News Paradise Pier Becoming Pixar Pier

[TROR]

I enjoy seeing a Black Anna, a Black Hans, an Asian Anna, and so on. Frozen still sucks, but the racial diversity is great.

I doubt 19th century Norwegian families included children with snow powers that seemingly come from nowhere and talking snowmen.

I'd rather have a Princess and the Frog stage play. That'd be fantastic.

 

[mickEblu]

I enjoy seeing a Black Anna, a Black Hans, an Asian Anna, and so on. Frozen still sucks, but the racial diversity is great.

I’d rather see more racial diversity with the original works. Start from the beginning with more diversity with the animated films. Changing characters races does kind of take your attention away from the story and makes you think of political motives. Either way it’s not a huge deal for me but I would prefer characters look like what they look like in the movies. Imagine if they did that with the attractions or meet n greets. Imagine having a black Peter Pan figure in Peter Pans flight or a white Princess Tiana walk around character.

 

[brb1006]

I’d rather see more racial diversity with the original works. Start from the beginning with more diversity with the animated films. Changing characters races does kind of take your attention away from the story and makes you think of political motives. Either way it’s not a huge deal for me but I would prefer characters look like what they look like in the movies. Imagine if they did that with the attractions or meet n greets. Imagine having a black Peter Pan figure in Peter Pans flight or a white Princess Tiana walk around character.

I think something similar happened when Black Panther was meeting guests at DCA.

 

[mickEblu]

I think something similar happened when Black Panther was meeting guests at DCA.

Is he a face character though? Doesn’t he wear that panther mask?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I'd rather have a Princess and the Frog stage play. That'd be fantastic.

Same.

I’d rather see more racial diversity with the original works. Start from the beginning with more diversity with the animated films. Changing characters races does kind of take your attention away from the story and makes you think of political motives. Either way it’s not a huge deal for me but I would prefer characters look like what they look like in the movies. Imagine if they did that with the attractions or meet n greets. Imagine having a black Peter Pan figure in Peter Pans flight or a white Princess Tiana walk around character.

It doesn’t take my attention away, and I don’t think of politics. Went and saw Frozen two weeks ago, and Anna was played by an Asian actress. I had plans to fall asleep during the show, but i stayed awake to watch an Asian playing a lead in the show. I was more interested in the show.

I agree, I would rather see more representation from the characters of color. But let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen on a grand scale anytime soon. The fact is, the Caucasian princesses are more popular, and therefore have a bigger presence in the parks. We’re not going to see fancy attractions for Jasmine, Tiana, Mulan, and Pocahontas. This is one of the reasons I love seeing more people of color with a bigger presence in the park. It’s still lacking, but it’s better than nothing. There are just a handful of characters of color, and Disney barely does anything with them. As a Black woman myself, I take what I can get (being honest again, Disney will most likely never create another Native, Black, Arabic, or Asian princess again, but I can bet we’ll see another Caucasian one at some point).

Speaking of being Black, I would love to see a Black Peter Pan. He’s my all-time favorite, so something like that would make me very happy. A White Tiana would never happen because Disney is surprisingly smarter than that and they know they’d receive some serious backlash.

 

[TROR]

Same.



It doesn’t take my attention away, and I don’t think of politics. Went and saw Frozen two weeks ago, and Anna was played by an Asian actress. I had plans to fall asleep during the show, but i stayed awake to watch an Asian playing a lead in the show. I was more interested in the show.

I agree, I would rather see more representation from the characters of color. But let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen on a grand scale anytime soon. The fact is, the Caucasian princesses are more popular, and therefore have a bigger presence in the parks. We’re not going to see fancy attractions for Jasmine, Tiana, Mulan, and Pocahontas. This is one of the reasons I love seeing more people of color with a bigger presence in the park. It’s still lacking, but it’s better than nothing. There are just a handful of characters of color, and Disney barely does anything with them. As a Black woman myself, I take what I can get (being honest again, Disney will most likely never create another Native, Black, Arabic, or Asian princess again, but I can bet we’ll see another Caucasian one at some point).

Speaking of being Black, I would love to see a Black Peter Pan. He’s my all-time favorite, so something like that would make me very happy. A White Tiana would never happen because Disney is surprisingly smarter than that and they know they’d receive some serious backlash.

I think this is where a lot of the problem lies for me. I understand there are less roles for racial minorities so people will champion letting them be casted as white characters despite not fitting the bill. I believe that's where you're coming from and if it is I disagree but I respect it. The problem, though, is that a lot of the time I see people pretending that it's an issue of "They're the best for the role" when that's not true. Best for the role would be someone who, y'know, somewhat resembles the role. If this was a radio show that'd be different. But anyways, if a white woman was best for the role of Tiana, there'd be backlash like you said, as there should be. It'd be ridiculous to cast a white woman as Jasmine, Tiana, Moana, etc. Now you agree, but you agree because you think women in racial minorities don't have enough representation and giving that role to a white woman would be taking away a job as well as representation whereas I feel it's an issue of accuracy, immersion, and a general sense of quality within the parks.

 

[mickEblu]

Same.



It doesn’t take my attention away, and I don’t think of politics. Went and saw Frozen two weeks ago, and Anna was played by an Asian actress. I had plans to fall asleep during the show, but i stayed awake to watch an Asian playing a lead in the show. I was more interested in the show.

I agree, I would rather see more representation from the characters of color. But let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen on a grand scale anytime soon. The fact is, the Caucasian princesses are more popular, and therefore have a bigger presence in the parks. We’re not going to see fancy attractions for Jasmine, Tiana, Mulan, and Pocahontas. This is one of the reasons I love seeing more people of color with a bigger presence in the park. It’s still lacking, but it’s better than nothing. There are just a handful of characters of color, and Disney barely does anything with them. As a Black woman myself, I take what I can get (being honest again, Disney will most likely never create another Native, Black, Arabic, or Asian princess again, but I can bet we’ll see another Caucasian one at some point).

Speaking of being Black, I would love to see a Black Peter Pan. He’s my all-time favorite, so something like that would make me very happy. A White Tiana would never happen because Disney is surprisingly smarter than that and they know they’d receive some serious backlash.

Yeah I guess the truth is that Disney went too long without much diversity and it would take years of pumping out more Aladdin’s, Coco’s and Princess and the Frogs to catch up. So casting actors of different races is one small way for them to be more inclusive.

On another note, I think the 3 movies I mentioned above would make for some great dark rides.

 

[TROR]

If they had built a New England land on the northern end of Rivers of America, we could've gotten a sick Pocahontas canoe ride to bridge the transition from Frontierland to Revolutionary War era Boston.

Instead we're getting Star Wars land.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I would love to see a Black Peter Pan

Is his shadow white?




While not the first to do so, Disney popularized the racially blind casting for some of their parks and cruise shows. Racially-blind Frozen was accepted by the masses and taken to Broadway.

It's a great step toward fighting racism and getting across the reality that there aren't different human races. The color of one's skin no more puts a person in a specific race than does the color of one's eyes or hair.

Now, of course, shows in which race is an issue may not be able to get past that. But if race isn't an issue in a story, then it shouldn't be for casting.

Broadway has two (that I know of) shows with racially blind casting: Frozen and Hamilton. And they're both doing well.

 

[JohnyKaz2078]

1. Mission BO is certainly a set of screens. There's two floors and one is only a screen without any real framing set pieces like Universal does and the other is a 5 second look at a hallway to see a small electric explosion represented on a screen. There's no real mixing of mediums or integration.
2. I went to WDW 2 years ago after not being to Disneyland or DCA in about 3-5 years. Even still, I only visited DHS for TOT and TGMR. We have Midway Mania and its okay, but their version didn't even have Mr Potato Head. I don't like Star Tours 2.0. RNR is a decent coaster, but I'd much rather ride USO's The Mummy if I'm looking for an enclosed coaster through blacklight archways.
3. Midway Mania was enjoyable, but I wouldn't call it extraordinary. Most people balked at initial videos and news of how bare the attraction was without any show scenes or AA's. Luckily, the ride is engaging on a cell phone game level, but I don't think anyone was really blown away by the attraction, it was just fun.
4. Not a fan of Soarin'. Soarin' perfectly represents DCA 1.0 to me. A great idea that was stripped down to bare bones. The sensation is wonderful, the cutting of the film, the exposed ride system, and the bland queue is not Disney quality. Luckily, like Midway Mania, the sensation is enjoyable enough to overlook the many flaws and minimal nature to the attraction.
5. I'd call Incredicoaster bad. Not terrible, but it took a 7/10 attraction and knocked it down to 4/10 for me. The static figures, poor looking "scenes" and lack of imagination turned a fun relaxing coaster into a badly done darkride on a coaster track.

1) Ok I agree. It might be a set of screens. Does this make the ride less enjoyable? Just because Star Tours or Transformers at Universal are a set of screens, means that they aren't enjoyable? Guests don't really care if the ride is a set of screens. They care if the ride is enjoyable. The only other ride in the park that someone could say has its focus on a screen is Soarin. So there aren't any complains like there are at USF, where Universal has stuffed 7(!) screen rides. I can't say how much I love ToT. But Mission Breakout shouldn't be considered as a terrible ride. There are far worse in the disney empire.
2) Mr Potato Head is back!
3) When Toy Story Mania opened in 2008 it was extremely popular. 2 hour waits were common every day and Fastpasses (paper) were gone within half an hour. That's because cellphones weren't as prominent then as they are today. Apple's Iphone was made in 2007, less than a year before Toy Story Mania and Google Play Store was made available to the public in October 2008. So yeah, I would say that, while Toy Story Mania isn't as distinct today as it was 10 years ago, it was a remarkable ride when it opened and it is also a good ride.
4) The sensation is wonderful in Soarin, yes. But when I first experienced it I was so amazed by the views that I notice anything about the "exposed ride system". I don't like DCA's queue. It just doesn't work for me. Epcot's is OK. Shanghai Disneyland tops them all though. We will see how the TDS queue plays out. And what do you mean "the cutting of the film"?
5) The Incredicoaster is mediocre to me. It is not a worth overlay of a great rollercoaster though. The sticks are terrible, but the scenes inside the tunnels are OK (although I would prefer projections and not static figures). But at least now there is some character in it and it is also aimed at the younger audience who were too afraid to ride California Screamin.
6) Yeah everything is better than Kali River Rapids.

 

[dweezil78]

If they had built a New England land on the northern end of Rivers of America, we could've gotten a sick Pocahontas canoe ride to bridge the transition from Frontierland to Revolutionary War era Boston.

Instead we're getting Star Wars land.

I passed a large group of guests the other day by Hungry Bear looking out at the giant Black Spires of SWL peaking up over the ROA... and all of them were visibly upset and complaining to one another, asking "Why oh why could we not be getting New England Land instead of this garbage!?!? Those mountains should be colonial buildings instead!!!"

But seriously, MK has Liberty Square if you really like that sort of thing.

 

[Phroobar]

I passed a large group of guests the other day by Hungry Bear looking out at the giant Black Spires of SWL peaking up over the ROA... and all of them were visibly upset and complaining to one another, asking "Why oh why could we not be getting New England Land instead of this garbage!?!? Those mountains should be colonial buildings instead!!!"

But seriously, MK has Liberty Square if you really like that sort of thing.

Those where brain dead Disney social media zombies. They don't even understand what they are complaining about. Pay them no mind.

 

[180º]

If seeing people of other races in theatrical roles that may be traditionally white makes you think of real world race politics, then you have an issue. I'm not trying to put you on the defensive here or flaming you, just letting you know this is an opportunity for personal growth and the topic is worthy of introspection. It's worth thinking about why it makes you uncomfortable.

First of all, yes. It’s important to be conscious of why this makes us feel a certain way, and I give you props for addressing this (and doing so very graciously). Here’s my train of thought on the matter.

I think one reason the diversity in Frozen is more initially perplexing than it is in, say, Hamilton, is that it raises questions about what the directors were intending to communicate as to how it relates to the themes of the show. Race is not incidental in Frozen or Hamilton; we know Scandinavian redheads are usually white, and we know for sure that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were white guys. The difference is that Hamilton is crafted to be a unique aesthetic that richly reflects the artist’s voice and ethos to enlighten its audience. On the other hand, Frozen’s use of changing race seems more halfhearted and borderline accidental in relation to the rest of the show’s bland and pedestrian design. This particular brand of unexamined racial blindness is sort of an outdated ‘90s idea that has proved insufficient – still valuable to an extent, mind you – but insufficient on its own in addressing social issues. I think that may be causing some confusion.

HOWEVER. It is the only interesting thing in an otherwise oppressively uninteresting show, and in that case, saying something halfway may be better than saying nothing at all. For this reason, I will say Frozen’s employment of arbitrary race is a plus.

Come to think of it, I seem to remember Aladdin’s cast was sometimes unusually white for an Arabian story and I don’t remember people complaining about that. Unfortunately, we’ve been conditioned to seeing white people in POC roles for years so it doesn’t surprise us like an Asian Anna does. But that’s a bias worth challenging, so good on the casting directors for doing so. The fact that we’re having this discussion proves that they were at least a little successful.

 

[lazyboy97o]

How many Eastern European Jews are the queen of a Scandinavian country that is inspired by, but I will not further justify the mess that is Frozen Ever After by specifying as, Norway?

 

[TROR]

I passed a large group of guests the other day by Hungry Bear looking out at the giant Black Spires of SWL peaking up over the ROA... and all of them were visibly upset and complaining to one another, asking "Why oh why could we not be getting New England Land instead of this garbage!?!? Those mountains should be colonial buildings instead!!!"

But seriously, MK has Liberty Square if you really like that sort of thing.

Liberty Square has never run away the concept, unfortunately. Of course there's the Haunted Mansion, but it's not exactly 1776 America themed. Hall of Presidents and Liberty Belle are all they have relating to the proper theme of the land but a steamboat doesn't even make sense as they weren't invented until the 1800's.

Having a Revolutionary War set land on the banks of Rivers of America with the Sailing Ship Colombia going by would be so nice. Fill in the rest of the land with a Paul Revere "Pony Express" style coaster, American Adventure from Epcot (or even better yet, the Hall of Independence from Liberty Street), a Pocahontas canoe ride, and a Headless Horseman dark ride. Obviously this is not what the general public wants, but it certainly would be a better fit for Disneyland than Star Wars.

 

[Disney Irish]

Liberty Square has never run away the concept, unfortunately. Of course there's the Haunted Mansion, but it's not exactly 1776 America themed. Hall of Presidents and Liberty Belle are all they have relating to the proper theme of the land but a steamboat doesn't even make sense as they weren't invented until the 1800's.

Having a Revolutionary War set land on the banks of Rivers of America with the Sailing Ship Colombia going by would be so nice. Fill in the rest of the land with a Paul Revere "Pony Express" style coaster, American Adventure from Epcot (or even better yet, the Hall of Independence from Liberty Street), a Pocahontas canoe ride, and a Headless Horseman dark ride. Obviously this is not what the general public wants, but it certainly would be a better fit for Disneyland than Star Wars.

You know that Disney Parks are not a living history museums right? Not everything will be or even should be historically accurate.

 

[TROR]

You know that Disney Parks are not a living history museums right? Not everything will be or even should be historically accurate.

No, they don't, but I don't want to see a Ferrari speeding down Main Street USA.

 

[Disney Irish]

No, they don't, but I don't want to see a Ferrari speeding down Main Street USA.

There is a difference though in having a steam powered riverboat docked in Liberty Square and a Ferrari on Main St.

Its a Disney Park, you just have to accept there will be historical inaccuracies. If you want a historically accurate experience I can probably recommend several living history museums for you to go visit.

 

[TROR]

There is a difference though in having a steam powered riverboat docked in Liberty Square and a Ferrari on Main St.

You're right.

Steamboats were invented in 1807, 31 years after the American Revolution began. It's more like having a Chevrolet Master on Main Street USA. That's still ridiculous.

Seeing a steamboat from Liberty Square isn't a problem, but the fact it's part of Liberty Square is. Just switch the border of the land to make it part of Frontierland and the problem is solved.

 

[Professortango1]

1) Ok I agree. It might be a set of screens. Does this make the ride less enjoyable? Just because Star Tours or Transformers at Universal are a set of screens, means that they aren't enjoyable? Guests don't really care if the ride is a set of screens. They care if the ride is enjoyable. The only other ride in the park that someone could say has its focus on a screen is Soarin. So there aren't any complains like there are at USF, where Universal has stuffed 7(!) screen rides. I can't say how much I love ToT. But Mission Breakout shouldn't be considered as a terrible ride. There are far worse in the disney empire.
2) Mr Potato Head is back!
3) When Toy Story Mania opened in 2008 it was extremely popular. 2 hour waits were common every day and Fastpasses (paper) were gone within half an hour. That's because cellphones weren't as prominent then as they are today. Apple's Iphone was made in 2007, less than a year before Toy Story Mania and Google Play Store was made available to the public in October 2008. So yeah, I would say that, while Toy Story Mania isn't as distinct today as it was 10 years ago, it was a remarkable ride when it opened and it is also a good ride.
4) The sensation is wonderful in Soarin, yes. But when I first experienced it I was so amazed by the views that I notice anything about the "exposed ride system". I don't like DCA's queue. It just doesn't work for me. Epcot's is OK. Shanghai Disneyland tops them all though. We will see how the TDS queue plays out. And what do you mean "the cutting of the film"?
5) The Incredicoaster is mediocre to me. It is not a worth overlay of a great rollercoaster though. The sticks are terrible, but the scenes inside the tunnels are OK (although I would prefer projections and not static figures). But at least now there is some character in it and it is also aimed at the younger audience who were too afraid to ride California Screamin.
6) Yeah everything is better than Kali River Rapids.

Transformers and Star Tours are screen-based attractions, but they also utilize motion simulator technology to make you feel like you are traveling through the projected environment. Mission BO used motion simulation in the ride vehicle to give the cars some bounce, but not to immerse guests into the show scene they are witnessing. Instead, its a flat static show scene rather than a 3 dimensional environment.

Midway Mania was popular at DHS because it was the only attraction that appealed to families. Younger kids didn't want to ride TGMR and scenes like Alien would also frighten them. Star Tours has a height limit and has been around for ages. The options for families with little ones was seeing a show or riding Midway Mania.

By cutting of the film I mean the way they edited the original video. Jump cuts from location to location remind you that you're watching an IMAX movie from a hanging seat rather than truly there flying over these locations. I remember getting inside the ride area for the first time and being amazed how there was this giant blue screen, a flat concrete slab with guard rail, and the exposed mechanics. Its cool tech, but it feels like a prototype rather than a finished attraction.