Marvel coming to WDW?!?!

[ford91exploder]

I'm still butt-hurt over something said multiple pages back, by our dear Martin.

Universal is planning for an e-Ticket ride for a movie that's not even OUT YET. They know it's going to do good- or at the very, VERY least... they have this thing called faith in their product.

Something Disney USED to have. Read DisneyWar especially the segment on movies where P&R would have parades and activities ready BEFORE the movie was even released.

 

[Miss Heinous]

Aside from the attractions (particularly Spider-Man) and their improvements, the land itself is very dated and cheap looking. Just look at these photos and try and tell me that it would look the same if it were built today. http://www.wdwinfo.com/universal/Photos/Marvel-Super-Hero/pages/24-Marvel Super Hero Island.htm

It would be more fair if you used a more recent photo (that photo is from 10 years ago), the entire land has been repainted since then.

 

[Miss Heinous]

I know, I think that part of the park looks fairly cheap as well, although not as cheap looking as Marvel Superhero Island. It seems as is they started the park by building Seuss Landing and used whatever was left by the time they made it full circle to Marvel Superhero Island.

Each Island had a different team behind it, a good amount of the creative team behind the park as of opening day were previously Imagineers (some of them still are today). One of the head Imagineers of Ariel's Undersea Adventure worked on several parts of Seuss Landing. Also a majority of the park's budget went to Spiderman which caused several opening day attractions planned around the park to either be cancelled or postponed.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Something Disney USED to have. Read DisneyWar especially the segment on movies where P&R would have parades and activities ready BEFORE the movie was even released.

The suggestion by the press that Disney is a "master of synergy" anymore is laughable.
Yet they keep saying it.
Again
http://huffpost.com/us/entry/the-disney-synergy-machin_b_8776952.html
and again
http://adage.com/article/media/star-wars-shows-amas/301474/
and again...
https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-makes-a-good-corporate-st

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

The suggestion by the press that Disney is a "master of synergy" anymore is laughable.
Yet they keep saying it.
Again
http://huffpost.com/us/entry/the-disney-synergy-machin_b_8776952.html
and again
http://adage.com/article/media/star-wars-shows-amas/301474/
and again...
https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-makes-a-good-corporate-st

They couldn't synergize their way out of an unbranded, unlicensed, plain brown bag.

 

[ford91exploder]

They couldn't synergize their way out of an unbranded, unlicensed, plain brown bag.

But they can hack and slash with the best, Chainsaw Al from Sunbeam and Neutron Jack from GE would be proud of them

 

[Matt_Black]

The suggestion by the press that Disney is a "master of synergy" anymore is laughable.
Yet they keep saying it.
Again
http://huffpost.com/us/entry/the-disney-synergy-machin_b_8776952.html
and again
http://adage.com/article/media/star-wars-shows-amas/301474/
and again...
https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-makes-a-good-corporate-st

Well, they're better at it than other companies. Look at Cartoon Network's handling of the Young Justice & Green Lantern animated series. CN, WB animation, and DC Comics are all owned by the same people, so you'd think there would have been better communication in that scenario.

 

[doctornick]

The suggestion by the press that Disney is a "master of synergy" anymore is laughable.
Yet they keep saying it.

I guess I'm not getting it. Are you saying that Disney does not use synergy well? Or that other companies are better at it?

Obviously, it's a matter of interpretation, but I've felt like Disney does synergy and cross-marketing better (or at least more prominently) than just about anyone.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

I guess I'm not getting it. Are you saying that Disney does not use synergy well? Or that other companies are better at it?

Obviously, it's a matter of interpretation, but I've felt like Disney does synergy and cross-marketing better (or at least more prominently) than just about anyone.

They certainly used to. I'm not so sure that's true anymore.

(edit to add) Remember the days of having a brand spankin' new animated movie in theaters, a parade in the parks, hit (pop) songs on the radio, merchandise *and* commercials all at the same time???

When did that stop- was the last Hunchback of Notre Dam (Festival of Fools) ??

 

[Mike S]

They certainly used to. I'm not so sure that's true anymore.

(edit to add) Remember the days of having a brand spankin' new animated movie in theaters, a parade in the parks, hit (pop) songs on the radio, merchandise *and* commercials all at the same time???

When did that stop- was the last Hunchback of Notre Dam (Festival of Fools) ??

There was actually a Festival of Fools parade?!?!?!?! I was only 3

 

[Cesar R M]

Well, they're better at it than other companies. Look at Cartoon Network's handling of the Young Justice & Green Lantern animated series. CN, WB animation, and DC Comics are all owned by the same people, so you'd think there would have been better communication in that scenario.

I still facepalm at the reasons of why they cancelled Young Justice and Green Lantern. Its like the owner of Cartoon Network suffers from severe fear of feminism.
When Young Justice and Green Lantern stared to get popular with girls as well.. they just axed it because "it didnt fit" their predictions for toys.
Its not like girls were asking for pink toys of the series! (every girl I know that was fan of green lantern, wanted figurines of Tomar-re for example, or Robin/speedy from Young Justice).
Meanwhile Nickelodeon capitalized in the popularity of Avatar.

 

[Mike S]

I still facepalm at the reasons of why they cancelled Young Justice and Green Lantern. Its like the owner of Cartoon Network suffers from severe fear of feminism.
When Young Justice and Green Lantern stared to get popular with girls as well.. they just axed it because "it didnt fit" their predictions for toys.
Its not like girls were asking for pink toys of the series! (every girl I know that was fan of green lantern, wanted figurines of Tomar-re for example, or Robin/speedy from Young Justice).
Meanwhile Nickelodeon capitalized in the popularity of Avatar.

Why it offends some people if girls like the same things they do is beyond me. Last I checked having common interests is a good thing.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

There was actually a Festival of Fools parade?!?!?!?! I was only 3

I honestly don't remember, but the Festival of Fools itself at Disneyland was a BLAST.

I do remember Lion King having its own parade.

 

[doctornick]

They certainly used to. I'm not so sure that's true anymore.

(edit to add) Remember the days of having a brand spankin' new animated movie in theaters, a parade in the parks, hit (pop) songs on the radio, merchandise *and* commercials all at the same time???

When did that stop- was the last Hunchback of Notre Dam (Festival of Fools) ??

I know this is a park-centric message board, but having stuff in the theme parks isn't the only way to leverage a mass media company. Most other media companies don't even have the option of using theme parks for synergy since they don't have any. Nonetheless, you frequently see things mass promoted across Disney's segments -- movies being advertised on TV shows/networks, with comic books, and with consumer products and so on -- to a degree that I don't see with any other companies. I mean they did an ESPN show on light saber fighting building up to The Force Awakens, for Pete's sake.

That said, while they may not be doing the same level of stuff (like parades or shows right away) as before in the parks, we still see cross-promotion in the theme parks -- M&Gs are still common, you have the monorail or bus wraps, and there's plenty of advertisements around the resort to market to the captive audience.

 

[Matt_Black]

Say what you want about Disney, but they appear to at least try to foster a spirit of cooperation among their various divisions and subsidiaries. Other companies, like Time-Warner, not so much.

 

[hopemax]

There was actually a Festival of Fools parade?!?!?!?! I was only 3

It wasn't a parade, but a "theater in the round" show located at Disneyland in the Big Thunder Ranch area (check YouTube). WDW had a show at the Backlot Theater at Disney-MGM Studios (which was later rebuilt and became the Premiere Theater where they held the SWW events and the first home to the Frozen show). I never saw the Festival of Fools show, but LOVED the Hunchback show at MGM. It used quite a bit of puppetry and was visually stunning. The music was always considered an amazing part of the movie, and the MGM show took full-advantage. It was an example of how movie success and attraction success weren't dependent on each other. Maybe the movie under-performed, but it had successful elements that could be leveraged into a successful attraction.

As for the ways Disney used to synergize their movies. Many of these premiered at the parks the same day the movie premiered, and there were character Meet & Greets as well.

Little Mermaid (1989) - Voyage of the Little Mermaid (open Jan 1992)
Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Stage show at DL and WDW (open Nov 1991); still open at WDW
Aladdin (1992) - Aladdin's Royal Caravan Parade at MGM (Dec 92 - Aug 1995), Disneyland (April 93- May 94)
Lion King (1994) - Lion King Celebration Parade DL (June 94 - June 1997) ; the floats were reused for Festival of the Lion King
Pocahontas (1995) - Spirit of Pocahontas Stage show at DL (June 1995 - Sept 1997) and MGM (June 1995 - Feb 1996)
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996): Festival of Fools, Show at MGM
Hercules (1997): Parade at DL ( June 1997 - 98); Parade at MGM (June 1997 - spring 1998)
Mulan (1998): Parade at DL (June 1998 - May 1999) & MGM (June 1998 - 1991)
Tarzan (1999): Redo of the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse at DL (summer 1999 - current); Tarzan Rocks at AK (1999-2006)

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Well, they're better at it than other companies. Look at Cartoon Network's handling of the Young Justice & Green Lantern animated series. CN, WB animation, and DC Comics are all owned by the same people, so you'd think there would have been better communication in that scenario.

I guess I'm not getting it. Are you saying that Disney does not use synergy well? Or that other companies are better at it?

Obviously, it's a matter of interpretation, but I've felt like Disney does synergy and cross-marketing better (or at least more prominently) than just about anyone.

The modern Disney Company's use of synergy is not at the standard to which they once held themselves to and to which they were capable of. @Soarin' Over Pgh gave a pretty concise explanation of what they used to do for new theatrical releases (side note: I think Mulan (1998) was around the time breadth and quality of their efforts began to wane) but synergy is more than plugging one property into BRAND ACCESS POINTS the company owns. Rather it's about forming relationships between the units of the company where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is what sets the leadership who learned at the knee of Walt Disney apart from the Strategic Planning /Suit types like Staggs, Colglaizer Chapek etc. The management under Eisner who led the company with Walt's values made much of what @Soarin' Over Pgh described in the nineties possible. However, the strategic planning department began to infest the company and change what synergy meant at the company which leads us to "Evolution of the Lightsaber Duel" on ESPN but also Star Wars: Launch Bay, a cheap, pathetic joke of an introduction to the Disney era Star Wars which Disney actively markets to the public as if it's at the level of Star Wars Land. Or where was the BB-8 meet and greet? Or where was the Zootopia Parade at DHS, a rotting corpse of a park with increasingly little to do? (I just remembered they'll have to close TSMM at some point to reorient the queue and entrance for TSL, that should be fun! ) It's synergy that looks good on a PowerPoint deck, but not in the real world where it matters.

That's what's so disappointing about Disney nowadays, they have all this great IP and they don't even know how to use it to get guests, not analysts and suits, excited.

@doctornick , I don't think anyone does synergy as well as Disney used to, but Universal has done quality work with franchises like Despicable Me/Minions and Jurrassic Park as well as adult properties like Fifty Shade of Grey, The Purge and Crimson Peak

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

I know this is a park-centric message board, but having stuff in the theme parks isn't the only way to leverage a mass media company. Most other media companies don't even have the option of using theme parks for synergy since they don't have any. Nonetheless, you frequently see things mass promoted across Disney's segments -- movies being advertised on TV shows/networks, with comic books, and with consumer products and so on -- to a degree that I don't see with any other companies. I mean they did an ESPN show on light saber fighting building up to The Force Awakens, for Pete's sake.

That said, while they may not be doing the same level of stuff (like parades or shows right away) as before in the parks, we still see cross-promotion in the theme parks -- M&Gs are still common, you have the monorail or bus wraps, and there's plenty of advertisements around the resort to market to the captive audience.

My main point was Disney would drop both movie and it's theme park offerings the same day- if not beforehand.

They used to have tons of commercials on TV- and not just locally in CA and FL- and don't forget Happy Meal toys!!

Now Disney sits on it's hands and waits (prime example: Frozen) for the movie to be a hit before doing anything in it's theme parks.

And since this board is about the parks, I'm gonna keep rolling with it.

Disney used to have confidence in their movies, in their productions that they did not feel it necessary to wait for a home run. Now it seems they are afraid to go out on a limb on their movies- even Inside Out did not get character meet-n-greets until well after it's release.

Disney set the bar for Synergy. Now they slither under it and act like they didn't see it there. It's fallen behind it's own established entertainment guidelines... the very ones they had written years before.

 

[hopemax]

Disney used to have confidence in their movies, in their productions that they did not feel it necessary to wait for a home run. Now it seems they are afraid to go out on a limb on their movies- even Inside Out did not get character meet-n-greets until well after it's release.

IMO, this is the "lesson" WDW learned from Frozen and Big Hero 6. Frozen was so popular it cost WDW in lots of unexpected labor, needing a bigger location and more girls. BH6 was supposed to end at a certain date, and they were "forced" to keep it around longer. So to make sure you don't have unplanned increased operational expenses, don't do M&Gs. So no Inside Out, and no Zootopia.

 

[FigmentJedi]

I still facepalm at the reasons of why they cancelled Young Justice and Green Lantern. Its like the owner of Cartoon Network suffers from severe fear of feminism.
When Young Justice and Green Lantern stared to get popular with girls as well.. they just axed it because "it didnt fit" their predictions for toys.
Its not like girls were asking for pink toys of the series! (every girl I know that was fan of green lantern, wanted figurines of Tomar-re for example, or Robin/speedy from Young Justice).
Meanwhile Nickelodeon capitalized in the popularity of Avatar.

Green Lantern was more of a victim of the Ryan Reynolds movie. That movie was such a massive failure that it poisoned the well and neither toymakers nor stores were willing to give stocking merchandise of the characters another shot.

I'd also argue Avatar's a bad example seeing as the Mattel toyline for the original show went to great awkward lengths to avoid making toys of any female characters in favor of churning out Aang and Sokka variants. Not to mention Korra got thrown into bad time slots and eventually booted off network broadcasting in favor of an online only release. And that's not even getting into how the Shyamalan movie killed the idea of doing "Zuko's mom" and "Iroh's backstory" TV movies.