Too tall...
Disney owns both the muppets and Indiana jones free and clear...
I guess I just don't compute how a trade of owned material for other owned material would make sense on any level for either end of the deal
It doesn't. I'm fully aware of the ownership situation of Muppets and Indy, but I was just responded to the hypothetical "What if Disney traded for the marvel Theme Park rights".
Disney owns marvel... But because of the existing contracts, they don't control the theme park rights east of the missisippi (Own them... yes.... but they are essentially on a long-term lease which means they can't use the rights since someone else holds them).
So the question was, what if Disney gave Universal something, other than cash, to convince Universal to return those rights? My Answer...... Disney basically doesn't own a property with theme park rights nearly as valuable right now which they'd be willing to give to Universal in exchange for returning the Marvel rights..... and it's HIGHLY unlikely they'd be willing to completely hand over the rights for any properties which might have a total value equal to the marvel theme park rights to Universal.
Didn't Disney buy Marvel a few months before Comcast bought NBC/Universal? That would have been the time to buy the theme park rights to Marvel. Maybe even try to buy the Universal theme parks.
Doing a quick Google Search, Disney bought Marvel in August 2009 (surprised everyone). Comcast ANNOUNCED the NBC purchase in December 2009 (rumors had been swirling of talks happening for awhile prior to the announcement).
Considering the nature of the talks, I'm not sure if there were preliminary talks going on long enough Prior to the December announcement which might have prevented Disney from being able to purchase the theme park rights, if they wanted too.
Honestly... I don't even know if Disney had any reason to think it would be a serious issue before it was "too late".
The Universal Parks had pretty much been neglected for a few years prior to that general time frame. I doubt anyone thought that Universal wouldn't be willing to "take the money and run" with the Marvel property if Disney decided to make an offer. Even though Disney bought Marvel, it would've still taken some time for them to absorb the company and weigh their options. (look how long it took for them to reaquire the rights for the Marvel films, where there is actual money.)
The situation then started to change rapidly, and not so much in Disney's favor. First... a couple months after they announce and do the Marvel Deal, Comcast shocks everyone announcing they were purchasing a controlling stake in NBCUniversal.... which included some background deals to have GE's existing co-owner sell their 20% stake in NBC Universal. I'm betting the merger approvals and the pending transactions would've made it very difficult to perform a major transaction which would change the overall portfolio....such as giving up the Marvel rights.
6months Later.... Harry Potter Phase 1 opened. Suddenly the spotlight is back on the Universal parks and their fortunes look to be changing. There are still a lot of questions though on what Comcast's interest in the theme parks will be however...
7 months later (13 months after Comcast's puchase announcement)... Comcast completes their purchase and now have control of the parks. People still aren't entirely sure however how interested in the park side of the business Comcast is however... A short time later, Blackstone announces they are exercising their right of first refusal for the sale of their half of Universal Orlando resort. Suddenly there is a $1Bil test on Comcast's commitment to the Parks. It was one thing for Comcast to run with business as usual and just collect money from the parks. It was another for them to fork over $1bil in cash to buy the other 50% of the Orlando resort after just dropping the major money to buy controlling interest in NBCUniversal.
Next thing you know, Comcast not only decides to drop the extra $1bil to buy out Blackstone and get complete ownership of the Universal Orlando resort, but they start HEAVILY investing in the resort on a level probably not seen since the overhaul that morphed Universal from a Single park to the full Resort location with the addition of the 3 new hotels, Citywalk, and IOA park. I honestly don't think ANYBODY expected Comcast to be so aggressive in their support of the Theme Park business unit of their new acquisition. Especially when they first announced the merger and all the questions surrounded the cable, content, and network television side of the transactions.
ABC/ESPN didn't lose the NFL rights. Monday night football went from ABC to ESPN. The premiere night time package went from abc Monday night to NBC Sunday night. The Monday night crew, including Madden, production people....moved over to NBC. Al decided to stay with ABC/ESPN. At the last minute he changed his mind. It was almost done as a joke. Al was worth a rabbit.
Haha... Just goes to show how much I pay attention to Football. I really just can't get into the sport.
DHS needs a complete rehaul as we all know. It's poorly planned out and underused attraction-wise. There is a lot of potential there with Star Wars, Pixar, etc. but in order to make sense and incorporate the Old Hollywood aspect it would almost require and entire park rehab. We talk alot about how EPCOT needs some love with upgrades/rides/countires, but honestly DHS needs it more. When we went last time with 2 little kids we saw the Muppets (twice), Star Tours, Met Woody and Buzz and Disney Jr. That was it. And to do that we needed to walk the entire park. It occured to me that when we went as a couple pre-kids we really only went for TT and RnR and Muppets (this was pre-star tours re-do) and that was pretty much it. It hasn't been more than a half day park at best, well, ever. It's also the only park to not have "lands" or distinct areas, rather a mishmosh of attractions that fit into where ever they had space at the time. My dream would be to completely re-do the park - keep Hollywood Blvd as 30's Hollywood Glamour, culminating with a re-vamped TGMR. Have a
Pixar Place celebrating Pixar and computer animation. Star Wars, or more broadly, Sci-Fi Central featuring Star Wars (to keep with Hollywood theme and leave door open for Tron or some other sci-fi features. Can also keep Sci Fi drive-in) Consolidate the Animation Courtyard into an area with the Muppets, Disney Jr, One Man's Dream, behind the scenes/animation tours. I like the idea of an Adventure movie theme for Sunset Blvd section ( could keep RR and TT in the same place - add Indy ride/show) too.
None of those will probably ever happen but I can dream!
Most of those complaints stem from the initial design of the park. Disney-MGM was built, and pretty much designed as a Studio production facility with a small area for theme park guests in the front of the park. To give you an idea, Originally you had the Echo Lake area back to Star Tours, and Hollywood Blvd to the Chinese Theater, and the "gateway" to the behind the scenes tour in what is now the Animation Courtyard. The Backstage tour boarded behind the Animation building in the area they now have meet and greets. Sunset Blvd wasn't built yet. (where it now joins Hollywood Blvd was the original Hollywood Bowl theater location). Everything else was "backstage" and not open to guest traffic....with the small exception of the area immediately around the Studio Catering Company which acted as a midway stop between the tram part of the Backstage tour, and the walking part thru the special effects area and studios.
Because of the crowds, They started to open up the backstage areas. the commissary opened to guest and they opened the Sci-Fi Drive in. (I believe it USED to be behind the scenes since there was the Soundstage Restaurant for counterservice... I may be wrong though). They added the Muppet courtyard and some of the Streets of America to pedestrians. They started building Sunset Blvd with the Tower of Terror. They even opened up the path directly between the Animation Courtyard and the Studio Catering company in front of the production soundstages (although there wasn't anything for guests to do, it gave people a way out of the midway stopping point of the tour other than taking the walking tour.).
Over the years less and less production occurred at the Studio.... and the guest areas took over more and more of the space. The result is a completely crazy park layout that gets people confused and turned around to this day.
(You can still see what the areas were originally via the layout. Hub and spoke type design for the guest areas, Tradtional block layout for the backstage.)
