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Disneyland's Marketing Strategy for 2020??? Because 2019 Was A Mess!
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
truecoat
Well-Known Member
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
DrAlice
Well-Known Member
We haven't visited yet, so no first-hand experience. However.....
I said to my 8-year-old this morning: "What if I told you that Star Wars land at Disneyland doesn't have Darth Vader, Leia, Han, Luke, R2-D2 or C-3PO? What would you say?"
She looked incredulous and said: "What?!? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You can't have Star Wars without Darth Vader. Everyone knows that."
Me: "Well, they do have storm troopers and Kylo Ren."
Her: "Yeah, but Kylo Ren isn't as good."
Out of the mouths of babes....
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
Well, you can't blame Disney for wanting to market their own original characters in the new land. However, since their franchise is imploding due to stupid stories and bad characterization, no one wants to see their original characters. Disney really needs to bring in characters we've loved for forty years that everyone knows.
It's like if they started a Marvel series of movies with characters that never appeared in Marvel comics to begin with and immediate kill off ones that did. This just shows how executives have no feeling for their target audiences.
It's like if they started a Marvel series of movies with characters that never appeared in Marvel comics to begin with and immediate kill off ones that did. This just shows how executives have no feeling for their target audiences.
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THE 1HAPPY HAUNT
Well-Known Member
"Truly wonderful the mind of a child is:" -Yoda from ATTACK OF THE CLONES.We haven't visited yet, so no first-hand experience. However.....
I said to my 8-year-old this morning: "What if I told you that Star Wars land at Disneyland doesn't have Darth Vader, Leia, Han, Luke, R2-D2 or C-3PO? What would you say?"
She looked incredulous and said: "What?!? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You can't have Star Wars without Darth Vader. Everyone knows that."
Me: "Well, they do have storm troopers and Kylo Ren."
Her: "Yeah, but Kylo Ren isn't as good."
Out of the mouths of babes....
RobWDW1971
Well-Known Member
We haven't visited yet, so no first-hand experience. However.....
I said to my 8-year-old this morning: "What if I told you that Star Wars land at Disneyland doesn't have Darth Vader, Leia, Han, Luke, R2-D2 or C-3PO? What would you say?"
She looked incredulous and said: "What?!? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You can't have Star Wars without Darth Vader. Everyone knows that."
Me: "Well, they do have storm troopers and Kylo Ren."
Her: "Yeah, but Kylo Ren isn't as good."
Out of the mouths of babes....
Can she get her resume together quickly (crayon is acceptable), they may be looking for a new head of WDI. Be good to have someone who gets it.
Darkbeer1
Well-Known Member
Very Interesting article, go read the entire thing....
www.latimes.com
So let's look at some selected quotes.
>>In hindsight, I should have waited until Disney opened Galaxy’s Edge for the crowds to evaporate. Little did I know that soon after its May 31 opening, the parks would be a dead zone, with every attraction a walk-on and blissfully bare sidewalks.
Images of an empty Disneyland inundated social media, shaping public perception over the summer. Headlines about the sparse crowds appeared, some even using the word “flop” to describe the largest single land expansion in the storied theme park’s history — also its most technologically advanced and story-driven. Then came the executive shuffling within Disney’s parks and resorts department, with speculation that people were losing their jobs over the performance of Galaxy’s Edge. Disney leaders immediately pushed back on such a story line and called Galaxy’s Edge “successful.”<<
What was that Bob Chapek??? “I will tell you that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has exceeded every expectation we’ve had, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is doing extremely well and I am very optimistic for not just the next quarter, but for future years.”
>>But design choices that place Galaxy’s Edge specifically between 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and this year’s “The Rise of Skywalker” also hamper it. The land’s sole open ride, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, is a technical marvel that gives players control of the ship made famous by Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and inherited by Daisy Ridley’s Rey, only they’re not involved. Once we get past the thrill of controlling the vessel, we realize the elaborate story of the ride is essentially an errand, one ultimately overshadowed by the ride’s elaborate queue.
Smugglers Run at the moment feels less like a Disney attraction and more like a piece of infrastructure constructed primarily to fit into a broader Lucasfilm-directed narrative. It’s an engineering rather than an emotional feat.<<
Really ?!?!?!
>>
For starters, Disney will need to admit failure on the current incarnation of one of the land’s core concepts — the idea that each staffer, or cast member, in park parlance, is capable of being an actor who can improvise and sell guests on the idea that the fictional planet of Batuu is a real place.
“I like to say that we have more characters in this land than any land we’ve ever done because each one of our cast members has a backstory,” parks head Bob Chapek said in a recent interview.
But I’ve made it a point to ask the cast for their backstory on each of my two-dozen-plus visits to Galaxy’s Edge, and too often the response I get is a look of dread. I’m now suddenly the guest wanting to talk “Star Wars” lore in a crowded marketplace of people wanting to buy plushies.<<
You don't say......
>>There is, for instance, no sit-down restaurant. It’s easy to judge the omission without having access to Disney’s budgets and financials. But the fact that a cantina remains Galaxy’s Edge most in-demand attraction shows that axing the promised “dinner club” was a grave oversight.<<
Don't you agree.
I am adding bolding to make a point.
>>Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run seems to violate what has long been a core tenet of Walt Disney Imagineering. Built around a somewhat convoluted exposition, the ride does not work on visuals alone. It’s a marvelous feat of interactive technology, and I consider it a must if you haven’t done it, but I am the core audience for a new Disney attraction and one themed to “Star Wars,” only I rarely go on it. This summer I’ve ridden Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land significantly more than Smugglers Run. Also, Smugglers Run is a video game. I love video games.
But here’s the reason the ride speaks to me less than other attractions do: it’s a plot rather than an experience.
Due to the stubbornness that the land must work within the timeline of the current films, it has to do a run-around to explain why guests are flying the Millennium Falcon. Chewbacca, the story goes, lent the ship to a smuggler named Hondo Onaka in exchange for some supplies for the resistance. Hondo needs pilots, and thus guests will go steal him a box of cargo called coaxium (don’t worry, no one really knows what it is). When you want to be in a dogfight with TIE-Fighters and cheering alongside Chewbacca, you’re stealing something for Hondo and hearing Chewbacca scold us for ruining his ship.<<
So now we have the LA Times echoing what we have been discussing for months. The big question, how will Disney fix something they won't even admit is not performing as expected.... Do we have to have a change in PEP Leadership?
Commentary: What works, what's missing and what needs fixing at Disney's Galaxy's Edge
A progress report on Disney's largest single land expansion after a summer of sparse crowds at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
www.latimes.com
So let's look at some selected quotes.
>>In hindsight, I should have waited until Disney opened Galaxy’s Edge for the crowds to evaporate. Little did I know that soon after its May 31 opening, the parks would be a dead zone, with every attraction a walk-on and blissfully bare sidewalks.
Images of an empty Disneyland inundated social media, shaping public perception over the summer. Headlines about the sparse crowds appeared, some even using the word “flop” to describe the largest single land expansion in the storied theme park’s history — also its most technologically advanced and story-driven. Then came the executive shuffling within Disney’s parks and resorts department, with speculation that people were losing their jobs over the performance of Galaxy’s Edge. Disney leaders immediately pushed back on such a story line and called Galaxy’s Edge “successful.”<<
What was that Bob Chapek??? “I will tell you that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has exceeded every expectation we’ve had, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is doing extremely well and I am very optimistic for not just the next quarter, but for future years.”
>>But design choices that place Galaxy’s Edge specifically between 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and this year’s “The Rise of Skywalker” also hamper it. The land’s sole open ride, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, is a technical marvel that gives players control of the ship made famous by Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and inherited by Daisy Ridley’s Rey, only they’re not involved. Once we get past the thrill of controlling the vessel, we realize the elaborate story of the ride is essentially an errand, one ultimately overshadowed by the ride’s elaborate queue.
Smugglers Run at the moment feels less like a Disney attraction and more like a piece of infrastructure constructed primarily to fit into a broader Lucasfilm-directed narrative. It’s an engineering rather than an emotional feat.<<
Really ?!?!?!
>>
For starters, Disney will need to admit failure on the current incarnation of one of the land’s core concepts — the idea that each staffer, or cast member, in park parlance, is capable of being an actor who can improvise and sell guests on the idea that the fictional planet of Batuu is a real place.
“I like to say that we have more characters in this land than any land we’ve ever done because each one of our cast members has a backstory,” parks head Bob Chapek said in a recent interview.
But I’ve made it a point to ask the cast for their backstory on each of my two-dozen-plus visits to Galaxy’s Edge, and too often the response I get is a look of dread. I’m now suddenly the guest wanting to talk “Star Wars” lore in a crowded marketplace of people wanting to buy plushies.<<
You don't say......
>>There is, for instance, no sit-down restaurant. It’s easy to judge the omission without having access to Disney’s budgets and financials. But the fact that a cantina remains Galaxy’s Edge most in-demand attraction shows that axing the promised “dinner club” was a grave oversight.<<
Don't you agree.
I am adding bolding to make a point.
>>Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run seems to violate what has long been a core tenet of Walt Disney Imagineering. Built around a somewhat convoluted exposition, the ride does not work on visuals alone. It’s a marvelous feat of interactive technology, and I consider it a must if you haven’t done it, but I am the core audience for a new Disney attraction and one themed to “Star Wars,” only I rarely go on it. This summer I’ve ridden Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land significantly more than Smugglers Run. Also, Smugglers Run is a video game. I love video games.
But here’s the reason the ride speaks to me less than other attractions do: it’s a plot rather than an experience.
Due to the stubbornness that the land must work within the timeline of the current films, it has to do a run-around to explain why guests are flying the Millennium Falcon. Chewbacca, the story goes, lent the ship to a smuggler named Hondo Onaka in exchange for some supplies for the resistance. Hondo needs pilots, and thus guests will go steal him a box of cargo called coaxium (don’t worry, no one really knows what it is). When you want to be in a dogfight with TIE-Fighters and cheering alongside Chewbacca, you’re stealing something for Hondo and hearing Chewbacca scold us for ruining his ship.<<
So now we have the LA Times echoing what we have been discussing for months. The big question, how will Disney fix something they won't even admit is not performing as expected.... Do we have to have a change in PEP Leadership?
Communicora
Premium Member
That was a good piece. This bit stood out for me. Emphasis mine.
Here’s an instance where Imagineering could benefit from less input from Lucasfilm. A theme park, for instance, need not be canon. In fact, on Smugglers Run it’s a mistake, as it gives guests less room to imagine their own role and instead puts them on rails.
Here’s an instance where Imagineering could benefit from less input from Lucasfilm. A theme park, for instance, need not be canon. In fact, on Smugglers Run it’s a mistake, as it gives guests less room to imagine their own role and instead puts them on rails.
Disney is waiting for dual Rises to see if they can delay the inevitable decision to cut the Sequel Trilogy off and start over. There's just too much ego riding on this and many careers that might go up in smoke. Fortunately, Iger will be gone in a few years and a new CEO will make the decisions to right the ship. But Iger will be a hero if he can just do it himself. He admitted he fired Rosanne with no qualms. He fired the other theme park president with no regrets. Just fire a few more.
Darkbeer1
Well-Known Member
This makes me think of DCA 1.0 and through versions 2.X. Finally when Bob Iger took over from Eisner, did he admit that DCA was seriously flawed. It took many years before we got DCA 3.0 and a park that started to make some sense, though still having multiple flaws.
You have to admit you have a problem before you will seriously address the problem.
IMHO, either Bob Chapek admits it, or he gets replaced needs to happen before everyone (Hear that Lucasfilm aka Disney Films staff) can start really fixing the problem, instead of trying to place bandaids on a severed foot.
You have to admit you have a problem before you will seriously address the problem.
IMHO, either Bob Chapek admits it, or he gets replaced needs to happen before everyone (Hear that Lucasfilm aka Disney Films staff) can start really fixing the problem, instead of trying to place bandaids on a severed foot.
Very Interesting article, go read the entire thing....
Commentary: What works, what's missing and what needs fixing at Disney's Galaxy's Edge
A progress report on Disney's largest single land expansion after a summer of sparse crowds at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
So now we have the LA Times echoing what we have been discussing for months. The big question, how will Disney fix something they won't even admit is not performing as expected.... Do we have to have a change in PEP Leadership?
Wow. A great article in the Times. And it's been saying what so many of us have been saying since June. This isn't rocket science, they screwed up the way this land works and behaves.
Then they spent the summer glossing over it with canned and scripted "talking points" from clueless execs like Bob Chapek, who just makes himself look more clueless with each media interview he does.
After what we've seen this summer, and all the things they refused to fix in the 90 day window they had between the Disneyland opening and the DHS opening, and now how they are sticking to their talking points even after the DHS version opened to the same underwhelming response, I think you are 100% correct.
I honestly don't think Bob Chapek is capable of admitting the massive mistakes he made with Star Wars Land. I don't think he's capable of that because he isn't even capable of knowing what those mistakes are, due to his now well-documented cluelessness on how Disneyland works and what Cast Members actually do.
Although, I suppose you could make the argument that Mr. Chapek is so clueless about how theme parks work that he's just reading from his prepared talking points he memorized the night before the media interview, so it would be easy for him to just memorize a new set of talking points once they decide to fix Star Wars Land.
But something tells me that if it ever gets to the point where they fix the land and issue new executive talking points about it, that Mr. Chapek will have left to spend more time with his family. Or better yet, if they use the brutally honest Catherine Powell line and Mr. Chapek suddenly "departed to do something different".
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"The land’s sole open ride, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, is a technical marvel that gives players control of the ship made famous by Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and inherited by Daisy Ridley’s Rey, only they’re not involved. Once we get past the thrill of controlling the vessel, we realize the elaborate story of the ride is essentially an errand, one ultimately overshadowed by the ride’s elaborate queue." https://www.latimes.com/entertainme...eyland-star-wars-galaxys-edge-progress-report
See, it's not just me! I'm not the only one who went on the Falcon ride a couple times in a row in June, walked away slightly underwhelmed, and then began thinking of it as simply Millennium Falcon: Target Run.
Paper towels. Toothpaste. Coaxium. Dishwasher detergent. Gotta make a Target run!
See, it's not just me! I'm not the only one who went on the Falcon ride a couple times in a row in June, walked away slightly underwhelmed, and then began thinking of it as simply Millennium Falcon: Target Run.
Paper towels. Toothpaste. Coaxium. Dishwasher detergent. Gotta make a Target run!
Darkbeer1
Well-Known Member
It is fun to listen to the Senior TDA folks talk in an official matter, such as S.O.A.R. events. They stop, check their words before they talk. Even though they are sharing official numbers with us. And then you ask questions, and the fun begins. I feel for them because they have been ordered to say, and not say, specific things... But then, you now have to use the code words to ask them follow up questions.
But hey guys, we have a problem, we planned on a certain set of numbers that changed..... What we need to do is when are you go to fix it, and can you tell us the basic how's, as in increased locals compared to out of town Hotel Guests, that s very important to us, as TOT is the lifeblood we need to improve the city, and not become a Santa Ana or Stanton that wants more and more tax money from its residents.
But hey guys, we have a problem, we planned on a certain set of numbers that changed..... What we need to do is when are you go to fix it, and can you tell us the basic how's, as in increased locals compared to out of town Hotel Guests, that s very important to us, as TOT is the lifeblood we need to improve the city, and not become a Santa Ana or Stanton that wants more and more tax money from its residents.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
No it’s me too. In fact, I predicted that the Falcon would be underwhelming a couple months before it opened. I also predicted that SWL wouldn’t break Disneyland as many were fearing.
