News Disney Not Renewing Great Movie Ride Sponsorship Deal with TCM ; Attraction to Close

[doctornick]

This keeps being asserted but I think it is grossly oversimplified. When Disney made Snow White, there was no soundtrack, no existing aesthetic, no existing sets, etc.

When Disney released Episode VII, there was an established soundtrack (Yes, John Williams wrote new pieces, but he had already developed "the feel"), established costume themes, established ship and uniform styles, and even some of the actual cast from previous movies.

Without being too snarky, aside from Budget and the actual ownership rights, Disney's contribution to the Star Wars universe is creatively equivalent to fan fiction. Not that that is a bad thing. It just isn't the same as taking a purely written fairy tale and creating a visual and aural universe out of it.

That's a good argument.

I still think it undersells what Disney is doing by creating new content within established brands -- it's not as simple as just "buying" the IPs because you still have to make new content but I do agree that's easier to add to established brands than create something entirely brand new.

That said, I think you could make a good point that the likes of Zootopia or Inside Out are as original or creative as anything Disney has ever done.

 

[ChipNDale79]

That's a good argument.

I still think it undersells what Disney is doing by creating new content within established brands -- it's not as simple as just "buying" the IPs because you still have to make new content but I do agree that's easier to add to established brands than create something entirely brand new.

That said, I think you could make a good point that the likes of Zootopia or Inside Out are as original or creative as anything Disney has ever done.

I think the rub is, some are afraid Disney is going to go the route to bring things into the parks that are not "Disney", i think some are afraid of more Pandoras. I don't know if thats right or wrong though.

 

[RobidaFlats]

That's a good argument.

I still think it undersells what Disney is doing by creating new content within established brands -- it's not as simple as just "buying" the IPs because you still have to make new content but I do agree that's easier to add to established brands than create something entirely brand new.

That said, I think you could make a good point that the likes of Zootopia or Inside Out are as original or creative as anything Disney has ever done.

I am not trying to undersell the creative effort necessary to even continue an existing franchise. We've all seen examples of when it is done poorly and ruins something.

I am also not one who argues that Disney is completely devoid of creative ability and is solely dependent upon the absorption of other ideas. That is patently false and (I hope) merely hyperbole meant to get a rise out of people.

 

[Andrew C]

I think the rub is, some are afraid Disney is going to go the route to bring things into the parks that are not "Disney"

This isn't anything new....

 

[csmat99]

You must be visiting another AK of which I am not privy.

Thanks, I needed a laugh today.

Trust me, I made similar arguments before, to no avail.

World Showcase was NOT about showing guests the world, it was about showing guests enough of the sponsor country that they'd want to go and visit and spend money in that country.

You just ruined my day. So you are saying that World Showcase was NOT about drinking and getting drunk around the world?

 

[rioriz]

Keep in mind that they weren't expecting Frozen to go gangbusters, eg merch shortages and then trying to get it into the parks as 'cheaply' (relative term) as possible. This is to say that they weren't really banking on their own creative content for growth; they should have had complementary promotions ready for it, but they didn't.

Edit: Actually on the last earnings call, there were questions about the Consumer Products segment revenue falling and this was attributed to the appeal of Frozen waning...and how is Frozen 2 going to do? Anyhow, my point is that they should be planning for success of their creative content, so as to capitalize on it as much as possible in a timely fashion.

Actually they were right, creatively Frozen shouldn't have been as big as it is...they couldn't account for the utter disregard for creativity the American public had grown to accept!

 

[ChipNDale79]

This isn't anything new....

Its new that Disney has spent so much on one section of a park. I'll agree they've had rides and attractions from other stuff before, but never anything with the undertaking of Pandora.

Again, I'm not saying its right or wrong.

 

[RoysCabin]

No, you're right, if you go back and look at a lot of the disney classics they are old fairy tales that were not "created" by disney. However he took them, and expanded upon them and made them what people from the modern world know about those fairy tales. Thats now how people remember those stories, because of Walt Disney. Its not like there was a Snow White movie out before Walt did it, then he turned around and made Snow White 2 or anything like that.

Look, I really don't care about the IP thing, I'm just making a point there is a difference in acquiring IP or creating/developing it. Disney is able to build new theme park attractions based off of acquired IP. I don't have a problem with that, some people do though.

In addition, I think a lot of the unrest isn't over IPs being in the parks (as that would've meant unrest back in the 50s), but IPs becoming the sole way forward for the parks in America, as we haven't seen anything else in Orlando or Anaheim for years on end. Plenty of people expressing their concerns had or have plenty of love for attractions like the original Fantasyland rides, or Star Tours and Indiana Jones, or any number of other ideas like that, but a lot of things come down to the execution and the general creative trend of the company as a whole (at least as it pertains to the parks).

 

[Phil12]

Thankfully they got it wrong then with plans to put him in WDWs Tiki Room.

Well then, perhaps the Hall of Presidents. Stitch's versatility and talent allow him to fit anywhere.

 

[Andrew C]

Actually they were right, creatively Frozen shouldn't have been as big as it is...they couldn't account for the utter disregard for creativity the American public had grown to accept!

Give me a break...

 

[marni1971]

Well then, perhaps the Hall of Presidents. Stitch's versatility and talent allow him to fit anywhere.

Thankfully that's not happening either.

 

[Phil12]

Thankfully that's not happening either.

Perhaps he will costar with Mickey in the new GMR.

 

[marni1971]

Perhaps he will costar with Mickey in the new GMR.

Nope. He won't.

 

[rioriz]

Give me a break...

Here ya Go Sir


Frozen is the longest Music Video ever for one very Successful song....and I will give them Olaf which they were not even sure he work well within the movie...

 

[Andrew C]

Here ya Go Sir


Frozen is the longest Music Video ever for one very Successful song....and I will give them Olaf which they were not even sure he work well within the movie...

uh huh...

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Isnt Disney trying to claim Mickey is a national treasure to make the copyright and ownership of the character/story to last forever?
I remember it was news 3 or so years ago as they were lobbying various groups.

Disney basically initaited the "Mickey Mouse protection act" which in turn kinda changed the copyright laws. Google it

 

[ford91exploder]

Here's the point i was trying to make. They were rolling back discounts, increasing prices, and pumping out a new technology that was a headache to their guests. When we went in 2014, my wife spent a total of 6 hours combined on the phone with disney prior to our trip trying to fix issues that we had with the new technology during our planning phase. We ended up being comped a couple hundred bucks because of the dismal problems we had. It was a nightmare.

I can't tell you how many times we lost dining reservations, fast passes, or other family members getting disconnected from our account. We went with a group of 10, so I'm sure that played a part in it.

This was a pretty bold infrastructure upgrade, during a time they were allowing their parks to get stale. That's all I'm saying. I just think there could have been a less glitzy infrastructure upgrade while pumping some money into the parks as well. JMO though.

The entire POINT of MM+ as detailed in articles and earnings calls was to AVOID the need to build new attractions.

 

[ford91exploder]

Again, what you think Disney's position should be is irrelevant. Disney expected significant increases in revenue and communicated those expectations to shareholders.

And when they did not materialize we got the blizzard of cutbacks which started in late 2015 and went into high gear this spring all so the failed MM+ 'investment' would show a positive return

 

[ford91exploder]

Yes, the infrastructure upgrade was needed. The debate had shifted to how Disney should have simply been updating the system over the years instead of waiting until the thirteenth hour.

And Im always curious of the claims that the infrastructure was completely crumbling and was about to collapse at any moment, (not saying you said that). All the years leading up to NGE we never had any catastrophic problems with reservations, payment processing, or any other aspect of our trip. If it was as bad as some claim, Im curious to know exactly what areas were "crumbling". Im not trolling, Im actually curious. I only ask, because we have actually experienced MORE issues that we never had prior to MM+. Im talking about bands not scanning at park entrance, room door wont open, FP+ not syncing in large group, dining reservation at wrong time, etc. The upgrades may have improved back house operations , but they haven improved front line.

I suspect since the 'old' system was based on mainframe technology and due to a technologically illiterate board someone did a slick sales job heavy on buzzwords to replace a WORKING system with something which used all the current buzzwords and in the process create something which has more bugs than the everglades. The other thing about mainframes is they require highly trained staff to maintain and that kind of experience is NOT to be found in India Mainframe work is basically done in the US/EU/JP CN/RU have their OWN flavor of mainframe systems which evolved during the cold war but generally NOT compatible with western systems.

Mainframes do one thing really well which is process transactions really fast against unimaginably huge databases, every time you make a phone call you are hitting multiple mainframe computers every time you do something at your bank it's on a Mainframe.

Mainframes however DO NOT do analytics well, But that could have been addressed with a storage upgrade which shared transational data from the mainframe to a 'big data' system and you would have had the best of both worlds.

 

[PorterRedkey]

Nope. He won't.

Are any other members of the fab five going to be joining Mickey in this new attraction?