Disney News, Discussion & an Element of Fun - 2024 Edition

[AquaDame]

Big (non-Disney) news from Japan: Donkey Kong area of USJ, originally scheduled to open sometime this Spring, now delayed until late this year. Curious as to what caused the delay, been very quiet over there and we don't have the benefit of a Bioreconstruct flying over regularly to provide updates.

Good news for us... I'd been tempted to delay our flight north a day to be able to see it this July, but decided the heat wouldn't be worth it. Not I really have no regrets!

 

[curse reversed]

This may have been mentioned here before and I just missed it and I don't know whether it can accommodate luggage but LYNX is going to start a limited-stop service from MCO to DS on Sunday. If nothing else it will be a lot cheaper than Mears and may not take all that much longer.
https://www.golynx.com/core/filepar...Px9v7_omvFOfQoG89TNO1DouwejgZnHoHHso-ydQNJjo9

 

[OKW Lover]

This may have been mentioned here before and I just missed it and I don't know whether it can accommodate luggage but LYNX is going to start a limited-stop service from MCO to DS on Sunday. If nothing else it will be a lot cheaper than Mears and may not take all that much longer.
https://www.golynx.com/core/filepar...Px9v7_omvFOfQoG89TNO1DouwejgZnHoHHso-ydQNJjo9

This route will be a grand tour of Orlando. And once you get to Disney Springs, what then? You can't take luggage on Disney transportation (and it might not fit on the Lynx bus either) so you are stuck with a ride-share to get to your hotel. This will wind up taking a lot longer than Mears.

 

[ellbell]

This may have been mentioned here before and I just missed it and I don't know whether it can accommodate luggage but LYNX is going to start a limited-stop service from MCO to DS on Sunday. If nothing else it will be a lot cheaper than Mears and may not take all that much longer.
https://www.golynx.com/core/filepar...Px9v7_omvFOfQoG89TNO1DouwejgZnHoHHso-ydQNJjo9

As stated above the Lynx bus probably won't be all that helpful unless you're only travelling with a backpack. Even if it did accommodate luggage Disney buses don't.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I found this interesting opinion piece on WDWMagic Forums, which resonates with my view on Bob Iger:

In my opinion, Bob Iger cared about short term investments and successes and never bothered to consider what would happen if people stopped caring about Star Wars or the MCU. Nothing lasts forever.

However, the biggest issue is that he completely stripped the soul out Disney and I think people started to notice it, too much focus on franchises, too much focus on sequels, too much focus on remakes, and his biggest mistake was abandoning Disney's biggest legacy, which is hand drawn animation, now there's nothing that makes them more special and unique than other animation studios that make the same bland CGI movies. Disney under Walt and during the Renaissance used to be innovative, they are no longer trying and they have become tired. They no longer tell stories, but rather they're here to sell you a product, and this is why people are bored and unenamored with the company.

Can Disney recover? Yes, but I don't see it happening under the current leadership. There needs to be a major change and unfortunately Roy Disney isn't here to organize another "Save Disney" campaign.

 

[OKW Lover]

I found this interesting opinion piece on WDWMagic Forums, which resonates with my view on Bob Iger:

I think whoever wrote the opinion piece has it totally wrong. Buying those franchises was absolutely a long-term strategy. Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar - they are all still with us and major assets for TDC. Will their attraction fade at some point? Maybe, but not in the short term. After all, Mickey is still going strong after his debut in 1928.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think whoever wrote the opinion piece has it totally wrong. Buying those franchises was absolutely a long-term strategy. Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar - they are all still with us and major assets for TDC. Will their attraction fade at some point? Maybe, but not in the short term. After all, Mickey is still going strong after his debut in 1928.

But there is fatigue surrounding them with Marvel and Star Wars and they eventually recognized that too with pausing on projects. With Pixar it did fantastic for a good while but has had its own issues recently with public opinion (warranted or not just that has occurred).

I love nearly all the Marvel movies (and the tv shows are pretty good too) but they've pretty well saturated the market for them. I no longer am all that excited for them and have skipped out on seeing ones in theaters which I never used to do. Black Widow didn't see in theaters waiting a long time to see it, sequel to Doctor Strange same, waited a long time to see it, haven't watched season 2 of Loki, never finished Hawkeye nor She-Hulk, etc. I just simply got bored and also it's tedious to try and keep track of what happened. I enjoy interconnected movies but not ones that I need to remember what happened 15 movies ago. I mean there are 33 of just the movies right now with more coming (I think that's the current number) many of them building off each other. It's...a lot...

And with Star Wars I like them including the newer ones...but still it's a lot being added. I feel like I can't watch Obi-Wan and Ahsoka because it would require too much prior knowledge and viewing of shows (like Clone Wars). I did watch Mandalorian (probably the main one well received for Star Wars shows) so I at least knew of the character. Even the sequel to Doctor Strange it was recommended to have watched specific episodes of What If and I agree had I not watched those two or three recommended I would have been confused.

I more read that opinion piece (and not saying I'm 100% agreeing with it) as owning a franchise and what you do with it. I think once they purchased them building off of Iron Man with Marvel for example they might have saw more short term profit by pumping more and more and more of them out and then the idea of tv shows sounds cool and would agree Loki and Wanda as the standouts to that but then more were done and more keep being added. And while Marvel and Star Wars have such amazing opportunities to tell endless stories a focus on creating as much content as possible in a short enough time (relatively speaking) could be seen as a short-term viewpoint.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I think whoever wrote the opinion piece has it totally wrong. Buying those franchises was absolutely a long-term strategy. Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar - they are all still with us and major assets for TDC. Will their attraction fade at some point? Maybe, but not in the short term. After all, Mickey is still going strong after his debut in 1928.

But buying 21st Century Fox is most likely to be short-term, since Disney bought it just to compete in streaming, which might not last forever. They should sell off most of the IP and assets they bought from 21CF. But it isn’t too late for Disney to just sell those off, right? The only Fox IP Disney can keep are X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Avatar, and the first six Star Wars films. Plus, in 2009, four years after the Weinsteins left Disney, Miramax was slowly integrated into the Walt Disney Studios unit, until it was sold off in 2010. It could work, right?

But there is fatigue surrounding them with Marvel and Star Wars and they eventually recognized that too with pausing on projects. With Pixar it did fantastic for a good while but has had its own issues recently with public opinion (warranted or not just that has occurred).

I love nearly all the Marvel movies (and the tv shows are pretty good too) but they've pretty well saturated the market for them. I no longer am all that excited for them and have skipped out on seeing ones in theaters which I never used to do. Black Widow didn't see in theaters waiting a long time to see it, sequel to Doctor Strange same, waited a long time to see it, haven't watched season 2 of Loki, never finished Hawkeye nor She-Hulk, etc. I just simply got bored and also it's tedious to try and keep track of what happened. I enjoy interconnected movies but not ones that I need to remember what happened 15 movies ago. I mean there are 33 of just the movies right now with more coming (I think that's the current number) many of them building off each other. It's...a lot...

And with Star Wars I like them including the newer ones...but still it's a lot being added. I feel like I can't watch Obi-Wan and Ahsoka because it would require too much prior knowledge and viewing of shows (like Clone Wars). I did watch Mandalorian (probably the main one well received for Star Wars shows) so I at least knew of the character. Even the sequel to Doctor Strange it was recommended to have watched specific episodes of What If and I agree had I not watched those two or three recommended I would have been confused.

I more read that opinion piece (and not saying I'm 100% agreeing with it) as owning a franchise and what you do with it. I think once they purchased them building off of Iron Man with Marvel for example they might have saw more short term profit by pumping more and more and more of them out and then the idea of tv shows sounds cool and would agree Loki and Wanda as the standouts to that but then more were done and more keep being added. And while Marvel and Star Wars have such amazing opportunities to tell endless stories a focus on creating as much content as possible in a short enough time (relatively speaking) could be seen as a short-term viewpoint.

Then Marvel and Star Wars should get new creatives in charge. I think Kevin Feige and Kathleen Kennedy need to go. Pixar could start making some more mature features, especially for Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm.

 

[OKW Lover]

But buying 21st Century Fox is most likely to be short-term, since Disney bought it just to compete in streaming, which might not last forever.

Sorry but we disagree again. Disney bought it for the IP. Yes, streaming might go away at some point but it's certainly not short-term.

 

[wabbott]

Sorry but we disagree again. Disney bought it for the IP. Yes, streaming might go away at some point but it's certainly not short-term.

Streaming won't be going away anytime soon. With basically unlimited storage on the cloud and now just about instantaneous download speeds, content spread is now ubiquitous. It will only proliferate. Streaming will be monetized by paid advertising, just like linear broadcast has been for 100 years. Anyone watch any Youtube videos lately and see how many ads you have to wade through to see the content?

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Sorry but we disagree again. Disney bought it for the IP. Yes, streaming might go away at some point but it's certainly not short-term.

Disney bought Fox so it can fill Disney+ and Hulu with Fox's IP. They could sell off most of the Fox IP/assets and instead sign a deal with someone else, like Sony, to boost D+/Hulu. In fact, many film studios are already licensing their content to Hulu.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Anyone watch any Youtube videos lately and see how many ads you have to wade through to see the content?

Tbh I haven't seen a single ad on Youtube for years thanks to Ublock Origin. Sponsorblock is great too for skipping over paid promotions.

 

[BayTower2010]

Disney bought Fox so it can fill Disney+ and Hulu with Fox's IP. They could sell off most of the Fox IP/assets and instead sign a deal with someone else, like Sony, to boost D+/Hulu. In fact, many film studios are already licensing their content to Hulu.

All this talk of Disney selling the Fox IP, who would want it? The only platform would be Nexflix and they surely would not pay much. No, for better or worse, Disney is going to have the FOX IP for the forseeable future.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

All this talk of Disney selling the Fox IP, who would want it? The only platform would be Nexflix and they surely would not pay much. No, for better or worse, Disney is going to have the FOX IP for the forseeable future.

"new" Fox can have 20th Century Studios, Searchlight, and most of the IP and other assets! "new" Fox even owns Tubi, which can be helpful for a revived 20th Century Fox. Go on, disagree with me! I dare ya! I dare ya to disagree with me, or I will throw Bob Iger out the hard way!

And I wasn’t even trying to reply to you in the first place! I was trying to reply to @OKW Lover, but you had to butt in!

 

[soniam]

"new" Fox can have 20th Century Studios, Searchlight, and most of the IP and other assets! "new" Fox even owns Tubi, which can be helpful for a revived 20th Century Fox. Go on, disagree with me! I dare ya! I dare ya to disagree with me, or I will throw Bob Iger out the hard way!

And I wasn’t even trying to reply to you in the first place! I was trying to reply to @OKW Lover, but you had to butt in!

If you want to have a private conversation with someone and to have no input from anyone else, you can start one from the top right of the page. Otherwise, anyone who has a login to this message board can respond to you. A little courtesy could go a long ways.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Tbh I haven't seen a single ad on Youtube for years thanks to Ublock Origin. Sponsorblock is great too for skipping over paid promotions.

That's great. I pay for YT Premium because I hate the ads. I imagine this software wouldn't work on Google TV, though. Would be nice to save the monthly fee

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Well, one Fox acquisition I've been enjoying is FX (streamed via Hulu). Great quality shows, especially Shogun. That miniseries felt like some of the best of HBO

 

[soniam]

Well, one Fox acquisition I've been enjoying is FX (streamed via Hulu). Great quality shows, especially Shogun. That miniseries felt like some of the best of HBO

Shogun is so amazIng!!! I watched the original TV series and read the book as a kid. I read the subtitles, but I do turn up the volume since I have been practicing my Japanese for our June trip. I actually pick some words here and there

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Well, one Fox acquisition I've been enjoying is FX (streamed via Hulu). Great quality shows, especially Shogun. That miniseries felt like some of the best of HBO

Then perhaps Disney could keep (and rename) FX and sell Freeform (to "new" Fox). I mean, Freeform was removed from Spectrum anyway.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Well, one Fox acquisition I've been enjoying is FX (streamed via Hulu). Great quality shows, especially Shogun. That miniseries felt like some of the best of HBO

Shogun is an amazing and expensive show which you can tell that (we still have cable and record it to fast forward through through commercials) but thank goodness Disney themselves isn't trying to be the ones to do it. It needs a grittier production company and people involved. FX also has American Horror Story among other shows.