Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore — Destination D23, Iger-Chapek Saga Details Revealed, Disney Parks and the $60B Plan
This month's newsletter we look at Destination D23, The Iger-Chapek Saga, and the Disney Parks $60B Plan.
Welcome back to Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore!
In this issue, we will be covering:
Destination D23 Fallout 🏰 🙌
Iger/Chapek Saga Details Revealed 👀 🤯
Disney Parks $60 Billion Plan 💰💭
Podcast Plugs 🎙
Links of the Month 📰
We’ve gained a few new subscribers this month, so I wanted to ask a question.
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Destination D23 Evolves and Provides Some Possibilities For The Future
This month I got to attend Destination D23 which is a cozier, more Walt Disney World-centric version of the D23 Expo.
The event gave us some new Disney Parks announcements and possibilities, interesting panels, and for attendees a plethora of giveaways, special access to EPCOT, and early previews of new Disney series/films.
Let’s dive into some of the highlights.
Over on the parks side, we got news that the Country Bear Jamboree would receive a Nashville-inspired update. This was the best-case scenario as other plans would’ve seen the bears being removed from this space. This Country Bear Jamboree update has also been in the works at Walt Disney Imagineering for 19 years and the original Imagineer who developed the update is no longer with Disney.
Even though it was overlooked, Disney did announce that Ahsoka would be coming to Star Tours. This is significant as Disney is trying to be quicker when it comes to incorporating popular stories into its parks. Plus Ahsoka coming to Star Tours could potentially open up more possibilities for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Disney also gave us an update on the Avengers Multiverse attraction with its vehicle, which looks sorta like a beefier version of Rise of the Resistance. People constantly try to act like this project isn’t happening. Logically this never made any sense to me, Avengers is one of Disney’s biggest properties and an Avengers Multiverse attraction is the type of attraction that gets people —like myself—to book a trip to Disneyland Resort.
EPCOT will get its new fireworks show on December 5, it will be called Luminous: The Symphony of Us. It seems like this show may be striking a balance between Harmonious and IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth? EPCOT also will be getting a new version of Test Track. Yes, that park needs massive help and Test Track was the least of its concerns but hey it’s Chevrolet’s money going towards this update.
Disney Cruise Line is dominating and during the presentation, it was revealed their second island destination will be called Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point and that their massive new ship sailing out of Singapore will be called Disney Adventure.
Now Animal Kingdom also got a big focus. Last D23 Expo, we thought Dinoland was getting replaced by Moana/Zootopia. Well to quote Lee Corso, “NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND.” Walt Disney Imagineering CCO Bruce Vaughn and Disney Parks Chair Josh D’Amaro are pivoting. Zootopia will now replace It’s Tough to Be A Bug at the Tree of Life theater. So yes we went from debating if Zootopia should even be in Animal Kingdom to it being the centerpiece of the park, so congrats Zootopia fans! But what about Dinoland USA? D’Amaro is on a mission to get rid of it! He must have a vendetta against Dr. Seeker or something? Yeah, goodbye dinosaurs, and welcome to Tropical Americas land, which is essentially a catch-all so Disney can put Encanto and Indiana Jones in the same area. The optics of Encanto going into Animal Kingdom are not great, and Indiana Jones has lost its luster. But remember this plan isn’t official yet, I bet we see another change at this rate.
D23 Expo is dropping the Expo because it’s cleaner. Now it will be known as D23, The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, and it will span the Anaheim Convention Center and the Honda Center! Disney has some huge plans.
Destination D23 had more highlights besides the Parks presentation. The 100 Years of Classic Characters panel was hilarious. Ashley Eckstein and Bret Iwan should host a podcast, what a likable duo. Bill Farmer was hilarious, also got to meet him outside of Journey of Water during the weekend. The Disney Cruise Line panel was a fascinating lookback and included some fun concept art and details about DCL but it also didn’t reveal any new details on the Disney Treasure *cough cough Haunted Mansion lounge*. EPCOT panel was pretty inspirational and fun to watch but once again there wasn’t any announcements which was disappointing considering they could’ve used that time to tease stuff.
The Walt Disney Studio Showcase on day two felt reminiscent to D23 Expo, down to the giveaways and security watching you. Despite the strikes, we got to see around 10 minutes of Wish, the first few minutes of Loki season two, and animated short Once Upon a Studio. D23 did a great job despite both strikes happening during the event. It was still satisfying.
Other day two highlights included the Disney Global Ambassador Showdown which was hilarious. Weird Disney and Down the Rabbit Hole provided some unique pieces of trivia. Don Hahn basically dropped a mini-doc on Walt Disney moving West (I missed the first few minutes because I was eating lunch). The 100 Years of Innovation presentation was equally hilarious as it was inspiring.
Overall, Destination D23 2023 was a great event and it really evolved this year. The giveaways were spectacular (shoutout Lug) and the whole event just was smooth. I hope they are able to continue this type of magic in 2025.
A thought occurred to me that Destination D23 is a model that could potentially be replicated at every Disney Resort (Disneyland, Paris, Tokyo, etc.), obviously with tweaks. Disney and D23 also have to be thinking about how some of their properties could create new events. A D23-hosted AvengerCon could be a home run (heck they [D23] already hosted an X-Men: Hellfire Gala). A Destination D23 version of Star Wars Celebration? What about a Disney Cruise Line-specific event?
I think the possibilities are truly endless from both a business and fan standpoint.
Have a topic you want me to cover? Drop me a line at boardwalktimes@yahoo.com!
New Details from the Iger/Chapek Saga Revealed
If you’re reading this newsletter I assume you’ve read Alex Sherman’s explosive piece on Bob Iger and Bob Chapek for CNBC.
This story had countless jaw-dropping moments and some incredible details. Here are some of my thoughts on the highlights…
The Board should’ve known right away that Iger wasn’t down for succession at the moment, he kept his office with the private shower.
Sherman does a tremendous job at pointing out how polar opposites Iger and Chaapek are. This once again begs the question of why Iger ever picked Chapek? After reading this piece the only logical conclusion is that Iger was purposely promoting someone who wouldn’t outshine him even if it meant a great risk for the company.
Chapek’s whole succession feels off. He didn’t go through countless interviews like Bob Iger did. All he did was lunch with then Disney board independent director Susan Arnold, and she revealed her, Iger, and the Board all approved. Chapek also sat on the secret for six weeks!
Iger never consulted anyone who worked directly for Chapek in the runup to naming him CEO, according to people familiar with the matter.
How did this happen? This seems like the logical first step in any succession situation.
Iger just threw Chapek into the deep end for the annual meeting, and then being shocked Chapek wanted to study the whole time. Once again it’s appalling there were no formal conversations on how Chapek may be a different learner than Iger, and vice versa. (However, Iger was right on the nuances and that was something that would haunt Chapek throughout his stint… he never learned the nuances)
Iger having instant regrets about Chapek isn’t shocking and could’ve been easily avoided.
Chapek was furious. He called Iger and told him he didn’t need a savior, dropping a carefully placed expletive or two, according to people with knowledge of the call. It was the first time in more than 20 years that Chapek and Iger had had a major argument. Iger would tell people no colleague had ever spoken to him like that before in his life.
This part got a bit of a cheer out of me. The New York Times piece definitely created a monumental rift between the two. Also didn’t know Chapek went at Iger like this. But it’s hard to believe Iger hasn’t ever had a colleague go at him like this, maybe he’s just been that lucky?
Chapek had long felt that Disney’s culture, under both Iger and Eisner, treated non-creative executives like him as second-class citizens, according to people familiar with his thinking.
The Creation of DMED now makes a ton of sense. It wasn’t just used to make Disney look more like Netflix. It was created to shift the power dynamics. It’s a shame that the non-creative execs felt like that though.
Others close to Chapek felt Mucha wasn’t championing him as much as a communications head should be celebrating a new CEO. Mucha argued the country was being ravaged by coronavirus and it wasn’t the right time for puff pieces in Hollywood trade magazines, according to people familiar with the matter.
This is such a horrendous excuse. There were still plenty of puff pieces going on during the pandemic, especially in 2021! Mucha screwed Chapek over on this.
In July, after multiple warnings from Lourd, Johansson sued. Disney’s lawyers walked through the company’s options in a virtual meeting attended by about 20 executives, including Iger and Chapek. Iger didn’t speak, but he felt the meeting was “amateur hour” — a meeting “run by children” — with far too many people weighing in on how the company should respond, according to a person familiar with his thoughts.
Funny how Chapek took the heat for ScarJo when in reality it was because he and Iger couldn’t just work together. Still, Chapek should’ve figured this one out on his own but Iger not stepping in really shows he didn’t care how Disney fared under his successor.
Some even quicker hits
Chapek should’ve gone to Destination D23 2021, he would’ve probably gained more fans, instead, he got humiliated at Iger’s party.
Disney Parks Chair Josh D’Amaro’s role in this saga is unclear. He’s leaned on by Chapek but then he’s also one of the executives who comes out and says Chapek is no longer fit to run Disney. I need the details!
The Board being completely fine with Chapek and Morrell’s strategy regarding “Don’t Say Gay” but then not backing the strategy once things got ugly? Disney got hammered by everyone during the whole ordeal, yet their main competitor Comcast — who also owns theme parks in Florida— never spoke up regarding the legislation, and was never criticized for not speaking out.
Disney Communications Chief Kristina Schake dining with Iger immediately after being hired by Chapek… Jaw-dropping. Poor Chapek.
Every Disney exec turning on Chapek is still wild to read. He really lost the room and hopefully, more details will be shared at a later date.
I have way more thoughts on this piece and the entire Chapek/Iger saga, and it will be an article coming soon to Boardwalk Times. So stay on the lookout for that! We didn’t even get to some of the best parts!
Disney Parks and The $60B Plan
Coming off the heels of Destination D23, Disney hosted an investor relations event at Walt Disney World where it revealed a massive plan to invest $60 billion into the Disney Parks over the next 10 years. The plan hopes to “turbocharge” Disney’s most consistent division.
Josh D’Amaro specifically pointed out properties like Zootopia, Coco, and Encanto as properties that could be potentially used in the parks to The New York Times. D’Amaro also mentioned “bringing Wakanda to life,” the popular Marvel destination from Black Panther.
Reality Check: Disney spends around $20 billion to $30 billion on content across linear and streaming per YEAR. They would be spreading this $60 billion over 10 years. Now $60 billion for the content side is two years of spending, easily. See the difference?
But now let’s dig a little deeper here, $60 billion is a lot on paper. That’s all this is so far, it’s pixie dust planning. There are no concrete plans here. Disney investing $6 billion a year across all its parks and cruise line over the next 10 years is a lot but not as much as people realize. Also, does the $60 billion plan factor in inflation/rising labor costs? Or are we really getting the same level of investment but it’s just now more expensive to do? Plus $17 billion will allegedly go to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line will at least take $3 billion, and that leaves all the other Disney resorts with a cap of $40 billion over 10 years. But obviously, things can change.
If Disney does decide to spend $60 billion on the parks over the next 10 years then that will be an awesome way to start Disney’s 100th anniversary. But let’s see some actual action.
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Podcast Plugs 🎙
This is the Waycast is doing a tremendous job with Ahsoka. Follow along with Sara & Gio as they analyze and discuss the global phenomenon. Subscribe to the feed and catch up on all their episodes. (Spotify) (Apple)
LINKS OF THE MONTH
— If DisneylandForward happens we may see a Disney Skyliner or PeopleMover used to connect the resort. (OC Register)
— Disney’s Only Beauty & The Beast Theme Paark Ride Is So Enchanting. (Elite Daily)
— What Type of Facial Recognition Is Coming to Epic Universe and Universal Orlando? (Orlando ParkStop)
— Charter-Disney Winners and Losers. (Stratechery)
— Wish will be loaded with 'legacy nods' to classic Disney films. (Entertainment Weekly)
— Masterclass spent $100,000 building a replica of Bob Iger's office in a conference room because the Disney CEO's real office was too hard to film in (Business Insider)
— Byron Allen is bidding for Disney’s linear assets but I don’t think $10B is worth it for Disney… (Variety)
— A Deeper Dive Into The Music of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3' (Boardwalk Times)
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