News Zootopia and Moana Blue Sky concepts for Disney's Animal Kingdom

[Bocabear]

This post confuses me. Universal has been adding coasters and has cut into Disney's attendance. What Universal hasn't done is add family friendly rides. So they've essentially cut into Disney's attendance without cutting into Disney's "core market".

I do agree that Universal should definitely be building more family friendly attractions but they seem reluctant to do so for some reason.

Perhaps it is as simple as knowing their target audience...While both parks offer something for everyone, Universal seems to be the chosen spot for older kids...Young families seem to prefer Disneyland. It is not a bad thing playing to your core audience...
Though both parks offer multiple choices for every age group.
Lately Disney seems to be slipping...providing less quality and charging more.. Will be interesting to see how this bears out when EU opens...

 

[ToTBellHop]

This post confuses me. Universal has been adding coasters and has cut into Disney's attendance. What Universal hasn't done is add family friendly rides. So they've essentially cut into Disney's attendance without cutting into Disney's "core market".

I do agree that Universal should definitely be building more family friendly attractions but they seem reluctant to do so for some reason.

I think the issue is that younglings grow into the Universal age but used to still prefer Disney. Universal was a sometimes add-on. Increasingly, teens prefer Universal and the adults who would return to Disney for nostalgia as less interested because it’s expensive and Genie+ is a pain in the butt if you do decide to pay.

I love Disney but there’s no question that it’s more relaxing for me to stay at Hard Rock and walk on to any ride I want. I’d rather pay the money up front and guarantee a great experience. $100/day to be stressed booking rides in the park just sucks.

I also can stress over a VQ for Guardians or just walk onto Velocicoaster.

 

[UNCgolf]

This post confuses me. Universal has been adding coasters and has cut into Disney's attendance. What Universal hasn't done is add family friendly rides. So they've essentially cut into Disney's attendance without cutting into Disney's "core market".

I do agree that Universal should definitely be building more family friendly attractions but they seem reluctant to do so for some reason.

I meant they're planning to build more family friendly attractions at Epic Universe, although I think they're generally catering towards their core audience rather than going hard after Disney's.

As for Universal cutting into Disney's attendance... I don't think we have any way of knowing if that's true. It could be true, but I don't think there's much (if any) data to show that any significant number of people are choosing Universal over Disney, or if Universal is just attracting new guests that weren't going to go to Disney anyways.

More importantly, even if it is true, there are far too many other factors to point at coasters and assume that's the sole reason (or even much of a reason at all). A trip to Universal is generally both cheaper than Disney and much, much easier, and offers a better overall experience (on average... that will still vary from person to person based on enjoyment of individual attractions etc.). There's no comparison whatsoever between the Express Pass and anything Disney offers except a VIP Tour, which costs far more.

Plus, Disney's two newest attractions are coasters, and one of them has a major IP attached. If building coasters was a panacea, Disney's attendance should have skyrocketed from Cosmic Rewind and TRON.

 

[No Name]

Are the people geeking out over Six Flags' new coasters really the same people who drop thousands of dollars on a Walt Disney World vacation?

Obviously there's bound to be *some* overlap in their audiences, but WDW has never been a thrill junkie haven. Any market share Six Flags is picking up is not automatically at the expense of Walt Disney World. Respectfully, people who've been traveling to WDW their whole lives are not suddenly getting their needs met by Cedar Fair.

EPCOT went 40 years without a roller coaster, and the big brand-spanking new one they opened hasn't meaningfully moved the needle. Magic Kingdom just opened the fastest, most intense roller coaster in its history and the story is the same.

There really isn't evidence to suggest the Walt Disney World audience hangs in the balance over a type of offering its guests have never been primed to expect of it.

I think the bar is being raised faster than Disney is adapting to it.

A few years ago I had very different thoughts on this. But after visiting Islands of Adventure in its latest form, it’s no worse of a park for young kids, but it’s certainly a much better park for all ages. Disney’s most core market isn’t what’s really being challenged, it’s the people barely outside of that that are being pulled away. Older kids and young adults are not an audience that the worldwide leader in theme parks can afford to alienate. Not to mention, as many regional parks are improving quickly and a Disney trip seems to be gaining a reputation for being a bit too stressful and complicated, I think that’s certainly going to eat into their business… but maybe that’s a separate point.

I think Disney needs to get their act together in multiple ways, but adding a second coaster (which DAK used to have!) would be a good next move, and having 3 or 4 in each park is what they should aim for.

 

[No Name]

There are 9 across the parks

8!

 

[No Name]

Magic Kingdom just opened the fastest, most intense roller coaster in its history and the story is the same.

Doesn’t help that’s it’s not a great ride!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is why I can’t see plans going ahead as originally thought. They can not take a quarter of the park offline right now. The capacity issues are already dire

If they do it in stages it could work. Right now not really much in Diniorama area other than triceratops spin - if they do the Moana stuff that will be two rides, one net over what is currently there and increased demand for the replacement

Then when those are online they could take Dinosaur down for that update (even if I don't want it)

 

[James Alucobond]

8!

Big Thunder
Space Mountain
Seven Dwarves
TRON
Barnstormer
Rockin' Rollercoaster
Slinky Dog
Expedition Everest
Cosmic Rewind

 

[celluloid]

I think the issue is that younglings grow into the Universal age but used to still prefer Disney. Universal was a sometimes add-on. Increasingly, teens prefer Universal and the adults who would return to Disney for nostalgia as less interested because it’s expensive and Genie+ is a pain in the butt if you do decide to pay.

I love Disney but there’s no question that it’s more relaxing for me to stay at Hard Rock and walk on to any ride I want. I’d rather pay the money up front and guarantee a great experience. $100/day to be stressed booking rides in the park just sucks.

I also can stress over a VQ for Guardians or just walk onto Velocicoaster.

I think most younglings also are swaying to like Despicable Me's continuation of Minions(overkill or not) and Dreamworks(more finally on the way) and Jurassic Park(thanks to parents and Jurassic World) than really care about Encanto, Strange World or anything from Pixar in the last ten years. That helps the final choice too.

People that liked Frozen a lot as kids, are now grown on their own in their early career jobs and for sure pass some of that down once their kids are born. Tangled and Princess and the Frog are an entire generation ago.

Kids watch far more Dreamworks thru Netflix like the modern Saturday Morning Cartoon mindless fun than they do much on Disney Plus.

All of these things combined mixed with what you said and new attractions, mostly being major the last four and a half years and you have the reasons for a bigger shift.

 

[Bocabear]

5 of the 9 coasters are in the MK, 2 int DHS, 1 in each of the other parks... So it seems like they are way behind on coaster development in 3 of the 4 parks...

 

[celluloid]

5 of the 9 coasters are in the MK, 2 int DHS, 1 in each of the other parks... So it seems like they are way behind on coaster development in 3 of the 4 parks...

Worse than that, their recent additions in the other parks have not been stellar dark rides. Besides Navi River Journey they have been ho hum screen Rat or rethemes.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Worse than that, their recent additions in the other parks have not been stellar dark rides. Besides Navi River Journey they have been ho hum screen Rat or rethemes.

And, shockingly, nothing of substance on the way, yet!

I’m sure Tiana will be good, but I can’t imagine it being better than Splash. So, best case scenario, MK gets an even change next year. Sure hope that’s worth many tens of millions of dollars…

Any further new attractions are probably 2026, at the earliest, now. At least we can easily just go to Epic Universe in 2025…

 

[James Alucobond]

5 of the 9 coasters are in the MK, 2 int DHS, 1 in each of the other parks... So it seems like they are way behind on coaster development in 3 of the 4 parks...

Because they are behind on the development of all other parks in general. Adding a few coasters to each park does, well, something, but it doesn't complete them.

 

[Bocabear]

Which is the main problem when you let the parks languish for as long as they did. Add to that the ridiculous disaster that has been the rebuild of Epcot which includes a couple renovated places, a restored front entrance and a common park area with trees...for 6 years of construction, it's not much. The other actual attraction ideas were all cancelled but we did get the splashpad Moana thing.
It's like the people in charge of this grand new vision for EPCOT had never been there before and didn't have a clear idea on what to do... Design by Committee never works out for the best... it always ends up looking like a giant compromise where no one is the winner... including the guests... I know Epic Universe is still a ways out, but when you look at their progress in the same timeframe it is pretty amazing how little has been accomplished at EPCOT.

 

[wserratore1963]

Perhaps it is as simple as knowing their target audience...While both parks offer something for everyone, Universal seems to be the chosen spot for older kids...Young families seem to prefer Disneyland. It is not a bad thing playing to your core audience...
Though both parks offer multiple choices for every age group.
Lately Disney seems to be slipping...providing less quality and charging more.. Will be interesting to see how this bears out when EU opens...

More live entertainment is seriously lacking in all the parks

 

[TheMaxRebo]

And, shockingly, nothing of substance on the way, yet!

I’m sure Tiana will be good, but I can’t imagine it being better than Splash. So, best case scenario, MK gets an even change next year. Sure hope that’s worth many tens of millions of dollars…

Any further new attractions are probably 2026, at the earliest, now. At least we can easily just go to Epic Universe in 2025…

I could see TBA being viewed as better by a big portion of guests ... Friends had a high school group of 140 kids and none of them had any idea who the characters in Splash were but all knew who Tiana was. And, at least to start, the animatronics in TBA should be working better than what was in Splash at the end. So better or at least more in demand for folks that don't have nostalgia for Splash

But yeah, unless they announce something major at DestinationD23 nothing amazing set to come for certain

 

[Cliff]

I believe STRONGLY in Joe Rohde's "no animals with pants" rule for Animal Kingdom.

I miss Joe Rohde and I have ZERO faith in today's Disney and their ability to develop and move Animal Kingdom forward without him.

 

[No Name]

Big Thunder
Space Mountain
Seven Dwarves
TRON
Barnstormer
Rockin' Rollercoaster
Slinky Dog
Expedition Everest
Cosmic Rewind

Apologies, I read that as the number of rides at Animal Kingdom, but now realize what you meant.

 

[SpectreJordan]

I was about to say that won't happen unless they have a movie to tie it into. Just so happens, Encanto takes place in a part of Columbia!

What does that have to to with the natural world? About as much as Zootopia and Moana, really but at least it would be an excuse to add something from this part of the world which seems like the only way they're willing to do it, these days.

Imagine if they did that here instead of the MK as an attraction central to a South American section of the park and then added Moana to MK where it would better fit and Zootopia to HS where it would better fit and then... made another movie about animals or some other part of the world so AK could expand and still continue to fulfill it's original purpose.

They were comfortable in making expansion to the France pavilion based around Ratatouille, so I think Up could be the centerpiece of a South America expansion.

Worse than that, their recent additions in the other parks have not been stellar dark rides. Besides Navi River Journey they have been ho hum screen Rat or rethemes.

Are you including Rise as a dark ride? Because that's one of the best dark rides ever.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I believe STRONGLY in Joe Rohde's "no animals with pants" rule for Animal Kingdom.

I miss Joe Rohde and I have ZERO faith in today's Disney and their ability to develop and move Animal Kingdom forward without him.

Judy Hopps naked, coming to Disney Animal Kingdom!!!