DAK “Zootopia” is being created for the Tree of Life theater

[donaldtoo]

If y’all have read the John Hench book “Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show”, he takes credit for having the engineering idea of hanging the bottom quarter of Spaceship Earth from a supported deck to complete the full sphere, as, apparently, that was a bit of a conundrum.
Just throwin’ that out there…

 

[lazyboy97o]

Your words not mine

What part of that simple sentence is confusing you? It says engineering, not architecture.

 

[donaldtoo]

 

[peter11435]

You pointed out nothing in your last post. Just the generic vagueness you always seem to convey.

The design and concept has always originated from within Disney. It was never subbed out to XYZ company to say turnkey design and build this for us. You have a company like Gensler that has an entire group devoted to themed entertainment and attractions that was used by WDI for projects virtually in a turnkey manner.

I absolutely did point out in that post that Spaceship Earth had both its structural engineering and it’s architecture handled by outside firms.

The design and concept still originates from within Disney. They don’t just implement a turnkey manner as you believe.

 

[MrPromey]

They're never going to add much to Planet Watch as long as the transportation situation remains what it is, and if they did alter transport, it would likely result in a significant, new-land-scale buildout, which Zootopia definitely should not have in this park. Tree of Life and Theater in the Wilds are the two existing venues that don't sit within a specific regional land and can change programming without visible impact to the park. It's not ideal, but execs were so keen to get Zootopia into this park that I'm relieved that this was an acceptable appeasement. The proposed Dinosaur replacement or a larger complete land would have been infrastructurally disastrous.

Plus, as-is, this should be just as easy to replace when the time comes as it was to slip in.

 

[peter11435]

If y’all have read the John Hench book “Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show”, he takes credit for having the engineering idea of hanging the bottom quarter of Spaceship Earth from a supported deck to complete the full sphere, as, apparently, that was a bit of a conundrum.
Just throwin’ that out there…

That claim is often shared. John Hench was an artist, not an engineer. He may have suggested that as an idea but ultimately Simpson Gumpertz & Heger performed the actual structural engineering for Spaceship Earth.

 

[donaldtoo]

That claim is often shared. John Hench was an artist, not an engineer. He may have suggested that as an idea but ultimately Simpson Gumpertz & Heger performed the actual structural engineering for Spaceship Earth.

Yea, and I get that. But if, indeed, it was his simple thought that inspired that direction, it’s still pretty cool.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

This is what the Imagineering field guide states about the ToL..
View attachment 890983

Yes, and Joe Rhode himself affirms this. The tree of Life is the symbolic representation of the diversity of Animal Kingdom and how they can all “exist harmoniously”. The Zootopia show is the literal representation of an ideal world where animals DO exist harmoniously, but just anthropomorphized to have human traits just as what Bugs Life and any other talking animal movie does.

The show inherently fits into the theme of AK. The storyline is obviously terrible but the message that is being put out makes sense to the park. Disney has always includes various versions of animals wearing clothes in its AK ads so it’s not sinful to the Disney religion.

 

[MrPromey]

I think you can too (especially in theory) but if it requires producing something with no real connection to the IP as it already exists in its movies/other media, then it seems like you'd be better off choosing another IP. For example, someone could potentially design an attraction about animals featuring the Terminator... but why would you want to use Terminator in that way?

I think Zootopia has other specific issues with the anthropomorphic animals too (and the apparent lack of any actual animals in the setting), but that's a separate discussion from IP usage in general.

Terminator: Aftermath

With humans eradicated, the natural balance of Earth's ecosystem slowly begins to heal itself. The machines, harnessing only solar power, find a way to thrive along with the plant and animal world, eventually constructing a generational space vessel capable of spreading life across the universe ahead of our sun's eventual supernova that will destroy all planets in this solar system.

They name this ship "Arch" in honor of a story their creators passed down form generation-to-generation.

In the spinoff attraction for Animal Kingdom, Skynet opens a stable Time Displacement Bridge that allows guests to step into this future and experience the miracle for themselves so they can understand that they were in fact the evil ones all along and that the world truly is better off without humanity.

Then, as is want to happen in any good Disney attraction, something goes wrong: A careless child litters and all hell breaks loose.

Will the future be saved? Does Skynet still have what it takes to stop us? Will you, the guests, make it back to your timeline before destroying Earth yet again?

Minimum height requirement of 42". Not suitable for expectant mothers or people with back or heart related medical conditions. People in wheelchairs or mobility devices must be able to self-transfer to ride vehicles. Please be aware that this attraction features flashing strobe effects, sudden loud noises and actual killer robots which may be frightening or deadly for some. Parental caution is advised.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Yeesh... and here I thought Imagineering not caring about Goofy looking the opposite way and waving at nothing when saying hi to Mickey and Minnie in the Dland's Runaway Railway was bad.

Imagineering is well past that and just at the point of 'stuff happens, who gives a crap if it makes sense or not'.

 

[celluloid]

Terminator: Aftermath

With humans eradicated, the natural balance of Earth's ecosystem slowly begins to heal itself. The machines, harnessing only solar power, find a way to thrive along with the plant and animal world, eventually constructing a generational space vessel capable of spreading life across the universe ahead of our sun's eventual supernova that will destroy all plants in the solar system.

They name this ship "Arch" in honor of a story their creators passed down form generation-to-generation.

In the spinoff attraction for Animal Kingdom, Skynet opens a stable Time Displacement Bridge that allows guests to step into this future and experience the miracle for themselves so they can understand that they were in fact the evil ones all along and that the world truly is better off without humanity.

Then something goes wrong when a careless child litters and all hell breaks loose.

Will the future be saved? Does Skynet still have what it takes to stop us? Will you, the guests, make it back to your timeline before destroying Earth yet again?

Minimum height requirement of 42". Not suitable for expectant mothers or people with back or heart related medical conditions. People in wheelchairs or mobility devices must be able to self-transfer to ride vehicles. Please be aware that this attraction features flashing strobe effects, sudden loud noises and actual killer robots.

Oh that franchise was parodied in the last show there.
It is now yet another odd reskin now of not just anthropomorphic, but a show more about anthropology and sociology than nature having its place in the world.


Bob Iger and the rest just need to get the heck out before it is going to get any better. They have done so much to where I need not go back to that property with my family.

 

[flynnibus]

The message in that film has nothing to do with nature or conservation but could be misinterpreted as such. Therefore it should not be included in a park about nature and conservation.

Still trying to figure out how this leads to "to have an attraction with animals that defy the laws of nature"...

Your beef about the film's message is fine, but the spaghetti throwing for trying to justify it... all over the place

 

[flynnibus]

Unlike Zootopia, which is literally about predator and prey being friends.

If you can only be literal and not look at what the characters are representing... but if that's your hangup, maybe the film is above those viewers?

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

No, obviously it's not. But to place this in the middle of Animal Kingdom's park icon is trying to have it both ways. Either it's a metaphor for humanity or it's about the "wild" animal kingdom. It can't be both, as many here have stated. I think that's why people are saying it would belong in Epcot (which I wouldn't want either), because it deals with a human problem of division. The only reason it's in AK is because it's animal characters—The Rescuers would make just as much sense. Actually, it would make more sense because the animals are still sized to their real counterparts and interact with humans. Instead, we've got this weird new reality, talking about animals evolving past natural law to wear tank tops—an explanation I never wanted.

Here are animals wearing clothes at AK from the beginning

 

[WondersOfLife]

I'm surprised that you guys are surprised this would be good.......

.......I'll also be surprised if you think the Dinosaur replacements will be good, too... Say what you will about Dinoland, but the imagineers really did create an AWESOME backstage for a subpar land.

AK died as soon as Rhode left/Avatarland was completed. (Rhode is the only dude who could have possibly made Avatar as a franchise fit cohesively in AK)... Anything new being added to AK is going to be like anything new added to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It just is what it is. AK was the last park to have a true identity outside of the Magic Kingdom style bubble attractions. That's done now.

 

[DCBaker]

Josh D'Amaro, Chris Beatty, Michael Hundgen and Ketan Sardeshmukh at a Cast Member preview today:

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Josh D'Amaro, Chris Beatty, Michael Hundgen and Ketan Sardeshmukh at a Cast Member preview today:

View attachment 891025

You Gotta look snazzy with your Better Zoogether embroidered polo..That'll get you the big points..

 

[WondersOfLife]

So everything that isn't a live animal belong there? Is any depiction of what exists as a live animal fitting? Does the Yeti actually exist in real life? Does the Lion King actually represent living Lions?

Is everything that's in the Magic Kingdom that is not a fantasy considered appropriate?

Is everything in Disney Hollywood Studios that isn't a form of a staged movie (i.e. Twilight Zone or the upcoming Muppet themed RcRC (or even the old one for that matter) out of place?

Is everything in whatever the hell Epcot is trying to be, close and how do we decide what is allowed?

I see you debate several times in these forums, and I'm sorry to say it, but you miss a good argument nearly every time, my guy........... You'd be a great current-day CEO that aligns with the company's current vision, though, if that makes you feel any better.

 

[WondersOfLife]

One more note: Their Facebook post has plenty of negative comments on it, and not too many positive ones... And I am assuming those are just the ones I can see today that they haven't deleted.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

One more note: Their Facebook post has plenty of negative comments on it, and not too many positive ones... And I am assuming those are just the ones I can see today that they haven't deleted.

I will just point out that a certain other park has a lot of negative comments about it but as people said, we can't use those to talk about quality as they could be farmed or "review bombed"

Not to mention a lot of the comments have genuinely not actually seen the show as afaik its open to a pretty select few.