Disney Imagineering Testing Dragon

[DocMcHulk]

Speaking of PR failures, the official Walt Disney World Twitter account just tweeted out a link that was " photos of this spectacular expansion". Except the link was to some Russian kids SkyDrive account. The kid looks like she's 12.

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(the tweet has now been deleted. The above photo is the remaining evidence to the mistake)

I'll be fair to them, it was most likely a typo. Their corrected tweet has a link of bit.ly/SIOOoQ (the original was bit.ly/SIOOoA). Look at your keyboard, I can see how that happened. They should still have checked it first.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Disappointment doesn't even begin to describe knowing they built this up for the public and then didn't gear it toward them. It looked phenominal but screw you guests who pay us money... we did this for the media who will now tell you all about the awesome dragon you won't ever get to see! Wooooot!

 

[asianway]

Nothing but praise, glorious praise in the comments section. And the occasional pleading to not let this be a one-time event.

It must've taken them all night to create additional bogus shill accounts

 

[janoimagine]

Glad to know everyone's opinions are out of whack inducing the many confused "That was neat but why?" people of media and when presented with someone agreeing with a point against yours you shoot the rolling eyes.

Just to be clear, your questioning why their was a dragon flying over an enchanted forest ... at Disney ... in Fantasyland ... Seriously?

If you guys need an explanation as to why their was a dragon flying over an enchanted forest ... well I'm not sure what to tell you.

 

[celluloid]

We know why, we just don't think it was all that appropriate or clever as nothing featured in this expansion features dragons from the source material. The real reason is it was a repurposed publicity stunt. They knew it could fly as a dragon and did not have to redress it to anything else other than what it was tested as.
We are well aware that classic celtic and enchanted European storytelling features dragons, but this stunt was not well thought out creativley and it shows. Kind of like if a bunch of Crash Test Dummy characters similar to the old cartoon opened the new Test Track. That is great and sure it fits but the motif and direction is now far different than anything the theme is going for.

 

[marni1971]

Just to be clear, your questioning why their was a dragon flying over an enchanted forest ... at Disney ... in Fantasyland ... Seriously?

If you guys need an explanation as to why their was a dragon flying over an enchanted forest ... well I'm not sure what to tell you.

Well.... Yeah. WDWs Fanland has no Dragon. It has no link to anything on offer in Orlandos MK.

 

[Dasnowz]

I heard that the dragon is link to Avatar..... I was at WDW and over heard this mentioned last Thursday. It is supposed to represent something in the movie but honestly I wasn't paying that close of attention to what was being said and I am not an avatar fan to know what the reference was. I didn't pay much attention. but then this morning I heard something mentioned on the radio about it. I am wondering if anyone knows how the dragon ties to avatar as in what character it represents. Could this be real or am I just hearing a lot of speculation? Does anyone know if they could be tied to avatar announcement?

I have not read the whole thread so I am sorry if this has been discussed already.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I heard that the dragon is link to Avatar..... I was at WDW and over heard this mentioned in the bldg I was in last Thursday. It is supposed to represent something in the movie but honestly I wasn't paying that close of attention to what was being said and I am not an avatar fan to know what the reference was. All I know it is was couple of people in suits with name tags talking about 10 feet away from me. I didn't pay much attention. but then this morning I heard something mentioned on the radio about it. I am wondering if anyone knows how the dragon ties to avatar as in what character it represents. Could this be real or am I just hearing a lot of speculation? Does anyone know if they could be tied to avatar announcement?

I have not read the whole thread so I am sorry if this has been discussed already.

It has but more importantly the dragon was used in a press-only event last night to celebrate New Fantasyland so while it may be re-used for Avatar, it's current use has come and gone.

 

[WDW1974]

Disappointment doesn't even begin to describe knowing they built this up for the public and then didn't gear it toward them. It looked phenominal but screw you guests who pay us money... we did this for the media who will now tell you all about the awesome dragon you won't ever get to see! Wooooot!

Disney always has done this. Their parties are absolutely amazing (usually).

I recall being at the kick-off for 100 Years of Magic in 2001, they had an absolutely amazing fireworks show at the Studios for us (one of the best ever) that ended with a HUGE finale with the great theme song for the celebration. Now, if you visited during that marketing campaign, you're probably asking 'what theme song?' ... well, you likely never heard it unless you bought the parade CD that was sold at the time because the music was NEVER used in the park.

I could never understand why they didn't use the music as the finale for either Fantasy in the Sky or a new show at either park ... but they didn't. Wish I could recall the title here ...

(I'll leave out the tables of candy -- that some folks literally used arms to empty into swag bags -- and bars and buffet tables every few feet! Oh, and the LE handpainted cells that we got as invites -- and that one Disney publicist had the gall to ask some folks for them back, so she could eBay them!)

Difference is back in 2001, many folks weren't even online and we didn't have YouTube or FB or Twitter and 8,754 Disney sites. So, Disney could put on an amazing party that I was lucky enough to be at, and most folks were never the wiser that they were missing sipping champagne with Julie Andrews and Roy Disney and Michael Eisner.

Now ... you know what you're missing. Just like in the 80s and 90s, Disney pretended that TDR didn't exist. It was easy. Now ... not so much. The world has gotten much smaller.

 

[WDW1974]

I heard that the dragon is link to Avatar..... I was at WDW and over heard this mentioned last Thursday. It is supposed to represent something in the movie but honestly I wasn't paying that close of attention to what was being said and I am not an avatar fan to know what the reference was. I didn't pay much attention. but then this morning I heard something mentioned on the radio about it. I am wondering if anyone knows how the dragon ties to avatar as in what character it represents. Could this be real or am I just hearing a lot of speculation? Does anyone know if they could be tied to avatar announcement?

I have not read the whole thread so I am sorry if this has been discussed already.

There's been a lot of talk.

Most of it is BS.

Repurposed and rationalized if you will by adding 2+2 together and getting 5.

 

[Dasnowz]

that was what I was thinking when I first heard it. Then when I heard it again this morning it made me wonder, Like I said I haven't seen avatar and know nothing about it. I was wondering if anyone knows how it might tie in.

 

[Hakunamatata]

that was what I was thinking when I first heard it. Then when I heard it again this morning it made me wonder, Like I said I haven't seen avatar and know nothing about it. I was wondering if anyone knows how it might tie in.

There is a very large flying animal that is part of the storyline in the first movie.

 

[danlb_2000]

I heard that the dragon is link to Avatar..... I was at WDW and over heard this mentioned last Thursday. It is supposed to represent something in the movie but honestly I wasn't paying that close of attention to what was being said and I am not an avatar fan to know what the reference was. I didn't pay much attention. but then this morning I heard something mentioned on the radio about it. I am wondering if anyone knows how the dragon ties to avatar as in what character it represents. Could this be real or am I just hearing a lot of speculation? Does anyone know if they could be tied to avatar announcement?

I have not read the whole thread so I am sorry if this has been discussed already.

The technology could be used for Avatar but the design of the dragon itself is nothing like what appears in Avatar.

 

[bubbles1812]

Mine no longer states pending moderation....I think it was moderated into oblivion....

Mine too! *wave* I tried a slightly nicer version lol. Let's see if I hit the jackpot this time. I really wonder how many comments they've deleted considering how positive (skewed deliberately) everyone seems to be on that blog... Sigh.

 

[celluloid]

That and with the loud obvious motor and parachute that often come attatched allowing an Ultra Light Aircraft to fly, its use is going to be limited to darkness and fair weather conditions. Something very limited.

Pilots willing and skilled are also not that common.

People have to just face it that this was a Publicity Stunt, not likely a prototype.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

People have to just face it that this was a Publicity Stunt, not likely a prototype.

Publicity normally implies public... in this case it wasn't even that! LOL!

 

[flynnibus]

The viral campaign is the head-scratcher in all this. Why spend money promoting the thing to the online community? .

The event had regular press types too. Everyone keeps harping on the bloggers but this was for all their invited media

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The event had regular press types too. Everyone keeps harping on the bloggers but this was for all their invited media

Then I'd harp on the fact that Disney is increasingly treating its fan bloggers like legitimate press and media sources when they're not.

 

[SirLink]

The event had regular press types too. Everyone keeps harping on the bloggers but this was for all their invited media

But it is not like the mainstream press will be keeping up to date with the Parks blog - which speaks at the online community.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

But it is not like the mainstream press will be keeping up to date with the Parks blog - which speaks at the online community.

Right that's my confusion on this. They used their blog geared toward guests to promote the whole dragon thing. It just makes zero sense to then use him for a media/press event only.