News 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom

UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
I don't think I would judge it quite that harshly.... There are real moments that are wonderful....especially the opening with Olaf and Sven... When you get up to Elsa's Castle is just sort of flops...and the back-projected faces are strange, but the overall is not bad....Like MMRR, it gets judged more harshly because of it's location and what it replaced... If it had been built in a Frozen Land section of Fantasyland like they did overseas, it would have been much more appreciated... Elsa's Castle scenes need something though...
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I disagree with this -- the overseas versions are arguably worse because they didn't have the constraints of using the existing Maelstrom location.

It's a poor ride. It feels half-finished and is quite barren in places, and doesn't really make any sense narratively. The AAs are nice (other than the projected faces), but that may be the one positive thing about the attraction. People love the Frozen characters; that's the only reason the ride works/is popular.

Cloning such a misfire when they had the freedom to build something better in other parks was a baffling decision.

To put it more simply, if Disney had told the imagineers to build a new Frozen ride from scratch at WDW, even just a C ticket like FEA, there's no way we would have gotten FEA.
 
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EricsBiscuit

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
I'll reassure people that in Indy's case the ride is being tooled to work in Animal Kingdom. It's not just clone of Disneyland or Tokyo's version.

I don't imagine they'd go to that trouble for Indy and not go to it for Encanto, which is a scratch-build, though I've heard less about what's happening in that ride.
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So Encanto is a ride, not a walk through?
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I disagree with this -- the overseas versions are arguably worse because they didn't have the constraints of using the existing Maelstrom location.

It's a poor ride. It feels half-finished and is quite barren in places, and also doesn't really make any sense narratively. The AAs are nice (other than the projected faces), but that may be the one positive thing about the attraction. People love the Frozen characters; that's the only reason the ride works/is popular.

Cloning such a misfire when they had the freedom to build something better in other parks was a baffling decision.

To put it more simply, if Disney had told the imagineers to build a new Frozen ride from scratch at WDW, even just a C ticket like FEA, there's no way we would have gotten FEA.
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I do not understand why the overseas version is identical to the Maelstrom version...I would think they would start from scratch completely... And I agree there are sections of the ride that could use a lot of help, I don't think it as a whole is terrible... THere is a lot of charm... Just needs a little more....
If the Snow Monster had been chasing you out of Elsa's Castle on the screens as you are moving backward and then trips and falls as you go through the fog bank perhaps it would then make sense that he is laying on the ground facing you as the boat shifts back to forward... It would give it a little more narrative. The castle scenes at the top do indeed feel barren though...and the Splashdown Room could have a little more going on... The "Summer tag at the end is classic Disney dark ride, and very charming... It's easy to bash it all, but there are some good things there.
I agree with you about the direct lift versions...there is no excuse for them not to have delivered a better ride...
 
SplashJacket

SplashJacket

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
I do not understand why the overseas version is identical to the Maelstrom version...I would think they would start from scratch completely... And I agree there are sections of the ride that could use a lot of help, I don't think it as a whole is terrible... THere is a lot of charm... Just needs a little more....
If the Snow Monster had been chasing you out of Elsa's Castle on the screens as you are moving backward and then trips and falls as you go through the fog bank perhaps it would then make sense that he is laying on the ground facing you as the boat shifts back to forward... It would give it a little more narrative. The castle scenes at the top do indeed feel barren though...and the Splashdown Room could have a little more going on... The "Summer tag at the end is classic Disney dark ride, and very charming... It's easy to bash it all, but there are some good things there.
I agree with you about the direct lift versions...there is no excuse for them not to have delivered a better ride...
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Hong Kong's seems vastly improved through small tweaks, so I don't hate it either. FEA's main issue is the ice castle, as you said.

The first Olaf scene is one of my favorite scenes in any Disney ride anywhere. Even the trolls scene is nice, as is the drop scene. They shouldn't have made the ride go through the ice castle, IMHO, there's no way to avoid the barrenness of the ice castle's interior, except not to build it.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
SplashJacket said:
Hong Kong's seems vastly improved through small tweaks, so I don't hate it either. FEA's main issue is the ice castle, as you said.

The first Olaf scene is one of my favorite scenes in any Disney ride anywhere. Even the trolls scene is nice, as is the drop scene. They shouldn't have made the ride go through the ice castle, IMHO, there's no way to avoid the barrenness of the ice castle's interior, except not to build it.
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It would have helped if the Ice Castle interior actually looked like, you know, Ice.

The sets in those scenes should have been made of Lucite to create a prismatic effect, with iridescent Mirrors throughout to add reflections - top it off with Fiber Optics and Projections like in the Let It Go room (plus Laser Snow effects like the Magic from Hong Kong's Mystic Manor) and it could have been a stunning kaleidoscopic moment.

It's not like the castle in the movie wasn't cool to look at, nor is it like an Ice Castle isn't a place people would want to go to visit. They just didn't deliver on what would have made it impressive to see:

1711659856279.png



Instead they built things solid with painted blacklight shading to suggest ice, and it never pops the way it should:

1711660133902.png



EDITED To Add: Frozen on Broadway, whose Ice Castle also famously underwhelmed, at least built one that sparkled with more than 70,000 Swarovski Crystals. The simple curtain-out reveal was a disappointment to those expecting a creative staging of Elsa building the thing with her magic, but once it was unveiled it was at least dazzling to look at. Photos don't do justice to how it sparkled in person. If only the ride had used some real crystals:

1711662433799.png
 
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Brer Oswald

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Bill Cipher said:
For many years now Disney has been trying to stray away from book report rides and retelling the story of films on their attractions. As a sort of compromise to the IP mandate, many Imagineers would rather write a new story for these universes and characters instead of regurgitating what Hollywood has already put out. This is why we got Batuu instead of Tatooine; it's why Pandora, FEA, and Tiana's are all set years after their respective films.
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I understand why they don’t retell the stories 1 to 1, but if you aren’t going to at least recreate the most iconic and memorable parts of the IP, then why use the IP at all?
 
Brer Panther

Brer Panther

Well-Known Member
discos said:
Your example doesn't make any sense since Sleeping Beauty takes place in France which doesn't have any connection to Animal Kingdom. Encanto "having animals in the film" isn't the reason why Encanto is a good fit. The characters live in Colombia, a South American country that's so rich in agriculture, it's landscape, and has a vast species of animals. All of South America ("Tropical Americas") has so much to explore that aligns with Animal Kingdom's mission.
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China has a vast species of animals and an incredibly landscape. That doesn't mean they should add a Mulan ride to Animal Kingdom.
discos said:
Using the characters of Encanto is one way to teach us about all of it.
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Do you really expect Disney to build an Encanto ride that teaches people about animals? They could've had the Nemo ride in the Living Seas teach parkgoers about fish, but they didn't. They could've used the Ratatouille ride to teach parkgoers about France, but they didn't. They could've used the Guardians of the Galaxy ride to teach parkgoers about energy like the ride it was replacing, but they didn't. Disney doesn't do "edutainment" anymore, I see no reason to believe they'd do it here.

If you have to go "Well, the characters in this franchise CAN be used to teach us about animals", maybe it's not as great a fit for Animal Kingdom as everyone thinks it is.
Bill Cipher said:
For many years now Disney has been trying to stray away from book report rides and retelling the story of films on their attractions. As a sort of compromise to the IP mandate, many Imagineers would rather write a new story for these universes and characters instead of regurgitating what Hollywood has already put out. This is why we got Batuu instead of Tatooine; it's why Pandora, FEA, and Tiana's are all set years after their respective films.
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Frozen Ever After takes place after Frozen, but it still repeats many of the film's plot elements. Anna says "They were born ready!" at one point for no reason other than because she says something similar in the movie. Elsa is in her ice palace singing "Let It Go" for no reason other than because it's the most popular song from the movie. Olaf sings "In Summer" with all of the same lyrics from the movie for no reason other than because it's a song from the movie. The trolls appear simply because they were in the movie. Anna and Elsa randomly wear their Frozen Fever outfits for no reason other than because hey, people liked Frozen Fever, right?

As for Tiana's Bayou Adventure, it's obvious the only reason they're having it take place after the film is because people always complain about how Tiana is a frog for most of the movie and they want her to be human throughout the ride.

Y'know what's funny? When they wanted to put Moana in Animal Kingdom and I pointed out that it didn't fit in Animal Kingdom because, like Encanto, it is not about animals, others on here were claiming "Animal Kingdom's theme isn't actually animals, it's conservation". And yet here we have people insisting that an Encanto ride could be about animals because there's a minor character in the movie with a lot of animals. If Animal Kingdom's theme is actually conservation and not animals, doesn't that mean Encanto still doesn't fit? Or will the attraction actually have Mirabel going all Lorax and lecturing us about saving the rainforest?
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Looks like AK is about to suffer the same fate DHS did 5 years ago.

Get an expensive overhaul for a section of the park that doesn't do much to increase overall capacity or solve the issue of a lack of rides with a height requirement. Encanto will be the only net gain in that sense.

The park will still need more than this, but will it get it in the next 5-10 years?
 
aladdin2007

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
Looks like AK is about to suffer the same fate DHS did 5 years ago.

Get an expensive overhaul for a section of the park that doesn't do much to increase overall capacity or solve the issue of a lack of rides with a height requirement. Encanto will be the only net gain in that sense.

The park will still need more than this, but will it get it in the next 5-10 years?
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an eticket is also reportedly in the works....a 300 space Imagineering parking lot is not going backstage just for Indy and Encanto.
 
Bill Cipher

Bill Cipher

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Brer Panther said:
Y'know what's funny? When they wanted to put Moana in Animal Kingdom and I pointed out that it didn't fit in Animal Kingdom because, like Encanto, it is not about animals, others on here were claiming "Animal Kingdom's theme isn't actually animals, it's conservation". And yet here we have people insisting that an Encanto ride could be about animals because there's a minor character in the movie with a lot of animals. If Animal Kingdom's theme is actually conservation and not animals, doesn't that mean Encanto still doesn't fit? Or will the attraction actually have Mirabel going all Lorax and lecturing us about saving the rainforest?
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This has been repeated ad nauseum, but since you still deny it I'll keep throwing it at the wall for you.


Joe Rohde (the lead designer of Disney's Animal Kingdom since its inception) has explicitly stated the themes of the park are as follows, "the intrinsic value of nature, psychological transformation through adventure, and a personal call to action." You can deny it all you'd like and you can even dislike it, but that doesn't change the fact that this is officially documented as the original artistic vision. "Animals" isn't a theme in the literary sense, it's a loose narrative thread. Kali River Rapids is a ride which came to the park in its early years and features no references to animals of any kind, but the ride does speak to the three main themes of Animal Kingdom as intended by the designers. Guests see the effect that deforestation can have on an ecosystem and are swept over a waterfall because of it. All themes present with no animals in sight.

Moana is a film where the main character actively sees the destruction of an ecosystem and begins to recognize the intrinsic value of nature, experiences a personal call to action, and undergoes a psychological transformation to save her island. It's pretty textbook stuff.

It is indeed true that the presence of animals in an Encanto ride would not automatically make the ride a good fit for the park, because their mere presence does not elevate the attraction's narrative to these themes. That said, it is genuinely not hard at all to imagine a version of this narrative where the characters of the film are actively saving or protecting an animal or its habitat, all while not going on a Lorax soapbox like you mentioned.

For the sake of full transparency, I originally had little to no faith that the grander themes of the park would be upheld in these new attractions when they were first announced. Now that Rohde is heavily rumored to be involved (and not just in a superficial consultant role like Baxter was in TBA) I have significantly more faith. Joe is not the kind of guy to come out of retirement for the money. This park is his magnum opus, his baby. It's hard to find another example in the entire themed entertainment industry of an entire theme park dedicated to defining its themes as high concept statements instead of just light placemaking. The only other example which immediately comes to mind is 1980's-90's Epcot Center.
 

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