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

[UNCgolf]

I’m not necessarily happy about this, but I stand by my stance that 2025 audiences need a bit more for the dopamine hit of “wow factor”. Moving characters (I won’t get into the semantics of animatronics for the sake of the semantically detail oriented, but you know what I mean) are common enough to be found in the Lowe’s holiday department these days.

To be fair, maybe I am just old and crabby and most of my dewy eyed wonder is gone. But that’s my take.



Sort of agree… I finally rode TBA and the high tech animatronic there was a little “blink and you miss it” for me. But if placed more strategically, maybe.

Except anything happening on a screen is likely going to be less impressive to a 2025 audience than an animatronic figure -- video games at home (which are also interactive) offer far more in that regard than any theme park ride will.

Screens/projections have their uses, though.

 

[Brer Panther]

Except anything happening on a screen is likely going to be less impressive to a 2025 audience than an animatronic figure -- video games at home (which are also interactive) offer far more in that regard than any theme park ride will.

Yeah, I'm doubtful that a video playing on a screen is really more impressive than an animatronic.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

Yeah, I'm doubtful that a video playing on a screen is really more impressive than an animatronic.

Flight of Passage

 

[UNCgolf]

Flight of Passage

A physical version of Flight of Passage where you soared through physical sets with animatronic versions of the animals would be far more impressive than the existing FoP. It would easily be the best ride on the planet.

But that's just not feasible -- I have no idea how much it would cost to build an actual physical version of something close to FoP but it would have to be billions of dollars, especially considering they spent $500m on Cosmic Rewind. It's a good example of a ride where using a screen makes sense, though, since building a physical version of that ride is essentially impossible.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Except anything happening on a screen is likely going to be less impressive to a 2025 audience than an animatronic figure -- video games at home (which are also interactive) offer far more in that regard than any theme park ride will.

Screens/projections have their uses, though.

That's true. I guess to really analyze a good ride experience you have to look at the elements holistically, as it's hard to take any one element in isolation and evaluate its impact. I did that with moving figures / animatronics as I think they are featured so heavily in some rides, but maybe it would be more accurate to say I don't think they can "carry" a ride in 2025. Nor can screens, or good music, or a fun ride system, by themselves. Of course the bar can't be "this visual is literally one of the most interesting things I have seen in my life", because that's not realistic. It's going to be about where the whole experience takes you.

Fwiw, I do not find video games impressive at all because they bore me to tears. My mental reaction is just "Blah, gaming happening here". I know that some of these modern PS5 games have lovely visuals but I still have zero desire to sit and look at them. My son, on the other hand, is a natural gamer who seems to have been born knowing how to play Roblox and Minecraft, very literally. He thinks those simplistic blocky pictures are just great. So just an example of how a person's reaction depends on a lot of factors.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

That's just not feasible, though -- I have no idea how much it would cost to build an actual physical version of something close to FoP but it would have to be billions of dollars,

The Harry Potter physical / screen hybrid gives some ideas on how it could be possible. But that one makes me sick and flight of passage doesn’t so….. there’s that too.

 

[WondersOfLife]

The Harry Potter physical / screen hybrid gives some ideas on how it could be possible. But that one makes me sick and flight of passage doesn’t so….. there’s that too.

Go back further. Spiderman at IOA.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

It's like you're in Walt's head!!!...

View attachment 892403

Infact, he is. Unlike the current company, it was Creative ‘Talent’, not IP. End of story. Cracks me up how often this comes up and folks don’t very clearly take note of that difference. This is why WDI used to use some of the best folks from WDAS to design and come up with some of their best attractions. It honestly should happen again. That beautiful cross pollination that led to the best creativity and innovation around the entire company.

 

[MrPromey]

Except anything happening on a screen is likely going to be less impressive to a 2025 audience than an animatronic figure -- video games at home (which are also interactive) offer far more in that regard than any theme park ride will.

Screens/projections have their uses, though.

Good example of this done right is Dracula in Monsters Unchained. There are a number of scenes that feature a very well done animatronic in front of a screen and it gives you the best of both worlds. The brides coming out of their coffins is another good example of blending screens and practical effects where the screens are the "windows" in showing their faces as they wake up and then the coffins open as you pass by.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Good example of this done right is Dracula in Monsters Unchained. There are a number of scenes that feature a very well done animatronic in front of a screen and it gives you the best of both worlds. The brides coming out of their coffins is another good example of blending screens and practical effects where the screens are the "windows" in showing their faces as they wake up and then the coffins open as you pass by.

Also a really cool sequence where you see the first wolfman animatronic, dodge away from him to see animations and sound of him following you, then the final screen shows him running to the end of the "roof" above you so the second animatronic of him can appear and swipe at you. It's all very fluid and seamless.

 

[Brer Panther]

It's also worth noting that, since CGI is always evolving and getting more advanced, what looks good now won't necessarily look good in a decade (see also the dated-looking CGI Figment). Eventually the CGI animation they use on screens in rides like Ratatouille isn't going to look as impressive as it does now.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I don't think people would be so okay with screens if they weren't something that wasn't going away. Like, if for some reason every theme park tomorrow announced they were never using screens again I don't think anyone would be mourning the possibilities lost or anything.

There are so many amazing rides that have zero screens, or at the most have a shadow projection somewhere. If they weren't able to throw screens up I don't think we would be missing out on anything. Maybe we wouldn't get the exact same scenes as we do with screens, but we would still get great stuff that's just as praised if not more so.


Screens never look like anything but screens to me.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Good example of this done right is Dracula in Monsters Unchained. There are a number of scenes that feature a very well done animatronic in front of a screen and it gives you the best of both worlds. The brides coming out of their coffins is another good example of blending screens and practical effects where the screens are the "windows" in showing their faces as they wake up and then the coffins open as you pass by.

Another brilliant example of this done right is the opening sequence from the original Journey Into Imagination. It was a physical set piece with lots of kinetic moving pieces on Dreamfinder’s flying dreamcatching machine & audio-animatronics of Dreamfinder & Figment against projections via a collection of slide projectors , but now you could have much better/more sophisticated animation done through animation done in a single to 2 projectors for the background rather than the overly complicated mechanical setup used originally. :

 

[MrPromey]

Another brilliant example of this done right is the opening sequence from the original Journey Into Imagination. It was a physical set piece with lots of kinetic moving pieces on Dreamfinder’s flying dreamcatching machine & audio-animatronics of Dreamfinder & Figment against projections via a collection of slide projectors , but now you could have much better/more sophisticated animation done through animation done in a single to 2 projectors for the background rather than the overly complicated mechanical setup used originally. :

That whole part of the ride was a marvel. I bet most people riding didn't even come close to understanding or appreciating the complexity that went into pulling the carousel scene off.

It would be so much easier to do all of that today than it was back then and yet we've yet to see anything that comes close to this in a constantly moving track-based ride.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

That whole part of the ride was a marvel. I bet most people riding didn't even come close to understanding or appreciating the complexity that went into pulling the carousel seen off.

I dunno, I honestly think they did.. I mean, just look at how huge the backlash was when they got rid of that attraction. I honestly feel even today it’d still wow audiences if it were brought back with the enhancements/improvements I just mentioned. The mech is technically still there, just underneath hollow floorboards, etc. Just would have to have some TLC to get up & running again.

 

[KDM31091]

Except anything happening on a screen is likely going to be less impressive to a 2025 audience than an animatronic figure -- video games at home (which are also interactive) offer far more in that regard than any theme park ride will.

Screens/projections have their uses, though.

Agreed. There is little wow factor in the Zootopia show. It just feels like a big screen Disney+ short with some rather nonsensical 3d effects thrown in to reuse mechanisms that were already in place. There is nothing really impressive about it. The animatronic looks good, but honestly Hopper was more impressive to me when he worked correctly.

Unfortunately it's just a downgrade in every single way from the Bugs to me, other than being gentler for children. Storytelling, downgrade. Effects, downgrade. Animatronic, downgrade. Education element, non existent so downgrade. Relevancy to the park, downgrade.

 

[MrPromey]

I dunno, I honestly think they did.. I mean, just look at how huge the backlash was when they got rid of that attraction. I honestly feel even today it’d still wow audiences if it were brought back with the enhancements/improvements I just mentioned. The mech is technically still there, just underneath hollow floorboards, etc. Just would have to have some TLC to get up & running again.

Oh, I'm not saying people weren't fans of the results - I just mean the level of innovation that went into pulling that section off given what they had to work with when designing and building it in the late 70's/start of the 80's.

Today, they'd probably just go trackless to put the vehicles still in front of a scene like that.

 

[Brer Panther]

Today, they'd probably just go trackless to put the vehicles still in front of a scene like that.

And it'd be a screen. No way they'd build a huge prop with animatronics like that.

 

[jah4955]

Another brilliant example of this done right is the opening sequence from the original Journey Into Imagination. It was a physical set piece with lots of kinetic moving pieces on Dreamfinder’s flying dreamcatching machine & audio-animatronics of Dreamfinder & Figment against projections via a collection of slide projectors , but now you could have much better/more sophisticated animation done through animation done in a single to 2 projectors for the background rather than the overly complicated mechanical setup used originally. :

Wow wow WOW!

It's vastly better than any camcorder playback I've ever seen...but nothing can come close to being there in-person.

 

[jah4955]

That whole part of the ride was a marvel. I bet most people riding didn't even come close to understanding or appreciating the complexity that went into pulling the carousel scene off.

It would be so much easier to do all of that today than it was back then and yet we've yet to see anything that comes close to this in a constantly moving track-based ride.

I know I didn't appreciate it AS much as I could have (in part because I thought it'd never close), but part of the wonder of the entire ride was not being able to figure out how we seemed stationary for much time with the Dreamcatcher while other people were simultaneously entering the ride . It certainly "set the tone" for the rest of the ride (among many other benefits) .