Best Disney Links You Need to Know for July 2019
Every month, The Walt Disney Company is the subject of literally thousands of news stories. You can’t possibly keep up with all of them, but MickeyBlog can and does! Here are the best Disney links for July of 2019.
The Perils of Self-Governance
One of the most surprising recent stories involved the Reedy Creek Improvement District. When Walt Disney bought a significant portion of land in Orlando, he persuaded Florida’s elected officials to give Walt Disney World self-governance.
Photo Credit: https://www.worldofwalt.com/disney-private-government-disneys-reedy-creek-improvement-district.html
The Reedy Creek Improvement District legally entitles Disney to run Walt Disney World like a small country. Last year, one of the government officials at Reedy Creek fell victim to a scam. One of their legitimate suppliers had an email hacked.
The hacker then used this email account to bill Disney $722,000, which they dutifully paid. It turned out that brothers in Louisiana were infiltrating email accounts to steal money, and they had the most success with Disney.
The scam was that they’d request money addressed to their location rather than the company’s real one. Disney’s employees didn’t notice a difference and sent them a check. Law enforcement officials got involved and retrieved all but $93,000 of the money.
The Hidden Genius of Magic Bands
We talk about the brilliance of big data regularly in business discussions. Having a tremendous amount of information about a customer helps companies micro-target them, and it’s not even a bad thing.
The faceless corporations that you feel treat you like a number actually take the time to learn your interests, at least as part of a broader demographics. Of course, some companies have abused this private data. Conversely, others have used it ideally.
Bloomberg recently posted a detailed look at the power of Disney’s information-gathering system. You call it…the Magic Band. Until you read this article, you will not believe how lucrative this device is to The Walt Disney Company.
1,700 New Wielders of The Force
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is barely a month away from its opening. Cast members are currently training so that they can deliver a worthy experience the moment that park guests enter the world of Batuu.
Disney recently revealed that they’ve hired a record number of employees for this themed land. A whopping 1,700 cast members will staff Black Spire Outpost next month. For comparison, the company needed 700 workers at Pandora – The World of Avatar. It’s yet another sign of how many resources Disney has expended to bring Star Wars Land.
Live-Action Disney Movie Updates
Do you love Beyonce? Of course you do! I mean, you’re human, right? Well, at a minimum, you’re a fan at least until The Lion King enters theaters this weekend.
As a temporary/permanent member of the Beyhive (it’s a thing, I swear), you’ll be delighted to learn that her latest video is available online. And I’m mentioning it because it’s Beyonce’s single from The Lion King. The song, Spirit, already has more than 10 million YouTube views and seems destined to become a huge hit.
Mulan is facing a different situation. On the one hand, its historic number of views in China indicates that it’s destined to become one of the most popular American films ever in that country. So, what’s the bad news?
Disney has taken many liberties with Chinese history in order to tell the updated version of Mulan. They’ve intentionally chosen styles of homes and apparel that are visually interesting, even if it’s not entirely historically accurate. And some Chinese citizens are a bit annoyed by that. It’s the same issue that biopics face here when they take liberties with the facts.
Perhaps the most fascinating live-action article of the past few weeks is from E! Online. They take a look at how Disney has cast some of their bold choices for recent remakes. They go as far back as The Lone Ranger and Iron Man 3 during this discussion. But the article isn’t quite current enough to evaluate the recent news that Harry Styles may play the male lead in The Little Mermaid.
A Couple of Negative Disney Updates
As a natural optimist, I hate to bring up the bad stuff, but a couple of recent Disney issues have gone viral. The one that’s garnering the most headlines once again involves Abigail Disney. She recently stated that she was livid about the way that cast members get treated at Disneyland.
The other big story of the past few days is that monorail issues continue to plague Walt Disney World. I don’t want to make it sound like they’re a constant problem as that would be an exaggeration. However, a monorail did get stuck for 30 minutes on July 16th.
While we’re on the subject of negatives, I’m going to link to a theoretical one that isn’t proven yet. A few headlines in recent weeks have questioned the crowds at Disney theme parks.
I could write a 10,000-word thesis on why Disney loves these stories, but there’s no point. Instead, I’ll simply point out a contradictory comment from a business-focused website. Moneywise posted an evaluation of why so many theme park companies are doing so well at the moment.
You can decide for yourself which argument seems more plausible: vague social media comments or stock-based movement tracking.
Oh, there’s one other odd problem at Walt Disney World right now. A rabid cat scratched a couple of cast members. I hope Disney gets an idea for an Aristocats sequel from this.
More Disney Movie News
As usual, Disney lists were a popular internet topic over the past month. ScreenRant ranked their favorite Disney couples. I have to say that I felt they got more wrong than right, but that’s why these discussions are so entertaining.
Meanwhile, Rotten Tomatoes has an ongoing vote for Best Disney Villains. I have a few squabbles here and there. The vote is up to the finals, however, and I think they picked two of the best. I wish Gaston had made a deeper run, though.
In Disney television movie news, the family of the late Cameron Boyce has done something inspiring. They’ve created a new charitable foundation in the Disney star’s name.
Finally, I try to avoid linking to friends’ work on these things. I’m making an exception this time because one of my box office cohorts, Scott Mendelson, has published an exceptional evaluation of recent Thor 4 news. I will warn you that you could possibly infer spoilers from Avengers: Endgame if you haven’t watched that film yet.
Miscellany
I’ve got three other stories this month that are worthy of your time. They didn’t fit tidily into different categories, though.
The first one is a bit dry. However, for those who are curious about the business, this story is essential. Disney and Charter are currently negotiating the first post-Disney+ contract.
I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that the future of cable television hangs in the balance. How much will companies who sell their own stream services reduce carriage fees for cable companies? Stay tuned…
On a sexier note, Tesla and Disney are circling the wagons on a fascinating sponsorship. The electric car manufacturer may add their name to Tomorrowland Speedway in exchange for Disney using Tesla technology on the ride. For the record, there are several variations of this rumor floating around, so don’t get married to the idea of Tesla mini-cars at Tomorrowland just yet.
This month’s parting shot is equal parts educational and inspirational. It’s an evaluation of proper leadership techniques as learned through The Walt Disney Company. This author clearly understands Disney history and that awkward transitional phase after both Walt and Roy Disney had died.
