Midway to Main Street | My Hollywood Studios Theory: Goodbye Tower of Terror @MidwaytoMainStreet | Uploaded February 2018 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
I'm taking a break from the normal history video today to talk about a theory I have. I want to be very clear: this is just a theory. I'm not basing any of this on rumors or leaks or any privileged information. I believe we're in the middle of seeing Disney run a litmus test in other parks to see if it would be worth building a Marvel land in Disney's Hollywood Studios.
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In the past, particularly during the Michael Eisner era of the company, Disney was not afraid to partner with outside creators and companies to bring attractions to the parks. We saw attractions based on Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and the Muppets. We had a whole theme park named after another movie studio featuring among others, a ride based on a bunch of non-Disney owned films. Many of these attractions even became considered classics despite being built upon intellectual property, otherwise known as IP, that wasn't Disney owned.
Disney eventually purchased the Muppets, making that a Disney IP. Under Iger we saw Disney purchase LucasFilm which made Indiana Jones and Star Wars become Disney IP as well. Then in a departure from that, Pandora opened, introducing two new attractions based on Avatar, another non-Disney IP.
So we were left with six attractions, all anchored to brands and IP Disney didn't own. Then whaddya know, it's announced that The Great Movie ride is being replaced by a Mickey and Minnie attraction and would you look at that, Ellen is also going to be replaced, this time for a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Less than a year later it's announced that Disney is planning to acquire 20th Century Fox and along with it, the Avatar property.
Assuming that deal closes, we're now left with just two remaining attractions. The Tower of Terror, based on The Twilight Zone, and Rock n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Now to me, it seems clear that through acquisition or otherwise, Disney is looking to rid their parks of attractions based on properties they don't own.
We've already seen California's Tower of Terror rethemed into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride, and now we've just learned that Paris' Rock n Roller Coaster is going to be re-themed to an Iron Man attraction, both, coincidentally, Marvel rides. I think we're possibly going to see the same happen to Florida's Rock n Roller Coaster and that we're also going to see the remaining Tower of Terrors also get a Marvel retheme. It helps that Florida's Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror are right next to each other. It would allow Disney to throw the Beauty and the Beast show into the mix and redo the entire corner of the park into a Marvel land that could serve to match California Adventure's rumored upcoming Marvel Land. I believe these two initial rethemes in California and Paris are the litmus test Disney is performing before they pull the trigger.
Now, many will point out or have already commented that a contract between Disney and Universal currently prevents Disney from using a good number of Marvel characters in their Florida parks. However contracts like that can be bought out or renegotiated as long as the price is right and Universal is willing to play ball. With the current Fox deal in the works, Disney is about to step into a whole new library of IP that they can potentially use as a bargaining chip.
Now another point worth noting is that technically they don't need Universal to play ball for them to retheme The Tower of Terror. We're already getting an Epcot Guardians ride so clearly the Guardians fall outside of Universal's contract. So why not re-theme it now? This is true, but I believe Disney would see the benefit of retheming that whole corner of the park at once into a Marvel land rather than just changing the Tower and risk it being the lone Marvel ride at the end of Sunset Blvd in the event they couldnât get the rights to use the other characters.
I also think theyâre performing this slower litmus test because at the moment with Toy Story land and Star Wars land still in the works, not to mention everything planned for Disney Worldâs 50th anniversary, they know that any possible Marvel Land and re-theme would be years out from now. They have time on their side.
In any case, even if Iâm completely wrong about the Marvel/Universal stuff, I think looking at the history of Disneyâs third-party IP attractions paints a pretty clear picture. I think regardless of what theyâre re-themed to, both Rock and Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror are next on the chopping block once Star Wars land opens and the park can risk to lose two E-ticket attractions.
I'm taking a break from the normal history video today to talk about a theory I have. I want to be very clear: this is just a theory. I'm not basing any of this on rumors or leaks or any privileged information. I believe we're in the middle of seeing Disney run a litmus test in other parks to see if it would be worth building a Marvel land in Disney's Hollywood Studios.
New here? Be sure to subscribe!
đ·goo.gl/x17zTL
My Patreon!
â€patreon.com/RobPlays
My Disney Podcast!
đ§ttapodcast.com
Follow me on Twitter!
đ±Twitter.com/RobPlays
In the past, particularly during the Michael Eisner era of the company, Disney was not afraid to partner with outside creators and companies to bring attractions to the parks. We saw attractions based on Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and the Muppets. We had a whole theme park named after another movie studio featuring among others, a ride based on a bunch of non-Disney owned films. Many of these attractions even became considered classics despite being built upon intellectual property, otherwise known as IP, that wasn't Disney owned.
Disney eventually purchased the Muppets, making that a Disney IP. Under Iger we saw Disney purchase LucasFilm which made Indiana Jones and Star Wars become Disney IP as well. Then in a departure from that, Pandora opened, introducing two new attractions based on Avatar, another non-Disney IP.
So we were left with six attractions, all anchored to brands and IP Disney didn't own. Then whaddya know, it's announced that The Great Movie ride is being replaced by a Mickey and Minnie attraction and would you look at that, Ellen is also going to be replaced, this time for a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Less than a year later it's announced that Disney is planning to acquire 20th Century Fox and along with it, the Avatar property.
Assuming that deal closes, we're now left with just two remaining attractions. The Tower of Terror, based on The Twilight Zone, and Rock n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Now to me, it seems clear that through acquisition or otherwise, Disney is looking to rid their parks of attractions based on properties they don't own.
We've already seen California's Tower of Terror rethemed into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride, and now we've just learned that Paris' Rock n Roller Coaster is going to be re-themed to an Iron Man attraction, both, coincidentally, Marvel rides. I think we're possibly going to see the same happen to Florida's Rock n Roller Coaster and that we're also going to see the remaining Tower of Terrors also get a Marvel retheme. It helps that Florida's Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror are right next to each other. It would allow Disney to throw the Beauty and the Beast show into the mix and redo the entire corner of the park into a Marvel land that could serve to match California Adventure's rumored upcoming Marvel Land. I believe these two initial rethemes in California and Paris are the litmus test Disney is performing before they pull the trigger.
Now, many will point out or have already commented that a contract between Disney and Universal currently prevents Disney from using a good number of Marvel characters in their Florida parks. However contracts like that can be bought out or renegotiated as long as the price is right and Universal is willing to play ball. With the current Fox deal in the works, Disney is about to step into a whole new library of IP that they can potentially use as a bargaining chip.
Now another point worth noting is that technically they don't need Universal to play ball for them to retheme The Tower of Terror. We're already getting an Epcot Guardians ride so clearly the Guardians fall outside of Universal's contract. So why not re-theme it now? This is true, but I believe Disney would see the benefit of retheming that whole corner of the park at once into a Marvel land rather than just changing the Tower and risk it being the lone Marvel ride at the end of Sunset Blvd in the event they couldnât get the rights to use the other characters.
I also think theyâre performing this slower litmus test because at the moment with Toy Story land and Star Wars land still in the works, not to mention everything planned for Disney Worldâs 50th anniversary, they know that any possible Marvel Land and re-theme would be years out from now. They have time on their side.
In any case, even if Iâm completely wrong about the Marvel/Universal stuff, I think looking at the history of Disneyâs third-party IP attractions paints a pretty clear picture. I think regardless of what theyâre re-themed to, both Rock and Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror are next on the chopping block once Star Wars land opens and the park can risk to lose two E-ticket attractions.
