Festival of the Lion King closes January 5th

Suspirian

Suspirian

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
Proposal for a LK family dark ride. More Pooh (WDW) than Pooh (TDL).
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Magenta Panther said:
Figures. :banghead: I do NOT understand TDO!!!! "The Lion King" is STILL making money for the company, on Broadway, in re-release and re-issue...and the BEST TDO wants to do with it in AK is a dinky, cheapwad wooden cutout ride a la WDW's Pooh?

And meanwhile, Pandora gets a big-budget development.

WHAT THE FRICK IS WRONG WITH DISNEY RIGHT NOW? Is it that fathead Iger? I do NOT understand!!!!
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I agree. Lion King deserves much better
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Magenta Panther said:
Figures. :banghead: I do NOT understand TDO!!!! "The Lion King" is STILL making money for the company, on Broadway, in re-release and re-issue...and the BEST TDO wants to do with it in AK is a dinky, cheapwad wooden cutout ride a la WDW's Pooh?

And meanwhile, Pandora gets a big-budget development.

WHAT THE FRICK IS WRONG WITH DISNEY RIGHT NOW? Is it that fathead Iger? I do NOT understand!!!!
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I think the better answer is neither.
Putting a cartoon dark ride, any cartoon dark ride into the African section of Animal Kingdom would completely destroy the thematic integrity of the land. With few exceptions (Nemo musical, Tough to be a Bug, meet and greets) all of the attractions at the various Animal Kingdom lands maintain the themed reality of their host lands. Everything is occurring where and and when it's supposed to be, making the immersion higher than any other theme park Disney's ever built. Train rides are train rides, raft journeys are raft journeys, and safaris are safaris.

A Lion King ride on the other hand, even a very nice one, would likely do what most of the Fantasyland dark rides do- have some sort of barely-themed omnimover slowly drag the rider in and out of several disparate scenes that tell a disjointed and abbreviated version of the film it's based on. There's nothing wrong with this approach in Fantasyland, but nothing else at Animal Kingdom uses this approach.

I'm worried enough that "Festival of the Lion King" going into Harambe is going to hurt it, but at least they can play up the actual "village festival" angle on it, which would be culturally insulting, possibly, but may be the best route here.
 
Cesar R M

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
I think the better answer is neither.
Putting a cartoon dark ride, any cartoon dark ride into the African section of Animal Kingdom would completely destroy the thematic integrity of the land. With few exceptions (Nemo musical, Tough to be a Bug, meet and greets) all of the attractions at the various Animal Kingdom lands maintain the themed reality of their host lands. Everything is occurring where and and when it's supposed to be, making the immersion higher than any other theme park Disney's ever built. Train rides are train rides, raft journeys are raft journeys, and safaris are safaris.

A Lion King ride on the other hand, even a very nice one, would likely do what most of the Fantasyland dark rides do- have some sort of barely-themed omnimover slowly drag the rider in and out of several disparate scenes that tell a disjointed and abbreviated version of the film it's based on. There's nothing wrong with this approach in Fantasyland, but nothing else at Animal Kingdom uses this approach.

I'm worried enough that "Festival of the Lion King" going into Harambe is going to hurt it, but at least they can play up the actual "village festival" angle on it, which would be culturally insulting, possibly, but may be the best route here.
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how the hell Pandora and blue tall scifi alien cats fit in AK then? o_O
 
Suspirian

Suspirian

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
I think the better answer is neither.
Putting a cartoon dark ride, any cartoon dark ride into the African section of Animal Kingdom would completely destroy the thematic integrity of the land. With few exceptions (Nemo musical, Tough to be a Bug, meet and greets) all of the attractions at the various Animal Kingdom lands maintain the themed reality of their host lands. Everything is occurring where and and when it's supposed to be, making the immersion higher than any other theme park Disney's ever built. Train rides are train rides, raft journeys are raft journeys, and safaris are safaris.

A Lion King ride on the other hand, even a very nice one, would likely do what most of the Fantasyland dark rides do- have some sort of barely-themed omnimover slowly drag the rider in and out of several disparate scenes that tell a disjointed and abbreviated version of the film it's based on. There's nothing wrong with this approach in Fantasyland, but nothing else at Animal Kingdom uses this approach.

I'm worried enough that "Festival of the Lion King" going into Harambe is going to hurt it, but at least they can play up the actual "village festival" angle on it, which would be culturally insulting, possibly, but may be the best route here.
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I honestly don't mind animated films in DAK...well depending on the film. Lion King IMO fits pretty well as the settings are pretty accurate for the most part. I'd definatly like somethig other that the usual fantasyland dark ride like you said. I think te best way to intergrate the film would be something focused more on the enviornments of TLK accompanied by a couple characters of course.
 
WDWLover#1

WDWLover#1

Well-Known Member
Magenta Panther said:
Figures. :banghead: I do NOT understand TDO!!!! "The Lion King" is STILL making money for the company, on Broadway, in re-release and re-issue...and the BEST TDO wants to do with it in AK is a dinky, cheapwad wooden cutout ride a la WDW's Pooh?

And meanwhile, Pandora gets a big-budget development.

WHAT THE FRICK IS WRONG WITH DISNEY RIGHT NOW? Is it that fathead Iger? I do NOT understand!!!!
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And Lion King is their most popular film domestically
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
What would the ride vehicle be in a Lion King dark ride, a jeep?
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It could be a lion, which could help the blend in the theming with Africa. Basically, the dark ride being that you are a lion (or other animal) experiencing the savannah from their prospective and could be more "Circle of Life" centered rather than a retelling of the story.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
It could be a lion, which could help the blend in the theming with Africa. Basically, the dark ride being that you are a lion (or other animal) experiencing the savannah from their prospective and could be more "Circle of Life" centered rather than a retelling of the story.
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But why would a dark ride be there in the first place?
Did the citizens of Harambe build it?
 
disneyfan1995

disneyfan1995

Well-Known Member
donsullivan said:
I had the opportunity to see 2 performances on Sunday including the final one at the original location. My initial plan was just to catch one more chance to photograph the show from the old location. After experiencing the astonishing emotion of that 4:30 performance, I hung around for the final at 6:30.

I took a mountain of photos from 2 different locations but a couple that really stuck with me came from the 4:30 performance. For those who have seen the show, the Circle of Life sequence at the end of the show can be among the most amazing and emotional of the show. The lead performer singing that sequence at the 4:30 show gave it absolutely everything she could possibly give. I've had the pleasure to hear some truly amazing performances in this show over the years but this one was special. She gave 150% and was clearly emotionally spent when it was over. And the audience reacted in kind.

View attachment 42231

View attachment 42230

During the final show at 6:30 a good portion of the audience was packed with WDW Entertainment CM's and former performers from this show in it's many years in this theater. Nearly every sequence of the show closed with a standing ovation from the crowd and the ovation at the end was really deafening.

I'm looking forward to the new edition of the show when it moves to it's new home this summer but also really glad I had the opportunity to catch the final performance in it's original home.
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Glad to hear the final shows (for now) went well. I'm not sure if anyone posted this, but I found a video of the finale from the 4:30 show on youtube. It's really awesome.

 
Cosmic Commando

Cosmic Commando

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
I think the better answer is neither.
Putting a cartoon dark ride, any cartoon dark ride into the African section of Animal Kingdom would completely destroy the thematic integrity of the land. With few exceptions (Nemo musical, Tough to be a Bug, meet and greets) all of the attractions at the various Animal Kingdom lands maintain the themed reality of their host lands. Everything is occurring where and and when it's supposed to be, making the immersion higher than any other theme park Disney's ever built. Train rides are train rides, raft journeys are raft journeys, and safaris are safaris.

A Lion King ride on the other hand, even a very nice one, would likely do what most of the Fantasyland dark rides do- have some sort of barely-themed omnimover slowly drag the rider in and out of several disparate scenes that tell a disjointed and abbreviated version of the film it's based on. There's nothing wrong with this approach in Fantasyland, but nothing else at Animal Kingdom uses this approach.

I'm worried enough that "Festival of the Lion King" going into Harambe is going to hurt it, but at least they can play up the actual "village festival" angle on it, which would be culturally insulting, possibly, but may be the best route here.
Click to expand...
I think you could have had a Lion King ride that fit Africa, just not Harambe. My idea would have had a realistic Pride Rock facade on the show building in the same basic area as the new FotLK theater is going into. It would have been the hinterland of Harambe, the animals' domain. It would have been like in Brother Bear how the humans saw the animals as animals, but the animals saw each other looking like animated characters (oh c*&^, did I just try to support my argument by referencing Brother Bear?!?). It wouldn't have wrecked anything if you could see it from the village... it would just look like a rock formation familiar to us guests, but not special to the villagers.

I think if you get into the "which characters from the story of the land built this ride?", you're reaching. By that metric, Primeval Whirl is a masterpiece and Pirates is a complete failure. It's true that DAK doesn't have any rides like this currently, but maybe that's because it only has seven rides, including the train and Dino-Rama!
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Cosmic Commando said:
I think if you get into the "which characters from the story of the land built this ride?", you're reaching. By that metric, Primeval Whirl is a masterpiece and Pirates is a complete failure.
Well, yeah. Animal Kingdom has by far the strongest cohesive land narrative of any current Disney park.
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The Magic Kingdom used to be a lot better in this regard. Adventureland was originally as cohesive as Harambe, but for portions of the Jungle Cruise, but the addition of Pirates and later the Agrabah area made it a total mess. Actually, Pirates is a complete failure in the sense that in porting it over from Disneyland they excised the entire "time travel" sub-narrative. Now that they have that "Treasures of the Seven Seas" mini-game spread out all over the land it's nearly impossible to tell where or when you are anymore, let alone what the "logic" of the land is.
 
Matt_Black

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
I don't necessarily go to WDW for "logic". "Hey, a giant mouse- let me say hi to him!" Now, if you're discussing consistency within the area, which I believe you are, then that's a fair cop, as they say.
 

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