Partner at Nolan Heimann LLP, specializing in IP licensing, monetizing IP, entertainment and consumer products. Former Marvel/Disney consumer products attorney with contributions in theme parks and Marvel films.
D23 wrapped up, here's what we learned: Studio: Sequels, sequels, sequels. After being burned from making new content and rewarded for making sequels, they are giving what paying fans want. Parks and Resorts: After Universal fired initial shots with Epic Universe, Theme Park Wars II has begun with Disney firing back with their next plans. Disney announced over 30 major announcements with new major rides, lands, shows opening in every single park they own. As promised by leadership, more IP and more fanservice. A villains land and more thrill rides around the world based on legacy IPs indicate a larger catering to their adult fans. And finally, a Lion King ride (in Paris), making it the first official ride for Disney's most successful franchise. When the dust is settled, are these improvements going to be enough to keep Disney on top? How will Universal respond in their other locations around the world? I'll be taking my family to Disneyworld later this month, what it is today is going to be very different from what it will be when my son gets older. https://lnkd.in/eNN7w9fq
James Bellon
2mo
Too little too late. Universal is squashing Disney here in Orlando, DIsney's wokeness and inane new rules for fastpass and lightning lines are a disaster and HOW CAN YOU GET RID OF TINKERBELL! Ridiculous.
Sean Frazier
2mo
This is all on top of the new growth Disney is seeing in profit from its streaming services as I follow. Wonderful Operating System!
Tony Garcia
2mo
Maybe they should try to understand why people aren't coming as much before sinking millions of dollars into expansion. If they don't address they underlying issues, no expansion will help. They could always try asking the people who have stopped coming why they're not coming. Maybe they don't want to hear the answers?
Lindze Merritt
2mo
Disney is not getting it. The new content sunk cause it was AWFUL. ‘Wish’ was unequivocally a terribly written movie that made no sense and was unlikeable. Same with most of the new content. We like sequels because it’s all were getting that is worth watching. (And barely that) I used to be a rabid Disney fan but all the new stuff is so disappointing. And ignoring all the “anti-woke” Qanon conspiracies and homophobes, being inclusive isn’t what’s stopping people from going to the parks, overall. It’s the INSANE price increases over the past 5-10 yrs. My family used to go every year. We can no longer afford to. I honestly don’t understand how anyone who isn’t making 150k+ could. Inflation is happening cause of companies raising prices. We certainly aren’t getting paid more. It seems like common sense but guess not.
Matt Yesbeck
2mo
In 2005 I took my wife and children to Walt Disney World. We had such an amazing time and as a result, we visited every single year after that, took 3 Disney cruises and even went to Hawaii to stay at the Aulani Resort. While I still absolutely LOVE Disney, I now have to modify that statement to include, " I love "Walts" Disney." The ideology that has been exposed of the current leadership at Disney will not allow me to spend a single dollar in any of their areas of business. I am very excited about the new changes coming to the parks, so I sure hope that a return to morality and shared principles of traditional Americana is also in the works.
too bad the theme parks don’t bring back the beautiful things like Cinderella and other happily ever after instead of violence based. how about giving kids a chance to be children again? I think I grew up well I grew up on Disney with the seven dwarfs and everyone else happy times. Oh, there was some sad parts and then things started like Dumbo and Bambi etc. even as a child, they depressed me just like old yeller did Why does everything have to be scary and dark? The reputation of Disney with pedophiles is what’s killing them don’t they know that? If they cut pricing so families can actually afford to go they will probably make more money in the long run. The children and families that should be there cannot afford to be there growing up. We had ice capades and ice follies to look forward to every year Santas Village was really big in Boston. I remember standing in long lines, but it was worth it and at the end you got to see Santa. Does anyone else think getting some of this back could help this country if not, not the world? This is our future generation growing up, depressed from childhood growing up with evil characters to copy.
Veloce Toni
2mo
They need to lower their prices so people can afford to go and stay at their resorts. It would cost my family of 5 over $10,000.00 with food to go again. We went in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and it was only two to three thousand dollars. Their ticket prices are insane.
Mike Mullins
2mo
Translation: Disney raises ticket prices yet again.
Greg Hardison
2mo
Disney's doin' it all on the backs of people glazed-over enough to spend $200 per head just to walk into the overcrowded, overpriced, badly run place. And let's not forget the generations of plagiarized material stolen from original creators, a tradition started with the old dead man himself! His original uncredited animators had to peddle stolen animation cels out the back door, in order to create some form of retirement funding. And how can you not love a company that took the tale of an indigenous teenage girl who was forcibly kidnapped and infected with syphilis being repeatedly raped by gangs of ruddy, smelly drunken Englishmen ("Pocahontas"), and turned it into a charmingly wonderful, magical story designed to appeal to little girls? Eisner once told a Fox interviewer (Neil Cavuto, I believe) that he bought (and subsequently destroyed) ABC--because he wanted to own ESPN. Along with anything trump, Disney manifests the very worst Capitalism has to offer!
Partner at Nolan Heimann LLP, specializing in IP licensing, monetizing IP, entertainment and consumer products. Former Marvel/Disney consumer products attorney with contributions in theme parks and Marvel films.
2moTo add, there was one additional announcement buried under all the red meat for the fans. Disney is adding four more cruise ships in the coming years to their existing fleet of five and the four that are being built. Think about that, they started with five ships over 26 years, and they are going to up that another eight in the next seven years. Proportionately, this division is getting the largest investment of all the business units in Disney. A cruise ship alone costs well upwards of a billion dollars, so $8+ billion is about the same as it cost to buy Marvel and Lucasfilm at the time of their respective acquisitions. In the 90's, the cruise lines were a very risky business to enter into. This is an industry where profit margins come from gambling and alcohol consumption. Disney's ships don't have casinos, and much fewer drinkers. The ships have a 97% occupancy rate, so they are delivering on experience and are clearly profitable. While all the news on the parks expansions are significant, I see them more as a counterpunch against Universal and to keep their fanbase fed. Their aggressive expansion and investment in their cruise line division speaks on where their real profits are coming from.