The Disney SUPER APP Details LEAKED! Exec Audio Hits the Internet!

[00:00:00]The Walt Disney Company has been talking for years about the One Disney experience, a central [music] super app that would connect everything from its streaming services to its theme parks, to its cruise ships, to its sports events. But now, from what we're hearing from one Disney executive, that is not the case anymore. Is the Disney super app on its way, or is this dead in the water? Let's find out today on That Park Place Bash. The Disney super app concept appears dead as the company rules out parks and cruise integration for Disney Plus. Now, this of course, you know, I don't have to tell you, but probably have to tell some of the people, about the much discussed Disney super app. Now, this was an app that was meant to connect everything. It was one central It was conceived as one central location where you could watch Disney Plus, you could watch Hulu, you could watch ESPN, you could buy park tickets, you could manage your your dining reservations for for the theme parks, you could manage your cruise, um all of it, right there. Live sports, you name it, all at the touch of a button in one app, the Disney bubble brought to the digital age.

[00:01:04]Now, uh it may be a little less ambitious than fans, investors, and industry observers were expecting. After months of speculation that Disney could eventually create that single single digital destination, um a comment from senior executive suggests the division is not currently on the table. Instead, Disney appears focused on a much narrower goal, that is turning Disney Plus into a unified streaming platform by absorbing Hulu and continuing to integrate ESPN. Uh clarification comes as reports earlier this year suggested that Disney was exploring a broader super app strategy that would make Disney Plus the central hub. According to leaked audio obtained by Business Insider, Adam Smith, Disney's chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment ESPN, addressed employee questions during a recent town hall meeting. He reportedly responded directly to questions about whether Disney Plus would eventually become a super app connecting the company's various businesses. He said, and I quote, "At the moment, I can definitively say there is nothing on the road map that bring about bringing either cruises or the parks into this."

[00:02:04]That's a significant departure from the vision many observers had assumed Disney was pursuing after reports surfaced that the company was exploring a platform where consumers could stream content, buy park tickets, purchase merchandise.

[00:02:13]That was another thing you're going to be able to buy merch there, too. Play games, and interact with Disney brands.

[00:02:17]And gaming was going to be on there, too. One, you know, one Disney. Uh but the real focus, Fash, is going to be Hulu and Disney Plus consolidation. That is what they are checking that that they're going toward. Uh but I will also say that just last month they said that there were no plans to sunset the the Hulu app as a standalone app. So, that also kind of flies in the face of that.

[00:02:38]>> So surprised by that, too, because we had heard that for years that they were going to sunset Hulu and actually incorporate Hulu as a one product offering between Disney Plus and Hulu all on one package right there. The fact that they are choosing not to sunset that is a great departure, like you said, from previous guidance and really kind of flies in the face of maybe the incorporation of so many of these aspects as revealed by what Business Insider do believe.

[00:03:05]>> Mhm. Yeah.

[00:03:06]Yeah, they actually had leaked audio from the the employee town hall. And yeah, so they said there's absolute there's definitely nothing on the table about integrating the parks and experiences into this app.

[00:03:21]Which, honestly, that is a that's a good thing. I would go on the record. It's a good thing. They need to focus on their streaming business right now because it's a mess.

[00:03:31]Disney Plus is, you know, being bolstered by Hulu, and the more the sooner they sunset that app, and I don't care what they say, they are planning on getting rid of the Hulu app. Once they get rid of the Hulu app and integrate it all to Disney Plus, Disney Plus is going to see a boost. Um because there are still people that just use the Hulu app that don't go on Disney Plus. Hulu is one of the bigger streaming services out there. It has been holding up Disney Plus, keeping its head above the water, so to speak. Um, but that integration alone is going to be a nightmare.

[00:04:05]Vash, you and I have talked extensively in the past about the fact that Disney does not have the greatest track record when it comes to technology.

[00:04:17]When it comes to whether they want to build a website, or they want to build an app, or, you know, no matter what it is they want to build, it's not quite [snorts] coming together typically, especially at launch. And could you imagine the nightmare that this super app would be? They They have a hard enough time keeping the Walt Disneyworld.com website running. Could you imagine trying to integrate all of those Disney features into Disney Plus?

[00:04:49]>> I I would just be catastrophic, honestly. I mean, these apps barely function as it is. So, the the idea of incorporating You're going to have to incorporate a lot of apps. We're not just talking, you know, like Disneyland, Walt Disney World. Maybe that includes Disney in Paris. Maybe that includes Tokyo, and so forth. All these distinct locations. And by the way, all these distinct locations, by the way, have their own needs that may be entirely separate from one location to another.

[00:05:16]So, that's the thing.

[00:05:17]>> have their own Like, don't they all have their own reservation system, their own point of sale system? Like >> Yes. Yes. Very, very much so.

[00:05:24]>> Yeah, you'd be integrating all of these different surfaces into one app. That just sounds like an absolute nightmare to me.

[00:05:34]>> That sounds very big, as well. If you If you look at the separate sizes for all of these apps, they're large. Now, maybe you would have shared assets between, you know, services in order to cut down file size. Not Not saying that you wouldn't. But still, it would be absolutely significant right here. And this, apparently, according to Bloomberg, who originally broke the story of, I believe, what, May 1st of this year, they were saying this, Disney's new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, is attempting to break silos within the company and simplify how customers interact with its brand. This was This was stated to be part of this kind of one Disney strategy, as you pointed out right there, Marvin, earlier in your introductory commentary.

[00:06:13]This was supposed to be like, you [laughter] know, consistent with D'Amaro's vision that, "Oh, yeah, we're all coming together right here. We're going to streamline. We're going to go ahead and remove middle management positions and so forth." And so, to break from this in this way, I think they were just looking at the logistics, Marvin, and they were saying, "Okay, would this actually be feasible?" And honestly, the conclusion that I came to was, "Well, look, if you were to do it on the park side, at least keep it to that for that park place, you know, you would have to have communication teams from these various resorts uh trying to communicate with the, I guess, one Disney IT team, "Hey, look, listen, these are our needs for our distinct resorts." And they would have to be in constant communication with them in order to, well, not only maintenance service, but also update according to policy, right? So, for example, right?

[00:07:00]Obviously, they're going to change transportation restrictions over there uh for Disney Springs and, you know, bus transportation, right? Well, part of that is predicated on being able to, you know, bring up your reservation for your hotel stay in order to get you into Disney Springs. Uh you know, for a policy change like that, you'd have to make sure that that incorporation of that service is within this mega app.

[00:07:25]And well, who do you necessarily talk to in order to do that? How do you facilitate that change? And it's just when you when you think about the logistics of it, it just becomes needlessly complex. And maybe that was the evaluation that they uh or the conclusion they came to upon that evaluation, saying, "Look, this isn't This isn't going to work."

[00:07:44]>> No.

[00:07:45]Yeah. Look, on the surface, as a concept, as like a sci-fi concept, like how a flying car is a concept, I think it's a great idea, and it's something that could be useful and simple, but much like the flying car, once you actually start to think about it, it starts to become less and less appealing.

[00:08:08]Because now, well, at what point are we going to then integrate advertising into this? At what point are we going to start trying to get you to go from the parks and experiences side of this app to try to get you to watch Disney Plus content.

[00:08:21]Are we going to get Disney Plus content interrupted because it wants you to go to the merchandise store and buy merchandise? Like that's all going to happen if this becomes reality. Much like, you know, with with flying cars, where it's like, "Well, how do you keep them in lanes?

[00:08:35]How do you you know, how do you avoid a flying car crash from being you know, airplane crash, essentially?"

[00:08:43]Um >> I do I do >> It's It's a great It's a great concept.

[00:08:47]I and I like I'm not one of those people that hates apps. I know some people hate apps. They They don't like that there's an app for everything. I would love everything to have an app because it's so It makes life so simple for me to just be able to go there instead of going through a browser and stuff like that. It's way easier and more convenient. That being said, I think that there's enough I get not wanting silos in your company.

[00:09:14]I think that there is enough distance between Disney Plus content and the Disney Parks and Experiences divisions where having your own app is justified.

[00:09:24]When I am on a Disney cruise, I have the Disney Cruise Line app. When I am when I'm in the Disney parks, I have the My Disney Experience app. That is the If you want to combine apps, maybe combine the Play the the Play Disney Parks app with the My Disney Experience app.

[00:09:38]>> Right.

[00:09:38]>> Um things like that. That was a little ridiculous that those were two separate apps for a while. So, you know, good.

[00:09:46]>> Yeah, on that level it just quite doesn't make sense, right? I understand that one is like a way bigger than the other or whatever. Maybe that's why you would do something like that, but I mean, honestly, Marvin, the potential friction points I I would think are just like, "Okay, you know, maybe this is not this is not advantageous to us in order to maintain and service." And maybe it's not even advantageous for the customer in order to pick up these this super app in order to and and have access to all these different disparate services that you'd constantly have to navigate through. It would just be a pain in the in the in the in the tuckus right there.

[00:10:18]But, if you wanted to talk about, "Okay, well, let's go ahead and incorporate Hulu Plus and and I'm sorry, Hulu and ESPN Plus or whatever." And then maybe have one app through that distinct route. A place in which you can actually advertise, "Oh, hey, you know, you want to go ahead and explain your bundle."

[00:10:32]kind of thing.

[00:10:34]Maybe that's a little bit more appropriate and a little bit more approachable for consumers. But, here's the thing, Marvin, what's very interesting when you actually laying out your framework right there.

[00:10:43]And do you think that Disney is less aggressive in pursuing this consolidation between Hulu and Disney Plus only because, well, Nielsen has kind of done it for them? I mean, when you look at the Nielsen numbers, which I'm sure they use for advertisers to say, "Hey, look, listen, this is how much how much traffic that we actually get in our platforms."

[00:11:01]Do you think they necessarily need to do it you know, as aggressively as maybe they were thinking just because, well, if you get rid of an app like Hulu and you don't incorporate that successfully, that maybe it causes a friction point where people actually jump off the service?

[00:11:17]>> Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. They're they're not they're I think that I think when they said there are no immediate plans to sunset the Hulu app, I think Hulu as a standalone app will still be there for a few years.

[00:11:31]I think you have to sure that everything is integrated perfectly before you take that app off of out of circulation because Hulu has too many subscribers to to to withstand the churn that a friction point would create.

[00:11:46]So yes, Fash, I agree with you 100% on that. I I think that is that is the case. You can't really you can't really sunset that app until you're sure that everything is working.

[00:11:55]And when it comes to Disney and technology, like I said, there are always issues. [laughter] The My Disney Experience app was a nightmare and continues to be a nightmare for a lot of people.

[00:12:06]Um I will say it's a lot better lately.

[00:12:10]Um you know, the >> Port for for uh for example, right? Um Disneyland, that that application that you actually get for that uh specific resort right there. Remember, if you're a Magic Key holder, you have to make a reservation every single day that you actually want to visit. And Marvin, after 6 years of that process, right?

[00:12:30]They're they finally added the ability to actually do all of that within the app and not be redirected to a web portal. That's just one of the things that Disney Okay, it took them 6 years to do this.

[00:12:40]This is one of the things that has been just a a a a hang-up when it comes to IT. I mean, I'm going to talk about the >> that's that's that's for Disneyland you said?

[00:12:47]>> Yeah, that's for Disneyland.

[00:12:48]>> Cuz over So over for Walt over over for Walt Disney World it's the same kind of thing. We're now to make your park reservation, uh it's no longer sending you to it was sending you to a web portal. Now it is just doing it within the the confines of the app, I believe, with the latest update. So yeah, that is that's a a thing that they've rolled out for both.

[00:13:06]>> Yeah, well, if if 75% of your populace >> [laughter] >> that actually visits your parks is using this function on a regular basis, you would think that you would accomplish that task much more quickly, but they didn't. And and so it kind of speaks to the state of IT at Disney, right? I mean, just recently they had Oogie Boogie Bash tickets go on sale. We're going to cover it on the Bash Guide podcast, but we we they literally um made tickets available. They missed the time, so it was supposed to be at 9:00 a.m. It was actually 8:45 a.m. And people were booted out of the process multiple times. Marvin, this happens every single year with Oogie Boogie Bash. Every single year, and yet they can't get it right. It's a problem that they that they know they have, and they can't seem to to fix it. We just heard recently like with the the Star Wars convention.

[00:13:54]The Star Wars celebration, I do believe tickets went crazy for that. They had issues with server and servers and so forth and and and all and all of that.

[00:14:04]D23, right? It's just a pain. You know, if you've been to these parks on a regular basis, you know the pain points here with IT. This is never going to work.

[00:14:13]>> Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, there you go, guys. The one Disney vision may be going by the wayside. The digital Disney bubble may [music] have popped already.

[00:14:24]>> Thanks for watching That Park Place News. For more information, consider checking out www.thatparkplace.com.

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