Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore — Imagineering’s Next Chapter
Welcome back to Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore! In this month’s newsletter, we will be diving into Imagineering’s next chapter. Yes, you’re remembering correctly our first newsletter covered Imagineering’s future slate. But this is different. Disney has announced its intentions for Walt Disney Imagineering to create new experiences that merge the physical worlds with digital and virtual. Imagineering also seems to be hard at work on a new division that does temporary pop-up retail experiences.
We dive into Imagineering’s next chapter, Disney’s Oscars performance, and Links of the Month in this edition of Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore.
Now let’s begin!
Walt Disney Imagineering’s New Experience Development
Walt Disney Imagineering’s Bob Weis was given an additional title in March 2021. Weis would become Walt Disney Imagineering President — Creative and New Experience Development. It’s that last part that was fascinating as Weis had been WDI President since January 2016. New Experience Development represents a new chapter in Walt Disney Imagineering’s history.
Weis leads a multidisciplinary team tasked with exploring, developing and bringing to market groundbreaking ideas that enhance and expand Disney’s global portfolio of products and experiences. (DPEP Website)
The new division will be on top of Walt Disney Imagineering’s normal duties of creating experiences at Disney’s theme parks, resorts, and cruise ships. Groundbreaking ideas can range from that of a walking autonomous Groot audio-animatronic and real-life lightsabers to immersive pop-up retail experiences.
The terminology of the job description also includes “enhance and expand Disney’s global portfolio of products and experiences.” Could products from the virtual and digital space come into play? More on that later. Expand Disney’s global portfolio? Could this mean a wider expansion of Disney experiences outside of the typical markets? That’s exactly what it means.
It seems like WDI’s New Experience Development division will be creating temporary pop-up retail experiences. Disney has tested the pop-up experiences in Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia. Most notably in Singapore, Disney did Disney Magical Moments.
Pop-up retail experiences make sense for Disney for numerous reason but here are three right off the bat:
- It’s easy marketing for the latest Disney product (whether it’s a Disney film, Disney+ series, or the Disney Parks themselves).
- A temporary experience allows more flexibility when swapping out intellectual property. Also, due to the experience being temporary it may get more consumers to go so they feel like they were a part of something exclusive.
- The decline of Disney Stores in the United States and around the world keeps Disney within the brick-and-mortar world but as an event experience.
Disney isn’t the only one looking into this concept. Many malls have become interested in running pop-up experiences. One of Disney’s competitors Netflix even did their own pop-up experience with a Stranger Things drive-into experience.
It seems like pop-up experiences are the future and Disney wants in on that emerging market. It’s a great way to get people out to places. It also can provide Disney even more research and data on future markets for permanent experiences if they ever wanted to go down that route. In a Disney Parks Blog post regarding Imagineering’s future, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro said they were working on a concept that would “connect streaming video, entertainment, and shopping in a dynamic live environment.”
That basically sums it up for the pop-up retail experiences that New Experience Development is working on. But there is another thing in D’Amaro’s post that caught my eye and it’s something else WDI and New Experience Development could be working on.
You’ll also start to hear more in the months ahead about how we’re bringing the digital, virtual and physical worlds together to create new ways to engage with us — and to take our guests and fans to places they’ve never been before. — Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products
The merging of digital, virtual, and physical worlds seems like Disney wants to create its own theme park Metaverse.
For anyone who doesn’t know what the Metaverse is, in the simplest terms it’s a virtual shared space that utilizes virtually enhanced physical reality. It’s also often thought about as the next iteration of the Internet.
D’Amaro even referenced Disney’s Metaverse in an interview with CNN. His example was using digital technology to have parkgoers play a game and the game ends in a celebration at the hub at the top of Main Street.
The idea of merging digital, virtual, and physical worlds shows that Disney has a much bolder and tech-centric future planned for its parks. Although nothing will ever replace the physical worlds that Walt Disney Imagineering designs and creates.
But the idea that some Disney Parks magic will soon be digital and virtual is exciting! Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge on Oculus Quest VR headsets is already an example of Disney embracing virtual worlds that started off as physical worlds. I expect more crossover into virtual for Disney Parks properties in the near future. Keeping the park experience alive for when you’re not at the parks.
So, Disney is trying to create their own Metaverse similar to what Facebook is doing with Oculus, Roblox, and Fortnite are doing too. But this will be specifically for the theme parks for now. For a deeper dive into the Metaverse, I recommend reading Matthew Ball’s “The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find it, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite.”
Am I excited to see what this new division brings to Imagineering? Yes of course! Do I want Imagineering to just focus on pop-up retail experiences and the Metaverse? Of course not! I hope Imagineering keeps creating stellar attractions, restaurants, themed lands, resort hotels, and cruise ships for the future — on top of exploring ideas like pop-up retail experiences and the Metaverse.
After a challenging year for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products it makes sense they reevaluated Imagineering and created this new division. It seems like Disney also wants to reinvent the wheel in the way they think of Imagineering.
It’s clear Disney wants to explore concepts like pop-up retail experiences, Metaverse, and bring unique capabilities and experiences to life that aren’t humanly possible today. Now this New Development Experience division will let Imagineering have its next chapter.
Also, with all this immersive experience talk for retail experiences. Can Walt Disney Imagineering work on the future of theaters while they are at it too? Maybe that’s another newsletter for another time…
Disney and The Oscars
Despite ratings hitting a new all-time low, Disney came out with five Oscars. The company also released a new trailer for West Side Story which will hit theaters this December.
Overall it seemed like the awards show was a good night for the Mouse House, and with Nomadland’s victories, it proved Disney’s acquisition of Searchlight Pictures will be especially beneficial during awards season.
Chloé Zhao who won Best Director and Best Motion Picture for Nomadland will stay within the Disney family for now as her next project is Marvel Studios Eternals. The film premieres in theaters on November 5. Zhao was originally on the shortlist to direct Black Widow but she pulled herself off so she could pitch Eternals. Frances McDormand won Best Actress for her performance as Fern in Nomadland.
Disney’s other two Oscars came from Soul which won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Soul and Up are the only two films ever to win both of those awards. Pete Docter also made Oscars history as he’s the first person to win Best Animated Feature three times (Up, Inside Out, and Soul). Soul marks Pixar’s 11th Best Animated Feature Film award.
After his Oscar win, Pete Docter has a flurry of projects in the work at Pixar as Chief Creative Officer. Luca which arrives this summer on Disney+, Turning Red and Lightyear in 2022, and Pixar’s first original series for Disney+ called Win or Lose.
LINKS OF THE MONTH
— Avengers Campus will open on June 4. (Boardwalk Times)
— Universal Parks & Resorts is creating a 20-acre affordable housing community in the Orlando area. (Housing for Tomorrow)
— Searchlight Pictures Co-Chairmen Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula retire after years of success. (The New York Times)
— Forbes article on leadership lessons from Disney CEO Bob Chapek. (Forbes)
— Disney reveals new details regarding Disney Cruise Line’s fifth ship the Disney Wish. (Boardwalk Times)
— A Jim Henson biopic is finally in the works! (Boardwalk Times)
— Disney made TIME100 Most Influential Companies List. (TIME)
Well, thanks for reading the newsletter. We got a lot of fun things ahead for the summer at Boardwalk Times.
See you next month for a new edition of Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore!