EPCOT Test Track to be reimagined

[lazyboy97o]

I would think internally at Disney, including Iger over the years, IP is simply a path of least resistance, carrying with it less personal risk. Remember, these execs are making huge money with large stock incentives - so they do not want to rock the boat too much during their tenure, or risk a big mistake resulting in a shake up.

Again, the franchise mandate from Iger came during the very public, very successful opening of the “non-descriptive coaster themed like India or whatever.” It had nothing to do with financial incentives. It was all about someone who didn’t understand the allure of theme parks, thought they were a mature, dead-end business that wasn’t core to the future of Disney. At most, the financial incentive for the decision was for the future licensing fees that would have been paid for a spun-off/sold DisneyParks.

The Festival Center at Epcot never made any financial sense. It was very much about rocking the boat enough to have something different with a big name attached. The financials of the parks are blurry enough to obscure some sizable poor decisions.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

The most unfortunate long-term impact of the IP strategy is it will eventually eliminate the theme parks themselves as a “brand”.

Having unique theme park attractions like Pirates, Mansion, Space, Big Thunder, Imagination, Matterhorn, Tiki Room, Carousel of Progress, Jungle Cruise, Rock N Roller Coaster, Everest, Country Bears, Mark Twain, Epcot itself, etc, etc creates a wealth of iconic, cherished brands in themselves.

Even less modern IP themed attractions like Tower of Terror, Splash, etc. are theme park icons, not just an obvious “IP of the moment” rammed into an attraction.

It’s unfortunate they are so short-sighted and apparently want the parks to just be known as “the one with Frozen” or “the one with Star Wars”.

When they adopted the idiotic “Disney Parks” logo on food and merchandise vs the wonderful specific iconography of each park and the individual lands, it was a sign of what was coming.

Just sad to witness.

 

[Brer Panther]

“the one with Frozen”

Which one? It's in two parks.

Having unique theme park attractions like Pirates, Mansion, Space, Big Thunder, Imagination, Matterhorn, Tiki Room, Carousel of Progress, Jungle Cruise, Rock N Roller Coaster, Everest, Country Bears, Mark Twain, Epcot itself, etc, etc creates a wealth of iconic, cherished brands in themselves.

Even less modern IP themed attractions like Tower of Terror, Splash, etc. are theme park icons, not just an obvious “IP of the moment” rammed into an attraction.

Are any of the more recent attractions based on "IP of the moment" IPs considered iconic? Or at least as iconic as Pirates of the Caribbean or Space Mountain?

All I can think of is maaaaaaaaybe Toy Story Mania?

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Are any of the more recent attractions based on "IP of the moment" IPs considered iconic? Or at least as iconic as Pirates of the Caribbean or Space Mountain?

All I can think of is maaaaaaaaybe Toy Story Mania?

It isn’t exactly an IP of the moment, but Rise of the Resistance has definitely become one of those Disney rides that has filtered out into the public consciousness of people who aren’t Disney fans/followers. It’s one of the few things I see get talked about by people who otherwise don’t discuss Disney.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

going back to talking about TT 3.0, aside from being educational, I hope the overhaul is received well since that has a chance at convincing execs to be a bit less reliant on IP based rides in future world. Not that that's a bad thing, but many recent IP additions to Epcot have lacked any edutainment factor, except for JOW.

Awesome planet, Mission space 2.0 and space 220 too

 

[ChrisFL]

I would think internally at Disney, including Iger over the years, IP is simply a path of least resistance, carrying with it less personal risk. Remember, these execs are making huge money with large stock incentives - so they do not want to rock the boat too much during their tenure, or risk a big mistake resulting in a shake up.

It's easy to make a case for attraction investments based on film revenues/merch sales, and to point to your reasoning should the ROI be deemed a failure....If Avengers Campus fails to draw sustainable crowds over the long haul, there is the fall back excuse 'hey, any reasonable leader would attempt something to leverage the franchise's extreme success at the box office'


Unfortunately, this has many negative consequences including hamstringing creativity of Imagineers to launch original stories, lowering the bar for attractions as long as the hot IP is present, and eroding the central theming of each park by making them interchangeably IP driven.

This is also modern hollywood in a nutshell, only go with familiar properties or "safe bets", sequels, remakes, etc.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Are any of the more recent attractions based on "IP of the moment" IPs considered iconic?

Nope.

 

[Jayspency]

Which one? It's in two parks.

Are any of the more recent attractions based on "IP of the moment" IPs considered iconic? Or at least as iconic as Pirates of the Caribbean or Space Mountain?

All I can think of is maaaaaaaaybe Toy Story Mania?

If we wanna go outside of Disney parks, I can see Hagrid's or velocicoaster over at IOA as being seen as iconic rides, but in regards to Disney parks I don't think so

 

[ChrisFL]

The most unfortunate long-term impact of the IP strategy is it will eventually eliminate the theme parks themselves as a “brand”.

Having unique theme park attractions like Pirates, Mansion, Space, Big Thunder, Imagination, Matterhorn, Tiki Room, Carousel of Progress, Jungle Cruise, Rock N Roller Coaster, Everest, Country Bears, Mark Twain, Epcot itself, etc, etc creates a wealth of iconic, cherished brands in themselves.

Even less modern IP themed attractions like Tower of Terror, Splash, etc. are theme park icons, not just an obvious “IP of the moment” rammed into an attraction.

It’s unfortunate they are so short-sighted and apparently want the parks to just be known as “the one with Frozen” or “the one with Star Wars”.

When they adopted the idiotic “Disney Parks” logo on food and merchandise vs the wonderful specific iconography of each park and the individual lands, it was a sign of what was coming.

Just sad to witness.

Star Wars at least has decades of staying power. I don't see the same for Guardians of the Galaxy

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Star Wars at least has decades of staying power. I don't see the same for Guardians of the Galaxy

Not the boring, deserted Batuu. That didn’t age well after a year.

Timeless IP made somehow into a boring, forgettable land.

The opposite of the two impressive Harry Potter lands.

 

[The Leader of the Club]

Star Wars at least has decades of staying power. I don't see the same for Guardians of the Galaxy

I questioned Disney opening a Ratatouille ride over a decade after the movie, and it’s still immensely popular. Like, I can’t believe how much merchandise that rat sells. I think the cuteness factor of Groot and Rocket will be enough to keep Guardians at least as popular as Ratatouille.

 

[ChrisFL]

I questioned Disney opening a Ratatouille ride over a decade after the movie, and it’s still immensely popular. Like, I can’t believe how much merchandise that rat sells. I think the cuteness factor of Groot and Rocket will be enough to keep Guardians at least as popular as Ratatouille.

I think Ratatouille's plot is way easier to understand on a basic level though without having ever seen the movie though. Of course you could also argue that the GOTG pre-show lays it all out for you, in case you haven't seen the movies.

 

[DisneyCane]

I think Ratatouille's plot is way easier to understand on a basic level though without having ever seen the movie though. Of course you could also argue that the GOTG pre-show lays it all out for you, in case you haven't seen the movies.

Once you are on the ride, the plot of GotG isn't all that important. It's a cool rollercoaster (except for the motion sickness I get) set to a soundtrack. They could have kept the UoE theme and just made it that you were going back in time to see the Dinosaurs and it still would have worked.

 

[Bocabear]

Let's face it, there is no "risk" to Disney Whatsoever...they can take an obscure old IP no one remembers and create an engaging attraction based on it and have an extremely popular and memorable ride that sells merch... Likewise they can create an IP for a ride and do the same... The perception that IP is the factor that makes an attraction great or not is just false...The only "risk" is if they value engineer an attraction to death and people don't like it...
Rocket Rods could have been successful if it was a good attraction.... it was certainly not a lack of IP that was the problem... No IP no matter how popular could have saved that ride.... Likewise the old boat ride at DAK...adding "Radio Disney" to it could not help what could have been a great attraction that was unfortunately killed by budget cuts... That is the only risk aside from finally tipping the bucket cost-wise to the consumer....which they are getting perilously close too....

 

[bmr1591]

Star Wars at least has decades of staying power. I don't see the same for Guardians of the Galaxy

I think you severely underestimate the popularity of Guardians.

That said, there are IPs used in the parks today that are eighty years old. They aren’t releasing anything successful for Peter Pan, but it still stays in the park because it’s been there forever and the movie is beloved. I think it’s silly to think any IP today can’t have that type of staying power simply because it’s new.

 

[pelham304]

The problem with WoM is that it felt like an "also ran" compared to the other dark rides and felt very similar in places to Spaceship Earth, but a more whimsical take on things. The advantage it had IMO was the speed tunnel sections, but nothing too crazy beyond that made it stand out.

Gary Owens was fantastic

 

[pelham304]

Mission Space might actually get more riders that way. I’d try Cosmic Rewind and Test Track in slo-mo at least once.

I would ride Guardians like the universe of energy moving theatre vehicles any day

 

[pelham304]

Does anyone else lament the loss of Body Wars? I only visited EPCOT once while it was open but I remember it fondly and thinking it was fun and educational.

Yes!!

 

[Jayspency]

Let's face it, there is no "risk" to Disney Whatsoever...they can take an obscure old IP no one remembers and create an engaging attraction based on it and have an extremely popular and memorable ride that sells merch... Likewise they can create an IP for a ride and do the same... The perception that IP is the factor that makes an attraction great or not is just false...The only "risk" is if they value engineer an attraction to death and people don't like it...
Rocket Rods could have been successful if it was a good attraction.... it was certainly not a lack of IP that was the problem... No IP no matter how popular could have saved that ride.... Likewise the old boat ride at DAK...adding "Radio Disney" to it could not help what could have been a great attraction that was unfortunately killed by budget cuts... That is the only risk aside from finally tipping the bucket cost-wise to the consumer....which they are getting perilously close too....

There is a risk when Disney creates an attraction based on older less relevant IP/original theme park IP. When making a ride based around a popular IP, they get guaranteed interest in the project from the public and investors. Even if it does end up being a blunder, the company can rely on the brand to attract guests. FOA at Epcot is a good example of this. The reason we don’t see original attractions anymore is because the ip route has proven to be successful and feature less risk than creating something entirely original. With that being said there comes a point where they will run out of ip to pull nostalgia from and eventually have to create something new.

 

[pelham304]

I think Ratatouille's plot is way easier to understand on a basic level though without having ever seen the movie though. Of course you could also argue that the GOTG pre-show lays it all out for you, in case you haven't seen the movies.

I am an Epcot purist and I love the Guardians films and the ride as an awesome experience.