Marvel vs Star Wars: The Tale of Two Different Ways Disney Implements Properties

[Surferboy567]

Their has been something bugging me that I wanted to bring up. I want to preface this with some background I’m a huge fan of all things Disney animated Pixar you name it, and immersive lands. Star Wars and Marvel are huge parts of my life, and have continued to be thought out my years...with that out of the way let’s get to the real reason I’m writing this...treatment of Marvel within Disney Parks.

Star Wars Galaxy Edge is by all appearances how you integrate a highly immersive land into a Disney Park. Everything is done with such detail and care, I’m so excited to get out there in 2020 and finally live my Star Wars adventure. Judging by my post history you can see how much of a big Star Wars fan I am...then you have Marvel.

I have been around with the MCU since Iron Man it is one if few franchises I remember being in the movie theater for every single installment (I vaguely remember my first Star Wars movie being episode 2 or 3 in the theater I can’t remember). The universe building is insane and it seriously holds up as one of the best movie universes ever put to film (only Star Wars is on the same level in my opinion). So the potential for ride adaption is there, also the movies almost all do well financially so their isn’t a money issue either.

The main question here is why is Disney giving us half baked marvel experiences for the parks? I get they can’t use the marvel IP (besides some characters) at WDW. That however, doesn’t give them a reason to cheap out on the DL, or any other version they create. Is it because marvel doesn’t translate well into attractions? Possibly, but I thought mission breakout worked well I also think the guardians coaster has the potential to be amazing. Then we have Ant-Man and the Wasp Nano Battle, which by modern Disney standards is unimaginative and boring. Yes it does have some good things about it...but they could of done so better. With the rumors of midway mania Spider-Man we run into a similar problem. Why is Disney going on the cheap for one of their biggest IP? Am I missing something here?

I hope Disney gives marvel the lands they deserve highly immersive and on the level of Galaxy Edge. I really don’t understand why they don’t? For all I know these new lands could be amazing but I have a bad feeling about them being cheap.

Thoughts? Or am I just crazy?

 

[marni1971]

You saw the budget cuts for the WDSP Marvel Land I take it?

 

[larryz]

Buy a few shares and bring this up at the next stockholder's meeting.

 

[Surferboy567]

You saw the budget cuts for the WDSP Marvel Land I take it?

I didn’t...I did see a certain article from everyone’s favorite “news” site though...been meaning to ask you if it’s true...looks like I got my answer.

It’s not even the budget cuts of the land that made me think about this it’s just how they treat marvel in general. I noticed this around “Iron Man Experience” opening. Amplified by Ant-Man and The Wasp Nano Battle.

Buy a few shares and bring this up at the next stockholder's meeting.

I detect sarcasm...

 

[Surferboy567]

Seriously, though why do they treat Marvel in this way instead of building a highly immersive land?

 

[Joesixtoe]

Considering End Game is the 2nd highest grossing film in just 2 weeks, I don't know why they are skimming a bit.. maybe it's to much? Maybe the world of Marvel isn't as big of a draw as the world of star wars or even a harry potter, not talking characters, but the worlds they live in.. I dunno

 

[Surferboy567]

Considering End Game is the 2nd highest grossing film in just 2 weeks, I don't know why they are skimming a bit.. maybe it's to much? Maybe the world of Marvel isn't as big of a draw as the world of star wars or even a harry potter, not talking characters, but the worlds they live in.. I dunno

The world of marvel has been proven to be popular for 11 years now...Disney isn’t stupid. Something doesn’t add up.

Sure maybe earth and New York is bland to set a land in...but they have some of the smartest creative minds I’m sure they could figure something out.

PS: For the record at least for me Star Wars does have the draw in terms of the universe. I much rather visit Batuu and live out a Star Wars adventure but I shouldn’t have to chose between my two of my most cherished stories.

 

[Joesixtoe]

The world of marvel has been proven to be popular for 11 years now...Disney isn’t stupid. Something doesn’t add up.

Sure maybe earth and New York is bland to set a land in...but they have some of the smartest creative minds I’m sure they could figure something out.

PS: For the record at least for me Star Wars does have the draw in terms of the universe. I much rather visit Batuu and live out a Star Wars adventure but I shouldn’t have to chose between my two of my most cherished stories.

The universe is what I ment.. Star wars, Harry Potter, lord of the rings have a better universe imho.. but yes the characters of marvel are extremely popular..

 

[Surferboy567]

The universe is what I ment.. Star wars, Harry Potter, lord of the rings have a better universe imho.. but yes the characters of marvel are extremely popular..

No denying that the franchises you have listed have a better universe...in terms of lore. I’m sure though Disney is smart enough to adapt Marvel into a Disney Parks on the same level as those universes. After all the MCU, is a very big place it’s interconnectivity is it’s strength and that can go a very long way.

 

[Heppenheimer]

I'm going to take a shot-in-the-dark guess...

Disney (and most theme parks) usually finance expansions through the sale of corporate bonds, which usually have maturity dates within the first year or two after the expansions open. Disney has probably taken on a huge amount of short-term debt to finance all the recent additions to the parks and the on-going projects that are slated for opening in the next few years. Even though all these new attractions will likely pay for themselves with increased visitors, there's an upper limit to how many more people would likely decide to visit Disney World because of them. In the 1990s, Disney (or more specifically, Eisner) took on a "Build it and they will come" mentality, where they vastly over-estimated the attendance potential for California Adventure and what was then known as Eurodisneyland. When the actual revenue was way below their expectations, Disney got caught in a debt-trap that profoundly weakened the company temporarily. Disneyland Paris to this day only still exists because some rich investors from the Middle East decided to finance the debt shortfalls.

So, keep in mind that with all the big additions Disney has already planned recently, the limitations on how much bond debt the company can assume at any given time, the fact that these bonds must be paid off before the new attractions earn a substantial profit, the theoretical upper limit on how many more guests new attractions would attract, the limitations on what Marvel IPs the parks can use, and corporate memory of their recent past, I can understand why Disney is taking its time to go all-in with Marvel in Orlando.

 

[aliceismad]

Star Wars demands a highly immersive environment.

 

[RaveOnEd]

I think there may be something more immersive for Marvel sometime, but right now they're sinking a lot of money into SW:GE for both parks, as well as that Universal having some IP rights.

Isn't one of the parks (Disneyland Paris or somewhere?) going to have a Marvel Land? I think something will happen in the US, but right now, money and time is going to Star Wars first.

 

[aliceismad]

I think there may be something more immersive for Marvel sometime, but right now they're sinking a lot of money into SW:GE for both parks, as well as that Universal having some IP rights.

Isn't one of the parks (Disneyland Paris or somewhere?) going to have a Marvel Land? I think something will happen in the US, but right now, money and time is going to Star Wars first.

Disney's California Adventure is getting Marvel Land as well as Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong. The renderings I've seen look vaguely futuristic + industrial.

 

[RaveOnEd]

Disney's California Adventure is getting Marvel Land as well as Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong. The renderings I've seen look vaguely futuristic + industrial.

I didn't know DCA was getting one as well! They're really going for the fences there now, with both Galaxy's Edge and Marvel!

 

[aliceismad]

There's a thread re: DCA's Marvel Land here: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/marvel-land-construction-specifics.947014/

 

[MaximumEd]

I’d say it’s because SW and something like Pandora have cool looking and exotic lands, and Marvel mostly has just characters. There are exceptions, but that’s my take.

 

[Lensman]

What would a highly immersive Marvel land be like? Where would it be?

I could see there being some possible impressive single set pieces like the Sanctum Santorum, the New Avengers Facility, SHIELD headquarters, but I'm not sure about a whole land. Maybe Sakaar, Knowhere, Xandar, Nedavillir, or Titan but those are more locations where a single set of characters has been rather than somewhere you can populate with a number of different characters.

I think the one place that might fit the bill is Wakanda, so maybe there is hope for an immersive Wakanda land in a park one day.

 

[Surferboy567]

If they were smart they could have kept the New York backlot and made it into a Marvel area.

They technically don’t even have to set the land on earth...I would prefer they did but they have the flexibility to do whatever they want.

 

[RaveOnEd]

They technically don’t even have to set the land on earth...I would prefer they did but they have the flexibility to do whatever they want.

That's what's great about Marvel, in that they can set it anywhere. From an economic standpoint, starting with an overlay to the New York Street would have been a little less money, and in a way to make an iconic location from the Avengers and other Marvel movies (Battle of New York, scenes in Infinity War and Endgame, Captain America, Spiderman, etc).

 

[Surferboy567]

That's what's great about Marvel, in that they can set it anywhere. From an economic standpoint, starting with an overlay to the New York Street would have been a little less money, and in a way to make an iconic location from the Avengers and other Marvel movies (Battle of New York, scenes in Infinity War and Endgame, Captain America, Spiderman, etc).

This is the exact reason I made this thread. They can do this right (similar to Galaxy’s Edge). Marvel is a property adored by literally billions of people. Why cheap out and make a crappy shell of a land. Once again, this could be great but I don’t know I’m getting an off vibe.