06-27-06 Did Disneyland Just Throw the Disney Studio Under the Bus?

[Chuck Oberleitner]

this business of show

Did Disneyland Just Throw the Disney Studio Under the Bus?
By C. W. Oberleitner
June 27, 2006

Last Saturday, Walt Disney Pictures held the world premiere for its big summer film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at Disneyland. Depending on your vantage point, either the event was a huge success or, as one international journalist put it, “a giant ****-up,” as stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom were greeted by both wildly enthusiastic cheering and gales of boos.

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Your thoughts...

[Monorail Man]

Good read.

While these big premiers make sense, adding the guest factor isn't good at all. Leave the premier to the stars and the crew, and leave it out of Disneyland. It's a dumb novelty, and there's really no point for the guests, and all they get is a bad time.

[RooBear]

I tend to agree with Monorail Dude on this one. Being a cineast and following Hollywood as I have, you have two different worlds mixing---the movies and the park. It should have been done on an off day--and not as a premiere.

That way, the media could have gotten its due and then the fans would have theirs. Was the El Captian overscheduled?

Peace,
Roo

[BFJen]

I still had fun - but I didn't wait all day like some did. And the rides were empty - so if you were going to the park for rides and fun - you would have scored!

[lazyboy97O]

Maybe this was the key to getting the premier of 3 held elsewhere.

Very good read too! My first read at O-Meon, and I must say I plan to do much more.

[Morrigoon]

Great article!

Considering how huge the negative impact on the park for these premieres is, let's hope they realize this is not a good idea. At least... not in summer. If they want to pep up a fall or early spring release with a Disneyland premiere, that may have less of an impact on the guest experience. But taking out the main artery to the park's west side in LATE JUNE.... just not a good idea.

[PragmaticIdealist]

The grandstands in Frontierland are bad show, and they cause bottlenecks.

There is a way to hold a movie premiere of this sort in Disneyland, but the most significant problem is the venue of the actual screening.

Any other venue would have been better (the Fantasyland Theatre; the Hyperion Theatre; etc.). Then, a private party could have been held after hours nearer to the attraction, itself.

One of the other problems is admitting invitees through the backstage entrance. I've arrived by limousine before through the East Esplanade, and this method seems like it would be a more attractive option for events of this kind in the future.

[figment1986]

I think it was a bad idea to hold the premier there... Pirates 3 would be best to be premiered somewhere else if it is going be come memorial day weekend of 07 as reports say.... and not WDW.... (Unless they wana take over MGM and hold an after hurs bash.... it's ok there..)

[danyoung]

I'm not wild about holding a premiere in a Disney park, either. But it seems to me that the only deal-breaking problem they had at this one was one of time. If they'd started the celebs down the carpet 2 or 3 hours earlier, there would have been no problem. It's one of those logistical things that no one could have foreseen, since no one had ever done an event of this scale before. And now that they know, it's easy to fix for next time, should they wish to continue.

But I wish they wouldn't . . .

[sediment]

One of the problems is that the logistical problems were discovered that day, and not a few days earlier, which would have allowed for all red-carpet-walkers to be notified of a change in schedule.

Perhaps the Thursday of the week before Memorial Day Weekend (May 17, 2007) would be better for #3? That's an off day.
Heck, do it in Florida instead, and put up the stars for a week at the Grand Floridian.

[circusfreak]

AGREED! It would have been better to premiere at El Capitan. But serious..WHO IS WAITING 12 HOURS to see actors? That couple is from Riverside, they are close enough to Hollywood to know better. Now, if the couple was from the midwest. I would feel bad for them..but RIVERSIDE? Come on....Paying 60 bucks to stand on main street all day in the friggen heat? Dumb move people.

[donelurkin]

I found the disruption caused by the construction and location of the bleachers to be as big a problem as closing the park at 5 p.m. on premiere night. We were down from SF for a 5 night visit, long planned, and learned about the premiere a week or 2 before we came. We resolved to skip Disneyland on Saturday to avoid the early close, but little did we know how the combination of the crowds for the 50th, the first week of summer, etc. would combine with the bleacher constuction to vex us through the entire stay. Cutting off a major thoroughfare in a high crowd time created a huge bottleneck.

I wish they would never do this again...

[danyoung]

^^ I tend to agree with you, donelurkin. While holding the event in DL is a huge publicity boost to the Disney company, the inconvenience to regular guests for many days before and after the event makes the whole thing just not worth it, IMO.

[BFJen]

Other than the huge bottleneck the bleachers caused - I was most upset that they kept letting media into the ride on Saturday and nobody else.

[Malificent16]

Our family came from New Jersey to see the park and to see the stars on the red carpet. We have never experienced such an event before, and we had a fantastic time!! And, yes, we waited 12 hours on Main Street, but it we enjoyed sharing the experience with other fans of the movie. I can certainly understand why holding the premiere at the park is a major problem. However, if it were not for the Pirates premiere, I probably would have never visited Disneyland or Southern California for that matter. Wow, it was the trip of a lifetime! I just hope that if another premiere is held there that enough time is allowed for the stars of the actual movie (i.e., Johnny, Orlando, and Keira) to greet fans as well as to talk to the media.