Rumor D23 2024 WDW Rumors, Predictions & Discussion

DCLcruiser

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
Rhinocerous said:
I do think we tend to idealize who and what Walt was. (I'm as guilty of that as anybody.) At the end of the day, he was a businessman in charge of a large company who played a bit of a character in public.

That said, his playbook for success was to deliver above and beyond expectations, believing that would engender loyalty, trust, and repeat business. He was right. Today's Disney have become the carnies that spurred Walt to build Disneyland in the first place.
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He lived in a very different time, with a different pace of life/news and business expectations.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Rhinocerous said:
I do think we tend to idealize who and what Walt was. (I'm as guilty of that as anybody.) At the end of the day, he was a businessman in charge of a large company who played a bit of a character in public.

That said, his playbook for success was to deliver above and beyond expectations, believing that would engender loyalty, trust, and repeat business. He was right. Today's Disney have become the carnies that spurred Walt to build Disneyland in the first place.
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Walt quote

"I have never been interested in personal gain or profit" will ensure the parks and resorts business among others to fail.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
bmr1591 said:
Unfortunately, we don’t get a behind the scenes look at what Josh has or hasn’t campaigned or pushed for. He may be comfortable coasting, but he also might be pushing for stuff people above him wont allow to move forward.
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I get what you are saying, and you are kind to give him the benefit of the doubt. But then I remember...

Josh D'Amaro was named Parks Chairman on May 18th, 2020. That was over 4 years ago now. The only person "above him" when it comes to all of Disney's global theme parks was/is;

Bob Chapek from May 18th, 2020 to November 20th, 2022
Bob Iger from November 20th, 2022 to the present

WDI's President Du Jour and all of Imagineering reports to Mr. D'Amaro, he is their boss for the past 4+ years. If Josh D'Amaro really is pushing for actual new products and attraction concepts to be built in the American parks, the only person stopping him the past 4 years has been one of the Bobs.

As of now, there is nothing new under construction in any of the 6 American theme parks Mr D'Amaro has been in full control of for the past four years. If he announces anything major (bigger than a new snack bar, smaller than a Cars Land) this weekend for any park to begin construction prep next month, the earliest it would open would be Christmas, 2027.

bmr1591 said:
My personal biggest concern are the terrible blue sky pitches we have seen. Some simply miss the entire vision of the theme park.
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Again, some of the worst of those vague and hazy Blue Sky pitches have come directly from Josh D'Amaro during his tenure as Parks Chairman the past 4+ years. But hey, at least he has a runner's physique in those Cool Dad jeans when he says rather meaningless words about his latest vague Blue Sky thing. 🧐

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The Chatbox Ghost

The Chatbox Ghost

Well-Known Member
SJN1279 said:
Yes, I have also noticed a return to Jack Sparrow. Captain Red was not cutting it.

Very thankful.
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Honestly I never minded Red as a concept, as much as I prefer the original scene. My issue with Red is that they got a super well known voice actress with an extremely recognizable voice to do her lines, which always takes me out of the immersion because it suddenly reminds me of her which reminds me it’s all fake. No shade against Grey, she’s fantastic and I’ve worked with her before, but I think they should’ve used someone with an unrecognizable voice for Red.

That’s actually my same issue with having Jack Sparrow in the ride- most people just think of Johnny Depp and you remember that, again, he’s real, the character isnt.
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
James Alucobond said:
The stake is in Epic Games, not Fortnite alone. They own a distribution platform that exists in parallel to Steam, EA Play, Battle.net, etc.
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And a stake in Unreal Engine, which is the engine that makes "The Volume" happen.

It is similar to the acquisition of LucasFilm. It came with acquiring Industrial Light and Magic.

Or when Disney bought BAMtech. It wasn't for the baseball, but for the streaming engine.

It's not just the front-end content... it's the engines that make it all work.

Synergy, synergy.
 
DreamfinderGuy

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
As of now, there is nothing new under construction in any of the 6 American theme parks Mr D'Amaro has been in full control of for the past four years. If he announces anything major (bigger than a new snack bar, smaller than a Cars Land) this weekend for any park to begin construction prep next month, the earliest it would open would be Christmas, 2027.
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I mean, there's Test Track 3.0 under active construction. That's something, and it'll be here before 2027.
 
FigmentJedi

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
The Chatbox Ghost said:
Honestly I never minded Red as a concept, as much as I prefer the original scene. My issue with Red is that they got a super well known voice actress with an extremely recognizable voice to do her lines, which always takes me out of the immersion because it suddenly reminds me of her which reminds me it’s all fake. No shade against Grey, she’s fantastic and I’ve worked with her before, but I think they should’ve used someone with an unrecognizable voice for Red.
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Eh, no more immersion breaking then having Tony the Tiger and Boris Badenov all over the place.
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
I do get what you're saying. Chapek was a charmless and unlikable hack. You'd hate to have to sit next to him at a dinner party, or on a long plane ride, or work for him or with him. And absolutely no one misses him now that he's fired and erased from history like after a bad night in the Kremlin. I am left to wonder how thrilled Mrs. Chapek is to have him around the house a lot more nowadays?

On the flip side, D'Amaro is charming and likable and has a winning smile and a runner's physique and a Cool Dad wardrobe from Nordstrom. But it's been years now, and under his watch the Parks have all gone downhill, the CM standards for showmanship and professionalism have crashed into the basement, and there's not ONE SINGLE NEW THING currently being built at any of the 6 Disney parks in the USA. Not a new parade, not a new ride, not even a new snack bar.

D'Amaro has brought us nothing but vague and hazy concept art of Blue Sky projects that may, or may not, ever happen.

A winning smile and a runner's physique with no real results or improvement can only get you by for a year or two. And that year or two ended for D'Amaro back in 2023, thanks to extra padding from Covid.

I look forward to hearing what D'Amaro says this weekend in Anaheim, and how he says it. 🧐
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I think this is Josh’s moment. A lot of the major project cycle length is 5-7 years long and was completely thrown astray by Chapek’s transition. A little too much of what’s directly announced and directly cancelled by Chapek was laid at the feet of Josh.

Now that said we’ve had a solid 18 months of CEO driven support for major parks spending… and essentially a blank slate. I’m all for jumping down his throat Saturday night, but I think he’s a better parks steward than this board thinks. That comes to a head in a little more than 48H - and not just because I think he deserves a free pass up until now.
 

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