Rumor Pixar's Coco coming to the Mexico Pavilion

[RSoxNo1]

But it’s inappropriate for anything more than a seasonal overlay of that ride.

If they cared about fan buy in, they’d revert to El Rio and do a Coco overlay for the fall.

Why is Coco only relevant for a seasonal overlay? The plot of the movie is 100% culturally motivated. It would be as good a thematic fit as Maelstrom was to Norway and El Rio was to Mexico while also satisfying the movie IP mandate.

Gran Fiesta Tour is setting based and nothing more. There's nothing other than an accent and a stylized song that appropriately puts these characters in Mexico. Just because Three Caballeros is a better fit than Frozen in Norway doesn't mean it's a great fit.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Why is Coco only relevant for a seasonal overlay? The plot of the movie is 100% culturally motivated. It would be as good a thematic fit as Maelstrom was to Norway and El Rio was to Mexico while also satisfying the movie IP mandate.

Gran Fiesta Tour is setting based and nothing more. There's nothing other than an accent and a stylized song that appropriately puts these characters in Mexico. Just because Three Caballeros is a better fit than Frozen in Norway doesn't mean it's a great fit.

Would you want Haunted Mansion Holiday to run all year long? The fact is running a Dia de Los Muertos attraction year round is incredibly reductionist and lazy.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Would you want Haunted Mansion Holiday to run all year long? The fact is running a Dia de Los Muertos attraction year round is incredibly reductionist and lazy.

What if Dia de los Muertos is relegated to the "Fiesta Hoy" section and the finale and the rest of the ride features Miguel and his family in other situations?

 

[aladdin2007]

When I was in Mexico the other day, I kept thinking what a great lit scene they made in the front exhibit area with Miguel and all the candles. Just think how amazing that could be on a grand scale in the actual ride....

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Would you want Haunted Mansion Holiday to run all year long? The fact is running a Dia de Los Muertos attraction year round is incredibly reductionist and lazy.

Are you also upset that the Ratatouille ride focusses on a restaurant and doesn't also visit other small businesses in Paris like stationary stores, supermarkets, and fashion boutiques?

I think the misconception here is that Día de los Muertos is just a Mexican Halloween rather than something deeply woven into the culture. Even taking Mexican art as an example, the satirical calaveras (skulls and skeletons) produced by José Guadalupe Posada during the early-twentieth century to comment on politics and society were taken up following the Mexican Revolution and reinterpreted by artists such as Diego Rivera into icons such as the Calavera Catrina & the little everyday scenes featuring skeletons are popular artisanal souvenirs. All of this iconography is not just wheeled out once a year in Mexico, but is seen as representative of a distinctively Mexican culture and attitude to life and death. The overriding theme of Coco and any potential ride also speaks to cultural syncretism and a deep connection to ancestors which, again, has far more resonance in Mexican culture than Haunted Mansion Holiday does to anything.

Honestly, I think it's reductionist to see Día de los Muertos as akin to Halloween.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

What if Dia de los Muertos is relegated to the "Fiesta Hoy" section and the finale and the rest of the ride features Miguel and his family in other situations?

By the logic of the film and the holiday, the dead can only cross into the world of the living on Dia de Los Muertos.

Are you also upset that the Ratatouille ride focusses on a restaurant and doesn't also visit other small businesses in Paris like stationary stores, supermarkets, and fashion boutiques?

I think the misconception here is that Día de los Muertos is just a Mexican Halloween rather than something deeply woven into the culture. Even taking Mexican art as an example, the satirical calaveras (skulls and skeletons) produced by José Guadalupe Posada during the early-twentieth century to comment on politics and society were taken up following the Mexican Revolution and reinterpreted by artists such as Diego Rivera into icons such as the Calavera Catrina & the little everyday scenes featuring skeletons are popular artisanal souvenirs. All of this iconography is not just wheeled out once a year in Mexico. The overriding message also speaks to cultural syncretism and a deep connection to ancestors which, again, has far more resonance in Mexican culture than Haunted Mansion Holiday does to anything.

The Ratatouille ride is an inappropriate attraction for WS full stop.

El Rio Del Tiempo is a collage of Mexican history and culture. Gran Fiesta is a modified version of Rio that focuses on characters in Mexico. A Coco ride would be an unintentional message that the only important thing a Mexico pavilion could show about the country is one important holiday and minimize everything else which Mexican history and culture encompasses.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

I question the timing, also with everything coming out today I would just like to say I have 0 inside connections to the company.

That's exactly something someone who DOES have inside connections to the company would say!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That's exactly something someone who DOES have inside connections to the company would say!

That’s not really a “thing”...more of an internet legend

 

[Sir_Cliff]

A Coco ride would be an unintentional message that the only important thing a Mexico pavilion could show about the country is one important holiday and minimize everything else which Mexican history and culture encompasses.

The current ride is a travelogue starring Donald Duck, though. All the stuff about Mexican culture was chopped out when it was converted to Gran Fiesta Tour. I would be mightily surprised if many Mexican people found an attraction based around Coco and Día de los Muertos more dismissive of their culture than the current one.

It's all a moot point, anyway, as it doesn't look like it's going to happen. For the record, I actually don't mind Grand Fiesta Tour and the only real reason I can see that it's not more popular is its location. I enjoy it more than any of the Fantasyland dark rides, for example.

 

[GCTales]

Just rode Saturday and a few thoughts.

I think they did a great job with coco and dia de los muertos in the front of the pyramid.

I found the chasing of Donald around Mexico overwhelmed any cultural discussion / presentation that existed in the ride.

 

[brihow]

Would you want Haunted Mansion Holiday to run all year long? The fact is running a Dia de Los Muertos attraction year round is incredibly reductionist and lazy.

But the non-Holiday version of Haunted Mansion is still a ride about death from an American/Western European perspective. By this logic there is no reason a ride about death from a Mexican perspective can't exist....especially IN the Mexico pavillion.

Let's also bear in mind that the Frozen ride (next door) takes place in an imaginary country. At least Coco actually takes place in Mexico

 

[wannabeBelle]

I dont think that the Coco overlay was shelved from a creative or cultural stand point. I think it was a purely financial decision as in do something in this country or that one, but not both, and the UK won out. IIRC of course. Marie

 

[britain]

By the logic of the film and the holiday, the dead can only cross into the world of the living on Dia de Los Muertos.

The Ratatouille ride is an inappropriate attraction for WS full stop.

El Rio Del Tiempo is a collage of Mexican history culture. Gran Fiesta is a modified version of Rio that focuses on characters in Mexico. A Coco ride would be an unintentional message that the only important thing a Mexico pavilion could show about the country is one important holiday and minimize everything else which Mexican history and culture encompasses.

Eh, the real Germany wouldn't mind if you always associate it with Christmas.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

But the non-Holiday version of Haunted Mansion is still a ride about death from an American/Western European perspective. By this logic there is no reason a ride about death from a Mexican perspective can't exist....especially IN the Mexico pavillion.

Let's also bear in mind that the Frozen ride (next door) takes place in an imaginary country. At least Coco actually takes place in Mexico

By this logic, would you build The Haunted Mansion in The American Adventure?

Also, Frozen may not be the best barometer for what fits in World Showcase . . .

 

[FigmentJedi]

El Rio Del Tiempo is a collage of Mexican history culture. Gran Fiesta is a modified version of Rio that focuses on characters in Mexico. A Coco ride would be an unintentional message that the only important thing a Mexico pavilion could show about the country is one important holiday and minimize everything else which Mexican history and culture encompasses.

The problem with cultural collage attractions like both Tiempo and Maelstrom that ended up spelling their doom was the lack of focus on any one concept resulted in them becoming disjointed as their limited run times meant they couldn't really linger on any ideas. The Aztec mythology films only really get like a single line to make any sort of sense of people dancing around in ancient costumes and then it's off to Small World. Maelstrom ended up awkwardly throwing polar bears and oil rigs into a whirlwind Norse fantasy adventure. That's why World Showcase has so much focus on film, it's easier to do travelogue lectures that way.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

The problem with cultural collage attractions like both Tiempo and Maelstrom that ended up spelling their doom was the lack of focus on any one concept resulted in them becoming disjointed as their limited run times meant they couldn't really linger on any ideas. The Aztec mythology films only really get like a single line to make any sort of sense of people dancing around in ancient costumes and then it's off to Small World. Maelstrom ended up awkwardly throwing polar bears and oil rigs into a whirlwind Norse fantasy adventure. That's why World Showcase has so much focus on film, it's easier to do travelogue lectures that way.

I thought El Rio del Tiempo worked better than Maelstrom in that regard. It had a pretty linear storyline that mirrors how Mexican nationalism has generally been conceived since at least the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917). That is: Pre-Hispanic cultures, the mestizo (mixed) culture that developed during the colonial period, and then the modern Mexico of today (represented in the ride by beach resorts and Mexico City). Apart from the beach resort part (which may have been more salient in 1982), that's pretty much the story that gets told in Mexico and I thought they actually did a good job of explaining the importance of ancient cultures in that tunnel and then with the videos. After that, I can see that if you didn't know already what you were looking at that you might just see It's a Small World, then Acapulco, then fireworks, though!

Despite the mild thrills, Maelstrom always seemed a weaker attraction to me in terms of how it told an interesting and comprehensible story about Norway.

 

[marni1971]

If Coco was added to the current attraction in a kind of nod type way as opposed to the makeover plan I wouldn’t be totally surprised.

Just a thought.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

If Coco was added to the current attraction in a kind of nod type way as opposed to the makeover plan I wouldn’t be totally surprised.

Just a thought.

Similar to adding characters in IASW I can see it especially in the fiesta section of the ride per se?

 

[larryz]

By this logic, would you build The Haunted Mansion in The American Adventure?

Naw, but a Halloween overlay might spice it up a bit...

 

[larryz]

I thought El Rio del Tiempo worked better than Maelstrom in that regard. It had a pretty linear storyline that mirrors how Mexican nationalism has generally been conceived since at least the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917). That is: Pre-Hispanic cultures, the mestizo (mixed) culture that developed during the colonial period, and then the modern Mexico of today (represented in the ride by beach resorts and Mexico City). Apart from the beach resort part (which may have been more salient in 1982), that's pretty much the story that gets told in Mexico and I thought they actually did a good job of explaining the importance of ancient cultures in that tunnel and then with the videos. After that, I can see that if you didn't know already what you were looking at that you might just see It's a Small World, then Acapulco, then fireworks, though!

Good point. But they couldn't "keep it real" in today's climate -- Donald, Pancho and José are a lot more palatable than Acapulco dwindling away under the narcotrafficantes.