Living with the Land Holiday Overlay

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
The $200 spent on Christmas Lights at the Home Depot has really gone a long way.
It really does look like they handed the interns a couple hundred bucks, sent them down to the local lawn & garden center, and gave them 5 hours to pull everything together. It looks cheap and hastily thrown together. None of it relates to the mission of the attraction; it's literally just some strings of lights thrown haphazardly around the greenhouses. Perhaps if they updated the audio to include holiday music and/or new narration if would make sense, but as it is, there's just no rhyme or reason to it.

It's even more confusing when you consider that, more than any other indoor attraction, the extra lights are useless during daylight hours. And given the average guest's park touring habits and that the attraction typically closes at 7pm, very few guests will actually see this in its full glory (such as it is).

I will give them credit for trying. But for the worldwide theme park industry leader, I think they could try harder.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
It really does look like they handed the interns a couple hundred bucks, sent them down to the local lawn & garden center, and gave them 5 hours to pull everything together. It looks cheap and hastily thrown together. None of it relates to the mission of the attraction; it's literally just some strings of lights thrown haphazardly around the greenhouses. Perhaps if they updated the audio to include holiday music and/or new narration if would make sense, but as it is, there's just no rhyme or reason to it.

It's even more confusing when you consider that, more than any other indoor attraction, the extra lights are useless during daylight hours. And given the average guest's park touring habits and that the attraction typically closes at 7pm, very few guests will actually see this in its full glory (such as it is).

I will give them credit for trying. But for the worldwide theme park industry leader, I think they could try harder.
Couldn’t even make it a page without a complaint.
 

techgeek

Well-Known Member
I will give them credit for trying. But for the worldwide theme park industry leader, I think they could try harder.

Part of this is expectations, I think. I wouldn't call this an 'overlay' by any definition. It's a nice bonus to the ride of some holiday decorations. When I saw 'overlay', I was expecting new soundtrack, a thematic adaptation of the story of the ride for the holidays, films of snow covered landscapes in the barn... the works! This is clearly not that.
 

Magicart87

No Refunds!
Premium Member
Couldn’t even make it a page without a complaint.

You misspelled "critique."

Points seem valid, a bit harsh with a smidgen of hyperbole but there is a distinction between this and Tomorrowland Speedway, which uses it's decorations to better results. As far as overlays go; it's a mixed bag. Space Mountain's overlay was also lambasted for similar reasons. It's odd. Throwing up string lights is nice to look at but it's not like it's a part of a larger theme and that is the distinction and issue some have with these holiday additions. Living with the Land could have (or perhaps should have) incorporated elements into their display that tie it back to the concept of the attraction. Same for Space Mountain. IMO.

I will give them credit for trying. But for the worldwide theme park industry leader, I think they could try harder.
This.
 
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The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
I now got to wondering whether the decoration fits the theme or not. (And it's by no means a given that it should)

The greenhouse is exactly what it is. The rider is right there, in a greenhouse in EPCOT, ran by a few horticulturalists. They just throw up some Christmas decor. Does that detract from the setting (an EPCOT FW greenhouse), from the theme (tour of a working greenhouse laboratory and exposition)?

There does seem to be very little interplay between Christmas and the ride. Really just Christmas shoving aside the standard ride and imposing itself as a layer on top. Which is indeed what much of Christmas in WDW looks like. F&W manages more relevancy, with its 'that stuff you ate, this is what it looks like when it grows'.
 

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