We will be back at 9:20PT for Tilak Mandadi's presentation. He is the Executive Vice President, Digital and Chief Technology Officer for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
11/16/2020 6:51 AM Pacific Time
We will be back at 9:20PT for Tilak Mandadi's presentation. He is the Executive Vice President, Digital and Chief Technology Officer for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
That concludes the presentation. Josh's theme was that they owe it to Walt to face the challenges while also continuing to dream big.
"Let's ask ourselves, why not take our guests to the moon?"
"We have the power and obligation to rekindle Walt's legacy of innovation."
"At Disney, we aim high. I dare you to dream big and to dream differently."
"You have to ask yourself, what's next? Where do we go from here."
There will be more projects like the Splash Mountain transformation to come.
They have chosen to speed up some of the work they were already doing such as the transformation of Splash Mountain into a Princess and the Frog attraction.
"This represents transformative cultural change."
He discusses how the Four Keys have evolved to include "Inclusion." It is being added to Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency.
At Disney, change isn't always easy.
The kickoff to Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary will happen next year. He will share details at a later date.
They will be celebrating the 5th anniversary of Shanghai Disneyland and the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong Disneyland.
"Our annual holidays and festivals are back, but like everything, they have been reimagined."
"I don't intend this update to sound like a commercial."
He also shows how big the showbuilding for Shanghai Disneyland's Zootopia attraction is.
He also shows pictures of the rooms inside Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind vehicle footage shows how the coaster car combines a roller coaster with an omnimover as the vehicle can spin like a Doombuggy.
Josh says they will open Remy's Ratatouille Adventure in 2021.
They are continuing with the EPCOT Transformation.
Disney's Hotel New York - The Art of Marvel will soon open at Disneyland Paris.
Josh highlights the upcoming Spider-Man Attraction and shows a video of the attraction vehicles in motion.
He showed a video of upcoming attractions and experiences. Noticibly absent was Tron Lightcycle Run.
"We are going to build new attractions and deliver new entertainment."
People getting excited for their Disney trip is shown while "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" plays.
They are now sharing a glimpse of a new ad campaign showing that Disney is ready for people once they are.
Josh now magically goes to the staircase of the Hyperion Theatre.
"One of the things I am most proud of in the time of need is how we came together as an industry."
He says having to layoff people was heartbreaking. They tried to find ways to not layoff people.
Josh says they have well documented their disappointment that Disneyland still cannot open.
"We made tough decisions. We just figured it out."
He also discusses the NBA Bubble. They had to replace 100s of beds and raise 100s of shower heads due to the players' heights.
They took advantage of the downtime to perform necessary work such as sending the cruise ships to drydock which will save Disney a lot of money.
Josh is now playing a montage of guest testimonials.
Josh says that they plan on bringing back much of the entertainment that they had to discontinue.
They found new venues for some entertainment offerings.
They created the "Together We Can Make Together Incredible" campaign featuring characters from Pixar's The Incredibles.
Later today, we will be live blogging a presentation from Tilak Mandadi who will go deeper into Disney's technology efforts.
Mobile ordering went from 9% to 84% of transactions.
DIsney built the Park Pass system in just a few weeks.
"Our response required a joint effort with cast and guests."
When they reopened the Magic Kingdom, Josh took a moment with the cast to reflect on what it meant.
The experience with Shanghai Disneyland allowed them to share learnings with other Disney Destinations around the globe.
Shanghai, which was the first to close, was also the first to open.
They started working fast to transition to bringing the magic at home with such things as "#DisneyMagicMoments"
Even without guests, Disneyland continues to raise and lower the USA flag as a beacon of hope.
They furloughed a large portion of their workforce including paying for their cast's health care.
Josh now magically travels to Cars Land at Disney California Adventure.
"And just like that, it felt like the world came to a screeching hault."
They had undertaken unprecedented capital expansion projects such as Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland.
Regarding commercial, they planed on 2020 being an amazing year.
Regarding the community aspect, Josh highlights the amount they contribute to local taxes as well as their charitable giving initatives.
Josh then highlights the Disney Aspire program, which provides free education to cast members.
Coming into 2020, the company was firing on all cylinders and had just hired new Cast Members.
Josh would like to discuss his business using three C's. Cast, Community, and Commerical Endeavors.
He magically moves from Main Street to inside Rise of the Resistance.
"Those words are important to us."
He then transitions into Walt Disney's opening day speech.
He says they travel and tourism is a very resilient industry.
Since it is closed, he says he can take off his mask.
Josh, in his pre-recorded presentation, is at Disneyland which is still closed.
In other words "There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow..."
Here is the official description:
Businesses today need to evolve to stay relevant. Recent events have accelerated that need. In this session, Josh D'Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, will discuss Disney's thoughts about transforming its business as new technology plays a greater role in our daily lives, as consumer expectations and behaviors change, and as COVID-19 continues to have a prolonged impact on our industry. Attendees will follow the journey of Disney Parks over the past year - from its recent height of success, through the challenges of the pandemic, to its continued optimism for the future.
His presentation is entitled "Evolving our business, redefining our future,"
We are attending IAAPA's Virtual Education Conference, where Josh D'Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products is about to deliver a keynote session.