WDI integration with DCP announced today

[MisterPenguin]

Is this mainly theme park sold merchandise that will be designed by imagineers now or all Disney merchandise as in stuff sold at Target and Amazon too? (RIP Toys R Us)
And what is happening with the old toy designers?

Basically the merch-making department is moving to under WDI. They used to make merch for the parks and all the shops and online purchasing... and they still do. Parks didn't create their own merch... I don't think. They used to answer to a different part of the chain of command, now they answer to the guy who's also in charge of WDI with a mandate to get the creative teams to work together. All their designer-fabricators are under one roof, so to speak.

 

[xdan0920]

Maybe they can actually put out different color monorail sets than blue and orange. Unless it's changed this year, it's been blue and orange for some time now...

Don't think they will be focused on changing the stripe color on the toy monorail. Call me crazy.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Now, theme park attractions will be designed to be more toyetic and sell silvenirs.

 

[mikenatcity1]

Disney merchandise was recently reported as being down in profit percentage, so I assume this is an attempt at righting that wrong.

If they were making anything of value or unique, maybe it wouldn't be...I can go to my local Disney Store and buy a decent amount of the rubbish sold at the parks now. I hate seeing "Disney Store" branded at the parks...

I hope this goes in the right direction of where things were 1+ decade(s) ago...

 

[truecoat]

All plush dolls will now be fully operational AAs.

And cost 8 grand.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Related to this is a new head honcho of the newly created Western Region. Catherine Powell from Paris is now in charge of Disneyland, WDW and Paris. Interestingly, she is moving from Paris to LA this summer for this new role.

Long gone are the days when Florida suits in the swamps of Orlando ran Disneyland from afar and totally botched things up in SoCal. Now all senior Parks execs are located here in SoCal. Josh D'Amaro as DLR President, his new boss Catherine Powell as Western Region boss, (plus Colglazier as Eastern Region guy in charge of Asia) and Chairman Bob Chapek; all of them in SoCal together enjoying the weather and vibe. The days of Al Weiss and Meg Crofton and the Orlando culture are over for senior leadership. That has to be good news.

From Chapek's email being shared online by Disneyland CM's....

"For our theme parks, we will mirror the regional structure that has been succesful in Asia by creating a new position leading the teams in the U.S. and Paris. To that end, I am pleased to announce that Catherine Powell will take on a new role leading the Western Region, reporting to me. Disneyland Paris has been reinvigorated under Catherine's leadership, and I am thrilled to bring her breadth of experience, expertise, and energy to this new role. Reporting to Catherine will be George Kalogridis and the Walt Disney World Resort team and Josh D'Amaro and the Disneyland Resort team. In addition to these new responsibilities, Catherine will continue in her current role leading Disneyland Paris until a succesor is named at a later date. Catherine will relocate to Southern California this summer."

Where they live now means nothing. They’re the same people you claim they are not, even if they aren’t actually living in a swamp.

Is this mainly theme park sold merchandise that will be designed by imagineers now or all Disney merchandise as in stuff sold at Target and Amazon too? (RIP Toys R Us)
And what is happening with the old toy designers?

The guys who design that cheap crap now get to call themselves Imagineers. The entire title and brand, built up over more than half a century, has been completely destroyed with the stroke of a pen.

 

[Phroobar]

Sometimes I think it would have been better if Ceder Fair bought the parks and Disney broken up back in the early 80's than this circus.

 

[britain]

Observation: The man who created Buena Vista Street and the original charming window displays inside Big Top Toys, Bob Weis, is now in charge of the toys that are currently ruining the window display.

I suspect more good than bad will actually come from this, though there will be both.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Do you think this was at all driven by SW:GE?

No, this is piggy-backing on last week's corporate restructuring.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Observation: The man who created Buena Vista Street and the original charming window displays inside Big Top Toys, Bob Weis, is now in charge of the toys that are currently ruining the window display.

I suspect more good than bad will actually come from this, though there will be both.

Bob Weis is an architect, not a fashion designer or a toy designer or a computer programmer.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Is this mainly theme park sold merchandise that will be designed by imagineers now or all Disney merchandise as in stuff sold at Target and Amazon too?

No, those things are mostly designed by the manufacturers with Disney's approval and oversight. That falls under Paul Gainer's new "Global Product Management and Distribution" team, which is entirely separate from WDI.

 

[Curious Constance]

For those keeping score:

x4

Or is it 5? Gosh, it happens so frequently, I've lost count!

 

[Curious Constance]

This would be kind of like asking doctors to check in the patients, type up their own chartnotes, and take out the trash in the bathrooms.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This would be kind of like asking doctors to check in the patients, type up their own chartnotes, and take out the trash in the bathrooms.

No. It's not. Did you read anything besides the headline. There's a SEPARATE group called Global Product Management and Distribution that has nothing to do with WDI.

 

[Curious Constance]

No. It's not. Did you read anything besides the headline. There's a SEPARATE group called Global Product Management and Distribution that has nothing to do with WDI.

So toy designers aren't considered imagineers now?

 

[Rich T]

Sometimes I think it would have been better if Ceder Fair bought the parks and Disney broken up back in the early 80's than this circus.

Um, no! This is bad, but... I mean, you've seen what Cedar Fair's done to Knott's, right? It's still a great park, but full of the results of some awful decisions. Things don't look good for Disney parks in many ways right now, but at least we don't have top-40 hits blasting in Frontierland and a six-loop steel coaster spanning the Rivers of America.
(EDIT) ...And Plinko! (Actually, I'm amazed Disney hasn't forced some form of Plinko into the parks yet).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So toy designers aren't considered imagineers now?

Disney doesn't have toy designers as such. Watch the Netflix documentary "The Toys that Made Us." You seem to not understand how the industry works. What you're thinking of as "toy design" isn't done by Disney, it's done by license holders. LEGO designs LEGO sets, not Disney. Mattel designs the diecast Cars line, not Disney. Hasbro designs the Star Wars Black Series and ForceLink figures, not Disney. Funko designs Pop! Vinyls, not Disney. Nobody at Disney does "toy design" as you're thinking of it. Not in WDI or the old Consumer Products or anywhere else.

The kind of thing they're talking about is stuff like Disney Infinity or Playmation, not the next 1:55 scale Lightning McQueen figure.

 

[VJ]

I don't know how to feel about this but I don't like the sound of it. I guess it depends on what is done with these new roles moving forward. Shrug.

 

[Rich T]

We all know the Disney (and Disneyland) we grew up with (especially oldsters like me) and loved doesn't exist anymore. And the current form of the Disney Monster has little interest in its past. But... Anyone else here getting the feeling that Disney's zombification into complete soullessness has been accelerating lately? Like... to the point where it might just be a few more years until the name "Disney" really doesn't mean anything anymore (Aside from shallow, cookie cutter, over-scheduled, overpriced family vacations).

 

[flynnibus]

Disney doesn't have toy designers as such. Watch the Netflix documentary "The Toys that Made Us." You seem to not understand how the industry works. What you're thinking of as "toy design" isn't done by Disney, it's done by license holders. LEGO designs LEGO sets, not Disney. Mattel designs the diecast Cars line, not Disney. Hasbro designs the Star Wars Black Series and ForceLink figures, not Disney. Funko designs Pop! Vinyls, not Disney. Nobody at Disney does "toy design" as you're thinking of it. Not in WDI or the old Consumer Products or anywhere else.

The kind of thing they're talking about is stuff like Disney Infinity or Playmation, not the next 1:55 scale Lightning McQueen figure.

Except Disney is notorius for heavy handed medling in licensee products... in what they allow in approvals and designs. They very much influence (and often limit) the final products made by licensees... and that doesn't even include the products that Disney contracts under it's own labels.