Oh no, say it ain't so, Joe..

UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
techgeek said:
I would love a ‘trail’ going out to the elephants, in fact I think conservation station could be a good place for a trail to step off to that part of the savannah.

The train / animal thing I see as cop out. As pointed out elsewhere Busch has free roaming animals interacting with the train (which observes a very slow speed limit through the animal areas). In addition it could have just travelled adjacent to an enclosure... it’s not too far removed from the lion area. Alternatively, perhaps the backstage / animal care areas could have been designed to be more viewable from the train.. glass walls like the old tram tour, not looking at the backside of the buildings, etc.
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It's possible that the train ride at Busch Gardens wouldn't/couldn't be built today. It opened in the early 70s, I think, and animal welfare regulations/laws were not what they are today (or even were in the 90s when Animal Kingdom was built).

I have no idea if that's true -- just idle speculation. But it wouldn't surprise me.
 
_caleb

_caleb

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
It's possible that the train ride at Busch Gardens wouldn't/couldn't be built today. It opened in the early 70s, I think, and animal welfare regulations/laws were not what they are today (or even were in the 90s when Animal Kingdom was built).

I have no idea if that's true -- just idle speculation. But it wouldn't surprise me.
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Random "Disney News" blog: "Our sources are telling us that Animal Kingdom's Wilderness* Express was modeled after the train ride at Busch Gardens– which, back in the 70s, used to plow through animals. The carnage was horrendous!"
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
The train doesn’t need to go through the animal habitats for their to be views of the animal habitats.

I hadn’t thought about it but having the train and conservation station all themed to be part of the Harambe wildlife reserve would have been great.

I enjoy conservation station for what it is, but it has 1990’s zoo all over it. The Harambe veterinary care and research station would have been a great idea.
 
JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
It's possible that the train ride at Busch Gardens wouldn't/couldn't be built today. It opened in the early 70s, I think, and animal welfare regulations/laws were not what they are today (or even were in the 90s when Animal Kingdom was built).

I have no idea if that's true -- just idle speculation. But it wouldn't surprise me.
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I don't think the animals even know the train is there at Busch. With the amount of traffic through the safari I don't think the train rolling along would be a problem. The area at AK is 110 acres vs 65 at Busch
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
It's possible that the train ride at Busch Gardens wouldn't/couldn't be built today. It opened in the early 70s, I think, and animal welfare regulations/laws were not what they are today (or even were in the 90s when Animal Kingdom was built).

I have no idea if that's true -- just idle speculation. But it wouldn't surprise me.
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Train could have run a wide circle around the whole area with barriers as they do now. Would have required a different design from the get go
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
asianway said:
Train could have run a wide circle around the whole area with barriers as they do now. Would have required a different design from the get go
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Oh yeah, there are definitely other things they could have done. A loop with a stop at the conservation station and then back around the other side of the savanna would have been an option. I think there may have been issues with how much space they had for the animals, though. You want it to be large enough to give them space to roam, but you also need to have them in sight of the safari vehicles (for the most part) and if you're trying to make them visible from the train too, you may have had to limit their available space which wouldn't be ideal. There are just so many additional variables/factors in place when dealing with live animals.

Of course, I suppose they could have kept it the way more or less the way it currently is and just had the train as a potential extra view. The Safari is the headliner where you're guaranteed to see them, but the train, while primarily functioning as transport to the conservation station, also afforded potential views if the animals happened to be in that area. But to me, the foliage blocking you from seeing any of the surrounding area is part of the appeal of the safari, and having a visible train looping around (since it obviously couldn't be on the other side of foliage) would probably detract from it.

If I had to guess, the ballooning budget caused changes to any potential larger plans they had for the train and the conservation station, but that's just speculation.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Disneyson said:
Joe's said, on the documentary, nonetheless, that often he isn't happy with the IP that he's been given. This is a red flag for me and his time at the company. He even expressly mentions Avatar. But he makes lemonade out of those lemons.
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Joe understands story and thematic fit. He has been given difficult assignments and has not only made them work, he has done a better job on thematic integrity than any current imagineering lead. Pandora fits seamlessly into DAK and while Mission: Breakout is an eyesore, the original attraction was also visually intrusive relative to the rest of the park. It's also a superior attraction to DCA's original tower.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
the.dreamfinder said:
That adds up with the coterie that comes along, which is a good thing for the project, but $$$$.
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This thread is about Joe, I don't think he single handedly is to blame for Disney executives flying first class.

I wonder how much more money could have been spent on Disneyland if Walt didn't have a private plane? Lol
 
JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
the.dreamfinder said:
That adds up with the coterie that comes along, which is a good thing for the project, but $$$$.
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Business travelers fly business class. If they are forced to fly coach they get grumpy and feel disrespected so you give them the props and expect them to return the investment in spades. These people are lauded as the best of the best and they get treated that way.
Otherwise you have workers going to a weekend convention as an attaboy but they don't get much of an expense account.
 
Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
JoeCamel said:
Business travelers fly business class. If they are forced to fly coach they get grumpy and feel disrespected so you give them the props and expect them to return the investment in spades. These people are lauded as the best of the best and they get treated that way.
Otherwise you have workers going to a weekend convention as an attaboy but they don't get much of an expense account.
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Yes, and I find it hard to imagine that the difference between economy and business class tickets or research trips overall have had much of an impact on the insane budgets of recent WDI projects. Projects like Toy Story Land or Pixar Pier don't seem to exactly run cheap without them.
 

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