By Richard Verrier | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 2, 2005
Walt Disney Co. these days has more than one mouse on its mind.
As it ramps up a worldwide celebration this week marking the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, the company knows it can no longer rely solely on Mickey and his friends to lure sophisticated young consumers into its theme parks.
Increasingly aware that children today are "born with a mouse in their hands," as one expert puts it, Disney scientists and designers are working overtime to appeal to tech-savvy youngsters raised on computer games, digital effects and iPods.
The goal: to keep the next half-century of Disney parks as profitable as the last.
"It's all about trying to keep our entertainment relevant to the way kids are growing up today," said Marty Sklar, principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, the company's in-house think tank.
"We don't want to get left behind," said Sklar, whose imprint is on hundreds of attractions, from It's a Small World to Mission: Space.
To visit the California warehouse that doubles as the Imagineers' research-and-development headquarters is to be deluged by new ideas. Under one scenario being considered, for example, visitors to Epcot would receive messages over their cell phones from Disney Channel character Kim Possible. Kim might tell them where to find her archnemesis Dr. Drakken, or how to unlock secret codes around the park. Each player could adjust the experience according to skill level.
"Suddenly, it's really incredible what we can do," said Bruce Vaughn, the Imagineering vice president of research and development. "We've been waiting for this audience, which wants and desires and expects great involvement."
That audience will soon get to meet Lucky, a 12-foot audio-animatronic dinosaur, who beginning this month will stroll through Animal Kingdom, smiling, grunting and belching. Guided by a puppeteer and robotic controls, Lucky is the first of what the Imagineers hope will be several robotic "living characters" to interact with park guests all over the world.
This summer, meanwhile, the Virtual Magic Kingdom home computer game will let users create their own characters, or "avatars," and navigate through a theme park modeled on the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.
Contestants will perform a series of tasks -- a multilevel ship-to-ship battle in Pirates of the Caribbean, say. But to collect any prizes they win, they'll have to go to a special kiosk inside Disney World or Disneyland.
For Disneyland, the company's founding park, Imagineers have more in mind, from a computer-animated clown fish (the star of the film Finding Nemo) that swims around a submarine ride filled with park visitors to a Toy Story-inspired ride that spans two worlds.
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters will bridge the online realm with the physical world in what Disney designers describe as an industry first. Beginning in June, Disney fans sitting in front of their home computers will be able to team up with park visitors to fight the evil Emperor Zurg, shooting at targets and accumulating points.
Imagineers designed software to link the ride systems to the Internet. When players at home hit an alien target, it sets off a light in the ride at Disneyland, giving players in the park the chance to score extra points.
The game may eventually connect with similar games at other Disney parks, including the Magic Kingdom, where a Buzz Lightyear ride opened in 1998.
Such experimental, experiential attractions, Sklar said, reflect the same ideas Disneyland was built upon.
"Walt," he said, "would love this."
Disney needs such innovations to stay competitive, industry analysts say.
Four years ago, when Disney opened California Adventure, which sits like a barnacle affixed to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., critics panned its abundance of off-the-shelf rides and lack of innovation. While the park has since upgraded -- including last year's $60 million thrill ride, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror imported from Disney-MGM Studios -- its attendance continues to fall short of projections.
Moreover, Disney's biggest competition these days isn't from traditional rivals such as Universal, but from video-gaming companies and others that vie for the short attention spans and entertainment dollars of youngsters.
According to a recent survey by Nielsen Media Research, 13- to-17-year-old gamers now spend an average of $39 a month on video and computer games -- nearly as much as the price of a single theme-park admission. The $24 billion gaming industry has become the fastest-growing sector in the entertainment business.
"Many kids are saying, 'Why should I go to Disneyland? I'd rather play my video game at home,'" said Martin Lindstrom, a branding expert who has consulted for Disney. "We never heard that before."
As Lindstrom sees it, there is a growing divide between youngsters weaned on computers and their parents, whom he dubs "the monologue generation."
Raised on more "passive" media such as TV, newspapers, radio and billboards, adults are content with linear entertainment experiences that unfold in a traditional, storylike way.
Children, by contrast, yearn for entertainment that is frenetic, multisensory and interactive. Used to video games that have different levels of play, they want to experience something new every time.
Figuring out what will work for today's kids poses a special challenge for theme-park operators, whose industry has been rocked by its own roller-coaster ride.
While parks recently have seen a rise in traffic, they have yet to recover fully from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that decimated the travel industry. Since then, the industry has been buffeted by everything from recession to high gasoline prices.
Disney's competitors have been struggling. Under their new owners, General Electric Co., Universal last year canceled plans for a theme park in China, sold its stake in a park resort in Spain and laid off most of its design team. And Six Flags Inc., one of the nation's largest park operators, is juggling heavy debts incurred during years of expansion.
But no one has more to lose than Disney, the industry's biggest player. At stake is not only the estimated $8 billion in revenue that the parks bring in annually, but also the future of the Disney brand. More than perhaps any other company, Disney's entire range of businesses, from merchandise to movies to television, depends in large part on luring customers at a young age and keeping them for life.
In the past, at least, that's something at which the stalwart U.S.-based parks -- the company's biggest resort, Walt Disney World, and the original Disneyland -- have excelled.
The parks were Disney's cash cow for much of the 1990s, helping to deliver record profits year after year. But business was sluggish even before the terrorist attacks of nearly four years ago.
While overall attendance is growing steadily at both Disney World and Disneyland, fewer international visitors are coming, despite the weak dollar. And Disney was recently forced to bail out its Euro Disney resort after the company's steep financial losses.
Undaunted, Disney is opening its newest theme park this fall, in Hong Kong. But especially as Robert Iger takes the reins, the folks at Walt Disney Imagineering who are responsible for research and development say there is new emphasis on re-examining the existing parks, as well.
After a recent vacation at Disney World, for example, Iger raved about Turtle Talk With Crush, in which a digitally animated character from Finding Nemo converses "live" with guests at Epcot's Living Seas pavilion. Although Iger does not officially succeed retiring Disney CEO Michael Eisner until Oct. 1, he has already made it clear he wants to wow park visitors with high-tech attractions developed within Disney.
"Bob is challenging us to continue that tradition that Walt really started," said Tom Fitzgerald, Imagineering executive vice president.
As the Imagineers see it, Walt Disney was the original gamer. When he created Disneyland in 1955, he wanted it to transcend the carnival-type rides already familiar to consumers. Instead, he sought to marry technology and storytelling to take children and their parents, too, into virtual worlds.
Science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury once wrote that he would forever be indebted to Disney for "his ability to let me fly over midnight London looking down on that fabulous city" in the Peter Pan's Flight attraction at Disneyland.
But some critics say that grand tradition has faltered in recent years, citing especially the struggles of two of Disney's newest parks, California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios near Paris.
Roy Disney, Walt Disney's nephew, has blasted Disney management for building those parks "on the cheap," in part by outsourcing the rides.
Disney executives declined to discuss how much money they are spending now on interactive attractions, but they say these new ventures are far less expensive than traditional "iron rides" that cost up to $100 million or more. They are also more adaptive, meaning they can be easily -- and relatively cheaply -- updated, to keep them fresh.
"We're in the business right now of really inventing a new genre of entertainment," said Vaughn, the Imagineering executive.
Richard Verrier can be reached at richard.verrier@latimes.com or 1-800-528-4637, Ext. 77936.
Posted May 2, 2005
Walt Disney Co. these days has more than one mouse on its mind.
As it ramps up a worldwide celebration this week marking the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, the company knows it can no longer rely solely on Mickey and his friends to lure sophisticated young consumers into its theme parks.
Increasingly aware that children today are "born with a mouse in their hands," as one expert puts it, Disney scientists and designers are working overtime to appeal to tech-savvy youngsters raised on computer games, digital effects and iPods.
The goal: to keep the next half-century of Disney parks as profitable as the last.
"It's all about trying to keep our entertainment relevant to the way kids are growing up today," said Marty Sklar, principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, the company's in-house think tank.
"We don't want to get left behind," said Sklar, whose imprint is on hundreds of attractions, from It's a Small World to Mission: Space.
To visit the California warehouse that doubles as the Imagineers' research-and-development headquarters is to be deluged by new ideas. Under one scenario being considered, for example, visitors to Epcot would receive messages over their cell phones from Disney Channel character Kim Possible. Kim might tell them where to find her archnemesis Dr. Drakken, or how to unlock secret codes around the park. Each player could adjust the experience according to skill level.
"Suddenly, it's really incredible what we can do," said Bruce Vaughn, the Imagineering vice president of research and development. "We've been waiting for this audience, which wants and desires and expects great involvement."
That audience will soon get to meet Lucky, a 12-foot audio-animatronic dinosaur, who beginning this month will stroll through Animal Kingdom, smiling, grunting and belching. Guided by a puppeteer and robotic controls, Lucky is the first of what the Imagineers hope will be several robotic "living characters" to interact with park guests all over the world.
This summer, meanwhile, the Virtual Magic Kingdom home computer game will let users create their own characters, or "avatars," and navigate through a theme park modeled on the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.
Contestants will perform a series of tasks -- a multilevel ship-to-ship battle in Pirates of the Caribbean, say. But to collect any prizes they win, they'll have to go to a special kiosk inside Disney World or Disneyland.
For Disneyland, the company's founding park, Imagineers have more in mind, from a computer-animated clown fish (the star of the film Finding Nemo) that swims around a submarine ride filled with park visitors to a Toy Story-inspired ride that spans two worlds.
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters will bridge the online realm with the physical world in what Disney designers describe as an industry first. Beginning in June, Disney fans sitting in front of their home computers will be able to team up with park visitors to fight the evil Emperor Zurg, shooting at targets and accumulating points.
Imagineers designed software to link the ride systems to the Internet. When players at home hit an alien target, it sets off a light in the ride at Disneyland, giving players in the park the chance to score extra points.
The game may eventually connect with similar games at other Disney parks, including the Magic Kingdom, where a Buzz Lightyear ride opened in 1998.
Such experimental, experiential attractions, Sklar said, reflect the same ideas Disneyland was built upon.
"Walt," he said, "would love this."
Disney needs such innovations to stay competitive, industry analysts say.
Four years ago, when Disney opened California Adventure, which sits like a barnacle affixed to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., critics panned its abundance of off-the-shelf rides and lack of innovation. While the park has since upgraded -- including last year's $60 million thrill ride, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror imported from Disney-MGM Studios -- its attendance continues to fall short of projections.
Moreover, Disney's biggest competition these days isn't from traditional rivals such as Universal, but from video-gaming companies and others that vie for the short attention spans and entertainment dollars of youngsters.
According to a recent survey by Nielsen Media Research, 13- to-17-year-old gamers now spend an average of $39 a month on video and computer games -- nearly as much as the price of a single theme-park admission. The $24 billion gaming industry has become the fastest-growing sector in the entertainment business.
"Many kids are saying, 'Why should I go to Disneyland? I'd rather play my video game at home,'" said Martin Lindstrom, a branding expert who has consulted for Disney. "We never heard that before."
As Lindstrom sees it, there is a growing divide between youngsters weaned on computers and their parents, whom he dubs "the monologue generation."
Raised on more "passive" media such as TV, newspapers, radio and billboards, adults are content with linear entertainment experiences that unfold in a traditional, storylike way.
Children, by contrast, yearn for entertainment that is frenetic, multisensory and interactive. Used to video games that have different levels of play, they want to experience something new every time.
Figuring out what will work for today's kids poses a special challenge for theme-park operators, whose industry has been rocked by its own roller-coaster ride.
While parks recently have seen a rise in traffic, they have yet to recover fully from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that decimated the travel industry. Since then, the industry has been buffeted by everything from recession to high gasoline prices.
Disney's competitors have been struggling. Under their new owners, General Electric Co., Universal last year canceled plans for a theme park in China, sold its stake in a park resort in Spain and laid off most of its design team. And Six Flags Inc., one of the nation's largest park operators, is juggling heavy debts incurred during years of expansion.
But no one has more to lose than Disney, the industry's biggest player. At stake is not only the estimated $8 billion in revenue that the parks bring in annually, but also the future of the Disney brand. More than perhaps any other company, Disney's entire range of businesses, from merchandise to movies to television, depends in large part on luring customers at a young age and keeping them for life.
In the past, at least, that's something at which the stalwart U.S.-based parks -- the company's biggest resort, Walt Disney World, and the original Disneyland -- have excelled.
The parks were Disney's cash cow for much of the 1990s, helping to deliver record profits year after year. But business was sluggish even before the terrorist attacks of nearly four years ago.
While overall attendance is growing steadily at both Disney World and Disneyland, fewer international visitors are coming, despite the weak dollar. And Disney was recently forced to bail out its Euro Disney resort after the company's steep financial losses.
Undaunted, Disney is opening its newest theme park this fall, in Hong Kong. But especially as Robert Iger takes the reins, the folks at Walt Disney Imagineering who are responsible for research and development say there is new emphasis on re-examining the existing parks, as well.
After a recent vacation at Disney World, for example, Iger raved about Turtle Talk With Crush, in which a digitally animated character from Finding Nemo converses "live" with guests at Epcot's Living Seas pavilion. Although Iger does not officially succeed retiring Disney CEO Michael Eisner until Oct. 1, he has already made it clear he wants to wow park visitors with high-tech attractions developed within Disney.
"Bob is challenging us to continue that tradition that Walt really started," said Tom Fitzgerald, Imagineering executive vice president.
As the Imagineers see it, Walt Disney was the original gamer. When he created Disneyland in 1955, he wanted it to transcend the carnival-type rides already familiar to consumers. Instead, he sought to marry technology and storytelling to take children and their parents, too, into virtual worlds.
Science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury once wrote that he would forever be indebted to Disney for "his ability to let me fly over midnight London looking down on that fabulous city" in the Peter Pan's Flight attraction at Disneyland.
But some critics say that grand tradition has faltered in recent years, citing especially the struggles of two of Disney's newest parks, California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios near Paris.
Roy Disney, Walt Disney's nephew, has blasted Disney management for building those parks "on the cheap," in part by outsourcing the rides.
Disney executives declined to discuss how much money they are spending now on interactive attractions, but they say these new ventures are far less expensive than traditional "iron rides" that cost up to $100 million or more. They are also more adaptive, meaning they can be easily -- and relatively cheaply -- updated, to keep them fresh.
"We're in the business right now of really inventing a new genre of entertainment," said Vaughn, the Imagineering executive.
Richard Verrier can be reached at richard.verrier@latimes.com or 1-800-528-4637, Ext. 77936.