News Zootopia and Moana Blue Sky concepts for Disney's Animal Kingdom

[aladdin2007]

These are dark, dark times to be a parks fan. The future of DAK looks gloomy to be sure. Let's hope that in say, 20 years or so, we don't look back on DAK like we look at EPCOT right now.

is there any good news at all? I mean any??? even if just a crumb for any park? just had to ask since your active here right now.

 

[doctornick]

I’m much more bothered by the idea of losing Dinosaur/Dinoland USA than I am about Zootopia being a terrible fit for DAK (it is). The Boneyard is incredible and there should be dinosaurs represented at DAK.

you want Zootopia in the park? Meh, fine, build an expansion to add it to increase capacity.

How the hell does DL keep getting additional things but every park at WDW only gets replacements despite the “blessing of size”. DAK has a huge footprint and available land - use that and don’t replace.

 

[UNCgolf]

I’m much more bothered by the idea of losing Dinosaur/Dinoland USA than I am about Zootopia being a terrible fit for DAK (it is). The Boneyard is incredible and there should be dinosaurs represented at DAK.

you want Zootopia in the park? Meh, fine, build an expansion to add it to increase capacity.

How the hell does DL keep getting additional things but every park at WDW only gets replacements despite the “blessing of size”. DAK has a huge footprint and available land - use that and don’t replace.

Plus they could at least put it back in a corner somewhere essentially separate from the rest of the park if it was a new build addition (not that they'd bother doing this, but they could). While Dinosaur itself is kind of back in a corner, I'm assuming they'll be changing the facade and surrounding area to draw more attention to Zootopia, and I could see them changing Restaurantosaurus into a Zootopia theme too.

 

[Rich Brownn]

You keep on wanting Joe Rohde to be right abut Zootopia, to the point of denying the extreme anthropomophism of ... Bug,and refuse to see Lasster, Howard, and Lee's POV.

There are a few folks here who can understand; I'm really talking to them.

The bugs in Bugs are leading bugs lives -- they don't wear clothes or hop a monorail to get to the city like the ones in Zootopia do. There's a huge difference. The animals in Zootopia could be swapped for humans... not so in Bug's.

 

[BlakeW39]

It seems to me that there's about 5-10 properties that Bob wants at each of the resorts and it's WDI job to just stick them wherever they can fit physically or potentially boost that park's attendance. It's why were going to end up with 4 Frozen lands in 4 different kinds of parks.

Once those are built, who knows what comes next.

As long as Bob is around I don't think there could ever be a 'next.' By the time he'd finish shoehorning his modern IPs into the parks, there would be new IPs
that he'd want to put in the parks just the same. So unless leadership changes drastically I don't see any original lands or attractions coming to the parks, and unless we go back to getting at least some original attractions then the parks simply cannot go back to having thematic directions or identities.

is there any good news at all? I mean any??? even if just a crumb for any park? just had to ask since your active here right now.

I mean not that I know of, sadly. In terms of creative direction and new stuff in the parks, I don't think any of it will be to our liking around here and that is the sole fault of current corporate strategies regarding the parks, and leadership prioritizing popular IP and synergy over thematic consistency and creative direction.

 

[BlakeW39]

I'm terrified of that.

In fact, let's play a game. What IPs will be next to be shoehorned into Animal Kingdom after Zootopia and Moana take over Dinoland? And they can't be IPs that would actually fit in the park like The Jungle Book because they're not super-popular IPs at the moment.

Come on, taking all bets!

After Zootopia and Moana are added to the park in probably like 10 years based on how long it takes Disney to actually accomplish anything in the parks....there will be new IPs that don't exist right now, which I am sure TWDC will find ways to vomit into an otherwise masterclass in theme park design, Animal Kingdom.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I was going to say I'm extremely confused why they would prioritize changing the part that more people like instead of the controversial part that was designed to be removed quickly.

Then I remembered the six dollar game tickets and it made more sense, in a sad, stupid kind of way.

Unless they're going to just level the entire thing all at once and maybe eventually get around to adding something to that side. Then it's still sad and stupid, but I guess slightly less bizarre looking.

The bugs in Bugs are leading bugs lives -- they don't wear clothes or hop a monorail to get to the city like the ones in Zootopia do. There's a huge difference. The animals in Zootopia could be swapped for humans... not so in Bug's.

Also, that hypothetical "maybe they'll make it educational" thing that keeps coming up and never happens actually happens with It's Tough to be A Bug.

The show shares very little with the movie. It has Flik, who kinda acts like Flik (but loses key character traits like the inventions), and Hopper, who's an antagonist like Hopper was, but removed all other characters, removes recognizable locations, and adds in a previously completely unseen desire to educate humans/hatred of them.

The attraction strips away a lot of the anthropomorphic parts, if anything.

And yes, you can say that maybe they'll do the same with Zootopia, but given the current track record I'm going to doubt it.

 

[aladdin2007]

As long as Bob is around I don't think there could ever be a 'next.' By the time he'd finish shoehorning his modern IPs into the parks, there would be new IPs
that he'd want to put in the parks just the same. So unless leadership changes drastically I don't see any original lands or attractions coming to the parks, and unless we go back to getting at least some original attractions then the parks simply cannot go back to having thematic directions or identities.



I mean not that I know of, sadly. In terms of creative direction and new stuff in the parks, I don't think any of it will be to our liking around here and that is the sole fault of current corporate strategies regarding the parks, and leadership prioritizing popular IP and synergy over thematic consistency and creative direction.

There was a faint hope with Vaughn back in the picture he might change some direction with things, so much for that.

 

[BlakeW39]

There was a faint hope with Vaughn back in the picture he might change some direction with things, so much for that.

I mean I never really thought Vaughn would do anything. For one he's an imagineer, so he lacks the power to affect real change. Second, do we have any evidence that Bruce is any different from the rest of WDI? Besides his being fired, of course. I mean I didn't really see anything in his portfolio which would suggest that he's somebody special that'll bring WDI back to the glory days or something. Mostly just the typical IP crap from what I remember

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Any chance of this all waiting and any new attractions being announced by the new CEO post-Iger?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It's on a much smaller scale, but the retheme of one of Frontierland's restaurants to Coco at DLP is another example of something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense of paper, but perfectly illustrates the current approach of retheming existing spaces to a specific set of IPs. How much of the success of these changes is really about the IPs and not simply because something is now "new"?

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

Islands of Adventure is a better park than any of the current WDW parks. It may be completely IP based, but all of the lands feel like full lands rather than the half baked “two attraction, one dining” formula Disney has with its single IP lands. Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, and Suess Landing are all great. The later two fill in for the whimsy that Disney now lacks (the whimsy they used to be KNOWN for).

The only less than stellar land is Super Hero Island, but it makes up for it with the amazing Spider-Man ride.

I love MSHI but understand why some people don’t. Regardless, I hope everyone agrees it’s still the best Marvel land in the world.

IoA definitely has entered the running for best park in the world and I am all for it.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

The bugs in Bugs are leading bugs lives -- they don't wear clothes or hop a monorail to get to the city like the ones in Zootopia do. There's a huge difference. The animals in Zootopia could be swapped for humans... not so in Bug's.

Another huge factor that I don’t think has been brought up yet: Bug’s Life takes place in a world that definitely has humans too. I don’t think any are seen in the film, but we see characters interact with human made objects. Even in the attraction, most of the conflict is brought about because of the conflict between the humans and the bug world.

Zootopia exists in a world without humans. There is no conflict between forces of nature and the characters. Saying it belongs in AK because the characters are animals is so incredibly lazy and it makes me frustrated to hear that this is a serious consideration for the park.

 

[BlakeW39]

Saying it belongs in AK because the characters are animals is so incredibly lazy and it makes me frustrated to hear that this is a serious consideration for the park.

It literally makes no sense at all. Zootopia is a world where humans and animals are combined into one. So, in Zootopia, neither animals nor humans fully exist. The IP does not fit in Animal Kingdom for innumerable obvious reasons. Also I don't want a furryland in DAK lmao.

 

[BlakeW39]

It's on a much smaller scale, but the retheme of one of Frontierland's restaurants to Coco at DLP is another example of something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense of paper, but perfectly illustrates the current approach of retheming existing spaces to a specific set of IPs. How much of the success of these changes is really about the IPs and not simply because something is now "new"?

I'm not up to date on all the threads— care to tell me what exactly is going on with DLP Frontierland? If they're really retheming DLP Frontierland, then that would lend to credence to the rumors about the same thing happening to MK.

And as for IPs. I agree that there are a select few IPs Bob thinks are popular enough to be plastered all over the theme parks, but I also don't think there is any specific list of 5–10 IPs Bob wants in the parks. I just think it's whatever is popular at the time. There's a set of IPs that are popular now, and in 10 years there will be new IPs which have just as much popularity. We can just hope that by then TWDC has better leadership. It probably won't, but...I can hope.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Again, the animals are not stand-ins for humans. That is the idea Rohde is suggesting, which John Lasseter disagrees with, as does Byron Howard (director) and Jen Lee. They know the themes of Zootopia better than Rohde.*

It's less anthropomorphic than A Bug's Life, for what it's worth.

Think of it as It's Tough to Be a Mammal, and you will be happier, even if you never go on the ride.

You can choose to see the animal nature of the ride.

* Rohde can choose what the themes are to him, but that wouldn't matter to general park guests.

When Rohde was handed that Avatar project he met with Landau and presumably Cameron to get a better understanding of the themes of the movie.

Joe Rohde isn't here any more and I'm not convinced the park has it's champion anymore.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I'm not up to date on all the threads— care to tell me what exactly is going on with DLP Frontierland? If they're really retheming DLP Frontierland, then that would lend to credence to the rumors about the same thing happening to MK.

They're retheming an existing restaurant to one with some references to Coco. It will be called Casa de Coco and open later this year.

It's not the whole land, but it feels like a lazy attempt to highlight this specific IP at DLP. The park next door already has a "World of Pixar" area and there's an expansion pad elsewhere in their Frontierland where something like MK's potential Coco area could be built, but both would be more time consuming and costly options.

I said 5-10 titles because, off the top of my head, these are the ones they specifically seem to be pushing the most when you look at the parks, globally:

Frozen
Zootopia
Moana
Coco
Toy Story
Encanto
Avatar
Star Wars
Avengers

Most resorts have added, or will add, some combination of the above over the next few years.

 

[BlakeW39]

They're retheming an existing restaurant to one with some references to Coco. It will be called Casa de Coco and open later this year.

It's not the whole land, but it feels like a lazy attempt to highlight this specific IP at DLP. The park next door already has a "World of Pixar" area and there's an expansion pad elsewhere in their Frontierland where something like MK's potential Coco area could be built, but both would be more time consuming and costly options.

I see. Interesting. I mean I'm not surprised but that's unfortunate.

I said 5-10 titles because, off the top of my head, these are the ones they specifically seem to be pushing the most when you look at the parks, globally:

Frozen
Zootopia
Moana
Coco
Toy Story
Encanto
Avatar
Star Wars
Avengers

Most resorts have added, or will add, some combination of the above over the next few years.

Fair enough. I don't know how controversial this is, but I truly believe Iger's IP mandate is one of the worst things to ever happen to WDW. It holds the parks back massively from a creative standpoint while at the same time making them feel increasingly tacky and corporate. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but that's how I feel.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Fair enough. I don't know how controversial this is, but I truly believe Iger's IP mandate is one of the worst things to ever happen to WDW. It holds the parks back massively from a creative standpoint while at the same time making them feel increasingly tacky and corporate. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but that's how I feel.

I feel the same way, especially when it comes at the expense of WDW exclusive, original attractions like Great Movie Ride, Countdown to Extinction, Universe of Energy, Maelstrom etc, even if those rides needed upgrades, wholesale IP replacements were not the answer.

 

[No Name]

Re-theming Dinosaur to Z******a will undoubtedly mean that I actively avoid that attraction. It doesn't even need to be themed to the movie, dinosaurs in general provide all kinds of story fodder. It's fine as is, just fix what's there!

It's a formulaic 45 minute TV police show plot stretched out to a 90 minute movie with animals in place of humans. How that can be seen as good is an utter mystery.

I imagine 'Turning Red' will be the next hot garbage/utter crap movie IP shoved into DAK because ... animals. Right?

Zootopia is a fantastic movie with a great theme about fighting prejudice. It’s the studio’s second-highest-rated movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes, and it made over a billion dollars in theaters. Of course it would not be good fit for DAK, but you are in the very slim minority in thinking it’s a bad movie.