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3. Acquisitions

Image © Disney

In the past 10 years, Disney has placed itself in the business of owning icons. It bought Pixar in 2006 at a value of $7.4 billion, famously making Steve Jobs the majority shareholder. Since Toy Story was released in 1995, computer-animated films began dominating the film animation market, and characters like Woody and Buzz Lightyear and Nemo and Wall-E were becoming favorites of children. Disney recognized the shift and began to first distribute and then buy out Pixar.

Now Pixar characters and concepts are major attractions at the parks, with themed areas like A Bug’s Land, Cars Land, Pixar Place, and Toy Story Playland. Not to mention one of my favorite attractions as a child, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at the Magic Kingdom!

Marvel and Star Wars are more recent acquisitions. Marvel Entertainment was purchased for $4.24 billion by the Walt Disney Company in 2009, after Disney saw the success of franchises like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. Since the purchase Marvel Studios has gone on to make two billion dollar movies (The Avengers and Iron Man 3) and two other major successes (Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier).

However, the Marvel Universe journey to the Disney parks has not been a smooth one. At last, Marvel Characters have started appearing at the parks. Also, as Theme Park Tourist covered recently, the Iron Man Experience is being built in Hong Kong Disneyland for a late 2016 debut and The Marvel Experience is touring around North America this year.

The Marvel icons, from Iron Man to Thor to Spider-Man to the X-Men, will have a significant impact on the Disney parks whenever they arrive. Their presence is highly anticipated and will bring a big boost to the Disney theme park experience.

In 2012, the Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, mainly to gain ownership of the Star Wars franchise. Not only will that result in a new Star Wars trilogy, but the saga is already influencing the Disney parks. Tomorrowland is being remodeled based on Star Wars, so we’ll probably be seeing Luke, Leia, Han, Yoda, and more in Disneyland, Walt Disney World, etc.

Disney owes its success in large part to its iconic characters. Mickey Mouse and company, the Disney-fied fairy tales, and the Pixar characters have defined much of the Disney parks so far. It will be exciting to see how new stars like the Marvel and Star Wars characters will acclimate to their new home. It’s clear that Disney is intent that its parks be filled with the world’s biggest icons, and that suggests a bright future.

 
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