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

[yensidtlaw1969]

Am I an outlier for not wanting a lot of songs in my dark ride? I did enjoy the Splash Mt music (zip..) and, do they use “heigh hi” in mine train (only been on it once, so don’t recall!). Music/audio is obviously huge in attractions and ones I love (eg Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc), but I am pretty underwhelmed with the 21st-c Disney songbook. (I still don’t get why “Let it go” is such a hit, let alone “we don’t talk about Bruno”?) Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen them in their respective films, where the stories/characters carry them? I really like Coco, but think the actual songs are weak (love the visuals, instrumental stuff, and themes). I kind of feel like they should swing bigger with some rides and not just rely on a song to be the big moment - ideally I’d like a ride/attraction experience to bring more immersion or delight than what could be accomplished by throwing in a songtrack or parking a child in front of a film on Disney+. The more I write, though, the more I think I’m probably in the minority here. Glad others have love for this type of thing!

Some of the most successful rides in the world have only one song where they rely on variations of it to carry you through the whole experience - Given the nature of theme park rides as a medium it often seems like that's a better way to carry guests through to a complete and satisfying experience.

Attractions like Mermaid which try to jam most of a movie's songbook into a few short minutes don't seem to acquit themselves the same way (though of course Mermaid somewhat famously has issues beyond that). I wonder sometimes if they'd have had more success just letting the ride be a pageant through Ariel's undersea world with "Under the Sea" underscoring the whole thing as opposed to the fractured and fragmented book report it ended up being.

Picking one song that sums up the whole experience you're having seems to work plenty well for Pirates, The Haunted Mansion, and it's a small world. I'd think the premise could work for a number of existing properties, provided they pick the right song.

 

[Jumping Fountains]

Some of the most successful rides in the world have only one song where they rely on variations of it to carry you through the whole experience - Given the nature of theme park rides as a medium it often seems like that's a better way to carry guests through to a complete and satisfying experience.

Attractions like Mermaid which try to jam most of a movie's songbook into a few short minutes don't seem to acquit themselves the same way (though of course Mermaid somewhat famously has issues beyond that). I wonder sometimes if they'd have had more success just letting the ride be a pageant through Ariel's undersea world with "Under the Sea" underscoring the whole thing as opposed to the fractured and fragmented book report it ended up being.

Picking one song that sums up the whole experience you're having seems to work plenty well for Pirates, The Haunted Mansion, and it's a small world. I'd think the premise could work for a number of existing properties, provided they pick the right song.

Yeah, and I enjoy the song elements as a crucial part of pirates, haunted mansion, and even it’s a small world! For whatever reason, the belting in the frozen ride doesn’t do it for me. There’s so much life in the pirates and haunted mansion’s audio for me, especially!

 

[KDM31091]

When we walked through DAK yesterday our first stop was at Dinosaur. For what it is worth, the animatronics all worked. I guess I never realized that half of the prehistoric world was shrouded in some sort of mysterious darkness where you could literally see nothing.

The entirety of Dinoland was very dead. I mean, I can’t understand why. Who wouldn’t want to spend money on overpriced carni style games or lounge in some odd open space that looked like it once contained an attraction of some sort?

Seriously though, this area is so contained that they could wall off near the Boneyard and the other entrance beneath the big Dino without any sort of disruption to the flow of guests. It will be interesting to see if this is done piece meal or all at once.

Because the area is pretty disconnected, I don't see any advantage to not doing it piecemeal. Since Dinosaur will be the biggest blow to park capacity, it makes sense to do that area separately. That way when the former Dinorama is ready, it can at least reopen to absorb some crowds ahead of Dinosaur closing.

As far as it being dead, well yeah, Disney has let the area languish, and has put no effort into it for many years. Primeval Whirl's demise kind of sealed the deal and nothing was done to replace it, even well before any of these new plans were a consideration. Disney could/should have just put effort into Dinoland and make it awesome again. But, doesn't seem that's going to happen.

 

[SamusAranX]

Because the area is pretty disconnected, I don't see any advantage to not doing it piecemeal. Since Dinosaur will be the biggest blow to park capacity, it makes sense to do that area separately. That way when the former Dinorama is ready, it can at least reopen to absorb some crowds ahead of Dinosaur closing.

As far as it being dead, well yeah, Disney has let the area languish, and has put no effort into it for many years. Primeval Whirl's demise kind of sealed the deal and nothing was done to replace it, even well before any of these new plans were a consideration. Disney could/should have just put effort into Dinoland and make it awesome again. But, doesn't seem that's going to happen.

 

[James Alucobond]

View attachment 782568

Regardless of an attempt at integration that was as intelligent as it could be, Primeval Whirl and TriceraTop Spin were poor attractions the day they opened. Neglect didn't change that. They absolutely should have been replaced.

 

[UNCgolf]

Regardless of an attempt at integration that was as intelligent as it could be, Primeval Whirl and TriceraTop Spin were poor attractions the day they opened. Neglect didn't change that. They absolutely should have been replaced.

Primeval Whirl, absolutely -- it was a carnival ride (and it was supposed to be, as that was in theme, but not good enough).

TriceraTop Spin was okay because the parks can always use a few flat rides for small kids. I don't think it needed to be replaced, just maybe moved and/or rethemed.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Primeval Whirl, absolutely -- it was a carnival ride (and it was supposed to be, as that was in theme, but not good enough).

TriceraTop Spin was okay because the parks can always use a few flat rides for small kids. I don't think it needed to be replaced, just maybe moved and/or rethemed.

Going from one ride type we already have elsewhere (spinner) to another (carousel) is a lateral move for me. I’d prefer a novel flat ride. There are plenty.

 

[UNCgolf]

Going from one ride type we already have elsewhere (spinner) to another (carousel) is a lateral move for me. I’d prefer a novel flat ride. There are plenty.

I feel similarly, although I assume the carousel will have a much higher capacity. At least that's helpful.

 

[DisneyRoy]

Am I an outlier for not wanting a lot of songs in my dark ride? I did enjoy the Splash Mt music (zip..) and, do they use “heigh hi” in mine train (only been on it once, so don’t recall!). Music/audio is obviously huge in attractions and ones I love (eg Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc), but I am pretty underwhelmed with the 21st-c Disney songbook. (I still don’t get why “Let it go” is such a hit, let alone “we don’t talk about Bruno”?) Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen them in their respective films, where the stories/characters carry them? I really like Coco, but think the actual songs are weak (love the visuals, instrumental stuff, and themes). I kind of feel like they should swing bigger with some rides and not just rely on a song to be the big moment - ideally I’d like a ride/attraction experience to bring more immersion or delight than what could be accomplished by throwing in a songtrack or parking a child in front of a film on Disney+. The more I write, though, the more I think I’m probably in the minority here. Glad others have love for this type of thing!

Have you ever had a toddler? They are fascinated by the smallest things. Play it again! Play it again! They get their preschool teacher to play it for them. Then that causes it to spread to the rest of the preschool class. And it grows. And then it gets radio play. And it grows some more. Repeat ad nauseum. We probably watched Frozen 10,000 times that first year it was out with endless repeats of the Let it Go scene. It's a catchy tune. And it's a thousand times better than Bruno. Encanto I didn't really connect with as much. Maybe because my daughter was a teen by then and more into Tay Tay.

 

[eddie104]

My dream vision …

• Encanto and Coco both get a substantial dark ride of some sort.
• The “bonus” attractions get approved (Lion King and Pandora Expansion)
• Smaller B and C tickets are taken into account like this Carousel idea which is great but shouldn’t be the headliner ride for its property.
• Also hope the rumored night show is also green lit as well.

 

[flyerjab]

My dream vision …

• Encanto and Coco both get a substantial dark ride of some sort.
• The “bonus” attractions get approved (Lion King and Pandora Expansion)
• Smaller B and C tickets are taken into account like this Carousel idea which is great but shouldn’t be the headliner ride for its property.
• Also hope the rumored night show is also green lit as well.

I don’t see how they don’t give DAK another shot with a nighttime show. I actually really liked their last attempt. It just wasn’t reliable due to weather issues. They have to come up with something that drives people to this park later in the evening. That’s why I won’t be surprised if this expansion/refurb of Dinoland is more focused on rides and attractions as opposed to animals. The animal exhibits shutdown later in the day so they will need more attractions that draw in guests.

I know it isn’t universally liked here, but having popular IP-based attractions that are all indoors or covered from the elements will help this park tremendously. Harambe in its current form suffers because its big attraction and the accompanying Gorilla Falls trail shut down, leaving little for guests to do at night. It won’t surprise me if the Lion King attraction does happen here as it will give guests a reason to go to Harambe after dark. Adding Pandora helped in this regard: 2 popular rides that are indoor that can be enjoyed at any time day. And the land itself is beautiful to experience at night. Now, add the Tropical Americas land with three attractions, all popular IPs that are indoor rides that are open all day. This will increase guest flow to the park later into the evening. Add a successful, unique night time show (maybe with drones??) and this becomes a more full day park.

 

[doctornick]

I don’t see how they don’t give DAK another shot with a nighttime show. I actually really liked their last attempt. It just wasn’t reliable due to weather issues. They have to come up with something that drives people to this park later in the evening. That’s why I won’t be surprised if this expansion/refurb of Dinoland is more focused on rides and attractions as opposed to animals. The animal exhibits shutdown later in the day so they will need more attractions that draw in guests.

I know it isn’t universally liked here, but having popular IP-based attractions that are all indoors or covered from the elements will help this park tremendously. Harambe in its current form suffers because its big attraction and the accompanying Gorilla Falls trail shut down, leaving little for guests to do at night. It won’t surprise me if the Lion King attraction does happen here as it will give guests a reason to go to Harambe after dark. Adding Pandora helped in this regard: 2 popular rides that are indoor that can be enjoyed at any time day. And the land itself is beautiful to experience at night. Now, add the Tropical Americas land with three attractions, all popular IPs that are indoor rides that are open all day. This will increase guest flow to the park later into the evening. Add a successful, unique night time show (maybe with drones??) and this becomes a more full day park.

I'm confident that they will add a new nighttime show at some point in the upcoming years. The question I have is "when?" - adding a show now would help for if/when they down the attractions in Dinoland so replacing some of that capacity without other "stuff". But if it is a night show than you have to extend park hours which means even more hours of time for guests to need "stuff to do". the reverse option is wait until Tropical Americas and whatever else is to be done if completed and opened and the park has a lot more attraction capacity - then you can extend hours and have a nighttime show much more easily and effectively.

I actually think the best option is adding a day time show on the water. Something of higher quality than the kites but not necessarily a very long show given that many folks won't want to sit in the sun for a long period mid day. So maybe something that is more brief but runs a few times in the afternoon.

Complete aside, but I'd got to add that Awakenings on the tree is also a great nighttime enhancement that it is sad it doesn't get used much now given the shorter hours so the park isn't open as much after dark.

 

[osian]

I know it isn’t universally liked here, but having popular IP-based attractions that are all indoors or covered from the elements will help this park tremendously.

As opposed to having popular non-IP atttractions? Given a choice between popular and non-popular, or IP and non-IP, which would be best for the park?

 

[Bastet]

I would love a villains land - Bald Mountain hanging coaster, Cruella's car chase, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Hades Hall for meet n greets, headless horseman carousel .

 

[Bastet]

I would love a villains land - Bald Mountain hanging coaster, Cruella's car chase, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Hades Hall for meet n greets, headless horseman carousel .

Sorry, wrong thread

 

[Bocabear]

They also purpose-built that enormous seating area for the failed water show... They need to revisit that... A water based Parade with performers and floats would be amazing... the more evening entertainment they create, the more reasons they will have to keep people in the park longer.... The first water based show was a good idea with a "designed By Committee" show.... They need something without water screens and cartoons... Beautiful floating sets....a true Water Pageant....Designed to celebrate each of the thematic areas of the park, Africa, Asia, Pandora, Tropical Americas.... An entire Folklorico unit would be amazing.... NO Disney cartoons...something special and unique to this park....

 

[The Leader of the Club]

I would love a villains land - Bald Mountain hanging coaster, Cruella's car chase, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Hades Hall for meet n greets, headless horseman carousel .

Let’s just move villains land to DAK:
Elephant Graveyard Coaster, Kaa’s Jungle Gym, It’s Tough to be a Bug, and a meet and greet with the Hunter who killed Bambi’s mom!

 

[flyerjab]

As opposed to having popular non-IP atttractions? Given a choice between popular and non-popular, or IP and non-IP, which would be best for the park?

I will never argue about this. I am for IP and non-IP attractions. But arguing for non-IP attractions as your main anchor attractions just isn’t happening anymore. As long as Iger calls the shots we have to deal with the reality we live in. And that reality is IP mandated attractions, all day, every day (unfortunately).

 

[BrianLo]

I'd love to be wrong, but I can't help thinking

1) Indy
2) Encanto
3) Tropical Americas
4) Zootopia TOL
5) Lion King
6) Night Show

seems to be a bit too optimistic. I just don't know if that Lion King (or whatever dealers choice) attraction will come to be. But maybe they are really serious about not giving up their length of stay to Epic medium term so feel Animal Kingdom needs to be turned into unskippable.

 

[pigglewiggle]

All this new stuff that's been "announced" but not announced, do you think we really have to wait until D23 to hear timelines of closures?

It would be a dream to hear about planned closures at least more than 4 months in advance of a trip.