Were you shocked when you learned that 2008 would be the very last year for the ABC SOAPnet Super Soap Weekend at the Walt Disney World Resort?
Well, so were managers at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They had little or no warning that ABC Daytime was planning on pulling the plug on this annual event at their theme park. Indeed, given the large amount of money that the Mouse had just poured into DHS over the past year in order to make this theme park a far better venue for special events like Super Soap (EX: The $750,000 Disney just spent on enclosing the Backlot Theater) … This news came as a real surprise to these folks.
But the way Brian Frons (i.e. president of the Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group) saw it, he didn’t really have a choice. Ratings for that network’s soaps (indeed, for all soap operas everywhere) have been freefall for years now. Just in the past year alone, ABC’s daytime line-up lost a million viewers.
And while a huge number of soap fans do journey down to Disney World every November in order to see their favorite ABC Daytime performers, Frons was reportedly worried that Super Soap Weekend wasn’t actually adding to “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital” ‘s audience. If anything, this extremely-expensive-to-produce event was just playing to the fans that these shows already had.
Brian Frons, President of Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group. Copyright ABC Daytime. All Rights Reserved
Which is why — in an effort to recruit new viewers for “AMC,”OLTL” & “GH” — ABC Daytime is looking to launch the Soap Nation Tour in 2009. Which will be this collection of coast-to-coast fan-based events that are deliberately being designed to raise the profiles of certain ABC soap stars.
“Our fans have told us that they want (their favorite performers from ‘All My Children,’ ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘General Hospital’) in their neighborhoods, so we are traveling our daytime talent to better serve them.” Brian explained in a recent press release.”The new year will bring new ways to involve our stars in more events, in more cities, more often.”
Frons’ hope is — by making this promotional change (i.e. sending ABC soap stars out into the world, rather than having people fly all the way down to Orlando in order to get some face time with their favorite performers) — he’ll then be opening up “AMC,” “OLTL” and “GH” to a whole new pool of potential viewers.
Mind you, what Brian hadn’t counted on was the angry response from Super Soap fans. Who — just as Adventurers Club fans did this past summer — has launched Internet-based petition drives looking to save Super Soap Weekend and/or to get Brian Frons fired.
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Which is why ABC Daytime insiders have already begun getting out the word that next month’s event may not actually be the very last Super Soap Weekend. That — in the tradition of all those long-thought-to-be-dead characters who were then resurrected on your favorite daytime dramas — this annual event could eventually return to a Disney theme park near you. Though the smart money right now is on Super Soap coming back to life on the Left Coast first, as part of the festivities involved with the relaunch of Disney’s California Adventure in 2011 & 2012.
And then after that, sometime in 2013 or thereabouts, Super Soap Weekends would return to DHS. Where it’s hoped — after a five year-long hiatus — that this event would cause a record number of ABC Daytime fans to come on down to Orlando.
But until that happens, soap fans will just have to make do with events like “Rock the Soap.” Which will be this three-day-long cruise from Los Angeles to Mexico that will be held in March of 2009. Which will then give ABC viewers the chance to interact with fan favorites like Rebecca Budig, Thorsten Kaye and Kelly Monaco. There’s also talk of the network making tickets available for that “Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS” fund-raising concert that ABC Daytime performers take part in every February as well as next year’s CMA Music Festival, which usually features performances from “AMC” ‘s Bobbie Eakes and “OLTL” ‘s Kassie DePaiva.
And speaking of making do … Disney’s Hollywood Studios officials are now on the prowl for some sort of event to help fill this empty slot in their theme park’s schedule for November of 2009. Something like Star Wars Weekends, Night of Joy, ESPN the Weekend and the Tom Joyner Family Reunion. Which help bump up attendance levels during the slower times of year at that park.
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And speaking of attendance levels at Disney’s studio theme park … Given what’s going on with advance reservations (or should I say the lack thereof?) at the Walt Disney World Resort for the coming months, DHS officials know that they now can’t count on out-of-towners and/or overseas tourists to come fill their park. Which means that they now have to do everything they can in order to make Disney’s Hollywood Studios seem that much more appealing to locals.
That’s why word has now gone out to get that theme park’s “American Idol Experience” attraction open as soon as possible. Which is why the once-incredibly-elaborate rehab plan for the exterior of the old Superstar Television Theater has fallen by the wayside. Where once a huge Jumbotron was supposed to tower over that theme park’s central plaza, that screen is now at ground level. Where once an elaborate new entrance was going to be constructed for this DHS theater, now the Guests will enter through a slightly reconfigured version of the old Superstar Television entryway.
And as for the show itself … Those Adventurer Club vets who have since been hired on to play judges at the “American Idol Experience” are now being told that Disney may begin running test audiences through this theater as early as Thanksgiving. With the hope that — should those initial shows go well — that WDW would then be able to start promoting this new DHS attraction to Central Florida residents as early as late December.
Mind you, that significantly sped-up scenario only works if Disney doesn’t hit any huge snags during the final phases of construction and/or if those early test shows of the “American Idol Experience” go extremely well. And from what I hear, the Mouse’s marketing department plan would still like to tie the official grand opening of this new DHS attraction to “American Idol” ‘s season finale. Which isn’t supposed to air on Fox ’til May of 2009.
Which — I know — isn’t what I said last month. But given what’s going on with the economy right now, Disney’s had to make some huge adjustments to its initial plans for this new DHS attraction. So that elaborate & expensive lighting package that was originally supposed to give the “American Idol Experience” such a distinctive look? It’s been significantly scaled back. Corners are being cut everywhere now so that “AEI” can then be opened as quickly as possible. With the hope that this new attraction will be enough to convince Central Florida residents that they should visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios during January, February and March of 2009. Which are currently projected to be incredibly tough months, attendance-wise, for the Walt Disney World Resort.
So what do you folks think? Is it smart of Brian Frons to shut down “Super Soap Weekend,” with the hope that a different sort of promotional event might then lure new viewers to ABC Daytime? Conversely, is it smart of Disney to fast-track construction of “American Idol Experience,” with the hope that this theme park version of Fox’s reality series will then compel Central Floridians to come visit DHS?
Your thoughts?