I love it when the kids fight.
Disney's official fan club, D23, announced its 2020 event line-up today, and I couldn't get past the headliner.
Since it's not a D23 Expo year, that means 2020 will welcome another "Destination D" event at the Walt Disney World Resort. And Disney has selected an, uh, "epic" name for next year's event.
Fantastic Worlds.
Yup, the name that Comcast had leaked as the name for Universal Orlando's third theme park before Warner Bros. reportedly challenged Universal's trademark application. (The claim was that Fantastic Worlds was a portmanteau that infringed upon Warner Bros. "Fantastic Beasts" and "Wizarding World" trademarks.)
Anyway, when Universal Orlando formally announced the park last August, it revealed the name as "Epic Universe." But Universal Parks Chairman Tom Williams ended that press conference with a shot, declaring that "the last that I heard, a universe is a little bit bigger than a world."
The dig was in part a dismissal of the widely-reported first name for the park, but many also took the comment as a shot at archrival Walt Disney World. Well, now Disney is trolling right back at Universal by claiming the "Fantastic Worlds" name for its own event.
In case you are wondering, Disney does not appear to be attempting to trademark the name, and it certainly won't be referencing any Harry Potter stuff during it, so Warner Bros. likely won't be able to object to this use.
Anyway, D23 Destination D: Fantastic Worlds will take place November 20-22, 2020, honoring "Disney’s many magical places, from the extraordinary to the fantastical." More details will be announced later.
The rest of the D23 2020 line-up includes a Grand Opening Preview of "Inside the Walt Disney Archives: 50 Years of Preserving the Magic" at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, on Saturday, March 4, 2020, and Walt's Marceline, a day-long visit to Marceline, Missouri - the town where Walt Disney grew up - featuring tours of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and visits with special guests, on a date to be announced.
D23 also will add additional tours of the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, as well as host advance and special screenings of new Disney films and member meet-ups around the country, including at Aulani in Hawaii. Tickets will go on sale later on the D23 website.
Tweet
Laugh it up Disney, I don't see you building any new parks.
The best troll was still when WDW tweeted to UOR:
"Who would win in a fight, The Yeti from Expedition Everest or King Kong from Reign of Kong?
Universal's reply?
"Kong. He Moves".
Ouch.
I always count it interesting how I was on Everest right when it opened so was able to see the fully moving Yeti and it was pretty impressive. Just annoying how it degraded.
And no, Disney doesn't have a park but has put in Avatar, Galaxy's Edge and working on Marvel lands to boost things up.
Actually, that Tweet about Yeti vs. Kong was made by a Disney fan account not the Disney company.
Just sayin'.
Incidentally, the very best park to park snark was dished by Michael Eisner. Years ago during the silliness that was Roy Disney's "Save Disney" thing, Comcast decided to put on its big boy pants and try to (chuckle) launch a hostile takeover of Disney. At that year's annual Disney shareholder conference, Mr. Eisner sat down for a casual back and forth with a group of reporters. When asked about the takeover attempt, he raised an eyebrow (a la Walt) and said "Mergers and acquisitions? Oh yeah. We're thinking about buying Comcast."
Funny.
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That's hilarious.