A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Smiddimizer]

Star Wars cannot really be done on the level of Harry Potter. The locations are too vast but also not overly defined beyond a few select places. The way to handle this was Star Tours, and it's recent update with even more places never ignited a lot of excitement. It showed that just because it is built doesn't mean people will come. And maybe, with not being very much about the locations, Star Wars isn't that great a fit for a theme park.

This is the problem with this latest initiative to create "lands" around brands: they're not all as adaptable as Hogwarts or Radiator Springs (the latter is so perfect I almost suspect Lasseter of creating Cars with theme parks on his mind) even though I think there's more people who would feel right at home on Tatooine than you realize. It's not impossible (more so it can be really successful), but they'll need to be creative because for all lot of people Star Wars is nothing more than the death star and lightsabers, whereas everyone big or small attributes HP with Hogwarts. Who knows--maybe Iger's given Abrams the nudge nudge to think of theme park potential too.

At the very least it'll work out in Anaheim (where the new Star Tours did generate a lot of excitement) if it doesn't take off here in Dagobah.

 

[Smiddimizer]

Actually, they do.
City Hall gets a message that "Space Mountain has broken down" and they spring into action.

If they are too slow, they get another message:
"Space Mountain has still not been fixed. Check where your mechanics are, or consider hiring extra mechanics."

That's when you remove a piece of track from Space Mountain and watch the fireworks

 

[Lee]

That's when you remove a piece of track from Space Mountain and watch the fireworks

"Space Mountain has crashed."
"12 people have died on Space Mountain."

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

In other news, PotC is down again today.

It was down Saturday about 4:30pm (i had a FP+ :\)
Edit: People mover went down frequently in the afternoon, went down 3 times with in 10mins.

 

[CDavid]

But in order to make a cohesive land, you have to pick one planet and flesh it out. Not a much of random planets mixed together. It wouldn't make sense.

Without room for theme-to-theme transitions, we would have to be bound with single-land theme parks.

Obviously you don't want a "bunch of random planets", but transitions between lands (and varied themes) have worked for nearly sixty years; No reason it wouldn't work for Star Wars. Indeed, World Showcase thematically works just fine over at Epcot, where we're dealing with a collection of (somewhat) random countries on widely separate continents.

Short of building a Death Star or some of its interiors, there's not a lot of places I'd want to explore in the SW universe.

Millenium Falcon, 'nuff said. And it's in the new films, which the land(s) and attractions will be based upon. There may also be events or locales in the next trilogy which more lends itself to park development.

Actually, they do.
City Hall gets a message that "Space Mountain has broken down" and they spring into action.

If they are too slow, they get another message:
"Space Mountain has still not been fixed. Check where your mechanics are, or consider hiring extra mechanics."

Only in a video game would the last part of the message, "consider hiring extra mechanics", ever be considered...

 

[asianway]

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but sometimes being a fan can turn someone blind to a potential reality.

It's not a guarantee that Star Wars will be any more successful than other IPs in DHS. It depends on if they do it right.

There is already a Star Wars presence in DHS, yet we are all calling for billion dollar expansions. If Star Wars brings people to the park, why isn't it doing so now?

While I think it's crazy to say Frozen has a bigger following than an almost 40 year old property that spans generations, it's the quality of the land that will bring people in, not the Star Wars IP itself

Keep in mind I realize Star Tours is one of the most efficient people eating attractions in WDW...

But I wouldn't sink a plug nickel into an IP that the last time I invested in wasn't even using the extended queue the third day it was opened let alone hundreds of millions. On a Star Wars Weekend no less

 

[DisDan]

Keep in mind I realize Star Tours is one of the most efficient people eating attractions in WDW...

But I wouldn't sink a plug nickel into an IP that the last time I invested in wasn't even using the extended queue the third day it was opened let alone hundreds of millions. On a Star Wars Weekend no less

So you're saying Disney should NOT build anymore Star Wars attractions? Scrap SW plans?

 

[CDavid]

Keep in mind I realize Star Tours is one of the most efficient people eating attractions in WDW...

But I wouldn't sink a plug nickel into an IP that the last time I invested in wasn't even using the extended queue the third day it was opened let alone hundreds of millions. On a Star Wars Weekend no less

Legitimate point, but would you really advise basing your park investment decisions on the public reaction to a long-overdue upgrade to an old attraction?

 

[Skip]

Actually, they do.
City Hall gets a message that "Space Mountain has broken down" and they spring into action.

If they are too slow, they get another message:
"Space Mountain has still not been fixed. Check where your mechanics are, or consider hiring extra mechanics."

I appreciate this reference.

 

[cdd89]

My slightly bigger concern with Star Wars is how easily it can be adapted to appeal to the non-Star Wars fans (and yes, this is important - having a land people that alienates people and that people don't identify with is probably worse, from an experience point of view, than not having the land at all - look at Dino-Rama).

I'll be the first to admit being amazed by Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley, despite not really following the world of Harry Potter in any great detail. I can sort of visualise Avatar Land being a great success as well just because of the amount of visual interest.

I just find it a bit hard to visualise Star Wars Land working beyond "preaching to the converted"... especially if it doesn't have the benefit of a huge budget.

 

[NeXuS1000]

The problem with your logic is if Star Wars takes over two or more lands in DHS, it would tip the balance scale of IPs and attractions in the park.

Harry Potter works because not only are the lands in two separate parks, they don't overpower the parks they are in. If you put two Star Wars lands in an already small DHS, you've now tipped the park scale.

We can armchair imagineer all we want to say what we would like to see in a Star Wars land(s). But if a Star Wars land ever gets built, it's inevitable that some part of the passionate fan base will be annoyed that their favorite planet isn't being included. You'll never be able to create a Star Wars presence big enough to please all fans. So with that in mind, I would veer away from trying to include transitions that are going to be very abrupt, and just make the best land you can.

I said you could make suitable transitions between several SW lands, not that they should.

But the idea of having an SW area with several "mini-lands" I don't see anything problematic with, and it could easily be a combination of interiors and exteriors, from Tatooine and Endor to the Death Star and Mos Eisley.

Who cares about tipping fictional park scales? And regarding upsetting fans; that's impossible to avoid, but as long as the execution of whatever you do is solid, fans will overall be pleased.

 

[Smiddimizer]

My slightly bigger concern with Star Wars is how easily it can be adapted to appeal to the non-Star Wars fans (and yes, this is important - having a land people that alienates people and that people don't identify with is probably worse, from an experience point of view, than not having the land at all - look at Dino-Rama).

I'll be the first to admit being amazed by Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley, despite not really following the world of Harry Potter in any great detail. I can sort of visualise Avatar Land being a great success as well just because of the amount of visual interest.

I just find it a bit hard to visualise Star Wars Land working beyond "preaching to the converted"... especially if it doesn't have the benefit of a huge budget.

I think Gringotts relates to this problem, that is, having an imperfect balance between alienating and "preaching to the converted". They worked so hard to have that ride make sense within the Harry Potter canon that it felt contrived and confusing. In contrast, the land itself was breathtaking and didn't require familiarity with minor plot points or characters.

I don't really understand your Dino Rama example.

 

[ford91exploder]

Keep in mind I realize Star Tours is one of the most efficient people eating attractions in WDW...

But I wouldn't sink a plug nickel into an IP that the last time I invested in wasn't even using the extended queue the third day it was opened let alone hundreds of millions. On a Star Wars Weekend no less

Have to agree to a point, But the new star tours is not a very immersive experience I'd almost say the original was better. Then you look at the INSANE popularity of SWW which has some VERY immersive moments, A personal favorite was a detachment of the 501'st treating a paper cup blowing around like a dangerous animal, Complete with a trooper directing traffic 'nothing to see move along...' It's stuff like this which Disney was once known for on a regular basis which keeps people like me coming back with family

 

[doctornick]

Sorry, but that's the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time.

Star Wars has lots of great locations, and they're easy to expand upon. Just because adding small scenes in a ride refresh didn't create much excitement (it's a refresh of an existing ride, what did you expect) doesn't mean that some of those locations translated to a physical space wouldn't create tons of excitement.

Star Wars has plenty, plenty of material to build theme park locations around, be it indoor or outdoor. Only talent and budget sets the constraints here.

I think it is fair to say that Star Wars isn't conducive to the same type of development that Harry Potter is because it isn't a specific place with specific locations to visit so much (except for a few exceptions like the Cantina, interior of the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star, maybe the Ewok Village or Jedi Temple). so, sure, asking for it to be "like" Harry Potter isn't really fair.

But Star Wars is, as you point out, full of great locations to visit in a general sense. In fact, it makes a great template for a theme park because the various planets are basically large scale themed lands. The delicate balance is how to develop it and I personally hope they focus on one or two planets and make the rides appropriate to that rather than a combo of different locations. I think that will end up being more impressive visually and engaging.

More specifically, there's no real "desert" location in all of WDW, so having Tatooine not only makes sense because of the frequency of the SW story being there, but because it would be pretty distinct within WDW (as opposed to, say, the forest look of Endor or Kashyyyk).

 

[ford91exploder]

This is why I read news sites from non US origin such as Der Spiegel and Deutsche Welle. Often they will have news stories 3-4 days before some anchor in the US breathlessly "breaks" the news. But be warned, these German outlets write on a comprehension level far greater than the grade 8 level in the US.

Don't you mean 4'th grade with no words in excess of two syllables...

 

[ford91exploder]

Great location doesn't mean great cohesion. And that's what a theme park needs. Not an eclectic variety of terrains that don't fit together.

Lord of the rings has great locations as well. Where is its land in a theme park?

Sure Star Wars has plenty of matierial. And yes I would love to see a fully fleshed out hoth or Endor, etc. But in order to make a cohesive land, you have to pick one planet and flesh it out. Not a much of random planets mixed together. It wouldn't make sense.

You could do Tatooine and Endor/Dagobah and the rest on spacecraft - What makes HP work is it concentrates on small sections of a larger world. And the three planets I mention have relatively small scale 'villages' which are more amenable to theme park implementation. Spacecraft are obvious you generally only have access to sections of them so a spaceport/space station show building can lead to the interiors of spacecraft.

 

[bhg469]

I just hope they dont cheapen out and put out a PLANES type release.
where the lack of quality is clearly visible in the script and quite a few scenes.

I think it's a given. They need to crank out a sequel before they lose the attention of the youngsters.

 

[bhg469]

Star Wars cannot really be done on the level of Harry Potter. The locations are too vast but also not overly defined beyond a few select places. The way to handle this was Star Tours, and it's recent update with even more places never ignited a lot of excitement. It showed that just because it is built doesn't mean people will come. And maybe, with not being very much about the locations, Star Wars isn't that great a fit for a theme park.

If they didn't jump the gun on Pandora I believe they could easily have made DAK a home for part of the star wars universe.

 

[PhotoDave219]

While possible it is still unlikely. When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras. I know that '74 is very careful in his selection of words and phrases. Therefore his choice of the most remote and dubious explanation for the problem suggests other motives. May the force be with you.

No it's very likely that Russian and Chinese hackers are randomly trying to get in to everyone's computers. It's happening.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Keep in mind I realize Star Tours is one of the most efficient people eating attractions in WDW...

But I wouldn't sink a plug nickel into an IP that the last time I invested in wasn't even using the extended queue the third day it was opened let alone hundreds of millions. On a Star Wars Weekend no less

Very good point!