Marvel coming to WDW?!?!

[Animaniac93-98]

I would honestly rather have a Star Lord Sing-Along than what is being proposed here.

 

[PhotoDave219]

C'mon my hillbilly with a hot wife friend. You doubt the ability of Robert A. Iger to bully those smalltimers at Comcast into giving Disney back its own IP? I know you haven't seen Zootopia, but maybe Bob simply made UNI an offer it couldn't refuse?Maybe Zenia simply used a well-placed horse's head.

If you knew how paranoid the man is (like who he had his security detail looking for at a recent media conference in Palm Beach), then you might realize he'd do anything to get what he wants.

That sounds like a fun story....

 

[Jahona]

I would honestly rather have a Star Lord Sing-Along than what is being proposed here.

Actually Star Lord dance off would tie in with the end of the movie really well.

 

[flyerjab]

After thinking about this, the scene when they escape the prison suddenly springs to mind.

 

[Matt7187]

Yes. Can you believe it!??!? The Weatherman flexed his giant ... um ... muscles and UNI quivered and he traded Brent Musburger to NBC-UNI for the rights to all the Marvel characters. All of the twits were so right. All bow down to BOB!!!


OK, not really, but the thread subject still may well be true, my friends (and assorted crazies who can't quit me.)

Did that get your attention? Good. That is my reason for being, after all. At least that's what I hear frauds, addicts and con men say.

While Bob Iger lamented at the recent shareholders meeting in Chicago that TWDC would likely never be able to use its stable of Marvel characters (or the ones everyone knows and cares about) at its ATM in the swamps, there is one major exception that every fanboi sleeping in his Hulk boxers knows about.

Yup. I am talking about the characters from the second best Marvel film -- behind Deadpool, which doesn't count because it's not controlled by The Weatherman and not part of something called The Marvel Cinematic Universe -- namely The Guardians of the Galaxy.

Well, if current plans (and they are subject to change, but accurate as of this posting and that is all I can ever offer) follow through, sometime in either 2017 or 2018 you will get to experience a true GotG E-Ticket at The Corpse of The Disney-MGM Studios. Fast construction timeline you say. Or the Spirit is smoking on some bad Kissimmee weed you say?

Nope. Welcome to The Guardians of the Galaxy Tower of Terror. Yes. Really. Yes, Disney wants to destroy (or make over depending on how you look at it) one of its high points of creative product in the last 25 years to tie it to a BRAND that it can't even use to advertise and promote, in Florida that is.

You see, like almost everything these days, the genesis of this project is in Anaheim where ToT isn't an anchor of a park (DCA), just part of its menu of offerings. A park that can take full advantage of The Weatherman's acquisition spree (the only thing that marks his tenure as head of the world's largest entertainment company) and is planning a major Marvel addition right next door to an old hotel on Hollywood's dark side. WDI has pushed this concept heavily and TDA wants to do it badly.

Having to license The Twilight Zone IP from CBS, IP that most people not born prior to 1980 have little if any knowledge of -- just makes it even more attractive.

Let's forget that this is one of the best attractions Disney has ever built. We do have toon characters in Small World and Jack Sparrow soon to be in every Pirates attraction worldwide, so shilling IP by changing classic attractions isn't something Disney is afraid to do.

They want to market it as DL's 'BIG, NEW THING' for 2017 and the first of many new major Marvel attractions in DCA (and other parks not located in the Florida swamps) before The Star Wars Experience (oops, did I name drop prematurely? Happens with age!) debuts in DL in 12/18 . If they have their way, the current Anaheim ToT will close around the first oft the year and reopen before summer with an entirely new GotG based show, still (somehow I am told) centered on a haunted hotel from the 1930s. How? Who knows? Stitch and Buzz Lightyear belong in Tomorrowland, right?

The hitch right now is, naturally, WDW. They are interested in this, but they see it more as a temporary overlay to draw people into their moribund Studios park (the one they actively engage in deceptive advertising in because telling people that the real Star Wars stuff won't arrive before 2020-21 probably wouldn't be good for business). They (again naturally) are looking to cut the budget and the timeline because shutting the ToT next January might just finally be the straw that breaks the camel's back (hell, even 1-2 lifestylers might tell people to not visit for more than half a day out of their 11 day on property MAGICal $11,000 WDW vacations ). At DCA, this will be the gateway to Marvel BRAND Land and has to look and act the part. TDO is whining about money and downtime (they will soon count restrooms and ODV carts and Marsha the special needs CM at The ABC Commissary that thinks she does a great Daisy Duck impression as attractions).

But right now it looks like this has the momentum needed to happen on BOTH coasts provided TDO is willing to shoulder the costs and realize this will be a permanent change, not a summer marketing deal.

And, no, this means nothing at all regarding other Marvel IP ... and, no, I don't think UNI cares one way or the other.

My emotions from start to end of that:

 

[WDW1974]

Oh, god....
I'm gonna puke then go back into hiding.


Is nothing sacred?
Inmates running the asylum...

I dunno. It does seem like Disney management is sitting back at a boardroom table and saying "Let's destroy everything that loser WDW1974 loves, so eventually he'll get off message and stop being a visitor and we won't have to deal with him."

I just don't know how you decide to screw with one of the pinnacle's of your design business to force an IP that may be popular now. Marvel characters belong on Sunset Blvd. right? Besides, Disney will likely dumb the entire area down in the next few years anyway.

 

[FigmentForver96]

I dunno. It does seem like Disney management is sitting back at a boardroom table and saying "Let's destroy everything that loser WDW1974 loves, so eventually he'll get the eff off message and stop being a visitor and we won't have to deal with him."

I just don't know how you decide to screw with one of the pinnacle's of your design business to force an IP that may be popular now. Marvel characters belong on Sunset Blvd. right? Besides, Disney will likely dumb the entire area down in the next few years anyway.

Maybe they will deem it to expensive and not go through with it.

 

[Clamman73]

 

[WDW1974]

This news is getting worse by the minute.

I just report it. And I sat on it (fanboi joke) while debating putting it out because, frankly, I am just tired of the fan community and what it has morphed into. The mental illness and addiction and mindless allegiance, which now is just as bad with UNI fans. But I love theme parks and the business and while I am not even sure leaking stuff helps, I think if it makes one person at Disney miserable then I have accomplished something. That's a sad way of looking at things, Alissa.

 

[FigmentForver96]

This may be the first time I've legit screamed in anger at reading a rumor. This must be what fans of Horizons or World of Motion must've felt like when their demise was announced. Just wow, yet I'm not shocked at all. Typical Disney incompetence.

I hope people raise holy hell on this. The sad thing is people will probably drool and praise Disney for the next big thing.

 

[WDW1974]

I was all excited for the possibility until the words "Destroy" and "Tower of Terror" got used in the same sentence. You are normally right. This time I pray you are wrong.

I am not (currently) wrong. And there is an awfully big push for this to happen. That doesn't mean it won't be canceled or, more likely, delayed. But current management doesn't see why this is a horrible idea. That's the scary thing. They think they have a great idea to add a 'new' E-Ticket that celebrates an expensive acquired IP at a very low (relatively speaking) cost.

 

[Quinnmac000]

where is @ford91exploder when you need him?

 

[MasterGracey82]

Well, even though this is a rumor at this point, this might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. My wife and I were planning on visiting WDW in October to piggyback off a work trip to Orlando, but between this rumored horrible idea, the possibility of resort charges, more and more cuts because of incompetence in Shanghai, and the just about complete inability to do anything spontaneously while on property, we have officially nixed that idea. Our days at WDW might be numbered, and to think just 3 years ago we were considering buying into DVC.

 

[WDW1974]

I think it's fine for DCA - our TOT sucks. Not fine for WDW, where TOT is amazing.

Nah. It sucks for both parks. It just is easier to justify in CA ... it's amazing to hear people talk about WDI having a creative renaissance the last few years when DCA 1.0 had plans for a San Francisco area themed Tower with (at least in bluesky) an earthquake theme. Everything at Disney these days seems creatively lazy.

 

[WDW1974]

I assume this would happen to the Paris Studios version as well since it's a clone of DCA?

Nope. Not at this time, anyway.

 

[Jahona]

Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite movie to come out of MCU. That said ToT works with it's story line and theme. The Twilight Zone may not be relevant with today's generation, but to me it tells the story well enough that you don't exactly need prior knowledge of the series. Without a complete re-theme, inside and out, I can't see this working as well as the overlay of Star Wars to Space Mountain in Disneyland.

 

[Quinnmac000]

The only way the overlay works is if they change the time to the 1970s and make it feel as if we were being abducted like Starlord.

 

[MasterGracey82]

I get the feeling that the executives have two big spinning wheels in a conference room somewhere. One has all of their IPs on it and the other has all of their attractions at WDW on it and every once in a while they decide to spin them and wherever they stop becomes their next idea for an attraction layover.

 

[RSoxNo1]

This is going to make the fan outcry for Frozen in Norway look like a stoners drum circle. If anyone else on the planet put this out there this thread would tailspin into public mockery. Because it's @WDW1974 we have to pay attention.

Spirit, I sincerely hope they have figured out some of your sources and are trying to plug the leak with this crap.

I've got a lot more on this, but I need to go throw up.

 

[WDW1974]

I am praying this is an early (and sick) April Fools joke.

Surely they would not destroy the crown jewel of the studios park. Surely.

I don't do April Fools online as it became more than cliche about a dozen years ago. And the source is impeccable. I am only placing it out because I know it. I do wonder how many of todays' fans simply think this is a great idea and are still upset the giant toon hat is down.