Beastlie Kingdomme Good Read

[gboiler1]

Alas, another BK post, but this is to make sure you check out a good read from MousePlanet today from an early AK imagineer working on the proposed Unicorn Maze. Enjoy...

http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mg060308mp

 

[George]

That was a very good read indeed. The author had no axe to grind. They even claim DAK is one of their two favorites along with TDS! Will wonders never cease. The article was informative and it seemed that the history it summarized was authentic. I wonder if they will post pics of the unicorn maze in their follow-up story.

 

[peter11435]

That was a very good read indeed. The author had no axe to grind. They even claim DAK is one of their two favorites along with TDS! Will wonders never cease. The article was informative and it seemed that the history it summarized was authentic. I wonder if they will post pics of the unicorn maze in their follow-up story.

If you are interested here are a few concept pictures of the unicorn maze.

 

[George]

Wow! Thanks for the concept art.

 

[gboiler1]

Wow! Great art. What book is that from?

 

[Ralphlaw]

Of all things said
With tongue or pen,
The saddest is this,
"It might have been."

 

[ruca]

The picture is great! Thanks:sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[CaptainMichael]

Articles like these are always fun. Unfortunately, they always leave me wondering what could have been.

 

[wannab@dis]

Articles like these are always fun. Unfortunately, they always leave me wondering what could have been.

I agree... the article was good. But one answer to your question of "what could have been" is this...

They could have built it and it cost so much that it would take years for Disney to start seeing ROI on the park. It take huge amounts of capital and then long term payouts to bring new parks. If they fail to produce, then the money is gone and does not produce returns. That's the worse possible thing that can happen for us fans.

Slow, methodical and continual growth of the parks is necessary to be able to afford to add blockbuster attractions. Otherwise, you may see years of zero additions while they try to recoup the money lost on a massive investment.

 

[SpaceMountainUK]

Like Disneyland Paris, Although it wasnt the park which created the huge mess they got into it was Eisners idea of building 6 gargantuan hotels to support 1 park!

 

[Tim G]

Like Disneyland Paris, Although it wasnt the park which created the huge mess they got into it was Eisners idea of building 6 gargantuan hotels to support 1 park!

Which are all booked btw...

Please don't talk about things, you dont know about... :lookaroun

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Articles like these are always fun. Unfortunately, they always leave me wondering what could have been.

I agree. I is very interesting, and I guess it is not a "gone" forever concept. Certainly in its current form, but who knows if a realm of Mythical animals and creatures could come up at some point. I agree that it is a necessary and natural fit to round out the park's message (Animals that were in the wild, in the past, and in our imaginations - sort of were, are, and never were), but others don't see that. Time will tell, I guess. Luckily, we have a park still somewhat in its infancy that has a LOT of space to expand, a luxury other parks do not necessarily have.

 

[Ghostbuster626]

I agree... the article was good. But one answer to your question of "what could have been" is this...

They could have built it and it cost so much that it would take years for Disney to start seeing ROI on the park. It take huge amounts of capital and then long term payouts to bring new parks. If they fail to produce, then the money is gone and does not produce returns. That's the worse possible thing that can happen for us fans.

Slow, methodical and continual growth of the parks is necessary to be able to afford to add blockbuster attractions. Otherwise, you may see years of zero additions while they try to recoup the money lost on a massive investment.

This is Post 90s Eisner talk. Back in Walt's day his (then small) company was building Disneyland, creating a big budget live action sci fi movie, and an animated movie all at the same time. Sure if anyone of them wasnt sucessful it would have been gameover for the company but Walt took the chance and it payed off big time.

Even back in the 80s when Eisner had a brain and a spine (and more importantly, the right people with him) it was non stop development at the parks with stuff like Captain Eo, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Living Seas, Horizons, MGM Studios, etc. etc. Richly themed, No cheap cardboard cut out attractions and no cheap and tacky stuff like wands and dinorama. That and the 180 degree turn around at Animation is the reason it is hailed as the "Second Golden Age" of the company.

Disney is a huge mega corporation now..they can easily afford to build Tokyo Disney Seas quality stuff here but they arent because the business people in charge are saying "no you know what americans cant tell the difference so we can keep building mediocre cheap stuff and the'll keep coming".

To end on a positive note it should be noted that the "Third Golden Age" is going to begin at the company shortly.

 

[peter11435]

This is Post 90s Eisner talk. Back in Walt's day his (then small) company was building Disneyland, creating a big budget live action sci fi movie, and an animated movie all at the same time.

The fact is that I'm sure you never visited 1950's Disneyland. If you did I am sure you would be disappointed. Most of the attractions at Disneyland today (and for that matter Magic Kingdom as well) were not there on opening day. While parks have to be good when they first open you have to save room for dessert if you know what I mean.

No cheap cardboard cut out attractions

Disney has never built an attraction with cardboard cut outs.

 

[Lee]

Disney has never built an attraction with cardboard cut outs.

Yeah...they went all out...plywood!:lol:

 

[Tim G]

Right... stop blabering GB...

 

[wannab@dis]

Yeah...they went all out...plywood!:lol:

Exactly... even one of the most acclaimed dark rides, Mr Toad, was full of plywood props. (Hey, you can get them on eBay!)

 

[Ghostbuster626]

The fact is that I'm sure you never visited 1950's Disneyland. If you did I am sure you would be disappointed. Most of the attractions at Disneyland today (and for that matter Magic Kingdom as well) were not there on opening day. While parks have to be good when they first open you have to save room for dessert if you know what I mean.



Disney has never built an attraction with cardboard cut outs.

Your right I never visted 1950's Disneyland however I would not have been disappointed because for its time it was extremly grand and amazing there was nothing cheap about it, it was leaps and bounds ahead of any carnival or amusment park.

and plywood...cardboard..You know what I meant.

 

[wannab@dis]

This is Post 90s Eisner talk. Back in Walt's day his (then small) company was building Disneyland, creating a big budget live action sci fi movie, and an animated movie all at the same time. Sure if anyone of them wasnt sucessful it would have been gameover for the company but Walt took the chance and it payed off big time.

Even back in the 80s when Eisner had a brain and a spine (and more importantly, the right people with him) it was non stop development at the parks with stuff like Captain Eo, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Living Seas, Horizons, MGM Studios, etc. etc. Richly themed, No cheap cardboard cut out attractions and no cheap and tacky stuff like wands and dinorama. That and the 180 degree turn around at Animation is the reason it is hailed as the "Second Golden Age" of the company.

Disney is a huge mega corporation now..they can easily afford to build Tokyo Disney Seas quality stuff here but they arent because the business people in charge are saying "no you know what americans cant tell the difference so we can keep building mediocre cheap stuff and the'll keep coming".

To end on a positive note it should be noted that the "Third Golden Age" is going to begin at the company shortly.

You can think what you want, but the truth is that Disney IS a business and making sound financial decisions is much more important than playing to the fanboys. Sorry, but it's the cold hard truth.

The trick is whether you can enjoy the magic of Disney, dream about the future, and still have a park in 10 years to visit. If Disney built things the way you want, none of the above would be true. It's also debatable that even if they survived, would people still FLOCK to the gate?

A happy medium between manageable and responsible financial investment and big attractions has to be found.

 

[peter11435]

and plywood...cardboard..You know what I meant.

Yeah I know exactly what you meant. But saying cardboard is simply a trick to make things sound far worse than the really are.