News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

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spresso81

Well-Known Member
WoundedDreamer said:
I've been trying to find the right words. Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Experiences are maddening. But let's back it up...

A theme park is not a random collection of rides. It's a story told through physical environments. The entire park has a story or message. And the parts of the park, whether rides or environments, tell the story of the park. That means that each ride, restaurant, and show matter.

To tell a story, you need to intentionally plan and execute the scenes. It takes intentionality. It takes planning. It takes discipline. Consider the universally lauded Toy Story 2. The scenes feel organic, but they actually took lots of hard work to put together. The film had to be refined through writing, rewrites, and the elimination of gratuitous content. Toy Story 2 has a message. Themes in that film include the importance of being emotionally open, accepting loss and mortality, seeing the best in one's friends, and living life to the fullest.

The Magic Kingdom has a message too. Just like the best films, books, and plays. It is speaking to you. What is it saying? Roy O. Disney told us. He said of Walt Disney World (and more particularly the Magic Kingdom):

"Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true."

The Magic Kingdom is a celebration of the philosophy and life of Walt Disney. Thus, everything in the park must teach us about who he was and what he believed. Not through an animatronic talking Walt giving us a lecture. No. That's too obvious and unrefined. Instead, the Magic Kingdom would do it through the stories and experiences that guests encountered.

Go through the list of opening day attractions and those that opened in the 1970s. You'll learn something about Walt Disney. On Main Street USA we learn about where he came from. It preserves his childhood and youth. The optimism and hope for the future that he had. Go down Main Street USA to Cinderella Castle. It represents his journey from humble origins to master storyteller. He invites you into the fantasy worlds he created in Fantasyland. But Walt Disney had other passions too. He loved America and its founding story. He loved nature and adventure. And he believed in an optimistic view of the future. One where difficult problems could be solved and human ingenuity could triumph.

We learn about Walt Disney. But that's not all that we do at the Magic Kingdom. Walt's story becomes our story. We walk the same path of obscurity to our castle and our own Fantasyland. We get to be witness to the founding of America, explore the possibility of tomorrow, and journey into adventure. This is the genius of the Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney's beliefs and passions are not blandly communicated. We get to see, taste, smell, hear, and touch. The Magic Kingdom makes them real.

What a beautiful place.

But much like Toy Story 2, this takes discipline and careful planning. The Magic Kingdom can only communicate the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney if his philosophy and life are inculcated into every aspect of its design. When elements are added to the park that are not in harmony with the rest of The Magic Kingdom, it's like a sour note being played in an otherwise beautiful piece of music. It feels like there have been more and more sour notes. Too many sour notes.

As I watched the D23 presentation, I was furious.

While I have been sad to see Hollywood Studios decay into bleak meaninglessness, it is not nearly as meaningful to me. Epcot's decay is painful, but I never saw it in heyday. It's been eroded for 30 years. Animal Kingdom has been fighting for its life since its inception. It appears that its own individuality and message are being snuffed out. I've seen which way the wind is blowing since Pandora. While it made the best of a bad situation, it signaled an irreversible decline. We are seeing the fruit of that now. It will only get worse.

The Magic Kingdom's decline is perhaps most painful to me personally. The injustice of it. This is the number one park in the world. This is the park that a brother and devoted team created to honor someone they loved. Not someone perfect, but someone that is worthy of celebration. It told a story that deserved to be told. The story of Walt Disney.

This brings us to the present. My frustration with the poor design has been growing. The Walt Disney story is becoming more obscured. A new generation of Imagineers is emerging that don't seem to understand what the Magic Kingdom is. I worry that these Imagineers might not know that the Magic Kingdom is a celebration of the philosophy and life of Walt Disney. I worry that they think the Magic Kingdom is an amusement park with a castle in the middle and random lands surrounding it. That's about as complete a description as the following description of Toy Story 2, "Toy Story 2 is a film with talking toys that do stuff." And obviously this failure to understand extends to the executives.

This D23 presentation represents a turning point. One of my favorite areas is going to be destroyed. Starting at Columbia Harbor House, there is a story that stretches all the way to Big Thunder. Starting in the east (of the Magic Kingdom) is a New England town in the time of the Revolution. As you journey west in the park, you journey in time and in geography to the American west in the 1800s. If you journey southward from Big Thunder you find yourself by Southwestern Spanish architecture. And if you walk further south you eventually end up in a Spanish fort in the Caribbean.

Do the Cars team realize they're destroying this progression? Do they care?

I don't know anymore. It feels like Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Experiences are impulsive. They have no grand vision for the Magic Kingdom. They have no editorial direction. According to the wise professor (credit to @Advisable Joseph for sharing this) who helped consult on this project:

"Cars makes ridiculous financial and demographic sense. It sells merchandise like no other franchise..."

If that's how decisions are being made, it's no wonder that the Magic Kingdom is in decline. It had nothing to do with what made sense to the story of the park. Unfortunately, that's not how Disney theme parks are developed anymore. And that means every addition will be a subtraction to the story of the park. And Walt Disney will become less and less present in the park dedicated to his philosophy and life. But who needs Walt Disney when you have Bob Iger? As he triumphantly explained:

“The IP that we’re mining, including all the sequels that we’re doing, is second to none.”

The Imagineers have got to get mining!
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Totally agree - what bothers me as well is if you place Cars north of BTM it actually would progress this timeline. As you actually would progress Frontierland closer to today in which people of our time like to explore the wilderness in different ways (4x4s, white water rafting, camping etc...)
 
John park hopper

John park hopper

Well-Known Member
FLDisneyFan said:
There are at least  two active petitions to save the Rivers of America at Magic Kingdom. Rivers of America is a classic part of the Magic Kingdom, and is intrinsic to the theming of Liberty Square, Frontierland and any New Orleans themed areas. Please send Disney a message that they can't remove this part of Walt's legacy. Please consider signing these petitions.

Here's one: Please sign to save Rivers of America

Here's another: please sign this one too!
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I'll sign but Disney has never responded to petitions --they will do the will of the bean counters
 
J

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
Incomudro said:
That's one of the things that comes to mind.
I've never been on the rowboats in Central Park, but I don't want the water filled in and boats removed.
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The comparison doesn’t really hold because in this case you’re tearing out recreation and vistas for, well, different recreation and vistas. It’s not like converting recreational space into housing at all. Not that there aren’t complaints to level, but this analogy isn’t it.
 
Tha Realest

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
bwr827 said:
Where did Disney say anything about altruism or morality regarding this new development?

I read your post twice, trying to understand. Not sure I get what you’re talking about.
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Disney never said any such things in the switch from Splash to TBA, either.

And then, suddenly, miraculously and coincidentally, the framing of the changeover in so many disparate news reports when the ride opened was how Disney heroically grappled with the sins of the past.
 
C

CoasterCowboy67

Active Member
lazyboy97o said:
But why mention it? You make it sound like something extra.
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Because if Zanetti's explanation is true about ROA having several challenges with its foundation, drainage, etc., then it's a material reason to remove it. And a material part of the process to highlight if it guides areas that seem obvious to keep or build on that may not be as easy as we think
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
CoasterCowboy67 said:
Because if Zanetti's explanation is true about ROA having several challenges with its foundation, drainage, etc., then it's a material reason to remove it. And a material part of the process to highlight if it guides areas that seem obvious to keep or build on that may not be as easy as we think
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The comment wasn’t about that, but I also don’t find Zanetti’s comments compelling.

dreamfinding said:
You truly don’t realize how much planning has to be done before things can be built.
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I’m very aware. They happen though with any project.
 
fractal

fractal

Well-Known Member
James Alucobond said:
The comparison doesn’t really hold because in this case you’re tearing out recreation and vistas for, well, different recreation and vistas. It’s not like converting recreational space into housing at all. Not that there aren’t complaints to level, but this analogy isn’t it.
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The analogy works if you consider this a sacrifice of aesthetics and atmosphere for more "efficient" utilization of the area.
 
C

CoasterCowboy67

Active Member
lazyboy97o said:
The comment wasn’t about that, but I also don’t find Zanetti’s comments compelling.
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It wasn't, but it's an example of how seemingly obvious parts of the design process (e.g., land survey, geotechnical and environmental reports, etc.) are worth highlighting, given the material impact they can have on what feels like shocking end results. And at least equally worth highlighting as sensational Disney-wants-to-deliberately-ruin-everything-we-love speculations

What don't you find compelling about his explanation?
 
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danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
FLDisneyFan said:
There are at least  two active petitions to save the Rivers of America at Magic Kingdom. Rivers of America is a classic part of the Magic Kingdom, and is intrinsic to the theming of Liberty Square, Frontierland and any New Orleans themed areas. Please send Disney a message that they can't remove this part of Walt's legacy. Please consider signing these petitions.

Here's one: Please sign to save Rivers of America

Here's another: please sign this one too!
Click to expand...

I doubt a petition will do any good. The fact that they held back the concept art and permits until right after D23 demonstrates that they knew there would be backlash.
 
J

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
fractal said:
The analogy works if you consider this a sacrifice of aesthetics and atmosphere for more "efficient" utilization of the area.
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It’s not even really more efficient, though? They have to utilize a significant portion of the space the Rivers currently occupy to visually transition into the new area and obscure the track. And there may ultimately be less total capacity. They’re just banking on it being more desirable and Lightning Lane-able.
 
October82

October82

Well-Known Member
CoasterCowboy67 said:
It wasn't, but it's an example of how seemingly obvious parts of the design process (e.g., land survey, geotechnical and environmental reports, etc.) are worth highlighting, given the material impact they can have on what feels like shocking end results. And at least equally worth highlighting as sensational Disney-wants-to-deliberately-ruin-everything-we-love speculations

What don't you find compelling about his explanation?
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Comments like Zanetti's that hype the sort of things that come up in technical reports everyday as the explanation when it's much simpler - it's not that Disney is deliberately malicious, it's that they do not care.
 
The Chatbox Ghost

The Chatbox Ghost

Well-Known Member
dreamfinding said:
Moana has a nice expansion pad (originally intended for Fire Mountain).

Yes, it requires Disney to have the land inspected and determine if it is suitable to build on. Yes, they would probably have to adjust a road or two.

Jungle Cruise merch would sell, but that would require Disney to make JC merch (that isn’t just a MB+).
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The funny thing is, Disney could sell merch for ANY parks IP if they wanted to. Haunted Mansion merch sells. Figment merch sells. If they made merch for Pirates (the ride, not the movie), Country Bears, Jungle Cruise, Small World, etc., it'd sell. People love the parks IP more than Disney expects. The CBMJ shirt has been selling well because people WANT CBJ merch. Disney would rather just sell the kind of merch you can get at any Target in America, because it's safe.
 

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