I sure hope SOMETHING is announced next weekend!

[NoChesterHester]

Sorry, Lee, the lawyer in me is creeping out here...why go into full lockdown mode if you have nothing more to announce than a new parade and some improvements to Fantasmic? The fact they've cracked down on leaks certainly implies they think they're sitting on a bombshell that no one knows about yet.

And, given recent permits, I kinda think we're hoping the same thing...

I know D23 members that actually don't frequent message boards. We have lots of friends that love Disney, but I may be the only one that is active online. Shocking... I know.

 

[AEfx]

Right. The kids that apply today for Jedi Academy in DHS were often born AFTER the last Star Wars episode ran at the movies and still Star Wars is popular to them. SW is not some mindless popcorn-movie franchise like Transformers etc. it's a part of modern pop culture, a modern epic. And the same will be (on a lower level) with HP.
Why should Harry Potter fade in the next years? There will be new children who read the books and watch the movies at home and they will want to see WWoHP too.

It's because it simply isn't tested yet. There was a long lull between 1983 and 1999 between the film series, yet somehow the brand just kept on going. Demand kept popping up. In fact, from what I understand Lucasfilm was just as shocked as anyone else once they decided to open up the EU with the Thrawn trilogy (most folks may forget, but original novels based on the SW Universe did not exist until the early 1990's, save the lone "sequel" to SW that was done in book form in the 70's before ESB). And then the toys came back, and sold incredibly well before there was even a real start on the prequels.

I'm not saying Potter will not reach this level, but...it's limited so far. There are no Potter toys proper, for example. Yes, you can get themed Legos, and I'm sure someone out there is making collector figures for adults, but you don't see it stacking the shelves at Wal-mart in the toy aisle like Star Wars. There is merchandising, but it's all third-tier stuff - some might cringe, but it's the same treatment Hannah Montana gets : backpacks, school supplies, calendars, t-shirts, etc. None of it is original material but simply surface reference to (mostly) the films.

Now that they yearly, or bi-annually, "NEW FILM!" "NEW BOOK!" is no longer on the horizon, it will be a test to see how long that third-tier product remains on the shelves and popular. How much longer can you go to Wal-mart and find Potter products next to the Hannah Montana and assorted other "of the moment" branding. Look at that big website thing - people were going ape crap about it when they didn't know what it was, it was national news - and then it came out, everyone but die-hard Potter heads said, "Oh..." and passed. That's telling - when people didn't know what was coming it was on CNN, yet after it was revealed, I had to seek out what it ended up being because at that point the mainstream didn't care about the story anymore.

It's not to say the books and films will not go on to be classics, especially the books - but even though the hype level approaches Star Wars, quite simply it just doesn't have the breadth of Star Wars in it's current incarnation, and it seems that JK Rowling wants to keep it that way. Basically, if she wants Potter to live on and become like Star Wars, there needs to be new content on the horizon - because sure people eat up the merch at UO, but it's hard to see how they will be able to keep average consumer products interested without new content bringing public awareness and advertising as they have enjoyed for the past decade of new movie-new book releases.

 

[AEfx]

The convention focuses on the entire Walt Disney Company, not just the Parks and Resorts. It receives significant international media attention (at least the first one did). The vast majority of the convention focuses on areas of the company that have nothing to do with the parks.

The Parks and Resorts division, just like the Company itself, is a worldwide company, and should (and will) be showcasing all of its projects worldwide. In addition to Shanghai and Hong Kong, expect a great of stuff showcasing Aulani.

To suggest that the Parks and Resorts presentation should only focus on the two stateside resorts is at best foolish, and at worse incredibly xenophobic.

First, props for using the big three dollar words like "xenophobic".

Second...a tad overly dramatic, don't you think?

Look, the vast majority of people who go to these are from the US. The vast majority of them will never step foot out of the US, much less go to a specific location of a Disney park not on US soil. Will some? Sure. Will you find more than the average public interested in overseas parks because it's a Disney fan convention? Sure. But for the most part...not really.

So yeah, these people that pony up all this money for a D23 subscription, and then money to go to a convention, yeah, they wanna hear about stuff they'll actually see and do. Not saying they should totally exclude the other parks, but just looking at economics and your audience, they don't wanna hear nearly as much about what you are gonna do for "them" (people who have parks across the other side of the world) but for "us" (the parks that Americans go to most often).

Nothing xenophobic about anything, LOL, or even foolish. Just more like, "I want to hear about what you are making for dinner, Mom, not what the next door neighbors are having."

That said, the media doesn't care about D23. The first one got some press as you said, but it's just not on the radar of the world anymore once everyone figured out that it really was just a Star Trek convention in disguise. Nothing wrong with that (and I've been to a few Trek conventions so I speak with knowledge on the topic), but just that it's largely a social event and about buying crap, more than any "newsmaking" anything.

They tried to peddle D23 as an "insiders!" place, specifically to combat the popularity of sites like this one in particular. They tried to capitalize on the want for insider knowledge by charging a membership fee, which is the only thing that qualifies one for this "exclusive" club. Thing is, since any old person can enter, even if something DID get released exclusively, we'd have it posted on here thirty seconds after it was released (and probably already know more about it than any info to come out of D23 would have given, thanks to the few real "insiders" we already have on retainer here).

D23 must be popular enough for them to have kept it going this long, but to be honest I don't think anyone will remember it in ten years. It's just too thin a concept, and any real "WOW" is few and far between. It's like the Backlot tour, circa 1994 where it's already past it's prime and not really what it was sold as to begin with, but the cracks are finally showing through to the more average guest, or in this case, member.