News Flights of Wonder closing and replaced by 'UP! A Great Bird Adventure'

No Name

Well-Known Member
As others have stated, we don't need cheesy Universal/Sea World animal shows where a Sea Lion is wearing a clown nose while bouncing a basketball. Not educational, realistic, and actually pretty humiliating for the animal.

I really love Flights of Wonder and hope it remains open.

The problem is, only in your perception is it any more natural or respectful.

That's SeaWorld's strategy with its new Orca Encounter show, which quite honestly, is no better or worse than Flights of Wonder. The animals are still just as trained as they ever were. They simply don't appear as trained. And it clearly works on some people.
 

bclane

Well-Known Member
Well, now we have to define 'answer questions.' The birds aren't answering questions like humans do in conversations, although there are some parrots who, after a lifetime of training, seem to be able to give basic contextually correct answers, like gorillas who were taught sign language.

The birds with mimicry abilities learn to mimic all sorts of things, especially other bird and animal noises. If they're around humans, they mimic humans' speech, songs, and music. They're just being prompted with a reward to vocalize something they've heard. Just like the other birds are prompted to fly from here to there.

I suppose it would have been better for a show that presents the birds' natural behaviors to have a mimic show-off mimicking other birds.

This is different from say, training a bird to peck at certain keys on a musical keyboard to play at song. That would be an unnatural trick. But mimicking humans and anything else in their environment is a natural ability of mimic birds.

The payoff is at 1:45 to the end...


We had a blue and gold macaw when I was a kid. We taught it to jump on command which was fun until it started to command my brother and I to jump. If we disobeyed, it would literally climb down it’s perch and bite us. No joke, it would actually chase us around screeching and telling us to jump and would bite us if we didn’t comply. This could go on for awhile and it drove us crazy. It would also fetch like a dog which was just weird. I loved that bird, but the truth is that he ran the house and I would never own another one even if it was given to me.
 

Disney-Trains

Well-Known Member
It's sounding to me like the birds are staying but they're just retooling the show. Guess we'll see. I don't think they will leave it empty.

That would make sense... It's a great show but it's been running for a while as is and if it was simply updated that could be a good thing.

Hopefully they will keep an equity performer in the show, that would be an easy cut to make to save a few dollars while "improving" the show in their marketing (ala cutting equity acts at world showcase for new, but also non-equity talent).
 

I am Timmy

Well-Known Member
We had a blue and gold macaw when I was a kid. We taught it to jump on command which was fun until it started to command my brother and I to jump. If we disobeyed, it would literally climb down it’s perch and bite us. No joke, it would actually chase us around screeching and telling us to jump and would bite us if we didn’t comply. This could go on for awhile and it drove us crazy. It would also fetch like a dog which was just weird. I loved that bird, but the truth is that he ran the house and I would never own another one even if it was given to me.
That is just a lovely story, it really made my day. It's nice that you and your brother have such a unique and memorable shared experience. Hope it wasn't too traumatizing, though (for you or the macaw). I truly hope the show isn't leaving - now we must see it in Dec.!
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
I love the idea of a bird show more than the actual execution. Hope FoW will be replaced by a similar, better show.

FoW is pretty weak compared to similar bird shows in zoo. The clownesque tour guide detracts. Disney doesn't need a clown to make a bird show fascinating, inspiring, magical. And even fun or fit for families.
 

bclane

Well-Known Member
That is just a lovely story, it really made my day. It's nice that you and your brother have such a unique and memorable shared experience. Hope it wasn't too traumatizing, though (for you or the macaw). I truly hope the show isn't leaving - now we must see it in Dec.!
It wasn’t traumatizing but it sure interrupted a lot of TV shows for us lol! It was Goober’s favorite game to play and so we did a lot of jumping over the years. :)
 

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
I love the idea of a bird show more than the actual execution. Hope FoW will be replaced by a similar, better show.

FoW is pretty weak compared to similar bird shows in zoo. The clownesque tour guide detracts. Disney doesn't need a clown to make a bird show fascinating, inspiring, magical. And even fun or fit for families.

Dump the fake tour guide and let the birds star. That show needs nothibg but the birds themselves
 

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
I love the idea of a bird show more than the actual execution. Hope FoW will be replaced by a similar, better show.

FoW is pretty weak compared to similar bird shows in zoo. The clownesque tour guide detracts. Disney doesn't need a clown to make a bird show fascinating, inspiring, magical. And even fun or fit for families.

Dump the fake tour guide and let the birds star. That show needs nothibg but the birds themselves

There is a version of the show if Guano Joe's friends are all sick, or a circumstance inhibits their presence. Got it once, and honestly, the show felt like it was missing something. The show lacked a strong guest reaction, and while the presence of Guano Joe and Guest reaction aren't 100% linked. The only way his removal, or a modification of his role, could be justified would be with a serious retooling...
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
There is a version of the show if Guano Joe's friends are all sick, or a circumstance inhibits their presence. Got it once, and honestly, the show felt like it was missing something. The show lacked a strong guest reaction, and while the presence of Guano Joe and Guest reaction aren't 100% linked. The only way his removal, or a modification of his role, could be justified would be with a serious retooling...
I'm tempted to say that obviously the show would feel incomplete, because the show was designed to have strong presence of Guano Joe. But that would be avoiding the issue.

I don't passionately dislike the Tour Guide, but I do somewhat bide my time during the show in between the bird bits. The two zoo bird shows I've seen recently have almost the same set-up as FoW. Without any humans except for actual bird handlers. And they are both stronger. Also, they are more emotionally engaging.

I understand Disney needs to not be a zoo, to distinguish itself. But then again, a clown figure feels like what a zoo did in the 70s/80s, not what a modern superior theme park version of a bird show can be.
 
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