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

[HMF]

If Lion King left in some kind of full park theming cleanse I wouldn't really shed a tear...

I forget it's there, actually.

That's kind of the idea. It's not like there is a giant statue of an animated Simba outside the theater ala Toy Story Land breaking the immersion with the Harambe theming.

 

[FerretAfros]

“Peer review” is an interesting choice of phrasing… not a phrase associated with serious involvement in a project.

Nor does it imply a hierarchy requiring any of his feedback needing to be addressed in any meaningful way.

It's not a formal review where comments must be addressed in order to gain the reviewer's approval. It's a courtesy check that can be easily disregarded like someone's lackluster idea in a brainstorming session, likely placed too late in the development process to make consequential changes anyway.

But at least they're not pretending that he had significant involvement in the process, unlike trotting out Tony Baxter to assuage concerns for TBA when he had minimal input. It's a checkbox for PR purposes and little more.

 

[mickEblu]

Again, I would caution against blaming specific Imagineers seeing as how they are not being given much to work with anymore.

Is there really a team called the C Team that I don't know about? lol. And where did I blame anyone specifically? I dot know any of these interns names.

 

[HMF]

It's exactly why Joe Rhode feels it doesn't belong in Animal Kingdom. Could they have made Zootopia work in a way that honors the identity or "mission statement" of the park? Absolutely! Did they? Absolutely not! The same thing happened to our Tower of Terror out here in California just before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit theatres.

I hate to point out that Rohde was also lead on Guardians Tower in DCA which means he is not above selling out when he is forced to, Same with Avatar, really.

 

[HMF]

Is there really a team called the C Team that I don't know about? lol. And where did I blame anyone specifically? I dot know any of these interns names.

I honestly don't know but even the best Imagineers come up with crap occasionally. Tony Baxter (DL TL 98) Rohde (GOTG MB, DCA) Kevin Rafferty (ETR: UNM) we have already discussed the pros and cons of Tom Fitzgerald and of course John Hench (LAL). Individual Imagineers are unfortunately limited by what the company allows them to do.

 

[peter11435]

See this is what I have been trying to say.

I think Zootopia absolutely could work, but for some reason whoever decided on story did not honour the parks thesis. That’s my problem.

But they could change out the story in a few years and fix it.

The problem here is bigger than zootopia not fitting and not honoring the theme of the park. Zootopia better together would suck no matter where it was located. It would fit perfect in Zootopialand at Shanghai Disneyland and yet it was would still be awful there.

 

[WorldExplorer]

That's kind of the idea. It's not like there is a giant statue of an animated Simba outside the theater ala Toy Story Land breaking the immersion with the Harambe theming.

I mean it more in the sense that I'm looking back at like a dozen or two family trips, some of which required wheelchair friendly attractions, and it managed to avoid being brought up as an option for something to do.

Actually I'm not sure if I went the entirety of the time I lived down there. Maybe once four years ago? Wow. In hindsight, no one ever suggested going to Finding Nemo, either. I saw the bird show three times, though.

I have to hold some kind of Longest Time Spent in Animal Kingdom While Managing to Not Know It's Attraction Lineup by Heart record.

 

[flynnibus]

Actually I'm not sure if I went the entirety of the time I lived down there. Maybe once four years ago? Wow. In hindsight, no one ever suggested going to Finding Nemo, either. I saw the bird show three times, though.

so you're trying to tell us your family didn't have good taste?

 

[WorldExplorer]

so you're trying to tell us your family didn't have good taste?

We like FotLK. We saw it long time ago when trips weren't regular. We just never remembered it was there when the "So what next?" question came up in recent years. I'm not insulting the show, I'm genuinely surprised we forgot it so much.

As for the bird show, we have someone in the group who likes real animal experiences.

 

[Tom Morrow]

It’s worth pointing out with FotLK that, even though they are talking animals throwing a festival, the whole African vibe of the show just naturally fits in very well with DAK, where the Africa and Asia lands are as much about the people in those regions as the animals that inhabit them.

ITTBAB had bugs talking and giving you a circus act but it also just naturally fit with the park because of the whole aspect of getting down and dirty and forcing you to confront gross bug stuff just goes hand in hand with the "wild nature" aspect of DAK.

So it does in fact go beyond the message of the shows and whether or not the talking animals act like animals or humans. Zootopia and the show they produced just really doesn't fit DAK on any level. And the fact that it's a bad brainrot slop show just makes it that much worse.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I try not to be overly negative.

About the only compliment I can find here is the actual animation is improved over ITTBAB.

I'll be curious to see the general guest response. It's clear the task was "it must be Zootopia and it must not scare toddlers like its predecessor did." And I don't actually have a problem with those stipulations. My issue is that there's no excuse for the poor execution here. Far too sloppy for this masterpiece of a park. The only silver lining is that they didn't irreparably damage the Tree of Life for this.

 

[Figments Friend]

Yes, I know that. I am just perplexed that Burbank hasn't forced him out yet with his contemporaries.

Burbank like ‘yes men’ who toe the Company line.

-

 

[Tom Morrow]

Burbank like ‘yes men’ who toe the Company line.

-

See also: all corporate leadership everywhere (unfortunately)

 

[MrPromey]

The problem here is bigger than zootopia not fitting and not honoring the theme of the park. Zootopia better together would suck no matter where it was located. It would fit perfect in Zootopialand at Shanghai Disneyland and yet it was would still be awful there.

I'm fairly certain that's the next place they intended to put it.

 

[Comped]

I honestly don't know but even the best Imagineers come up with crap occasionally. Tony Baxter (DL TL 98) Rohde (GOTG MB, DCA) Kevin Rafferty (ETR: UNM) we have already discussed the pros and cons of Tom Fitzgerald and of course John Hench (LAL). Individual Imagineers are unfortunately limited by what the company allows them to do.

I feel like an eejit for asking... But what's ETR: UMN and LAL? They're probably obvious, but I'm drawing a blank...

 

[DCBaker]

The Virtual Queue for Annual Passholder previews has been added to the My Disney Experience app:

 

[Biff215]

I feel like an eejit for asking... But what's ETR: UMN and LAL? They're probably obvious, but I'm drawing a blank...

Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management

Leave a Legacy?

 

[Brer Panther]

Flash the Sloth is slow? No way! I mean; Check.

Polar Bear bodyguards in Tundatown? Check.

Nick and Judy are off on another investigation? Check.

Character advertisement/trailer for Zootopia 2 (In Theatres Novemeber 26th, kids!) that is literally spat all over the audience? Check.

Big donut in Little Rodentia with associated characters? Check.

Bellwether and co. attempting to undermine the peace again? Check.

Gazelle performance? Check.

"Naked", hippie animals? Check.

Yeah, it's another one of those attractions that takes place after the movie but can't think of anything to do other than rehash it. See also Frozen Ever After and the Finding Nemo rides.

And I get it, if you're doing an attraction based on a movie people expect to see the characters they love from the film (otherwise you get Tiana's Bayou Adventure), but surely they could've thought of something more creative than this. Like, did they HAVE to do the "Bellwether's back for revenge!" thing AGAIN?

And am also glad they didn't give in to create a Zootopia land.

Yeah, replacing Dinosaur with a clone of Shanghai's Zootopia ride would've been far worse.

so I hope they better integrate Encanto and Indiana Jones Maya Temple Escape.

They won't.

There's six other animals in that photo and his homage is a rat-persona? Really?

They thought "Joe Rohdent" was a clever pun. That's it.

Chris Sanders totally thinks live action Lilo and Stitch is better.

Did he actually say that?

 

[lazyboy97o]

I feel like an eejit for asking... But what's ETR: UMN and LAL? They're probably obvious, but I'm drawing a blank...

Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management and Leave a Legacy

 

[WorldExplorer]

From one of the full show videos: