new blog: Moving the Needle at the Orlando Theme Parks

[LeahZ]

http://blog.wdwinfo.com/2013/05/16/moving-the-needle-at-the-orlando-theme-parks/

 

[DCTooTall]

Interesting article.....

I posted this in it's comments, But thought I'd repost it here as I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinions and the forum format is much more conducive to an actual conversation.

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I think You are missing several huge factors too in your analysis. I won't argue however that the size of the resorts could be a factor, but I don't think it's as simple as that.

As someone also mentioned, You have to look at the quality of the Expansions. Disney did some nice things, But ultimately the net gain was a cloned omnimover ride [which doesn't really generate a lot of excitement for most], a nice restaurant, a coaster that we are still waiting for, a Meet and Greet, and another classic carnival spinner ride [Dumbo x2).

Universal is adding some new groundbreaking attractions. Forbidden Journey is unlike anything most people have seen before. The Hogwarts Express attraction is also going to be unlike anything most people have seen (based off reports), and the Gringotts Coaster has a lot of potential based off Universal's recent track record and what we've read about in the books and seen in the movies.

Next.... You have to look at track records and it's impact on people's excitement. Over the past several years, Universal has been doing a LOT of construction at their resort. Inside the parks, Often they've already started construction and been working on it for some time before they even announce what they are doing (which helps build some buzz from the big theme park fans trying to figure out what's happening now). More importantly, Anytime Universal has announced anything over the past couple years, They've followed thru.

Now look at Disney. Disney Announces a LOT of stuff, including a lot of big projects. But they announce it LONG before it opens, and they haven't exactly shown a real rush to get the new construction completed quickly. The end result is that any buzz that was generated outside the hardcore Disney fans by the announcement has usually long-since subsided by the time we can actually experience the new areas. Then, You also have a LOT of things Disney has announced, that they never follow up on or gets canceled (Hyperion Warf, Pixie Hallow, etc). The result is that we've almost been trained to not believe the Hype Disney tries to generate because there is absolutely no guarantee they will actually follow thru with anything they've announced. You can pretty much see this in the reaction to the whole Avatar/Pandora Project. Disney Announces it.....And since it's been over a year and we haven't seen many outward signs of them progressing with it, you see a large number of people already assuming it's another victem of Disney's track record of quiet cancelations.

And finally, another big thing I think can play into the excitement for a lot of the bigger fans of the Florida theme parks (Disney and Universal) is the question of the "net gain for the parks".

For New Fantasyland, if you just look at the footprint, There really wasn't much of an addition to the park. The space which the New Fantasyland is occupying is space that was already part of the Magic Kingdom. You have the Storybook Circus taking up the land used by Toontown for the past 20yrs, And the rest of New Fantasyland is taking up space that USED to be occupied by the 20k Leagues lagoon and show building. I think the only "Net Gain" for the Magic Kingdom there was the little corner with Bell's Village.....And it's seldom you'll see a restaurant and meet and Greet ever generate a huge buzz. Elsewhere in the Magic Kingdom and Disney Resort, we also still have a LOT of spaces and attractions which Disney has abandoned and left sitting there empty..... So Disney can suffer the fate of people seeing this new shiny addition, but then seeing it surrounded by so much empty space, closed attractions, and areas that just generally are no longer living up to the excitement they used to deliver, That it get's lost. It's like building a new McMansion in the middle of a run down and empty neighborhood.

For Universal, It's MUCH easier to see many of their recent additions as an overall net-gain for the resort. Generally, We have not seen the same history at that resort of removing something from the resort without adding something as good or better in it's place. With the Original WWoHP, We saw a large portion of the Lost Continent Disappear... but we gained Hogwarts, a new attraction, and amazing theming. We lost Back to the Future, But we gained Simpsons. We lose Jaws and Amity, and we gain Diagon Alley. We loose Kongfrontation, But we gain Revenge of the Mummy. There is very little in the Universal resort that seem like wasted space or which takes the shine off their additions. We had the old Murder She Wrote/Xena & Herc soundstage empty and abandoned for years... but they fixed that by giving us Transformers on that spot. The Simpsons area expansions/improvements are mostly additions to empty space that flesh out the area around the old Back to the Future building... and are a net improvement. Currently, the only "abandoned" items I can see at the Universal resort are the big amphiteatre in the Islands of Adventure, and the old Triceritops Encounter in the Jurassic Park section. BUT..... Because of the theming and way the Triceritops Encounter was set up, the only reminder of it at this point is a couple paths that look like they just go into the forested backstage areas and the big Triceritops fossil rock that doesn't look that out of place next to the Discovery Center. It's easy to overlook... but even still, there are already rumors of the next phase of Universal construction happening in the Jurassic Park section, so that could be be another "rememdied situation" like the abandoned Murder she Wrote soundstage.

So while it is easy to simply look at the Size of the resorts and the reason for the difference in excitement generated, I think it's only scratching the surface. It might even be worth hypothocising that a reason the overall excitement levels are so much higher for Universal lately is because Universal has been showing us, the fans of the Florida Theme Parks, That they are truly willing to invest and give us so many new and improved experiences to enjoy. Disney on the other hand over the years has shown much less interest in investing in new and improved experiences for us to enjoy.....outside of the much more overt cash grabs like gift shops, Hotel rooms, DVC, and Restaurants. It's been YEARS since we have even gotten a brand new and exciting, NON-CLONED, attraction in the Disney Parks....The last one being (I believe) Expedition Everest...which has had the Yeti Black eye since shortly after it opened.

 

[skier_pete]

I sort of agree with DCTooTall. Universals products have a much bigger instant "BANG" with the public. It's not because of the scale of the resorts. It has been a LONG time since Disney has put a WOW ride in Florida. (Soarin' perhaps? I won't count TSMM, though that certainly gets the riders.) Perhaps the mine car ride will be this.

However, I've said this before, Universals growth actually HELPS Disney. Yes, they lose some customers to there. But it also drives more people to the Florida theme parks. Some small coincidences that Disney saw record numbers last year with only new Fantasyland to show for it.

I think 10-15 years from now, more people will still care about the Little Mermaid and Seven Dwarves than will care about Harry Potter and particularly Transformers.

 

[DCTooTall]

I sort of agree with DCTooTall. Universals products have a much bigger instant "BANG" with the public. It's not because of the scale of the resorts. It has been a LONG time since Disney has put a WOW ride in Florida. (Soarin' perhaps? I won't count TSMM, though that certainly gets the riders.) Perhaps the mine car ride will be this.

However, I've said this before, Universals growth actually HELPS Disney. Yes, they lose some customers to there. But it also drives more people to the Florida theme parks. Some small coincidences that Disney saw record numbers last year with only new Fantasyland to show for it.

I think 10-15 years from now, more people will still care about the Little Mermaid and Seven Dwarves than will care about Harry Potter and particularly Transformers.

And Even Soarin' was a clone of a DCA Ride.


For the record, I'm one of those people who see Universal and Disney in a much more symbiotic relationship than an adversarial one. Any Gains Universal makes will also cause a bump in Disney Attendance (Especcially with Harry Potter, which is much more likely to draw first time guests from Europe to the Orlando Area....who will then decide since they hopped the Atlantic they should go down the Disney for a few days too). At this point, You are now starting to see more people go from Disney back to Universal too......especially now that Universal is once again investing in their parks and generating some buzz. (A much different era than the one that prompted the $99 7-day tickets).

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I think 10-15 years from now, more people will still care about the Little Mermaid and Seven Dwarves than will care about Harry Potter and particularly Transformers.

Agreed that Little Mermaid and Seven Dwarves have staying power, but Harry Potter does too - in spades! At least, I hope so! As a 40 year old, I just (6 months ago) finally got Dfiance's 9 year old son to watch Harry Potter. These books and many of the movies, existed before this 9 year old boy was born and he just wasn't interested. After some convincing, I talked him into watching the first movie. Now he is obsessed, has seen all movies several times and has started reading the books (YAY!). I think that good stories endure and Universal has nothing to worry about with Harry. Parents who read the books in their childhood are now having kids and exposing their kids to the story. Harry will live on As we all have said many times, Disney missed out on this one (setting aside the obvious creatives struggles they would have had with Rowling).

 

[Metro West]

Agreed that Little Mermaid and Seven Dwarves have staying power, but Harry Potter does too - in spades! At least, I hope so! As a 40 year old, I just (6 months ago) finally got Dfiance's 9 year old son to watch Harry Potter. These books and many of the movies, existed before this 9 year old boy was born and he just wasn't interested. After some convincing, I talked him into watching the first movie. Now he is obsessed, has seen all movies several times and has started reading the books (YAY!). I think that good stories endure and Universal has nothing to worry about with Harry. Parents who read the books in their childhood are now having kids and exposing their kids to the story. Harry will live on As we all have said many times, Disney missed out on this one (setting aside the obvious creatives struggles they would have had with Rowling).

 

[DCTooTall]

You know.... getting outside of the direct purpose of the original article, The comments regarding the staying power of Disney Princesses vs. Harry Potter has gotten me thinking.....



For Generations, Disney has always had a HUGE draw from the classic animations. Snow White...Cinderella....Peter Pan...Pinocchio... and even the "renaissance era" of Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Etc.

These films helped to continue to fuel Disney's profits as one generation who grew up with these films as major parts of their lives ended up having their own kids, and then introduced their kids to these films and characters.

But then Disney's animation department pretty much died in the mid-late 90's. We lost the Disney Afternoon with classics like Duck Tales, Talespin, Rescue Rangers, Darkwing, etc that helped reinforce many kid's love of all things Disney outside of the movie theater. The end result, While Disney had some decent films in the years just before the animation department was complete decimated (Hunchback, Herc, Mulan, Pocahontas), They just have the same influence as the films before them....let alone the same level of support from Disney.


In that same time frame, We had other major properties come up and gain the mindshare of younger generations that Disney used to almost be to call their own. Potter, Twilight, etc. All Disney's focus during that time seemed to be focused on the revolving door of the Disney Channel show-of-the-week staring the latest Disney Starlet/music star/merchandise bonanza.


So now we are at the point where we might actually have the first generation of kids starting to be raised who's parents don't have a contemporary Disney product of their own to pass along to their children and keep the cycle alive. (If you expand to include Pixar who is a recent Disney Aquisition, than maybe you do....). These parents may actually identify more with other properties such as Harry Potter than they would with some part of the overall Disney family like many of us do.


So the question I have to ask, is what will be the impact of this to the future of Disney? Many of us here have at least some sort of childhood Disney experience that we hold dear, and which in one way or another has helped spawn our love of all things Disney. It could've been watching Scrooge McDuck in his MoneyBin after school. Or going to the theater with a parent to see the rescuers.... or even growing up seeing Walt or later, Eisner.... on our TV's during Disneyland/Wonderful world of Color/Wonderful World of Disney. somehow I'm not picturing "Even Stephens", or Hannah Montana having the same ability to be the spawn of a lifelong Disney love that get's passed along to future generations.


Thoughts?