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

bmr1591

Well-Known Member
I can’t decide if it’s a Wednesday morning and APs are generally at work or if there’s that little excitement for this show. Both?
 

KDM31091

Well-Known Member
I am legitimately surprised how big a flop this is. I would have hated it anyway being the theming purist I am but I have never seen anything like a consistent consensus on anything here before. The best comparison I can think of is JIYI and that happened when we still had to be off the phone to access the internet.
Yeah, the consensus is very loud. I have seen on FB where a couple people praised it but mostly just surface level, like how cute it is. Yeah it's cute. That's not good enough.
 

Biff215

Well-Known Member
Disney already trotted a bunch of the vloggers through before previews officially started so that knocks out some of the demand. Perhaps their clearly fake positive reviews were enough to convince AP’s that this show isn’t worth it.

This show was supposed to give DAK a boost before Dinoland went down completely, which made sense as a goal. Unfortunately they failed spectacularly with something that shouldn’t have been difficult. It’s not like there was much pushback from Bug being replaced, but I’d argue there’s more of that now.
 

DCBaker

Premium Member
Disney has shared a first look at the meet-and-greet space for Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde:

Zoogether Day Gathering Spot - 2.jpg
 

TanagraTheater

New Member
I've seen bits and pieces of Better Zoogether and it's bad. Heidi Howler is obnoxious. When she introduces herself, you can tell she's voiced by Jenny Slate. Is Ms. Slate that desperate for acting jobs that she needs to return as Bellwether? Having Flash face the audience multiple times is not funny, it's awkward and creepy. I never cared for the Clawhauser AAs, they look like oversized stuffed animals. I cannot get over what they've done to Chief Bogo, someone in Imagineering or animation clearly has the hots for him. The only character I like is the polar bear. This show is going to become dated quickly. It feels like they shoehorned elements of Philharmagic, Muppetvision, and Hot Pursuit together.

I'm surprised It's Tough to be a Bug lasted as long as it did, given how A Bug's Life seems to be one of Pixar's more neglected IPs, but it was a lot better than this.
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
I’ve heard the shareholder theory, but as a shareholder I don’t know how any of us should be pleased. The value is stagnant. If anything, I think any shareholder that continues to put up with this low quality product needs their head examined. Disney hasn’t been good for a while and it’s showing no signs of improving anytime soon, nor does the share value….

Because the average shareholder doesn't care about the quality of the attraction and may never actually even see it. They want to hear "we replaced an outdated attraction that was too scary for kids with an exciting NEW strategic synergic experience featuring Zootopia, one of our most successful IP's of the last decade that has a second installment coming soon to theaters! Or something to that effect. Add in a bunch of corporate theme park buzzwords like engaging, immersive, storytelling, etc etc.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Lion King quite literally has two characters that “dress in drag and do the hula” which is explicitly mentioned in the AK show as well.

It’s also quite literally hamlet but with lions. A very human story. Lions don’t have social hierarchy’s either that prioritizes a male lion? There is no “Lion king”. There is certainly no “respecting the most powerful lion as a pride as ALL animals”

The animals in lion king live much closer to humans with a society. There is no trusted “monkey shaman”, no bird servants, no nothing. They are quite literally just humans in an animals SETTING that occasionally but rarely eat other animals as we never see this on screen.

Ironically this SETTING was never brought over

Lion King quite literally has two characters that “dress in drag and do the hula” which is explicitly mentioned in the AK show as well.

Yes Lion King film is largely Hamlet and anthropomorphic in characterization in much of itself.

The difference you are leaving out is that Lion King also has Conservation with the Circle of Life being animal connection as much as it is the hierarchy fable.

The difference is, what was done with it, and what was taken from it to the theme park, even if you don't like aspects of the Lion King that are hamlet, are a tradition of human to animal relationship.

The animal African folklore is human-animal world(kingdom) connection. It is done so with inspiration from how folklore festivals have utilized animals to tell stories in the past.

Zootopia just tells Zootopia.


Zootopia tries to give a short crime investigation film like the Zootopia movie did with those characters.

Flick was not finding help with those colonizing against his fellow beings In Tough to be a bug, he was demonstrating to the audience the importance of bugs in the world.


The Festival of the Lion King did not sacrifice the theme of the park. It provided a live entertainment show, while being a celebration of the animal-human connection. It would feel out of place for varying degrees in the other parks.

This Zootopia short film could go generically anywhere, and not well anywhere.


This just solidified my concerns with Indy. Hopefully some sort of treatment, but when the character is almost anti-message, you either sacrifice the character, or sacrifice the park's theme.

I don't trust them to really do much with it at this point, they just port over the Indy Ride many have felt was better in a park that if it fit the theme, would have probably got it on property on the first place(subjectiveness of ride aside)
 
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James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
This just solidified my concerns with Indy. Hopefully some sort of treatment, but when the character is almost anti-message, you either sacrifice the character, or sacrifice the park's theme.
The stated setup for the Tropical Americas rides is at least the right directional framing you’d need in order to force either to work (even if they ultimately fail), whereas Zoogether’s framing is completely wrong.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
The stated setup for the Tropical Americas rides is at least the right directional framing you’d need in order to force either to work (even if they ultimately fail), whereas Zoogether’s framing is completely wrong.

Key word there is "force" it to work. Location yes, (ruins of tropical america) but source material no. If Indy would work in this way, they could have just had him as a part of Expedition Everest/and or in the Maharaje Jungle Trek, but more care was given at the time.

Either way:

A D- is not something the park needs when it just had an F.
 

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