Matt_Black
Well-Known Member
Quite right. Certainly, Dumbo wasn't over there before....
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Name changes that changed nothing
- Thread starter mharrington
- Start date
Quite right. Certainly, Dumbo wasn't over there before....
Communicore
Well-Known Member
But those name changes changed a lot. Communicore was gone!
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Nobody ain't got no good use for grammar at this time! We now speak text and nobodys got no time for apostrophes anymore!
As technology has taken over, we have, in many ways, stepped backward in civilization and refinement.
Parkeology mentioned that as well in its list no-change name changes, once again within a slightly larger context. It reads:
PRIMATE CONFUSION
Show me a bold new vision in zoological parks, with a heavy emphasis on conservation and natural habitats, and I'll show you a park that can't decide when the use of monkeys is appropriate.
When Imagineers invisioned concepts for Animal Kingdom, one of the first things on the drawing board was an Epcot-style pavilion devoted to conservation and education. It would house open veterinary operating theaters, interactive exhibits, and bathrooms with wonderful factoids about poop (all of these ideas made the final cut). The name for this breathtaking exhibit combined the stodgy, schoolmarm quality of "Conservation" with the old-fashioned, railroad-buff nostalgia of "Station." It was a can't-miss name for today's on-the-go, forward thinking families.
Surprisingly, no one showed up.
After analyzing the problem, Imagineers quickly realized that the problem was not with the fact that the proposed "See a Vet Cut Open a Cheetah" exhibits were usually empty (or at best contained a groggy, drugged wild duck). Nor was there any concern that a talking Grandmother tree was not exactly the stuff of childhood adventure. No, obviously the problem was the name.
Enter Rafiki and his zany bag of hoodoo monkey tricks.
Hey, kids love "The Lion King", and if you're going to entice them to learn about conservation, you could do far worse than have a popular character from the movie lend his name to the billboard. Conservation Station became Rafiki's Planet Watch — leaving all the original exhibits in place, and adding a Rafiki statue near the train. Imagineering flung open the gates and waited for the hordes to descend.
They're still waiting.
Meanwhile, another band of Imagineers set up camp in Africa and dreamed up new and exciting ways to sabotage the guest experience. One of the great selling points of Animal Kingdom was the up-close encounters with the animals. Gorillas were a major draw, and the park offered a walking trail where you could visit these primates in their natural habitat of cramped jungle acreage surrounded by human video cameras. To make sure that guests knew what they were getting themselves into, this adventure was called Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail.
Eventually, somebody (maybe the gorillas themselves) decided that the name was a little too on-the-nose. After all, we don't want to make it easy for guests to find out where the gorillas are just by looking at the guide map. It would diminish their sense of accomplishment if they weren't encouraged to slog around Disney's biggest theme park, peering in the bushes and pulling their hair out to find the primates.
So the name was changed to Pangani Forest, for no reason other than to screw with guests' minds. And it works.
Oriolesmagic
Well-Known Member
I don't think this post is getting the credit it deserves for its inherent sarcastic brilliance. Well done.
WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Thank you! xD
BoarderPhreak
Well-Known Member
Call it what you want, but to me it will always be EPCOT Center.
And calling it Epcot 94/95/96 is about as dumb as calling your OS "Windows 95."
And calling it Epcot 94/95/96 is about as dumb as calling your OS "Windows 95."
sjhym333
Well-Known Member
Yes, the name change with the Diamond Horseshoe was related to the change in the show. The Diamond Horseshoe Revue was a copy of the original Disneyland show. The Jamboree was a different show that added new songs, dancing cowboys with the saloon girls as well as other changes. The character of Slew Foot Sue was eliminated.
Personally, I refer to it as "the Studios". Regardless of a different name, it still kept "Studios" in there. Actually, that, too, is referenced in the Parkeology article:
THE MOVIE PARK
Okay, at least this one was a contractual thing. Once the agreement is up, you can't use somebody else's name. And while it's doubtful that MGM would have complained about the free publicity, the Walt Disney Company (which has itself changed names 3 or 4 times in its history) decided that it was worth the extra expense to change all the signage in the Disney/MGM Studios Theme Park to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Think about all the places where the park name appears. Besides the obvious marquees, you have to go change all the road signs as well. And the bus station labels. And the giant water tower. And the tram spiels. And the paper napkin logos. Thousands and thousands of changes across property.
And what really changed? The Wicked Witch still threatens you in the land of Oz. Bogey still tells Ingrid to get on that plane. The only MGM character that got the boot was [the studio symbol] Leo the Lion, and he got his own Regal Carousel out of the deal, so what is he complaining about?