DLR D23 Discussion & News

[britain]

Why would Chapek want to make the parks capacity better when this is how he sees the future:

“But yes, Disney+ will not just be a movie-service platform, but it’s going to become an experiential lifestyle platform. A platform for the whole company to embody both the physical things that you might be able to experience in a theme park, but also the digital experiences that you can get through media.

DEADLINE: That sounds like a very big swing, but how does it work on a practical level?

CHAPEK: Here’s how. So, we wish every person would have the opportunity to come to our parks, but we realize that’s not a reality for some people. In order to reach the 90% of people that will never ever be able to get to a Disney park, we have before us an opportunity to turn what was a movie-service platform to an experiential platform and give them the ability to ride Haunted Mansion from a virtual standpoint. The utility isn’t just to have the same experience. Maybe we’ll give them the opportunity what every single person in the park wants to do, and unfortunately too many of them do it, just to get off the attraction. See how it works, see how those ghost dancers move…”

From Dateline:

Bob Chapek Details Disney’s Next Big Move, The 100th Anniversary, ESPN & Hulu’s Futures, & Bringing “Everything Together”

Backstage at D23, the House of Mouse CEO had some big ambitions & practical realities on the agenda for the next decade

deadline.com

 

[mickEblu]

I guess I should be more clear. I think whatever they were going to say is some blue sky thing that probably won't happen.

That mess of "what ifs" and rehash of Disney Parks Blog vagaries left me skeptical of everything they announce. Going into this D23, we knew from past experience that the announcements have to be taken with a grain of salt. But this mess just pushed me from somewhat skeptical all the way into "believe it when I see it" camp.

I'm starting to wonder why they even had this panel. What was the point?

I think they have just bit off more than they can chew with these D23’s. The first one in 09(?) was brand new so everyone was going to love it. From there they just happened to be really working on big projects throughout the 2010’s so they had a lot to talk about. Now they happen to be in a little lull. I’m not sure how much of that is due to the pandemic but we have to factor that in. So I think they feel pressure to always have a huge announcement but I’m not sure if that’s feasible or sustainable. So instead we got a blue sky panel and a bunch of entertainment and meet and greet announcements. I guess I prefer what happened today to them announcing something they don’t intend on building. Because then you start losing all credibility.

I really do believe they plan on making that TL/ PeopleMover announcement. The only question is if not now when? There is no big event coming
up. If they were on the brink of announcing it then they aren’t waiting until 2024. So are they really wasting this big news on a parks blog?

 

[Disney Irish]

Why would Chapek want to make the parks capacity better when this is how he sees the future:

“But yes, Disney+ will not just be a movie-service platform, but it’s going to become an experiential lifestyle platform. A platform for the whole company to embody both the physical things that you might be able to experience in a theme park, but also the digital experiences that you can get through media.

DEADLINE: That sounds like a very big swing, but how does it work on a practical level?

CHAPEK: Here’s how. So, we wish every person would have the opportunity to come to our parks, but we realize that’s not a reality for some people. In order to reach the 90% of people that will never ever be able to get to a Disney park, we have before us an opportunity to turn what was a movie-service platform to an experiential platform and give them the ability to ride Haunted Mansion from a virtual standpoint. The utility isn’t just to have the same experience. Maybe we’ll give them the opportunity what every single person in the park wants to do, and unfortunately too many of them do it, just to get off the attraction. See how it works, see how those ghost dancers move…”

From Dateline:

Bob Chapek Details Disney’s Next Big Move, The 100th Anniversary, ESPN & Hulu’s Futures, & Bringing “Everything Together”

Backstage at D23, the House of Mouse CEO had some big ambitions & practical realities on the agenda for the next decade

deadline.com

This is going to be what Disney's metaverse will become. The ability to experience all aspect of the company no matter whether you step into a Disney Park or not.

 

[Parteecia]

Where is everybody getting the idea that Moana fits in Animal Kingdom?

Better than Zootopia because it's more natural vs a built up big city.

 

[mickEblu]

I’ve never been anti IP. Just more anti single IP lands, especially at Disneyland. I liked it of course when there was more of balance. Seeing two virtually IP free lands (NOS and Pacific Wharf) going to the dark side is a bummer. Especially at NOS that’s always felt like a real lived in place. More then anything it just bugs me that they re going through the park with a fine tooth comb and seeing where they can add IP whether it makes sense or not. None of it feels organic.

 

[waltography]

Finally home; decided we were too tired to do one last trip to the parks so I guess no last trip before our Dream Keys expire. After all the news this morning, I'm at peace with that.

The Parks panel was so baffling even now:

• Grateful to the cast member who pulled us from the line to a third row seat (in spite of the poor panel, that bit of grace really did feel like Disney magic ).
• For all of Josh's talking on and on about how there's so much news to share, no actual news stuck out to me, and the stuff that was shared all felt half-baked. Why did we need special guests and videos to announce meet and greets and restaurants?
• Though it may feel different actually seeing Hulk from up close, Exo suit Hulk personally looked bad up on stage; no articulation, walked like he was constipated, felt like he had more in common with Baymax than the actual Hulk.
• The Disney Treasure looks an awful lot like the Disney Wish, and reviews of Castaway Club folks seems to suggest the Wish is not a good ship so I can't say I'm excited about this new one.
• At least the performances were good? Thoroughly enjoyed twirling my handkerchief during the Tiana segment.
• The new Walt statue in HKDL is lovely, and the print we got of the art is the second best freebie we got from the panel (first is obviously the Porto's).

Anyways, the Amazon booth was really fun, got lots of free stuff (got a snapback, a Loki Funko Pop, and a Doorable pack!). After that, we did one more loop around the show floor (quickly walked through the Parks pavilion in case they added anything new post-panel but no dice) and left.

All in all, I'd do D23 again. Granted, we were really favored in the RSP system getting both the Disney/Pixar and Parks panels which made panels way less stressful, but there was also a whole lot to offer in the pavilions that made the experience fun and worthwhile. Logistics are still a mess, but we luckily managed to avoid most of the issues this weekend.

 

[britain]

Here’s the thing, if they had true candor, they’d say, “Look, the pandemic knocked the wind out of everything. Now life is getting more normal, but the board is pretty spooked by how fragile our parks business is. Parks are our biggest moneymaker, but there will be health scares again, wars too. We have to keep the parks running profitably, but we can’t really expand them or else we increase our dependence on them. Here are some ideas of how we might keep things fresh without actually moving forward…”

Cue spirit of 74’s old rumor of how Disney really almost sold off ownership of the parks because they don’t see enough growth in them.

Why remove Rocket Rod tracks (or GASP restore the PeopleMover) when more than enough people are coming anyway?

 

[Disney Irish]

Here is the "announcement" dump on the Disney Parks Blog:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...rt-announcements-from-d23-expo-2022-and-more/

 

[mickEblu]

Why remove Rocket Rod tracks (or GASP restore the PeopleMover) when more than enough people are coming anyway?

This doesn’t really make sense when you consider how much they ve built the last decade. Granted a lot has been rethemes and wasted money but a lot has been new builds especially at WDW. We can talk about the quality of the new stuff or how terrible they are at getting bang for their buck but you can’t argue that they ve been spending money.

 

[CaptinEO]

OMG Cruise lines are NOT Disney Parks. This is just embarrassing. I'm glad I didn't pay for this dumpster fire.

All the consolidation is annoying, its just like to me The Simpsons, Marvel, National Geographic, and Star Wars are not Disney.

How can they reasonably expect someone to be a fan of everything. I like themeparks and most their old animated films, some of the new ones.

Just because they keep inheriting and branding things doesn't mean I'm a fan of it.

Never been on a Disney Cruise and never want to go on a cruise period.

I wish Disney could realize not everyone who likes something is a mindless superfan who buys all of their products.

 

[mickEblu]

Here is the "announcement" dump on the Disney Parks Blog:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...rt-announcements-from-d23-expo-2022-and-more/

Hmmm. Pixar Place(?) hotel? Paradise Garden retheme on the horizon?

I had Great Maple once. The Pasadena location. I thought it was just ok. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing.

 

[BrianLo]

Finally home; decided we were too tired to do one last trip to the parks so I guess no last trip before our Dream Keys expire. After all the news this morning, I'm at peace with that.

The Parks panel was so baffling even now:

• Grateful to the cast member who pulled us from the line to a third row seat (in spite of the poor panel, that bit of grace really did feel like Disney magic ).
• For all of Josh's talking on and on about how there's so much news to share, no actual news stuck out to me, and the stuff that was shared all felt half-baked. Why did we need special guests and videos to announce meet and greets and restaurants?
• Though it may feel different actually seeing Hulk from up close, Exo suit Hulk personally looked bad up on stage; no articulation, walked like he was constipated, felt like he had more in common with Baymax than the actual Hulk.
• The Disney Treasure looks an awful lot like the Disney Wish, and reviews of Castaway Club folks seems to suggest the Wish is not a good ship so I can't say I'm excited about this new one.
• At least the performances were good? Thoroughly enjoyed twirling my handkerchief during the Tiana segment.
• The new Walt statue in HKDL is lovely, and the print we got of the art is the second best freebie we got from the panel (first is obviously the Porto's).

Anyways, the Amazon booth was really fun, got lots of free stuff (got a snapback, a Loki Funko Pop, and a Doorable pack!). After that, we did one more loop around the show floor (quickly walked through the Parks pavilion in case they added anything new post-panel but no dice) and left.

All in all, I'd do D23 again. Granted, we were really favored in the RSP system getting both the Disney/Pixar and Parks panels which made panels way less stressful, but there was also a whole lot to offer in the pavilions that made the experience fun and worthwhile. Logistics are still a mess, but we luckily managed to avoid most of the issues this weekend.

Ditto. I had a great time, but that also came down to winning the proverbial lottery with tickets for both studios and the parks panels. I’m not sure if the marvel panel is doable without a reservation.

I’m already looking forward to doing it again. Yes it’s always full of hiccoughs but if one expects that you can roll with it.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Why would Chapek want to make the parks capacity better when this is how he sees the future:

“But yes, Disney+ will not just be a movie-service platform, but it’s going to become an experiential lifestyle platform. A platform for the whole company to embody both the physical things that you might be able to experience in a theme park, but also the digital experiences that you can get through media.

DEADLINE: That sounds like a very big swing, but how does it work on a practical level?

CHAPEK: Here’s how. So, we wish every person would have the opportunity to come to our parks, but we realize that’s not a reality for some people. In order to reach the 90% of people that will never ever be able to get to a Disney park, we have before us an opportunity to turn what was a movie-service platform to an experiential platform and give them the ability to ride Haunted Mansion from a virtual standpoint. The utility isn’t just to have the same experience. Maybe we’ll give them the opportunity what every single person in the park wants to do, and unfortunately too many of them do it, just to get off the attraction. See how it works, see how those ghost dancers move…”

From Dateline:

Bob Chapek Details Disney’s Next Big Move, The 100th Anniversary, ESPN & Hulu’s Futures, & Bringing “Everything Together”

Backstage at D23, the House of Mouse CEO had some big ambitions & practical realities on the agenda for the next decade

deadline.com

Sickening. Chapek and the company as a whole have really lost the plot.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

Okay, I'm admittedly skipping 20 pages of this thread because after this week of D+ Day park disappointment and just getting through one day at the expo along with watching today's park panel livestream... I'm exhausted. lol

Couple of quick impressions as I'll hopefully write up a longer piece with pics for my blog and videos for my channel once I actually catch up on sleep -

I was up before 6am and couldn't get into any shopping queues via the app. So complete miss on: panels, signings, giveaways, and stores.

I also missed the one giveaway I most wanted which was at the Marvel booth. Every time I went by they had just cut off the line. So I finally stood around the booth for an hour+ (including suffering through polite clapping for the interview with the VFX team responsible for She-Hulk, but thankfully people were polite) until the employees forced us all away telling us we weren't allowed to stand and wait for the giveaway line to open. It was random and we needed to go away. (Wasn't quite that rude, but pretty close.)

Since I couldn't attend the panel I wanted to see (the app informed me the standby had closed before I could even get in the line), nor the signings, nor the giveaways, nor spend my money at the Expo stores, I spent the day wandering around the floor looking for swag and at various displays. Though oddly I never even found the Park pavilion!

Also, am now in pain because I did the Tron vehicle photo op - the employee told me to climb aboard then push the handles forward as far as they'd go. Doing so slammed the heavy metal clamshell that holds the rider in place down on my back and oh am I feeling it today. This is a seriously dangerous setup and they need to warn people not to actually push forward the handle quickly or they could get hurt. Also, I am by no means a large person, but several people in the photo op line were. They struggled to even climb onto the bike and could not get it to close at all. I don't know how Disney expects a majority of guests to be able to ride this attraction. It's a TERRIBLY uncomfortable position where you're kneeling and being scrunched awkwardly into place for safety - IF you can fit in it. I just don't understand this vehicle design. At all.

 

[mickEblu]

Okay, I'm admittedly skipping 20 pages of this thread because after this week of D+ Day park disappointment and just getting through one day at the expo along with watching today's park panel livestream... I'm exhausted. lol

Couple of quick impressions as I'll hopefully write up a longer piece with pics for my blog and videos for my channel once I actually catch up on sleep -

I was up before 6am and couldn't get into any shopping queues via the app. So complete miss on: panels, signings, giveaways, and stores.

I also missed the one giveaway I most wanted which was at the Marvel booth. Every time I went by they had just cut off the line. So I finally stood around the booth for an hour+ (including suffering through polite clapping for the interview with the VFX team responsible for She-Hulk, but thankfully people were polite) until the employees forced us all away telling us we weren't allowed to stand and wait for the giveaway line to open. It was random and we needed to go away. (Wasn't quite that rude, but pretty close.)

Since I couldn't attend the panel I wanted to see (the app informed me the standby had closed before I could even get in the line), nor the signings, nor the giveaways, nor spend my money at the Expo stores, I spent the day wandering around the floor looking for swag and at various displays. Though oddly I never even found the Park pavilion!

Also, am now in pain because I did the Tron vehicle photo op - the employee told me to climb aboard then push the handles forward as far as they'd go. Doing so slammed the heavy metal clamshell that holds the rider in place down on my back and oh am I feeling it today. This is a seriously dangerous setup and they need to warn people not to actually push forward the handle quickly or they could get hurt. Also, I am by no means a large person, but several people in the photo op line were. They struggled to even climb onto the bike and could not get it to close at all. I don't know how Disney expects a majority of guests to be able to ride this attraction. It's a TERRIBLY uncomfortable position where you're kneeling and being scrunched awkwardly into place for safety - IF you can fit in it. I just don't understand this vehicle design. At all.

It’s honestly worse than anything I ever could have imagined. WOW

 

[BrianLo]

I was up before 6am and couldn't get into any shopping queues via the app. So complete miss on: panels, signings, giveaways, and stores.

That's weird. I care 0% about the shopping, but joined virtual queues around 7:45 both days when I was up and about. Without issue.

 

[BrianLo]

All the consolidation is annoying, its just like to me The Simpsons, Marvel, National Geographic, and Star Wars are not Disney.

How can they reasonably expect someone to be a fan of everything. I like themeparks and most their old animated films, some of the new ones.

Just because they keep inheriting and branding things doesn't mean I'm a fan of it.

Never been on a Disney Cruise and never want to go on a cruise period.

I wish Disney could realize not everyone who likes something is a mindless superfan who buys all of their products.

I've never been on DCL, but I do not agree with this take whatsoever. DCL is an in house creation from Imagineering. I'm sure more attendees have been on their cruises than have gone to an Asian Park. It's absolutely relevant to the Parks Panel, DCL is primarily marketed towards parks guests.

It was a relatively small part of the panel and honestly they actually had more substantial things to show for it. A new ship and a new island. DCL is NOT an acquisition.

People are free not to like DCL and tune out, but to say it doesn't belong in the presentation is inane.

 

[waltography]

That's weird. I care 0% about the shopping, but joined virtual queues around 7:45 both days when I was up and about. Without issue.

Also, both the Expo Marketplace and the Expo x MOG 2nd floor shop opened up to standby near expo close pretty consistently all three days (around 6-6:30pm).

 

[waltography]

Another thing: I was so sure they were going to announce a date for MB+ introduction at Disneyland in today's panel (especially because they dedicated a corner of the Parks pavilion to MB+). They didn't even manage to do that.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

So was Bob Chapek booed at this event or not? I'm reading different accounts on the matter.