Where oh where did Disney's PR and marketing wizs come up with that? Oh yeah ... sorta like when they discovered Frozen a year after it became the highest grossing animation feature of all time.
Yes, the Awakenings deal came from the mediocre Star Wars: The Force Awakens and They Won't Ever Let You Forget It film. (Ssshhh ... you do all know Darth Vader is supposed to be in Rogue One Civil Infinity Jungle Book Wars 2, right?)
Well, today is supposedly the start of a three day WDW whorefest ... I mean ... media showcase for real reporters ... OK, can't do that with a straight or even a bi-curious face. Nope, it is designed for social media 'influencers' (why is the EPCOT Explorer not invited? The boy has 17,000 Twitter followers ... and I'll bet a few thousand are likely real human beings).
The event was meant to showcase all the new things -- hey, stop snickering ... compared to almost any year since Robert A. Iger took over TWDC -- melding the company in his bland as white bread image -- Disney actually does have new product going into its parks in the swamps this year and a good 15% of it actually doesn't replace anything that existed before.
The problem is Disney is spending millions of dollars to showcase things that are not ready for primetime (or anytime that isn't after Shanghai DL opens and the new fiscal quarter begins) so they will have all these fine folks, staying for free, dining for free, boozing for free, coming back to their rooms to find swag bags on their beds, obviously, for free with the following new summer 2016 offerings:
RoL;
ToL show;
Night safari experience;
New Star Wars pyro and projection show;
Frozenstrom;
Soarin Over The World;
MK stage show;
None of these things are ready or open, so it will be interesting to see what happens. RoL apparently can be run in sort of a manual mode for, perhaps, a piece of a show. And it may be possible that one Soarin theater could show a preview of the new film. I am reasonably sure Disney can do the new SW show (has it started for real yet? I have had to take leave of the fan community goings on of late and may have missed its debut.) for a private party. And they likely could do much of the new MK show in a Contemporary ballroom.
But still this is a first. I have never seen WDW stage one of these pricey, huge whorefests with none of the products it is touting ready to roll. Should be an interesting few days, which is why I started this thread.
Please put any/all 'news' that comes out of Awakenings right here, so I ... I mean ... we can mock them appropriately or cheer Iger and Chappie on for the remarkable way they have systematically -- and with intent -- made WDW even worse than it was a decade ago.
That wasn't easy, but they sure have done a bang up job. And let's not forget the roles played by the "puckish gladhander" or "the oddly waifish man of anemic personality" and their roles in this trash pile as we move forward. And remember, this is a slow year for the competition. UNI is only opening one E-Ticket new attraction (not replacing anything, but empty land) and a new resort hotel and SW is only opening what will be the top coaster in O-Town.
This should be entertaining ... or I could just keep looking at that cute 'wittle Dakota boi who keeps putting up every Shanghai pic he can find on the Tweeter almost like he was gunning for a job as ... as ... as a Disney exec's boy on the side!
Nah, WDW is the best, the boss, the flagship ... let's hear about how Disney is going to blow ... our socks off (hopefully, mostly of those UKers who wear them with sandals and look ridiculous, right
@marni1971?)
Let's have some news as WDW ... Awakens.
