News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[DarkMetroid567]

Not apples to apples, but seems a good place to post these.

It’s worth noting that 1950s-60s Disneyland Frontierland was like, actually an old west dirt land. Walt likely would have thought that Big Thunder was inappropriate.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Some big brain takes in here from people who have never built a theme park.

Is there anyone working for the Walt Disney Company right now that has ever built a theme park?

 

[KDM31091]

Can't say I'm particularly excited, here, but I'm also nearing 40 and am clearly not a target audience member for Disney any longer at this stage. My kid nephew will be thrilled that Cars will be represented, he loves the franchise, so I'll be happy for him the way I was happy that he enjoyed Runaway Railway, but "it's ok, whatever, the kids will love it" is the mentality that's moving the parks further away from being the top-level experiences they were once known for being.

Liberty Square and Frontierland were clearly designed with a pretty thorough aesthetic plan in mind: a slowly revealed timeline that goes from the eastern colonies pre-Revolutionary War, out to the Mississippi around the 1830s, the lodges of the Rockies in the 1870s, and then the red rocks of the far west. It was essential to the "theme" of the, y'know, theme park. Not everything was perfect, e.g. the Haunted Mansion isn't exactly set in colonial America/Splash Mountain was set in the American southeast but situated by the far west-inspired Thunder Mountain, but through a lot of effort, artistry, and a keen eye for detail, such inconsistencies became very easy to gloss over and the whole could become greater than the sum of its parts.

Now, things are changing; this isn't inherently bad. The park is buckling under the demands of crowds, it needs expansion, and, unfortunately, shareholders want things to happen so they can profit more by any means necessary. And changes could be made that might force you to somewhat upend this initial theming...but that doesn't mean it can't be done tactfully, or with an eye towards something fresh and new. Like, people saying "how about an area themed to natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest/Rockies"? That sounds wonderful!

...However, we know what's driving this (no pun intended), and it's not an interest in American landscapes or culture. It's the shareholders saying "you're sitting on (insert IP here), get it in there, build a ride, and sell some merch". This isn't about having fun with a period/setting of American history, it's about shoehorning a property in and, given the company's recent track record, doing so with no real regard for thematic consistency, aesthetics, or place setting. That's fine if all you care about is individual rides, but a huge part of Disney's allure has always been the parks' general ambiance and ability to transport people to times/places, but that's clearly not the goal any longer since you can't overtly monetize that.

At this stage, I'd rather they just tear the band aid off: if all we're ever getting anymore are rides based on movies, then just drop the idea of themed lands altogether, stop insulting our intelligence. EPCOT has little to do with EPCOT anymore; the new Animal Kingdom plans mostly walk away from, y'know, animals; and now the themed lands of Magic Kingdom won't really be meant for their purposes anymore at this rate, either. If we were being realistic then a ton of this stuff would be going to dedicated areas of Hollywood Studios, which always felt like Disney's best option for making its own Islands of Adventure-style park based around IP, but the current business plan is about immediate profits, not about long term quality and care.

As for all the political wrangling going on in this thread; look, I'm a US history teacher, so it's rich to hear from some people saying something like "paving over the river is rewriting American history because something-something woke blah blah blah". To borrow a phrase that's been popular lately, such ramblings make these people seem, well, weird. The easiest answer is the one that's been in front of us all along: it's money, Disney wants more of it, and the only idea they have now for making is "keep copying Potter, we'll get it right, eventually." If the concern was really things being "problematic", they could still be producing all kind of original western-themed attractions and avoid just about anything "problematic" in the process, but they aren't doing that because they've become creatively bankrupt, not because they're driving a political agenda you've talked up in your mind to trigger yourself.

This is another big part of the issue. What distinguishes the parks anymore? Any of the new projects could easily be shoved into any of the parks at this point. They are losing their identities.

Yes , I get it, IP is popular, merch sells, the kids like it. But the parks used to be about a higher quality standard. Putting things that made sense in their respective areas. Sorry, but to me Encanto & Indy are still very much a reach for AK, as is Cars for MK.

 

[RoysCabin]

There is nothing weird about wanting to preserve history.

You'd have to actually know that history, first, not just a version of it that you've decided is the "right" history. Disney has never been about a proper showcase of history, it's always been sanitized or altered for comedy's or exoticism's sake from the get-go, so I suppose there should've been people up in arms about that from the moment the park opened.

 

[basas]

Actually, the worst decision was building in Florida where the summers suck, and hurricanes rule.

Log flume in Paris (where it gets mighty cold in the winter) seems odd, too…

 

[Disney Analyst]

Actually the worst decision in MK’s history was what they did to POTC

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

I think Disney is clearing out and preparing to build on a LOT of land west of Tianas and BTMRR. Perhaps villains land wont be in the northern part of the parks afterall...? Maybe they are gonna redo the backstage storage facilites and make way for some pathways going around Tianas into something new?

In that direction was infact where I use to thought Beyond Big Thunder represented. West but like West-Northern first with Coco then Cars and Villains on the other side behind HM.

 

[duncedoof]

Actually the worst decision in MK’s history was what they did to POTC

Not even close.

 

[RobbinsDad]

I’m gonna leave this here as this is a nice perspective…

Walt Disney World will trade its rivers for more mountains

Disney Parks confirmed today that the new Cars attractions in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom will be replacing Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America, as expected. Let's dive into what that means.

www.themeparkinsider.com

Spare me. There is water all around the hub. There are 2 outdoor water rides. The rendering (again I know, it's just a rendering) has a waterfall. And there is a giant lagoon right in front of the park entrance. Nostalgia for lost attractions is one thing. To complain that MK will not have enough water features now is dumb.

 

[MrPromey]

That's an important distinction: they don't change things that are popular, no matter what level of malice you assign to their decision making. They can't replace Pirates with Cars because it's still too popular. The other side of that argument is that they MUST replace things that are not popular anymore. They are not running a museum.

Just curious, did you crib some of this wording in the presentation made to management when someone pitched Harmonious as the replacement to Reflections of Earth?*

Again, it's not just the attraction that's being lost that's the issue for a lot of people here.


*to avoid confusion real or otherwise, I'm not talking about replacing ROF, I'm talking about replacing ROF specifically with what became Harmounious and all that came along with those decisions.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Log flume in Paris (where it gets mighty cold in the winter) seems odd, too…

As someone who visited in June last year… I wish they had a water ride! I think this will be a hit, even if it’s a seasonal thing.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Some big brain takes in here from people who have never built a theme park.

Have you?

I'm just saying people seem to think this will help MKs capacity issues. And I don't see it helping as much as some people seem to think.

Short term it’s going to be terrible for MK - we thought Epcot construction walls were bad!!

MK, DHS and DAK are going to be pretty bad show for the next few years.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Not even close.

They butchered her…

 

[PK2]

The biggest loss of this entire thing is that TSI and the riverboat were my two main escapes from the hordes on NYE.

 

[doctornick]

Out of all the times I've been to the park I went on the boat once and didn't find anything special about it. Rarely ever saw many people using Tom Sawyer Island too. They need more rides that take up a decent amount of people and the cars ride helps there. I love the cars franchise though.

So? I keep on seeing these kinds of comments, but htey make no sense.

The choice wasn't "put in Cars" vs "keep RoA/TSI". The choice is "Remove RoA/TSI to put in Cars" vs "Put in Cars and keep RoA/TSI". We can debate the finer points of Cars in MK, but they didn't have to put it in that particular location.

Why not retain the RoA and keep that ambiance and have all the benefit of the Cars addition? Who exactly is losing in that situation?

 

[tissandtully]

and yet he couldn't say replacing Tom Sawyer Island and River's of America

no duh cause he would have been boo'd off the stage

 

[J4546]

No one ever said Cars was expansion, Josh specifically said "reimagined Frontierland". Villains will be a very big expansion in area north of BTM.

Will villains land be north or west of btm, cause they are clearing alot of land out west

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Log flume in Paris (where it gets mighty cold in the winter) seems odd, too…

It gets cold in Tokyo the same way and that hasn't prevented a Splash Mountain. The ONLY jewel lucky of one still existing!

 

[tissandtully]

Is there anyone working for the Walt Disney Company right now that has ever built a theme park?

This guy

 

[Stripes]

Yeah, regular guests are going to eat this up!