Siemens ends sponsorship with Disney

[TheMaxRebo]

I think I remember that too... or in the Wonders of Life? Maybe Habitat Heroes?

ok, now I had to check

Per the internet (which we all know is never wrong ) Kraft was the original sponsor for the Land pavilion and then Nestle took over from them

 

[amberpi]

ok, now I had to check

Per the internet (which we all know is never wrong ) Kraft was the original sponsor for the Land pavilion and then Nestle took over from them

I remember Nestle being the Land sponsor! I remembered Kraft, but couldn't remember where. Thanks for the intel

 

[Joben]

So we have a trip coming up in september, and we have been thinking Illuminations would be changing based on rumors.

Illuminations has been one of our favorite shows and the wife has absolutely loved it since it has not changed in her memory.

With our fears of a saying goodbye to Illuminations as we know it, we decided to do the sparkling dessert party. The calendar for that has been much like the Star Wars party was, where you couldn't make reservations till about 30 days before.

I just checked today and saw that there are no more reservations available after 7/14/17. I vaguely remember hearing about the party being changed to a frozen party. Is this true?

 

[rteetz]

So we have a trip coming up in september, and we have been thinking Illuminations would be changing based on rumors.

Illuminations has been one of our favorite shows and the wife has absolutely loved it since it has not changed in her memory.

With our fears of a saying goodbye to Illuminations as we know it, we decided to do the sparkling dessert party. The calendar for that has been much like the Star Wars party was, where you couldn't make reservations till about 30 days before.

I just checked today and saw that there are no more reservations available after 7/14/17. I vaguely remember hearing about the party being changed to a frozen party. Is this true?

Yes it's now a frozen ever after dessert party.

 

[Joben]

Yes it's now a frozen ever after dessert party.

And the price goes from $49 to $79 and the only difference is you and ride FEA afterwards????

 

[joelkfla]

You also gotta think GE sponsored horizons. What do people remember most about horizons?

Horizons was the next act of CoP. GE sponsored CoP and Horizons.

I think Kraft was a sponsor of Food Rocks or something in the Land pavilion at one point - I thought no something like that makes sense. Maybe they could move to more like that with multiple sponsors per pavilion rather than one to cover an entire pavilion

Kraft sponsored the entire pavilion. The attractions heavily focused on food.

I believe AT&T sponsored SSE...thought maybe Illuminations (hence the edit).

Yes, the theme was originally the history and future of communications. IIRC, the post-show featured gee-whiz at-the-time technology like speaker phones (a "family phone booth") and network switching. It was switched later to the history of technology. I think a computer company may have sponsored for a while.

 

[umichigan10]

Horizons was the next act of CoP. GE sponsored CoP and Horizons..

I get that, but my point being that GE didn't really get anything out of the deal except their name on the ride. If I was a company I wouldn't be keen on working out a similar deal

 

[rteetz]

And the price goes from $49 to $79 and the only difference is you and ride FEA afterwards????

Yep.

 

[joelkfla]

I get that, but my point being that GE didn't really get anything out of the deal except their name on the ride. If I was a company I wouldn't be keen on working out a similar deal

Yeah, when I was growing up, companies placed a lot of value on goodwill and public perception. Companies like GE, Kraft, and AT&T were viewed by the public as "good corporate citizens."

That all ended with the era of corporate raiders. Now corporations (including Disney) are almost exclusively focused on bottom line and Wall Street's expectations, and consumers are focused on getting the lowest price and to a lesser extent quality, with virtually no regard to how "good" a company is.

 

[umichigan10]

Yeah, when I was growing up, companies placed a lot of value on goodwill and public perception. Companies like GE, Kraft, and AT&T were viewed by the public as "good corporate citizens."

That all ended with the era of corporate raiders. Now corporations (including Disney) are almost exclusively focused on bottom line and Wall Street's expectations, and consumers are focused on getting the lowest price and to a lesser extent quality, with virtually no regard to how "good" a company is.

I remember when McDonald's used to sponsor all of Dinoland. Times be a changing

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I remember when McDonald's used to sponsor all of Dinoland. Times be a changing

Yup - that is why the pipes in the Dinosaur attraction have the chemical symbols for ketchup, mustard, and mayo

 

[Joben]

Yup - that is why the pipes in the Dinosaur attraction have the chemical symbols for ketchup, mustard, and mayo

 

[Joben]

I saw someone else reply about this but I think the obvious choice for SSE would be Apple. I think it also explains why the contract with Siemens fell through. Disney covets the sponsorships and I don't think they would let a sponsor walk away so easily if they didn't have a company waiting in the wings.

And just thinking about it now in that context wouldn't it make sense for Intel to sponsor a new nighttime show?

 

[GaryDis]

ok, now I had to check

Per the internet (which we all know is never wrong ) Kraft was the original sponsor for the Land pavilion and then Nestle took over from them

I remember Nestle being the Land sponsor! I remembered Kraft, but couldn't remember where. Thanks for the intel

I remember being really disappointed after Nestle took over. When Kraft was the sponsor, many of the menu items at the restaurant were smothered with cheese. It was our go-to place for breakfast in the park, just to get those cheese omelets.

Horizons was the next act of CoP. GE sponsored CoP and Horizons.

The original CoP was at the GE pavilion at the NY World's Fair, so no surprise that they carried over sponsorship for a while. I've always regretted that Disney didn't duplicate the multicolored, computer-controlled spiral lighting display that was on the shallow domed roof of the GE pavilion.

On the general subject of sponsorships, I was surprised to see that Disney still has sponsorships at Disneyland, such as Honda for Autopia. Now clearly it's worth more because attendance at DL is higher than at EP, but I don't understand why Disney can't get and keep Epcot sponsorships at all. Consumer oriented companies haven't stopped advertising, so surely it's a legitimate opportunity. The only explanation I can conceive is that Disney wanted too much money for the number of eyeballs they were getting, or perhaps failed to deliver the number of eyeballs expected for previous contracts. MetLife appears to be a special case.

I don't remember whether sponsorships for specific rides still exist at MK.

 

[OSUZorba]

I remember being really disappointed after Nestle took over. When Kraft was the sponsor, many of the menu items at the restaurant were smothered with cheese. It was our go-to place for breakfast in the park, just to get those cheese omelets.



The original CoP was at the GE pavilion at the NY World's Fair, so no surprise that they carried over sponsorship for a while. I've always regretted that Disney didn't duplicate the multicolored, computer-controlled spiral lighting display that was on the shallow domed roof of the GE pavilion.

On the general subject of sponsorships, I was surprised to see that Disney still has sponsorships at Disneyland, such as Honda for Autopia. Now clearly it's worth more because attendance at DL is higher than at EP, but I don't understand why Disney can't get and keep Epcot sponsorships at all. Consumer oriented companies haven't stopped advertising, so surely it's a legitimate opportunity. The only explanation I can conceive is that Disney wanted too much money for the number of eyeballs they were getting, or perhaps failed to deliver the number of eyeballs expected for previous contracts. MetLife appears to be a special case.

I don't remember whether sponsorships for specific rides still exist at MK.

I think the sponsorship model is just changing with the internet and mobile age.

I do a lot of hot air ballooning, there used to be a ton of corporate balloons, teams and sponsors. Now there are just a handful left. Anheuser Busch used to have like 45 balloons, and they just got rid of all of them around 2003.

But companies can go sponsor a YouTube video, for a fraction of the cost and get more eyeballs than sponsoring anything at EPCOT.

 

[amberpi]

I saw someone else reply about this but I think the obvious choice for SSE would be Apple. /QUOTE]

We can dream...think about the cool Apple/parks merch!!!! Take my money WDW/Apple!

 

[amberpi]

I think the sponsorship model is just changing with the internet and mobile age.

I do a lot of hot air ballooning, there used to be a ton of corporate balloons, teams and sponsors. Now there are just a handful left. Anheuser Busch used to have like 45 balloons, and they just got rid of all of them around 2003.

But companies can go sponsor a YouTube video, for a fraction of the cost and get more eyeballs than sponsoring anything at EPCOT.

Slightly OT: Hot air ballooning sounds like the coolest hobby - ever. But it seems like the hot air balloon festivals have been growing in popularity over the last 5 years, which indicate a trending interest and seems like it might see a resurgence? I think people are SO accustomed to online ads, they may get less actual recognization from consumers than an in person experience like WDW or a hot air balloon event. I am admittedly, not educated about consumer marketing. "Consumers" are foreign to me, except being one. It seems like that in person, and the fact that WDW would allow new products/technologies/market research (which could easily happen in an Innoventions type environment) in the hands of the consumer audience, experience would be particularly valuable as a way to stand out. Again, entire professional career, only worked B2B servicing risk issues, so I'm just not educated at all. I think this all points to another sponsor in the offing with a more expansive sponsorship/partnership to be announced.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I can see the need to update Spaceship Earth. I can't really remember...Does it go into the 80's right now? I know it doesn't go into the 90's.

I just hope Illuminations doesn't end. Maybe an update, but Illuminations is really a great fit for EPCOT. I can't imagine any other show to be honest.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Just to play devil's advocate here... what if Disney ended their partnership with Siemens because Siemens wasn't willing to pour money into new projects at Epcot? Maybe they weren't willing to pony up funds to update Illuminations/ SSE and thats the reason for Illuminations going stale and the anticlimactic finale to SSE?

I agree Illuminations is great, but with the new night shows everywhere else its falling behind, maybe there is a new sponsor waiting in the wings that IS willing to throw some money at Epcot... I am a bit disappointed with the monorail deal falling through, but a big corporate Ad on the side of the monorail would seem out of place at Disney

 

[Gastonecrosse]

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/06/break...s-spaceship-earth-illuminations-future-doubt/

The future of Spaceships Earth and Illuminations are up in the air.

No! We just had our first baby and we were really looking forward to taking advantage of the Siemens lounge in Spaceship Earth as a good quiet place