Rumor Toy Story friends makeover

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Pandora has no characters....
Avatar also has no characters that anyone desperately loves.

I say all this as someone who has no real love for Meet-and-Greets, but recognizes the guest expectation built up around them. It makes sense that Disney would want to accomodate the impulse to encounter the characters in person - but they've got to think about it holistically.

Normally I love when Characters just wander about a land to be met rather than stay in dedicated Meet-and-Greet spaces, but having them do that in Toy Story Land disagrees with the land's design. In that case, they should have at least separated the characters visually from their oversized figures in the land. Failing to do so diminishes the impact of both. Which Buzz am I supposed to care about? "Both", but clearly the one that gives me a hug and his autograph is gonna resonate more with the guest than the big, expensive, static statue.

Galaxy's Edge has almost the reverse problem - I appreciate the effort to commit to a timeline and not disrupt that with characters who don't make sense in it . . . but leaving so many characters high and dry in Launch Bay after spending a billion dollars on an area dedicated to their franchise demonstrates poor conceptual thinking. There must have been *some* way they could have made sense out of meeting Darth Vader in Galaxy's Edge without toppling the concept of the land. It's confusing and weird that they didn't.
 

October82

Well-Known Member
Avatar also has no characters that anyone desperately loves.

I say all this as someone who has no real love for Meet-and-Greets, but recognizes the guest expectation built up around them. It makes sense that Disney would want to accomodate the impulse to encounter the characters in person - but they've got to think about it holistically.

Normally I love when Characters just wander about a land to be met rather than stay in dedicated Meet-and-Greet spaces, but having them do that in Toy Story Land disagrees with the land's design. In that case, they should have at least separated the characters visually from their oversized figures in the land. Failing to do so diminishes the impact of both. Which Buzz am I supposed to care about? "Both", but clearly the one that gives me a hug and his autograph is gonna resonate more with the guest than the big, expensive, static statue.

Galaxy's Edge has almost the reverse problem - I appreciate the effort to commit to a timeline and not disrupt that with characters who don't make sense in it . . . but leaving so many characters high and dry in Launch Bay after spending a billion dollars on an area dedicated to their franchise demonstrates poor conceptual thinking. There must have been *some* way they could have made sense out of meeting Darth Vader in Galaxy's Edge without toppling the concept of the land. It's confusing and weird that they didn't.

Not only that, all three trilogies have conceits that allow for this sort of thing, including the new trilogy that the land is based on. It's not that any excuse would have had to be invented, the work of explaining how you're meeting a "vision" of Darth Vader was already done multiple times.
 

Disneyson

Well-Known Member
Agreed. I'm surprised there isn't an Enchanted Tales with Vader experience in the (empty?) building that was supposed to be the restaurant (if that's how the land was built, I am a little confused what happened to the concept). Make the back of this building an entry into one of the giant "black spire" dead trees, it's actually a Jedi temple. Have a little experience where you have four show scenes: one where you are recognized as a Jedi/Force Sensitive and help move some set piece to access the temple, then encounter your "greatest fear", Vader, in some sort of imagined climactic scene, then move to a finale room where you see Luke, Leia, Han, and C-3PO+R2 (taken as four different pictures to maximize PhotoPass dividends) congratulating you on facing Vader, and then they are called to Mon Mothma's Battle Of Endor meeting so they can switch out and you have an excuse to leave. The Jedi Guide CM (or Leia, if they're feisty) gives kids a little sticker medal that reacts with the datapad.

Maybe they can do this on Galactic Starcruiser, given the ability to pulse and keep up with demand.

I think the Toy Story characters would have worked really well in the properly scaled Woody's Roundup area. Presumably, if Woody was supposed to walk through the same doors as you, the scale would be right in this area (getting bigger as you enter the land). You can even still have the giant Woody statue. In HKDL and Shanghai, they simply stand in a Barrel of Monkeys (as in the photo) to avoid visual intrusion. It still doesn't make sense. If you buy a Woody doll and a barrel of monkeys, the big Woody would, indeed, tower over the barrel.

I know it's just for fun, but... when they go so far to print footprints onto the ground, why not go the extra mile?
 

MadTeacup

Well-Known Member
Yeah, still waiting for Goofy alongside Chip and Dale to gain a makeover.
Don't forget Pluto! He literally looks like a guy in a onesie.
I'd actually heard that they were not planning on holding M&G in the land at all, or else that this was at least an idea.
I believe the original plan was to have an indoor meet and greet in the land. When Phil Holmes had the land value engineered to get it finished quicker (remember when they were rushing to get it open before GE?) and removed all enclosed buildings from the design, the M&G was cut and that's when they had decided there would be no M&Gs. Clearly that choice didn't stick.
 

brb1006

Well-Known Member
Don't forget Pluto! He literally looks like a guy in a onesie.
Same here, if anything I wish they used updated Pluto as soon as "Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration" debuted at MK a couple years ago. He looks much more on model compared to his standard design which hadn't changed since 1981.
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yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
For comparison:

EuzhDGqXYAQxiM2.jpg


I agree that Buzz's shoulders are weird, which hopefully can be remedied, but given that Jessie's head is much more on-model and the rest of her is basically the same with light touch-ups I feel like it's pretty objectively an improvement.

Woody and Jessie have always had neck issues, as have other characters - what's created for animation isn't always practical for this application. I'm much more willing to let that slide now that their faces look so much better.
 

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