-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News Zootopia and Moana Blue Sky concepts for Disney's Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
Well...they have to move forward despite the failure of one attraction... the parks are packed and need more ride capacity... So they are going to have to suck it up, finish up everything that has been sitting for years, and eventually move forward... They probably spent more on Harmonious that has been dismantled than the Galactic Star Cruiser.
It seems like the current Imagineering team needs to bring back alumni for some master classes in design, placemaking, storytelling, and style... They get some things right, but then it all feels like design by committee and falls flat.
It seems like the current Imagineering team needs to bring back alumni for some master classes in design, placemaking, storytelling, and style... They get some things right, but then it all feels like design by committee and falls flat.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
That’s what I’m saying though…how can Disney EVER have faith in D’Amaro or the current group of “ers” after so many horrible decisions?
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
To me it’s all been blue sky because of the turmoil in Florida. I believe the projects are/were a step away from happening but it’s just all going to depend on how the next year or two go. Josh pretty much said this yesterday.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
the turmoil in Florida is not causing them to not finish their existing projects that have been spread out way too far ono the timeline...they are waiting to get them finished and see if it is enough for them to let it sit for a few years... Walt Disney World is a huge money-maker of the company parks division... they have gotten used to leaving things sit for far too long...trouble is with more competition, they may need to start actually trying again... Universal is proving they can do the same thing...in some cases a lot better, and willing to create a huge new park... That should be making them uncomfortable...especially with their latest flop of a 50th anniversary and missing the mark on a lot of their newer additions...
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I mean, I would hope it would encourage them to focus more on the blue sky stuff (and other desperately needed enhancements within the parks) because they’re inherently less risky and experimental.
BlakeW39
Well-Known Member
This describes how I feel about everything new at Disney. It just feels so corporate, like all the decisions in the creative process were made by executives rather than artists. I think some things they do get right, like the ride system on GOTG, and the innovation on ROTR, but it all definitely falls short of what we've seen Disney produce in the past.
FigmentFan82
Well-Known Member
Yeah to me it reads "let's not waste money on things that don't work and focus on what we know will work"
Skibum1970
Well-Known Member
The problem is that anything greenlit is going to take four years before open. At the least.
It's heart. The new rides don't have heart. They shiny and all that but they don't really draw you in on different levels.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I think “heart” is a bit abstract as a criticism. To me, it’s the focus on storytelling when rides and resorts aren’t the best medium for that. Leave that to the film and television division and focus instead on experience. WDW should be about experiencing something you can’t find anywhere else, not about seeing your favorite characters in an abridged apocryphal scenario.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
That's a nice way of putting it.
Incomudro
Well-Known Member
For sure.
It looks like instead of letting creative people be creative.
Everything goes through a focus group or review board.
Certain boxes must be checked...
This is the worse way to make anything, be it movies, music, automobiles.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I think it’s that the creative process is disordered because they’re saddled with infrastructure that doesn’t support the kind of content they’re being asked to produce. Their existing parks prioritized cohesive environmental design, which gave rise to suitable attractions, which led to the people and stories that inhabit that world. Now they’re being asked to lead with characters, stories, and facsimiles of places that may not have any land to reasonably inhabit. Just look at old Fantasyland versus new. The former is more concerned with looking like a cohesive collection of medieval tourney tents than a series of vignettes that call to mind their content; new Fantasyland, meanwhile, is a collection of recognizable castles and locales that immediately broadcast what visitors will get in the most straightforward, expected way possible.
SpectreJordan
Well-Known Member
It's a mixed bag. It really feels like it's based off of whether the Imagineers actually care about what they're working on or not. They seem like they're more prone to half a** things nowadays.
We've gotten some of the best attractions Disney's ever created because of it; Galaxy's Edge/Rise of the Resistance, Pandora/Flights of Passage, Cosmic Rewind & apparently Cars Land & Mission: Breakout, I haven't been to DLR yet so I can't personally say so.
But we've also gotten a lot mid or outright bad stuff like New Fantasyland, Toy Story Land & Avengers Campus (that pathetic Spidey ride in particular). Whatever budgets all of those had could've gone to original ideas that the Imagineers wanted to work on.
The hate for Zootopia I've seen among theme park circles is insane. People really like it elsewhere. I feel theme park fans start hating on things if they don't like the idea of it coming to the parks; there's a lot of Marvel hate in these circles too.
Probably a bit of "Old Disney good! New Disney bad!" too.
I think the enticing thing with Zootopia is how cool & inventive that world is. I think it'd make a very good theme park area & attraction... just not in Animal Kingdom.
Last edited:
BlakeW39
Well-Known Member
Well not to beat a dead horse but the IP mandate is the reason we have Guardians at EPCOT in the first place. Which is a problem. As I have said in the past there's nothing wrong with IP but there is something wrong with the IP mandate. As a ride Cosmic Rewind is okay...the coaster itself is very good but everything around it kinda sucks. And neither it nor Mission Breakout would I consider even close to the best attractions WDI has ever built. And neither one should have been built. But they were, solely because of the IP mandate and every new attraction in the parks having to be tied to some movie or TV franchise.
I agree the Zootopia hate has gone too far but I see where they're coming from TBH. When all these IPs are forced on the parks, it gives a lot of people a distaste for those IPs outside the parks as well. Toy Story for example I kind of dislike now and I almost didn't see GOTG 3 despite being a huge fan of the first two, simply because I'm tired of seeing that crap all over the place.
Zootopia has great worlbuilding but I don't think it's popular enough to support an entire theme park land long term. An attraction with a facade in DHS is one thing....that could work.....an entire land, nah. Single IP lands have gone too far. The appeal for this one movie from 2016 isn't that broad. HP and SW work bc they're HP and Star Wars. Zootopia don't got it like that.
Last edited:
SpectreJordan
Well-Known Member
I'll agree to disagree on Cosmic. The story is incomprehensible but it's the most fun I've ever had on a theme park ride. I love the teleportation part of the pre-show, the music adds so much to the coaster & I really like the theming even if it's just darkness for "space".
I think Disney needs to see how Zootopia 2 does before committing to a land for it. I definitely agree that there's not a lot for it just yet.
If they go through with these plans, it seems like Disney already knows that atleast since it just seems to be the area around the Dinosaur ride. While Oceania (hopefully not solely Moana) gets the land.
I agree the Gaurdians Coaster is one of my fave rides in any Disney park as well and I usually get sick feeling on coasters but its just so smooth I loved it. You can argue it should have gone in another park but the ride I think is a great addition to Epcots lineup.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
I think it's a great coaster but I'd argue it's actually a design failure from a theme perspective (certainly not close to being a masterpiece or one of Disney's best); you could remove everything but the music and it would have very little effect on the ride.
The praise generally revolves around how smooth it is and the fun music. It should offer a lot more than that to be a great theme park design -- I personally don't think it's even one of the best themed coasters in Orlando.
That doesn't mean it's a bad attraction, of course. Just that it's not a shining example of themed design.
DCLcruiser
Well-Known Member
Come on, Guardians is great. A lot of fun.
I am not saying I don't miss UoE, but Guardians is good time. I was lucky to ride it twice this past December.