HMF
Well-Known Member
They made the exact same mistake with TBA in my opinion in completely not understanding what audience they were aiming for.
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DAK 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
- Featured
Cranky Kong
Member
Cheap doesn't inherently equal bad, just as expense doesn't necessarily equal good. It depends on how the resources are used. There are many examples of this I could point to, both in the theme park space and in other areas. I also don't think it's fair to suggest that Dinoland had no visible narrative while Africa does.
More to the point being argued earlier in the thread, I got the exact same feeling from Dinoland as I did Africa the first few times before I knew to actively look for environmental storytelling - that is, "oh, this is supposed to be an old village with a connection to nature that's become a site for tourists", in both cases, just for safaris in one case and dinosaurs in the other. Which is. . . ultimately. . . what every Animal Kingdom land is anyway, barring Camp Minnie-Mickey and arguably Oasis.
To be fair to those critical, do you think the impression comes from which direction Dinoland you mainly approached from? If most people discussing it came to it via Asia, then I agree the point of the theming was indeed less noticeable with Dinorama being the focal point, and if that's the first thing you see of the land, I can understand tuning the interesting things out, or missing things like the Diggs County sign when there's a giant green dinosaur the other side of the road. For example, that's how I feel about Toy Story Land, except unlike Dinoland there's zero avoiding it from either direction you approach it from. The giant character statues really sort of mess with me in a way that if I wasn't actively looking for them, I probably wouldn't notice things like the way certain plants were chosen to emulate grass or the fact the "tacky" pylons for Slinky are actually giant building toys; I did not get the impression of "oh I'm a toy" until I actively remembered that was the stated point. And this is a land that was built after the "immerse yourself in the movie" initiative started post-Potter.
Anyway, coming to Dinoland via Discovery Island, I really don't understand how one would find the Boneyard approach through to Restaurantasaurus and then Dinosaur "tacky" or "un/underthemed", at least pre-Dino Bash anyway. As someone who has no interest in Everest, I almost never approached Dinoland via Asia, so maybe I've been uncharitable to those who did mostly navigate to it after rushing to Everest first thing, when I fully understand with Toy Story Land in mind.
As an aside, boy oh boy I have a lot of chagrin for Dino-Bash. I thought it was a fun, lovely idea the first year they had it up. Then the second year. Then I realized they were never going to take it down. 100% did not help things. Worst part, they never even had a suit character of the new dinosaur OC they made for it! To say nothing of the old Restaurantosaurus loop appearing to be lost to time...
It would be nice if people stopped using the word "cheap" since it has more than one meaning.
Alternatively, use either "low quality," "poorly made," "inexpensive," or "poorly funded."
Alternatively, use either "low quality," "poorly made," "inexpensive," or "poorly funded."
JD80
Well-Known Member
I have to tell this to young people coming in to business all the time. Use words like "inexpensive" or "lower budget" or "entry level".
ChewbaccaYourMum
Well-Known Member
lentesta
Premium Member
Yep. Three days of really good stuff. It's just fun to see talented people doing things well.
WDI made a point of saying everything in their presentation was confidential and not to share it. And I have to honor that.
For last year's stuff I explicitly asked before they started talking, and they said both legal & comms had approved. So last year it was okay, but not this year.
I will say, like I did last year, that I'm super, super impressed with the dedication WDI has to honoring the culture and stories of the Maya. They're a great team doing good stuff. Really excited for y'all to see it.
ChewbaccaYourMum
Well-Known Member
That's awesome and completely understand! Thank you for letting us know, and I'm happy you had a great time again!
With that being said, are you allowed to say if it made you more excited and confident in the Indy attraction? If I remember correctly, last years presentation got you a lot more excited and confident that they knew what they were doing with this new Indy attraction.
If you don't think you can answer, that's fine!
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DisneyDodo
Well-Known Member
It’s ok, we won’t tell
HMF
Well-Known Member
As they always do.
lentesta
Premium Member
It’s ok, we won’t tell
Let’s both say Happy Monday to everyone at WDW Comms who’s actively reading this thread with us.
lentesta
Premium Member
Oh yeah, 100% excited for all of it. They’re putting in the hours and talking to the right people.
ChewbaccaYourMum
Well-Known Member
I'm so happy to hear that. Again, thank you so much!
TheCoasterNerd
Well-Known Member
Hi Disney Spies!! Please release more of this info officially! If len could hear about it, why can't we? Thank you spies
dmc493
Well-Known Member
To the kind Disney folks reading this, how dare you reject my WDI application from like three years ago
Yeah... I was on the review committee and we weren't impressed that you thought "Slappy" was one of the Seven Dwarfs.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
We’ll have Agent T on it immediately! (Wait a minute. I’m being told no one’s seen them since Thanksgiving)
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Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
Since I’m being cantankerous over in the Animation redo thread, I’ll just reiterate that I’m excited and hopeful for this project even though I think Dinoland was the most misunderstood and under appreciated land Disney has ever built in Florida.