News Destination D23 2023

[Trauma]

Until all of this is completely over and resolved and all parties agree it's resolved, Disney has no idea what the next attack will be or what its impact will be. Take for example the "enforcement citation program" with $500/day files that have been described as "the new code enforcement system could be “weaponized” and used against Disney on matters unrelated to building and safety codes." What if they go after participants at Disney Springs and all of a sudden nobody will sign a lease there? Instead of swapping tenants out (which is normal) some leave and the spots lay empty. No merchant wants anything to do with the increased taxes (they've already complained about that risk) and other random 'enforcement' this new board should decide to undertake.

Since their development plan was negated by the legislature the other day, and then they added monorail inspections, and the list goes on, they are now in a position where any new development at WDW will have to be approved by the new CFTOD board. The CFTOD board members have already said they intend to use their 'power' to force the Disney company to change its direction on the content it produces by holding development plans hostage to their whims. No company is going to invest a dime in anything new under those conditions.

While they are not leaving Florida, do not expect anything that is not already underway to be announced until this is over. It would be irresponsible for Disney to do so. The moment they announce anything new, this is over and the governor will have won. It's not going to happen.

What if he doesn’t run for president ?

Is Disney just not going to do anything until 2027?

If I’m Iger I’m not allowing Universal to gobble up market share over this.

At the speed Universal builds how much news stuff can they have by 27?

 

[donsullivan]

What if he doesn’t run for president ?

Is Disney just not going to do anything until 2027?

If I’m Iger I’m not allowing Universal to gobble up market share over this.

At the speed Universal builds how much news stuff can they have by 27?

If this whole mess isn't resolved until then, yes Disney invests nothing in Florida until he's out of the office and this all settles down. The governor and his cronies in the state legislature have made it very clear they will take any and every attack angle they can find and/or make up to punish the company. Why would Disney want to expand in that climate? Today, they warned Wall Street (via SEC filing) about the negative impact all of this will have on future investment and earnings from Florida. They are taking this quite seriously at this point and are girding for battle with the state.

 

[Trauma]

If this whole mess isn't resolved until then, yes Disney invests nothing in Florida until he's out of the office and this all settles down. The governor and his cronies in the state legislature have made it very clear they will take any and every attack angle they can find and/or make up to punish the company. Why would Disney want to expand in that climate? Today, they warned Wall Street (via SEC filing) about the negative impact all of this will have on future investment and earnings from Florida. They are taking this quite seriously at this point and are girding for battle with the state.

You are talking like they have no competition in the state.

I understand a lot of posters blow off Universal here as a 2nd rate joke, but no one knows how good this new park is going to be.

We get a remake of Splash and some other minor nonsense and thats suppose to make a family of 4 spring 10k for another trip?

 

[donsullivan]

You are talking like they have no competition in the state.

I understand a lot of posters blow off Universal here as a 2nd rate joke, but no one knows how good this new park is going to be.

We get a remake of Splash and some other minor nonsense and thats suppose to make a family of 4 spring 10k for another trip?

Having worked on that Universal project up until about a month ago I know exactly what they are going to do and exactly what it will be like.

That doesn't change any of what I've said.

 

[Trauma]

Having worked on that Universal project up until about a month ago I know exactly what they are going to do and exactly what it will be like.

That doesn't change any of what I've said.

Ok then you are in the Disney is to big to fail camp, and I am not.

I will respectfully disagree with you.

I would love to hear any details you have on Universals new park though.

Their new stuff to me has been far more exciting then anything Disney is currently doing.

 

[donsullivan]

Ok then you are in the Disney is to big to fail camp, and I am not.

I will respectfully disagree with you.

I would love to hear any details you have on Universals new park though.

Their new stuff to me has been far more exciting then anything Disney is currently doing.

Sorry, I will continue to do my best to honor the NDA and not share any details on the Universal effort until it's open.

This isn't about 'too big to fail' this is about a hostile development environment, made hostile by the government of the state of Florida. They have multiple layers of government who have publicly stated in word and action they intend to keep punishing Disney with everything they can come up with, whenever they can find it. Companies do not invest when the government is openly and actively hostile toward them; that's just the way it is.

Don't get me wrong I don't expect this to last 2 years but there is no indication this is going to end any time soon and as a result, nothing new is going to get announced.

 

[Trauma]

Sorry, I will continue to do my best to honor the NDA and not share any details on the Universal effort until it's open.

This isn't about 'too big to fail' this is about a hostile development environment, made hostile by the government of the state of Florida. They have multiple layers of government who have publicly stated in word and action they intend to keep punishing Disney with everything they can come up with, whenever they can find it. Companies do not invest when the government is openly and actively hostile toward them; that's just the way it is.

Don't get me wrong I don't expect this to last 2 years but there is no indication this is going to end any time soon and as a result, nothing new is going to get announced.

I only see a few outcomes here.

Florida remains hostile to Disney in perpetuity:

If so Disney either needs to live with the new reality or pack up shop and leave.

Of course this is never going to happen, I think we can both agree?

So the most likely outcomes is this gets resolved in some period of time that is less than 4 years.

Disney not investing in Florida is not going to hurt DeSantis, I can assure you he can care less.

It will however hurt Disney long term.

I don’t get the cut off your nose to spite your face thinking on this.

I may be misunderstanding you, is what you are implying is that things will still get green lit and just not announced until the feud is over ?

 

[donsullivan]

I only see a few outcomes here.

Florida remains hostile to Disney in perpetuity:

If so Disney either needs to live with the new reality or pack up shop and leave.

Of course this is never going to happen, I think we can both agree?

So the most likely outcomes is this gets resolved in some period of time that is less than 4 years.

Disney not investing in Florida is not going to hurt DeSantis, I can assure you he can care less.

It will however hurt Disney long term.

I don’t get the cut off your nose to spite your face thinking on this.

I may be misunderstanding you, is what you are implying is that things will still get green lit and just not announced until the feud is over ?

The part you are missing and I have no idea if you live in FL (so that might explain that if you don't) but right now, Disney has no idea what the next thing the governor and his cronies will go after and what new pain they will choose to inflict on Disney. They have reached the point where they are looking for something to add to nearly every piece of legislation to target Disney in some way. The monorail provision was a poster child for that and they made absolutely no pretense that it was anything but punishing Disney.

You cannot run a business of that scale and make future business and investment decisions in that climate. The only viable strategy is to redirect available funds to other parks around the world for a while until the environment here in FL becomes more stable and more predicatable. We are a long way from that right now.

Lets be clear- WDW isn't going anywhere, but we aren't going to see anything new until the business environment stops being actively hostile specifically toward Disney and nobody else.

 

[Trauma]

The part you are missing and I have no idea if you live in FL (so that might explain that if you don't) but right now, Disney has no idea what the next thing the governor and his cronies will go after and what new pain they will choose to inflict on Disney. They have reached the point where they are looking for something to add to nearly every piece of legislation to target Disney in some way. The monorail provision was a poster child for that and they made absolutely no pretense that it was anything but punishing Disney.

You cannot run a business of that scale and make future business and investment decisions in that climate. The only viable strategy is to redirect available funds to other parks around the world for a while until the environment here in FL becomes more stable and more predicatable. We are a long way from that right now.

Let’s be clear- WDW isn't going anywhere, but we aren't going to see anything new until the business environment stops being actively hostile specifically toward Disney and nobody else.

I understand what your saying.

My opinion is Disney can continue to posture for a period of time, but guests don’t care about their fight with Florida, they just want new experiences to explore.

I don’t see any guarantee that Florida will not be under Republican control beyond DeSantis.

Again I understand your point of view, however I find it deeply troubling for the future of the Florida Project.

 

[TTA94]

Maybe there is hope for this event to go better than we think. As long as nothing major happens between now and then. Of course even if they announce a ton of stuff that doesn’t mean most of it will actually happen lol.

 

[asianway]

Maybe there is hope for this event to go better than we think. As long as nothing major happens between now and then. Of course even if they announce a ton of stuff that doesn’t mean most of it will actually happen lol.

Has anything ever been announced at Destination D? I thought it was a bunch of Gen X Disney fans crying in their beer with the usual suspects from WDI about the good old days

 

[prberk]

Well, this particular Destination D event is billed as a celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary. I would think the archives play a major part, but @WDW Pro has reported that they have laid off a good bit of the archives staff and also put in some very restrictive rules on them concerning what they can display that might reflect negatively on the company (e.g., Walt with a cigarette in his hand).

So, I am not sure if any of that will affect the event, but I can’t help but wonder. I was looking forward to displays of relatively lesser known things from the archives. But I don’t think we have yet to see a schedule or description of events.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Well, this particular Destination D event is billed as a celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary. I would think the archives play a major part, but @WDW Pro has reported that they have laid off a good bit of the archives staff and also put in some very restrictive rules on them concerning what they can display that might reflect negatively on the company (e.g., Walt with a cigarette in his hand).

So, I am not sure if any of that will affect the event, but I can’t help but wonder. I was looking forward to displays of relatively lesser known things from the archives. But I don’t think we have yet to see a schedule or description of events.

I don’t think we’ve seen official Disney imagery of Walt with a cigarette in years anyway.

 

[MisterPenguin]

but @WDW Pro has reported that they have laid off a good bit of the archives staff and also put in some very restrictive rules on them concerning what they can display that might reflect negatively on the company (e.g., Walt with a cigarette in his hand).

Oh really? Pro is reporting on something that has been well known for decades (namely, no showing pictures of Walt smoking).

So informative!!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Oh really? Pro is reporting on something that has been well known for decades (namely, no showing pictures of Walt smoking).

So informative!!

He is a millionty percent accurate!

 

[mickEblu]

The only viable strategy is to redirect available funds to other parks around the world for a while until the environment here in FL becomes more stable and more predicatable.

Is this why we’re hearing about Avatar/ Pandora coming to DLR? Thank you DeSantis!

 

[prberk]

Oh really? Pro is reporting on something that has been well known for decades (namely, no showing pictures of Walt smoking).

So informative!!

Not necessarily new itself but part of the larger narrative he was making (especially cuts) about the archives today. Still sad and somewhat antithetical to what the archives is supposed to be about … telling the story of the company through the years.
But I am interested if anyone has heard from anyone at the archives as to the tone and the cuts.
And separately I am interested in what is going to be presented at Destination D.

 

[DCBaker]

D23 has added some updated details for Destination D23 2023 (the items below includes prior and new updates).

Presentation Highlights of Destination D23 will include*:

• Hear from Disney archivists, historians, Imagineers, cast members, animators and luminaries—including Disney Legends Bill Farmer and Don Hahn; the voice actors behind some of Disney’s most iconic characters, Bret Iwan, Kaitlyn Robrock, and Ashley Eckstein; Disney on Broadway’s own Genie, Michael James Scott from Aladdin; and many more—in two days of programming worthy of the first century of Disney—and beyond!

• Join Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro as he hosts a fun and entertaining presentation about what makes a Disney experience so magical and memorable for guests and fans around the world.
  
  
• Dial the clock back to 1923 with Disney Legend Don Hahn and Director of the Walt Disney Archives Becky Cline and learn about Walt Disney’s Journey to join his brother Roy in California, and the earliest days of The Walt Disney Company—from the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio to the Alice Comedies, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and how everyone’s favorite mouse became a superstar!
  
  
• Catch up with the voice actors behind fan-favorite Disney characters, including Bret Iwan (Mickey Mouse), Kaitlyn Robrock (Minnie Mouse), and Disney Legend Bill Farmer (Pluto, Goofy), and join them for a hilarious “table read” of iconic scenes from 100 years of Disney history.
  
  
• Get weird with the Walt Disney Archives and experience 100 years of “weird Disney” moments in the centennial edition of a Destination D23 fan favorite!
  
  
• Journey through Disney’s history of optimism and innovation with the people who are part of a rich history of storytellers and inventors, beginning with Walt Disney’s relentless optimism and innovative spirit and leading us to some of the bright minds who are shaping Disney’s boundless future.
  
  
• Go down the rabbit hole to discover the “Disney you didn’t know” as the Walt Disney Archives uncovers some of the most astonishing Disney discoveries, connections, and little-known facts that will change everything—or at least some things—you thought you knew about the Disney universe.
  
  
• Celebrate 100 years of Walt Disney Animation Studios with legendary animators and guests, and get a sneak peek at their highly-anticipated upcoming feature film, Wish!

Plus: more presenters, presentations, and activities to be announced soon!

Exciting Experiences at Destination D23 will include*:

• On the evening of Sunday, September 10, kick off the spookiest season in style, and “skeleton dance” the night away with our Disney+ Hallowstream Costume Bash, the grand finale to a weekend full of fun and surprises!
  
  
• 60 Years of Disney’s Audio-Animatronics® Technology Exhibit: The Walt Disney Archives and Walt Disney Imagineering join creative forces for a special exhibition at Destination D23 to celebrate the history of Audio-Animatronics technology. This exclusive exhibit will showcase the evolution of the art and its related technology through a diverse showcase of rare figural assets, photography, and vintage ephemera and documentation all in the name of celebrating key moments from Walt’s earliest inspirations and development to modern-day marvels.
  
  
• Mickey’s of Glendale: The Walt Disney Imagineering campus store returns with a pop-up shop at the event featuring a selection of exclusive Destination D23 and Walt Disney Imagineering merchandise available for purchase. Trading pins for this event will be offered to attendees through a random selection process (RSP) opportunity.**
  
  
• The Walt Disney Company Store: For the first time, D23 Gold Members on the East Coast will have access to a pop-up version of the official Walt Disney Company Store, featuring both employee- and D23 Member-exclusive merchandise! Please note that limited-edition trading pins for this event will be offered to attendees exclusively through a RSP opportunity.**
  
  
• Ink & Paint Marketplace: Attendees will also have the opportunity to shop at this marketplace of exclusive Disney partners for exciting products from around The Walt Disney Company!**

Full information can be found at the link below.

Destination D23 presented by Lug - D23

Join D23: The Official Disney Fan Club at the Biggest Disney Fan Event of the year as we celebrate 100 years of Disney!

d23.com

 

[denyuntilcaught]

Join Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro as he hosts a fun and entertaining presentation about what makes a Disney experience so magical and memorable for guests and fans around the world.

 

[Figments Friend]

The 60 Years of Audio Animatronics is the big attraction on that above list, in my opinion.
Very nice to see this art form honored.
Looking forward to what it entails.

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