Rumor Disney Characters Being Added to IASW

[Brer Oswald]

There's a 35 min wait for Small World right now, I'm pretty sure the ride is already popular with families.

In Small World language, that means 10 minutes.

 

[lazyboy97o]

In Small World language, that means 10 minutes.

Even then, that likely means the ride is not only full but has boats backed up in the finale. It doesn’t need to be more popular.

 

[hauntology]

They need to fix the audio and lighting on the WDW one more than they need to be thinking of adding new characters to it. You can barely hear the song and where it changes depending on the room

 

[doctornick]

All things being equal, I'd prefer they not add the characters, but I can't say I really care all that much. Didn't think the inclusion of characters really made much of a difference when I saw them at DL.

Than again, I'm kinda meh on IASW in general so it may just be that I'm not all that invested in it.

 

[erasure fan1]

I thought I would hate this, but then watched a video of the Disneyland version and the way they worked the characters in was actually pretty subtly done. Just enough for a "what characters can you find?" game.

It's funny how we all see things. I thought the exact opposite. I was OK with adding characters because some characters would make sense. Then when I saw it, the whole thing just fell flat to me and really didn't work. I think it just felt too forced in my opinion.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It's funny how we all see things. I thought the exact opposite. I was OK with adding characters because some characters would make sense. Then when I saw it, the whole thing just fell flat to me and really didn't work. I think it just felt too forced in my opinion.

When you ride the current Tokyo version one of the first things you see after load is Olaf, Anna and Elsa. And then the whole Europe room is littered with them. It's not subtle at all.

The finale and rain forest were spared any characters and Africa just has Lion King, but in the rest of the ride the characters are impossible to miss and they stand out quite a bit. I think some are cute looking, but they change the focus of the ride and that's the problem.

 

[ChrisFL]

let's take an example here.

You can see The Little Mermaid show up in:

Voyage of the Little Mermaid show at DHS
Under the Sea at MK
Appearance in PhilharMagic at MK
Appearance in Peter Pan's Flight at MK
most likely an Appearance on IASW at MK
Fantasmic at DHS


The issue, they love putting specifically their most popular IP's in as many places as possible and ignoring many of their others.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

let's take an example here.

You can see The Little Mermaid show up in:

Voyage of the Little Mermaid show at DHS
Under the Sea at MK
Appearance in PhilharMagic at MK
Appearance in Peter Pan's Flight at MK
most likely an Appearance on IASW at MK
Fantasmic at DHS


The issue, they love putting specifically their most popular IP's in as many places as possible and ignoring many of their others.

You forgot:

Festival of Fantasy Parade
Art of Animation Resort
Character meals at Trattoria, Akershus and Cinderella's Royal Table
Ariel's Grotto

 

[ChrisFL]

You forgot:

Festival of Fantasy Parade
Art of Animation Resort
Character meals at Trattoria, Akershus and Cinderella's Royal Table
Ariel's Grotto

I knew I forgot some

 

[MisterPenguin]

let's take an example here.

You can see The Little Mermaid show up in:

Voyage of the Little Mermaid show at DHS
Under the Sea at MK
Appearance in PhilharMagic at MK
Appearance in Peter Pan's Flight at MK
most likely an Appearance on IASW at MK
Fantasmic at DHS


The issue, they love putting specifically their most popular IP's in as many places as possible and ignoring many of their others.

You forgot:

Festival of Fantasy Parade
Art of Animation Resort
Character meals at Trattoria, Akershus and Cinderella's Royal Table
Ariel's Grotto

You forgot:

Wonderful World of Animation (DHS)
HEA
Sebastian's
Hallowishes


Frozen and Toy Story and Star Wars have nothing on The Little Mermaid. Live action movie in the works.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

BTW, I agree with you that Imagineers responsible for the merch-mandated additions did a pretty good job.)

Their placement was done in such a way most of them can be easily removed; no idea about the American West section at DL though.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

View attachment 396041
I think they fit just fine.

The whole point of the ride is a celebration of the common humanity of peoples from around the world and the potential of the youth to build a better world by forging connections across geography and cultures.

Or is that too deep for today’s Disney?

 

[HMF]

If people go to WDW and expect "Universal Studios, but with Disney cartoons" then the needs to be a serious re-education on what WDW is.

^
This

 

[MisterPenguin]

The whole point of the ride is a celebration of the common humanity of peoples from around the world and the potential of the youth to build a better world by forging connections across geography and cultures.

Or is that too deep for today’s Disney?

I thought it was to showcase children's tolerance to musical repetition.

 

[Mickey5150]

Rant against the decisions, not against you:

Because everyone knows when Walt said, “It was all started by a mouse,” he meant, “Shove cartoon IPs into everything we do instead of creating new attractions that live on their own.”

That’s what he did, right? Isn’t that why IASW, the COP, the Matterhorn, the Jungle Cruise, and the Tiki Room were full of cartoon characters? Because the man who created the company wanted the same old faces shoved into everything? Right?

If today’s execs had created the company, we would have endless cycles of sequels, remakes, and merch based on a handful of movies made twenty years ago.

Oh, wait.

(BTW, I agree with you that Imagineers responsible for the merch-mandated additions did a pretty good job.)

Almost half of the opening day attractions at Disneyland were IP based.

 

[Bocabear]

Almost half of the opening day attractions at Disneyland were IP based.

I don't think that is really the point...and yes there were many ip based attractions, but there were also many that were not ip based...and didn't need to be. There is absolutely no chance that any attraction will be built without IP in this day and age...which is the difference.
I would be OK with IP in Small World if it was being put into the new Small World attraction in EPCOT...at least the narrative would work then... the Gateway to the world..and some Disney character origins...
Just not in Fantasyland where it just seems like more of the same...and pointless.

 

[aladdin2007]

I hope they leave the alligator in the rainforest section alone, isn't he original and unique to our small world only?

 

[disnyfan89]

This ship sailed over ten years ago when Disney opened Hong Kong’s IASW back in 2008. Having been on HKD, TDL, and DL IASW with the characters I really enjoy their inclusion.

When integrated properly it’s a nice nod to the history of the cultures that these story’s originated from. It’s subtle but I enjoy the fact you can connect the stories to their culture or setting which in turn might inspire you to learn more about their history or find other stories from those cultures.

Adding the characters for the 50th is a no brainer and if Disney was smart they would have duplicated the dolls designed for Tokyo when installing them during its refurbishment. Tokyo’s IASW is beautiful and the refurbishment made it the best version I’ve experienced. I hope WDWs receives the same amount of love and detail as Tokyo’s before the 50th.

 

[tirian]

Almost half of the opening day attractions at Disneyland were IP based.

And it didn’t stay that way because the company kept creating.

Nothing is wrong with IPs. Everything is wrong with the marketing-driven thought that recognizable characters, especially those that sell crap, must be constantly added to existing attractions.

Meanwhile, the same company opened a SW land without any of the characters people wanted or expected. In this case, we the public WANTED strong IP and got a giant concrete land full of more rockwork (Disney’s go-to “solution” to prove they spent money) and few recognizable characters we love.

The decisions are baffling. It’s as if the guy in charge doesn’t know anything about entertainment, but keeps buying other companies and gets credit for their successes. Oh wait.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Almost half of the opening day attractions at Disneyland were IP based.

Getting that count usually involves stretching the definition of IP. It also ignores the very clear trend over the next decade of adding more original content. Even then, none of the IP content in early Disneyland would have been approved under today’s franchise mandate.