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I was really hoping for news on the future of the Disneyland Paris resort, possibly the resort most in need of a major addition. Sadly, all they said was more or less "We just added Ratatouille and we're looking forward to the 25th anniversary of Disneyland Paris".
Don't get me wrong, Ratatouille is a great, and much needed, addition to the Walt Disney Studios Park. However, one would think they had big plans for the 25th anniversary of the resort. Apart from Buzz Lightyear and the Space Mountain redo, the Disneyland Paris park has not had a major new ride in 20 years. I guess they are too busy fixing years of maintenance neglect...
A lot is happening with DLP. Most of it is refurbishments. Check Disney and More for info on DLP.
I know, I read Disney and More weekly. Yes, the Experience Enhancement Plan is a welcome change. However, to me, celebrating a Disney resort's existence for a quarter of a century with something they should have done continuously since opening day (regular maintenance) is not sufficient to make me a return visitor again.
In my view, a major overhaul of the guest service experience is also needed to elevate the resort to the level of its sibling parks around the world.
I am happy that something is finally done to try to save the Paris resort, and I understand that the EEP does not give much room for major new attractions. Hopefully, the plan will bring the resort back on track and build a foundation for future expansions.
How can Disneyland get Marvel? That's Universal.
Disney's deal when purchasing Marvel included a clause that Disney could only use the characters west of the Mississippi River, while Universal has the rights to characters east of the Mississippi River. Hence Disneyland gets Marvel and WDW doesn't. Although I believe there is a loophole concerning one character, but I have no idea which character.
If you were listening carefully during Bob Iger's presentation and during the Parks & Resort Presentation respectively, they did refer to Disney's Hollywood Studios with its new name almost every time they talked about it. Every time they said the park's name, they were very careful to leave out the apostrophe s. Much like what happened with Disney California Adventure, they have dropped the apostrophe and called it Disney Hollywood Studios every time. (Listen back if you can)
Additionally I asked the Imagineers in the Pandora - World of AVATAR exhibit, and they advised they were still on track for a Summer 2017 opening and that had not changed.
I certainly hope so. Heading to Disneyworld in 2018, and really looking forward to seeing Pandora.
They're spending a lot of time renovating Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. It's not a surprise to me that they are waiting on Epcot. Once Avatar or Toy Story is finished (whichever comes first), they'll probably announce and start building cool new stuff (besides frozen) for Epcot. So D23 2018 will probably be pretty big.