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Credit: Inside the MagicIf you’ve been keeping up with the coverage on Inside the Magic, you’ll have already heard a lot being said about the D23 reveals. Disney has promised several new additions for the Disney Parks, many of which have already been instated. However, some are still up in the air.
Appropriately called “blue sky” ideas, the company has announced concepts and ideas and shown blueprints and visualizations for such projects. However, they’ve barely even broken ground on many new features reportedly coming to the Disney Parks. Is this just part of the hype train?
Disney Parks Bait Guests with Pie-Crust Promises
It’s no secret that Disney has been struggling with its audience over the past two years, with some criticizing the company for “going woke” in the name of publicity. However, Destination D23 was full of announcements and plans that demonstrate Disney still knows what its consumers love.
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That being said, out of the announcements made, only a handful have truly come to pass. Figment is now meetable at EPCOT, and the Hatbox Ghost is reportedly already being installed at Disney World’s Haunted Mansion, but the rest are all concepts and blueprints. What’s going on?
An article from the Orlando Sentinel shared an interesting observation with the Disney Dish Podcast,
“Disney did it perhaps to stoke fan engagement or to acknowledge competition with Universal Orlando, they said. They questioned when, or if, the projects could make it into Disney World but said they align with the company’s growing efforts to bring more TV and movie content into its theme parks.”
As hard as it might be for some fans to swallow, this quote raises a very sobering point. Can Disney deliver, or have we all been suckered into one giant marketing ploy?
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It might seem hard to believe initially, but consider what’s happening at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Already, Dinoland has gone the way of the dodo to make room for experiences inspired by Moana, Encanto, and Zootopia, but Destination D23’s announcements saw certain aspects trimmed down.
Zootopia went from an entire Park area to just a show at the Tree of Life, replacing It’s Tough to Be a Bug, and the Family Madrigal feels more EPCOT-worthy than Animal Kingdom. That might be a little biased coming from a self-proclaimed Zootopia fan like this writer, but it feels like a sudden left turn.
If Disney is willing to tease at one thing, promise another, and then reveal something entirely different, it makes them look highly untrustworthy. In the words of Mary Poppins, it’s a pie crust promise, easily made and easily broken.
This news doesn’t come without a glimmer of hope, as Park Chairman Josh D’Amaro reassured fans with the following statement.
“They are very real. They are very serious discussions that I’m having with our teams about the future of our parks and experiences…”
While the Disney company was founded on dreams, wishes, and intentions, it takes more than planning to get things in motion. Will they deliver on all the grand and glorious things promised at the recent event? Only time will tell.
Is Disney good on their word, or are we all being sucked into a giant marketing ploy? Tell Inside the Magic what you think in the comments below!