News Bruce Vaughn Returns to Disney as Co-Lead of Walt Disney Imagineering

[GhostHost1000]

And wait... and wait... and wait..........................

*crickets*

 

[ToTBellHop]

I dread eating at both places. They're awful overpriced worse-than-food-court food.

I find food at UOR theme park QSRs to be far lower quality and more expensive. We try to strategize having all meals in City Walk.

 

[ToTBellHop]

*crickets*

Pinocchio’s Daring Journey CONFIRMED for Italy pavilion at Epcot!

 

[doctornick]

Pinocchio’s Daring Journey CONFIRMED for Italy pavilion at Epcot!

All kidding aside, I’ve often thought that would be a solid low scale addition to WS and would help by putting a ride in that gap between Norway and France

 

[castlecake2.0]

Pinocchio’s Daring Journey CONFIRMED for Italy pavilion at Epcot!

Give that to Italy, Mr Toads Wild Ride to UK, and don’t shut down Canada half the year and World Showcase could be good

 

[ToTBellHop]

All kidding aside, I’ve often thought that would be a solid low scale addition to WS and would help by putting a ride in that gap between Norway and France

Absolutely. We didn’t REALLY need a second Italian sit down there (as much as I love Via Napoli).

Give that to Italy, Mr Toads Wild Ride to UK, and don’t shut down Canada half the year and World Showcase could be good

Definitely. They need to stop only building $200m+ rides. It’s unsustainable and unnecessary.

 

[wdisney9000]

They need to stop only building $200m+ rides. It’s unsustainable and unnecessary.

Youll either get a $200m roller coaster or a cheap walk through attraction, and you'll like it, Spalding!

 

[ToTBellHop]

Youll either get a $200m roller coaster or a cheap walk through attraction, and you'll like it, Spalding!

Wait until it comes out that the Moana walkthrough cost $212m. All those research trips to Motunui to consider every coconut variety on earth.

Imagine your surprise when you realize the walkthrough has an entrance but no exit

 

[MisterPenguin]

All those research trips to Motunui to consider every coconut variety on earth.

The what?

 

[lentesta]

I'm just back from a trip to Nevada and California with Jim Hill and Jim Shull (former Exec Creative Director of WDI).

Things we saw/experienced:

• Omega Mart in Las Vegas
• A tour of the Garner Holt production facility, led by Garner
• A tour of WDI at 1401 Flower, including the Marty Sklar Archives, led by Bob Weis
• Super Nintendo World at USH
• Avengers Campus and Food & Wine at DCA
• The new Runaway Railway and Snow White at DL

One of the main takeaways from the WDI tour was how quiet the building was.

And this, I think, is one of the challenges that Bruce is going to have. Even if Iger says - today! - "Hey, Bruce, here's $2 billion. Go build something to compete with Universal", there's not enough people in the building to do the concept work.

My guess is that Bruce's initial job will be to blue-sky projects that are viable enough to be funded, and that would compete with Universal. If that takes less than the rest of this year, I'd be moderately surprised.

Then they'd need to ramp up hiring to do the design work. Then they'd need to do the work.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I did ask around and was told each domestic park has at least one project in development. However, many of these projects are like the Zootopia/Moana redo of Dinoland where they aren’t adding what they need, capacity.

 

[Tha Realest]

I'm just back from a trip to Nevada and California with Jim Hill and Jim Shull (former Exec Creative Director of WDI).

Things we saw/experienced:

• Omega Mart in Las Vegas
• A tour of the Garner Holt production facility, led by Garner
• A tour of WDI at 1401 Flower, including the Marty Sklar Archives, led by Bob Weis
• Super Nintendo World at USH
• Avengers Campus and Food & Wine at DCA
• The new Runaway Railway and Snow White at DL

One of the main takeaways from the WDI tour was how quiet the building was.

And this, I think, is one of the challenges that Bruce is going to have. Even if Iger says - today! - "Hey, Bruce, here's $2 billion. Go build something to compete with Universal", there's not enough people in the building to do the concept work.

My guess is that Bruce's initial job will be to blue-sky projects that are viable enough to be funded, and that would compete with Universal. If that takes less than the rest of this year, I'd be moderately surprised.

Then they'd need to ramp up hiring to do the design work. Then they'd need to do the work.

Just curious- since you saw so many projects and experiences developed by upstarts (Omega) and direct competitors (Nintendo at USH), how much do you feel Disney’s contemporaries in the themed entertainment industry have closed the gap, if not surpassed them, in terms of these experiences/competencies?

 

[wdisney9000]

All those research trips to Motunui to consider every coconut variety on earth.

According to many people here, the Disney research trips can basically prove that any land of make believe is also the same as a real country. Which means that Moana belongs in Norway pavilion!

Here's how it works: "there is weather in Motunui and there is also weather in Norway". Motonui = Norway.

 

[lentesta]

Just curious- since you saw so many projects and experiences developed by upstarts (Omega) and direct competitors (Nintendo at USH), how much do you feel Disney’s contemporaries in the themed entertainment industry have closed the gap, if not surpassed them, in terms of these experiences/competencies?

There are a lot of great ideas. My initial thought with Omega Mart was that it'd be perfect for the spot where NBA Experience was:

• It's a well-defined story and concept
• Small enough to be understood and completed in a set amount of time

I think the big challenge with Omega Mart is that the narrative would need to be much more structured in order for it to appeal to a wider audience. By my guess, figuring out the story at OM would take somewhere between 6 and 10 hours. Most guests aren't going to spend that amount of time in there. And it would take a "Disney" level of time and money to refine the story to the point where it'd make sense in, say, 2-4 hours of play. So that's the challenge for small companies - executing the idea as completely as Disney would.

Likewise, Mario Kart was a very good ride. I thought their use of AR was really easy to understand, and it worked well. (Not as good as The Void's VR experience, but for what it was, yeah, it was great.) The issues with Mario Kart are like every other Universal ride: real estate is always a challege, as is ride reliability. (It broke down twice while we were in line, adding 30 minutes to our wait.)

 

[ToTBellHop]

The what?

Tell us you‘ve never considered the coconut without telling us you’ve never considered the coconut.

 

[ToTBellHop]

According to many people here, the Disney research trips can basically prove that any land of make believe is also the same as a real country. Which means that Moana belongs in Norway pavilion!

Here's how it works: "there is weather in Motunui and there is also weather in Norway". Motonui = Norway.

I was recently thinking that, with all the complaints here about Ratatouille, they should convert the ride into Moana’s Motunui Adventure. Motunui looks a lot like Marseilles, so they shouldn’t have to change too much. With Hei Hei’s Cluster Cluck coming to DAK, that would just leave DHS and MK needing a Moana ride. I think we can get there.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I find food at UOR theme park QSRs to be far lower quality and more expensive. We try to strategize having all meals in City Walk.

City Walk in and of itself helps universals food situation in comparison to Disney as far as counter service goes. At least you can walk over to some decent food. You gotta catch a bus to get over to Disney springs

 

[wdisney9000]

 tea

I was recently thinking that, with all the complaints here about Ratatouille, they should convert the ride into Moana’s Motunui Adventure. Motunui looks a lot like Marseilles, so they shouldn’t have to change too much. With Hei Hei’s Cluster Cluck coming to DAK, that would just leave DHS and MK needing a Moana ride. I think we can get there.

Well, the sun is visible from both Marseilles amd Motunui so they're practically the same place.

 

[Tha Realest]

There are a lot of great ideas. My initial thought with Omega Mart was that it'd be perfect for the spot where NBA Experience was:

• It's a well-defined story and concept
• Small enough to be understood and completed in a set amount of time

I think the big challenge with Omega Mart is that the narrative would need to be much more structured in order for it to appeal to a wider audience. By my guess, figuring out the story at OM would take somewhere between 6 and 10 hours. Most guests aren't going to spend that amount of time in there. And it would take a "Disney" level of time and money to refine the story to the point where it'd make sense in, say, 2-4 hours of play. So that's the challenge for small companies - executing the idea as completely as Disney would.

Likewise, Mario Kart was a very good ride. I thought their use of AR was really easy to understand, and it worked well. (Not as good as The Void's VR experience, but for what it was, yeah, it was great.) The issues with Mario Kart are like every other Universal ride: real estate is always a challege, as is ride reliability. (It broke down twice while we were in line, adding 30 minutes to our wait.)

Thank you for your response and perspective!

 

[pdude81]

Wait until it comes out that the Moana walkthrough cost $212m. All those research trips to Motunui to consider every coconut variety on earth.

Imagine your surprise when you realize the walkthrough has an entrance but no exit

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