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

[DrStarlander]

If this was Disney’s approach to everything it would be different… for a single show I can shrug and say not everything is going to be for every guest. If people want all the feels there’s Happily Ever After, for example. I’m sure there will be sure a new tearjerker short out on Disney+ this Christmas, and so on. Better Zoogether is maybe an option for kids or just a chance for some goofy fun. I know people are upset because it replaced ITTBAB, but compared to some of the other shows (Disney Jr. show, Frozen singalong, Beaty and the Beast singalong) I’d say it’s an upgrade.

I don't mind attractions that skew young or adult in core appeal, say Disney Junior Dance Party or something for small kids. But my point was specifically about how to use the centerpiece of the park. That attraction should be all ages.

Edit: I do disagree with Dr. Starlander's idea, though; the show didn't need an acknowledgement it sucks, it needs to not suck.

Yes, the entire show should be better and different. If you scroll up I mention a couple of entirely different shows that could have been better, unrelated to Zootopia. My note was that if they're going to do a show based on a modern IP in which dumb gag jokes are required as they are core to the IP and, say, 20% of the adults in the room are thinking "this is dumb" while watching, because it is, there's an opportunity to inoculate against criticism and connect with these viewers and bring them onboard, in a quick moment.

Comedians do this all the time. They may be running with a bit that the entire audience is not along with, and they break from the bit, to essentially ask those people to come on board (comedians may laugh at themselves for how out-there they've gone, acknowledging the joke is hokey or lame, that they've repeated the joke too many times in the show already...) and by being self-aware and acknowledging the "issue" they continue with more of the audience along.

Jim Gaffigan, for example, even has a different external voice he uses to comment on his own show while doing it and say out loud the critical things the audience may be thinking, for this effect.

It's when in comedy the performance behaves like it thinks it's funny, like it's absolutely confident that the humor is great and that YOU the audience should find this funny (and the humor is base-level, dumb), that a portion of the audience gets resentful, gets kind of insulted and irritated. That's the case with this show.

Given that unlike the Zootopia movie, this show already has a diegetic audience, Nick could have used that. Literally, a few seconds here and there in the film is all that's needed. Would it have made the show great? No. But it could have dramatically cut down on the amount of resentment in the audience at no cost otherwise.

But, yes, an entirely different show that doesn't suck would be much better.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

In that same vein:

“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest!” - CS Lewis

We aren’t allowed to quote brilliant minds like Walt Disney or CS Lewis because they are dead and if they were alive today they would change their mind and love zootopia. *sarcasm off*

Im mostly upset that Animal Kingdom is getting the same dumbing down as both Epcot and Hollywood Studios before it.

Agreed - Magic Kingdom too.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Zootopia’s central theme is “Catch Zootopia 2 in theaters soon, and Zootopia shorts on Disney Plus”.

Exactly. Disney was never going to "try everything" when developing this show

The Disney of today deciding to make a Zootopia 3D movie for young children, on a budget, in an existing venue, was always going to result in something like a Zootopia Disney+ short that could play anywhere for any reason.

"They could have had a message about..." No they couldn't. Circle of Life at Epcot was 30 years ago. That was never going to happen with a project like this. Zootopia: Minion Mayhem was always going to be the end result because that's the company's and audience's point of reference and expectation for this kind of experience.

 

[HMF]

Reason #171 why the Zoogether Day falls flat: You need prior knowledge of the characters to make some sense of the plot.

By contrast, It’s Tough to Be a Bug! opened seven months before A Bug’s Life even hit theaters, yet it still managed to introduce characters and a concise premise clear enough that anyone could follow along—no background knowledge required.

There is a tendency in movies today that a lot of backstory and character motivations are rarely addressed on screen and the movies are basically made in a way that they rely on you enjoying the story and characters enough to spend money on spinoff materials that fill in a lot of the blanks to give the story more context for you. The Star Wars Films are notorious for this.

 

[WorldExplorer]

God, I hate the for kids defense.

Kids stuff in Animal Kingdom (stuff actually explicitly meant for specifically kids) used to be crafted with the same care as everything else. Educational, awe-inspiring, highly detailed, and fun.

Now it's this. Haphazard nonsense.


What's the reasoning behind even assuming they were aiming solely at kids with this? The app still labels it all ages. Are we presuming because it's not scary anymore? Muppet Vision wasn't scary and that was agreed to be a great attraction for all ages. Is it the sloppy editing? Maybe the editing just sucks. Are we presuming it's for kids because it sucks? Why is that okay?Why are people cooking up excuses for them?

 

[Comped]

Nick and Judy appeared, at least to me, to be the new versions during the Christmas parade filming.

 

[DisneyHead123]

God, I hate the for kids defense.

Kids stuff in Animal Kingdom (stuff actually explicitly meant for specifically kids) used to be crafted with the same care as everything else. Educational, awe-inspiring, highly detailed, and fun.

Now it's this. Haphazard nonsense.


What's the reasoning behind even assuming they were aiming solely at kids with this? The app still labels it all ages. Are we presuming because it's not scary anymore? Muppet Vision wasn't scary and that was agreed to be a great attraction for all ages. Is it the sloppy editing? Maybe the editing just sucks. Are we presuming it's for kids because it sucks? Why is that okay?Why are people cooking up excuses for them?

I don’t think it’s for kids in the sense that it’s something kiddie-fied like Disney Jr. Live was - just that it’s kinda mindless fluff that often appeals to kids. I think Gen Z and Alpha are more used to very fast paced, sometimes nonsensical videos (my son will beg to watch YTP versions of his favorite cartoons, whose allure escapes me - I find them headache inducing, but he loves them.)

 

[surfsupdon]

I know that I am a nerd, but I really always enjoyed the educational aspect of ITTBAB....like I learned facts about how bugs help us out in the real world. It was an awesome show and it is such a shame that it is gone. Sigh. If only they had created and made A Bug's Life 2! Or a live action!!

 

[FettFan]

Agreed - Magic Kingdom too.

I’m slightly more forgiving to MK, seeing as how it’s home to flying elephants, evil queens, and fantasy dwarfs.

Not to mention when they tried to make it more “mature” it ended in tears.

And then more tears.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I’m slightly more forgiving to MK, seeing as how it’s home to flying elephants, evil queens, and fantasy dwarfs.

I was pointing out they are “dumbing down” the MK. Race cars in the frontier vs. authentic steamboats for example.

 

[FettFan]

I was pointing out they are “dumbing down” the MK. Race cars in the frontier vs. authentic steamboats for example.

Again though, if Radiator Springs Mudders was built “beyond” Big Thunder, or replacing the Tomorrowland Speedway instead of killing off the Liberty Belle, it would have been much better received.

That’s the one thing that makes me not want to visit the Magic Kingdom again, especially since the Frontierland river walk was a favorite area for my wife and me.

I know we’ve got some engagement photos at that spot with the Belle rounding the channel behind us, so the place was even more special.

And now it’s in a landfill. Thanks a lot, Bob, Josh, and all the ‘eers with a deplorable lack of imagination.

 

[Coaster Lover]

The Joe Rohdent image in the queue is quite a choice... memorializing the Imagineer who famously said Zootopia doesnt belong in AK by creating a Zootopia inspired character in his likeness and placing it right beneath one of his greatest designs...

 

[Tom Morrow]

Watched through the show a second time to see if I'd like it a little more knowing what to expect, as that is often the case with newer style hectic attractions. But nope, not really. There's a couple of okay lines from Nick, but that's really the only positive I can think of.

I want to be clear that ITTBAB was a show I never really thought about much and wasn't too sad to see it go, but the more I think about it, the more it really was a masterpiece of a 4D theater show compared to this. Let's review:

- It fit with the theme of the park
- It was educational
- It made sense to be inside of a tree
- It didn't require you to have any knowledge of A Bug's Life
- The show was presented in a format in which you never left the virtual stage in front of you, adding to the feeling of place and realism
- Excellent use of 4D theater effects, putting you up against gross bug stuff. A fun, memorable thing that has edge and is entertaining for all ages (minus scared kids) that can only be done in a theme park and not just a video
- Hopper's excellent monologue and the entire attack sequence, while scary, was awesome. The entire theater filling up with "bug spray", the fly swapper, the black widow spiders, the sting in the back. It really gave Alien Encounter a run for its' money.
- A musical number that didn't feel like it was written by AI. "And if all bugs were wiped off the face of the planet, there'd soon be no humans around left to man it!" - the lyrics always gave me chills

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The Joe Rohdent image in the queue is quite a choice...

Kinda like making Tony Baxter the bad guy in the Big Thunder backstory that modern imagineers were clever enough to make cause old guys like Tony didn’t understand storytelling?

 

[WorldExplorer]

- The show was presented in a format in which you never left the virtual stage in front of you, adding to the feeling of place and realism

This is the weirdest part. Everything in It's Tough to Be a Bug made sense because we were watching a supposedly live show. We feel the blast from Chili's quills and the acid from Termite-ator because they are in front of us right now on stage.

Here we just...get hit by snow because snow hit the drone? Get hit by water because water hit the drone?

I know not every 4D show has presented itself that way, but I think this is the first one to have a canonical screen between you and the effects that are directly hitting you anyway. Muppet Vision had the meta narrative going on that lent well to breaking the fourth wall with the effects, PhilharMagic starts off with a supposedly live show and then we follow Donald, Honey I Shrunk the Audience was another supposedly live show. I guess Captain Eo was just a short, but even then, Michael Jackson didn't turn to the screen and go "camera man! I'm glad you're here! Whoops, look out for my paddle ball!".

I didn't expect them to try and actually be educational or fit in anyway, but there's a basic level of sense that it doesn't even reach. At least just throw up your hands and go the Captain Eo route where it's just a theater showing a short with effects. It would be less stupid. They can still put all their crap in the queue.

Kinda like making Tony Baxter the bad guy in the Big Thunder backstory that modern imagineers were clever enough to make cause old guys like Tony didn’t understand storytelling?

...What?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

...What?

Official backstory “Barnabas T. Bullion is the founder and president of the Big Thunder Mining Company. The longtime mining magnate comes from a powerful East Coast family and considers gold to be his very birthright by virtue of his oddly appropriate name; in fact, he considers the ultimate gold strike to be his destiny. And that is why he is having so much trouble with Big Thunder Mountain.”

His official “portrait” -

 

[LittleBuford]

In that same vein:

“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest!” - CS Lewis

Sorry to be pedantic, but what he actually said was: “I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story.” Same sentiment, but the words sound much more like him.

So many quotes circulating on the internet are garbled or outright fake. It always pays to check!

 

[Tom Morrow]

This is the weirdest part. Everything in It's Tough to Be a Bug made sense because we were watching a supposedly live show. We feel the blast from Chili's quills and the acid from Termite-ator because they are in front of us right now on stage.

Here we just...get hit by snow because snow hit the drone? Get hit by water because water hit the drone?

I know not every 4D show has presented itself that way, but I think this is the first one to have a canonical screen between you and the effects that are directly hitting you anyway. Muppet Vision had the meta narrative going on that lent well to breaking the fourth wall with the effects, PhilharMagic starts off with a supposedly live show and then we follow Donald, Honey I Shrunk the Audience was another supposedly live show. I guess Captain Eo was just a short, but even then, Michael Jackson didn't turn to the screen and go "camera man! I'm glad you're here! Whoops, look out for my paddle ball!".

I didn't expect them to try and actually be educational or fit in anyway, but there's a basic level of sense that it doesn't even reach. At least just throw up your hands and go the Captain Eo route where it's just a theater showing a short with effects. It would be less stupid. They can still put all their crap in the queue.

Agreed with all of this. The closest "modern" equivalent would be Shrek 4D, where it's just a short, played in a theater with effects happening that you shouldn't logically be experiencing. PhilharMagic is kinda the same, but you can excuse it as "sorcery magic" and its a joyful experience all around so it's okay.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

Still pales in comparison to Hopper, plus we lost Flik which while only a head, was just as effective in the story as Clawhauser.

Agree on everything you said though. The movie will make stupid money and will at least temporarily drive guests to the new show. WDW gets enough one-time guests to keep it going for a while.

Can we just imagine for a second how this show would be received at DLR???

DLR got a cheap retro fit of Phillarmagic in the muppets so they aren’t too picky

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I don’t really like Better Zoogether either and think it looks kinda like a dumb waste of time but the amount of people online pretending that they haven’t spent the last almost 30 years complaining about ITTBAB’s quality and whether or not it actually fit into AK to begin with is insane.

Dislike Better Zoogether because it’s mediocre. I sure do. But lord please stop pretending that thing that was there before it was this loved piece of brilliance when the whole conversation for decades over that show was rarely ever positive.

A not very good, kind of annoying attraction that was designed to essentially be soft promo for a new film got replaced by another not very good, kind of annoying attraction that was designed to soft promo a film.

Just as it’s always been, I’ll enjoy AK while pretending there’s nothing inside the Tree of Life because really there may as well not be.