The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[NormC]

,

There is no such thing as "money for nothing". They are locked into a contract they would never sign today. Getting out of it is more money than it is worth. So they will maintain the status quo.

Win?

Yes. Steady income for maintaining status quo. Income would be higher if signed today obviously, no argument there, but it is still money for nothing for Disney/Marvel.

 

[bhg469]

Agreed. I have. I problem defending what I say, I just get sick and tired of hipsters and twinker people getting all righteously indignant about a message board post.

Agreed 100%

 

[lebeau]

Disney paid less for Marvel than they would have if it the Marvel/Universal deal had been a good deal for Marvel. You can't look at this in a vacume. Marvel has been a gold mine for Disney which may not have happened if their had not been a Marvel/Universal deal. A better question is why did Universal give up the rights in California and the rest of the world. That makes no sense to me and is why I believe the day will come when Universal gives up the rights for nothing. I see no reason for Disney to ever buy them because they don't need them in Orlando.

I doubt the theme park rights factored heavily into the purchase price of Marvel.

Buying Marvel has turned out to be a good purchase so far. The theme park rights are of minimal importance to anyone but theme park fans.

I'm sure Universal is kicking themselves for letting the other rights go. But frankly, they weren't using them. It made sense at the time. Stop paying for something you're no using. Once again, things have changed since then.

100% agree Disney has no reason to buy back the Marvel rights.

 

[Skip]

All this talk about who benefits more from the Marvel/Uni deal - Marvel ("Disney") or Uni - as if this would have even been a question had Disney not bought Marvel. Pixie dust is showing.

That said, it's a clear win for Uni overall - they have access to some of the most valuable, in-demand characters in the world right now, characters that can't be used by their chief competition down the road. Sure, they have to pay "x" fees from admission and merchandise to Marvel - but they don't care. That rate hasn't changed because Disney bought Marvel. They don't care who the money is going to, they just care that they have super popular characters that attract many guests. And the funny thing is (and this has been pointed out before), the more Marvel invests in its characters with its cinematic universe, comics, TV shows, etc., the more Universal benefits from the increased valuation of the characters that they're paying relative pennies for.

I don't know where this idea came from that Uni gets no money from merchandise, either. That's hilariously off. They pay a cut to Marvel, sure, and they're required to maintain a certain percentage of merchandise square footage in the parks - but that's it. They're getting their cut, too.

 

[lebeau]

Yes. Steady income for maintaining status quo. Income would be higher if signed today obviously, no argument there but it is still money for nothing for Disney/Marvel.

No it's not. There is the opportunity cost of making more money off of their asset which is more valuable now than ever.

 

[marni1971]

But then again, I feel the same way about people who videotape parades. Live in the moment and enjoy it; plenty of video online if you ever feel the need to relive it. Or do your friends not really believe you went to WDW?

How would plenty of video get online if no one shot it?

 

[Mike S]

After some sleep, just a few more stray thoughts from my visit yesterday:

-I'd expected that Diagon would be crowded like Hogsmeade is -- difficult to navigate with the crowds. I was pleasantly surprised to find that's not the case. Diagon is much more spread out. The pathways never really felt cramped like they do in Hogsmeade. The only two shops that were really crowded were Weasleys' Wizarding Weezes and Borgin & Burkes. All the other shops were pretty easy to get around.

-Ollivanders had no wait in the late afternoon -- I guess having three showrooms is going to really help that location.

-There's one restroom in Diagon, and it's located a considerable distance from Leaky Cauldron. The proximity between Three Broomsticks and the restroom in Hogsmeade is a little more convenient.

-We saw both of the live entertainment shows -- they were great diversions, much better than the entertainment in Hogsmeade.

-Interactive wands looked fun, and the spots weren't as crowded as I thought they'd be. But there were a lot of kids using the interactive wands.

-Something I realized about Diagon: there's only so much that we see of it in the movies, but Uni Creative was able to build on the feel of the movies' Diagon and improve upon it while fleshing out the area. Everything around Carkitt Market feels perfectly at home in the Potter world, and yet it's all original to the park. Just goes to show how rich this franchise is -- it really allows the creative minds to have fun. Not sure if another IP has the same richness of place.

-Both times we were in line, there was significant downtime for Gringotts. The first ride there was a good hour when the ride wasn't running. Both times we got to the load platform, there were delays in dispatching the trains. Last night, they were using both sides of load, but it only looked like three trains were running. Sounds like they didn't open the ride today until 11:00 or so.

-I'm sure Universal has staffed HP 2.0 with their A-team, but we ran into a lot of great TMs yesterday. Some of the TMs at Knockturn Alley are playing up their part like the CMs do at Haunted Mansion. It's a great addition to the atmosphere. The Hogwarts Express TMs are very friendly and the ones in London play along when you ask them about Harry Potter. (They'll play ignorant if you ask about anything Potter-related.) Even the TMs we encountered in other parts of the park seemed more enthusiastic than normal. Maybe that's what having a new world-class expansion will do to employee morale?

-Ministry of Magic must be a foregone conclusion at this point, right?

Loved the TM's in Diagon. PLEASE tell me you brought up Mio as a comparison for Gilly Water, their reaction of acting like they don't know what you're talking about is priceless. I even got into one conversation with a TM there where I had to explain what the internet was

 

[PhotoDave219]

Remember, universal provides financial compensation to Disney for the Marvel contract.

Disney is making money off marvel without spending a dime.

 

[Cesar R M]

If you are eating 3 table service meals a day, you might want to look into the Tables in Wonderland discount card instead. It costs $125 to buy ($100 for DVC & AP) but it will get you 20% off at almost all table service locations on resort property, the discount does include alcohol so if you regularly get a few bottles of wine with dinner the savings really add up.

http://www.tablesinwonderland.com

That seems exclusive for APers and local florida visitors only?

I do not see the price for general public(or international clients).
Also, the blackdates are kinda scary imho.

I'm surprised they haven't thought to come out with an option to create a custom Dining plan.
Like the ability to select x amount of QS/TS credits and/or snacks.
We got free dining this year and have about 9 QS credits that will probably go to waste.

they probably are fixed in tiers so they still get money regardless of what you do.

 

[randyrut]

$823? Either you meant Le Bec Fin or did they recently turn Le Cellier into a gentleman's club?

6 people getting a 64 dollar steak. plus apps, desserts, drinks....it adds up, especially there.

 

[Cesar R M]

Agreed. Plus the characters don't really fit in a Marvelized NYC. I think Universal misses the boat on GotG; if it's a hit, they'll cry themselves to sleep a bed stuffed with $1,000s made from Diagon Alley.



Yup--apparently iPad guy wanted to videotape the performance that was to be shown on national TV just 2 hours later. Because your iPad in the middle of a crowd is going to do a better job than all the professional cameramen above and around the stage.

But then again, I feel the same way about people who videotape parades. Live in the moment and enjoy it; plenty of video online if you ever feel the need to relive it. Or do your friends not really believe you went to WDW?

Can you imagine if they make this error in a very similar to how Disney missed the boat with Potter?
It would be silly to see!

As for filming, I film a lot of stuff too but these vids are only worth if we(my family or I ) appear in there!
but.. with a clunky ipad?
reminds me of that joke, of a guy who mocked tablet photographers, by getting his huge ALIENWARE laptop with him everywhere and took photos with it.

 

[lebeau]

Remember, universal provides financial compensation to Disney for the Marvel contract.

Disney is making money off marvel without spending a dime.

There's definitely an upside to Disney. But that's not the discussion. The discussion is which side the contract favors. Both sides benefit in some way. The contract was signed when Universal was in a position of power to dictate terms that benefited them. Marvel, on the other hand, was getting much-needed cash for rights it wasn't going to use anyway.

Cut to today. The value of Marvel properties is higher than ever before. A contract that already favored Universal now tips in their favor even more than it did when it was signed.

That doesn't mean Disney's cries itself to sleep. But you bet your bottom dollar they'd like to renegotiate.

 

[seascape]

All this talk about who benefits more from the Marvel/Uni deal - Marvel ("Disney") or Uni - as if this would have even been a question had Disney not bought Marvel. Pixie dust is showing.

That said, it's a clear win for Uni overall - they have access to some of the most valuable, in-demand characters in the world right now, characters that can't be used by their chief competition down the road. Sure, they have to pay "x" fees from admission and merchandise to Marvel - but they don't care. That rate hasn't changed because Disney bought Marvel. They don't care who the money is going to, they just care that they have super popular characters that attract many guests. And the funny thing is (and this has been pointed out before), the more Marvel invests in its characters with its cinematic universe, comics, TV shows, etc., the more Universal benefits from the increased valuation of the characters that they're paying relative pennies for.

I don't know where this idea came from that Uni gets no money from merchandise, either. That's hilariously off. They pay a cut to Marvel, sure, and they're required to maintain a certain percentage of merchandise square footage in the parks - but that's it. They're getting their cut, too.

Of course Universal makes a profit from each sale. I don't remember anyone saying they didn't. Both companies make money on the contract and because of HP Disney is making more than they were before. We can disagree over who got the better end of the contract and but it is a contact both parties have to live by and it was signed before either Comcast or Disney owned the Marvel or Universal so no one can be sure if either company would have singed it today. Universal needed the contract back then as much as Marvel did. Today with HP, Comcast/Universal do not need it and neither does Disney is Orlando.

 

[NormC]

No it's not. There is the opportunity cost of making more money off of their asset which is more valuable now than ever.

Disney is making tons of money off of their assets without even taking the UNI business into account. Disney can put Marvel IP in every park they own if they want to do so except Orlando. Disney can do whatever they like with their IP outside of theme parks. They can and are raking in lots of money on their asset including a big chunk of change from UNI to allow UNI to use a subset of characters in IOA. Yes, the money could be more if Disney had negotiated the contract today but they are not losing money. It does not cost them anything to maintain the status quo. I see your point but at what cost would Disney have to pay to gain that little piece of pie back? There is no need for Marvel IP in WDW at the moment so they might as well collect the fees from UNI for the time being until they need to change the status quo. Right now they can sit back and collect that small piece of income for basically doing nothing.

 

[EpcoTim]

How would plenty of video get online if no one shot it?

Well thats the thing, on one hand theres people like you, who take amazing videos and truly document a certain piece and a specific point in time. Its easy to tell people like you who know what they're doing.

The other hand is super-dad with a sleeping toddler in one arm and an iPad held above his head in the other and everyone else, well everyone behind him, can tell that he's only getting the top third of the action. People like that I don't get. Spend time with your family and when you get home watch videos of it done by people like you. I understand wanting to create memories of a family vacation and all that, but if your families not in them and your not going to put a solid effort into recording it, why bother?

Unless your kid goes hauling off into the parade and starts wreaking havoc or somehow freaking out and tackling characters, I don't see the point in taping certain things when so much good stuff is online.

 

[Stevek]

Well from someone highly annoyed by cell phones and iPads being lit up all over the place, I say Thank you.

Right there with you.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

That seems exclusive for APers and local florida visitors only?

I do not see the price for general public(or international clients).
Also, the blackdates are kinda scary imho.


they probably are fixed in tiers so they still get money regardless of what you do.

You're probably right about that, especially if I was paying OOP for the dining plan.
Don't they lose a ton of money on Free Dining though?
I mean in my case we are booked at POFQ so slim chance of a room discount coming my way anyhow.

 

[Cesar R M]

Agreed. I have. I problem defending what I say, I just get sick and tired of hipsters and twinker people getting all righteously indignant about a message board post.

I recommend you never set foot on tumblr..
the "trigger" and "offended" brigade are barking mad! (aka people who assault you online with insults and telling how bad you are for "triggering" them or for making them "offended" for something you posted earlier)

of course.. most of these "trigger" excuses are not legitimate complains (as they are used mostly to silence other's posts.. all because they(the triggerbrigade) DO NOT LIKE something).

I doubt the theme park rights factored heavily into the purchase price of Marvel.

Buying Marvel has turned out to be a good purchase so far. The theme park rights are of minimal importance to anyone but theme park fans.

I'm sure Universal is kicking themselves for letting the other rights go. But frankly, they weren't using them. It made sense at the time. Stop paying for something you're no using. Once again, things have changed since then.

100% agree Disney has no reason to buy back the Marvel rights.

I agree, the real benefit for disney was in the characters for making movies.
They are doing really well with their franchises.

All this talk about who benefits more from the Marvel/Uni deal - Marvel ("Disney") or Uni - as if this would have even been a question had Disney not bought Marvel. Pixie dust is showing.

That said, it's a clear win for Uni overall - they have access to some of the most valuable, in-demand characters in the world right now, characters that can't be used by their chief competition down the road. Sure, they have to pay "x" fees from admission and merchandise to Marvel - but they don't care. That rate hasn't changed because Disney bought Marvel. They don't care who the money is going to, they just care that they have super popular characters that attract many guests. And the funny thing is (and this has been pointed out before), the more Marvel invests in its characters with its cinematic universe, comics, TV shows, etc., the more Universal benefits from the increased valuation of the characters that they're paying relative pennies for.

I don't know where this idea came from that Uni gets no money from merchandise, either. That's hilariously off. They pay a cut to Marvel, sure, and they're required to maintain a certain percentage of merchandise square footage in the parks - but that's it. They're getting their cut, too.

Hang on, Am I missing the part where Universal as only full access to the Marvel chars in Orlando and no exclusivity worldwide?

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

6 people getting a 64 dollar steak. plus apps, desserts, drinks....it adds up, especially there.

Le Cellier has a $64 steak? Wasn't it just last year they had $40 steaks?
Seesh prices move fast in WDW!

 

[NormC]

There's definitely an upside to Disney. Both sides benefit in some way.

Yes.