Disney Parks fans had never been more ecstatic than upon entering the 2022 D23 Expo.
Disney’s semi-annual conference has long been a banner day for fans of Disney Parks, and especially over the preceding decade, had become the event of odd-numbered years. With its biggest fans in attendance, the weekend-culiminating, multi-hour Parks Presentation has always been part wedding, part funeral; a place for big announcements, splashy cameos, and concept art reveals that leave fans stunned and speculating.
Given that the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic had seen the face of Disney Parks forever changed by cancelled projects, lost perks, and new upcharges, the 2022 Parks Panel was viewed by many as a chance to see what lay ahead for a rebounding division of the company… and under the leadership of franchise-focused (and now fired) CEO Bob Chapek, IP infusions across the resorts seemed inevitable. Fans merely crossed their fingers that, post-COVID, the projects announced at the Expo would match the ambition of former CEO Bob Iger’s splashiest, like the billion-dollar reimagining of California Adventure, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Cars Land, and Pandora: The World of Avatar.
But no one expected the news that fans actually left the Parks Presentation with: nothing.
Though Disney’s Parks Chairman, Josh D’Amaro, took the multi-hour window to provide status updates on some (but not all) projects already in the works, re-affirmed plans for a (scaled back) Avengers E-Ticket at California Adventure and a Princess and the Frog reimagining of Splash Mountain, and spoke at length about new meet-and-greets, merchandise, and promotional shows planned for Disney’s parks during 2023 and 2024, fans left the Presentation with zero new projects announced.
That’s surprising for a few reasons. One is certainly that with skyrocketing prices, increasingly incomprehensible complexity, and slashed perks galore, online sentiment has turned against Disney World since 2020. Industry insiders warn that Disney’s post-pandemic cash-in on formerly-free services (like airport transportation, FastPass, package pick-up, resort parking, and MagicBands) may be a smart move for the quarter, but that long-term, the moves have soured word of mouth and ensured that over the next few years, Disney will doubtlessly see a major drop-off in bookings.
But the lack of anything new announced at D23 is also surprising because it means Disney isn’t worried about Epic Universe at all. Think about it – Disney is notoriously slow when it comes to developing new attractions. As an extreme example, though the pandemic surely slowed its construction, Magic Kingdom’s Modern Marvel: TRON Lightcycle Run was announced in July 2017 and was just barely be ready to open in Spring 2023 – nearly six years later (even excepting a three-month outright pause and a company-wide slow-down during the pandemic).
That means that if Disney were going to have anything ready to debut alongside 2025’s Epic Universe, it would’ve needed to have been announced in… well… let’s just say, Disney won’t have anything ready to meet Epic Universe head on. If Disney broke ground on a new E-Ticket just after the conclusion of the D23 Expo in September 2022, it surely wouldn’t be ready until 2026 or later.
Disney Indifference
You can see why everyone wishes that Disney had leapt into action at the idea of Epic Universe. For Universal fans, it would’ve been confirmation that the third gate project really is a substantial move that could shift the gravity in Orlando; for Disney fans, it would show that the company can still rally around its theme parks post-pandemic and continue the build-outs that EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom so desperately need.
So… why isn’t Disney worried about Epic Universe? Here’s our thinking…
1. Disney’s current leaders just aren’t theme park people
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, Michael Eisner embraced Disney’s theme parks as an untapped gold mine; a “secret weapon” in the company’s arsenal that, when empowered with big budgets, pop culture presence, and new technologies, could become global destinations and feel-good public relations centers. Eisner really seemed to love the parks both personally and professionally, and that reflected in his early work with them.
Eisner built out not just the capacities and contents of Disney’s theme parks, but the infrastructure that supports them –the hotels, restaurants, architecture, services, perks, and systems. Eisner oversaw international expansion, park-to-resort transformations, and big, bold ideas for what “Disney” could be – from winners like the Disney Cruise Line and Disney Vacation Club, to bold, ambitious losers like DisneyQuest and the Disney Institute. But every step of the way, the parks were one of his focuses.
Bob Iger took up that cause, too – albeit, at first, by having to right the wrongs of Eisner’s last few mistakes. After that, Iger seemed to see how his own legacy – acquisition and growth – could be reflected in the parks. Hence the 2000s and 2010s being an era of incredible investment and – for better or worse – Pixarification. Iger saw the parks as “brand deposits,” endeavoring to exceed Universal’s Wizarding World watermark with unprecedented expansions, culminating in Galaxy’s Edge and his own legacy marker: Shanghai Disneyland, embodying his focus on Disney Parks as company landmarks.
By comparison, Bob Chapek seems to view Disney’s theme parks very differently. In part because he arrived at the Parks via the division’s merger with Consumer Products (through which he arose), Chapek is viewed as a reactive leader who relies heavily on data rather than creative intuition. It makes sense for a data-driven manager from Consumer Products to see the parks through the lens of being “brand loyalty centers” – a divisional bucket whose best use is to collect content from Disney + Pixar + Marvel + Star Wars. And hey, from a company-wide perspective, that’s not an inherently wrong way to view Disney’s theme parks… but it does feel short-sighted.
Franchise-focused and laser-set on reorganizing Disney as a tech-first entertainment company with streaming, merchandising, and licensing at the forefront, Chapek just didn’t seem very interested in Disney’s theme parks… at least, not beyond the notion that they could be franchised and monetized. That’s why operational efficiency and per-capita spending de facto replaced guest satisfaction as the Parks’ metric; it’s why Chapek’s team plainly stated that fewer Annual Passholders and more “favorable guests” who spend more money on each visit is the goal.
Sure, Chapek’s surprise ouster in November 2022 and the jaw-dropping return of Bob Iger has seen slight tweaks to the parks (like the return of free parking for hotel guests and loosened Park Reservation requirements), but this is still a company reeling from the pandemic, seeking to make streaming profitable, and looking to the parks to squeeze every cent they can from a revenue-generator.
Put simply, those who follow the Walt Disney Company today aren’t particularly surprised that Chapek’s Disney wasn’t proactive about prepping for Epic Universe, and they shouldn’t be shocked that Iger’s second run at the helm has bigger fish to fry, too. Though Parks fandom is eagerly awaiting the “showdown,” corporate Disney is focused elsewhere.
If Epic Universe ends up making a dent in Disney Parks’ bottom line, then Iger’s successor (whoever that may be) will have to make the decision on whether and how to react. And that “if” brings us to our next reason Disney doesn’t seem too worried…