News 'Beyond Big Thunder Mountain' Blue Sky concept revealed for Magic Kingdom

[UNCgolf]

Imagine a themepark/resort with the following IPs:

• World of Warcraft
• Halo
• League of Legends
• Minecraft
• Diablo
• Final Fantasy
• Witcher
• Elder Scrolls

It probably wouldn't be that great for a variety of reasons. I love the Witcher, but it's essentially just European fantasy, as is Elder Scrolls (other than Morrowind), and Diablo is just a darker version -- it would be difficult to do something that didn't feel generic for those properties. Almost all of the Final Fantasy games are take place in different worlds, so a themed environment would probably need to pick one specific game from the series.

I think video games in general don't translate well to theme park attractions due to the very nature of games, although there are some exceptions.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

I'd wager 60% of guests at WDW don't know what Kingdom Hearts is.

I'd bump that to AT LEAST 90%. No way 2 out of every 5 guests know what KH is.

 

[Bocabear]

Kingdom what?

 

[ToTBellHop]

Kingdom what?

Exactly. Kingdoms are sexist so starting 10/1/24, guests can visit Disney Magic Adventure Park to experience iconic activations like Space Adventure, Big Railroad Adventure, Jungle Adventure, Pirate Adventure, Adventure Family Treehouse, and, of course, the Haunted Adventure.

 

[Bocabear]

Disney's Not So Scary Haunted Adventure...

 

[ToTBellHop]

Disney's Not So Scary Haunted Adventure...

Doom Buggies equipped with flashlights in case guests get scared?

 

[Bocabear]

Doom Buggies equipped with flashlights in case guests get scared?

a pillow and blankey in each car....

 

[Purduevian]

a pillow and blankey in each car....

Put that in each seat of COP and it would be on ILL.

 

[mickEblu]

I’m in my mid-30s and I don’t really know either of those properties. I doubt most people younger than me would either. They may be classics, but I don’t think they’ve survived in relevancy enough for modern-day attractions.

You could argue that Song of the South and The Twilight Zone weren’t relevant in the 80s/90s and yet those attractions turned out fine.

 

[JD80]

It probably wouldn't be that great for a variety of reasons. I love the Witcher, but it's essentially just European fantasy, as is Elder Scrolls (other than Morrowind), and Diablo is just a darker version -- it would be difficult to do something that didn't feel generic for those properties. Almost all of the Final Fantasy games are take place in different worlds, so a themed environment would probably need to pick one specific game from the series.

I think video games in general don't translate well to theme park attractions due to the very nature of games, although there are some exceptions.

Pick four out of the list if you want. World of Warcraft can be it's own park with as many lands as you can afford. You could easily make a land out of any of the other properties with 2-3 attractions and some additional entertainment.

Games can translate into attractions just as well as a book or movie.

 

[ToTBellHop]

a pillow and blankey in each car....

Instead “and a ghost will follow you home! Muahahaha!” it ends with “wakey wakey sweetheart!”

 

[UNCgolf]

Pick four out of the list if you want. World of Warcraft can be it's own park with as many lands as you can afford. You could easily make a land out of any of the other properties with 2-3 attractions and some additional entertainment.

Games can translate into attractions just as well as a book or movie.

I think games are inherently harder to translate into an attraction because they're an interactive medium. Books and movies are passive, as are most theme park attractions. Mario Kart tried and failed miserably (at least in my opinion; I know some people like it), and that's a game that actually should have been relatively easy to translate into an attraction.

I'm not saying it's impossible, or that there aren't some games that would work well for themed lands, but there aren't very many game IPs that have both some sort of unique, easily recognizable environment/setting and the requisite popularity necessary to make it worth building.

 

[James Alucobond]

I think games are inherently harder to translate into an attraction because they're an interactive medium. Books and movies are passive, as are most theme park attractions. Mario Kart tried and failed miserably (at least in my opinion; I know some people like it), and that's a game that actually should have been relatively easy to translate into an attraction.

I'm not saying it's impossible, or that there aren't some games that would work well for themed lands, but there aren't very many game IPs that have both some sort of unique, easily recognizable environment/setting and the requisite popularity necessary to make it worth building.

Certain genres, sure. I think Mario (platforming), Pokémon (monster collection), and Zelda (exploration and puzzle solving) are going to be especially challenging. However, Donkey Kong and, like, Sonic, for example, could be easier because they often have speed-oriented on-rails sections that largely play themselves. RPGs could also work well, but I doubt many would be interested based on comparative sales in that genre.

 

[UNCgolf]

Certain genres, sure. I think Mario (platforming), Pokémon (monster collection), and Zelda (exploration and puzzle solving) are going to be especially challenging. However, Donkey Kong and, like, Sonic, for example, could be easier because they often have speed-oriented on-rails sections that largely play themselves. RPGs could also work well, but I doubt many would be interested based on comparative sales in that genre.

I actually feel like RPGs might be the hardest, because they tend to rely on interactive narratives where your choices actually affect what happens in the game much more than any other genre. This isn't true across the board for RPGs (especially JRPGs, and to a lesser extent action RPGs) but it tends to be one of the hallmarks of the genre.

 

[neo999955]

I think video games are a great source, as a life-long gamer; the lands Universal have built (Nintendo) and are going to likely build (Zelda and pokémon) are my most anticipated of any theme park rumor. Pokémon alone is probably the largest, most successful franchise in the world. Star Wars, Mickey and Marvel have years on pokémon, but over the long run, I'd bet on pokémon (not that they won't all continue to be incredibly successful).

I'd also go CRAZY for a Warcraft theme park. That's something we deserve.

But anyway, I just hope we get a villains land that looks half as good as Diagon Alley.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think video games are a great source, as a life-long gamer; the lands Universal have built (Nintendo) and are going to likely build (Zelda and pokémon) are my most anticipated of any theme park rumor. Pokémon alone is probably the largest, most successful franchise in the world. Star Wars, Mickey and Marvel have years on pokémon, but over the long run, I'd bet on pokémon (not that they won't all continue to be incredibly successful).

I'd also go CRAZY for a Warcraft theme park. That's something we deserve.

But anyway, I just hope we get a villains land that looks half as good as Diagon Alley.

Warcraft would definitely work as a theme park -- it's kind of just generic high fantasy, but it does have a relatively unique visual style and it's very popular.

Pokemon is kind of a middle ground, in that while it obviously has successful/popular games, I don't think video games are the biggest the reason it is as popular as it is.

 

[Mike S]

Pokémon alone is probably the largest, most successful franchise in the world.

Not probably, it is.

By an extremely wide margin comparative to how long it’s actually been around.

 

[JD80]

I think games are inherently harder to translate into an attraction because they're an interactive medium. Books and movies are passive, as are most theme park attractions. Mario Kart tried and failed miserably (at least in my opinion; I know some people like it), and that's a game that actually should have been relatively easy to translate into an attraction.

I'm not saying it's impossible, or that there aren't some games that would work well for themed lands, but there aren't very many game IPs that have both some sort of unique, easily recognizable environment/setting and the requisite popularity necessary to make it worth building.

I just think Mario Kart was just a bad attraction, not because it was a video game.

There are epic fights/battles in all of the games I listed. Imagine a real life experience of an epic fight that you have fond memories of in one of those games? I think that's more compelling than anything else.

I just listed several IPs that have made billions of dollars through their IP over the last 20 years if not longer.

 

[JD80]

I think video games are a great source, as a life-long gamer; the lands Universal have built (Nintendo) and are going to likely build (Zelda and pokémon) are my most anticipated of any theme park rumor. Pokémon alone is probably the largest, most successful franchise in the world. Star Wars, Mickey and Marvel have years on pokémon, but over the long run, I'd bet on pokémon (not that they won't all continue to be incredibly successful).

I'd also go CRAZY for a Warcraft theme park. That's something we deserve.

But anyway, I just hope we get a villains land that looks half as good as Diagon Alley.

Imagine re-creating WoW fights against Arthas or your first raid of Ragnaros in a well themed attraction at a park? 10s of millions of people would go bonkers.

 

[McMickeyWorld]

A long time ago, someone else had already mentioned it, Genshin Impact is perfect. Since I played it for the first time, I thought about how well it would work either as a themed land in the style of Fantasy Springs or even as a park like DisneySea. I'm not sure if it's popular enough, but if done correctly, it could easily become like what happened with Avatar. I believe that despite its gameplay, due to its own inspirations, it has the potential to create good attractions with different approaches and tones.