Disney confirms 'Frozen' makeover coming to Epcot's Norway Pavilion

[wdisney9000]

Problem with this is MOST people don't care/know about anything having to do with Disney in Tokyo.

Just more proof of how little the people salivating over this ride pay attention to anything other than whats right in front of them, right now.

 

[Travel Junkie]

Problem with this is MOST people don't care/know about anything having to do with Disney in Tokyo.

And that’s unfortunate. If more people experienced how the Tokyo parks are run, they would be far less forgiving of WDW’s shortcomings.

 

[Figments Friend]

I think the only reason as to why Stitch is still there is because the Imagineers were so proud of it. Seriously, look at how much promotion there was for it: Stitch was on the monorail, there was a stage show at the castle, there were signs for the ride everywhere... Name one other attraction that got so much promotion.

As for Imagination, I think we'll probably get it back at some point. A lot of the Imagineers seem to have realized that getting rid of Dreamfinder was a mistake. Tony Baxter even asked when Dreamfinder was coming back at the D23 Expo!

The Imagineers were no doubt proud of the Stitch animatronic figure, as it is indeed a engineering marvel despite what one's opinion may be on the overall Attraction experience.
I think the big marketing push however was more about trying to 'catch up' to the success of the 'Lilo & Stitch' film and trying to capitalize on that success.

The film was a big surprise hit in the Summer of 2002 and Stitch a breakthrough character success.
Since the film was created and animated entirely at the now defunct Florida Feature Animation department at the then Disney/MGM Studios, there was a incredible ( and much deserved ) pride at the Florida property for producing this success.
It was like a case of 'home grown boy makes good'. A 'parental' pride, per say.
So in my option the marketing reflected that pride at WDW.

I remember that time well down there...and Stitch really became a un-official mascot of sorts for not only Feature Animation Florida, but for WDW Property as a whole.
Eventually some fans grew tired of all the Stitch references...but you have to remember some folks took that little guy to heart and saw him as representing their Animation Studio or Resort area.

The main drive however was to capitalize on the success of the film and the character...no doubts about that.
Clear as day on that matter.



Oh...and regarding Dreamfinder...

Tony will NEVER give up on his quest to see him re-instated at the Imagination Pavilion.

 

[orlando678-]

Stitch encounter is for me a great ride, but it needs something I agree on that. I think it'd be cool to have a randomized system where you encounter different cousins of Stitch.

Sorry, Stitch is my favorite character and I'd hate to see him go

 

[Mike S]

Problem with this is MOST people don't care/know about anything having to do with Disney in Tokyo.

The post does give a timespan of fifty years. I know I'll be doing my part of getting Tokyo more well known by posting side by side comparisons of Frostrom and Tokyo's ride to crush any idea of us getting anything other than a cheap, quick, refurd. I'm sure other fans displeased with the decision will be bringing it up as well. I wonder if we'll be getting concept art soon of Tokyo's ride. I can't wait to see it.

 

[Brer Panther]

The film was a big surprise hit in the Summer of 2002 and Stitch a breakthrough character success.
Since the film was created and animated entirely at the now defunct Florida Feature Animation department at the then Disney/MGM Studios, there was a incredible ( and much deserved ) pride at the Florida property for producing this success.
It was like a case of 'home grown boy makes good'. A 'parental' pride, per say.
So in my option the marketing reflected that pride at WDW.

I remember that time well down there...and Stitch really became a un-official mascot of sorts for not only Feature Animation Florida, but for WDW Property as a whole.
Eventually some fans grew tired of all the Stitch references...but you have to remember some folks took that little guy to heart and saw him as representing their Animation Studio or Resort area.

One thing I've noticed is that Frozen was the first Disney animated movie since Lilo and Stitch to get an attraction. Said movies were also the most successful Disney animated movies of their decades, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[orlando678-]

Well people tell me that they were just lazy, but I think there was something behind it. Since 2010 a lot of big new plans have been announced New fantasyland, three new areas for Hong Kong, Cars land, Star wars land, Avatarland, SDL and many more. I wonder why

 

[DisDan]

That's not completely true. I have never heard a Disney or theme park fan say, I don't wanna go there, only I really think it looks awesome! The problem is, is that 1. it can be pretty expensive to go to Japan 2. Many people just don't feel attracted to Japan at all

I agree, in my experience, when I tell other WDW fans about the rides and attractions at other Disney properties outside of O-Town. They are usually met with an "ohh cool" or "really?" followed immediately by "but nothing beats WDW" or "but WDW is still the best". Sometimes I get people that are more logical and will say "I would love to see that" but typically most people will realistically never plan a Disney vacation to another country.

This brings up an interesting thought I had. When I was younger and we used to do WDW as a family in the 80's and 90's I used to notice a lot of foreign travelers at the parks, especially from Asia/Japan. Since now there are nice Disney parks in both HK and Japan I have noticed that I rarely ever see guests in WDW from those countries. That's not to say there are none, but certainly not as noticeable as when I visited in my younger years.

Anyhow, not sure if that means people will always prefer to travel to the "Closest" Disney park when considering a Disney vacation. But certainly, for many, the ONLY Disney is the one they can drive to or get to in the cheapest way.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

101 Dalmatians could fit in Fantasyland, well, better than anywhere else. or if we are going to animate the World Showcase why not the United Kingdom pavilion since it takes place in London. I'm anti animating the World Showcase but I feel that Epcot desperately needs more attractions and I'm all for them as long as they make sense (not Frozen)

Take a proposed Lion King ride, the Nemo ride in Epcot, and a Rescuers Down Under ride (which probably nobody under the age of 30 remembers existing) and put them in Animal Kingdom and you might actually have a more complete park.

Lion King would fit in Adventureland, but i feel that Animal Kingdom needs it a lot more.

As I already said so Epcot doesn't need characters, it needs a way to mix education with entertainment. But that's not how I see it with characters. Nemo could even have a cool undersea area at AK with a dark ride, spinner, musical and maybe even a coaster or so.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/refurbing-walt-disney-world.891697/

On this thread, I tell you about my opinion about what to do with AK, HS and Epcot for example. Sure it's not really realistic, but I think some ideas could work.

This thread is 276 pages of Frozen not belonging in WS because 'toons make no thematic sense there, but by all means, let's load up AK with them because "animals."

Do you know what would make a more dynamic park than plopping a bunch of ip-based dark rides? More intricately-detailed animal exhibits featuring unique encounters (and yes, even integrated rides ala Cheetah Hunt at BG).

 

[FigmentJedi]

The Imagineers were no doubt proud of the Stitch animatronic figure, as it is indeed a engineering marvel despite what one's opinion may be on the overall Attraction experience.
I think the big marketing push however was more about trying to 'catch up' to the success of the 'Lilo & Stitch' film and trying to capitalize on that success.

The film was a big surprise hit in the Summer of 2002 and Stitch a breakthrough character success.
Since the film was created and animated entirely at the now defunct Florida Feature Animation department at the then Disney/MGM Studios, there was a incredible ( and much deserved ) pride at the Florida property for producing this success.
It was like a case of 'home grown boy makes good'. A 'parental' pride, per say.
So in my option the marketing reflected that pride at WDW.

I remember that time well down there...and Stitch really became a un-official mascot of sorts for not only Feature Animation Florida, but for WDW Property as a whole.
Eventually some fans grew tired of all the Stitch references...but you have to remember some folks took that little guy to heart and saw him as representing their Animation Studio or Resort area.

The main drive however was to capitalize on the success of the film and the character...no doubts about that.
Clear as day on that matter.

Yeah, it's a shame that the Hometown Hero got turned into Poochie.

 

[Mike S]

One thing I've noticed is that Frozen was the first Disney animated movie since Lilo and Stitch to get an attraction. Said movies were also the most successful Disney animated movies of their decades, if I'm not mistaken.

How about Little Mermaid and Snow White?

 

[orlando678-]

Frozen doesn't make sense in a world showcase. Look if it were a movie without a snow queen and with real Norwegian culture I would have no problems with it. If a ratatouille ride would enter WS where you learn about the French kitchen, no problem. A dark ride about Mulan, no problem when it will just teach us something. These are more realistic movies that at least show culture

 

[dgp602]

Hello all...without having to read through 276 pages, is there any update as to the progress ( photo's earns you an extra like! )? Or any idea what the ride will look like ( another like for artist rendition! )? Thank you!!

 

[FigmentJedi]

This thread is 276 pages of Frozen not belonging in WS because 'toons make no thematic sense there, but by all means, let's load up AK with them because "animals."

Do you know what would make a more dynamic park than plopping a bunch of ip-based dark rides? More intricately-detailed animal exhibits featuring unique encounters (and yes, even integrated rides ala Cheetah Hunt at BG).

As far as new IP rides in Animal Kingdom goes, I'd prefer them to be placed in be some "fantasy jungle" variant of the Camp Minnie Mickey concept instead of full out invasion.
Of course at the same time, before the closure, I had this armchair Imagineer idea of Camp Minnie Mickey being expanded into a "Modern North American animals" area with a Humphrey Bear shorts inspired national park setting with mixed live animal exhibits and photo-op character vignettes with Fox and the Hound and Bambi, and a log ride based around the Fearsome Critters from old lumberjack talltales as a new "fantasy animals" attraction.

 

[Cesar R M]

I think Nemo works fine on the Living Seas, it is a hook to encourage people to explore the pavilion. I think they were originally going to put an aquarium in Animal Kingdom but realised its pointless when Epcot already has one. There is a Nemo show at AK and Epcot needs the ride more than AK does. Moving the whole aquarium to AK would leave Ep very short of attractions.

I'm undecided on characters in World Showcase, I think somethi is needed to encourage people in nowadays. But I don't think converting the whole Norway pavilion feels right. But if they used 101 Dalmatians (for example) as a hook to present a ride that tours the UK then that sounds like a great idea. But then for rides around London Madame Tussaud's London has a great example. I also understand that without the countries or businesses funding the pavilions the original Epcot park idea doesn't work, but there needs to be a happy medium between a draw to getting people in and a takeover completly.

The problem with Nemo is pretty simple. Instead of actually trying to teach, make a new story to show off the aquarium. They just redid the movie scenes (and not so good) into the aquarium environment.

 

[Cesar R M]

I think the only reason as to why Stitch is still there is because the Imagineers were so proud of it. Seriously, look at how much promotion there was for it: Stitch was on the monorail, there was a stage show at the castle, there were signs for the ride everywhere... Name one other attraction that got so much promotion.

As for Imagination, I think we'll probably get it back at some point. A lot of the Imagineers seem to have realized that getting rid of Dreamfinder was a mistake. Tony Baxter even asked when Dreamfinder was coming back at the D23 Expo!

So bad that stitch got an awful rehash of attraction.
Isnt it funny? Some of the most popular characters in their time.. got cheap rehashes of attractions and not a top tier E-ticket. (Frozen, Stitch)

Still, what a waste of such great animatronic (the Stitch one )

 

[Cesar R M]

How about Little Mermaid and Snow White?

Those dont count as they are not in contemporary times.

 

[orlando678-]

Lion King got a show^^^^

 

[FigmentJedi]

The problem with Nemo is pretty simple. Instead of actually trying to teach, make a new story to show off the aquarium. They just redid the movie scenes (and not so good) into the aquarium environment.

Makes me wonder if the Marine Park location in Finding Dory might lead to another reworking that might actually make sense for Epcot

 

[Mike S]

The Imagineers were no doubt proud of the Stitch animatronic figure, as it is indeed a engineering marvel despite what one's opinion may be on the overall Attraction experience.
I think the big marketing push however was more about trying to 'catch up' to the success of the 'Lilo & Stitch' film and trying to capitalize on that success.

The film was a big surprise hit in the Summer of 2002 and Stitch a breakthrough character success.
Since the film was created and animated entirely at the now defunct Florida Feature Animation department at the then Disney/MGM Studios, there was a incredible ( and much deserved ) pride at the Florida property for producing this success.
It was like a case of 'home grown boy makes good'. A 'parental' pride, per say.
So in my option the marketing reflected that pride at WDW.

I remember that time well down there...and Stitch really became a un-official mascot of sorts for not only Feature Animation Florida, but for WDW Property as a whole.
Eventually some fans grew tired of all the Stitch references...but you have to remember some folks took that little guy to heart and saw him as representing their Animation Studio or Resort area.

The main drive however was to capitalize on the success of the film and the character...no doubts about that.
Clear as day on that matter.



Oh...and regarding Dreamfinder...

Tony will NEVER give up on his quest to see him re-instated at the Imagination Pavilion.

That Stitch animatronic is pretty great. Too bad the show isn't.