they should’ve set up a pop up stand with epic merch in the parking lot

I was so disappointed after watching that entire parks panel live I went and watched some EPIC building updates on KZfaq to cheer myself up.

Disney's just lucky they didn't decide to be cheeky and release Epic Universe details this weekend. They have to start talking about it at some point.

It's ironic, isn't it? Every new announcement by Disney just gets me that much more excited for Epic Universe.

Fire Chapek! Preferably out of a cannon.

The Universal executives couldn’t imagine this reality in their wildest dreams. Disney has nothing up their sleeves. Zero. It’s baffling.

Anything that hasn’t been announced now isn’t going to happen by Summer 2025. They’re going to be far behind. They’ve played all their cards since Wizarding World opened with marginal success. New Fantasyland, Frozen/New Soarin/Remy/Cosmic Rewind/more festivals, Toy Story Land/Galaxy’s Edge/Mickey & Minnie, Pandora, new nighttime shows at each park. I’m not sure what they could do at this point to keep up. They’ve chosen to do essentially nothing because people will keep going to WDW even if they reduce their investment in new attractions.

@@wt7553 they will keep comming until they don't. Disney captured people with nostalgia in the past, that is mostly what is feeding the endless popularity no matter what disney does at the moment. However, disney has barely been nesting itself in new peoples minds for comming up 25 years now. That is why "disney fans" are all almost exlusivly middle aged nowdays. That generation is going to fizzle out soon and there is hardly a new generation of dedicated fans to replace them. And even within the random younger public disney no longer holds that nostalgic attraction they had over previous generations. And these people will not be so accepting of their bs because they simply are no longer emotionally invested and will be far more open to concider alternative options to a disney vacation. In the past there have been a lot of people who never went anywhere else other then disney. That is not going to last. Disney is much more vulnrable then people think. Their main cash cows are now reaching their financial peaks, that is why disney is doing so well right now. But they never invested in what should replace them when the current crop ultimatly grows to old and eventually dies off. This cliff is comming, and they now it. That is why they no longer dare to expand to much, not being sure they can still fill the capacity a decade from now. Right about the time the currently hot ip's they are using will be over their peak and inevitably will become old and stale. Disney made some major strategic f ups that is making their future insecure and difficult.

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 Well said and I feel the same .

Attendance dropped significantly at all 4 WDW parks when Universal opened WWOHP. You better bet Disney's attendance will drop significantly again when Epic Universe opens but Disney somehow doesnt seem to care this time.

I noticed that sadly when my boy Kevin Fiege was talking with Josh about the marvel stuff

Hello verified

"

Hulk in the Pym suit enters the chat

pretty sure they had people planted in the crowd to fake cheer

Is there a single light day at Disney ever amidst of all this dystopia era of the Disney theme parks?

@@samhart51 I sure try to keep my hopes up that someday a new dawn will rise over the American Disney parks. However, days like today forces me to think that Pandora and Radiator Springs may be the last of the immersive jaw dropping imagineering we may see for a long time.

@@NeonGhostin I don’t even like Star Wars that much but galaxy’s edge is pretty amazing but that was iger, anything Cheapek made on his own is awful

@@sideeswipe It is, but then again it isn't. Knowing so much more was planned for galaxy edge hurts the mindset going in. For example, Rise of the resistance is a remarkable ride, however guests are FORCE fed characters from Disney's less than popular star wars IP trilogy. When in hindsight, replacing those characters with the original trilogy characters, and suddenly you have a timeless ride that appeals to everyone. And as for smugglers run, I'm sorry but it's very narrow-minded to create another motion based simulator ride based on the same IP on the other side of a wall of another timeless attraction; star tours.

i cried tbh lol

Fog and lights were embarrassing

I give TDR a pass because they’re funded entirely by OLC and Disney doesn’t invest a dime, just their name and IP. Thank Walt that OLC pushed back against the Splash retheme and demanded 3 boat rides and a dark ride for Fantasy Springs.

i genuinely laughed out loud when i read kid’s birthday party entertainment because it’s so sad yet true disney is becoming an overpriced birthday party

And on top of that it's going to take 2 years to create. C'mon it's not even a complete new ride. Universal can build a whole new park in 4 years.

Splash mountain should just stay period end of Story People on that ride today are clueless as to the issue surrounding it with it's so called racist connections. How in the hell does a log flume ride become racist? It has one of the largest followings. If princess and the frog is the popular where it needs its own ride do just that. Make a new one. Don't steel an exciting one and make it look like a tyco glue together model Horrible decision and Disney is going to see a huge backlash from it .

And that’s saying something cause last time they had that weird target segment

I agree

I guess it's tough to plan too far into the future when your only focus is the next earnings call.

You can't really blame the parks division board though. I'm sure they'd love to open new attractions every year across the multiple sites but they aren't the one who set the budgets sadly.

D23 is veering into straight up gaslighting territory.

They'd rather have something that is forever "coming soon!" to make guests want to come back, instead of having to build more new rides. The entire construction site is over a half decade of kinetic clickbait.

Absolutely. And dont forget iron gwazi at busch tampa and while not at that level seaworld opened icebreaker and will prob have another new coaster next year.

@@tomm2213 seaWorld is actually building a new stand up coaster it’s gonna be themed to penguins

@@MoiveGuy24 you are talking about the surf coaster from B&M right? I don't think it has been confirmed yet to be a stand up type model.

@@FanThemePark you can verify it’s a new type of standup in one of their newer teaser videos.

My room seemed to be covered in black mold.

Where'd you stay? I stayed at Pop Century the other week and the room was pristine.

My Uber said she worked at one of the hotels and talked how sometimes they would need mattresses from other hotels and that cast members would know not to get mattresses from the value resorts due to the amount of bed bugs.

The news about Tiana's bayou ride has me dreading the final results. I fear it's going to be another Mickey's Crazy ride or whatever the hell it is they replaced the Great Movie ride with and it is essentially, screen projections and cheap theme park style backdrops. Every time I think about saving money to come back, I run into news like this and I despair. I will not pay $300+ a night for moderate resort hotel rooms when I'll get six flags style birthday entertainment in return with Disney's intellectual IPs slapped onto it. (I will not stay at a value resort - I saw the new rooms and I got claustrophobic just looking at them). And to think it was $300+ a night to stay at a Deluxe Resort at *least* a decade ago.

@@Photo0021 Pop. I've stayed at pop around 15 times, but the last 3 the rooms were musty and actually the most recent triggered an asthma attack for my wife and eldest daughter. We left pop and stayed half at Carribean Beach and half at the Poly. I won't return to pop, unfortunately.

love his honesty, but it is worth stating that most people working inside the parks actually do care that you are having a good time

@@buster5661 - That is a very good reminder.

Luckily i am not one of them MIDDLE FINGER TO DISNEY from yours truly 🖕 Only cowards with no soul get bought off!

@@buster5661 yes so true. I think he is talking about the people at the helm.

Love watching his descent to the dark (enlightened) side of the unfortunate Disney machine.

Yup 💯 love Brayden 💕

wdw news today is also good

💯💯💯

Your last sentence is it. Disney is scared and they should be

I think they plan to do it. And they have to, in order to compete. Hopefully it’ll open before 2050

For real it’s so embarrassing and then the brain dead Disney sympathizer are like “everyone’s being so negative thank you *cough cough DSNY Newscast* for spewing out utter bullshit”

Exactly!!!! This was straight up gaslighting. “What if we do this? What if we do that?”. And then you realize they’re just spitballing! None of this is real! They have zero to announce except for the groundbreaking mist coming to the Tiana attraction, but Josh presented it as if he was announcing lots of new things. Just an embarrassing panel. He should have just announced churros are back again.

@@chanilerner6410 Glad I wasn’t the only one that picked up on that. And do they honestly need yet another cruise ship? I realize it’s all the same creative department under Imagineering but it feels completely separate from the parks. I’m sure there’s a small amount of people at D23 that go specifically to hear that but I think most fans who attend are there for the parks.

i only trust brayden and wdw news today

I’ve already seen videos proclaiming Zootopia is coming to AK and Villains to MK.

@@buster5661 WDW News announced the fake “what if” plans as breaking news definitely coming to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom 🤦‍♀️ I wonder if they’ll walk it back.

@@buster5661 Yes.. but I was disappointed that Tom from WDW News Today said positive things about D23 and couldn’t believe the negative posts

The Tron coaster looks suspiciously like a knockoff of Hagrid's....

Honestly, apart from supply shortages, construction is less subject to such issues than most other areas of work. Even without a pandemic, there's a lot of areas of a project where you're not allowed by regulation to have people working to close together anyways.

Kennedy Space Center is stepping up. In terms of food and experience are definitely worth the price.

Disney has become just another run of the mill corperation as people who originally worked with walt and other members of the disney family disapear from living memory.. Nothing of what set disney apart in the entertainment industry in the past still exists within the company anymore. There no longer is a difference between disney or any other multinationals. This is the future, old disney is never comming back again, no matter how much people keep hoping for a miracle.

Same. If I do head to Florida for another family vacation it'll be in 2025 when Epic Universe opens back up. Disney just doesn't seem to be worth it for us right now. I'm hopeful Disney steps up its game by then, but at this point Disney seems to be happy just coasting on decades of built up nostalgia. Any veneer they had to cover up the fact that they're just a multinational corporation out to get your money seems to be stripping off faster than one of their blue sky ideas gets budget cut into oblivion.

I envision a huge redo like DCA went thru in the future to clean up this hodge podge mess they have made

@@Gregon001 Couldn't agree more 👍

i was expecting a release date for the reopening of the magic kingdom train.....

The speed of construction on Universal projects sure does put the speed of construction on Disney projects to shame.

I agree with 3. They have the ride done and working on pavement now which doesn’t take long to do. It should be done in November not in the spring of 2023. I am going to Disneyworld in January and I can’t ride Tron yet a few months later

I really wanted them to build a really cool festival pavilion for Epcot instead of them rebuilding innoventions west

Yea the date for Tron really shocked me. Was really thinking it would be open for this holiday season. They’ve been doing testing with actual riders for awhile now. How is it still 6 months away. Moana also shouldn’t take a year.

My friend works high up. The woke cult has virtually destroyed the company. The new hires know nothing and are only there to fulfill an inclusivity quota. no one actually works on anything other than meetings about their feelings and how awful republicans are.

I am not 100% positive, but it think Universal may have them beat on the timeline. Even so, that tells you something right there.

Yes, and that ride is a clone and doesn’t have any theming.

It makes sense for Disney to target the Hispanic demographic for their parks.

I agree. I was a cast member many years ago and still live near the parks and go frequently and just cannot believe the change in cast behavior and attitude in general. I understand it’s not all of them and we still encounter fabulous cast members all the time. But the overall impression is too often unenthusiastic, bothered, and sometimes lazy and sloppy.

The “Fifth Key” enables cast members to act however they want and show up to work looking like however they want. Disney will 100% back a nasty CM with an attitude over a guest with a legitimate concern these days.

The contrast between my 1st visit to Disneyland in 1976 and now is heart breaking.

Vivid imagery. Also, you’re not wrong!

I have a feeling that not as many people will travel in 2023 as in 2022. It seems like WDW is wanting to decrease its attendance in its parks instead of increasing attractions to accommodate more people. It doesn’t appear that they want to expand the parks which is disappointing because in order to validate spending an exorbitant amount of money, it would be helpful to have some new attractions for those of us who have gone numerous times over the years. Maybe they believe that making Disney Plus a priority will help with building brand recognition and popularity with the youth of today and therefore keep their brand sought after in the future. I believe they could do so much more in the parks if they wanted too. I mean look how amazing animal kingdom is. If they believe focusing on Disney Plus and IP in the parks is vital for their future, then they need to pay attention to what the youth responds. In reverse order 1) An Encanto attraction is a no brainer but i think its more suited for Epcot. 2) Frozen was so undeniably popular they really should have representation in the Magic Kingdom. 3) me and my 22 year old daughter would love to see Repunzel represented in MK. 4) A villains or marvel based fifth park would be amazing and would have a multigenerational appeal.

Hopefully some leadership will lose their jobs

We got a release window and some footage

They have got to have something new to get people to come back in 2023. 50th will be over, maybe they can suck a few visitors from Universal.

Universal, Sea World & even Busch up the "street".

Even busch? We had a great time there! Once epic opens, and if when the high speed rail connects orlanda and tampa w a station down the road from epic and seaworld, the theme park scene in fl will look very different.

Universal is building an entire new park but has barely announced anything. Interesting to see the difference.

@@SarahSmith-ff6yy Universal didn’t even acknowledge Velocicoaster (it’s a churro stand!) until construction was virtually finished.

@@universaldorks7478 Exactly! That was so great! Best churro stand ever. 😂

Forget walt. He is out of living memory within the company. He has become a marketing mascotte for disney now because they know he hits fans in the feelers. But that is what he is now, just another mickey mouse or princess. Just another character completely seperated from his vision and values. They no longer hold any value within the company, people need to accept that.

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 Exactly. Some people got really excited when they added that Walt intro to Enchantment, but I saw it as nothing more than an easy nostalgia grab. This is not Walt’s company. It’s Disney in name only.

AND YES : HIDEOUS barges, indeed..!! Please DO NOT KEEP THEM! 😞

Yep! While I was watching the event live I kept thinking to myself I can’t wait to hear what Brayden has to say because surely he sees what I am seeing which is lackluster at best. I mean the awkward amount of times cheering didn’t happen was almost funny. I feel Brayden is honest and fair while still loving the parks.

They announced 5 new rides for WDW not sure why you’re so upset? You’re just assuming they’re gonna cancel them?

@@btafbm What rides were announced?

@@btafbm yeah its a letdown. Just new areas for ideas. Its all bluesky

@@btafbm what rides???? you counting Tron as a new announcement???

@@btafbm excuse!? But did you watch the same presentation we did!? They didn’t announce any new rides 😂

Same here. It was so disrespectful and disingenuous.

My friend works high up. The woke cult has virtually destroyed the company. The new hires know nothing and are only there to fulfill an inclusivity quota. no one actually works on anything other than meetings about their feelings and how awful republicans are.

That’s what I don’t understand. If they are worried about Epic Universe why are their no big shovel ready projects under construction? It seems like they are dragging Tron out so it can be closer to Epic Universe opening. LOL

To be fair, let’s not forget this was all started by Iger and dumped in Chapek’s lap.

It will be Tiana's Garbage dump

It's simply more important to be woke and virtue signal. That's what disney is known for these days. As is said in a different thread, it's complete disrespect for James Baskett, considering he was the first black actor to win an Oscar for this "racist" film

I do think those are appropriate elements of a ride that is meant to feel like a swamp, If they were pitching a new Star Wars ride through Dagobah , that would be a far more appropriate set up. Now that I say that, that could be an awesome ride. I'd definitely go ride the crap out of that.

@@jeffkearney3932 I wish people would watch the film before coming to their own conclusions, it's far less clear cut than most people would have folks believe. People forget how important Blaxploitation films were for the advancement of black actors, and those were far more racist than SotS was.

👏🐱

Yes, but Jungle Book was Walt's project, and Walt wasn't woke.

I wished they'd build the Tiana ride there, and refurbish Splash and leave it in place.

Ya I have a week booked at the hard rock at Universal where normally I'd stay at Disney and then do a couple days at Universal parks. This time I'm ignoring disney completely. While the price increases haven't priced me out... yet I can't support this nonsense. Especially fucking up splash mountain for fog and screens. And the way they are completely ignoring the memory of James Baskett (uncle Remus) just to score woke points. Oh and free fast passes from Universal aren't to bad either!

...that's why we're going to be staying at Surfside and doing Halloween Horror Nights, although this latest D23 Expo was a horror show of its own! 😵‍💫😬

I am looking forward to most cancelling disney plus once our current subscription is up this fall.

Universal's decade to win!

Same for me. I used to spend thousands of dollars every year to go to the parks, buy merchandise, watch movies, etc. I did that for 40 years. Now they are getting virtually nothing from me. Universal has gotten my money lately.

already is showing. the attendance in Florida should worry these directors.

I’m going in January as well and talked to my mom how excited I was about from. But. Womp womp. Not surprised I won’t get to ride it. But man. Come on Disney!!! Get with the program.

@@deo3367 Honestly I'm even more grumpy about Journey of water. I'm going down 3 years apart to the same walls in Epcot. Thought for CERTAIN the landscaping walkthrough at least would be finished. The walls are depressing.

@@JasonStJohnRules the most depressing part is there isn’t even a hint of a discount on tickets at a park that is half under construction.

I'm sorry to hear that Jason. At this point, I would give up on Disney and look elsewhere for fun. I ditched the Mouse in 2019 when they priced me right out the window. I tried booking a 3 day vacation and the sticker shock was so bad that i cancelled everything. I picked up the phone and called their rival Universal. Spent four days there and tried to see as much as I could. And it WAS fun. And the price was nowhere near what Disney was demanding. I've pushed Disney out of my mind for good. They will never see me set foot in their parks again. I really really hope Epic Universe opens on time and without very many hiccups. If it does, Disney is finished. But then, I don't feel sorry for them. They and their hilarious mismanagers will never learn....

Much better than Adam the Woo's coverage of the parks panel.