Big news on the Orlando water park scene today. Universal Orlando Resort is finally pulling the plug on the Wet’n Wild water park as of December 31st, 2016. The Orlando Wet’n Wild location opened in 1977 by SeaWorld founder George Millay and is considered America’s… Read More »America’s first water park – Wet’n Wild Orlando – to close says Universal
As a general rule, theme parks keep their attendance figures and projections closely held secrets. But fans and investors want to know how individual theme parks are doing, so the Themed Entertainment Association partners with AECOM each year to give it their best estimate.… Read More »Theme park Attraction attendance report released for 2014
There’s been a lot of progress around the Magic Kingdom’s Plaza / Hub since our last update. Disney has also released new concept art detailing what the hub of the Magic Kingdom will look like when construction is complete. For now, the Partners Statue is… Read More »Magic Kingdom Plaza / Hub Construction Update – May 2015
By this time next week, the Magic Kingdom will be full of guests planning to spend the next 24 hours in the park. The “Coolest Summer Ever” kick off celebration starts at 5AM on Friday May 22 and runs to 6AM on Saturday May 23.… Read More »Entertainment line-up for Magic Kingdom’s Coolest Summer Ever 24-Hour Day
A long deep dive into the business behind Disney’s multi-billion dollar MyMagic+ project by Austin Carr has been published by Fast Company. It’s a well written piece with a lot of sources and some “in the room” insights about the project that I’ve never heard… Read More »The business behind Disney’s MyMagic+ MagicBands
If you look at some of the concept drawings for Disneyland, one of Walt Disney’s original ideas included a land called “Lilliputian land” that would be based on a mythical miniature city somewhere in Europe. That idea didn’t make it into the park when it… Read More »Monday Attraction Spotlight: Storybook Land Canal Boats
Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers practically invented the modern theme park. They took old ideas and elevated them to something guests would be talking about for years to come.
Over the years, the crowds have grown most sophisticated and ride technology has changed too. It still comes down to one thing, telling an amazing and engaging story, rich in detail, and immersive in environment.
Here’s a list of 7 attraction types that will never be built again in a Disney theme park:
Snow White / Pinocchio Dark Ride – The original dark ride at Disneyland was little more than a giant electric train set going through a series of wooden cutouts. Not only are ride systems much more complex, guests are too savvy for simple set decorations. The new rides are all nearly 360 degrees immersive.
The Great Movie Ride / Ellen’s Energy Adventure – Not only are both these rides full of expensive to build and maintain animatronics, their ride systems are large and complex, essentially theaters on wheels. The modern guest doesn’t quite get the metaphor.
Read More »Seven Attractions that Disney Wouldn’t Build Today
Yesterday Disney’s CEO Bob Iger was interviewed by Variety’s Claudia Eller at their Dealmakers Breakfast event in Hollywood. These breakfast gatherings are wonderful, less formal settings and sometimes the interview subjects really open up in terms of what they share with that audience. I’m sure Iger didn’t spill the beans on anything he didn’t want to, but what he did mention is pretty big news.
The conversation started of on some general topics related to running a studio the size of The Walt Disney Company. Iger focused on how in a world where there’s more content than ever, it’s even more crucial to create fantastic content. Sometimes the mouse house even makes content that it knows is great, even if it doesn’t expect it to find an audience. Iger called films like “Million Dollar Arm” and “McFarland” ‘Brand Deposits’ to give the brand some value with consumers. In theory, with enough ‘brand deposits’ the company can cash out with some off-brand material every now and then too.
Iger mentioned his thoughts on the ABC Network lacking a cohesive brand due to it’s wide variety of shows and programming. He also mentioned he recently rode a prototype of a creature based Avatar ride that will be coming to Animal Kingdom. This sounds like the ‘Soarin’ like ride that will feature a Banshee like flight across Pandora.
The conversation then turned toward Star Wars, which is one of a few big properties coming out for Disney next year. Actually, Iger let loose this gem first “We’d love to make another Indiana Jones movie, but we’re pacing ourselves right now,” indicating that Star Wars would be a priority.
Read More »Theme park Star Wars expansion to be based on new films, says Disney CEO