Disney/Universal sitting on Attractions goldmine?

[AgentXero]

Hey there, hi there, ho there folks...

Here is something that I was pondering with my brother the other day, about Disney World (or Disneyland for that matter), and it bugged me to no end.

How many of us are aware that Disney, and Universal as well, are sitting on attraction goldmines? Not just any attractions mind you, but attraction licences with huge built in audiences just begging to be made into fantastic "ride through the movie" type rides...or even simulators and thrill rides.

For example, Disney now has the rights to the Muppets, but they only still have the 3D show? Why not put in a fantastic dark ride with the muppet characters? Why not re-do that whole back corner of Disney/MGM into a "Muppet Studios" type area (Which, according to Jim Hill @ jimhillmedia.com, was the original idea)?

Also, Disney has the hottest theme park license anywhere in Harry Potter. That's right, the hottest series of books and movies with loads of potential for "Great Movie Ride" type dark rides or at the least a great 3D show!

And Universal has the Lord of the Rings license! Imagine what you could do with that! Also, how about a great ride/walk through of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? If WB can sell the rights to Disney for Harry Potter, surely they can give them the rights to Charlie? A huge ride through of the factory? Count me in!

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

- Agent Xero

[Goin2Disneyland]

Just curious, but when did Disney buy the theme park rights to Harry Potter?

[Thriller]

Well personally, and thi is strictly individual, I don't like all the movie stuff at Disney. Universal - fine. MGM Studios - no problem. Muppets actuall sounds good! But don't overflood the Magic Kingdom with them. But, they're doing it anyway...

[Stitch]

Just curious, but when did Disney buy the theme park rights to Harry Potter?

I was wondering that too...WB would be stupid to sell them to Disney, when they can use them at Six Flags where all the WB cartoons are located.

[AgentXero]

Hey folks...some quick responses:

- I'm not sure when exactly Disney got the rights to Harry Potter, however, it seems to be within the last 2 years, give or take.

- WB would NOT be stupid to sell the THEME PARK licenses to Disney, because 1.) Disney parks could do justice to an attraction that Six Flags couldn't even dream of coming close to in terms of quality (examples: Star Wars -> Star Tours, Twilight Zone -> Tower of Terror). 2.) Disney WILL NOT own the characters and movie rights and so on and so forth. With these types of agreements, Disney is only allowed to build and host the attraction(s)/show(s) and they may also make a profit from some of the merchandise they would sell in the park, some of that money will also go to WB. For example, if a Harry Potter plush owl cost the park $2 per owl to buy from the manufactuer, they will up-price the owl to the guests at probably $12.95 an owl. From there, Disney would probably get maybe $5 profit per owl, with WB getting the bigger cut at around maybe $8 dollars an owl. So, not only does Disney profit from having the name recoginition of Harry Potter driving people through the turnstiles to see the latest attraction and buy "the toys", but WB also cleans up with the initial per-year upfront attraction license fee, but also a cut off of every piece of merchandise and anything else Disney wants to put Harry's likeness on (park maps, guides, books, food/beverage containers), however, most of those little details are probably included in the upfront fee.

Another way to look at this is from the video game industry example. EA games owns the rights to Harry Potter in video game form. They produce and create the game. They pay WB a fee for using Harry Potter's likeness and all that, and then they split the profits with WB after the game goes on sale. It's win/win most of the time. Profit sharing also goes into movies, like with Shrek which was co-financed originally between Dreamworks and Universal.

The moral of all this: WB is doing just fine by sharing with Disney!

Hope my very sketchy economics lesson helps anyone! LoL

- Agent Xero

[TheDisneyInquisitor]

First of all, the whole Disney-has-HP-rights is just a RUMOR! There is no evidence that they do have it. What happened was that Universal wanted the rights, but they couldn't get it because "some other theme park" got the rights. Some guy from Universal made a speech somewhere and said something to the extent of "We couldn't get the Harry Potter rights because Disney got it before us." Disney has denied all rumors that they have these rights. The guy at universal just blamed Disney without thinking. Now of course, no other park has said they got the rights and we are almost sure someone has them, so Disney could have them, but they have denied it. Also, the rights came from JK Rowling, not Warner Brothers. I hope this clears some things up (and I hope I said everything correctly ).

-Michael

[Stitch]

For what I understand the rumor also stems from the fact that the Disney Channel/ ABC Family was given the rights to show the movies and that the UK in Epcot carries the books.

[Taggart]

As for Six Flags and Warner Brothers, that's a bought contract for the past characters. Six Flags is in no position to buy any more. They're on the brink of a hostile takeover from Mr. Bill Gates who is interested in the troubled franchise.

So just for reference, WB ISN'T Six Flags, they just have a liscenses for some past identities.

[Taggart]

As for a Harry Potter attraction.... just wait. Something is going to happen but not what most people expect.

Disney owning the rights is not confirmed. But it's still possible. Whatever the case, you're not going to know otherwise until the Harry Potter news is announced.

[Ghostbuster626]

Hey there, hi there, ho there folks...

Here is something that I was pondering with my brother the other day, about Disney World (or Disneyland for that matter), and it bugged me to no end.

How many of us are aware that Disney, and Universal as well, are sitting on attraction goldmines? Not just any attractions mind you, but attraction licences with huge built in audiences just begging to be made into fantastic "ride through the movie" type rides...or even simulators and thrill rides.

For example, Disney now has the rights to the Muppets, but they only still have the 3D show? Why not put in a fantastic dark ride with the muppet characters? Why not re-do that whole back corner of Disney/MGM into a "Muppet Studios" type area (Which, according to Jim Hill @ jimhillmedia.com, was the original idea)?

Also, Disney has the hottest theme park license anywhere in Harry Potter. That's right, the hottest series of books and movies with loads of potential for "Great Movie Ride" type dark rides or at the least a great 3D show!

And Universal has the Lord of the Rings license! Imagine what you could do with that! Also, how about a great ride/walk through of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? If WB can sell the rights to Disney for Harry Potter, surely they can give them the rights to Charlie? A huge ride through of the factory? Count me in!

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

- Agent Xero

heh you have no idea how deep this rabbit hole goes. Not only does Disney and Universal have great licenses they also have full fledged rides designed by the imagineers that Disney's accounts are too cheap to green light such as Star Tours 2, Bald Mountain, Fire Mountain, Beastly Kingdom etc. I mean these are guarenteed E-tickets but becase Disney is too cheap they keep building stuff like Stich Great Escape and Pooh's stinky playground instead. On top of that, unlike Disneyland they have PLENTY of room to build whatever attractions tehy way want but they dont. For example, I always thought its so ironic that Walt Disney World has such a huge sized fantasyland but Disneyland's FL has 3 times as many rides.

[Barbaraann]

After visiting Fantasyland in Disneyland, I was very impressed. I absolutely loved riding all of their rides. They are all so much fun. The only one I did not get on, was the Matterhorn. I do not do coasters. I definitely think that Disneyland has the better park and definitely the better Fantasyland.

[yoyoflamingo]

Pooh's stinky playground

Do you think this will be the official name when it opens?