DAK 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom

[HauntedPirate]

I hear you, but I'm speaking from having experience working directly with cinema distributors globally. 50% is absolutely accepted rule of thumb. Disney is a bit atypical when you get in the weeds here.

Didn't they get something north of 60% for the sequel trilogy? Or was that Infinity War and Endgame?

And...

And the VOD statement is completely undermining the entire reason why cinema has continued to struggle holistically post-pandemic.

#ThanksBeToChapek (at least for Disney releases)

 

[Prince-1]

I remember people b****ing about Pandora before it opened too.

I love me some Pandora but there is a reason why people complained since it really doesn't belong at Animal Kingdom. And replacing DinoLand will be a huge win but AK is a looooooong way from being flawless.

 

[Professortango1]

I love me some Pandora but there is a reason why people complained since it really doesn't belong at Animal Kingdom. And replacing DinoLand will be a huge win but AK is a looooooong way from being flawless.

Add to the fact they kept advertising how great it looks at night but the park closes before dark in peak season. Had they extended Navi River Journey to go out through the land and pre-planned how to keep areas of the park open and active after the animals retire; it would have been an undisputed hit.

 

[denyuntilcaught]

Didn't they get something north of 60% for the sequel trilogy? Or was that Infinity War and Endgame?

I can dig into the numbers for the sequel trilogy but it was certainly that high for peak Avengers, in addition to several post-pandemic tentpoles where distributors were hanging their hats on Disney and, to a lesser extent, Universal to support theaters with reliable blockbusters...despite them actively undermining them by shortening the theatrical window, hence the battle between the two parties that we all recall fondly. This was before Warner Bros went on their winning streak.

Monothingie absolutely makes a point about international distributors take more than their fair share of profits compared to Disney pulling their influence stateside, but it's also relative to profits. Taking 60% of $18MM in Italy means very little to breakeven versus 60% of $100MM in the US.

Either way, I've diverted the thread long enough.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Pandora originally did look great at night. It wasn't like a light show that would wow you, but dark and mysterious with a level of illumination that felt natural. Unfortunately it was deemed too dark to be safe, so they added in more lights to illuminate the walkways. It still looks kind of cool, but definitely more distinctly artificial.

I also complained about the Avatar announcement back in 2011 (ugh, that long ago already?) but it is perhaps the best instance of a single-IP land fitting the park it was added on to, at least in terms of parks that originally had a cohesive over-arching theme. They properly assessed that no one has any real attachment to the story and characters of the film, but might find the world of Pandora captivating. They were right, and the land feels more like a project that wanted to create something beautiful and awe inspiring over marketing numbers and pleasing shareholders. Choosing to downplay the events depicted in the film and putting them far in the past and having the land focus on the message of living cohesively with nature makes the land fit considerably well with DAK in addition to aesthetically.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Unfortunately it was deemed too dark to be safe, so they added in more lights to illuminate the walkways. It still looks kind of cool, but definitely more distinctly artificial.

DAK was open late enough on my last visit to walk through and it looked great. Only thing that was missing was the projection mapping on the floating mountains.

 

[The Mom]

Please get back on topic. Thank you.

 

[Brer Panther]

Indiana Jones is just correcting what they should’ve done from the start.

There's a reason why they built Dinosaur and not an Indiana Jones ride in the first place.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

There's a reason why they built Dinosaur and not an Indiana Jones ride in the first place.

My understanding is - this was actually supposed to be a more gentle dark ride where kids could see Dino’s, and then the coaster would have been next door providing the thrills.

 

[Pizza Moon]

There's a reason why they built Dinosaur and not an Indiana Jones ride in the first place.

Because they were cheap.

 

[UNCgolf]

Because they were cheap.

That's definitely not why.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The cost of cloning Indy exactly vs. cloning (or at least close to a clone of) the ride track but developing everything else from scratch was probably about the same price tag, yes? Even if Dinosaur was much more scarce with its sets?

 

[UNCgolf]

The cost of cloning Indy exactly vs. cloning (or at least close to a clone of) the ride track but developing everything else from scratch was probably about the same price tag, yes? Even if Dinosaur was much more scarce with its sets?

I wouldn't be surprised if Dinosaur cost more than cloning Indy would have.

Either way, a clone of Disneyland's Indy would have made no sense at all in Animal Kingdom.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Either way, a clone of Disneyland's Indy would have made no sense at all in Animal Kingdom

Unless he was searching for a mythical creature.

 

[BrianLo]

Add to the fact they kept advertising how great it looks at night but the park closes before dark in peak season. Had they extended Navi River Journey to go out through the land and pre-planned how to keep areas of the park open and active after the animals retire; it would have been an undisputed hit.

To be fair, they *attempted* to do those things. That was a big part of that project cycle. Rivers of Light, the Night Safari, the Tree of Life awakenings. They all just sequentially went belly up and were killed during the pandemic. I think they also learned their lesson that they cannot fix the animal encounters, they are just dead attractions after sunset.

To make this related to this thread, I have to imagine the goal is still to extend park hours if these things are popular enough, which I assume they will be.

What overtly seems to be missing is a Rivers of Light replacement and I’m still looking out for that. What they should do, if it were up to me, is also look at their two major theatres and consider running exclusive stage shows for evenings. That would give a couple hours of things to do to make up for Harambe’s closing.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

also look at their two major theatres and consider running exclusive stage shows for evenings

Yes! Would be a great location for an Adventurers Club style variety show! Kungaloosh!

 

[HMF]

There's a reason why they built Dinosaur and not an Indiana Jones ride in the first place.

Also, it's not like Indy is more relevant now than he was in the 90s.

 

[HMF]

Either way, a clone of Disneyland's Indy would have made no sense at all in Animal Kingdom.

I would argue that Indy does not fit at all no matter the context, but your point still stands.

 

[HMF]

What overtly seems to be missing is a Rivers of Light replacement and I’m still looking out for that. What they should do, if it were up to me, is also look at their two major theatres and consider running exclusive stage shows for evenings. That would give a couple hours of things to do to make up for Harambe’s closing.

I wouldn't expect a replacement for Rivers of Light. I also sadly feel that Rivers of Light likely killed management's enthusiasm for original nighttime show concepts thus why we have not seen a show worthy of replacing Reflections of Earth.

 

[FettFan]

Can you tell us why you don’t want it then? I don’t think I’ve heard that yet.

I would say it’s in the wrong park, as it was originally proposed as part of the “Beyond Big Thunder” project that was scrapped in favor of Piston Peak.

And Indiana Jones is also being put in the wrong park, as an Indy ride should have replaced the neutered stunt show at DHS.