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So, You Want to be an Imagineer Season 20: The Final Frontier(Land) - An Invite Only All Stars Event!
- Thread starter TheOriginalTiki
- Start date
Alright, I want to start out by saying this round is definitely going to be a closer call than the first round. Both teams really pulled out the stops here in light of a very challenging early prompt. I find this to be a really interesting dynamic we find ourselves in, as Eisner clearly had more of a grasp on the Weird Al side of the prompt whereas I would argue that Chapek's actual ride...while light on the Al, is brimming with a lot of really cool ideas. Ultimately I'm at a point where I really don't know where I'm leaning.
We'll start with Team Eisner. On a presentation level, this was obviously fantastic. I love the continued push into different forms of multimedia the game takes and this was no exception. I want to shout out @OSUPhantom in particular. Last round Brer Panther really came out of his shell and came out guns blazing, and I can say the same thing about OSU this round. Truly some wonderful team work on his part along with Monkey's very diplomatic leadership style that went a long way.
As I said, it's pretty clear this team as a whole really gets Weird Al, and from front to bottom you can feel the love. Brocoli Al is instantly iconic, and I love how self aware the vibe of the ride is with its reputation of being dry and boring. I also give Disney Dad a lot of kudos for blessing us with those awesome vocals. The couple times he flubs up the lyrics only adds to the comedy and in general I think the song parodies were fantastic with Float Along the Plants being an incredible anchor.
I do have a couple issues. My most notable thing to point out is that I do think the ridethrough relied too much on the back and forth between the narrator and Al, which would make re-rides really tedious once you've heard Al's well written dad joke responses once or twice. I absolutely respect that this is a hard attraction to spice up and the stuff you do add in like the Food Rocks cameos really do come to life, I just think a bit too much of this is static with not a ton of change going on outside of puns.
To contrast this, Team Chapek has almost the exact opposite problem. While a Toon Town Haunted Mansion has already been done as a prompt, I absolutely adore the addition of the forgotten characters. Where Eisner's ride through falls flat, I think yours shines. There's just a crazy amount of detail and homage here, and honestly not a ton of it is really that outside the realm of possibility for stuff Disney would actually do. My personal favorite detail in the whole thing is Alameda Slim and Pecos Bill as the dueling portraits. That is just too perfect. I think the show scenes flowed very well. Hell Hall is a great callback that I'm sure would be super popular with the Florida crowd, and Fantasia is a great fit for the Leotta scene though I'm not sure of the inclusion of Mickey as her replacement. I think Clarabelle dishing out ghostly gossip perhaps would have worked a bit better.
The last couple scenes really shine. While the attraction is a bit light on Al, the Toy Barn idea and tying him into that was awesome and him essentially being the Hatbox Ghost of the overlay does work pretty well. The graveyard scene is really fantastic. I would have loved more detail on which Superstar Limo celebrities you'd use as the boo ghosts because I think that idea is hilarious. I just love how much like the original attraction this builds from small cameos to full on Roger Rabbit finale bursts of different cartoon crossovers. The broken hitchhiking ghost effect is both the funniest gag and also perhaps the most unrealistic that Disney would actually do haha.
God, I really am torn here. I think Team Chapek really did have a Lemons into Lemonade moment since it was pretty clear the subject matter wasn't any of their strong suits. While the presentation style and actual homages to Al are stronger with Eisner, i really do think Chapek had the better of the two ride-throughs. This is going to be a CLOSE round and I'm super curious and excited to hear what my fellow judges have to say. Awesome work, everyone!
We'll start with Team Eisner. On a presentation level, this was obviously fantastic. I love the continued push into different forms of multimedia the game takes and this was no exception. I want to shout out @OSUPhantom in particular. Last round Brer Panther really came out of his shell and came out guns blazing, and I can say the same thing about OSU this round. Truly some wonderful team work on his part along with Monkey's very diplomatic leadership style that went a long way.
As I said, it's pretty clear this team as a whole really gets Weird Al, and from front to bottom you can feel the love. Brocoli Al is instantly iconic, and I love how self aware the vibe of the ride is with its reputation of being dry and boring. I also give Disney Dad a lot of kudos for blessing us with those awesome vocals. The couple times he flubs up the lyrics only adds to the comedy and in general I think the song parodies were fantastic with Float Along the Plants being an incredible anchor.
I do have a couple issues. My most notable thing to point out is that I do think the ridethrough relied too much on the back and forth between the narrator and Al, which would make re-rides really tedious once you've heard Al's well written dad joke responses once or twice. I absolutely respect that this is a hard attraction to spice up and the stuff you do add in like the Food Rocks cameos really do come to life, I just think a bit too much of this is static with not a ton of change going on outside of puns.
To contrast this, Team Chapek has almost the exact opposite problem. While a Toon Town Haunted Mansion has already been done as a prompt, I absolutely adore the addition of the forgotten characters. Where Eisner's ride through falls flat, I think yours shines. There's just a crazy amount of detail and homage here, and honestly not a ton of it is really that outside the realm of possibility for stuff Disney would actually do. My personal favorite detail in the whole thing is Alameda Slim and Pecos Bill as the dueling portraits. That is just too perfect. I think the show scenes flowed very well. Hell Hall is a great callback that I'm sure would be super popular with the Florida crowd, and Fantasia is a great fit for the Leotta scene though I'm not sure of the inclusion of Mickey as her replacement. I think Clarabelle dishing out ghostly gossip perhaps would have worked a bit better.
The last couple scenes really shine. While the attraction is a bit light on Al, the Toy Barn idea and tying him into that was awesome and him essentially being the Hatbox Ghost of the overlay does work pretty well. The graveyard scene is really fantastic. I would have loved more detail on which Superstar Limo celebrities you'd use as the boo ghosts because I think that idea is hilarious. I just love how much like the original attraction this builds from small cameos to full on Roger Rabbit finale bursts of different cartoon crossovers. The broken hitchhiking ghost effect is both the funniest gag and also perhaps the most unrealistic that Disney would actually do haha.
God, I really am torn here. I think Team Chapek really did have a Lemons into Lemonade moment since it was pretty clear the subject matter wasn't any of their strong suits. While the presentation style and actual homages to Al are stronger with Eisner, i really do think Chapek had the better of the two ride-throughs. This is going to be a CLOSE round and I'm super curious and excited to hear what my fellow judges have to say. Awesome work, everyone!
Lizzy May Bee
Well-Known Member
So given Tiki’s profile picture I assume Avatar is actually coming in to the gameplay for round 3, either that or it’s about some other blue people. So with that in mind I can’t wait for the Blue Man group prompt
Tiki won’t drop prompt 3 yet,…
“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
Thank you, Tiki!! We really did put a lot into this, especially once we had the collective light bulb go off.
monkey92514
Well-Known Member
Misread for a sec as "DAIRY"
spacemt354
Chili's
Just wanted to make one more quick note about Team Chapek. I absolutely get the mentality of going for the concept you went with for the sake of everyone on the team being accessible with it, and your inclusion of Weird Al while not nearly as prominent as the other team's project was definitely memorable. With that said, I actually think ya'll sold yourselves short in the brainstorming. I ADORED the concept you came up with for Soarin' Over Lame Locations and think that concept would have just straight up NAILED Al's sense of humor. Like I said, I appreciate that The Haunted Mansion is more accessible and you came up with a really great project regardless, but in the future I'd really like to see this team branch out and take routes that might be a bit riskier. 
Just wanted to make one more quick note about Team Chapek. I absolutely get the mentality of going for the concept you went with for the sake of everyone on the team being accessible with it, and your inclusion of Weird Al while not nearly as prominent as the other team's project was definitely memorable. With that said, I actually think ya'll sold yourselves short in the brainstorming. I ADORED the concept you came up with for Soarin' Over Lame Locations and think that concept would have just straight up NAILED Al's sense of humor. Like I said, I appreciate that The Haunted Mansion is more accessible and you came up with a really great project regardless, but in the future I'd really like to see this team branch out and take routes that might be a bit riskier.
It really would have been hilarious
spacemt354
Chili's
Except for people who live in Arkansas
Heck, this song is practically a blueprint for a "Soarin' Over Lame Locations" experience. 
Lizzy May Bee
Well-Known Member
Honestly that would be a bold new direction to take the competition and I’d respect it
Heck, this song is practically a blueprint for a "Soarin' Over Lame Locations" experience.
I’d actually like to visit all the locations he lists in the bridge.
Bedrock City would absolutely HAVE to be a locationI’d actually like to visit all the locations he lists in the bridge.
With the two teams split up, things instantly turned chaotic. While @PerGron thought the idea of living with the Water Tribe (trademark Nickelodeon) would be great given his background with animals, wackiness ensued as he realized being a zookeeper didn’t mean he could keep his team from being drowned!
PerGron: I had fun writing my E-Ticket but personally I didn’t even think it was that great. There were definitely moments of me being busy that I couldn’t answer questions and whatnot that made me a little mad that I couldn’t be there for the team.
PerGron: I had fun writing my E-Ticket but personally I didn’t even think it was that great. There were definitely moments of me being busy that I couldn’t answer questions and whatnot that made me a little mad that I couldn’t be there for the team.
@Disney Dad 3000 found himself enjoying a more low-key role within the team while still actively trying to contribute to the overall picture. Due to a scheduling conflict he had gotten separated from Team Eisner for a day.
DisneyDad: I spent a chunk of time on some stuff that got overshadowed just because of the sheer volume of our project. I would've liked to have taken an attraction that round, but they all got taken on a day I was traveling. I usually try not to let myself get phased out of a prompt and not help.
This was @OSUPhantom’s first Imagineering mission in a long time, and he felt somewhat overwhelmed by all the generational changes that had taken place since he’d last participated in this storied craft.
OSU: When I last played it was just text and visuals so including music playlists, websites, etc was definitely an adjustment. Passion and creativity builds and snowballs so it's always good to have that.
@Basketbuddy on the other hand, was not feeling the heat. Having built up a bag of tricks in his time away from Armchair Imagineering, he felt comfortable sitting back and waiting for the right moment to shine.
Basketbuddy: As crazy as it sounds, I do believe I'm in my prime as far as my overall skills go. I didn’t really press my foot too hard on the gas pedal for this one as far as concept art is concerned, and I don’t think it was especially needed this round. I don’t think it was necessary for me to impose my will in any meaningful way, at least not right this minute.
@AceAstro took a moment to assess PerGron’s leadership to himself through the first leg of their treacherous journey.
Ace: We all know his insane skill level, he just made it clear he brought his A-game from moment one.
@Pi on my Cake felt comfortable in the middle of the social dynamics of Team Eisner, and instead set his sights briefly on someone from his team who was in the spotlight and someone from the opposing team who was being underestimated.
Pi: PerGron came out the gate swinging and did some amazing work, but it feels less like putting a target on his back and more just being very excited about the project. I think Bee is being underestimated a bit. They have a real spark to their work. Just because Bee hasn't been writing 20 page essays for every project doesn't negate the fact that they do incredible stuff.
Meanwhile, across the way with the encouragement of Tegan and Space, @Lizzy May Bee was struggling to lead her team through the rain forest as the first leg of their treacherous journey.
Lizzy: I don’t think I did great, I probably would’ve been more comfortable doing it in a later round.
Tegan: I’m happy to be in the position of being someone everyone looks to as a leader. We have a solid core of creative folks who all contributed to the first project so we just have to keep that up. If we lose another team member after the next round it might be time to get a little worried.
Brer Panther ended up being one of the folks on Team Chapek to take charge of the situation, commissioning some of their awesome artwork in exchange for a map that set them on a better path for the rain forest.
Space: If Brer is passionate about something it comes out really well. The goal is just to find something each round that he is passionate about.
Approaching the entrance to the rain forest, Shannon was able to lead their team at the last minute using clues she’d picked up on from a tribal chant that was happening on the outskirts of the camp. While most people on the team were a bit unfamiliar with the stylings of the performer doing the chant, Shannon knew exactly who it was. Tegan took a minute to admire her team-mate’s skills.
Tegan: They have their own niche specialties, and if they make it to the end game with an open ended prompt, they might just surprise everybody! Plus they are very fun to have around in the game which makes them not at all a target.
Upon reaching the entrance to the camp, the chant came to an end. The shaman delivering the chant greeted the team. He was an impossibly tall and intimidating Na’vii, with long flowing curly brown hair. A dorky smile on his face put everyone at ease. They saw the Hawaiian shirt this legendary sage was wearing, and they instantly knew.
“What’s going on guys! I’m Weird Al Yankovic. I just happen to be the leader of the Rainforest Cafe Tribe. I dunno, some guy named Jacob went off to go find some water rides or something and left me in charge. Wanna go see Tracey the Tree!!”
Team Eisner lasted in the Water Tribe for about…ten seconds, much to the delight of Bully Sokka (cousin of Bully McGuire…a character way MIGHT be meeting later on in this story) who spent the entirety of his limited screen time acting like a stereotypical bully and living up to his namesake, all while being a big class clown along the way.
With the entire team drowned, they woke up in their human bodies in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the Pandora rain forest, realizing that they’d been in Avatar bodies the entire time.
“Face forward, fellow Armchair Imagineers” said a commanding green female figure. “We’ve got an important mission"
“Woah, calm down” came the silky smooth voice of a blue furry monster. “Name’s Sully. James Sully. That’s Gamora."
Gamora dropped her serious tone for a second a cracked a smile: "We're here to rescue you.”
DisneyDad: I have an irrational crush on Zoe Saldana, even when she's green.
OSU: How potent was that edible I took last night?!!?!
DisneyDad: I spent a chunk of time on some stuff that got overshadowed just because of the sheer volume of our project. I would've liked to have taken an attraction that round, but they all got taken on a day I was traveling. I usually try not to let myself get phased out of a prompt and not help.
This was @OSUPhantom’s first Imagineering mission in a long time, and he felt somewhat overwhelmed by all the generational changes that had taken place since he’d last participated in this storied craft.
OSU: When I last played it was just text and visuals so including music playlists, websites, etc was definitely an adjustment. Passion and creativity builds and snowballs so it's always good to have that.
@Basketbuddy on the other hand, was not feeling the heat. Having built up a bag of tricks in his time away from Armchair Imagineering, he felt comfortable sitting back and waiting for the right moment to shine.
Basketbuddy: As crazy as it sounds, I do believe I'm in my prime as far as my overall skills go. I didn’t really press my foot too hard on the gas pedal for this one as far as concept art is concerned, and I don’t think it was especially needed this round. I don’t think it was necessary for me to impose my will in any meaningful way, at least not right this minute.
@AceAstro took a moment to assess PerGron’s leadership to himself through the first leg of their treacherous journey.
Ace: We all know his insane skill level, he just made it clear he brought his A-game from moment one.
@Pi on my Cake felt comfortable in the middle of the social dynamics of Team Eisner, and instead set his sights briefly on someone from his team who was in the spotlight and someone from the opposing team who was being underestimated.
Pi: PerGron came out the gate swinging and did some amazing work, but it feels less like putting a target on his back and more just being very excited about the project. I think Bee is being underestimated a bit. They have a real spark to their work. Just because Bee hasn't been writing 20 page essays for every project doesn't negate the fact that they do incredible stuff.
Meanwhile, across the way with the encouragement of Tegan and Space, @Lizzy May Bee was struggling to lead her team through the rain forest as the first leg of their treacherous journey.
Lizzy: I don’t think I did great, I probably would’ve been more comfortable doing it in a later round.
Tegan: I’m happy to be in the position of being someone everyone looks to as a leader. We have a solid core of creative folks who all contributed to the first project so we just have to keep that up. If we lose another team member after the next round it might be time to get a little worried.
Brer Panther ended up being one of the folks on Team Chapek to take charge of the situation, commissioning some of their awesome artwork in exchange for a map that set them on a better path for the rain forest.
Space: If Brer is passionate about something it comes out really well. The goal is just to find something each round that he is passionate about.
Approaching the entrance to the rain forest, Shannon was able to lead their team at the last minute using clues she’d picked up on from a tribal chant that was happening on the outskirts of the camp. While most people on the team were a bit unfamiliar with the stylings of the performer doing the chant, Shannon knew exactly who it was. Tegan took a minute to admire her team-mate’s skills.
Tegan: They have their own niche specialties, and if they make it to the end game with an open ended prompt, they might just surprise everybody! Plus they are very fun to have around in the game which makes them not at all a target.
Upon reaching the entrance to the camp, the chant came to an end. The shaman delivering the chant greeted the team. He was an impossibly tall and intimidating Na’vii, with long flowing curly brown hair. A dorky smile on his face put everyone at ease. They saw the Hawaiian shirt this legendary sage was wearing, and they instantly knew.
“What’s going on guys! I’m Weird Al Yankovic. I just happen to be the leader of the Rainforest Cafe Tribe. I dunno, some guy named Jacob went off to go find some water rides or something and left me in charge. Wanna go see Tracey the Tree!!”
Team Eisner lasted in the Water Tribe for about…ten seconds, much to the delight of Bully Sokka (cousin of Bully McGuire…a character way MIGHT be meeting later on in this story) who spent the entirety of his limited screen time acting like a stereotypical bully and living up to his namesake, all while being a big class clown along the way.
With the entire team drowned, they woke up in their human bodies in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the Pandora rain forest, realizing that they’d been in Avatar bodies the entire time.
“Face forward, fellow Armchair Imagineers” said a commanding green female figure. “We’ve got an important mission"
“Woah, calm down” came the silky smooth voice of a blue furry monster. “Name’s Sully. James Sully. That’s Gamora."
Gamora dropped her serious tone for a second a cracked a smile: "We're here to rescue you.”
DisneyDad: I have an irrational crush on Zoe Saldana, even when she's green.
OSU: How potent was that edible I took last night?!!?!
OSUPhantom
Well-Known Member
ThemeParkPriest
Well-Known Member
I wish I could say Disney Dad was the one flubbing up in the songs, but that was me! Glad I could provide some comedic value. I did have a lot of fun singing somewhat like Weird Al (and writing the lyrics on a few of the songs).
I’ve been to Bedrock City…twice! The second time, my mom said, “We may have just thrown our money out the window.”Bedrock City would absolutely HAVE to be a location
Same and same