Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway - Disneyland

[brb1006]

The Mad Chatters Podcast did a recent episode where the Christopher Willis (The composer for the new Mickey Mouse shorts) does an interview about working on the shorts and gives an inside look on Runaway Railway.
(Skip to 00:42:29 mark for the start of the interview)

https://madchatters.net/2017/11/15/...n-interview-with-composer-christopher-willis/

 

[mickEblu]

I mean they could at least give you some credit @GiveMeTheMusic

https://www.reddit.com/r/Disneyland...away_railroad_coming/?st=JA4FCURC&sh=835aa110

 

[DisneyLostBoy03]

...is very much on again for DLR.

Sorry Elsa.

So happy to hear about this! Ever since I heard about this attraction, I was super excited for it and was hoping that it could be made for Disneyland as well.

 

[cheezbat]

...is very much on again for DLR.

Sorry Elsa.

Ugh.

Once again we get something that's going to be cloned. If they get this, then I want a ToonTown added behind the theater in DHS, an Indy clone, AND Carsland. It's only fair.

Pretty sad how the only thing we get that's completely unique(right now) is Pandora, and that's only because none of the other resorts want it.

 

[Phroobar]

Ugh.

Once again we get something that's going to be cloned. If they get this, then I want a ToonTown added behind the theater in DHS, an Indy clone, AND Carsland. It's only fair.

Pretty sad how the only thing we get that's completely unique(right now) is Pandora, and that's only because none of the other resorts want it.

I get the feeling that Pandora was too far along in development to kill when Lucasfilm was purchased.

 

[DisneyLostBoy03]

Yes. The easiest thing to get rid off is the Rehearsal Hall (mainly used for incoming bands) and parking directly adjacent to you. Not too difficult to relocate to a further backstage area.

I drew this mock up that only gets rid of the Rehearsal Hall. Roger Rabbit is pretty boxed in by the parade building (hard to move) and Small World. Even if you got rid of it, you still don't have much room to work with.

Relocating the Rehearsal Hall is way more feasible than removing a relatively modern, functioning, popular ride and its adjacent in-park facilities.

Personally, I hope that this is the route they go with for this attraction. It could actually work. They could keep the house just the way it is, with a few tweaks and updates and when guests arrive at Mickey's Movie Barn to watch the short and enter the screen, that's where they add loading queue and the ride itself.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Ugh.

Once again we get something that's going to be cloned. If they get this, then I want a ToonTown added behind the theater in DHS, an Indy clone, AND Carsland. It's only fair.

Pretty sad how the only thing we get that's completely unique(right now) is Pandora, and that's only because none of the other resorts want it.

Yeah - by the time Lucasfilm was acquired, the Avatar contracts were done and Disney had to proceed with the project at DAK. Right now it looks shortsighted of them to pursue the property in the first place, but if the next 4 Avatar films are hugely successful, Disney will look smart for snapping it up. Will be interesting to see.

There were plans for Pandora to replace a big chunk of DL's Tomorrowland, WDS, as an add-on to TDS. Kind of hilarious.

 

[DisneyLostBoy03]

Yeah - by the time Lucasfilm was acquired, the Avatar contracts were done and Disney had to proceed with the project at DAK. Right now it looks shortsighted of them to pursue the property in the first place, but if the next 4 Avatar films are hugely successful, Disney will look smart for snapping it up. Will be interesting to see.

There were plans for Pandora to replace a big chunk of DL's Tomorrowland, WDS, as an add-on to TDS. Kind of hilarious.

Really? That's insane! I can't imagine Pandora replacing a huge chunk of Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
So question. How likely do you think are the chances of MMRR being built at Mickey's Toontown?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Really? That's insane! I can't imagine Pandora replacing a huge chunk of Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
So question. How likely do you think are the chances of MMRR being built at Mickey's Toontown?

Right now, really good.

 

[DisneyLostBoy03]

Right now, really good.

That's wonderful! Ever since I heard of this attraction, I have been hoping that it would make its way to Disneyland as well in the future. I love the animation style and the concept for the attraction and I think it would be a fantastic fit for Toontown. Any ideas on where it would be located? Personally, I think it fitting it at Mickey's House and have you enter the screen at his movie barn would be a great idea.

 

[TP2000]

Yeah - by the time Lucasfilm was acquired, the Avatar contracts were done and Disney had to proceed with the project at DAK. Right now it looks shortsighted of them to pursue the property in the first place, but if the next 4 Avatar films are hugely successful, Disney will look smart for snapping it up. Will be interesting to see.

There were plans for Pandora to replace a big chunk of DL's Tomorrowland, WDS, as an add-on to TDS. Kind of hilarious.

That is hilarious. Until I see kids showing up on my door at Halloween dressed as Pandora characters, I will deem that Avatar decision a panicked and boneheaded mistake. Iger got too cozy with weirdo Hollywood types and thought it was a good idea. It wasn't.

For the record, no one has ever trick or treated at my house dressed as anything from Pandora. And when I go to Target, there are ZERO Pandora toys available for sale, while decades old franchises like Star Wars and Princesses fill the shelves and show up en masse on my front porch every Halloween.

That's my scientifically supported argument for why Pandora was a dumb buy for Disney and dumb expansion in a Disney theme park.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

That is hilarious. Until I see kids showing up on my door at Halloween dressed as Pandora characters, I will deem that Avatar decision a panicked and boneheaded mistake. Iger got too cozy with weirdo Hollywood types and thought it was a good idea. It wasn't.

For the record, no one has ever trick or treated at my house dressed as anything from Pandora. And when I go to Target, there are ZERO Pandora toys available for sale, while decades old franchises like Star Wars and Princesses fill the shelves and show up en masse on my front porch at Halloween.

That's my scientifically supported argument for why Pandora was a dumb buy for Disney and dumb expansion in a Disney theme park.

I agree with you, but that could change if the sequels are hits and provide characters that strike a chord. I'm not saying that either will be the case, but it is certainly possible.

But yes up until this point, it was a silly, reactionary decision.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

That's wonderful! Ever since I heard of this attraction, I have been hoping that it would make its way to Disneyland as well in the future. I love the animation style and the concept for the attraction and I think it would be a fantastic fit for Toontown. Any ideas on where it would be located? Personally, I think it fitting it at Mickey's House and have you enter the screen at his movie barn would be a great idea.

I do not know the placement, but it would remove a significant chunk of what's currently Toontown as the buildings behind Toontown are seen as necessary by current management.

 

[DisneyLostBoy03]

I do not know the placement, but it would remove a significant chunk of what's currently Toontown as the buildings behind Toontown are seen as necessary by current management.

That's true. So, if they build the ride backstage, they would have to relocate and build new management buildings.

 

[Phroobar]

Avatar toys never sold very well when they were in stores. I was able to pick them up for a dollar or two for customizing purposes. I don't think James Cameron, like George Lucas, has what it takes anymore to make a great blockbuster anymore.

 

[dweezil78]

But yes up until this point, it was a silly, reactionary decision.

I think it was obvious by the time they announced Pandora that this was not on the same level as Harry Potter or Star Wars, so not sure if I'd say it was silly or reactionary. The hype machine had long died by September '11. They had their vision and stuck with it for better or for worse. For all the flack they get about being money hungry and IP obsessed, they'd have known by then this wasn't something the kids were going to go crazy over.

That said, I wonder how Disney's relationship with James Cameron is these days. If you look back at plans around Avatar, there should have already been two additional movies in theaters. Original plans (according to this article from Jim Hill) were for part 2 to hit in 2014 and part 3 to follow in 2015 when Pandora was originally expected to open.

Obviously not a single part of that went according to plan. Pandora should have opened with a more more flushed out cinematic world associated with it and instead there's just that one movie that everyone has forgotten about. If I were Disney, I'd be pretty PO'd with the guy for not keeping the momentum going and growing fandom around the series. Cameron has an incredible track record though and hopefully, like all his other projects, there's a reason why he's waited so long to put out the new films.

 

[Antaundra]

James Cameron has a track record of going way over schedule, way over budget, generating a lot of negative publicity then releasing the highest grossing movie of all time. As unlikely as it seems, I bet the next 4 Avatar movies are huge successes.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

Let's not be so quick to assume 4 Avatar sequels are guaranteed.
This comes directly from Cameron himself:

“Let’s face it, if Avatar 2 and 3 don’t make enough money, there’s not going to be a 4 and a 5. They’re fully encapsulated stories in and of themselves. It builds across the five films to a greater kind of meta narrative, but they’re fully formed films in their own right, unlike, say, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where you really just had to sort of go, ‘Oh, s–t, all right, well I guess I better come back next year.’ Even though that all worked and everybody did.”

Source: http://www.darkhorizons.com/cameron-on-avatar-2-delay-possible-failure/

 

[TwilightZone]

Really? That's insane! I can't imagine Pandora replacing a huge chunk of Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
So question. How likely do you think are the chances of MMRR being built at Mickey's Toontown?

holy smokes I actually thought pandora would be a perfect replacement for disneyland's tomorrowland at one point, and it turns out it was close to happening!

 

[BrianLo]

Right now, really good.

So is our timeframe right now 2021 for Marvel and 2022 for Mickey? Ish?

Understand that you probably can't go into more detail, but is anything else on the docket for the next 5-6 years for DLR, or will those be the three big attractions (2x Marvel + Mickey).