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

[mickEblu]

This attraction makeover turned out to be hoot.

And it was mandated from above and nearly an impossible timeline.

I swear some of you never worked in corporate America.

Considering the constraints and comparing to results from other forced re-themes I think he did well. I just can’t forgive him for the exterior. He decided to go bold but I think they should have kept the hotel theme and worked in a story into it or just made it something pleasant to look at.

As a Disneyland MK, I really miss TOT. The theme, music, build up etc. It felt like a Disney attraction. As far as the ride experience on MB, at no point do I feel the Guardians are in front of me. It's more like we're FaceTiming with them. With TOT it felt like you were in a real physical place with nice effects. Really miss that star field effect.

MB gets a lot of good reviews from people who get to enjoy it as their "other tower." Meaning a nice change of pace when they re on vacation and away from their home park or park/ resort they visit more often. If you asked me "do you want to turn MK's Pirates into a smaller Shanghai POTC?", id say go for it. I get to keep the original in California and then have a different ride to experience when I'm out in Florida as opposed to a watered down version of the original and superior version. Not to say locals don't enjoy the re- theme. As I said they did a good job considering the constraints but let not pretend the ride system and nature of the ride didn't make the job easier.

 

[Biff215]

Yeah I get that there is a lot of fan anger at the moment but Rohdes seems like an unlikely target. The odds of agreeing with another person’s stylistic choices 100% of the time are slim, but I think there’s little doubt he cared about guest experience. There was no “Bah, good enough,” mindset there that I can see.

I agree. DAK and Aulani are masterpieces in my opinion. It doesn’t mean Rohde is perfect, but I’d have a hard time naming a more influential Imagineer in the past couple of decades. I do fear DAK’s future without Rohde at the helm. Very few seem to value the authenticity and attention to detail that Joe painstakingly achieved there.

I’m no fan of Zootopia coming to the parks in any form, but this seems the least offensive option. I personally prefer A Bug’s Life all day long as a movie, but the attraction sadly lacks much interest all these years later and could use a refresh. I just hope it somehow fits and actually pluses the space it occupies.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Rohde certainly isn't perfect, but he's one of the best Imagineers ever. If you actually care about Disney parks and want them to be quality, you'd want Disney to have 30 Joe Rohdes. Being anti-Rohde essentially means you're in favor of all of the things Disney has done over the past 15-20 years, like new EPCOT.

I think we all know that this is not what is motivating that particular poster.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I agree. DAK and Aulani are masterpieces in my opinion. It doesn’t mean Rohde is perfect, but I’d have a hard time naming a more influential Imagineer in the past couple of decades. I do fear DAK’s future without Rohde at the helm. Very few seem to value the authenticity and attention to detail that Joe painstakingly achieved there.

Agree… I like Rohde’s style, but in many places mine differs. I think what sets him apart is his design philosophy though. I think he could impart that to an Imagineer who adores Harajuku fashion, or is a techno utopian, or completely devoted to a particular IP, and on and on, and the overarching principles would still work while the results would be wildly different. I just hope the idea of underlying design philosophy doesn’t get lost in favor of the formulaic or less expensive.

I’m no fan of Zootopia coming to the parks in any form, but this seems the least offensive option. I personally prefer A Bug’s Life all day long as a movie, but the attraction sadly lacks much interest all these years later and could use a refresh. I just hope it somehow fits and actually pluses the space it occupies.

I have no idea how, but I think Bug’s Life is the one attraction I have never seen in like 40 years of visiting the parks. I’m not sure what the space is like but maybe? I’m kind of against “animals in pants” for AK but I think that space is completely tucked away with no visual continuity with the rest of the park.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

I just can’t forgive him for the exterior.

That black stripe down the front...it has puzzled me for years.

 

[Mike S]

You doing ok Epcot81Fan? Just seems like you’ve had a rapid shift in tone recently.

I’m just going to leave this here for him.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

Am I the only one who was kind of looking forward to this since the Tree of Life theater hasn’t had a new show yet?

People seem to think it going to be a police story for some reason:

I'm sure the idea is that the ToL is going to be some kind hub to Zootopia's police dept and where watching the different biomes which they mentioned at the destination D event..But, something happens and we're there to watch Nick and Judy stop a crime using 4D with snow, water, Heat and that pokey thing on the seats.

Let's just hope they don't have Flash controlling the exit doors or we're In real trouble..

Contrary to this, another site has heard that this will be a "Zoo-gether" celebration to which humans are now invited, suggesting a Tree of Life story.

Also, remember that Zootopians are obsessed with their wild ancestors/cousins. The story could be about the relationship between (pantless) wild animals and the panted talking critters (including the audience), with a special focus on the adaptations the two share.

 

[easyrowrdw]

Mission Breakout is absolutely an improvement over what was there. He was given an assignment and did it quickly and effectively. Is that really your go to example?

Really? I never got to ride the Disneyland Tower of Terror. But I rode Mission Breakout and didn’t think it came anywhere close to WDW Tower. What was so bad about California’s version that Guardians was considered an upgrade?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Really? I never got to ride the Disneyland Tower of Terror. But I rode Mission Breakout and didn’t think it came anywhere close to WDW Tower. What was so bad about California’s version that Guardians was considered an upgrade?

I haven't ridden Mission Breakout yet so can't really comment on it, but the Disneyland ToT always fell a bit flat for me as it just felt like a more straight forward up and down drop ride. That said, in Paris they added a new creepily little girl character with a range of different projections/dialogue and drop profiles that I think gives the WDW version a run for its money. It shows that the version of ToT at DCA could have worked very well with the same theme and some tweaking. In general, the difference between the first version and the new version in Paris shows how important all the theming elements are to the impact of an attraction.

 

[Biff215]

I have no idea how, but I think Bug’s Life is the one attraction I have never seen in like 40 years of visiting the parks. I’m not sure what the space is like but maybe? I’m kind of against “animals in pants” for AK but I think that space is completely tucked away with no visual continuity with the rest of the park.

ITTBAB is definitely my favorite of the 4D shows. An immersive theater that really feels like you’ve been transported and surrounded by amazing detail. The 4D effects blended seamlessly with the actual video (which are admittedly terrifying to most young kids that can only be compared to Alien Encounter so perhaps this misses the mark there). An amazing animatronic Hopper that again makes the screen disappear. It’s also not too long or too short and is the perfect retreat from the torture that is a hot day at DAK.

With all that said, I truly hope they can create something with Zootopia that can fit just as well while connecting with a new generation, hopefully without including nightmare fuel (although for me Zootopia is just that, lol).

 

[Biff215]

Really? I never got to ride the Disneyland Tower of Terror. But I rode Mission Breakout and didn’t think it came anywhere close to WDW Tower. What was so bad about California’s version that Guardians was considered an upgrade?

The DL ToT just always suffered from being compared to its cooler, older brother in Florida (my personal favorite which I hope never gets touched). Disney seized on this when the mandate came down to capitalize on the Marvel acquisition. ToT was an easy target and quicker to overhaul than building new. You can argue the Hollywood area of DCA is one of the weakest, so all in all I think Marvel is an upgrade for the park. I have to agree, however, that the exterior is jarring. Loved the attraction itself though!

 

[Kamikaze]

“Bah, good enough”

- Joe Rohde

How often do you go to DLR?

 

[Kamikaze]

Really? I never got to ride the Disneyland Tower of Terror. But I rode Mission Breakout and didn’t think it came anywhere close to WDW Tower. What was so bad about California’s version that Guardians was considered an upgrade?

MB isn't as good as WDW Tower. Its better than DCA Tower. DCA doesn't have the cars moving into a different shaft for the drop portion of the attraction, so you missed that entire part of the experience, which is quite a lot.

MB is light-hearted and fun when compared to the 'scary' nature of ToT. WDW Tower is one of the top themed attractions of all time, MB is not. DCA Tower always just lacked that 'something'. But MB is extremely fun and can't miss. Its just a completely different experience than Tower of Terror.

And the vast majority of guests (and locals) don't really care about the exterior as much as others are insinuating in this thread.

 

[easyrowrdw]

Thanks for replies. I think I found Breakout anti-climactic compared to WDW Tower. Maybe it was the lack of horizontal moment? I was really surprised too, as that would seem like something you’d have when breaking out of jail or whatever. Another commenter said it felt more like watching the Guardians characters on screens and I’d agree with that. It’s interesting how small things can make a big difference in one’s experience.

Anyway, back to Zootopia. Or, maybe not?

 

[lazyboy97o]

I could remember wrong, but wasn’t the budget for AK cut significantly and this hamstrung the dinosaur area of the park and how much the imagineers could realistically do?

I thought that was the case. Also, given the popularity of the original Jurassic Park movies at that time, my guess is that execs wanted to add dinosaurs, even if they weren’t a good fit thematically or in terms of age range (While tons of kids love dinosaurs, there’s probably a reason they’re not a popular theme park theme. Realistic dinosaurs scare young kids but cutesy dinosaurs just don’t quite work. They’ve got some interesting dinosaur exhibits for kids now like Dinos Alive, but they feature ferocious, sharp toothed predators. You would have to know your child and know if they could handle that.)

Dinosaurs were always going to be part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The park’s initial build out was significantly scaled back. Beastlie Kingdom was cut. Tiger River Run was reduced and delayed. And about half of Dinoland USA was cut. Since it was further along it wasn’t hit in the same way as Disney’s California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park.

Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama is not original to the park. It is an addition, one intended to be a cheap way of adding some capacity to the park.

 

[BrianLo]

I think we all know that this is not what is motivating that particular poster.

This is the only poster I’ve ever actually blocked. I eventually realized they’ve never had anything to say that isn’t pithy and sarcastic in their entire posting history here. Nor do they actually engage in conversation. There are strong opinions I don’t agree with and then there is overt trolling.

 

[UNCgolf]

This is the only poster I’ve ever actually blocked. I eventually realized they’ve never had anything to say that isn’t pithy and sarcastic in their entire posting history here. Nor do they actually engage in conversation. There are strong opinions I don’t agree with and then there is overt trolling.

I've reported him for trolling several times, but for some reason they don't see fit to block him.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I've reported him for trolling several times, but for some reason they don't see fit to block him.

Same here.

 

[Joel]

You're all in violation of rule 10 regarding discussion of moderator actions. Reported!

 

[DisneyHead123]

Dinosaurs were always going to be part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The park’s initial build out was significantly scaled back. Beastlie Kingdom was cut. Tiger River Run was reduced and delayed. And about half of Dinoland USA was cut. Since it was further along it wasn’t hit in the same way as Disney’s California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park.

Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama is not original to the park. It is an addition, one intended to be a cheap way of adding some capacity to the park.

Interesting backstory, thank you. Do you know if the inclusion of dinosaurs was Imagineer driven or exec driven?