lebeau

If anyone is interested, here's a copy of the contract filed with the SEC. It's a public document. Enjoy! http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1262449/000119312510008732/dex1057.htm

Disney owns Marvel. But Marvel sold a lot of rights which do not automatically revert back to Disney. Disney bought what Marvel owned. But they didn't own the theme park rights to their characters or most of the movie rights. That's why Sony is releasing amazing Spider-man and Universal still has Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure. Believe what you want, but that's the truth.

You're right. At the time, no one anticipated Disney buying Marvel. It put everyone in a very uncomfortable position. Both companies are still feeling their way out. This is a common misconception. I don't have the contract in front of me at the moment, so I am paraphrasing. But it indicates that Universal has the rights to any character which is used "in a significant way" in Islands of Adventure. Universal is going to argue that any character included in a banner is used "in a significant way". And they have almost every Marvel character ever created on those banners. They have the Inhumans for example. What's more, the contract also gives them the rights to all characters in the "families" of those characters. So, if a new Spider-man or Avengers character is introduced, Universal has the theme park rights to them too even if they did not exist at the time of the agreement. As you stated, Marvel was desperate for cash when they signed the agreement. It favors Universal in pretty much every regard. It never expires. And all Universal is required to do is keep up the property which you can bet they will. They are not separate. The Hulk is the Hulk. Movie or no, Disney can't use him in the theme parks. Nope. Nothing gentlemanly about the agreement. The monorail wrap shows that Disney will take advantage of any loophole they can find. Universal would sue the pants off of them. They absolutely can't do this in WDW. They can and will build one in Shanghai. I have heard that Disney was at one time worried about brand confusion. Not sure if they still are. Exactly. At the time of the purchase, theme park attractions were icing in the cake. The cake was cartoons like Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-man, merchandise and video games. Even the movies were kind of secondary since most of the prime properties were already spoken for. Disney had to shell out big bucks to Paramount to get the Avengers back in house. Sony still owns Spider-man and Fox owns X-Men, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and bunches of other smaller characters. Disney has looked into possibilities including walk-around characters. This stuff has been discussed and plans exist. But Disney has plans for everything. Until you hear about Disney shelling out big money to Universal to buy the rights back, you won't see much more than the monorail wrap in Florida. CA is possible but unlikely in the near future. Overseas will happen eventually. That's a done deal.

Remember the Tronorail? Remember how it was on the Epcot line that went through the park? Notice how the Avengorail does not? Disney specifically put the wrap on a train that is outside of the theme parks. Universal owns theme park rights. This means Marvel stuff can appear on resort property as long as it's not in a theme park. Universal lawyers have been in touch with Disney over this. End of the day, it's not worth fighting over technicalities. At best, they would spend a fortune to get an injunction. By the time they won their case, Avengers will have come and gone from the theaters and the wrap will have been removed. Disney does seem to be testing the limits of the agreement though. I was surprised by this move as it's pretty bold. But it doesn't reflect a change in the terms of the original contract.

Agreed. The appeal of Chipotle mostly eludes me.

I'm thrilled with the PS rides! I have never taken advantage of ERTs before because there was nothing my kids could ride. But we'll definitely use them a lot this summer! Great move and hopefully an indication of where KI is headed in the future. More family stuff!

I have actually read the contract. Universal has exclusive rights east of the Mississipi. even though Disney owns the characters, Marvel sold off a lot of rights before Disney bought Marvel. That doesn't mean Disney gets back the rights Marvel sold. Disney has to honor those contracts. Which means they can't make a Spider-man movie until Sony gives up or forfeits the movie rights and they can't put the Avengers in Disney World. They can use them in CA. But they have indicated they may not do so due to the potential for brand confusion. But maybe they will decide it's worth the risk and put them in Disneyland eventually. I'd never say "never" but the odds of Marvel characters showing up in Disney World are slim to none for the foreseeable future. I do know there is a Spider-man ride planned for Shanghai. That's going to be Disney's first attempt to bring Marvel to a theme park. They will proceed from there.

There is no expiration date for the contract. Universal will never need to renegotiate. At the time the contract was signed, Marvel was in dire need of money. So the contract great favors Universal. Disney would never have agreed to the terms of Marvel's contract. But since it was a done deal by the time Disney came along, Disney's stuck with it. Universal is never going to opt out because they know they won't be able to get a similar franchise so cheap. The only way the deal gets ammended is if Disney decides to pay through the nose to end the contract. And I don't see that happening. Disney can use Marvel at other parks. Although I have heard they are reluctant to use them in CA due to brand confusion. A Spider-man ride is planned for Shanghai. My undestanding is that this is being used as a testing ground for Marvel properties at overseas parks. If it's popular enough, I could see it making it's way out west. But that's pure speculation. There is some wiggle room in the contract that may allow some Marvel characters to appear in Orlando. But it would have to be characters who do not appear in any "significant" way at Universal. That's open to interpretation. But you can bet Universal sees every character who appears in their murals as significant. And every character who is even remotely recognizable appears somewhere. Also, the contract stipulates that Universal has exclusive rights according to "families of characters". So if Marvel introduces a new X-Men, Avengers or Spider-man character, Universal still owns the rights based on that family. Disney could try to fight this interpretation, but why would they bother? It would be expensive and create a lot of bad press. They have plenty of properties they can turn to without using Marvel in FL. And they can use Marvel just about anywhere else in the world they want to (although I believe Tokyo is also off limits). Long story short, if you want to see Marvel at a Disney park you will likely have to leave the country or wait a very long time. In FL, I'd be very surprised to see it happen in the next decade.

I rode it for the first time last year and I didn't enjoy it. I had a 20-30 minute wait on a Saturday night. It was a hot one. A lot of times, the park clears out on really hot days. Best bet, just keep checking it out. Eventually, you'll find a relatively short line. Then, hop on. But don't say I didn't warn you!

Atmosphere. Count me as another one who could walk around the park without riding anything.

I had one at the LaRosa's in Newport. It was... interesting. It's the same raspberry flavor you would get in a raspberry iced tea only in a Coke instead. It was okay, but I wouldn't order it again. BTW, the Freestyle machine at LaRosa's is not self-serve.

I am not familiar with a "generic shark"...I guess i'll have to pay more attention during "Shark Week". Seriously though, thanks for the confirmation...in hindsight I should have thought of it...but I didn't! Well, to be technical, I think it was a sharkus cartoonus.

Looks like a shark.I don't know if it's from a specific cartoon or just a generic character created for the ride. It was indeed a shark. To the best of my knowledge, just a generic shark.

I have no problem with access to the tower for fireworks being a perk of FL. You want to make sure you see the fireworks from the tower, buy a FastLane pass. What's the issue?

The point is not that people will buy a Fast Lane pass just to skip line on the Eiffel Tower. The point is that being able to skip line on the Eiffel Tower is a nice perk for those who paid for a Fast Lane pass. Not sure what you're hung up on.

My pleasure. I do the write-ups for selfish reasons. It's fun for me to go back later and relive our memories through pictures and details I would have otherwise forgotten over time. But if people enjoy reading about our misadventures, so much the better. I can't wait to share stories of next year's trips when my youngest will become a more active participant.

It was a great season. We capped it off with a day my daughter described as "the funnest day ever" even though the park was packed and we didn't ride a single ride. Full report here: http://lebeauleblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/kings-island-howl-o-fest/ Thanks for reading!

Nope. Nothing like this at WDW. At least not on a regular basis. Sometimes one pops up for testing purposes, but it's rarely common knowledge and the loop is usually closed before it becomes so.

I thought this story was rubbish. It sounds like Mall of America wasn't making good use of the Peanuts theme. To try to apply that situation to Kings Island and conclude that KI made a mistake letting Nick go is not an apt comparisson. Is Nick a more popular franchse than the Peanuts? I'd say so. Was that popularity bringing people into KI? I don't think so. Planet Snoopy is as busy as Nick Universe ever was. The lines to see the characters are just as long (which is to say they have always been very short). The rides are as popular as ever. Bottom line, the change to Planet Snoopy was wise. It doesn't appear to have hurt the park's income in any way and has saved them money over a more expensive property. All the other stuff just sounds like justification. Why would KI need a new Peanuts character? How are they in any way limited by the Peanuts brand? When the change was announced, I had my doubts as much as anyone. My daughter loved Spongebob at the time. And she liked Dora and Diego, the Fairly Odd Parents and some of the other shows. A lot of them had been off the air too long for her to even know about them. So, I was a little bummed to see Spongebob go. But she didn't mind the change at all. It took a season for her to learn the new characters names. But now she enjoys watching all those Peanuts specials with me on the holidays. She's outgrown Spongebob and the rest, but the Peanuts are timeless. We also have a younger daughter who never saw the Nick version of Kings Island. She's 2 now and loves Dora and Diego. But through the park, she's also come to love Snoopy and the Peanuts. If the Planet Snoopy conversion had been in some way botched, I could see why people would complain. But even the most vocal opponents have been won over by Planet Snoopy. KI did a great job with the conversion and that's really all that matters. It's a quality kid's area. The theme is less important than the execution. It's time to move on to something else.

Yeah. Last year we were on the fence about renewing or getting Coney passes. Coney is much, much closer to our house. So we went to the kids' Halloween activities for KI and Coney. We decided that in spite of the longer drive, KI was cheaper and had more to offer. This year, there's no doubt we're renewing.

I can see why you would complain about 10 million dollars in park improvements. It makes me mad too when they invest in the parks. <end sarcasm> If it's at all like the Action River in Aquatica, I will be thrilled. We can spend hours in that one.

No doubt. They will make that 10 million dollars back in no time. They will expand their capacity and add things for people to spend money on. This is a very sound idea.

That's the way they made it sound.

One's going to be the "family" wave pool and the other will be for thrill-seekers. Or at least those who find intense waves thrilling. They said you'd be able to ride out the waves in intertubes. That makes it sound pretty cool to me.

If anyone has been to Aquatica in Orlando, those not-so-lazy rivers are a blast. We spent practically the whole day in the one at Acquatica and had a blast! If it's anything like that, I am very excited.