A Spirited Valentine ...

[Angel Ariel]

Not saying it isn't true, but someone should tell Disney that most of DAK doesn't appeal to preschool aged kids. If that's what they're going for, they should probably have ditched Avatar as the park's new premier area.

I don't know why they'd care that the nighttime show of all things doesn't appeal to the pre-K group.

Most of DAK doesn't appeal to preschool aged kids? I don't know that I agree with that. We took my nephews when they were 3 and 6...they loved AK. The Safari, the animals (yes, including the trails), Festival of the Lion King, the Boneyard, the dino-rama area, Everest was a hit with the 6 year old (3 year old wasn't tall enough yet, he enjoyed the Boneyard instead), etc...they had a lot of fun. I have no doubt that my now 4 year old would love AK if we were to go there now. Other than the few height requirement attractions that some children won't be able to ride, there's still a lot for preK kids to enjoy.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Not saying it isn't true, but someone should tell Disney that most of DAK doesn't appeal to preschool aged kids. If that's what they're going for, they should probably have ditched Avatar as the park's new premier area.

I don't know why they'd care that the nighttime show of all things doesn't appeal to the pre-K group.

Lolwut? My daughter is two and she could spend six hours doing nothing but the animal trails.

 

[ford91exploder]

I believe that means 86% of the Polynesian areas ceded to DVC have been declared into the DVC Condo Association

I hope this is correct

 

[WDWTank]

I just got done lessening to the latest Disney Dish podcast today for WDW and they brought up how Rivers Of Light is doing with guests. I will let flyerjab's comment express the situation.

Disney needs to stop kiddyfieing their parks. They have tried numerous times in the past but they always failed.
The best theme parks are the most well-balanced. If they're not truly passionate for their artwork, then I'll gladly love to purchase it once I become a billionaire.....

 

[ford91exploder]

The one original concept we have gotten in years and they already want to shove characters in it.

All Chappie thinks about is marketing CHARACTERS not experiences.

 

[WDWTank]

This literally sounds like Eisner all over again.....

 

[WDWTank]

Anybody else wanna filibuster inside the parks today?

 

[WDWTank]

#savedisney

 

[CaptainAmerica]

To be clear, we're talking characters a la "live action Lion King." That does NOT mean animated Simba. Live action Lion King characters are, for all intents and purposes, live animals.

I feel the same way about characters in Small World. If they're done up in Mary Blair style, who cares if one of the dolls is dressed like Moana?

 

[HMF]

This literally sounds like Eisner all over again.....

Eisner (in spirit) never really left. His handpicked successor (Iger) has continued to use his playbook for the last decade. As for another Save Disney, there are no longer any Disney Family members left in the higher-ups of the company to lead it and WED Miller seems content with running the Family Museum, and no one in the company (I know of) charismatic enough to pull it off. The closest would probably be John Lasseter and there is no way he would be risking that since he is apparently on thin ice for fighting to make Cars Land .as good as it is.

 

[flynnibus]

This seems to fit here..

 

[brb1006]

#savedisney

But Roy is no longer with use.

 

[FigmentJedi]

To be clear, we're talking characters a la "live action Lion King." That does NOT mean animated Simba. Live action Lion King characters are, for all intents and purposes, live animals.

I feel the same way about characters in Small World. If they're done up in Mary Blair style, who cares if one of the dolls is dressed like Moana?

Live-Action Lion King characters would be animated though. Basically the same photo-real CG look as the recent Jungle Book.
But the thing is, the new Jungle Book already draws a lot of inspiration from The Lion King as it is. The way they adapted the original Mowgli's Brothers story was basically going full Lion King with it what with Khan seizing control of the wolf pack after killing Akela and the climax of the film ending in fire. So the photorealistic CG Lion King is not only an unnecessary retread of a classic that's aiming to be enough of a copy to keep James Earl Jones, but Jon Favreau has basically already remade the Lion King anyways. But I think that's veering a little off-topic.

I feel that the issue people have with characters in Small World is that the characters keep taking center stage with individual song tracks calling attention to themselves rather then just being more faces in the crowd. There's nothing wrong with having these fairy tales show up in their different countries seeing as we've always had Don Quixote in Spain, but they should be handled with a little more subtlety.

 

[JoeCamel]

This seems to fit here..

That is the funniest thing I have seen in ages. Just like reading these boards - they hit all the triggers.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think Disney thinks that kids only want to see their characters because as we all know no kids enjoyed themselves at the parks ever before character infusion became a bigger thing. Yup. For decades the only popular area at the resort was Fantasyland and no matter what they did nothing else garnered interest from kids.

I think it goes way beyond just doing what they think kids will like. There has long been a line of thought that views what is now known as themed entertainment as anything from lowly, crass, carny commercialism to outright evil. It is a line of thought that comes from many of the same types of places as Disney's leadership has since the 1980s.

 

[DznyRktekt]

When I was a lad, if I had told my parents that I didn't like a nighttime spectacular at a Disney park or I was board at WDW, I think they would have looked at me with disbelief and then I don't know what would have happened.

 

[TalkingHead]

Lolwut? My daughter is two and she could spend six hours doing nothing but the animal trails.

I can see kids enjoying the trails, Safari, and entertainment.

But you tell me how many of the under-5 crowd enjoy Dinosaur, Everest, Kali, Bug's Life, Primeval Whirl, and Avatar. That's most of the rides in the park.

Maybe the concern is because all of the trails and entertainment shut down at night leaving a bunch of stuff that doesn't appeal to pre-K kids. But that's just a sign of poor long-term planning.

 

[rushtest4echo]

We all agree that AK could use a smaller ride or two to really fill out the park once Avatar is done. It'll also address the need for more kid-friendly stuff once night set in and the animal stuff closes.

Just build my Jungle Book dark ride between Africa and Asia and I'll be happy. Make it traditional, lower cost and about 5-6 minutes long. That's all I want. Something like Mermaid (yes I know, it's like the worst thing Disney's ever done /s). I'd be ecstatic to see Disney doing things on a little scale again dark ride wise.

 

[Angel Ariel]

But you tell me how many of the under-5 crowd enjoy Dinosaur, Everest, Kali, Bug's Life, Primeval Whirl, and Avatar. That's most of the rides in the park.

My 4 year old would love Primeval Whirl, if she were allowed to ride it. With a height requirement of 48", though, that's not going to happen for a while yet (She only 41"). Everest is also not an option, for height..same with Dinosaur. My 6 y/I nephew loved Everest, and I have no doubt that the 3 y/o nephew would have loved it if he'd been allowed to ride it (he's always been a risk taker). If not at 3, definitely at 4. None of them would have had issues with Kali, and the height requirement there is only 38".

The Navi river ride is supposed to be a family friendly ride in Avatar. I doubt we'll have any issue taking DD on that either when it opens.

No one is saying that everything in AK is kid friendly. It's not. There should be a balance in all parks. But to say it doesn't appeal to the preK age at all is also wrong.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Eisner (in spirit) never really left. His handpicked successor (Iger) has continued to use his playbook for the last decade. As for another Save Disney, there are no longer any Disney Family members left in the higher-ups of the company to lead it and WED Miller seems content with running the Family Museum, and no one in the company (I know of) charismatic enough to pull it off. The closest would probably be John Lasseter and there is no way he would be risking that since he is apparently on thin ice for fighting to make Cars Land .as good as it is.

There are times when I really want to punch the suits at Disney in the face, and this is one of them. I'm no fan of Cars the Movies, but Carsland is amazing. Lasseter showed the true spirit of Walt when he fought to make it so. I wish he were in charge of the parks. He used to work at Disneyland, after all, and I bet a bunch of the penny-pinchers in the Disney organization have never even visited there. The Disney company may be successful, but it still makes me sad. And mad. Sometimes.