Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 4196 Location: Sanford, Fl
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:17 am Post subject: Major Disney Announcement Soon!
If you've read the numerous Disney news/rumors sites, you know that Disney has released that they are going to make a major announcement on 9/18:
Disney has sent a mystery invitation out to the media regarding a major new theme park related announcement they will be making on September 18th at noon, somewhere in New York City. As stated in the invitation, “You’re invited to join Disney Parks for a special announcement -- so big we’re bringing the news to New York.” The announcement gets a little strange here as it promotes “New, breakthrough insights about how American families travel will be shared by Peter Yesawich, Chairman & CEO, YPartnership, one of America’s leading travel trend-watchers. Following that, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo will unveil exciting plans for 2009--including a first in the history of the Walt Disney Company.”
My gut instinct is to say that this event could include that long rumored post-Olympic announcement about the new Disney park project for China, in addition to whatever big celebration Disney has planned to roll out to both coasts for 2009. This could be that “Celebrate Today” rumor, though we’ve heard that the focus may be on Disney pushing the big family trip, reunion or large gathering concept once again as part of this.
I also have to wonder if Disney might be ready to make some kind of announcement about that Premium Park concept in development for Walt Disney World, previously being called Disney’s Night Kingdom but has since been changed to Disney’s Jungle Trek. Anyone know more about what kind of rabbit Disney is going to pull out of the hat? Last time it was Oswald…
Since the announcement has been made, there have been a large number of theories on what could be announced. Screamscape has a breakdown of some of the more popular theories:
That mystery announcement from Disney next week sure has got people talking over the last 24 hours. Some of this has generated some very interesting new rumors as well, though the basic gist behind most of them is still ‘family travel’. Some circles are claiming that Disney may be ready to take a giant leap and start up their own airline service. I had to cringe when I heard that news, as generally people are just so irrated at the airline industry for all the service cutbacks, the late flights, soaring ticket prices to offset higher fuel charges, and even paying new fees for luggage these days… the airline biz is clearly not a user friendly industry that I think Disney should be going anywhere near. The Cruise Line made sense… people pay extra for nice hotels and cruises over cheaper brands, so Disney will fit right into these markets, but families who travel by air typically look for the lowest price they can get, so if this is it, I’ll be dumbfounded.
Others tell us that they believe this will be some kind of major expansion and promotion for the growing Adventures By Disney group… which seems to fit as well, until you remember that the invitation said that this is an announcement from “Disney Parks” and Adventures By Disney is all about guided family tours to places that don’t have Disney Parks.
Our last tidbit is far more interesting however, and is the most likely concept due to it’s heavy detail. It seems a new mailer has been showing up looking for help from former Disney “College Program” members in select cities claiming that “Disney Parks” is going on tour around the country to “bring the magic of Disney” to 30 different cities over the Fall and Winter months. It goes on to describe how they want to roll out an army of colorful vehicles “from Town Square to Times Square” that will give away tons of free prizes, balloons and entire people to enter some big contest promotion to win a trip to one of the Disney Theme Parks. If true, this is clearly some kind of build up to next year’s big promotion to replace the Year of a Million Dreams. As for the army of themed cars traveling the roads of the country, it sounds like they’re borrowing a page from SeaWorld’s old Shamu Across America promotion from a few years back where Busch Entertainment rolled out about 30 custom painted themed VW Bettles that look like killer whales and sent them off to drive all around the country.
To cap off, we’ve been sent what looks like the rough unofficial list of 30 cities and dates that the tour may use. From the look of things, it looks like there will be three tour legs, one for the East Coast, one for the West Coast and one for the central states so I’ve divided things up by region.
West Coast Tour: Jan 19-Vancouver, Jan 21-Seattle, Jan 23-Portland, Jan 27-Sacramento, Feb 2-San Francisco, Feb 4-Frenso, Feb 9-Las Vegas, Feb 11-Salt Lake City, Feb 16-Denver, Feb 20-Phoenix
Central Tour Group: Sept 25-Minneapolis, Sept 29-Chicago, Oct 1-Milwaukee, Oct 3-Detroit, Oct 10-Pittburgh, Oct 8-Cincinnati, Oct 10-Indianapolis, Oct 14-Dallas, Oct 16-Houston, Oct 20-New Orleans
East Coast Tour: Sept 24-Toronto, Sept 29-Boston, Oct 1-Providence, Oct 3-New York, Oct 6-Hartford, Oct 8-Philadel
I doubt it is going to have much to do with the parks specifically (like announcing new rides, referbs, etc....), I do agree that it will probably be about the new marketing campaign. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they also announce that second park in China....
What do you guys think? _________________ Up or Down North, South, East, or West An Adventurer's Life is Best!
Joined: Apr 20, 2008 Posts: 1454 Location: Long Beach, CA
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:10 pm Post subject:
Obviously China needs more than HKDL. They need to pick a location with more space. My cousin visited HKDL a few months ago, and said it was considerably too small.
Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 4196 Location: Sanford, Fl
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:
Well, it is my understanding that they purposely built the park small. They did it that way to start it off and then add on over the years. _________________ Up or Down North, South, East, or West An Adventurer's Life is Best!
I'm surprised no one mentioned the possibility of Disney Cruise's releasing the names and itinerary for those long pending ships. They were suppose to premiere around 2009, and I would assume need to release info before the premiere to allow folks to start booking. Seems to me that would fit into the announcement of the size they are talking about here.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Utilidors Audio Broadcasting / Utilidors.com / uabmagic.com are in no way affiliated with, endorsed or promoted by the Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries.
All Music and requestable media Copyright the Walt Disney Company or their respective artists / Composers.
