News Round Up

[rteetz]

I'm not so sure on the LucasFilm thing. You don't make a 4 billion dollar purchase overnight. I remember reading some of the business articles circulating after the public announcement (meaning privately it was decided much earlier) of the acquisition and Iger and Lucas had discussed this several times in the past. I would wager that talks went back as far as the Eisner days. In short, if there was a plan to overhaul Hollywood Studios back in 2012 they knew then that The Force was in their back pocket. The more I think about it, the more I think that what stopped an overhaul was the Paris issue. As with LucasArts you don't spend billions overnight, so I'm guessing Burbank knew that they were going to do triage in Paris, but when and how much was probably still being discussed. Fast foward to today and something - and I can't put my finger on it - is encouraging them to go hog wild in Hollywood Studios, or they are doing something enormously stupid. They know they are neck deep into Paris and the game is far from over, and that more money may be needed there. Why shut down over half the park knowing full well that if you plan big that means tearing up the sidewalk (and maybe the parking lot too)? With only a handful of attractions open (big attractions yes but still only a handful) and a bunch of construction going on that's probably going to keep folks away. Perhaps that's something they'll make use of. Maybe their plan is to have a true half-day park (open from, say, 0900 to 1400) each day and then shut the doors so construction can go unencumbered for a big chunk of the day, especially with the start of extra daylight after a spring-forward in March. Afterall, why spend seven to nine hours in a park with four or five attractions? Disney knows guests are going to leave or come in at midday, so might as well pack 'em all in first thing then usher them out promptly and start/resume digging. Financially this keeps a tighter and smaller number of cast members around and helps to limit liability concerns. Additionally it hasn't hurt Animal Kingdom to close just three hours later and this won't be a permanent venture. Either that or leave the park open, have hardhats everywhere with guests dodging them and stretch out the work for half a decade or more. Or worse yet, drive guests into the hands of the enemy up the street.

I agree I don't think it was sudden and overnight that they bought lucasfilm. Disney and george Lucas had a long partnership and I'm sure they were working on a deal for a while I don't know about Eisner days but probably a year or two at least. There was a plan to bring Carsland in 2012 I know that but I'm not sure it was a park overhaul. I also don't think paris stopped them in 2012 either because paris wasn't billions of dollars in need of help and ratatouille was on the table for them which just opened this summer. Disney doesn't fully own paris and it's said that other investors in that park may cough up some money into this bailout fund as well. DHS has never had a lot of attractions, it was never meant to have a lot because of the working studio aspect. One of the reasons they pushed frozen there and are keeping the sing a long and wandering Oakens is because there isn't much to do there. Something is going to happen, john Lasseter, tom Staggs and the rest of imagineerings big guns wouldn't show up looking at what appeared to be blueprints for nothing.

 

[wallrock]

I agree I don't think it was sudden and overnight that they bought lucasfilm. Disney and george Lucas had a long partnership and I'm sure they were working on a deal for a while I don't know about Eisner days but probably a year or two at least. There was a plan to bring Carsland in 2012 I know that but I'm not sure it was a park overhaul. I also don't think paris stopped them in 2012 either because paris wasn't billions of dollars in need of help and ratatouille was on the table for them which just opened this summer. Disney doesn't fully own paris and it's said that other investors in that park may cough up some money into this bailout fund as well. DHS has never had a lot of attractions, it was never meant to have a lot because of the working studio aspect. One of the reasons they pushed frozen there and are keeping the sing a long and wandering Oakens is because there isn't much to do there. Something is going to happen, john Lasseter, tom Staggs and the rest of imagineerings big guns wouldn't show up looking at what appeared to be blueprints for nothing.

Paris has been bleeding since day one.

They may not own Paris but the mouse ears are on it, and there's no way they're going to let that ship sink unless there's no other choice. I always go back to Wall Street, and Paris closing down won't make them happy. Until potential investors show up it's Disney standing at its bedside.

 

[rteetz]

Paris has been bleeding since day one. They may not own Paris but the mouse ears are on it, and there's no way they're going to let that ship sink unless there's no other choice. I always go back to Wall Street, and Paris closing down won't make them happy. Until potential investors show up it's Disney standing at its bedside.

I know it's never been the greatest but it still is the most attended park in Europe. Eisner was the one that really wanted that park, I don't think Europe is as into theme parks as the USA or Asia is.

 

[skier_pete]

I believe people who tend to be right on most occasions I don't believe just any rumor because there are a lot of them out there. I also don't say it's for sure I just say it's a strong rumor which means a greater possibility of coming true.

Don't take it personally. Just saying you put a little more faith in rumors that come from certain people. I don't take any of them as more likely to be true than any others.

Now lets assume that Disney says LMA is closing when its contract is up on Dec 31 and well close BLT at the end of the 13/14 fiscal year to save money. DHS just saved $550000 dollars that can be earmarked for other things. Simply by canceling the refurb, or even a protion of the refurb and closing early.

But again, the decision to fund a big change in DHS might not have occurred until August or September, and the talks were occurring at a different level than the tram maintenance. By the time the decision was made, the tram contract had been paid, and it didn't make sense to cancel the last trams, because they would've had to pay for them anyways.

I'm not so sure on the LucasFilm thing. You don't make a 4 billion dollar purchase overnight.

I remember reading some of the business articles circulating after the public announcement (meaning privately it was decided much earlier) of the acquisition and Iger and Lucas had discussed this several times in the past. I would wager that talks went back as far as the Eisner days. In short, if there was a plan to overhaul Hollywood Studios back in 2012 they knew then that The Force was in their back pocket.

Well, not completely. The announcement occurred at the end of October 2012. Talks were on-going for a year, but were probably not known outside the highest levels of the company until a few weeks before the announcement. (Remember, this came completely out of the blue, so it clearly wasn't common knowledge within the company.) SO again at most you could maybe say the people in charge of TDO / WDI / planning a major re-do of DHS found out about this maybe in September of that year? You can't tell me the plans weren't already in the works for months and months before that. Then by December, the rumors of Carsland were kiboshed. However, a big corporation like Disney doesn't change direction on a dime. They probably had about 285 hours of meetings to decide what to do.

Again, the timing makes a lot of sense:
June - September 2012 - The plans for Carsland @ DHS were falling into place and rumors start to circulate.
October 2012 - Lucasfilm purchase happens.
December 2012 - DHS overhaul put on hold.
Time for WDI to do detailed design work on a typical major new attraction / park modification: 18-24 months.
Fall 2014 - DHS overhaul appears to be back on.

 

[wallrock]

Well, not completely. The announcement occurred at the end of October 2012. Talks were on-going for a year, but were probably not known outside the highest levels of the company until a few weeks before the announcement. (Remember, this came completely out of the blue, so it clearly wasn't common knowledge within the company.) SO again at most you could maybe say the people in charge of TDO / WDI / planning a major re-do of DHS found out about this maybe in September of that year? You can't tell me the plans weren't already in the works for months and months before that. Then by December, the rumors of Carsland were kiboshed. However, a big corporation like Disney doesn't change direction on a dime. They probably had about 285 hours of meetings to decide what to do.

Again, the timing makes a lot of sense:
June - September 2012 - The plans for Carsland @ DHS were falling into place and rumors start to circulate.
October 2012 - Lucasfilm purchase happens.
December 2012 - DHS overhaul put on hold.
Time for WDI to do detailed design work on a typical major new attraction / park modification: 18-24 months.
Fall 2014 - DHS overhaul appears to be back on.

The public announcement came out in October 2012, but I agree that many of the frontline folks wouldn't have had any knowledge before then. That said, I'm sure most of management that needed to know were in the know long before that, including those that were working on the overhaul of Hollywood.

Your supposition and timeline may very well be true, but I still think that it's been pretty much a given that Lucas was going to sell to Disney for several years. And since Star Tours, Star Wars Weekends and Indiana Jones were already entrenched in the park, why would a wait be put on the overhaul to determine what type of Star Wars material should go in? Disney probably already had the rights to put something in (or just get a nod of approval from George), so would it not have been part of the overhaul design to begin with?

 

[rteetz]

Don't take it personally. Just saying you put a little more faith in rumors that come from certain people. I don't take any of them as more likely to be true than any others. But again, the decision to fund a big change in DHS might not have occurred until August or September, and the talks were occurring at a different level than the tram maintenance. By the time the decision was made, the tram contract had been paid, and it didn't make sense to cancel the last trams, because they would've had to pay for them anyways. Well, not completely. The announcement occurred at the end of October 2012. Talks were on-going for a year, but were probably not known outside the highest levels of the company until a few weeks before the announcement. (Remember, this came completely out of the blue, so it clearly wasn't common knowledge within the company.) SO again at most you could maybe say the people in charge of TDO / WDI / planning a major re-do of DHS found out about this maybe in September of that year? You can't tell me the plans weren't already in the works for months and months before that. Then by December, the rumors of Carsland were kiboshed. However, a big corporation like Disney doesn't change direction on a dime. They probably had about 285 hours of meetings to decide what to do. Again, the timing makes a lot of sense: June - September 2012 - The plans for Carsland @ DHS were falling into place and rumors start to circulate. October 2012 - Lucasfilm purchase happens. December 2012 - DHS overhaul put on hold. Time for WDI to do detailed design work on a typical major new attraction / park modification: 18-24 months. Fall 2014 - DHS overhaul appears to be back on.

I don't take it personally and like you said yes I believe some rumors more than others because they do come from reliable people. I'm going to be completely honest people on wdwmagic break news a heck of a lot sooner than anyone here does.

I agree with you on the trams and And everything you said on DHS.

 

[rteetz]

The public announcement came out in October 2012, but I agree that many of the frontline folks wouldn't have had any knowledge before then. That said, I'm sure most of management that needed to know were in the know long before that, including those that were working on the overhaul of Hollywood. Your supposition and timeline may very well be true, but I still think that it's been pretty much a given that Lucas was going to sell to Disney for several years. And since Star Tours, Star Wars Weekends and Indiana Jones were already entrenched in the park, why would a wait be put on the overhaul to determine what type of Star Wars material should go in? Disney probably already had the rights to put something in (or just get a nod of approval from George), so would it not have been part of the overhaul design to begin with?

I do think disney said now that we own Star Wars and we are planning on making more movies let's wait and see for an expansion at DHS, because we could add things from the new movies. Disney did a lot of shuffling in WDI at this time too creating an entire division in WDI headed by Scott Trowbridge for strictly Star Wars stuff. Kathy Magnum head of the Carsland project was moved to WDW, and now Tom Fitzgerald is focused on WDW as well. This was also the time when disney was starting to introduce a 2 billion dollar system to transform how you go to the parks.

 

[skier_pete]

And since Star Tours, Star Wars Weekends and Indiana Jones were already entrenched in the park, why would a wait be put on the overhaul to determine what type of Star Wars material should go in? Disney probably already had the rights to put something in (or just get a nod of approval from George), so would it not have been part of the overhaul design to begin with?

The answer to your question is CONTENT & RIGHTS FEES. Under George Lucas, there was little hope for new Star Wars content - new movies in particular. Star Wars was a bit of a tarnished brand, and in addition, they had to pay a hefty fee to Lucasfilm for any additional park stuff, which is not a favorite thing of Disney to do (Avatar not withstanding). Part of me felt they wouldn't put out anything new into the parks until the first movie came out and they were sure they had a hit on their hands. But if they do go through with this - they must be feeling pretty confident.

 

[beer dave]

I'm not so sure on the LucasFilm thing. You don't make a 4 billion dollar purchase overnight.

I remember reading some of the business articles circulating after the public announcement (meaning privately it was decided much earlier) of the acquisition and Iger and Lucas had discussed this several times in the past. I would wager that talks went back as far as the Eisner days. In short, if there was a plan to overhaul Hollywood Studios back in 2012 they knew then that The Force was in their back pocket. The more I think about it, the more I think that what stopped an overhaul was the Paris issue. As with LucasArts you don't spend billions overnight, so I'm guessing Burbank knew that they were going to do triage in Paris, but when and how much was probably still being discussed.

Fast foward to today and something - and I can't put my finger on it - is encouraging them to go hog wild in Hollywood Studios, or they are doing something enormously stupid. They know they are neck deep into Paris and the game is far from over, and that more money may be needed there.

Why shut down over half the park knowing full well that if you plan big that means tearing up the sidewalk (and maybe the parking lot too)? With only a handful of attractions open (big attractions yes but still only a handful) and a bunch of construction going on that's probably going to keep folks away.

Perhaps that's something they'll make use of. Maybe their plan is to have a true half-day park (open from, say, 0900 to 1400) each day and then shut the doors so construction can go unencumbered for a big chunk of the day, especially with the start of extra daylight after a spring-forward in March. Afterall, why spend seven to nine hours in a park with four or five attractions? Disney knows guests are going to leave or come in at midday, so might as well pack 'em all in first thing then usher them out promptly and start/resume digging. Financially this keeps a tighter and smaller number of cast members around and helps to limit liability concerns. Additionally it hasn't hurt Animal Kingdom to close just three hours later and this won't be a permanent venture.

Either that or leave the park open, have hardhats everywhere with guests dodging them and stretch out the work for half a decade or more. Or worse yet, drive guests into the hands of the enemy up the street.

Maybe in the short time that MMP has been operating, they were able to determine that people stay in HS a shorter time than they had been thinking... and that the attractions being closed had little desire from the guests due to the lack of FPP reservations.... Prior to mmp they had no info on who was leaving the parks, just mostly how many (if they made you use the turnstyles to leave).

 

[rteetz]

New entertainment for the holidays at Epcot

http://m.wdwmagic.com/events/holida...ing-to-holidays-around-the-world-at-epcot.htm

 

[rteetz]

Santa is at DTD! With a new wait system.

http://m.wdwmagic.com/attractions/m...owntown-disney-today-with-new-wait-system.htm

 

[rteetz]

Christmas parade taping

http://www.wdwmagic.com/events/holi...ing-scheduled-for-second-week-of-december.htm

 

[rteetz]

Photo update on Disneyland Shanghai

http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/11/shanghai-disneyland-release-new-artwork.html

 

[Reddog1134]

I agree I don't think it was sudden and overnight that they bought lucasfilm.

I don't recall why I thought this, but at the time of the Lucasfilm/Disney announcement, I got the impression that it was something that Lucas and Iger had discussed for years and maybe even hammered out a lot of the details long ago. Then one day, George just said "Let's do it. I'm ready to sell."

 

[ned911]

As I recall LMA is staying open due to contracts with private party's/events that were already scheduled at DHS. Corporate type events.

I have also learned that trying to apply logic to certain things done by execs is pointless and frustrating - ie refurb the trams then close them. They have reasons just don't disclose them to us mere mortals.

 

[rteetz]

As I recall LMA is staying open due to contracts with private party's/events that were already scheduled at DHS. Corporate type events. I have also learned that trying to apply logic to certain things done by execs is pointless and frustrating - ie refurb the trams then close them. They have reasons just don't disclose them to us mere mortals.

No that was the Indiana jones theater

 

[luisov]

So DCA has started World of Color Winter Dreams 2014, which has some significant changes compared to the last year, mostly Frozen related (of course). Here are some of the new/modified scenes:

Ending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwFXD_LKxno

New opening (Featuring Do you Want to Build a Snowman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrK3PiCBQmM

Let it go (They used the movie version. I actually liked the orchestral arrangement they used in last years' WOC):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8anzEaMLxU

Love is an Open Door:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnegG5r22u8

 

[rteetz]

The new four seasons on Disney property has gain the five diamond award from AAA


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...eceives-five-diamond-award-20141114-post.html

 

[skier_pete]

No that was the Indiana jones theater

There is no way they close BOTH LMA and Indiana Jones.

 

[rteetz]

There is no way they close BOTH LMA and Indiana Jones.

Correct Indiana jones is supposedly staying and LMA is leaving