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Happy Birthday to you, and you,
and you, and you...
While the 55th anniversary celebration in 2010 will be a festive
jumping off point to the big new Anaheim offerings of 2011 and 2012, the year
2009 will be the calm before the storm. While attendance has taken a noticeably
dip in recent weeks, the Celebrate campaign will probably just be a rather
pleasant diversion in an otherwise quiet year.
The one wild card factor for
Anaheim however is that free birthday ticket gimmick. Originally, TDA's marketing
department (that is famously out of touch with the operation of the park) had
estimated that approximately 300,000 people would sign up on the Disney website
for free admission on their birthday at Disneyland. But as of early November,
the number has
already surpassed 800,000 individual registrations! And that's even before the
media campaign kicks off in full force, as it will closer to January.
What has
yet to be determined is just how many of those people will actually show up on
their birthday for a free ticket, and just how many people they will bring with
them to buy a full-price ticket on their special day. The numbers for WDW's free
tickets aren't nearly as strong as Disneyland, so this could be a case where the
national marketing campaign significantly drives new attendance for Disneyland
while WDW doesn't see much of a bump.
Think Tink; Again
The one other item headed to Disneyland, in addition to the new entertainment
and collateral for the Celebrate campaign, is the continued reworking of
Fantasmic!. The show returned from a ten week refurbishment recently looking
better than ever. The original 70mm film projectors were replaced with new
digital units at a cost of over $780,000. Even with the occasional software
glitches, they have
brought such clarity and brightness to the original footage that people who
watch the show regularly are now noticing images and details they've never seen
before. None of that footage is new, it's just been so murky that you had no
idea those were supposed to be flowers in the opening sequence, or that Tinker
Bell herself flits around the mist screens prior to the grand finale.
The show
will close again for three months later this winter, and that's when the massive
new dragon will debut (named "Bucky" by the Technical Services Cast Members that
run the show), along with snaking Flotsam and Jetsam characters zipping around
on hidden jet skis when Ursula appears on screen.
The old projectors were not as
clear
During recent Fantasmic! rehearsals, a
live Tinker Bell character was used in the finale pass of the Mark Twain, with
the famous pixie sitting on a glittery flower at the front of the boat where the
Little Mermaid has sat since the show debuted in 1992. The finale was also to be
reworked to include more Pixar characters on the Mark Twain, with the Little
Green Army Men characters joining Buzz and Woody at the stern of the ship
instead of Clarabelle Cow and Pluto.
Tink's better visibility is a lucky coincidence, as she is
scheduled to play heavily into the local marketing campaign for the park this
summer. Dubbed "Tinker Bell's Summer Nights at Disneyland", the campaign will
feature the now chatty fairy playing, eating and dancing the night away at Disneyland with all
her pals. In a nod to the old Date Nites at Disneyland, the dining,
dancing and summertime fun to be had when the sun goes down will be used to
invite locals to the par this summer.
It's hoped that the Tinker Bell campaign
can lure more locals to the park this summer, particularly if they've cancelled
their usual out of town summer vacations due to worries about the economy.
A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow
While the economic clouds still look rather dark for 2009, it might be of
interest to you to understand just what all of this gloomy news means
for the ambitious plans set forth for Anaheim back in '06 and '07. The short
answer remains, "not much". The Billion dollar budget for DCA was not only
secured well over a year ago, but those wily Imagineers who couldn't believe
their luck at such a windfall have very wisely already divided up that money
into smaller approved budgets. Back in '07 that type of thinking was driven
mostly out of concern that an unforeseen change in executive leadership might
force a rethink of the lavish DCA budget. But as it turns out, Iger and Lasseter
are still very much in control, and it's the rest of the world that has been
thrown into chaos lately.
In short, as far as the Board of Directors and rules of corporate governance
are concerned, WDI has already spent the money for DCA's makeover for fiscal
years 2009 through 2012. It is funding that has already been used as far as the
sharp pencil boys are concerned, whether they like it or not. And that's a good
thing not just long term, but for the short term also. The Blue Sky Cellar
preview center has proved to be extremely popular with DCA visitors, with up to
2,000 people per day visiting the exhibit. Clearly the concept of remaking and
rethemeing much of the current struggling park has resonated with that park's
visitors. Even on slow weekdays, hundreds file through the center in
the afternoons.
Now there is a couple hundred million left over from that DCA budget that was
to be allocated to get Phase Two projects in Hollywood and around Grizzly River
Run off the ground that would extend out to 2013-15. But as for the money to be
used for everything announced to open through the summer of 2012, that money is
not only secure, but it has already all been spent. Only something akin to a
global economic meltdown that would rewrite corporate spending protocols could
reign in that DCA money now.
The other big projects being proposed at other
Disney parks, from Disneyland's Tomorrowland remake to WDW's Fantasyland remake
are on less stable financial ground. And there have already been sizeable
cutbacks to some WDW projects given the green light, like the original dramatic
and expensive remake of the Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain that at last glance
had just become a much smaller lighting and props package, with a lightly
remodeled queue and loading area.
My thought is that Disney is wise to hold off on big new
investments now, especially out at WDW where they are seeing their attendance,
hotel occupancy and guest spending being hit harder than Disneyland so far. But
that money for DCA was approved so long ago that WDI basically spent it all
before Burbank could change their mind. Tony Baxter is still firmly in control
of Disneyland's creative direction however, while Bob Weis remains very busy
with DCA. Tony knows that eventually the economic logjam up in Burbank will
break and some of his lavish plans for Anaheim will get the green light. In the
meantime, he is keeping busy with smaller projects like the Castle walkthrough
and his new Opera House proposal.
But he does know that TDA isn't building a giant new parking
structure just for the opening of Cars Land. ;)
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