I agree. And thanks for mentioning that I’m not endorsing the content of that essay. The author makes some unhelpful leaps of logic that I do not agree with. Just pointing to one example of broader criticism of Jungle Book beyond just the monkey scene.
YES. I think the main reason behind this is the challenge of placemaking in non-jungle environments. A desert or snow-covered environment would be awesome, but flat brown (in the case of the desert) or white (arctic-in FL!) expanses in a theme park don’t seem so great. So then they’re having to build terrain, which could get expensive.
Zootopia was released in 2016. Disney was too busy milking Frozen and working on stuff like Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land to do anything with it.If Zootopia is as popular as you believe it is, why has it not been given a larger presence in the parks already? You believe it’s popular. Popular = money maker, right? TWDC loves for the parks to be making money, so why hasn’t something even been proposed to be added anywhere stateside already?
Is that open yet?
I'm pretty sure the Disney Princess franchise became a thing earlier than that...
Basically what @_caleb said. I think some sort of Arctic or North America land would be pretty cool.
People grow out of animated films? Who are those people?
Yes, completely agree. Put some IP in if they need to but have the land as a continent and be faithful to the DAK design aesthetic.
I like the idea of a new continent. I could definitely get on board with some South America vibes with some Up twists - "A Land Lost in Time." I'd also like if they kept DINOSAUR and the play areas and just revamped the carnival into some sort of archeological/prehistoric environment. Even something like the American West could work. (I know The Good Dinosaur was not a big hit, but the settings from the movie are gorgeous and there is some pretty cool stuff in this part of the country re dinosaurs and whatnot.)