News Morocco Pavilion redevelopment

UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
I'm also pretty sure Disney is smart enough to not try to turn even part of Morocco into Agrabah. Doing Marrakesh as Aladdin character dining is one thing (and already potentially iffy), but changing all or even part of the pavilion to a fantasy land could create a gigantic amount of negative PR along the lines of Splash Mountain/Song of the South. It's a pavilion partially built by actual Moroccan craftsmen and representative of Islamic culture.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
It sure didn't stop them from turning Norway into Arendelle... or Akershus into Princess Dining.
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Not comparable.

The Moroccan pavilion has a bunch of authentic mosaics built by actual Moroccan craftsmen; Norway didn't have anything like that. Morocco is also the only Islamic culture represented on the World Showcase. It would be a much riskier move than what they did to Norway.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
There is a very small display about tile work and decorative arts...the pavilion is hardly a representation of Islamic Culture....any more than the China Pavilion is about Buddhist Culture... Or the Germany Pavilion is about Christian Culture...
Yes! It is amazing and significant that artisans came over from the Kingdom Of Morocco to work on the pavilion, but in the Disney of this age, with no paying sponsor, I think Disney merely looks at it as Real Estate...
Add a few cartoony flourishes and it would be Agrabah...
 
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UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
castlecake2.0 said:
In the end, Disney owns and operates the pavilion, and can do what they please with it, no matter who helped construct it
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Right, but that's not my point.

My point is that turning the Moroccan pavilion fully or partially into Agrabah would risk a backlash because of the specifics involved that are unique to the Moroccan pavilion. I think Disney is smart enough to avoid such a backlash, especially since they've been pivoting towards inclusiveness and cultural sensitivity -- making such a change to Morocco would fly in the face of all of that. It just doesn't feel like there's enough potential benefit to make it worth the risk.
 
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UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
There is a very small display about tile work and decorative arts...the pavilion is hardly a representation of Islamic Culture....any more than the China Pavilion is about Buddhist Culture... Or the Germany Pavilion is about Christian Culture...
Yes! It is amazing and significant that artisans came over from the Kingdom Of Morocco to work on the pavilion, but in the Disney of this age, with no paying sponsor, I think Disney merely looks at it as Real Estate...
Add a few cartoony flourishes and it would be Agrabah...
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I'm not talking about the display. Every single mosaic throughout the entire pavilion (at least to my knowledge) was done by Moroccans using traditional Moroccan/Islamic (known as zellij, I think) patterns. It's a different situation than any other pavilion in the World Showcase.

That doesn't mean Disney won't change it, but I think it would be very risky to do so considering how important they consider PR (as with the forthcoming Splash Mountain changes). They've already treated the Moroccan pavilion differently for night time lighting because of PR/cultural sensitivity.
 
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Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
Right, but that's not my point.

My point is that turning the Moroccan pavilion fully or partially into Agrabah would risk a backlash because of the specifics involved that are unique to the Moroccan pavilion. I think Disney is smart enough to avoid such a backlash, especially since they've been pivoting towards inclusiveness and cultural sensitivity -- making such a change to Morocco would fly in the face of all of that. It just doesn't feel like there's enough potential benefit to make it worth the risk.
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I don't remember there being any backlash when they changed the replica of the Stave Church into a Frozen exhibit...Because it is not a real church... It is representational of architecture from the Norway Region... Nor was there a backlash from the Norwegian People that the Norway Pavilion was becoming a Frozen Pavilion...
Much like the Morocco Pavilion is merely representational architecture, not an actual mosque... The fact that there is even mention of a backlash is more incentive for Disney to just turn it all into a cartoon setting...so there is no issue of cultural sensitivity at all...
This is and always was a theme park... not a shrine...
While I love what it is and how it was built, I hate the idea that now it would have to be treated like it is a monument to Islamic Culture... Like the remarks about not lighting it because it is forbidden to light buildings in Morocco... Even though there are hundreds of images out there of other such towers in Morocco lit up.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Quite frankly if they were set on making it an Aladdin Dinner experience I would rather they turn it into Agrabah or an Arabian Coast pavilion... Morocco is not even on the same continent. That would be like putting a Mulan meet and greet in the Japan pavilion...
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
I don't remember there being any backlash when they changed the replica of the Stave Church into a Frozen exhibit...Because it is not a real church... It is representational of architecture from the Norway Region... Nor was there a backlash from the Norwegian People that the Norway Pavilion was becoming a Frozen Pavilion...
Much like the Morocco Pavilion is merely representational architecture, not an actual mosque... The fact that there is even mention of a backlash is more incentive for Disney to just turn it all into a cartoon setting...so there is no issue of cultural sensitivity at all...
This is and always was a theme park... not a shrine...
While I love what it is and how it was built, I hate the idea that now it would have to be treated like it is a monument to Islamic Culture... Like the remarks about not lighting it because it is forbidden to light buildings in Morocco... Even though there are hundreds of images out there of other such towers in Morocco lit up.
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You're missing the point. There is gigantic difference between the Norway pavilion (really all the other World Showcase pavilions) and the Moroccan one.

Disney built Norway. Nothing was authentic about it; it was simply representative as you said. The mosaics in the Moroccan pavilion actually are authentic and are a significant part of Moroccan/Moorish architecture; specially trained craftsmen make them. They're not merely a Disney pastiche. It would be insulting to turn around and call them Agrabah when they were created by actual trained Moroccans in a Moroccan technique. Disney already has a history of treating the Moroccan pavilion differently by not attaching lights to the buildings; changing positions on that now wouldn't make any sense.

There's no good reason for Disney to risk the backlash that would come from it -- that doesn't mean they won't do it, but it would be really stupid. It would immediately torpedo their efforts to promote themselves as a forward thinking company that cares about cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness.

If there were specially trained Norwegian craftsmen who still build stave churches today and came from Norway to construct it for Disney, then there would be a closer comparison (except that they still don't call the Norway pavilion Arendelle anyways). I don't think that would be apples to apples for other reasons, but it would at least be better. Calling Restaurant Marrakesh Agrabah and having Aladdin character dining there would be pretty bad, but they could probably get away with it. Trying to claim the entire pavilion was now Agrabah, on the other hand, would just be asking for a ton of trouble.

EDIT: tagging @lazyboy97o because I have a feeling he knows more about the Moroccan architecture/mosaics than I do
 
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Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
I understand the history of the pavilion and how special it is... I really do.
I just don't think that the current Disney management would care about the history of the pavilion and treat it like a shrine.
It is one of my favorite pavilions and find the inclusion of Aladdin to be a bit disturbing... So I agree with you in many ways, I just don't think we should attach a religious cultural significance to a building in a theme park...Because then the company is setting themselves up for more trouble...where they will find their hands tied on any changes to anything in the pavilion...or any of the pavilions.
 
castlecake2.0

castlecake2.0

Well-Known Member
Disney isn’t going to start calling the Morocco pavilion Agrabah, it can still be a showcase of Morocco while adding character dining. The pavilion is beautiful and full of amazing art and craftsmanship, but spoiler alert, the only thing guests care about there right now is a chimney that looks like a d**k, so I don’t think Disney will lose any sleep over adding some IP.




My own thoughts and not of TWDC
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
castlecake2.0 said:
Disney isn’t going to start calling the Morocco pavilion Agrabah, it can still be a showcase if Morocco while adding character dining. The pavilion is beautiful and full of amazing art and craftsmanship, but spoiler alert, the only thing guests care about there right now is a chimney that looks like a d**k, so I don’t think Disney will lose any sleep over adding some IP.
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I don't either. This was all started by an earlier post suggesting they just change Morocco to Agrabah (I think actually they suggested just changing WS countries to fantasy lands, but Morocco to Agrabah was the implication).

I fully expect to see Aladdin character dining go in at the former Restaurant Marrakesh.
 
castlecake2.0

castlecake2.0

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I don't either. This was all started by an earlier post suggesting they just change Morocco to Agrabah (I think actually they suggested just changing WS countries to fantasy lands, but Morocco to Agrabah was the implication).

I fully expect to see Aladdin character dining go in at the former Restaurant Marrakesh.
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Ah I missed that, and I agree with you that would be disrespectful. Hopefully they can find a way to balance both. At one time they used to offer a tour of the pavilion by a cultural rep to showcase the art and history, I hope once cultural reps return they can offer this in some of the pavilions. Also I wish they’d just get rid of that chimney so people could grow up and a bit, I watched people LINE UP yesterday to take a photo with it, give me a break, people don’t deserve this pavilion
 
SplashJacket

SplashJacket

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
The logical mythical land for World Showcase would be Wakanda, but I'd much rather see that in Future World (or Tomorrowland).
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The Black panther structure in the DisneylandForever art didn't seem to touch Wakanda's Futuristic atmosphere.
WEDway Inc & Company LLC said:
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RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
It would be perfect for Tomorrowland, which needs a new identity anyways. Keep it out of EPCOT.
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I think the ship has sailed on keeping IP out of EPCOT. The ideals of Black Panther (his speech to the UN) scream EPCOT to me. Otherwise, I'd be with you. I've long thought that Tomorrowland should be various takes on the future as seen in Disney movies with EPCOT being inspired by real life and pseudo science. But I also think now that they've sabotaged EPCOT, Wakanda is actually more befitting of EPCOT.
 

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