Bob Iger at WDW now ... BoD to Follow?

[PhotoDave219]

DHS is the only park that needs the total overhaul. Epcot needs quite a bit and MK has it's dead spots as well, but as you said, those can be done piecemeal.

Looking at the attendance distribution numbers for the first 6 months of the past 3 years? Guess which park is the outlier? And not by a little either.....

 

[RSoxNo1]

DCA
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Shanghai

Do I need to keep listing?

Again, it's not fair to say Iger hasn't "spent money on the parks under his whole tenure".

He has spent significantly less in the parks than at any time in the company's history, and the investment in new attractions at WDW has been laughable.

 

[englanddg]

He has spent significantly less in the parks than at any time in the company's history, and the investment in new attractions at WDW has been laughable.

I don't disagree. That wasn't the statement I was responding to.

 

[twebber55]

IP matters from a marketing standpoint. That's why it's important to Disney and Universal. It's easier to sell guests on the new area when they can wrap their head around an intellectual property they're familiar with. No matter how good a non-IP ride is or a ride around an IP they're not interested in, it's a much easier sell if they like the IP.

When a guest is there they'll appreciate the lesser IP/non IP ride, but the high demand IP gets them to book the trip.

im really talking about how good a ride/land can be not how popular

 

[Rodan75]

Looking at the numbers? MK is getting hammered, as usual. Pulling peak level crowds 49 times this year, 28% of the time. Has an above average crowd 52% of the time. Hasnt had a slow day (off-peak levels) since May 17th.

And yet when I was there in June they had janitorial staff in each rest room cleaning every time I visited a rest room and folks picking up trash in every line and in every major walk way. Haven't seen that in ages, restaurants I haven't seen open since the 90's were open every day I was there. In a week only 2 over stressed cast members at MK, which is much better than previous years.

MK and DAK were wonderfully staffed, Epcot and Studios felt less 'Disney' than MK and DAK did.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

"Golden age" sounds a bit much. I'm really starting to worry now that speculation is building upon speculation and whatever is really on the cards can't hope to match it. My guess is whatever is announced will get a 'is that it?' reception, not because it will be tepid in itself, but just because everyone seems to be hyping it up so much that anything short of DisneySea or the park-that-shall-not-be-named levels of work will seem a disappointment in comparison.

I hope I'm wrong, and trying not to get excited so I'm not disappointed, but rewatching the old D23 NFL announcement videos, and looking at other old attraction concept art pieces and press releases and how they matched to the reality... I think we're a long way from the point where we can say 'they did it, they finally did it!'.

I just watched those videos and they were really disappointing.

 

[BrianLo]

I have no idea. I've written about it many times.

Let' see if I can spend five minutes doing it again without the materials in front of me:

You had two lands (Toontown and Frontierland) removed. You had the following attractions:

Tomorrowland:
Autopia (added later);

Adventureland:
Haunted Mansion (DL's facade, slightly different and updated show);
Jungle-themed RnRC/Dinosaur hybrid (coaster with sound indoors with CTX's dinos); ***was conceived as park's signature E-Ticket;
Boneyard (same as DAK, at exit of above);
Aladdin spinner;

Frontierland:
Lewis and Clark raft ride (taken entirely from Disney's America concept);
Tough To Be a Bug (yes, really ... Eisner loved it!);

Fantasyland:
Small World (added lateer);
Peter Pan's Flight;
Adventures of Little Mermaid (the DLP/Baxter concept);
Sleeping Beauty castle walk-thru (same as in Anaheim);

Toontown:
Barnstormer-like kiddie coaster;
Mickey's House;
Minnie's House;
Donald's Boat;
Toontown Trolley;

That is just off the top of my head but is likely 98% accurate. Naturally, you lost dining and retail venues as well.

I'm kind of weirdly glad we have the product that we have now. Eisner's vision was sooooooo homogenized.

The primary reason I'm excited for SDL, someone actually had the foresight to say: "let's build a castle park, similar, but from scratch".

 

[BrianLo]

I'm thinking, by 2021, 3 E's (PIXAR, Star Wars, Marvel), 3 D's (BH6, Wreck It Ralph, Monster's Inc.), 4 C's (TSPL, Star Wars).

This is a my guess based on nothing but rumor and conjecture.

You are even more optimistic than I am... what happened to you?!?

 

[truecoat]

In the context of the conversation, Star Tours 2 is referring to the second version of essentially the same attraction. Star Tours 2.0 would perhaps be a better way for me to refer to it. The differences between California and Florida is the exterior queuing area and the number of simulators. The number of simulators would have an impact on queuing times.

For the record, the facade leading up to the attraction in DHS is more attractive than the facade at Disneyland's version. Again that's all aesthetics...

*1023*

I give the interior nod to DL.

 

[truecoat]

I think it's a bit early to assume Pixar is getting an E ticket, discussion here seems to indicate that Star Wars will be the "big" project and Pixar remains an unknown (though it sounds like it's a lesser part of it). I fully expect an E for Star Wars (unless a budget cut kills the quality per usual), but Pixar is uncertain. As it's going to be the first phase of the project, for all we know it could just be something like Toy Story Playland (something I don't consider unlikely in spite of my hopes to the contrary). TSP has been rumored for DHS in the recent past. So there may not be a Pixar E-ticket.

It all depends on what unique rides are planned for DHS and the quality involved. I'm fine with no Cars Land, but if they don't clone it then they HAVE to have at least one new ride up to par with or better than RSR's quality for the Pixar portion (a classic Disney quality E ticket). I don't at all disagree that parks should stay unique. But carnival rides don't cut it for unique, I don't want anything like Toy Story Playland at WDW, even if it's rethemed to be more "unique" (we've already got Dinorama is it is).

But if I had to guess, clones are probably happening in some form. It sounds like DL and WDW are both getting Star Wars expansions, one would think (given the trends) that they will have similar rides. The question is what kind of clones there are going to be. A clone of a good ride is better than a clone of a bad one. I'd even say a clone of a good ride is preferable to a poor quality original ride. And carnival garbage definitely doesn't cut it in any form.

The only thing that is certain to remain unique in the upcoming work is what they are legally prohibited from building at WDW- Marvel. Unless Guardians of the Galaxy is the Marvel project.

I heard there was a killer Incredibles ride on the drawing board long ago. Let's dust that off since a sequel is in the works.

 

[Wikkler]

View attachment 98639

Don't count on it!!!! Awww!!!!!!!!

You're too much of a "minion".

pickmepickmepickmepickme

 

[Cesar R M]

I see what you're saying, and that's true - to a point. But I won't schedule a trip around even a FANTASTICALLY executed Pandora. Moderate to great SW will get me there 3x a year.

*insert Potter comments and how many got attracted there for a well themed land.. x2 *

 

[marni1971]

Question: how many acres does Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain cover?

Just under 8 acres.

The area of the BLT when closed - not including LMA or CatCan but including the bungalows was around 10.

The original total area of the DHS backlot was around 32 acres.

 

[Cesar R M]

Went back just to make sure, but I'm almost certain it's the Empress Lilly. The Liberty Belle has a single, centered smokestack; the riverboat on the bag features two, as did the Empress before they were removed to become Fulton's. Also, you'll notice the large arching window overlooking the paddlewheel, a feature that remains on Fulton's to this day (although not as clearly as in vintage photos):

speaking of fultons.. what will be the fate of the empress once fulton's is closed?

 

[marni1971]

That is the Liberty Belle at MK.

It's the Lilly at LBV.

 

[G00fyDad]

It's the Lilly at LBV.

Ok

 

[Next Big Thing]

Is there a rumored start time for the DHS work yet?

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

I'm kind of weirdly glad we have the product that we have now. Eisner's vision was sooooooo homogenized.

The primary reason I'm excited for SDL, someone actually had the foresight to say: "let's build a castle park, similar, but from scratch".

Then you would love Disneyland Paris. Tony Baxter's incredible team created the most unique and beautiful take on the Magic Kingdom.

 

[alphac2005]

Why do you think Wall Street hates investments in the parks? Wall Street only cares about ROI and the returns on the investment. If the parks grow and become more profitable they reward the stock. They do not punish companies for being smart with infrastructure and investment in their business. They just don't reward risky investment thst do not generate a return. They also know a company cannot not improve if it is going to keep growing and producing results.

You are talking about the same market that has P/E ratios completely out of whack and countless unprofitable tech companies that have market caps way higher than century old multinational corporations. They do reward risk because Wall St. is like Vegas, when it gets down to it, it's gambling. Also, @ford91exploder is right on, they don't like projects that have the potential to have ongoing long-term high fixed costs as that causes margins to slide over time from labor to ongoing maintenance as far as they're concerned.

 

[SYRIK2000]

This thread and replies feel as though belong in the fantasy world of 'It's a small world'.

Iger has not spent a money on the parks under his whole tenure, now we're all dreaming he's going to spend billions.

The world DENIAL springs to mind.

This thread and replies feel as though belong in the fantasy world of 'It's a small world'.

Iger has not spent a money on the parks under his whole tenure, now we're all dreaming he's going to spend billions.

The world DENIAL springs to mind.

Are you still mad the Bill Goats tricked you?