Rumor Hollywood insiders say there's growing tension at Disney as CEO Bob Chapek chafes at Bob Iger's 'long goodbye'

[Poseidon Quest]

Disney could use some “not mind blowing”…something you always want to do, but not a 2 hour queue that doesn’t move or a $25 fee…

That’s really where they screw up now with a 110 minute wait for slinky dog

Great description/analogy to gringotts…by the way.

I completely agree. I just got back from a week in Disneyland and it was quite crowded, but the abundance of lower tier attractions helped spread the crowds out effectively. I know people think that bringing small, low capacity dark rides into Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland would be a mistake, but it's exactly those attractions that help make crowds far more bearable in Disneyland. Plus, it helps that many of these smaller dark rides feel like they're full of substance, rather than the slate of flat rides located around DCA. While not as bad as Hollywood Studios, DCA still suffered from the issue of having too many e-tickets and not enough supplemental, lower-tier attractions.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

In all seriousness, if Disney really wants to supercharge their parks with IP, then focus on getting Universal to sell them the full Marvel Orlando rights, something that I personally argue is unnecessary with Guardians, Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, etc. if all goes right.

No way in hades

For several reasons:
1. Free money…as in totally free.
2. MCU likely has the peak behind it…not in front of it. They already retired the 2 best characters due to price…another icon is out…one died…there’s only so much Thor in the tank.
3. In order to get marvel…they have to buy off their competition who would immediately - the next day - redo that park with a huge addition.
Something would be ready to go.
And then when you get it…you have to spend several billion dollars of your own cash down the road to use it. Everything takes too long and is over budget when they stick their fingers in things anyway.

Disney is 100% happy with the way it is. Their competitor pays them, advertises their characters, and they can’t really do anything to augment it for gain…but they have to maintain it.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Yeah…I didn’t say it when you mentioned Dan the other day…

But I’m not a fan of Lee…he had a long history of coming off as disingenuous…and didn’t steer the management in the right direction.

Opinions vary, however. Still probably better than skinny pants

I started right after Lee left so that’s why I’m curious, never saw what he was like, only his books. I did interact with Dan quite a bit, and if he was disingenuous it never showed. He seemed to really care about what was going on in the operation and with cast more than posing for photos with guests, but this was also before social media was “a thing” so who knows how that would have changed it.

 

[WizardofDestiny123]

I agree with most of this, except for Link being more popular than Sonic, and it being a good idea to do any sort of retheme of ToT.

I think a retheme is inevitable, primarily because Disney doesn't own Twilight Zone and they've already rethemed the one in Anaheim. Maybe not Doctor Strange, per se. But it's coming. Ideally, I'd like to see it rethemed to the one in Tokyo DisneySea.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The problem with Toy Story land isn't Slinky Dog Dash, which is a fun coaster. It is, as you said, that it needs a people-eater. Perhaps if Lightyear is successful, they can do that by building a Buzz Lightyear dark ride? Frankly, why build a Toy Story Land and still have Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland?

Why have a SWL
and have Star tours on the other side of muppets?

Or even worse in Anaheim?!

Because Disney has gotten “expensively cheap” in their parks…the ultimate paradox

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This, again, is why I pointed out the Marvel characters they can use. If Moon Knight, Blade, and Ghost Rider are huge, they can just build a Midnight Sons mini-land in Hollywood Studios with Doctor Strange as the center of the land. Characters that they can use.

Why limit Marvel experiences to just Spider-Man and the Avengers if they don't need to?

Otherwise, I agree.

Too deep down the well of geek, Bud.

The Marvel characters that have enough mainstream appeal are already In use.

 

[FigmentJedi]

I think a retheme is inevitable, primarily because Disney doesn't own Twilight Zone and they've already rethemed the one in Anaheim. Maybe not Doctor Strange, per se. But it's coming. Ideally, I'd like to see it rethemed to the one in Tokyo DisneySea.

The thing with Tower of Terror is that the Twilight Zone barely has anything to do with the actual story beyond a vague excuse for why the elevator incident happened. And Paris basically wrote Serling out of their version already with their Sally Shine redo of the main show.

 

[pdude81]

I think a retheme is inevitable, primarily because Disney doesn't own Twilight Zone and they've already rethemed the one in Anaheim. Maybe not Doctor Strange, per se. But it's coming. Ideally, I'd like to see it rethemed to the one in Tokyo DisneySea.

Do you think Twilight Zone licensing is at a large premium these days? I'd think whoever owns it is happy to get anything on top of late night rerun money. Disney has already shown they can rework it and the hordes will still come. It's got to be cheaper to keep it the same and pay someone else for those rights than it is to retheme.

 

[WizardofDestiny123]

The thing with Tower of Terror is that the Twilight Zone barely has anything to do with the actual story beyond a vague excuse for why the elevator incident happened. And Paris basically wrote Serling out of their version already with their Sally Shine redo of the main show.

Either way, the Twilight Zone component is likely not long for this world.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Very curious for you to expand on this out of genuine interest

Ever heard of Cockerell Fries? Dining venues at Walt Disney World used to have their own French fries, different cuts and styles at different venues. This uniqueness of items extended beyond French fries to most food items. Chefs decided what to purchase and how to prepare the foods served at their respective venues. Lee changed that. He centralized the sourcing and decision making, so Walt Disney World went from serving a variety of different fries to serving the Cockerell Fries pretty much everywhere.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Eh, maybe. We'll have to wait and see. Personally, I'm still holding out hope for a Deadpool-themed venue for adults in Disney Springs, hahaha.

But, seriously, they need to think of something.

They have a useful excuse.

New rides cost money both upfront and longterm on maintenance/labor.

And since their prices are far above market value now…it’s hard to “draw in” new clientele for specifics IP. They found it out in 2019…whoever is coming has to afford if first…which means they’re coming or they’re not. Ip has become actually irrelevant. Prices. Bob would be horrified

 

[castlecake2.0]

Ever heard of Cockerell Fries? Dining venues at Walt Disney World used to have their own French fries, different cuts and styles at different venues. This uniqueness of items extended beyond French fries to most food items. Chefs decided what to purchase and how to prepare the foods served at their respective venues. Lee changed that. He centralized the sourcing and decision making, so Walt Disney World went from serving a variety of different fries to serving the Cockerell Fries pretty much everywhere.

I do recall that, how he organized things by line of business instead of physical land/location/area. I thought there were rumours a few years ago that they might be going back towards that style of organization then nothing really happened except changing guest service managers to guest ExPeRiEnCe managers. Shame.

 

[Lilofan]

Ever heard of Cockerell Fries? Dining venues at Walt Disney World used to have their own French fries, different cuts and styles at different venues. This uniqueness of items extended beyond French fries to most food items. Chefs decided what to purchase and how to prepare the foods served at their respective venues. Lee changed that. He centralized the sourcing and decision making, so Walt Disney World went from serving a variety of different fries to serving the Cockerell Fries pretty much everywhere.

Safety, Courtesy, Show, Efficiency, looks like Efficiency was being utilized.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Either way, the Twilight Zone component is likely not long for this world.

Retheming existing rides is exactly why the wdw parks are so woefully under capacity now

Possibly, but I still think they'd rather retheme it in the long run. Whether that's to Doctor Strange, the new Scarlett Johansson movie, or to Young Frankenstein (kidding, of course).

Doctor strange was in 2 avengers movies and a Spider-Man…might want to read that contract language very closely

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Ideally, they'd be doing a steady mix of both original and IP rides, attractions, and shows. For every new IP like Encanto or Shang-Chi, there would be something akin to Mystic Manor, Sinbad's Voyages, or Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Oh, well.

…I’ve got some bad news on that…

…Mickey ride…rat clone…guardians ride…tron clone…

Flatline

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Safety, Courtesy, Show, Efficiency

…lack of quality, variety

 

[Nordic4tKnight]

Speaking of video games. They should ring up Microsoft. How about a land off of the Elder Scrolls, or even a Skyrim ride. Microsoft is swimming in gaming IP since their acquisitions and has no desire to open their own parks.

 

[pdude81]

They have a useful excuse.

New rides cost money both upfront and longterm on maintenance/labor.

And since their prices are far above market value now…it’s hard to “draw in” new clientele for specifics IP. They found it out in 2019…whoever is coming has to afford if first…which means they’re coming or they’re not. Ip has become actually irrelevant. Prices. Bob would be horrified

I think what they found out in 2019 was that people aren't willing to pay for cash tickets when they have APs to get into generic Star Wars land. I really like the land itself, but if I didn't get a preview then there is no way in hell I would take a trip in the first month when they tried everything they could to tell us it would be the most popular thing ever.

Now when it comes to the Sarcruiser and something truly small and boutique, it seems people are willing to pony up any amount of money for Star Wars immersion.

It's almost as if building the same thing in two different places and telling everybody they shouldn't come hurt their attendance figures. It's a good thing Florida vacations are (Disney) executive proof!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Speaking of video games. They should ring up Microsoft. How about a land off of the Elder Scrolls, or even a Skyrim ride. Microsoft is swimming in gaming IP since their acquisitions and has no desire to open their own parks.

One of the other problems Disney has painted itself into is their clientele is all the same (price again)…

So if it doesn’t have Mickey ears, a droid, a green alien or a princess…the crowds scratch their heads and say “huh???”

Really the flaws in iger’s plan are more apparent than I’d thought they’d be already…but it is inevitable

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think what they found out in 2019 was that people aren't willing to pay for cash tickets when they have APs to get into generic Star Wars land. I really like the land itself, but if I didn't get a preview then there is no way in hell I would take a trip in the first month when they tried everything they could to tell us it would be the most popular thing ever.

Now when it comes to the Sarcruiser and something truly small and boutique, it seems people are willing to pony up any amount of money for Star Wars immersion.

It's almost as if building the same thing in two different places and telling everybody they shouldn't come hurt their attendance figures. It's a good thing Florida vacations are (Disney) executive proof!

They didn’t experience a spike above their expected trajectory in Orlando either…it was crowded to begin with and it shifted a little.

And the other thing is 22 days old. Talk to me next year and let me know who’s “ponying for immersion”