Mouse Extra

Now that the hubbub has calmed down from the big D23 Expo, we can more fully assess the Fantasyland expansion. First of all, Disney keeps hammering home that these plans are the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom. They love to tell us that Fantasyland will be doubling in size.
 
But its all a bit misleading. Its not as if this is adding new land to the Magic Kingdom. In fact, there is a fair amount of stuff being removed to make way for this “expansion.” Thus, we have to look at the equation. What is being added and what is being removed.

 
We all know is going in. A E-ticket Little Mermaid ride, meet and greets with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. A new dining experience at Beast’s castle and Gaston’s pub. A new Pixie Hollow with more meet and greets with Tinkerbell and friends. Dumbo is being moved into a big tent with a second identical ride. Dueling Dumbos if you will. There are a lot of interesting details about the additions. Apparently, the Beauty and the Beast eatery will be counter service for lunch and sit down for dinner. It will also apparently include more Living Character Initiative AAs. I assume that will mean we’ll get Mrs Potts, Chip, Luminere and some others talking to guests as they eat.
 
Disney is also experimenting with a new way to queue. Apparently, the guest will enter the Big Top for Dumbo and will recieve a number. They can then check out numerous interactive exhibits or just sit on the bleachers waiting for the Ring Leader to call out their number. Then they get on the ride. Interesting idea, I suppose, but we will have to wait and see how it will work.

 
 
You can view all of the concept art from Disney’s announcement here.
 
So what are we losing? Surprisingly not that much. Toontown is essentially gone. Disney has said they want to keep the Barnstormer presumably as part of the Circus area. In fact, if you look at the concept art, you will see the coaster near the Dumbo’s tent. Pixie Hollow, which will open later than the rest, will occupy the rest of the old Toontown area. The Princess stuff will take over the old 20,000 Leagues area so you can count on the Pooh Playground being a goner, as well. It appears the Carousel will be saved. I am not as clear on Snow White. Its right in the line of fire so to speak. I assume, however, it will be incorporated into the new area. I also have no idea about Winnie the Pooh or the The Tea Cups. I believe you can still see the Tea Cups in the concept art but Pooh is not as clear. I imagine that it will stick around as it is relatively new and is certainly popular.
 
I love these plans myself. What we are losing is relatively nothing in the scale of things. No more Judge’s Tent. Thats fine. No more Pooh Playground. Big whoop. Perhaps, there is a bit too much in the way of Princesses. But thats ok with me. Fantasyland has being going in the princess direction for some time. Perhaps the biggest loss is in the “what could have been” category. Another dark ride in lieu of one of these meet and greets would have been nice. The rumored Snow White Mine Car Coaster would have been quite cool and fun in this newly envisioned Princess Fantasyland.

Today’s posting is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.

Those of you who are regular readers here at Mouse Extra know that I am a big proponent of expansion of the Star Wars area. I would love a Lucas Land with addtional Star Wars attractions, a Mos Eisley cantina eatery/bar, and a THX conversion of Sounds Dangerous. But the easiest thing to do is a redo of Star Tours.
 
I love the attraction. It is my favorite in the park. But I recognize the age of the ride. I can see the lines (or lack thereof) and see a need to update the attraction. So I was not surprised to see that announcement at the D23 Expo. We all knew there was going to be a big unveiling as part of the first such conference. We all saw the email that requested the presence of the stormtroopers at the show. We all read Anthony Daniels quotes that he recorded new lines specifically for the ride.

 
So what did we get? A podracing scene. Thats right, a podracing scene. Most Star Wars fans feel the worst movie was the Phantom Menace and that scene was the worst scene in the movie. So now, we have a new attraction based on that?
 
Probably not. Disney did not provide any great details on the new attraction. They did say it would be in 3-D. In fact, the video teaser of the podrace was in 3-D. However, as you can see in this article, they also said that guests would see many worlds from the series.
 
So what do we think? I personally hope we get the attraction that has been rumored that there will be a lot of possible scenes that will be randomly mixed. Jay Rasulo did say “We’re going to do things with Star Tours that have never been done in any theme park attraction, at any theme park anywhere” and maybe thats what he means.
 
They say they attraction will close sometime in 2010 (likely after Star Wars Weekends) and reopen in 2011 (probably just in time for that year’s Star Wars Weekends). I can’t wait.

Today’s posting is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra

Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this week that Disney’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs claims the Mouse does not plan on using Marvel characters inside the Walt Disney World theme parks, but predictably leaves plenty of wiggle room for the future of Disney’s newest characters. 

But the real story here is not what they won’t do in Florida, but what they can do everywhere else in the world, including Disneyland.  And what Disney really wants out of this deal.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs told analysts that Disney will focus instead on using Marvel properties in its other theme parks, because of a pre-existing licensing deal between Marvel and Universal Orlando giving Universal exclusive use of some of Marvel’s best-known characters –including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men and the Fantastic Four — in theme parks east of the Mississippi River.

Universal also has contractual rights to Spider-Man for theme parks in Japan.

“As we get outside of Orlando — and Spider-Man in Japan — we have an opportunity in theme parks and, over time, we’ll explore just how best to take advantage of that,” Staggs said in response to a question at a Bank of America media, telecommunications and entertainment conference in Marina del Ray, Calif.

As absolute as this may sound on the surface, notice that there is no mention whatsoever about what the future holds after these agreements run out.  My guess is that Disney is playing a very cool hand in an inevitable game of corporate poker. 

Universal is unlikely to want to continue to pay licensing fees to its chief competitor after the agreements run out.  And it would seem to me that they would be willing to discuss a buyout of the licenses so Disney can get their hands on their new characters as quickly as possible, and rid Universal of all the complication this deal could cause the.  Also, a lump sum from Disney would help the financial burden of all the changes that are on the horizon at Islands of Adventure.

If I were to read between the lines here, this could easily be interpreted as Disney really wants to buyout Universal and Staggs is being sent out to the media to position Disney as less desperate at the bargaining table.

Another form of pressure would be for Disney to start adding Marvel in a high-profile way in Disneyland, something Staggs all but admitted they plan on doing soon.

Staggs brushed aside another question about whether adding a character such as Spider-Man at Disneyland while it is featured at a Universal theme park in Orlando could create brand confusion. “People tend to space their visits out,” he said.

In other words, Disney is more than happy to risk brand confusion to get Marvel characters integrated into Disneyland, which would be perfect in the remaking of Disney’s California Adventure.  But it would also add even more pressure on Universal to accept a buyout at a reasonable price.  Well, at least reasonable from Disney’s point of view.

One of the more underappreciated parts of Epcot is Innoventions. For most guests, its the two buildings you walk through to go from Test Track to Soarin’, fastpasses in hand. Or the home of Mouse Gears. Or just the place they keep the bathrooms. But there are some interesting things at Innoventions. I loved the area where you can see posters and concept art from the early days of EPCOT Center, for example.

 
 
Orlando Attractions Magazine published some concept art for a new attraction at Innoventions called the Sum of ALl Thrills that will be coming soon. It is Disney’s first attempt at the robotic arm type simulator. Accordinl to the article, guests will design a ride for a roller coaster, jet plane, or bobsled. The arm technology is similar to the one used to control the angler fish at Nemo & Friends during the ride portion of the Living Seas. Hopefully, it won’t suffer from the same technical difficulties. That fish never seems to be working.
 
The attraction also sounds an awful lot like CyberSpace Mountain at Disney Quest. But that attraction is outdated. The visual graphics are ancient so at the very least, this should be a step up in that department. It also should add some thrills to Innoventions. This maybe something the guest will seek out. And as the introduction of new technology, it could be a surprise hit, like Turtle Talk was initially.

There seems to be only one word on the mind of Disney fans throughout the internet communities; Marvel.  Disney’s purchase of the company that created Spider Man, Iron Man, and more has far reaching effects.  This deal has so many angles to it that it will no doubt take weeks, months, or even years to unravel what it all means to the film, theme parks, and merchandising industries. 

But why did Disney want to spend $4 billion on the legendary comic book company?  Yes, the potential for what these companies can do together is seemingly limitless, but Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times explored what it may also signal about the direction and capabilities of the Disney Company.

The Marvel deal, like the $7.4-billion 2006 pact Iger negotiated to bring Pixar into the Disney fold, is another sign that Disney’s top brass realizes that the company’s reign as an original creative engine for mass entertainment is over. Once an idea factory full of brilliant animators and Imagineers, Disney is now a mass merchandising machine in search of exploitable product, whether it comes from Marvel, Pixar or DreamWorks, which will be releasing its upcoming slate through Disney as well.

On the surface, it would seem Mr. Goldstein has a point, but if you look deeper into his arguments, it almost falls apart.  For one thing, he seems to be basing his thesis that Disney is a creatively bankrupt organization only on the result of films released in the last 18 or so months…

What went wrong? And can Disney fix it?

The studio’s biggest failures in the past year showed Disney’s inability to reach the new family audience that has supplanted Disney’s traditional customers. Last Christmas, Disney thought it had a big winner with “Bedtime Stories,” which attempted to broaden the studio’s traditional family brand by marrying a kid-friendly concept to the young-male appeal of Adam Sandler. The studio tried a similar strategy recently with “G-Force,” another kid-friendly film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer in a bid to connect Bruckheimer’s broader-edged action brand to the traditional Disney animated audience.

Despite spending millions in TV advertising reaching out to the older-skewing (Disney-owned) ESPN sports audience, the movie failed to reach an older audience. As with “Bedtime Stories,” Disney found itself unable to age up its films.

While Disney may have failed to produce the giant blockbuster film, I think we need more than a calendar year and more than just the movie studio to decide whether this giant company is now creatively bankrupt.  For one thing, while “Bedtime Stories” and “G-Force” may have been failures, “Up” and the “Hannah Montana” films clearly were not.

But Mr. Goldstein argues a broader point, that Disney in no longer “an idea factory full of brilliant animators and Imagineer”, and that just seems to be at best arguable.  Do I really need to list the attractions that have been created in the last few years?  Toy Story Mania?  Expedition Everest?  Ringing a bell here?  And do we really have to point out how you can’t meet anyone under the age of 15 that doesn’t know every Hannah Montana or Jonas Brothers song?  Can someone find me an 8 year old that doesn’t watch that Disney Channel?

But what is even more important is that if you decide Disney is now creatively empty, which it clearly is not, you must applaud the effort by Bob Iger to fix the problem.  Installing John Lasster into a role as a creative supervisor, making Pixar the focal point of animation, and bringing Marvel in to appeal to a different audience are all master strokes.  While I will admit that previous years have produced more massively popular films, other areas of the company are not suffering from a creative drain at all.  When all is said and done, and this deal shakes out, I think Disney will end up being the single most creative company in the entertainment industry without any argument.

The Sun Sentinental has this morning provided a little more detail on the lincensing agreement between Marvel and Universal as it pertains to theme park rights. You can see it here.  Disney, as the new owner of Marvel, has the right to approve or reject many features of the Marvel Super Hero section of the park. If Universal wants a parade with non-Marvel characters to run through that section, they need Marvel aka Disney’s approval. What if Universal wants to sell a new Spider Man t-shirt they designed? Not so fast, they need Disney’s approval.
 
Worst of all for Universal, Disney has audit rights to the park. They have reasonable review and audit rights to make sure Universal is spending ebough on marketing Marvel, now Disney, characters. Yikes. I can’t imagine Universal is thrilled with the idea of Disney execs showing up at their door to comb through their accounting books. Perhaps Universal will voluntarily drop the super hero island on their own.
 
But its not all roses for Disney. If Disney decides to build an attraction in California, which they can by the agreement, they need to make sure that the attraction in advertisements is for California only. A somewhat daunting task in Disney’s national marketing campaigns.
 
But here’s a question? Universal has theme park rights. Is Downtown Disney a theme park? Or can Disney build a Marvel Super Heroes Cafe in the new Pleasure Island? I don’t know.

Today’s posting is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.