Chaos Cat
Well-Known Member
Fixed it for you, king.
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D23 2022: More Epic than Universal?
- Thread starter ThemeParkPriest
- Start date
MickeyMouse10
Well-Known Member
Disney doesn't seem to care about theming anymore.
I can understand wanting IP's because IP's = $$$, but they should have to fit thematically. They just keep shoehorning IP's into any park they want, even if it doesn't fit at all. Moana fits in Adventureland, not Epcot, not Animal Kingdom. They could have easily added in Jungle Book, Lion King, Tarzan and UP related attractions and they wouldn't get people like me b!tching about it.
I can understand wanting IP's because IP's = $$$, but they should have to fit thematically. They just keep shoehorning IP's into any park they want, even if it doesn't fit at all. Moana fits in Adventureland, not Epcot, not Animal Kingdom. They could have easily added in Jungle Book, Lion King, Tarzan and UP related attractions and they wouldn't get people like me b!tching about it.
Miru
Well-Known Member
Almost as much as Knott’s barrage of relatively Un themed coasters. The mono-IP lands don’t help, though.
I post here my blog post in reaction to D23:
As with many of the people who were in-person for or watching live the “Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products” at the 2022 D23 Convention, I’m primarily interested in the rides at the Disney parks. As such, I was rather disappointed at the presentation.
The presentation was limited in details (especially for new announcements). At some specific times, it felt more like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with song/dance numbers. It was also rather slow; at one point, I was saying, “There’s 13 more minutes and there hasn’t really been anything announced!!”
There were some demonstrations of things coming to the parks, notably a walk-around Mandalorian with Grogu (cool!) and a giant Hulk in a helmet and a suit (not as fluid or believable as people were expecting). A Figment walk-around puppet is coming to Epcot, but that’s a far cry from the hope of getting a revamp of the Journey into Imagination ride. Disney Cruise Line is getting another ship (called Treasure) as well as a port-of-call in Australia, but that doesn’t excite me. Ride-wise, there were more details at D23 regarding Zootopia coming to Shanghai Disneyland and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure replacing Splash Mountain at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in late 2024. A big upcoming focus for the parks will be when the Frozen lands open at Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios in Paris, and Tokyo DisneySea (as part of a larger Fantasy Springs land). Those lands all look rather neat, especially the one in Tokyo. We also got word that the area in Paris will get a Tangled flat ride. The biggest surprise was over at California Adventure–the previously-announced Quinjet E-ticket ride is getting downgraded to some sort of Avengers multiverse screen ride (details are limited at this point).
The most interesting part of the Parks presentation came at the end, when they did “Blue Sky” Imagineering. Unfortunately, the D23 Convention is a poor time for Disney to do Blue Sky Imagineering, because that means they haven’t finalized plans yet. DSNY Newscast does a good job of summarizing the where and the how of the possible projects:
D23 EXPO 2022 | Walt Disney World's EARLY EXPANSION PLANS - Disney News
In short, the project that looks the closest to being green-lit is Moana for Animal Kingdom–it looks like it would be comprised of a spinner (a re-theme of Triceratops Spin) and a flume ride (which would maybe take the place of the theater where Finding Nemo: the Musical is located). They also indicated that Zootopia might also have an area in Animal Kingdom, which would probably lead to a re-theme of Dinosaur. Over at the Magic Kingdom, they showed some very loose concept art for a Coco-themed land near Big Thunder Mountain. They also mentioned that Encanto could have a land there. And then there was a Villain’s Land briefly mentioned. This portion of the presentation was not formalized so there’s a high chance that none of them will see the light of day.
Disney was tasked with trying to keep up with Universal as they build Epic Universe. By not having much to announce, Disney is letting Universal take the lead in the Theme Park War for at least the rest of the decade. The market share (and enthusiasm among fans) is going to keep tilting more and more in-favor of Universal.
As with many of the people who were in-person for or watching live the “Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products” at the 2022 D23 Convention, I’m primarily interested in the rides at the Disney parks. As such, I was rather disappointed at the presentation.
The presentation was limited in details (especially for new announcements). At some specific times, it felt more like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with song/dance numbers. It was also rather slow; at one point, I was saying, “There’s 13 more minutes and there hasn’t really been anything announced!!”
There were some demonstrations of things coming to the parks, notably a walk-around Mandalorian with Grogu (cool!) and a giant Hulk in a helmet and a suit (not as fluid or believable as people were expecting). A Figment walk-around puppet is coming to Epcot, but that’s a far cry from the hope of getting a revamp of the Journey into Imagination ride. Disney Cruise Line is getting another ship (called Treasure) as well as a port-of-call in Australia, but that doesn’t excite me. Ride-wise, there were more details at D23 regarding Zootopia coming to Shanghai Disneyland and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure replacing Splash Mountain at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in late 2024. A big upcoming focus for the parks will be when the Frozen lands open at Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios in Paris, and Tokyo DisneySea (as part of a larger Fantasy Springs land). Those lands all look rather neat, especially the one in Tokyo. We also got word that the area in Paris will get a Tangled flat ride. The biggest surprise was over at California Adventure–the previously-announced Quinjet E-ticket ride is getting downgraded to some sort of Avengers multiverse screen ride (details are limited at this point).
The most interesting part of the Parks presentation came at the end, when they did “Blue Sky” Imagineering. Unfortunately, the D23 Convention is a poor time for Disney to do Blue Sky Imagineering, because that means they haven’t finalized plans yet. DSNY Newscast does a good job of summarizing the where and the how of the possible projects:
D23 EXPO 2022 | Walt Disney World's EARLY EXPANSION PLANS - Disney News
In short, the project that looks the closest to being green-lit is Moana for Animal Kingdom–it looks like it would be comprised of a spinner (a re-theme of Triceratops Spin) and a flume ride (which would maybe take the place of the theater where Finding Nemo: the Musical is located). They also indicated that Zootopia might also have an area in Animal Kingdom, which would probably lead to a re-theme of Dinosaur. Over at the Magic Kingdom, they showed some very loose concept art for a Coco-themed land near Big Thunder Mountain. They also mentioned that Encanto could have a land there. And then there was a Villain’s Land briefly mentioned. This portion of the presentation was not formalized so there’s a high chance that none of them will see the light of day.
Disney was tasked with trying to keep up with Universal as they build Epic Universe. By not having much to announce, Disney is letting Universal take the lead in the Theme Park War for at least the rest of the decade. The market share (and enthusiasm among fans) is going to keep tilting more and more in-favor of Universal.