Pandora: World of Avatar General Discussion

[pat_naughty05]

In trying to determine whether or not Pandora is a merchandising success, I think it would be important to first know how other items aside from just the banshees are selling. The obvious benchmark for theme park merchandise success is Potter, which I think stems from the fact that there are a wide variety of specific items that still sell in high numbers, even years after opening. The truth is we're way too early in the game to call the merchandise sales for Pandora a success or failure, but I would be curious to know how the other items are selling, and if the store is still doing well on days that the banshees are sold out.

 

[Alicia]

In trying to determine whether or not Pandora is a merchandising success, I think it would be important to first know how other items aside from just the banshees are selling. The obvious benchmark for theme park merchandise success is Potter, which I think stems from the fact that there are a wide variety of specific items that still sell in high numbers, even years after opening. The truth is we're way too early in the game to call the merchandise sales for Pandora a success or failure, but I would be curious to know how the other items are selling, and if the store is still doing well on days that the banshees are sold out.

Everyone you see is drinking a Night Blossom or eating a Lumpia and the lines for those look like Butterbeer lines at times, so that seems like a success.

And I hope Satu'li Canteen is making money because it's one of my favorite quick service in all of Disney now. At lunch time you can't even find a table and the line to order can stretch out the door.

These have to be signs that at least food and drink is doing somewhat well.

 

[Eckert]

my opinion...Disney has a hard time filling rooms because their hotel rates are ridiculous, they have way too many hotels on property competing for the same tourists, AND there is about 1,000 hotel chains located within a 5 mile radius competing for the same tourists. If they want more hotel guests, compete for them! Sorry for the rant.

I think if they offered a nice enough CM discount for hotels like Universal does for it TM's, we'd see a lot more sold rooms. Universal TMs can stay at Cabana Bay for $50 and Portofino for $100.

 

[HailSouthern84]

How can you judge merchandise is a success after 3 months? Yes, the Banshee demand has been higher than the supply which indicates it is either a success or is having some kind of issue in the supply chain when it comes to keeping up with demand. I think the test will be long term. Will this be the case a year from now after the newness is gone or not? I don't know, but what I do know is that I was, legit, surprised to see the number of people picking up the action figure in your likeness and/or talking about it in the store. I thought that would bomb b/c of the price point, but what do I know. I didn't really see much of the other merchandise moving though, which is a shame b/c Disney did produce some unique and cool items. Hopefully, they keep the unique stuff and don't shift to stocking generic DAK and WDW merchandise.

 

[Disneyhead]

It's pretty clear that some of the merchandise is more popular than Disney anticipated.

That makes executives smile.

The point of interest is, is the stuff popular because of the IP tie in? Or is it popular because it's simply a really cool souvenir? My vote is that it's (banshee) a really cool souvenir. So kudos to Disney merchandise development team for their efforts.

I know when Hogsmeade opened Universal touted creating over 750 unique pieces of merchandise. I wonder how many Disney made for Pandora? And I wonder how some of those are doing, like the Na'vi Flip Flops? Or Na'vi tails?

 

[rhino4evr]

You really can't judge anything long term, as it hasn't happened yet. It just speculation at this point. Is it a success in the short term? Yes, without a doubt. I think a lot of people (including me!) thought people would go for the ride/land, but not really care to pick up any expensive merchandise due to the weakness of the brand/IP.

As I said several pages back, Avatar wasn't relevant, but Disney has made it relevant again.

 

[Alicia]

The point of interest is, is the stuff popular because of the IP tie in? Or is it popular because it's simply a really cool souvenir? My vote is that it's (banshee) a really cool souvenir. So kudos to Disney merchandise development team for their efforts.

I think the snacks and treats are another example of Disney really knocking it out of the park, by making things that people want because they're cool rather than remember from the film.

And not just the dining options, but I do see a lot of people in line in Windtraders with one or more of the candy or snack options:

 

[Disneyhead]

I think the snacks and treats are another example of Disney really knocking it out of the park, by making things that people want because they're cool rather than remember from the film.

And not just the dining options, but I do see a lot of people in line in Windtraders with one or more of the candy or snack options:

I like the "FUN TO SHARE" on the label. Haha.

 

[OLSinFLA]

That was a huge failure on Universals part too. They lost millions in not being able to make those sales at the time those guests were there.

Here's my reasoning. If a local store that just opens has a product that is so popular it keeps selling out, that's great for business. People keep coming back, calling everyday, stopping in on the way to work, a buzz is created. But a destination theme park is completely different. Most people visit Orlando for a week once every so often. Sometimes just once in their lifetime. If a product isn't on the shelf, ready to buy at the moment they pass it, the park loses that sale for good. Most average guests don't even know the Banshee puppet is a thing. If they're not a Disney lifestyler, don't know it exists, and it's not in stock, Disney loses that potential sale. They're not coming back to check on it later.

There's also the opposite. If you overstock and the item doesn't sell well, you've lost a bundle (Hence the discount store at Universal). But in Universal's defense, while knowing Potter would be popular, no one expected it to be THAT popular. (guest spending estimates flew out the window rather quickly). They were lucky that had other items that were meant to go on sale later, and just swapped them out. Based on best estimate the PP should have lasted 6 months. Instead they lasted 2 weeks.

 

[LieutLaww]

What is this Share word ?

 

[twebber55]

several items have sold out not just the banshees
also they have risen the price on the lumpia and night blossom
who cares about the motivation for why it is selling and tbh its probably a mix of reasons why

i do think the international travel crisis has hurt WDW
looks like about 12% increase attendance for DAK and 4/5% for WDW

 

[GadgetGuru]

I don't think Pandora could ever make a Potter-sized dent in merch sales at Disney.

* The merch at Universal was awful pre-Potter. Universal is a smaller resort with less places to buy merch than Disney.
* Universal wasn't nearly as merch focused as Disney. Disney is a consumer products company and they've used all of that knowledge to build out their gift stores. Merch at Universal seemed like an afterthought until Potter.

Because of those two things, there was a lot more room for Universal to grow. Pandora is one part of a giant machine that Disney's been operating for decades.

 

[twebber55]

I don't think Pandora could ever make a Potter-sized dent in merch sales at Disney.

* The merch at Universal was awful pre-Potter. Universal is a smaller resort with less places to buy merch than Disney.
* Universal wasn't nearly as merch focused as Disney. Disney is a consumer products company and they've used all of that knowledge to build out their gift stores. Merch at Universal seemed like an afterthought until Potter.

Because of those two things, there was a lot more room for Universal to grow. Pandora is one part of a giant machine that Disney's been operating for decades.

totally agree

 

[giant4203]

Pandora keeps people in the park longer, allows more money to be spent in the park (dinner hours!). This, along with toy story, are going to help alleviate some crowds when Star Wars opens

 

[pat_naughty05]

I don't think Pandora could ever make a Potter-sized dent in merch sales at Disney.

* The merch at Universal was awful pre-Potter. Universal is a smaller resort with less places to buy merch than Disney.
* Universal wasn't nearly as merch focused as Disney. Disney is a consumer products company and they've used all of that knowledge to build out their gift stores. Merch at Universal seemed like an afterthought until Potter.

Because of those two things, there was a lot more room for Universal to grow. Pandora is one part of a giant machine that Disney's been operating for decades.

This is a great point that I've never fully realized until reading your post. If you were to look at Universal's merchandise sales in total, I imagine that HP makes up a very significant portion of that. Disney on the other hand is probably much more balanced, with emphasis likely being on items they've been selling for decades like Mickey ears. As you said, HP probably completely changed the way that UO looks at merchandise sales, whereas Disney likely had no reason to change an already successful model.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Strangely enough there's rumor Disney is rethinking their model. The idea of rides as IP's with their own merch lines. It seems obvious but it's just not how they've approached it in the past.

 

[Disneyhead]

Strangely enough there's rumor Disney is rethinking their model. The idea of rides as IP's with their own merch lines. It seems obvious but it's just not how they've approached it in the past.

Universal sort of invented "Shopping/F&B as part of the IP Experience". And Potter was tailor-made to realize the concept. Diagon Alley, in the source material, was a shopping mall with a plethora of opportunity to create unique canon merchendise and F&B.

Prior to that, Disney did things like Coonskin caps in Frontierland as themed merchandise. But it was mostly "I Survived PotC at WDW" T-Shirts and quasi-generic "Disney Collectibles".

 

[Legacy]

So... are the translators still available?

Since those seem to be one of the things they were "pushing," I'm curious about their reception.

 

[JungleSkip]

looks like about 12% increase attendance for DAK

Must be a lot of invisible people showing up to DAK

 

[Nick]

So... are the translators still available?

Since those seem to be one of the things they were "pushing," I'm curious about their reception.

They were never "pushing" them, just showcasing merch to be sold on opening day.

And no idea how well they're doing, but I imagine not that good.