Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks (Part II)

[MouseketeerCole]

Eddie, just a quick question following on from the discussion of the Disneyland entrance plaque. What was the thought process behind the decision to change the text for Disneyland Paris to "Here you leave today and enter worlds of history, discovery and ageless fantasy"? Did you write the new version? Was it because of the lack of 'tomorrow' in the new Discoveryland?

I also find it interesting the plaque is now at eyelevel and to the side. Was this because of the Main Street sign taking the plaque's place?

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Eddie, just a quick question following on from the discussion of the Disneyland entrance plaque. What was the thought process behind the decision to change the text for Disneyland Paris to "Here you leave today and enter worlds of history, discovery and ageless fantasy"? Did you write the new version? Was it because of the lack of 'tomorrow' in the new Discoveryland?

I also find it interesting the plaque is now at eyelevel and to the side. Was this because of the Main Street sign taking the plaque's place?

It's hard to recall. One thing was that we had three entrances or portals. The copy was not written by me, (I don't think) but did have to address the change to discovery from tomorrow because of Discoveryland. I probably had to approve it, or Marty did.

I think it was to the side at eye level versus above you on the arch because the copy got too small in two languages to read up high like that. The goal of course, is that you read it. Visually I would have preferred the one language and on the arch.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Visually I would have preferred the one language and on the arch.

Which language and why?

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Which language and why?

Probably French as it is central to your understanding the experience. Tradition says English, but it really isn't part of Main Street USA as it is informational about the whole park rather than thematic to Americana.

 

[MarkTwain]

Maybe French over one arch and English over the other?

 

[krash9924]

Eddie,

Got a blue sky question for you. At Disneys Hollywood Studios the Rockin Roller Coaster has always been a sore spot to me. It just doesn't fit next to the Tower of Terror or even in the theme and story of Sunset Blvd. So if you were given two budgets one realistic and one to do whatever you wanted how would you remake the existing ride?

Thanks

 

[HMF]

Eddie,

Got a blue sky question for you. At Disneys Hollywood Studios the Rockin Roller Coaster has always been a sore spot to me. It just doesn't fit next to the Tower of Terror or even in the theme and story of Sunset Blvd. So if you were given two budgets one realistic and one to do whatever you wanted how would you remake the existing ride?

Thanks

I always thought it was stupid to put the two major thrill rides next to each other because thrill seekers might just walk back and forth between the two causing crowd congestion. Poor planning in my opinion.

 

[Epic Epcot]

Hey Eddie,
I'm a long time reader, first time poster on this thread and hoping to just jump into the discussion. I was wondering what were your thoughts on DAK's upcoming Avatar-themed expansion?

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Hey Eddie,
I'm a long time reader, first time poster on this thread and hoping to just jump into the discussion. I was wondering what were your thoughts on DAK's upcoming Avatar-themed expansion?

Hmm. That's news to me. It's a movie, so I wonder why it's in AK versus the DHS. It is a unique world and a jungle at that, so it has good theme park potential. It's overt ECO message is probably why the AK application.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Can AK build and maintain an open Ecosystem similar to the film or will it be in a show building?

edit..4get i asked this silly question...

They may do both if its a land. Certianly the more magical aspects may be indoors in some kind of ride, but the area may want to establish itself with some special theming. It will interesting to see how tthe material is handed.

Avatar is a powerful property and something to rival the appeal of Harry
Potter. I was not a big fan of the story or the film as much as the execution of the CG and 3D which was stunning. When you tranalate this story to a ride it may come off very different unless they do projection and 3D combined with the ride system.

 

[Alektronic]

They may do both if its a land. Certianly the more magical aspects may be indoors in some kind of ride, but the area may want to establish itself with some special theming. It will interesting to see how tthe material is handed.

Avatar is a powerful property and something to rival the appeal of Harry
Potter. I was not a big fan of the story or the film as much as the execution of the CG and 3D which was stunning. When you tranalate this story to a ride it may come off very different unless they do projection and 3D combined with the ride system.

I'm not worried too much about the story or the movie as long as they give a full immersive cutting edge experience. Hopefully, it will be something that no one has done before.

I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but I really enjoyed the attraction and experience and the technology behind it.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Eddie,

Got a blue sky question for you. At Disneys Hollywood Studios the Rockin Roller Coaster has always been a sore spot to me. It just doesn't fit next to the Tower of Terror or even in the theme and story of Sunset Blvd. So if you were given two budgets one realistic and one to do whatever you wanted how would you remake the existing ride?

Thanks

Hmmm. Sunset Blvd. in later decades it became the Sunset strip, the clubland where many rock and roll bands and movements got their start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Strip


So it's not completely out of character for the subject of rock and roll to have a place on sunset, in fact it's expected. You may want to evolve the time period of the end of the street or an alley and do a new cityscape facade for the coaster that looks more like a recording studio or a club. Maybe do a sunset strip music district and cool shops or an Aerosmith or Sunset Strip restaurant. 50's thru 70's music theme. That makes it less of two thrill rides next door to each other, Hollywood was as much music as it was movies. The giant guitar is kind of an anomaly to the rest of the area.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

I'm not worried too much about the story or the movie as long as they give a full immersive cutting edge experience. Hopefully, it will be something that no one has done before.

I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but I really enjoyed the attraction and experience and the technology behind it.

Its all in the execution.

 

[wdwmagic]

They may do both if its a land. Certianly the more magical aspects may be indoors in some kind of ride, but the area may want to establish itself with some special theming. It will interesting to see how tthe material is handed.

Avatar is a powerful property and something to rival the appeal of Harry
Potter. I was not a big fan of the story or the film as much as the execution of the CG and 3D which was stunning. When you tranalate this story to a ride it may come off very different unless they do projection and 3D combined with the ride system.

As a designer, a project like this would be a dream come true wouldn't it?

 

[ChrisFL]

Hmmm. Sunset Blvd. in later decades it became the Sunset strip, the clubland where many rock and roll bands and movements got their start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Strip


So it's not completely out of character for the subject of rock and roll to have a place on sunset, in fact it's expected. You may want to evolve the time period of the end of the street or an alley and do a new cityscape facade for the coaster that looks more like a recording studio or a club. Maybe do a sunset strip music district and cool shops or an Aerosmith or Sunset Strip restaurant. 50's thru 70's music theme. That makes it less of two thrill rides next door to each other, Hollywood was as much music as it was movies. The giant guitar is kind of an anomaly to the rest of the area.

Isn't the end of the street evolved by time period anyway....meaning the Hollywood Tower Hotel isn't "new"...it looks like its been sitting unoccupied since 1939 for 70 years...if it was period, it should look new and abandoned.

Having said that, I didn't really get the idea of the coaster being there either, however they did move it pretty far back, keeping it a bit separate from the rest of the street.

 

[Daannzzz]

They may do both if its a land. Certianly the more magical aspects may be indoors in some kind of ride, but the area may want to establish itself with some special theming. It will interesting to see how tthe material is handed.

Avatar is a powerful property and something to rival the appeal of Harry
Potter. I was not a big fan of the story or the film as much as the execution of the CG and 3D which was stunning. When you tranalate this story to a ride it may come off very different unless they do projection and 3D combined with the ride system.

If you were still with WDI OR they came to you to head the Avatar project, would you welcome it or would it not be that interesting of an assignment for you?

 

[HMF]

Hmm. That's news to me. It's a movie, so I wonder why it's in AK versus the DHS. It is a unique world and a jungle at that, so it has good theme park potential. It's overt ECO message is probably why the AK application.

They would not put it in DHS, It would make too much sense there, so they are going to force it into Animal Kingdom and come up with a contrived creative excuse to address why it's there. Yeah, I am not happy with this.:shrug:

 

[Eddie Sotto]

If you were still with WDI OR they came to you to head the Avatar project, would you welcome it or would it not be that interesting of an assignment for you?

It depends on what kind of scope and budget they are forecasting. If it's a shot at a breakthrough E type show then it could be interesting, if it's a 3D movie ride and not so unique, then that's another story. I'm not a fan of that movie and reluctantly sat through it, so it's not something I dream of, but I do live for the challenge of making something that could blow you away, so that's the fun part. Innovation is the reward here. It's making a difference in the industry and doing things that people say that only Disney could have done. Thats what I signed up for, not doing something less than Universal.

 

[techgeek]

Eddie, from your perspective, was this announcement too early in development? According to Staggs they've "Just started the blue sky process", which seems to me an pretty awkward time to publicly green-light something. What kind of extra pressure does that place on a design team, as opposed to making a formal announcement just before construction begins or even during construction? As a creator, when would you prefer to announce something, given no outside pressures?

I was flipping through Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" the other day, and was struck by the character John Hammond's joy at his plans to 'surprise' the world with a ready-to-go experience, already built and tested. Of course, it wasn't ment to be, but I imagine the public would have been equally delighted.

It would have been nice to be able to walk into Pandora today, or at least next summer. I know the logistics are daunting, but can Imagineering have product releases more like Apple? A couple of vague rumors and unconfirmed reports, and then all of a sudden the product's available, or soon to be?

 

[ob1thx1138]

Eddie, from your perspective, was this announcement too early in development? According to Staggs they've "Just started the blue sky process", which seems to me an pretty awkward time to publicly green-light something. What kind of extra pressure does that place on a design team, as opposed to making a formal announcement just before construction begins or even during construction? As a creator, when would you prefer to announce something, given no outside pressures?

I was flipping through Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" the other day, and was struck by the character John Hammond's joy at his plans to 'surprise' the world with a ready-to-go experience, already built and tested. Of course, it wasn't ment to be, but I imagine the public would have been equally delighted.

It would have been nice to be able to walk into Pandora today, or at least next summer. I know the logistics are daunting, but can Imagineering have product releases more like Apple? A couple of vague rumors and unconfirmed reports, and then all of a sudden the product's available, or soon to be?

I have to believe that there was some preliminary ground work done prior to this announcement. I cannot imagine Disney making this announcement based solely on a top level "hey I got a great idea" sort of moment. I am sure that there are already drawings that have passed back and forth between the two camps (Disney / Cameron). Otherwise we would not have been give such a specific announcement. They would have just announced that they were working with Cameron on an Avatar project to be announced at a future time. The fact that they announced that it is going to be a land and that it is going to be in Animal Kingdom suggests that there has already been some design work done.

Of course this comes from someone who was just a CAD designer and now works in the power generation industry.... So take it for what its worth. lol