How YOU Can Decide What Rides Come To Disney World NEXT!

Do you love it when you walk into a Disney theme park and see rides inspired by your favorite movies? Are you one that cheers when Disney’s intellectual property pops up in places like EPCOT (like with the Ratatouille ride) or are you still mourning the loss of Maelstrom and wishing Disney would make more rides based on original ideas? Have you ever wondered why Disney puts some movie-themed rides in certain parks and not others?

Disney has undoubtedly been dipping its hands deep into its well of IP (intellectual property) with things like the TRON coaster, the Frozen-themed rides coming to some international parks, and the Moana-inspired walk-through coming to EPCOT. But is more IP in our future and where might it go? We’ve got an update…

On May 17th, 2023, Disney participated in the SVB MoffettNathanson Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. Current Disney CFO Christine McCarthy and Disney President of Advertising Sales Rita Ferro discussed the Company’s investment plans going forward — touching on everything from streaming to the parks. And here are the important updates you need to know about.

IP in the Disney Parks

When it comes to intellectual property making its way into the Disney parks, it seems Disney has NO plans to slow things down. During the conference, McCarthy talked about how they’re continuing to invest in the theme parks.

She said, “Where we will be investing is going to be very consistent with what really makes Disney a unique business in this industry…we have ways we can use our intellectual property, our franchises, the ones that really resonate with our consumers, and we have more data than we had before.”

McCarthy noted how Frozen came out a while ago and had “tremendous box office performance,” and did well from a consumer products standpoint too. Now, Disney is working on Frozen attractions around the globe.

She noted that “with new franchises and strong IP we can also incorporate that consumer data to know how deep it is and in what parts of the world, it’s most significant in.”

She discussed how Disney can look at its movies on Disney+ and see, “How often are people watching it?” or “Do they watch it multiple times?“ to help predict the popularity of a new IP-inspired experience or attraction in the parks.

McCarthy stated, “That better informs our creatives and our Imagineers to lean into things that we can really exploit in our theme park businesses.”

In other words, it seems like Disney is very aware of how popular some of its movies are, and they won’t hesitate to include some of those in the parks if they feel like they’re appropriate (depending on just where a particular movie is popular). So don’t be shocked if more movie-themed attractions start popping up in certain places!

We’ve certainly seen that teased in recent months when Disney suggested some “blue sky” ideas for an expansion at Magic Kingdom could include lands inspired by Coco, Encanto, and the Disney Villains. They also teased that DinoLand U.S.A. could potentially be transformed (one day) to become a land inspired by Moana or even Zootopia.

Around the globe, we’re seeing LOTS of IP-inspired things pop up and we have a feeling only more will be on the way.

Disney+

At Disney’s most recent earnings call, we learned that Disney+ LOST subscribers (once again). As of April 1st, 2023, Disney+ had 157.8 million subscribers, down from 161.8 million subscribers in December 2022. Much of that loss was at Disney+ Hotstar, with just a small loss at Disney+ domestic.

And more changes are on the way for Disney+ soon. Disney CEO Bob Iger previously announced that Disney will be raising the price of the ad-free Disney+ tier by the end of the year.

During the MoffettNathanson event, McCarthy explained, “We are looking at pricing overall and pricing for the ad-free tier, which is really a premium product, in comparison to the ad-supported product, which is at a much more accessible price for consumers.”

McCarthy said, “We’re looking at optimizing that ad tier.” She explained, “There are some things we want to refine.” McCarthy pointed out that the Disney+ ad-supported tier is currently only in the U.S., and noted that the ad-supported tier will be launching outside the U.S. in the future.

But what about all of Iger’s talk about cutting content spending and “curating” more content? McCarthy addressed that too. She said, “I think I’ve read some commentary of some concern over us cutting back on content, and somehow that’s gonna have a negative impact on our ability to attract or retain new subscribers and existing subscribers, and that’s really not the case.”

She explained that “it’s really spending our content dollars to the highest and best use of where they will attract and retain those subscribers.”

So while Disney is planning to cut $5.5 BILLION in spending and Iger has talked a LOT about curating general entertainment content, McCarthy doesn’t feel like it’ll impact Disney’s subscriber numbers too much. Only time will tell.

See just how Disney plans to cut $5.5 BILLION from its spending

Theme Park Ticket Price Increases

Another topic McCarthy discussed is theme park ticket price increases. We’ve seen increases made in recent months. And while Iger was reportedly “alarmed by increases in prices” at the Disney parks, McCarthy recently seemed to defend Disney’s prices.

McCarthy noted that inflation is something they’re aware of and how it can impact people’s budgets, noting, “The inflationary impact of day-to-day living is something that we’re very much aware of.”

But McCarthy said, “When you go back and look at the pricing increases that we have taken in our admission price…they are pretty much around inflation.” 

Could Disney prices increase in the future? We expect they could once Disney feels the timing is right. It’s a good reason why buying your tickets early (to lock in the current price) or taking advantage of ticket deals can be key.

See what Disney World ticket offer will be available this summer!

Writers Strike

McCarthy also briefly referenced the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. We’ve already seen how the strike has impacted the production of an upcoming Marvel film, but according to McCarthy, it could impact Disney’s total cash content spending budget.

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a writers strike,” McCarthy said. She noted that the strike could reduce Disney’s cash spending on content for the balance of the year.

Overall, McCarthy presented the future of Disney positively saying, “We’re winners, and we are going to win.” 

What do you think about McCarthy’s comments and the future of the Walt Disney Company? Tell us in the comments. In the meantime, click here to see what CHANGES are coming to the Disney+ app (the changes involve Hulu content!) and get an overview of some of the massive Disney news released lately by clicking here.

Are you a fan of Disney IP in the parks? Let us know in the comments.