The Walt Disney Studios and D23

Main Building - Walt Disney Studios

So before our December 2016 trip, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler was reading up on D23 and their annual opening of the Walt Disney Studios for D23 members. Now I haven't been the biggest fan of D23 because it is too Southern California centric and the rest of the country doesn't have the opportunity to take advantage of what D23 has to offer. But she decided we needed to be members anyway because one of the perks was being able to members being able to attend what amounted to be a D23 open house.

Hand Prints of Disney Legends Cover the Pillers

On our way to Disneyland we stooped in Bubank at the Walt Disney Studios for the D23 gathering and Christmas celebration. We parked in the Disney parking structure, walked over to studios and tried to get our acclimated with all the buildings and structures. Except for some Disney touches here and there it looked like any other large office complex, What was impressive was the walkway of Disney legends hand prints adorning the pillars outside main Studios building. Some were cool like George Lucas, others poignant like Robin Williams, but it was an interesting thing to see.

Roy Disney with Minnie

Outside of the Legends section just in front of the main building with 7 dwarfs statues seemingly propping up the roof, the rest of the place was pretty non-descriptive.. Big buildings, smaller buildings, and a log of open space. There was an area were the TV/Movie actors trailers are parked but hardly a big deal. I did get amused when a man with his briefcase used a security badge to get into one of the larger buildings. Imagine that, an actual working employee of the Walt Disney Company not connected with a theme park. Just looked like a guy going to work.

A Partner Statue You Can Actually Touch

Mrs. DLT wanted to go to the Employees Only Company store but its small and only a few people were allowed in at a time. By the time we made it over there, the line was a couple of hundred people deep so we blew that idea off. Out of the 4 hours of the D23 studios open house, we ended up staying about 2 hours then continued our way down to Disneyland.

Was it worth the trip? I'd say yes because you are able to see things that are normally reserved for employees . only. This is behind the scenes type stuff so for that I feel a little privileged, Would I go again? Probably not. I've seen it once and that was enough.

The big D23 Expo is this weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center. It's not free by any means but your D23 card gets you a bit of a discount..  But you have to admit, they put out a beautiful quarterly magazine.

ABC Television Studios Just Across the Steet from th Disney Stdios.

Disney COO Tom Staggs Abruptly Exits - What Happened?

Tom and Mick

Last Monday was a shocking day for the Walt Disney Company on the business side of things. Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tom Staggs who, by almost all accounts, was heir apparent to become the main man at Disney when Chief Executive Office (CEO) Bob Iger was going to step down into retirement in 2018, abruptly tendered his resignation from the company effective in May.   The succession plan for Staggs to become CEO was in place, almost a done deal. What went wrong?

Tom Staggs spent 26 years at Disney.  He was the Chief Financial Officer during the Pixar and Marvel acquisitions.  He was head of Disney Parks and Resorts during the Disney California Adventure makeover and expansion of the Disney Cruise Line. He was popular, well liked by executives as well as rank and file Disney employees. By all appearances, he was literally Bob Iger's right hand man for the last several years. What went wrong?

Well you hear rumblings about the enormous expense of the $5.5 billion construction of Shanghai Disneyland filled with cost overruns along with the project was just flat out late on being ready on time under Stagg's watch. You hear about all the obstacles that have hijacked the smooth construction of the Avatar Land in Walt Disney World.

But mostly, you hear stories that the all powerful Disney Board of Directors not having confidence that Staggs was not the right fit for taking on the tremendously powerful Disney CEO job into the future. I've seen some accounts that some thought that Staggs lacked the necessary creative vision for the company built on creative vision. I've also read account where the Board was a little concerned that Staggs lacked the experience in the important and highly profitable media outlets (ABC-TV, Disney Channels, and the mighty cash cow that is ESPN). This is the area where Bob Iger launched his way to the top.

Variety reported that Staggs was looking for a commitment from the Board of Directors that he indeed would become CEO in 2018. When the vote of confidence did not come, it was adios amigos. He seemed like a nice guy. A lot of people will miss Tom Staggs. I'm sure he will end up doing well somewhere else.

Disney And The Business Of Spiderman

Amazing Spiderman Movie Poster - Sony Pictures

So the amazing Spiderman 2 came out on video this week. Since I didn't make it to the theaters to see the movie, the good folks at Wal-Mart were only too happy to provide me with a copy at nominal price. So now I get to rehash just what Spiderman has to do with Disney since Spiderman is made by Sony Pictures even though the web slinger is a Marvel character and probably Marvel's single most valuable property. Sounds complicated. It is and it isn't.

As far as movies go, Spiderman made by Sony Pictures by license agreement with Marvel Entertainment which Disney owns. Disney gets a cut off profits off every Spiderman movie even though Sony takes home most of the money. The same is true of X-Men, Wolverine, and Fantastic Four which are produced by Fox through a licensing agreement with Marvel. These license agreements were in place before Disney bought Marvel and as the story goes, as long as Sony and Fox continue to turn out Marvel quality superhero movies on a regular basis, the licensing stays in place and Sony and Fox continue to make movies. One slip up and Disney lawyers will only be too happy to take the properties back. Either that or Disney shells out the big buck to buy back the licenses which they are not inclined to do since by Disney CEO's own admission "we have more than enough Marvel characters to work with already".

Still the hope is out there that a true Marvel/Disney Spiderman movie will be made some day. That would be a movie that would set box office records on fire.

Welcome Summer - The Latest Disneyland Price Increases

That whizzing sound you heard last Sunday was Walt Disney spinning in his grave over the thought that a single day park hopper to his beloved theme park hit the $150 price mark with the latest round of Disney Parks admission price increases. For the last couple of years I've ranted and railed at the annual price increases but this year ...... I've just resigned myself to the fact that Disney raises prices before every summer season simply because they can get away with it.

I think my first Deluxe Annual Pass was around $239. As of last week, that same Annual Pass is now at $519. Ouch! - with that sound coming from my wallet and credit card pinching my rear end. But so it goes as they say.

So the price increases weren't anything jaw dropping, just enough to make you shake your head and question is is all worth it. Perhaps the biggest news out of last week's price increases was the suspension of the wildly popular Southern California Annal Pass. You can renew your SoCal AP but you are now unable to buy a new one. Speculation from numerous Internet sources that this may be the first step in eliminating the lower priced Southern California Annual Passes whose holders flood the parks with bodies while often not dropping a lot of dollars which Disney loves from tourists and park guests. As a non-local, anything to drop the crowds and making the Disney day more pleasurable is welcome.

Disney and the Business of Producing Nothing

I was taken aback last week when I heard a financial report on the radio going to work that Google stock prices had crossed the $1000 a share barrier. Cyber companies amaze me. Here's a company that produces very little in the way of physical products - mainly tablets which are imported. You can't drive a Google; you can't eat it; you can't put it on to keep you warm. The majority of Google lives at your fingertips. How do they make so much money and become so valuable? Well the bulk of it comes from ad revenue. Companies and people pay plenty to part of the Google universe. Their other revenue stream comes from licensing primarily from the android operating system which Google owns.

But this is a Disney site. Google is certainly not the only company which derives most of their income from the non-physical. The Walt Disney Company started by producing animated cartoon shorts then evolved into producing feature length movies. It now not only owns several movie divisions but it also owns parks, hotels, resorts, and cruise ships. Disney produces consumer products by the boat load and makes video games (still a consistently money losing part of the company). These are all tangible products. But none of them equal what is the Walt Disney Company's single largest source of income. And we are right back to the way Google does it - ad revenue.

Disney's major source of income doesn't come from our paying gobs of money to get into their theme parks or stay in their hotels. Disney gets most of its money from selling ad revenue on ESPN and the assorted Disney Channels (ABC - not so much because of the high operating cost of network TV). Not only that, but everyone in America who foots the bill for a cable or satellite package that has ESPN and/or Disney Channels, is paying Disney a monthly subscription fee whether you watch the channels or not. I know plenty of people who are not sports fans but since their channel package contains ESPN, part of their monthly payment goes right into Disney's bank account. All this comes under a division called Disney Media Networks - the place where money is made. Invisible income - sweet.

One of the biggest fears in the world of cable/satellite TV is if Congress gets serious and forces providers to not bundle TV packages and allow people in their homes (and businesses) to select the individual channels they want and not have to pay for 120 channels - 80 of which they may never watch. Certainly the technology is there to do this but the financial impact to many large companies would be huge. The politics of economics wins out on this one.

So Disney fans, even though we live in a world of Mickey and Walt, Buzz and Woody, Darth Vader and Hans Solo, Disney is raking in the real big bucks on the NFL and college football on ESPN and the hundreds of hours of programming that support it with advertisers paying plenty to be part of it. Remember that the next time you walk down Main Street.

Disney Profits Saddled By The Lone Ranger

So the money juggernaut that is the Walt Disney Company runs merrily along. Theme park attendance - up, hotel occupancy - up, park spending - up, cable media revenue - up (ESPN remains the single most profitable entity of The Walt Disney Company - by far). Yep, it should have been great news as Disney reported their quarterly profits yesterday.

 

And then came the Studios Division.

 

And then came the Lone Ranger.

 

Crash.

 

When all is said and done, Disney will write down a $160 - $190 million dollar loss on The Lone Ranger just missing the epic $200 million dollar record loss of 2012's John Carter bomb. Combine that. with all the success of Iron Man 3, that movie still fell pretty well behind the previous year's box office champ -  The Avengers. The good news on the movie front is Pixar's Monsters University beat out Brave from the previous year. Overall, Disney Studios remains on a high risk, high reward or huge failure tight rope. Disney has given no indication that they will alter this direction because a single successful movie can lead to years of profitability in the realm of Disney through park promotion and merchandising.

 

Despite seeing all that Lone Ranger money go down the drain, don't shed any tears. Making money is what Disney does best and they do it from more angles than you can count.

Hey Disney....What About The Parks?

The D23 Expo with its previous two runs in Anaheim (2009 and 2011) has caught a lot of flack. Yep, there have been problems with crowd control, misjudging venue sizes, panel and event scheduling issues, and just generally Disney not having the real experience necessary to keep a large convention flowing instead of bottle necking and breaking down into chaos.

My favorite D23 Expo fiasco story occurred in 2009, the Expo's first year. In its inaugural year, the Expo was a 4 day event (instead of the current 3 day event) that started on Thursday with the keynote speech by Disney CEO Bob Iger. Well, turns out that on a Thursday, the Expo attendance was going to turn out to be pretty meager much to Disney's disappointment and there would be an abundance of empty seats for Iger's speech. Now that just wouldn't look good for those reporting on the event so quick acting Disney went over to Disneyland, grabbed every available on the clock cast member, then bussed them over to the convention center to basically fill empty seats and pad attendance. I think they even got a free lunch out of the deal. Yep, Iger's keynote speech was pretty full after all but many of those in the audience worked for him.

Ah yes, attendance, there is also the story from 2009 that with numbers of people actually paying full price or discounted D23 members price falling fall short of expectations, stacks of admission tickets were given to supervisors and managers at Disney's corporate offices that were to be sold to Disney employees at a major discount (down to about $5.00). Well, even at $5.00, there were still tickets sitting on managers and supervisors desks to the point where they eventually just told their employees to help themselves to tickets in some cases. Ouch!

But there are aspects of the D23 Expo that are immensely popular with Disney fans. Certainly the presenting of the latest group of Disney Legends, special evening musical performances from Disney notables, and celebrity gawking at the Disney Studios presentation rank right up there with popular Expo events. But probably the post popular is the presentation by Disney Parks and Resorts on what's coming in the future for the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts (not to mention world wide Disney parks and the cruise line). This is what Disney fans die to hear. This is what focuses their rabid Disney vision toward the future. Remember 2009 and the announcement of Star Tours 2.0, Cars Land, and the Magic Kingdom expansion? Big news.....really big news.

But the rumors are that Disney is not going to have any major announcements about their U.S. based theme parks this year. Oh, there may be some minor announcements about increasing a Star Wars presence in the parks and maybe something will finally be said officially about that Avatar Land in WDW that no one seems to be really thrilled about. Major announcements is a tricky proposition. People tend to take them literally and in order to go through the motions of presenting a major announcement with concepts and artwork, Disney actually has to commit the hundreds of million dollars it now takes to build major attractions. Apparently they do have a lot of ideas, but aren't to the point where they are actually going to commit the money to build them. When Disney revamped Disney California Adventure at enormous expense the apparent position was to rest on getting return on their investment back on that before announcing more brand new building projects.

If that really is the case, I think you are going to hear more disappointment from Disney fans about this years D23 Expo. But if I'm honest with myself, in a perfect world, I wouldn't mind being at the Expo and check it all out. I'd be the one with a cynical look on his face.

Disney, D23, and Me

Image from insidethemagic.com

Disney fans have choices to make. There is no shortage of ways to spend your money on anything / everything Disney. And how you choose to spend your money earmarked, so to speak, for Disney really comes down to each fans business, tastes, and preferences. To criticize how someone else spends money on Disney neglects what you may have stuffed in your own closet.

Back in 2009 I guess, Disney announced it was going to create a special insiders fan club named D23 – D for Disney and 23 for 1923, the year Walt made it to Hollywood to begin his remarkable story. Many people rejoiced  thinking that at last there was something for them to put them on the inside track for special access to their own enhanced Disney experiences. But many others, like me, were immediately cynical about the concept.

Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation run by college type executives that serves its shareholders by giving them return on their investment. Disney does nothing for its fans without an ulterior motive that affects bottom line profits. So once you put D23 in that perspective, one can see what the D23 fan club truly is – another Disney revenue stream, another way for Disney to separate money from its legions of fans.

So for the first year, Disney charged $75 a person per year to be a D23 member (no family plans here). For that $75 you did get a beautifully published quarterly magazine, some charter member trinkets, and the opportunity to purchase exclusive D23 merchandise and gain access to exclusive D23 events that were to be held around the country. And of course there would be a D23 Expo were members could get a discount off the steep admission price and enter a convention that would give them ample opportunity to spend even more money. D23 is all about money.

But after the initial excitement, cracks began to appear in the D23 model. $75 a person, per year? Why would four people in the same family all need a magazine? D23 events?  Unless you lived within a 100 miles of Disney headquarters in Burbank, events were few and far between across the rest of the country. Orlando held some D23 events but compared what the Disney Studios could offer; WDW most definitely came up short on the D23 side. I remember one Disney World fan website get so excited about the events that were coming Florida and how the D23 Expo would be held in Orlando every other year. Boy did that guy miss the boat. Disney is a Southern California based company. That’s where the good stuff is. That’s where the access to major Disney stars and celebrities exists. That’s where the key people that make the big decisions that run the company live and work.

Then there is the numbers question. The number of Disney fans in not unlimited. Once everyone who wanted to become a D23 member became one, there was no room to grow. The numbers stagnated then began to reduce as people jumped off realizing that D23 brought them little. So Disney added a second tier of pricing at about half off the $75 but eliminating the magazine (which really is pretty nice). But Disney’s ultimate goal, even at half off, remained the same. People with D23 membership will still spend money on D23 merchandise and events.

So now here we are a after little over 4 years D23 first started at staring at the next D23 Expo that begins this Friday. These days, there is so little excitement about D23 that Disney took the next step with their fan club and added a “free” membership to D23 hoping that membership would trigger into bringing crowds to the Expo at a discounted members price. But as we a taught from childhood, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Once in D23, Disney’s hope is you continue to buy stuff and support the program. For people who enjoy what D23 offers - go right ahead. I’m a Disney fan. Just don’t need to spend any more money than I already do.

Next Star Wars Celebration Heads to Anaheim

Welp...... chuck up another one for the home office. Uncovered in my internet reading today was the announcement (again last week) that the next Star Wars Celebration (which recently closed in Germany) will be held in Anaheim at the Convention Center in April 2015 after the previous two U.S. based Star Wars Celebrations were held in Orlando. Star Wars Celebration is the largest official coming together of all things Star Wars related and from what I have heard - quite a geekfest.

Again, Walt Disney World fans may stomp up and down a bit at losing a featured convention in their neck of the woods but since Disney's recent purchase of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise, it only makes sense that the next Star Wars Celebration extravaganza takes place in the Burbank based Disney's backyard. Less travel time for executives. 2015 is also the year Star Wars VII is set premiere under Disney.

Remember When Pixar Was Great?

Disney - Pixar's Monster University - Disney Promotional Photo

My Disney crazed co-worker couldn't wait till Pixar's Monsters University opened last week. She took off a little early from work and met up with her husband, daughter, and two grandsons over at the theaters ($$$). And when I spoke with her about it a few days later, her comment was "the movie just wasn't that good." She went on to say that the story just wasn't up to to the charm and entertainment of the original Monsters Inc. and while the younger grandson (3 years old) was kind of bored with the movie, the grandson who was five and should be in Monsters University wheelhouse for kids entertainment was actually a little afraid of a couple of the characters. She saw the movie in 2D since here grandkids have problem with 3D movies (understandable). She had planned to go back to the movies this past week and see it in 3D but after her first viewing, she decided to skip it. Just wasn't worth her time?

A Pixar movie that is not worth someone's time? Something like that just wasn't said a few years ago. Pixar meant beautifully written stories artfully produced using state of the art technology. The name Pixar oozed quality. But since Pixar hit its highwater mark of Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3, the trend has been downward and its beginning to ripple through the studios staunch supporters. What happened?

Well many of Pixar's top directors have gone on to pursue projects with live action movies but still, the man at the top is still there he needs to shoulder much of the blame for the deteriorating quality. John Lasseter is Pixar's man in charge. John is responsible for all 3 Toy Story movies. He directed the dreadful Cars 2. John is also head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and also wears the hat of Chief Creative Officer for the theme parks. The man has a lot on his plate. Too much perhaps? It's a fair question to ask.

But we can't let Disney as a company off the hook in this matter. Here is also a fair question. Does Disney care as much (or more) about the sale of products and merchandise than they do  about source movies that launches their huge consumer products enterprise. Is selling "Cars" merchandise for years on end more important that making a really great Cars movie? How do you think Walt Disney would feel about this constant to need to sell, sell, sell.... rather than having a company that defines excellence in creative imagination. These are questions worth pondering especially as competitors are nudging their way up.

Disney Strikes Back - Star Wars Land Coming to WDW

According to Theme Park Insider (link) and now being propogated in various print, web, and TV outlets, Disney plans on adding a "Star Wars Land" to Walt Disney World's Disney Hollywood Studios with opening set for 2018, maybe sooner if they want to throw more money at the project. In addition to Star Wars Land, the plan is for Disney to replicate a version of the massively successful Cars Land in DHS as well. I'll leave the Cars Land rumor alone for now because I'm still in my one month moratorium on writing anything about Cars Land and this news isn't going to make me alter my commitment to that. Star Wars Land? Now that's a different story altogether.

Much like Disney California Adventure a few years ago, Disney Hollywood Studios has been an underachieving theme park for quite some time. Confused themes, a bit of neglect, and constant questioning of what do we do with the place has been on the minds of WDW fans for quite some time. But once a year, DHS hosts the massively successful Star Wars Weekends to prop up the sagging park. I have always thought that if Disney was going to do anything major with park related theming with their recent George Lucas acquisitions, WDW would be the place. Certainly they have the property and space to do things right as opposed to the Disneyland Resorts approach of let's see what we can squeeze in. So a Star Wars Land in DHS just makes too much sense to pass up.

Of course that doesn't make a Disneylander like myself feel any better. Who wouldn't love a Star Wars Land in your own backyard rather than across the country? And what about D23 coming up in August in Anaheim. Walt Disney World has stolen the thunder with the opening of the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (coaster), now Star Wars Land, and a Cars Land. And whatever happened to Avatarland in Disney Animal Kingdom? Somebody at Disney better get off the schneid and announce something new (and big) for Disneyland. A Monsters Inc roller coaster? Please. You can do better than that. No wonder that, as of today, D23 has a new level of membership, one that costs the applicant nothing at all because they're giving it away just to prop up sagging membership numbers. A convention in Anaheim that features big changes to a park that is 3000 miles away probably isn't the best way to bring in the crowds that Disney wants.

A Potential Mega Year For The Walt Disney Studios

So here we are nearing the half way point of the movie year. While sitting here doing nothing but looking at the internet, I cruised over to the Box Office Mojo website. The top two movies so far this year fall under the Disney umbrella with Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Disney Studios has had their share of ups and downs in recent years. There have been major huge successes (The Avengers), disappointments (TRON: Legacy), and an outright clunker (John Carter). The movie side of Disney has been so wildly inconstant that I have forgotten how many studio chiefs and high ranking execs have had their badges removed and shown the exit door by security in the last ten years or so. For a company that was founded on making movies, that's not good.

But reading the tea leaves, that should all change this year under the latest Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn. Besides the two movies that sit on top right now, we have this month's release of Monsters University (a slam dunk guaranteed major hit). In July there is the release of the latest Depp/Disney collaboration with The Lone Ranger. And coming later this year will be the next installment of Thor. It is entirely possible that by the time the 2013 movie year closes out, Disney will have 5 of the top 10 highest grossing movies. Stunning.

Alan Horn moved from Warner Brothers to Disney. Over at WB, Horn had his hand guiding the success of this snot nosed Harry Potter kid. Horn also gave rise to The Dark Knight and made a few bucks for Warner Bros while dabbling in the Matrix. Seems like the man knows what he's doing when it comes to running a motion picture studio.

Death, Taxes, and Disneyland Ticket Price Increases

This man is not amused at the price it cost to get in

The phrase has come through many sources but the most common utterance comes from Ben Franklin in The Works of Benjamin Franklin (1817):

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Well, starting tomorrow, June 2, we can now update the phrase with...

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes and the annual Disneyland ticket price increase.

Here you go...

Disneyland Resort Ticket Options

Ticket	Ages 10+	Ages 3-9
5-Day Park Hopper	$300	$279
5-Day 1-Park Per Day	$265	$244
4-Day Park Hopper	$285	$265
4-Day 1-Park Per Day	$250	$230
3-Day Park Hopper	$260	$244
3-Day 1-Park Per Day	$225	$209
2-Day Park Hopper	$210	$197
2-Day 1-Park Per Day	$175	$162
1-Day Park Hopper	$137	$131
1-Day 1-Park	$92	$86

All multi-day tickets expire 13 days after first use.

Disneyland Resort Annual Passports

Premium	$669
Deluxe	$499
Southern California*	$359
Southern California Select*	$279
Annual Passport Block-Out Day Ticket	$84

Disney Earnings, Al Lutz, Truth & Rumors.

On Tuesday of this week, MiceAge / MiceChat's Al Lutz posted one of his Disney insider articles to his website (link). Later in the day, Disney's Bob Iger and Jay Rasulo gave their quarterly earnings report for the company. The two events are not unrelated colliding in a Disney world of truth, rumor, and speculation.

As a company, Disney saw revenue decrease in two major areas. Disney's biggest money maker is always ESPN and their other cable channels. Revenue was down sharply in this area as ESPN had to shell out big money for continued football and basketball coverage. Disney recoups this expense when commercial air time is sold for the sports telecasts. Eventually, Disney and ESPN will get its money back and expect to turn a profit. No big deal here.

Once again, the film and home entertainment divisions were down as Disney struggles to keep this important side of the company (its where the company originated) on an even keel. After the massive success of The Avengers over the summer, the rest of the year proved pretty quiet. Brave did nice business at the box office but its release to home video was not very receptive. It looks like the days of collecting Pixar movies for the home just for the sake of having all of them may be over. And then there was Frankenweenie which failed both in theaters and home video (though critics did like the movie very much). Wreck-It-Ralph was another box office success but not really an overwhelming one. It's release to video is coming soon. On tap is Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful that will be released next month. Will this big budget live action CGI driven production reverse the tide? I'm betting no. It looks too far out there for conventional audiences. Stand-by Iron Man flying into town in May.

Speaking of Iron Man, Al is reporting that the massive Iron Man ride that was to go into Disneyland's Tomorrowland has been put on hold. The thinking is that instead of piecemeal attractions being added one at a time, Disney may be better served in the long run and do a complete Tomorrowland makeover. The piecemeal approach for WDW's Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland expansion has not drawn in guests as expected. On the other hand, Disney rolling out a complete Cars Land was a massive success. It seems to me the thinking is off here, the Fantasyland expansion in WDW failed to generate expected business because only one new ride was opened and that was the gentle Little Mermaid ride, a clone of the existing ride in DCA. The double spinning Dumbo and rethemed Barnstormer do not count. The rest of the Fantasyland expansion consisted of a new restaurant (needed), more stores (ugh!), and meet and greets (double-ugh!). Now the level of detail is nothing short of amazing but people want something to do, not something to look at. Disney probably could have seen a better jump in the numbers if the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened first and the other stuff came later. Rides generate guests through the turnstiles, the better the ride, the more people walk through. A single Iron Man ride in Tomorrowland would work if the anticipated result is an uptick in the number of guests coming into the park. But you can't completely disagree that a total Tomorrowland makeover might be a better business decision long term. It would be smashing.

So if there is nothing new and impactful to report for either U.S. theme park what is Disney going to announce at this year's D23 Expo? Park news is big. If there is no big park news, then the Expo could fall kind of flat (which it may anyway). PS. No one cares about Avatar Land which may be dying on the vine.

One thing that Bob Iger did say is he still believes there is room for price increasing in the parks. Ouch. Come May or June, expect to pay more. It just better not be up the levels of last year's massive price increase or the revolt is on the the "price elasticity", as Iger calls it, may spring back the other way as people find other ways to spend their entertainment dollar outside of Disney.

There may be an announcement of a new ship being being built for the Disney Cruise Line. Since Mrs. DisneylandTraveler won't go near one, in this household, Disney boats are a non-issue. Apparently they do a nice business.

One last thing that Al mentioned was a confirmation of my belief that while Disneyland forums and websites spoke glowingly of the Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue, the average Joe who takes his family to Disneyland every couple of years for vacation was not all thrilled with the show complete with can-can dancers showing off their under garments and a vixen hostess trying to pick up husbands in the audience. Complaints were filed for what was deemed by many as an inappropriate family show. Not to mention, the restaurant business fell flat on its face. Billy Hill - you and your brothers are needed to bring this back the way it should be.

And you when you talk about Disney earnings reports, what Al writes, and what I think or speculate, underneath it all, it's all about the money. Something is missing here. Disney needs to get it back.

Tony Baxter Rides Off Into The Sunset

Tony Baxter
Senior Vice President
Walt Disney Imagineering
Retired - Feb.1, 2013 

Walt Disney passed away in December 1966. Since that time, arguably the two men who have been most responsible for keeping the memories, ideas, and legacy of Walt alive within Disney parks have been Mary Sklar and Tony Baxter. Marty, who worked along side Walt for many years and often gave Walt his most endearing words as a Disney publicist and writer before moving on to Walt Disney Imagineering, retired in 2009. His window of honor sits right above Disneyland's City Hall where he once had an office.

Yesterday, Tony retired. Though youthful in appearance, Tony Baxter did turn 65 and is at an age where retirement often seems like a good option. Of course, he did take on the obligatory role of part-time Disney consultant. I believe Marty, who seems to still turn up at every major Disneyland event, has the same role. These are high profile men that fans of Disney parks adore for their unwavering commitment to keeping Walt's dreams alive. 

Tony's career at Disney spans some four decades of service. He was there as the Haunted Mansion opened, conceived and built Thunder Mountain Railroad, and oversaw the last renovation of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. He could often be seen walking around Disneyland, a solitary man with a smile without the usual hangers-on of high profiled executives. Some have speculated (and it is speculation) that Tony, like Marty, may have been nudged a bit into retirement either because he couldn't handle the continuing efforts of Disney to put profits ahead of creativity and imagination or people above him just wanted people of his commitment to do the right thing instead of the most profitable thing out of the way. 

Tony is very much old school Disneyland and you have to wonder about the future of the place now that the old guard is leaving. I sent out a tweet this morning from my @ShrunkenNed Twitter account in response to his retirement announcement: "Abraham Lincoln now weeps knowing there is a storage crate with his name on it." Sadly, I fear it just may be true.

Marty Sklar
Walt Disney Imagineering
Retired July 17,2009

Uh-Oh! Disney's MyMagic+? Congress Has Questions

It's not often that Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, makes it twice into this blog within a week but somehow the man has done it. Now he may need to put in a little bit of work to justify that $40 million dollar annual compensation package we reported on a few days ago.

With a lot of fanfare (and press) Disney is rolling out their MyMagic+ (also known as NextGen) initiatives into Walt Disney World this year. It's complicated but beneath it all is the ability for Disney to track almost every movement of one of their resort guests from the time they set foot on the property till the time they leave. Through the use of RFID chips coded in bracelets that get scanned throughout the resort, Disney can slip on hotel room access, credit card information, what you are purchasing, what rides and attractions you are going on, what characters you want to see, what and where you are eating. It's called data mining. This information is then stored and reused as a marketing tool where Disney has the ability to target you based on the accumulated data through mailings, email, and various social media outlets. And this includes the targeting of children. Disney has invested a huge amount of money in the potential of this technology that will better allow them to program resort experiences catered to individual and family preferences.

Disney likes to say that this will allow guests to pre-plan trips through advanced reservations leading to shorter waits in line for rides and attractions, character meet and greets, and the ability to better get you into that restaurant you are dying to try. Congress has a different take. Is this an invasion of privacy? Sure Disney should be allowed to streamline the in park experience of guests but what is the real purpose of this data. If it is used to continually target you in the marketing for all things Disney, then there could be some problems, especially if you are target marketing kids and teenagers.

Below is a link to a pdf of a letter a Massachusetts sent to Disney CEO Walt Disney asking some very blunt and serious question regarding Disney's end game with MyMagic+. It's worth the read.

Congressional Questions Asked Of Bob Iger Regarding MyMagic+

Bob Iger Gets A Raise

The Two Guys Who Run The Walt Disney Company
A Disney Photo

I was fortunate last year - got promoted to a new position and also got a cost of living raise along with a little bit of a company performance bonus. Maybe the whole thing totaled out to 8 or 9 percent. Not bad considering the economy continues to spurt and stumble along. 

Bob Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company got a raise last year too. He got a little more than I did. Bob's annual compensation package moved up from a little over $33 million a year to a bit over $40 million last year. Bob's raise was about 20%. Nice. It's also nice that Disney had one of its most successful years in recent memory with both profits and stock prices well up. The massive success of Cars Land and DCA, the huge box office receipts from the Avengers, and the purchase of LucasFilm Ltd were all feathers in Iger's cap which led to large deposits in the bank accounts.

Bob is set to gracefully exit Disney in 2015. Chances are he will not have to pick up a part time job as a greeter at Wal-Mart to make ends meet when he retires.

Disney Infinity - Maybe This Time

If there is one part of the massive Walt Disney Company that badly lags behind the rest it is the Gaming division. Video games and online gaming are hugely popular and profitable when the gaming creations hit the all right notes and deliver a product the public can't get enough of. Disney is kind of a niche player in the world of gaming, picking up their fans with the Epic Mickey games and Pirates of the Caribbean Online but so far Disney games just haven't produced the kind of mass appeal Disney is looking for. Enter Disney Infinity.

With Disney Infinity, many of the most popular Disney and Pixar characters, primarily from the world of movies, come together is various playing scenarios. In a world like this, Disney wins by bringing films, home video, consumer products, and many other aspects of the company into living rooms everywhere - providing the game can prove popular with a wide range of ages. Disney Infinity looks like it is set to release in June on all gaming platforms. Should prove interesting. Below are videos from John Lasseter promoting the game and the first official trailer.

Reversing The Tide Between Disneyland And DCA

It just dawned on me - I'm a little slow sometimes admittedly - but for the first time in maybe years, there is absolutely no construction projects going on in Disney California Adventure park. The new and improved version of the park sucks up guests like there's no tomorrow and treats them to a theme park experience unencumbered by unsightly walls, scaffolding, heavy equipment, and workers in hard hats. Not that improvements couldn't be made but for now, Disney is quite pleased with the park that they have sunk over a billion dollars into over the last couple of years.

But Disney, at least for now, is not resting on its laurels. The attention has turned to the grand old lady herself - Disneyland. Let's look what's going on now and what is about to transpire:

• Construction of the new Princessess Fantasy Faire Village
• Rebuilding of the old Fantasyland Theater for new live shows
• Large Scale Refurbishment of Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Final refurbishment of the Alice in Wonderland exterior.
• Transformation of the Market House into a Starbucks
• And coming soon (hopefully), the announcement of Disneyland's Iron Man attraction

Walt said Disneyland would never be finished and he was right on. Disney charges a premium price for their theme park experience. To sit back and collect high priced admission receipts while doing nothing would be the height of corporate laziness (which sometimes could be seen in past Disney corporate regimes). Disney wants as much of their fans discretionary spending dollars as they can get and to get it, they need to continue to deliver the goods and flat out be better than everyone else in doing it.

Walt Disney and Toys For Tots - A Christmas Story

In  Los Angeles, CA back in 1947, a woman named Diane Hendricks hand crafted a Raggedy Ann type doll and asked her husband Bill to it donate to a charity where it could be given as a gift to a needy child at Christmas. As the story goes, Bill told Diane that he was unable to find a charitable organization that was set up to do that sort of distribution. Diane told Bill that maybe he should start one and so Bill Hendricks set up Toys for Tots but he needed help. Bill was a Major in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He had a ready made work force of hard working (but big hearted) volunteers - namely the U.S. Marines who were in the reserves. 

Being a reservist in the Marine Corps was Bill's weekend job. Monday through Friday, Bill Hendricks was Director of Public Relations at Warner Bros. Studios. Bill knew some well known celebrities and entertainers who he could enlist as supporters for his Toys For Tots project and one of those he sought some support from was Walt Disney. Walt designed the original Toys for Tots logo that is still used to this day and ever since Walt's initial support for the Toys for Tots charity, the Walt Disney Company has continued to be a major proponent of this most worthy charitable foundation.

What began locally in Los Angeles in 1947 grew nationally in 1948, distributing toys to thousands of needy children in every community where the Marine Reservist were based. Toys for Tots has continued to distribute toys to children every Christmas since 1948 at to date has distributed more than 450 million toys to children.

Toys for Tots sits extremely high as a worthy and reputable charitable organization by those who watch where charities distribute their donations. It has never wavered from its original purpose for distributing toys to those in need at Christmas just as Bill and Diane Hendricks wished. So like Walt did many years ago, support the U.S. Marine Corps and their Toys for Tots Christmas drive. You will be glad you did. Giving to others, especially those less fortunate than ourselves, is kind of what Christmas is all about.