Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
There would be better odds that the Vegas monorails will expand to include WDW then WDW is going to expand the Monorails to DHS, even if they could find the buried footings.
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Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts Tres
- Thread starter WDW1974
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Lee
Adventurer
All I can say is that not all departments get along.
Leaking for spite would be a good way of "flipping off" the D23 gang, no?
asianway
Well-Known Member
I think WDPR and D23 have separate departments for such things...
GLaDOS
Well-Known Member
They do indeed.
D23 is not well liked in most Disney inner circles because the group running it cares about the "old" way of doing things.
Well, yea but they will each have similar divisions and motives are motives. Forcing a hand in some regard is the key point. It happens in several areas.
Yensid1974
Well-Known Member
Seems like D23 would be one who would leak just a little bit of something to try to get attendance to spike up for this years convention. I wonder if ticket sales were not where they want them to be especially if they knew that they were going to have some major announcements happening. I can't imagine that it would look too well upon D23 if the suits line up some huge announcements for the convention and the arena is less than full.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Well that is the management culture of this company. For years Eisner played people against one another, its only natural for that to have seeped down into department heads and is filtering its way down. TWDC has a very nasty management culture from what I observe or hear about.
That being said, the managers Ive met of late have been fantastic, but those are front line managers. The above statement refers to those that live behind the desk
sshindel
The Epcot Manifesto
I'm not putting this question to you directly, more to the folks questioning the "demand" for a Star Wars expansion as a whole, just using your quote as the more recent one to pull from.
Maybe it's the SW fan in me that has a hard time agreeing with that line of reasoning, but I cannot fathom the thought that a SW expansion is anything less than Disney being able to print money.
Someone threw out the number earlier that made my jaw drop, then nod my head in agreement with. The Star Wars franchise has a total revenue of 27 billion dollars (http://www.statisticbrain.com/star-wars-total-franchise-revenue/). That's 18 Next Gen projects all stacked on top of each other (yeah, net vs. revenue, etc, I know there are differences, but the main point is it makes $).
Star Wars also has a few other things going for it. 1) It's a cultural landmark. A vast majority of the population of this country (and many, many others) are aware of the franchise. A large portion of that population in the US grew up with the franchise. It's been a part of the pop culture zeitgeist for over 36 years. It a HUGE part of my childhood, as I would imagine would be the same of the childhoods of many people in my generation, the generation above me, and the generation below me. This is a franchise that has not put out a film in 8 years, and arguably a decent film in 30 years (33 years?). It survived the widely disregarded prequils to continue to make money year over year. The last decade of Star Wars fandom has shown a few middling-to-bad films, books, comic books, a few hit-or-miss video games, and an (Emmy winning) animated TV program (which also had a disregarded film to launch it), not what I'd call saturation of the market with high-quality product. Still it endures, or honestly, thrives. Disney announces that they bought Lucasfilm and the internet explodes. A few rumors leak about this expansion, and it does again.
More importantly, the people that grew up with Star Wars are right at the age to have children. Children who have likely been introduced to Star Wars by their parents. If their parents were fans, likely, their children will become fans as well. People alway speak of Disney coveting the "boy" demographic. While I'd argue that Star Wars is not strictly for boys (my daughters love it, and I'll always argue targeting only "boy" vs. "girl"), this and Carsland/Pixarland would give them a massive draw for that demographic. Parents who grew up pretending every snow-day was the battle of Hoth are going to find their way down to Orlando at some point to walk through the new area. Updating an existing ride (ST2.0) is not enough, but the addition of an entire "land" will be. If the land is done well, it's going to bring repeat business, word of mouth business, etc.
Plus, add to the fact that starting in a few short years, Disney is making a major investment into the franchise. Barring a major disaster in the next few films, demand for the franchise is only going to grow. Now you'll have parents who grew up loving the franchise, and their kids having their own franchise to love as well (which to some extents even exists with the prequils).
I don't think that looking at Star Wars Weekends or Celebration is a good gauge on the demand. As a huge fan, I've never felt the need to do either of these events. I'm not going to make my family vacation plans line up directly with a specific weekend or set of weekends, I'm going to do it when it works for my family. But if something like this was a part of the park? A Star Wars themed land I know will always be there no matter when I book my trip? It will be guaranteed that I make sure that my vacation plans include DHS. ST2.0 is just about the only thing currently that makes DHS a "must-do" for me right now as is, because of how much both myself and my kid loved it. The special events like this are for the true, die-hard fan.
When Harry Potter land was announced, I really doubted it's ability to remain relevant in popular culture long enough to make the investment worth it. I was wrong to doubt that, as it's shown to have the legs, and more importantly, Uni made the land well-done enough it wouldn't matter if it did or did not, it still would be a great land that visitors would be drawn to. Star Wars does not need to prove itself on this front. It does have longevity, and it will continue to do so. All they would need to do now is to make a quality land, and they will be printing money. Will it draw new visitors to the area, will visitors stay at the park longer, will visitors spend more money at the park? I think that this is as close to a guarantee as can be made in this fickle business.
GiveMeTheMusic
Well-Known Member
MK shouldn't be as crowded as it is. If DHS/DAK expansions are successful, there should be some cannibalization of MK's numbers, which is a good thing. To have four parks with one park at nearly double the individual attendance of two others is imbalanced, and the MK can barely handle it. Not enough capacity to go around, which is why you see ludicrous 120 minute waits for Mermaid, a constantly moving Omnimover (with FP, another huge factor), on peak days.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
For us, we would skip DAK unless it also received some very compelling reasons to visit. So I'm going with it cannibalizing other Disney parks unless they also receive some TLC.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
While I agree with you, Jason's observation is very valid. I was there all 4 weekends and I saw a LOT of the same faces and people. It was a very party atmosphere, much like May the 4th.
sshindel
The Epcot Manifesto
True. I have not been to a SW weekend, but I can absolutely see that being the case. I'd not go out of my way to make it to one, or all of the weekends unless I was local. Then I'd likely be there with bells on (or a stormtrooper outfit). They've never been enough for me to try and arrange travel for, and I imagine that for all but the VERY hardcore, it'd be the same.
GLaDOS
Well-Known Member
The long lines for merch is really only the first day of the event, as well. The first Friday the tent gets multihour lines from the eBay sellers. After that you can walk in.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
The SW expansion, like anything else associated with the franchise, is not inherently a lisence to print money. It all depends on execution. SW fans have become acustomed to having a buffet of options to chose from. The ones they favor become big, profitable hits. The ones they don't like fail miserably.
At some point, someone said, "Hey, a Star Wars themed holiday special is a can't-miss." And that was at the peak of Star Wars mania. Then they saw the Star Wars Holiday Special and realized nothing is can't miss.
I think a lot of fans compare Star Wars to Potter and come to the wrong conclusion. In their minds, Star Wars is inherently more popular than Potter - which is debatable. But it's not about the popularity of the franchise. It's about supply and demand. While demand for Star Wars is unquestionably high, so is the supply. SW fans have had plenty of ways to indulge their inner fanboy for decades. The demand for Potter far surpassed the supply and still does. HP fans don't have as many ways to scratch their itch as SW fans do. So they are more likely to book a trip to the mecha of Potter, IOA.
I'm sure any SW land would give DHS an attendance bump for a little while. But execution will deteremine whether or not it is ultimately successful. That remains true no matter what IP the expansion is themed to.
sshindel
The Epcot Manifesto
This I agree with as well. But it's the case with everything right? If IoA had half-arsed Potter, it would have been a blip. Disney HAS to make this area right. You know, if they are making it at all. I would think though that even a middling execution would likely turn the park from a 1/2 day to a full day. A well done one would be the only thing to really draw sustained new business.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Absolutely.
A good expansion is a good expansion. The right IP will generate some excitement and help goose merch sales. Potter was a perfect marriage of right IP with good execution. A SW expansion could duplicate that succes, but it's certainly not guaranteed.
Also, an expansion based on original ideas could prove just as successful in the long run. But that kind of talk will probably get you tossed out on your ear.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
I know, it was fantastic because thats when you could find luke, leia & the droids for a 20 minute or less wait.
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