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

[WorldExplorer]

From one of the full show videos:

 

[Biff215]

That Joe Rohde story is highly suspect. It seems to be more based on hearsay than actual quotes.

“Yeah when we showed Joe this garbage he gagged profusely but never puked so we’re assuming he must have liked it”.

Either way, Joe has no real say or power here sadly. He could rip it as he should but then you can guarantee that would be the last time he’d be given any kind of special access to his baby. It’s a catch-22.

 

[WorldExplorer]

Did he actually say that?

I heard he did, but I don't have the heart to go dig through clickbait articles, so I edited the post.

 

[KDM31091]

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.

Exactly. There is zero attempt for this to fit in AK beyond "they're animals". It's just not good enough. It is Disney+ or youtube slop not worthy of being in the icon of the park. Is it cute? Sure but so are shorts on youtube. It's not good enough.

It does make me quite worried for the Encanto attraction which also doesn't fit in this park. Even if we are promised they will make it fit somehow, I have zero confidence. "Antonio talks to animals", again, is just not good enough.

They need to stop watering themes down so much where it becomes "as long as it somehow, some way features an animal it's fine", because that would mean almost any Disney or Pixar IP would work in this park and it is definitely not true.

 

[aladdin2007]

Exactly. There is zero attempt for this to fit in AK beyond "they're animals". It's just not good enough. It is Disney+ or youtube slop not worthy of being in the icon of the park. Is it cute? Sure but so are shorts on youtube. It's not good enough.

It does make me quite worried for the Encanto attraction which also doesn't fit in this park. Even if we are promised they will make it fit somehow, I have zero confidence. "Antonio talks to animals", again, is just not good enough.

They need to stop watering themes down so much where it becomes "as long as it somehow, some way features an animal it's fine", because that would mean almost any Disney or Pixar IP would work in this park and it is definitely not true.

Agree this is nothing but Disneyplus/youtube mentality and tie in which now looks bad on the imagineers or whatever high school temps they hired to come up with the drivel. Not to mention how bad it looks on D'Amoro and his minions but these execs are so blind anymore...and this show is all over the local Orlando news stations like its some major attraction, which is really bothering me but thats media.......... Every park is now just a dumping ground for IP and inferior content anywhere and everywhere. (Test Track being the one exception thanks to a major sponsor). They are turning these once grand parks into giant preschool lands, Im not saying there shouldn't be shows for kids, but attractions use to appeal to everyone on many levels, now its the bottom of the ocean floor with no high bar of creative or intellectual caliber. Put in slop, keep razing entire quadrants of the parks (looking at you MK thanks a lot Vahle), replacing with whatever disneyplus trending muck they can advertise.

 

[JohnD]

What about TaleSpin? They were animals before in Jungle Book and Poof! Darwin's Grab Bag comes in and made Shere Khan start walking on his Hind Legs?
View attachment 891256

 

[WorldExplorer]

Oh, Encanto's being brought up, let's compare again!

As you look at these images, remember that common tricks to keep things the center of attention in visual art is to put it in the center, to make it larger, or to make it full color or more detailed while thing that aren't meant to draw your eye are half shadowed or less detailed!

Now, here's your refresher on the Encanto concept art:

Here's some Dinoland concept art, the canceled Excavator and Dino-Rama:

Look close, real, REAL CLOSE, and maybe you can determine a slight difference in how animals and humans are being used in these concept arts.

And maybe from there we can take some wild, off the wall guesses as to how animal focused that ride and half of the land will be.


"That's not fair, WorldExplorer: there's more Dinoland examples while Encanto just has one, and you don't know what the goal was for them!" True, but I do know that the Encanto one is what they came out of the gate swinging with. That's supposed to be your intro to the ride in a single image. They should be giving us the pick of the litter that shows what we're in for, and what they chose was this. If it's not summing up the ride accurately, they should fire someone.

Also, you're free to look at anything released for Dinoland and come back to me with art focused on people because I have yet to find any.

 

[Biff215]

It does make me quite worried for the Encanto attraction which also doesn't fit in this park. Even if we are promised they will make it fit somehow, I have zero confidence. "Antonio talks to animals", again, is just not good enough.

While I agree, I think what matters more is whether it’s a quality attraction or not. If Encanto turns out to be a solid dark ride (Mansion), most will be happy, but if it’s just a lazy retelling (Ariel), then it will be another disappointment.

Zootopia here fails IMO because of what they created, not just because it isn’t a great fit. Sadly that ship has sailed where Disney actually cares about the park’s message.

 

[KDM31091]

If they'd actually built the Excavator coaster I highly, highly doubt Dinoland would even be going away. What a shame

 

[KDM31091]

While I agree, I think what matters more is whether it’s a quality attraction or not. If Encanto turns out to be a solid dark ride (Mansion), most will be happy, but if it’s just a lazy retelling (Ariel), then it will be another disappointment.

Zootopia here fails IMO because of what they created, not just because it isn’t a great fit. Sadly that ship has sailed where Disney actually cares about the park’s message.

And I think we have every reason to think unfortunately that it will be a disappointing dark ride. But I hope I am wrong. I want to be wrong on this.

I know the days of them caring about the message of the park are over. It's just hard to swallow sometimes that they are just literally all turning into the same IP hodgepodge with no differentiation.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

And I think we have every reason to think unfortunately that it will be a disappointing dark ride. But I hope I am wrong. I want to be wrong on this.

I know the days of them caring about the message of the park are over. It's just hard to swallow sometimes that they are just literally all turning into the same IP hodgepodge with no differentiation.

The parks all still have a message imo but okay

 

[KDM31091]

The parks all still have a message imo but okay

Less and less as time goes on. What about the Zootopia show couldn't fit into DHS for example? What about the Moana Journey of Water couldn't be plopped into Adventureland? Would GOTG be any more out of place if thrown in Tomorrowland? Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway could easily be thrown into Fantasyland; it's an elaborate dark ride in the end. I could go on and on.

The lines between the parks and even areas within the parks are blurrier than they've ever been. What even is the front half of Epcot at this point? Other than a modernized sterile looking office park seating area what is the message? The random Celebration, Discovery and Nature names don't mean much especially Celebration and Discovery. I could go on and on with this too. Epcot and DHS in particular don't know what they even are trying to be at this point IMO. At least there is some hope with the Animation project at DHS that maybe someone at Disney is focusing on the point of the park.

 

[fractal]

The loss of the brilliant theming concept of slowly shrinking to the size of the bugs as you go through the queue line and into the Tree of Life still bums me out.

 

[Comped]

Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management

Leave a Legacy?

Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management and Leave a Legacy

Thanks, but wow I'm dense. I must have blocked out that version of the tiki room in my mind, same with the funeral rocks.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Less and less as time goes on. What about the Zootopia show couldn't fit into DHS for example? What about the Moana Journey of Water couldn't be plopped into Adventureland? Would GOTG be any more out of place if thrown in Tomorrowland? Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway could easily be thrown into Fantasyland; it's an elaborate dark ride in the end. I could go on and on.

The lines between the parks and even areas within the parks are blurrier than they've ever been. What even is the front half of Epcot at this point? Other than a modernized sterile looking office park seating area what is the message? The random Celebration, Discovery and Nature names don't mean much especially Celebration and Discovery. I could go on and on with this too. Epcot and DHS in particular don't know what they even are trying to be at this point IMO. At least there is some hope with the Animation project at DHS that maybe someone at Disney is focusing on the point of the park.

The front half of Epcot celebrates the human connection and how we are all like. We all have nature to feed/shape us, we celebrate, and we discover.

World Celebration: Celebrating humanity and what we have done/are doing now. From our imagination to our past of how we communicated to get where we are now. Communicore also implies this through the festivals.

World Discovery: A celebration of tech that doesn’t exist yet but we strive towards. Intergalactic travel, exploration of mars, advanced technology for our cars, etc.

World Nature: A celebration of the natural world and how we interact with is. Through enjoying it ala Soaring or protecting it like in The Seas/Living with the Land/Moana

 

[KDM31091]

World Celebration: Celebrating humanity and what we have done/are doing now. From our imagination to our past of how we communicated to get where we are now. Communicore also implies this through the festivals.

I respect your opinion but I see Communicore as nothing more than a hospital seating area. It implies absolutely nothing other than a depressing and cheap area to me. It was supposed to do what you mentioned but it is an epic fail. The excuse was that it would be improved for festivals. They haven’t done that consistently. And even its base state shouldn’t be so awful.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

I respect your opinion but I see Communicore as nothing more than a hospital seating area. It implies absolutely nothing other than a depressing and cheap area to me. It was supposed to do what you mentioned but it is an epic fail. The excuse was that it would be improved for festivals. They haven’t done that consistently. And even its base state shouldn’t be so awful.

I do agree that Communicore hall was not at the level it should be. IMO it should be atleast at the level of Goofycore/Broadway museum at ALL times with the theme switching out based on the festival. But the theme overall of the area is still based on celebration and the area that currently has Encanto further reinforces it. Imo it should be more like an actual year round party in Communicore hall but as of right now, we don’t not have that. I would add a merchandise stall, rare character meet and greets, rotating exhibits, etc and segment the place up while keeping a ton of seatinf

 

[JohnD]

I respect your opinion but I see Communicore as nothing more than a hospital seating area. It implies absolutely nothing other than a depressing and cheap area to me. It was supposed to do what you mentioned but it is an epic fail. The excuse was that it would be improved for festivals. They haven’t done that consistently. And even its base state shouldn’t be so awful.

I walked through it last Thursday and it was depressingly empty. What a waste of space. While I'm at it, the F&W festival is a former shell of itself also. Wonders of Life used to be a vibrant Festival Center with demonstrations, gift shop, and short movies. Restaurants around Epcot held food and drink pairings. And, of course, there still were the food booths and Eat to the Beat concerts. Communicore Hall could have been another Festival Center. Now it's just depressing.

 

[flynnibus]

Exactly. There is zero attempt for this to fit in AK beyond "they're animals". It's just not good enough. It is Disney+ or youtube slop not worthy of being in the icon of the park. Is it cute? Sure but so are shorts on youtube. It's not good enough.

It does make me quite worried for the Encanto attraction which also doesn't fit in this park. Even if we are promised they will make it fit somehow, I have zero confidence. "Antonio talks to animals", again, is just not good enough.

They need to stop watering themes down so much where it becomes "as long as it somehow, some way features an animal it's fine", because that would mean almost any Disney or Pixar IP would work in this park and it is definitely not true.

I agree with what you are saying about the 'fitting' isn't good enough...

I just don't think it's the problem that actually matters - The attraction itself sucks. If it fitted better... it would still suck. The best themed attraction that sucks will still not be well attended. So "does it fit?" is immaterial as long as the attraction itself sucks IMO.

 

[flynnibus]

While I agree, I think what matters more is whether it’s a quality attraction or not. If Encanto turns out to be a solid dark ride (Mansion), most will be happy, but if it’s just a lazy retelling (Ariel), then it will be another disappointment.

Zootopia here fails IMO because of what they created, not just because it isn’t a great fit. Sadly that ship has sailed where Disney actually cares about the park’s message.

Bingo...