Reimagineering the Classics

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

With the news of Tokyo possibly closing their Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room, and Railroad in favor of modern IP attractions, it sparked discussion on how clones of classic attractions are starting to be seen as a negative for Disney parks, especially overseas. That got me thinking- could you take the ideas of these classic attractions and reinvent them for a modern park while also keeping their spirit in tact? I was originally just going to propose this idea in my Ultimate Castle Park thread, but figured this a big enough idea to be its own discussion!

I’ve made some tiers based on how difficult I feel it would be to reimagine these into something that hits that balance of being modern but not completely removed from the original! For the sake of keeping it “classic”, I only included original attractions from before Eisner- the one exception being Alien Encounter, which I feel would be a challenging reimagining! You don’t have to pick something from here- these are just some ideas of what to reimagine!

Easy:

• Disneyland Railroad
• Autopia
• The Matterhorn Bobsleds
• PeopleMover
• The Haunted Mansion
• Space Mountain
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Medium:

• The Jungle Cruise
• Tom Sawyer Island
• Swiss Family Treehouse
• Submarine Voyage
• The Enchanted Tiki Room
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• The Country Bear Jamboree
• Journey into Imagination
• World of Motion
• Horizons
• Maelstrom

Hard:

• The Riverboats/Sailing Ship Columbia
• Flight to the Moon/Mission to Mars
• Mine Train Thru Nature’s Wonderland
• it’s a small world
• Carousel of Progress
• Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
• The Hall of Presidents
• America Sings
• Spaceship Earth
• ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter

Insanity:

• Aluminum Hall of Fame

And to mix it up, here are some optional Bonus Challenges:

• 100% Pure: Don’t add any IP- no Disney characters in Small World, Disney songs in the Country Bears, etc.!
• The Iger Special: The opposite of the last one- add a film IP to an attraction while also keeping the original characters! Think Small World, the Stitch Tiki Room, CBMJ, etc. Give guests some jangly keys to focus on!
• The Exorcist: Remove all IP from an IP ride and put something new in its bones- the unthinkable horror!
• Keep Moving Forward: Imagine a brand new type of technology or ride system for your attraction and build it around that.
• Reinvent the Wheel: Change the entire type of attraction the original is. Whether it be turning a dark ride into a trackless dark ride or a film attraction into a drop tower, mix it up!
• The New Guy in Town: Add a brand new character to the original cast, and make them fit!
• From A to E: Make a low tier attraction into an E-Ticket!

I’m excited to see what you all come up with!

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

My first brainstorm for this will be the Tiki Room! I have lots of ideas I think would be fun for a modern take on the classic, but given the time here on the east coast… I’ll start after I have a much needed (and always getting shorter and shorter) siesta.

 

[Brer Panther]

What if you moved the location of the Tiki Room from Polynesia to an African jungle? That way you'd still get to have all the birds.

Or you could have it in the Amazon. You wouldn't have to limit yourself to birds, you could have all sorts of South American fauna in the show.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Well, shoot. I had a big post I've been working on for a week typed out, and even though manually I clicked "save draft" every time I worked on it, when I loaded this page after a power outage, it's all gone. Refreshed a bunch too, never showed up.

I guess stay tuned for another week while I redo the Tiki Room reimagining!

 

[Miru]

Is Fantasmic eligible for a re-imagineering?

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Is Fantasmic eligible for a re-imagineering?

Sure, why not!

 

[Miru]

Sure, why not!

The reimagineered Fantasmic will incorporate more IPs, as well as continue the tradition of fantastical effects that one can only truly see at Disney. As night approaches, Fantasmic is about to begin, with the iconic Sorcerer Mickey sequence playing out, as footage of iconic Disney locales like Agrabah, Arendelle, Naboo, the Pride Lands, Halloween Town, Monstropolis, Tatooine, and more can be seen. Once the lyrics start, a kite of the Spring Sprite glides along the lake gracefully, even waving to the audience as she glides by. The next kite is Dory, floating along, followed by Jack Skellington, and lastly along comes Olaf, to symbolize the four seasons. The fifth kite is none other than Simba, who serves as the bridge into our next sequence.

The jungle sequence not only includes the huge Kaa and King Louie on his throne, but we also get Rafiki and Timon appearing alongside Baloo, when suddenly, emerging from the water, comes a kite of Sisu that glides across the water, as the music breaks into Hakuna Matata, and a large animatronic Simba rises, first as a cub, then as an adult, rising above the others as a vine slowly grows outward. Grinding his way down the vine is none other than Tarzan! The song changes to “Two Worlds” as he arrives, sliding along, with Terk following alongside Raya. Clips from Raya are played on the water alongside clips from A Bug’s Life. A massive Tantor puppet also appears, as Kaa backs away. Wakanda can also be seen projected on the water as everyone bows in reverence to a bust of Black Panther, as a nod to the late, great Chadwick Boseman.

Next segment is the Pink Elephants parade, where the Pink Elephants appear on stage dancing harmlessly, as more of them are projected on the water to surround Mickey with strange visuals. Water jets burst upward to show even more of them, as Mickey begins to dance alongside the colorful loxodonts, Powerline joining in from behind. As the Pink Elephants vanish, it turns into a Powerline concert, complete with “I2I” as Meilin Lee and her friends appear alongside Goofy and Max (and even Pinocchio) to dance along. At the end, Powerline, Goofy, and Max demonstrate the fishing line trick, leading into an aquatic sequence.

We start with Mickey surrounded by the Tank Gang from Finding Nemo, as the sharks arrive, leaving Bloat shaken at the sight, just as Bruce reminds him “Fish are friends, not food”, as they swim along, and a massive Mr. Ray kite swims by, with Luca and Alberto riding up to the stage on a Vespa, joining in the fun. Sebastian then appears, starting up “Under the Sea”, which is interrupted by a massive Monstro emerging out of the water, and about to get into a fight with the Leviathan from Atlantis the Lost Empire, Luca offering Mickey the Vespa to ride on and escape.

The Vespa escape lands Mickey onto a surfboard, where Stitch and company take a Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride, as we also see characters like Mike and Sulley surfing. Once that’s done, Mickey returns to shore where Doofenshmirtz appears, looking for Perry the Platypus before being interrupted by the firing of cannons. Here comes Captain Hook! The fight sequence is brought along when Peter Pan takes the brave plunge to help fight, with Doof fighting on Hook’s side as Perry shows up on Peter’s. The fight continues with stunts being pulled off constantly, to provide a thrilling show. A Tick-Tock puppet begins to emerge out of the water to Tinker Bell’s gesturing, ready to chase Hook away. After Hook is defeated, we then move on to Genie’s segment.

Genie has several hands surrounding him, and it looks like he’s brought the Muppets too, to help perform “Friend Like Me”, as the water shows various clips projected onto it from magical blasts. It turns into a mashup with “Can You Picture That” as they do so.

We then have Miss Piggy lead us into a “Never Before, Never Again” medley of various Disney couples. Then, we’re on Tatooine, right in time for a podrace!