MK Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[flynnibus]

What exactly does Cars bring to this project besides name recognition and a chance to sell toys?

Characters.. elements to the plot for the attractions... A hook for people to get interested in... An element of familarity.

I mean, why do they bother to put a story on a rollercoaster?? Because it build a more compelling, often broader appeal overall than just the physical experience.

This question really is no different from 'why do you use existing Intellectual Property or theming at all?'

They're working backwards to try and justify the decision. If you didn't have ride vehicles with giant eyeballs on them, or had an alternate form of transportation to take you through the area, you wouldn't need to worry so much about sightlines or noise reduction. The ride's scenery would blend in and work as an extension of the existing Frontierland...like the RoA they're spending who knows how much to replace.

You could have similar scenery, a similar ride path, a similar kind of ride...and not worry about how to make it "fit"

And who would be interested in booking a trip to WDW to ride oversized, slow ATVs? They need a lot more than just riding through fake scenery to make a compelling attraction.

It would just be another ride through a Frontier setting. One that doesn't have car shaped icons or buildings that are not designed for humans. A much more logical successor to the kinds of rides this is supposed to reference and build upon.

If the argument is 'realism' vs 'characters/toonish'.. I think one just needs to say 'Sir, this is the Magic Kingdom...'

The boat sailed a long time ago on the 'why are they using characters everywhere...' argument

 

[Kamikaze]

Confirmed.

Halloween starts in mid August. Are you saying it will be shut down by then? Most likely they close RoA and TSI in Sept, no?

 

[truecoat]

Halloween starts in mid August. Are you saying it will be shut down by then? Most likely they close RoA and TSI in Sept, no?

July 7th

 

[Incomudro]

As someone vehemently against the removal of ROA, Disney can go a long way with me if they do indeed incorporate as much water as depicted in the images.

 

[JD80]

Do they enjoy The Mandalorian?

They like baby yoda but frankly don't care for Star Wars as a whole.

Edit: And yes, the Mandalorian uses the western trope, I understand that. And even if they liked the show, it has nothing to do with whether or not Frontierland as a Wild West cultural representation has a place in the current zeitgeist.

 

[JustInTime]

Halloween starts in mid August. Are you saying it will be shut down by then? Most likely they close RoA and TSI in Sept, no?

That’s a good point. They could easily leave the rivers filled for the first block of the party. The rivers, TSI and liberty all close 7/7. Unsure of how soon after the rivers will be drained and walls will go up.

 

[Incomudro]

As a 44 year old adult with three kids the ideal of the "Wild Wild West" where cowboys shoot indians is an outdated concept that none of my children ages 7 through 12 care about or even think of as relevant outside what they've learned in social studies.

I'm 61, and the Wild, Wild West thing didn't interest me when I went to WDW the year it opened.

 

[flynnibus]

I'd much rather the LB be an operating boat but that battle is lost. Now the issue is whether it has value as a stationary landmark and thematic feature, and I think it does. It's "better than nothing."

The issue is maintaining it as a 'stationary landmark' isn't going to be a lot cheaper than it is now.. which is a major pain for the company because of it's high frequency of refurb needed along vs what they get from it. If you take an attraction that is hated for how much it costs to maintain.. and then turn it into a park bench.. no one is going to keep spending that kind of money on a park bench.

I think we should accept that unless the steamer is converted into something MORE active than it is now.. it's doomed.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I say this with the best will in the world - you do not know what you are talking about here. I don’t know your age - it’s none of my business - but if you’re in college, take some cultural history courses.

I’m past being in college, but I appreciate the suggestion.

A lesson in cultural history wouldn’t change what I’m saying anyway. Once upon a time, what you said was true. Americans by and large were proud of the frontier and all that went into it. It’s why we saw such a massive cultural influx of entertainment and music and literature based around it for decades.

But the shifting view of it is the reason why we saw all of that die down. I don’t know what version of America you think we’re all living in anymore, but the only folks out here who still hold a burning and passionate reverence for America’s Frontier era are those who were either alive at the time it was so idealized in culture or are younger but no less nostalgic for that time.

That is not a large sample of folks.

As a I said before, the way we read our past today is different than it was back in the time. I am very confident in saying that with each passing generation, pride in the frontier myth and a belief that it defines our identities fades further and further away. There will be a time in the not so distant future where the age of the frontier is viewed with the same complete indifference as the post-Revolution but pre-expansion days of our history are.

I’m not claiming the era was not notable or important. But I am saying that most Americans today have no reverence for it, and they haven’t for quite some time.

Disney is responding to that. And frankly, the response is retaining more of the foundational ideas of Frontierland than one would reasonably expect them to given how far people have strayed from holding any pride in them.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I think people desperately want to believe they have some level of influence despite the newer descriptions of what's happening matching pretty much exactly what people guessed was happening based on the original concept art. It is perhaps reassuring to hear them say they're caring for the sightlines, but this all barely qualifies as new information.

I don't think anyone's said that unless I missed some posts.

ToT has said explicitly that these plans have changed from when we were first told about them.

 

[wdw71fan]

Temper your expectations with regards to the concept art... Lest we forget New Fantasyland original concept art , or dare I go there? Hyperion Wharf. Anyone for dinner at Copperfields?

Translation, don't buy it til theres a ground breaking, and even then.. Beastly Kingdom.

 

[Casper Gutman]

They like baby yoda but frankly don't care for Star Wars as a whole.

Edit: And yes, the Mandalorian uses the western trope, I understand that. And even if they liked the show, it has nothing to do with whether or not Frontierland as a Wild West cultural representation has a place in the current zeitgeist.

How about Avatar?

There is a REASON almost every single amusement and theme park has a “western” area. The archetype still resonates even if the aesthetic doesn’t. It’s difficult to overstate how engrained the myth of the west is in America, for better and for worse.

And as for unpopular aesthetics - you don’t get a lot of “jungle adventure” movies anymore, either…

 

[Casper Gutman]

ToT has said explicitly that these plans have changed from when we were first told about them.

Is ToT one of our “insider” posters? Maybe I’m just out of the loop…

 

[Kamikaze]

July 7th

That’s a good point. They could easily leave the rivers filled for the first block of the party. The rivers, TSI and liberty all close 7/7. Unsure of how soon after the rivers will be drained and walls will go up.

Ah, I didn't see that little nugget.

Well that sucks.

 

[James Alucobond]

ToT has said explicitly that these plans have changed from when we were first told about them.

They look the same. The geysers were there, the boardwalk was depicted over an encircling stream, the Piston Peak lodge was there, etc. We mentioned all of this months ago when analyzing the artwork and came to all the same conclusions. If anything seems "different", it feels like it's related more to some of the internals of the area, like the junior attraction.

 

[Andrew C]

I am also not buying into the notion that this will help capacity, crowds, or the perception of feeling crowded/busy in MK. It will be negligible and nothing in either piece of art shows us otherwise. What we do not is that we lose one of the few remaining retreats in MK to step away for a moment (and a bunch of other stuff I don't care to reiterate).

 

[Incomudro]

Temper your expectations with regards to the concept art... Lest we forget New Fantasyland original concept art , or dare I go there? Hyperion Wharf. Anyone for dinner at Copperfields?

Translation, don't buy it til theres a ground breaking, and even then.. Beastly Kingdom.

Oh, I know that.
Will we get a river or a creek?
Or will we get nothing?
Will we really be looking at a waterfall from the station?
We'll see.

 

[Ayla]

It isn’t. It’s what your mind wanted to interpret it to mean because you’re mad.

Here ya go, kid, right from post 11,111.

• Imagineering looked for a setting missing from MK's riverfront, going with the Rocky Mountains as it's a lush setting that will be unique but also fit in with Liberty Square

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

It has been tired and stagnant for my whole lifetime and beyond, and the same cannot be said for other versions.

What is different in Anaheim and Paris that keeps it non-stagnant?

 

[Casper Gutman]

I’m past being in college, but I appreciate the suggestion.

A lesson in cultural history wouldn’t change what I’m saying anyway. Once upon a time, what you said was true. Americans by and large were proud of the frontier and all that went into it. It’s why we saw such a massive cultural influx of entertainment and music and literature based around it for decades.

But the shifting view of it is the reason why we saw all of that die down. I don’t know what version of America you think we’re all living in anymore, but the only folks out here who still hold a burning and passionate reverence for America’s Frontier era are those who were either alive at the time it was so idealized in culture or are younger but no less nostalgic for that time.

That is not a large sample of folks.

As a I said before, the way we read our past today is different than it was back in the time. I am very confident in saying that with each passing generation, pride in the frontier myth and a belief that it defines our identities fades further and further away. There will be a time in the not so distant future where the age of the frontier is viewed with the same complete indifference as the post-Revolution but pre-expansion days of our history are.


I’m not claiming the era was not notable or important. But I am saying that most Americans today have no reverence for it, and they haven’t for quite some time.

Disney is responding to that. And frankly, the response is retaining more of the foundational ideas of Frontierland than one would reasonably expect them to given how far people have strayed from holding any pride in them.

You don’t seem to have an understanding of this discussion.

No one’s talking about “pride.” America’s engagement with the frontier myth has rarely, if ever, been defined solely by “pride.” Since the 60s, the dominant strain of the western has been revisionist, wrestling with and interrogating the centrality of the frontier to American thought.

And again, no one is claiming cowboys are hot properties. The point is that the panoply of tropes, values, and ways of thinking that sprang from the frontier myth still undergird much of American ideology and media, even if the trappings have shifted. The wilderness against the machine, the “civilizing” impulse, the lone hero standing against injustice, etc… I’m being vague here for a lot of reasons, but there is a LOT of literature on this topic, both academic and popular, you can seek out.