Disney Takes Home 8 Top Places in the 2022 “Theme Park Insider” Awards

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 2, 2023

 

Well, 2022 was a topsy-turvy year for many theme parks, but fans continued flooding the venues to visit their favorite attractions. While some voted with their wallets, others voted online.

 

Thousands of Theme Park Insider readers took part in the 21st Annual Theme Park Insider Awards, submitting nominations and voting for their favorites in final-round polls.  As one would expect, the big dogs of Disney and Universal took home all ten of the awards, with Disney garnering 8 of the 10 top slots, though many smaller parks across the United States got nominations from their fans and made it into the final rounds.  ThemeParkInsider.com is a consumer's guide to the world's top theme parks, with more than a million visitors a month.

Readers have named this year’s winners as:

 

• Best New Attraction

 

Disney World’s Epcot landed the top spot in this category, with its very first roller coaster,  Guardians of the Galaxy - Cosmic Rewind. Anyone who’s had the joy of experiencing this amazing and innovative new ride will certainly agree. 

 

• Best Holiday Event

 

Over to the west coast for this winner, with Holidays at the Disneyland Resort beating out smaller venues like Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas and Knott's Merry Farm. 

• Best Halloween Event

 

Taking home top honors in this category again was Universal Studios Florida - Halloween Horror Nights, which continues to set the bar for grown-up fright fests.

 

• Insider of the Year

 

Bob Weis, former Global Ambassador and former President of Walt Disney Imagineering, who worked on Disney projects from Tokyo to Shanghai,  recently retired from the House of Mouse, but isn’t going into full retirement mode just yet.  The Insider of the Year Award “honors someone in the themed entertainment industry whose body of work merits this individual honor, in a year when their work drew special attention.” 

 

• Best Theme Park Hotel

 

This winner shouldn’t come as any surprise to theme park enthusiasts either, as it has taken this honor in the past as well.  For the sixth time, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World is the “king of the jungle…” or the savannah, as the case may be.

• Best Theme Park Restaurant

 

Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland (California) was the very first winner in this category in 2002, and it’s the best of the best once again. The food here is great, and the setting so much fun as diners overlook the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

 

• Best Theme Park Show

 

After years of COVID closures, Disney brought back Fantasmic! to both coasts, and the winner for this year’s Best Show is... Fantasmic! Disneyland, the west coast version of the show.  The show also celebrated its 30th anniversary this year.

 

• Best Roller Coaster

 

This is always a tough category to judge and vote in, with so many varied coasters and different sized parks competing in this category.  The winner is: Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure, for the second year in a row.

 

• Best Attraction

 

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios is this year’s top of the list. Shocked?  You shouldn’t be… It’s knocked out every other attraction every year since it debuted in 2019. It continues to demand hours-long waits daily on each coast as rebel guests scramble to defeat the Empire.

• Best Theme Park

 

Every fan has their favorite park, but this year’s winner is also a “bucket-list” park for many theme park enthusiasts: Tokyo DisneySea at the Tokyo Disney Resort. It takes home the “Best Theme Park” category for the seventh time!

 

If you’d like to read more about the various nominees, finalists in each category, and the winners themselves, head over to Theme Park Insider.

   

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

Two Disney World Rides Win “Golden Tickets”

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

September 26, 2022

 

Most guests at Disney World would agree – the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind ride at EPCOT (2022), and the almost-new Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios (2019) are among the best rides of all time!

Now, there is official confirmation: Amusement Today has honored the two rides with wins at the 2022 Golden Ticket Awards. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind won “Best New Attraction Installation,” and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was named “Best Dark Ride” for the second year in a row.  (Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland came in number two.)

Amusement Today is a monthly trade periodical focusing on news within the amusement park industry.  The Golden Ticket Awards were established in 1998, and recognize “the Best of the Best” across the theme park industry in 27 different categories. According to Amusement Today, 23 of the categories were “voted on by the world’s most experienced park aficionados, industry journalists and ride suppliers.” Additionally, five special awards were given to recognize significant contributions to the amusement park industry, including lifetime achievement awards.

For a complete list of all the winners, head to the Golden Ticket magazine. 

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Disney Stock Price Falls on “Rise of Skywalker” Reviews – Really?

by Ray Keating

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 19, 2019

Trying to explain stock price movements minute-to-minute and even day-to-day can be a dangerous game. That includes movement in the price of a share of stock in The Walt Disney Company based on critics' reviews of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

But in this Internet age of clickbait, why not, right? As a result, we see the following head line from Investor’s Business Daily: “Disney Stock Falls As Reviews For 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' Come In.” It was stated: “Walt Disney has high hopes pinned on ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ to revive a flagging franchise, but critics are mostly meh about this finale to the monumental Skywalker saga. Disney stock fell...” – “down 1%.”

Hmmm. Given that we haven’t seen audience reactions as yet, and the reviews actually are not “mostly meh,” but instead are deeply divisive so far, ranging from declaring The Rise of Skywalker to be among the best or the worst Star Wars movies, perhaps we should keep our investing powder dry until we’re able to gauge what audiences think. After all, critics are, well, just critics, and their views often fail to line up with audience reactions and spending.

Disney might or might not have a hit on its hands. But I think it’s safe to say that The Rise of Skywalker will not be any kind of box-office bomb. Rather, this movie seems destined to make big bucks. Oh yes, and given The Mandalorian on Disney+ and the positive response to the Rise of the Resistance attraction in Disney World, “flagging franchise” might not exactly be the right phrase for the current state of Star Wars. More on that with our upcoming review of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this weekend.

One more thing: Investor’s Business Daily did note that Disney’s stock is up 35 percent so far this year.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Disney Parks Investments Will Increase the Magic for Guests

by Ray Keating

Analysis/Commentary

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 4, 2019

Today, the biggest fans seem to be the harshest critics – which is kind of weird, if you think about it. Anyway, that strange phenomenon seems to be most glaringly on display when it comes to Star Wars. Indeed, there seem to be no harsher critics of various aspects of the Star Wars universe than Star Wars fans. 

But for The Walt Disney Company, this fan-as-biggest-critic happening is not limited to its Star Wars properties, but occurs with the Disney theme parks as well. Lots of people love the Disney theme parks, but that leads to these same folks being hyper-critical of the parks as well.

A regular complaint among Disney parks aficionados is the cost of attending Disney parks. Naturally, no one likes to see the price increase of something that they love to experience. And any company has to perform a balancing act when trying to find the price that strikes the right mix of revenue and market size when trying to maximize profits. After all, if you aggravate consumers to the point that revenue and profits decline, that’s a recipe for decline. 

At the same time, though, one of the big issues that complainers tend to either ignore or only mention in passing is that the quality of the guest experience at the Disney parks has increased by multiple times over the decades thanks to investments made in those parks.

And those investments continue to be made – indeed, perhaps at the most rapid pace in recent decades – as made clear by Disney’s new announcement regarding opening dates for an assortment of attractions and experiences. Consider the following:

• The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser – a hotel/space cruise experience - will open in 2021.

Source: DisneyParksBlog.com

• It was announced that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Disney’s Hollywood Studios will open onMarch 4, 2020.

Source: DisneyParksBlog.com

• In the summer 2020, guests will be able to enjoy Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure  in the France pavilion at Epcot.

Source: DisneyParksBlog.com

• Disney announced: “Mickey Shorts Theater in Disney’s Hollywood Studios will show an original short film in the style of the popular Disney Channel animated series ‘Mickey Mouse,’ and will feature photo-opportunity locations for guests.  Today’s new rendering shows the interior of the theater, including fun Mickey Mouse-themed seats.”

• Three new films will debut in Epcot on January 17, 2020: “Awesome Planet” in The Land pavilion; “Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along” in the France pavilion; and “Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360” in the Canada pavilion.

• Coming this winter is the Space 220 Restaurant, which will be an Epcot table-service restaurant positioned 220 miles above the Earth’s surface, offering impressive views.

• Also opening this winter will be the Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts & Barbecue, which will be a fast-casual restaurant located at The American Adventure in Epcot. The menu will feature regional barbecue and craft brews.

• For those who cannot get enough barbecue – like me – the immersive, family-friendly Roundup Rodeo BBQ Restaurant will open in 2020 in Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios.

Source: DisneyParksBlog.com

• Oh yeah, and don’t forget that the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction opens in Galaxy’s Edge in Walt Disney World tomorrow (Dec. 5). And yes, Disney is ready with an array of related merchandise.

Of course, investments in new attractions and experiences are not cheap, and are meant to enhance the guest experience. That’s just worth keeping in mind the next time you hear knee-jerk complaints about the cost of going to a Disney theme park – yes, from the same people who expect ever-improving park experiences.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Disney Closes Out 2019 with Big Tests

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 1, 2019

November and December of this year rank as an important moment for The Walt Disney Company. Specifically, it’s a time of creative and financial tests for the House of Mouse. It also captures the firm’s reach across forms of entertainment.

The company came through November in stellar fashion.

First, the Disney+ streaming service launched on November 12 in generally smooth fashion, and the number of subscribers moved beyond the 10-million mark in a day. That was welcome news in financial markets. For good measure, the content has been impressive, from the existing vast Disney-owned library to originals, including, most notably, The Mandalorian.

Second, on November 15, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows) was launched to rave reviews in the gaming community. It has become a big hit in terms of sales as well, according to a variety of reports.

Third, looking forward to what’s coming this month, the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride opens on December 5 in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios park. (It will open on January 17, 2020, in Disneyland.) Disney describes Rise of the Resistance as “a massive attraction with multiple ride systems that is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced at Walt Disney World Resort.” 

The Rise of the Resistance ride will be another test for Disney’s investment in Galaxy’s Edge at both Walt Disney World and in Disneyland. Doom-and-gloom talk about Galaxy’s Edge largely has been off the mark. With the opening of Rise of the Resistance, I fully expect Galaxy’s Edge to become a much more obvious plus for Walt Disney World and the company, which will be further fed by the eventual arrival of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser immersive hotel. For good measure, the success of Star Wars streaming originals like The Mandalorian will further feed interest in Galaxy’s Edge.

Fourth, there is the arrival of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in theaters on December 20. This film perhaps ranks as the true test of Disney’s magic regarding Star Wars. Quite simply, the question is: Can The Rise of Skywalker make people forget the financial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story and the creative mess of Star Wars: The Last Jedi? That part of the story will be told soon, but for now, we know that early ticket sales point to a big opening weekend topping $200 million domestically.

If The Rise of Skywalker turns out to be a financial and fan hit – as I expect – that will feed back into further Star Wars success for Disney on the streaming, theme park, gaming and movie fronts.  Oh yeah, and don’t get me started on Star Wars merchandise. Yes, November and December 2019 serve as a kind of test period for Disney, which the company is likely to pass with flying colors.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.