For sure.That’s part of what bugs me most of all - the hubris that they could improve both on Splash and PATF.
Which might fail. Even if this is tied to the new Tiana series coming to D+, most won’t ever watch that vs those that know and enjoy the movie.For sure.
The script in the form of the film was handed to them.
But no... They're smarter than that.
They're tossing that aside and coming up with what they believe today's audiences want.
Hot sauce in a popcorn bucketTaking bets on whether the “missing ingredient” turns out to be “soul” and/or “love”
Exactly. I go to theme parks to ride the movies. This sounds like the sort of thing they used to release direct to video, not put in the parks.For the story they're creating, Tiana and her movie don't really seem all that necessary.
You could have the same plot and setting without the specific inclusion of Tiana, Naveen, Louis etc. They're already making original music and other characters for it.
Exactly. I go to theme parks to ride the movies. This sounds like the sort of thing they used to release direct to video, not put in the parks.
Except fan fiction pulls inspiration from the source material. This is somehow worse than that.The backstory does read like bad fan fiction.
Hallmark movie the ingredient would be love.Taking bets on whether the “missing ingredient” turns out to be “soul” and/or “love”
It’s hard to believe it’s this bad. I could have come up with a better backstory all by my lonesome. I swear they are trolling the Splash fans with the hot sauce deal.The backstory does read like bad fan fiction.
This goes back to my point that I’ve not yet seen any indication that WDI’s best and brightest are working on this. There’s a deft way to weave a message (or messages) within a compelling narrative. Other than a grab bag of laudable goals, it’s very unclear to see how this presents a compelling narrative within the parameters of the existing ride structure.The backstory does read like bad fan fiction.
Taking bets on whether the “missing ingredient” turns out to be “soul” and/or “love”
Just reading that thing, you can imagine the levels of focus grouping that every element of that backstory went through to try and please everyone.
-She's a capitalist...but she gives back to her community!
-She's a strong, independent woman...but she also lets her employees co-own and help run the business!
-People might complain that Louisiana doesn't have mountains...let's invent an overly-elaborate salt mine backstory!
-People, understandably, didn't like how Tiana was a frog for most of the movie...let's keep a rigid sequel timeline so we can't bring back Facilier or Ray!
-People, understandably, want the first black princess to be a good role model...let's give her an additional 1,200 businesses to run since just the one from the movie, which she fought to open in the middle of the Jim Crow-era, might not be feminist enough.
Guys...just send us through the environments from the film but keep Tiana human this time. This didn't need to be hard. You didn't feel the need to give an overly-elaborate backstory to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Frozen Ever After.
I think the (poor) decision to replace Splash was PR driven, but the attraction story and components are likely imagineering. I cannot give them a pass on that.I’m still going to give imagineering the benefit of the doubt. This must be PR driven and not imagineering given the topics they’ve chosen to focus on. PR isn’t motivated by our experience, it’s the company’s image that is their priority.
Their PR has been odd for a while now. They have been reactionary and sometimes actively hostile towards fans and some news websites. They’ve been unable to navigate any controversy without alienating large swaths of fans and creating enemies. It’s just one misstep after another.
Again, some of our greatest works of art manage to balance multiple meta commentaries and do so within a compelling narrative. It can be done. It has been done with diverse casts. It just feels like this was workshopped to death to include those things you list, AND tie it in to a try to be released D+ series, AND had to hew to an existing and difficult to reengineer ride system.I'm reminded of The Simpsons' "Poochie" episode, where they try so hard to please everyone and check a bunch of boxes that they come up with something undeniably lame.
Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.