Disney just rolled out massive theme park news for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and the rest of their experiences division that includes theme parks around the world and the Disney Cruise Line.
I was in the room at the Honda Center in Anaheim where Disney Parks Chairman Josh D' Amaro presented the future of the theme parks as part of the three-day D23 Ultimate Disney Fan Event. The presentation delivered both in substance and presentation style.
There was one key aspect of the substance that really stood out to me as a lesson learned by the theme parks team. I'll dive into that and my general thoughts on how the presentation stacked up against my expectations below.
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Did Disney Learn This Lesson?
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There are six Disney resorts around the world and 12 theme parks across those resorts. Over the past decade, many attractions have been cloned across resorts. We have seen the same attractions added domestically between Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Every time that they do this, it makes the resorts more the same and reduces the pull of that other resort on a national basis.
The biggest example of this was Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge which they built as almost a carbon copy between Disneyland Park in California and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. Imagine if instead of doing this they had created two separate destinations which would require visitation to both resorts by all Star Wars fans in order to enjoy the new offering.
In some way, the need to clone attractions will continue because when an attraction is cloned it spreads the cost of the development across multiple different theme parks. That way that cost is recouped faster with multiple versions of the same ride. Perhaps they have figured out that they can clone the ride system and a lot of the most costly parts of attractions while still delivering a new story.
During this presentation, the Disney Parks leadership demonstrated that they were consciously deciding not to clone attractions and instead build expansions that are unique. This was a key takeaway from the substance of the announcements at D23.
Rather than building the same Pandora – World of Avatar that is seen in Animal Kingdom, they are building a new Avatar boat ride based on the new movies at Disney California Adventure. This provides another place that all fans of Pandora at Animal Kingdom will now feel a draw to visit.
They could have easily just built Radiator Springs in Magic Kingdom but instead they are creating new Cars-themed rides that better fit the American West setting and provide a new destination for Cars fans.
Generally, we got firsts within the presentation. Rather than the Frozen boat ride that we predicted we would get at Disneyland, they are building the first ever Coco ride at Disney California Adventure. And, rather than announcing two new Lion King rides with one headed for Disneyland Paris and one for Animal Kingdom they are just building the one in Paris (for now) and building a brand new Monsters Inc mini land at Hollywood Studios in a first of its kind ride system at a Disney Park.
These are all great signs of Disney working to create two distinct sets of offerings at the domestic United States theme parks.
Moving forward I am sure that some form of cloning attractions will continue. Sometimes it isn't done as a cost savings but because that attraction has become a mainstay of a Disney Park. When Walt Disney World first opened, there was no Pirates of the Caribbean attraction there and guests complained daily. That attraction was added because it is core Disney.
Our world has become more global than ever and guests are willing to travel more than ever to experience new things. Especially between the two domestic parks, I hope that Disney sees the value in creating two unique sets of offerings between Disneyland and Walt Disney World so that guests feel the draw to visit both destinations.
General Presentation Thoughts
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Above I discussed my key takeaway on the substance of the presentation. Here, let's talk about the structure of the presentation itself and how it effectively communicated the plans and goals for the future of Disney Parks.
From the moment that Patrick Warburton arrived on screen for an updated Soarin' Over California ride video with nods to Disney theme park fan moments, I could tell the presentation was headed in the right direction. A moment like that and other inside jokes demonstrated that the communications team behind the presentation got the tone right and that they really “get” the parks fans today.
I'll turn to our set of predictions for the Disney Parks news that I made before the presentation. In that article, I spelled out thoughts on how the presentation itself could best deliver in addition to predictions on the news.
Our first prediction for the presentation called for “shovels in the ground and ride closures”. I wrote, “If they are going to be speedy with building new additions, they shouldn’t be afraid of poking fun at the glacial pace of some of the pandemic-era projects.” During the presentation they emphasized how serious they are about getting these projects built and even poked fun at their current efforts with a Deadpool joke or two. They didn't go so far as to have a groundbreaking ceremony the following day as I suggested, but they did file permits for one of the major projects on Monday which has some of the same effect.
Next, I called for “actual dates that things could be completed and a little bit of fun” while giving those dates. They didn't give opening dates specifically for any of the bigger projects but did emphasize construction start dates and opening years throughout the presentation. Josh D'Amaro kicked off the presentation by stating that “this isn't blue sky, we are going to do all of this”.
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Separate from the dates, they hit another one of my key thoughts there – have a little bit of fun. I referenced the great Star Tours announcement moment from an early D23 expo when Darth Vader demanded an earlier opening for the newer version of that attraction. They delivered something very similar to that with the appearance of the Magic Mirror demanding that D'Amaro announce “a land twisted and broken” – villains land. I predicted something “big and out of nowhere” within the presentation. Comparing the potential news to the time that Disney CEO Bob Iger announced Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, I said that Josh would likely have an “oh and one more thing” moment. The villain's land (and perhaps also the Monsters Inc offering) delivered that big surprise completely.
The one area that is up for debate that everyone who saw the performance would have a different opinion on is if the musical moments throughout the show were too much. I emphasized in my predictions, “Give us the nerdy and passionate. The songs are fun in between but should not attempt to be the highlight of the show.” They did both on Saturday night. We got tons of songs but also delivered big announcements. Just like a Disney Park, there was something for everyone in the presentation. Sure, there are songs that I could have lived without, but others may have loved them. They hit this one too because even though we had an hour plus of entertainment within the show, we also got our big announcements and Imagineers on stage.
As a side note, we were pleased to have that many songs included in the presentation so that we could work to best capture and share our coverage here on Mickey Visit. The pacing gave everyone in the audience time to digest the news after hearing it.
Generally, I feel good about where we landed in the Disney Parks presentation about the future of the theme parks. They are demonstrating that they understand a lot about us as a Disney fandom both in what we are excited about and how to communicate those ideas.
Now, I am excited to bring you tons of coverage of these new rides and attractions as we get more updates over the coming years. The real grade on the substance of the presentation will come as we get to see how these projects are delivered and the promises made to fans here are kept. We are optimistic.
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I read your article with sadness, as being someone who because of disabilities and travel expense will probably never be able to visit Walt Disney World, I am sad that they are not cloning many attractions. I understand the draw for them of having different attractions at the various theme parks, but I hope they remember that Disneyland was the original and continue to upkeep it. I would hate to lose some of our beloved rides like Rivers of America, and I know there is not as much land here in CA, but sharing what we had as children with our children and grandchildren is worth it. I love new lands and attractions, but not at the expense of what is Disneyland. Don’t lose Frontierland, or Fantasyland just because those are not the new movies. Release some of the classics. Have more villains at Disneyland, even if we can’t get a Villains land.
Sandy, I completely agree on your point on keeping up Disneyland. That is definitely still happening. In fact, I believe that they keep up the Disneyland Resort better than than any other Disney resort around the world. If I could personally only ever visit one Disney Park, it would be Disneyland. So, you are in the best possible place.