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

[Trauma]

Aren’t they incredibly annoying?

Why?

What positives do we have to discuss?

I can count them on one hand.

If for everything that goes right we have 3 things going wrong, you would expect most of the conversation to be negative.

 

[UNCgolf]

Aren’t they incredibly annoying?

They are.

It's one thing to have negative opinions about most of what Disney is doing (I tend to be more on the negative side for the most part, although not exclusively so), but it's another to repeat them ad nauseum everywhere. They also sometimes single out stuff that seems incredibly minor and beat it into the ground.

 

[Chi84]

They are.

It's one thing to have negative opinions about most of what Disney is doing (I tend to be more on the negative side for the most part, although not exclusively so), but it's another to repeat them ad nauseum everywhere. They also sometimes single out stuff that seems incredibly minor and beat it into the ground.

Good thing there are only four of them. Oh wait, five.

 

[DisneyHead123]

We now have two parks that are an ode to people's insistence their kids care about literally nothing but cartoons and movies and that's supposedly okay.

Not the ocean. Not history or culture. Not technology. Not animals. Not space. Not dinosaurs. Not any of the stuff that has fascinated and inspired humanity for centuries. Heck, they don't even care about the concept of creativity itself.

Just more movies. That's it. Not the effort that goes into making them, though; they don't care about that either.

It's depressing.

Are parents actually saying that about their kids though? Personally my attempts to get my son into Disney / Pixar have failed. He has many special interests, but they involve vehicles or digital games like Minecraft.

What I will say is that he, like many in this generation where neurodivergence is increasing, was born with clear processing / attentional differences. And I struggle all the time with the balance of “meeting him where he’s at” (which, for him, often involves fast paced digital media) and trying to get him to adapt to childhood as I think it should be. So the format of attractions - yes, my guess is that parents have mixed feelings about “Gen Alpha paced” vs. “classically paced”. When it comes to content though - I think that’s company driven. I don’t think parents are saying they need all IP all the time.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Why?

What positives do we have to discuss?

I can count them on one hand.

If for everything that goes right we have 3 things going wrong, you would expect most of the conversation to be negative.

I guess it depends on where you start the clock. Since Covid I think there has been a ton of improvement in customer service, food quality / offerings, wait times, and, just recently, ride maintenance and new offerings. If you’re comparing to the 80s or 90s my memories are limited, however, and I didn’t really visit in the early 2000s.

 

[Trauma]

They are.

It's one thing to have negative opinions about most of what Disney is doing (I tend to be more on the negative side for the most part, although not exclusively so), but it's another to repeat them ad nauseum everywhere. They also sometimes single out stuff that seems incredibly minor and beat it into the ground.

There are far more posters that are endlessly positive about everything.

If you would like to point out the list of positives I’m all ears.

When I think Disney does something well I say so.

Example: I said the TT refurb was good.

The company seems to be hell bent on destroying the parks and you want everyone to be positive ?

 

[brb1006]

Yes, except these two (They know who they are) Oh, and bootleg Figment has to go too.
View attachment 890982

That's Madame Mim in her dragon form.

 

[Chi84]

I guess it depends on where you start the clock. Since Covid I think there has been a ton of improvement in customer service, food quality / offerings, wait times, and, just recently, ride maintenance and new offerings. If you’re comparing to the 80s or 90s my memories are limited, however, and I didn’t really visit in the early 2000s.

The only thing that is worse now is charging for the formerly free FP+. But wait times do seem to be coming down.

 

[DisneyHead123]

The only thing that is worse now is charging for the formerly free FP+. But wait times do seem to be coming down.

I agree. I do think there are differences when compared to what I have heard Disney was like in the 70s and 80s. Most CMs are great but maybe once per visit I will have to make an effort to get CMs to stop chatting with each other so that they see me. I do occasionally see trash in the parks or a mess in the restrooms. That said, I just think times are different. Worker pay is not keeping up with cost of living. Disney is exponentially larger than it was decades ago and it’s almost impossible to micromanage the details of a huge enterprise. Park guests are probably messier too! On the whole, it’s not a trade-off that bothers me, when considering the increase in offerings. And, again, in most areas I really think things are improving. New rides, better food, even the merch is looking better since Covid. I got a holiday sweatshirt recently and while it was of course silly expensive, the quality was actually quite good.

 

[FettFan]

We now have two parks that are an ode to people's insistence their kids care about literally nothing but cartoons and movies and that's supposedly okay.

Not the ocean. Not history or culture. Not technology. Not animals. Not space. Not dinosaurs. Not any of the stuff that has fascinated and inspired humanity for centuries. Heck, they don't even care about the concept of creativity itself.

Just more movies. That's it. Not the effort that goes into making them, though; they don't care about that either.

It's depressing.

Amen.

 

[UNCgolf]

There are far more posters that are endlessly positive about everything.

If you would like to point out the list of positives I’m all ears.

When I think Disney does something well I say so.

Example: I said the TT refurb was good.

The company seems to be hell bent on destroying the parks and you want everyone to be positive ?

No? As I said, I'm mostly negative about the parks right now, and I'd guess the majority of my comments are negative.

But you weren't one of the people I was thinking of. There are a few people who aren't just negative about everything, but post the same thing over and over again -- sometimes they'll post like 15 times in 3 pages. That's what gets annoying; not the fact that they're negative.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I'm glad that just about everyone is on the same page with this, not just here but the entire Disney park fandom in general. We need to drown out all the Disney Adults (I am adamant that Disney park fans / theme park enthusiasts and Disney adults are two different groups, though there is obviously some overlap) that will handwave it as "cute" and "worth it because my kid wasn't scared like he was in ITTBaB and he chuckled slightly when he wasn't looking at his iPad"

Maybe this will be the turning point toward better attractions that mean something again if there's enough backlash.

It would make just as much sense to put Splash Mountain inside the Tree of Life as Zootopia.

I'm kidding, but it's true.

They could put a Goofy Movie attraction inside the Tree of Life and it would make about the same amount of sense "BeCaUsE ThEy'Re AniMaLs!"

 

[Chi84]

No? As I said, I'm mostly negative about the parks right now, and I'd guess the majority of my comments are negative.

But you weren't one of the people I was thinking of. There are a few people who aren't just negative about everything, but post the same thing over and over again -- sometimes they'll post like 15 times in 3 pages. That's what gets annoying; not the fact that they're negative.

There are people who are in love with the Disney that existed in days gone by and that's fine. Just please don't insult or diminish those of us who understand that things change and aren't going back to what they were.

If the current iteration of the parks isn't sufficient to satisfy guests there will be consequences but going backwards is unlikely.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

Just to gauge things, how many of the critics on both sides of this thread have actually physically went and experienced the show, instead of watching a recording online?

 

[Brer Panther]

What positives do we have to discuss?

...I thought the new Country Bears was good. Test Track 3.0 looks good.

Are parents actually saying that about their kids though? Personally my attempts to get my son into Disney / Pixar have failed. He has many special interests, but they involve vehicles or digital games like Minecraft.

Well, that seems to be what the higher-ups at Disney believe.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

2 Words. Christmas overlay.

 

[Trauma]

Just to gauge things, how many of the critics on both sides of this thread have actually physically went and experienced the show, instead of watching a recording online?

There are plenty of in person reports that the show is terrible.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Well, that seems to be what the higher-ups at Disney believe.

I’m not sure what the rationale for the IP mandate is. I guess to sell more merch although I would think a popular theme like space, pirates, etc. would also sell merch.

 

[EagleScout610]

There are plenty of in person reports that the show is terrible.

My sister saw it yesterday. She said it was cute but she liked Bugs better.

 

[danlb_2000]

I’m not sure what the rationale for the IP mandate is. I guess to sell more merch although I would think a popular theme like space, pirates, etc. would also sell merch.

I think a lot of it is risk aversion. It is much less risky to give people things they already know and like. It's also much easier to market since people already know the property it is based on.