all and is still a wildly profitable division for Disney. ESPN made over $9B from subscriber revenue alone in 2015 and that's without even taking into account advertising revenues on their networks.

Could subscriber loss eventually lead to a point where ESPN is not profitable? Sure, maybe at some point int he future, though ESPN is well positioned to sell directly to consumers in that situation and cutting out the cable provider middle man. They control a lot of sports rights for a long period and can easily package a lot of digital programming for direct to consumer sales.

Many many cable networks are going to be in trouble if cord cutting accelerates. Sports channels -- and ESPN in particular -- are not among those in the most concerning situation. People will actually pay for live sports.

 

[DisneyGentleman]

I'm not sure how what you said contradicts my point. Yes, ESPN has suffered from significant decrease in revenues due to cord cutting. That is true. But that has resulted in ESPN bringing in smaller (but still substantial) profits -- ESPN is not losing money at all and is still a wildly profitable division for Disney. ESPN made over $9B from subscriber revenue alone in 2015 and that's without even taking into account advertising revenues on their networks.

Could subscriber loss eventually lead to a point where ESPN is not profitable? Sure, maybe at some point int he future, though ESPN is well positioned to sell directly to consumers in that situation and cutting out the cable provider middle man. They control a lot of sports rights for a long period and can easily package a lot of digital programming for direct to consumer sales.

Many many cable networks are going to be in trouble if cord cutting accelerates. Sports channels -- and ESPN in particular -- are not among those in the most concerning situation. People will actually pay for live sports.

People will pay for live sports, not for talking heads.
ESPN is in trouble, and Disney is justifiably scared.
The same could be said of the buggy whip industry when the iron horse came along.

 

[dizda]

People will pay for live sports, not for talking heads.
ESPN is in trouble, and Disney is justifiably scared.
The same could be said of the buggy whip industry when the iron horse came along.

Disney made two mistakes with ESPN. First, they vastly overpaid for NBA and NFL rights, raising costs. Second (and possibly a more serious mistake), to get per subscriber carriage fees above $6 a head, they agreed to lower carriage levels (80% instead of the traditional 90%, I believe). This has cost ESPN subscribers not just to cord-cutters but to cable and satellite customers that can now opt for new "light" (ESPN-free) packages.

 

[Bocabear]

Great about ESPN and all...So... Anyway what about the big changes coming to EPCOT's Future world?

 

[matt9112]

Great about ESPN and all...So... Anyway what about the big changes coming to EPCOT's Future world?

going to make it ESPN world duh. With a giant golf ball center stage .

 

[ford91exploder]

Disney made two mistakes with ESPN. First, they vastly overpaid for NBA and NFL rights, raising costs. Second (and possibly a more serious mistake), to get per subscriber carriage fees above $6 a head, they agreed to lower carriage levels (80% instead of the traditional 90%, I believe). This has cost ESPN subscribers not just to cord-cutters but to cable and satellite customers that can now opt for new "light" (ESPN-free) packages.

As I have done, ESPN was in the 'sports pack' on my system, Considering I'm not a sports fan that was an easy 14.95/Mo to save, Now if we could only get the rest of the Disney Dreck off the system we could save some real money.

 

[ford91exploder]

going to make it ESPN world duh. With a giant golf ball center stage .

After the STUNNING success of the 'ESPN Zones', Well at least that would give Disney a chance to put EPCOT out of it's misery.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

Great about ESPN and all...So... Anyway what about the big changes coming to EPCOT's Future world?

To be fair, the title of this thread has zero basis in reality. If there are any "big changes" on the way, nobody here knows about them .. or they are just not ready to share.

 

[marni1971]

To be fair, the title of this thread has zero basis in reality. If there are any "big changes" on the way, nobody here knows about them .. or they are just not ready to share.

It's starting to get.... Interesting....