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News Splash Mountain retheme to Princess and the Frog - Tiana's Bayou Adventure
- Thread starter wdwmagic
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Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
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And with a slashed budget by the end, no doubt.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Star Wars? I'm a huge fan of the franchise and think it had and still could have enormous potential to be an amazing themed environment in the proper hands and with the right execution and environments/characters. But I found the majority of the entire land and its rides largely a massive disappointment.
ROTR in particular feels ridiculously dull, sterile and empty to me. The decision to contain to to an imperial-looking spaceship I believe was a huge mistake. There are lots of fantastic locations and character designs in the Star Wars franchise (something the prequels in particular excelled at in spite of their shortcomings in other areas). The insides of Star Wars spaceships in general are some of the least visually interesting parts. They can work in the context of a movie narrative (for showcasing an oppressive technological and villainous atmosphere or as a setting for lightsaber duels), but even then only when properly evened out and offset with much more interesting and organic environments and characters. Of all the locations from the SW movies, these sterile imperial type environments were not among the locations I was interested in actually visiting. Not to mention I was hoping to see tons of animatronic figures for the many fantastical alien designs the franchise is known for. Then again, that would require a quantity of animatronics that hasn't been allowed in new attractions for decades.
None of the scenery comes close to this-
And while I still prefer Splash Mtn by a considerable margin to ANY ride created in the US since, I do think RSR and Cars Land are quite great in their own right. Infinitely better Star Wars Land. I also think Pandora is much better than SW GE (though it's more a comment on Pandora as a land, the main E ticket simulator was extremely disappointing and I actually preferred Navi River, which has its shortcomings as well).
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George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Rise of the Resistance is the hallway ride. Galaxy Edge is a big boring desolate corner of the park with nothing fun to do. It seems to have been a curse on Disneyland.
I prefer Splash Mountain (both versions), Pandora and both Avatar rides as well.
I prefer Splash Mountain (both versions), Pandora and both Avatar rides as well.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
I could see Mr. Bluebird staying as a tribute in the revised ride.
Of the 5 characters actually from SotS, one would think he is the least offensive.
Of the 5 characters actually from SotS, one would think he is the least offensive.
Homemade Imagineering
Well-Known Member
thinking about it more, I don’t know how they could get rid of the animatronics on the showboat. I mean, there’s nothing else to fill the space with besides new animatronics, so really if they remove the animatronics from the showboat it’ll just make them look super cheap. I’d imagine they’ll add a Tiana AA and Naveen AA waving at the guests among the current AAs on the showboat
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
That assumes the boat is staying.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Most of the figures and visuals featured in the ride are not from SotS, which means in theory they could all still be included.
However, there's no guarantee that most or any will stay.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
The figures from America Sings already had designs that made most of them blend in naturally with SotS characters. Similarly, it would be possible to reuse them (some only needing a change of clothing, not even reskinned) as background characters for, say, a Robin Hood ride. Or the Isle of Naboombu from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Again similarly exaggerated anthropomorphic character shapes.
Princess and the Frog's animal designs are completely different. The animals are much more realistically sized and shaped. Even when Tiana and Naveen are transformed into frogs, they're extremely tiny and look nothing like any of the frog figures used in Splash Mtn. The birds used in PATF are also smaller and based on more realistic animal designs (still cartoony, but no longer really anthropomorphic). The only animal in the movie that really bucks this trend is Louis (fireflies are probably too tiny to count and likely won't be animatronics anyways). And they even essentially give a plot explanation for why, he learned to stand and walk in a bipedal position because he wants to be a human and play the trumpet with other human jazz musicians (other humans even mistake him for a person wearing a costume while he's upright). Even still, he's about the right size of a real alligator and he's recognized as such when he gets on all fours to scare everyone. As I said, it might be possible to reuse parts from a Brer Bear figure for Louis.
However, it would look quite ridiculous for Tiana and Naveen to be on a riverboat surrounded by 4-5 foot tall bipedal chickens and pigs (or the dogs and cats exclusive to Disneyland's version).
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MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I heard a possible proposed budget. I'm very likely not supposed to share it (a handful of other people here including @Animaniac93-98 and @the.dreamfinder etc probably know this by now as well). And it could always change. Hopefully so, though I more hope this project is thrown in the trash outright. But if it remains relatively accurate by final approval (or somehow manages to get even worse), then be very afraid because its far worse than even I was expecting.
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Homemade Imagineering
Well-Known Member
Wow, this is worrisome. I don’t think Disney will stoop to the lowest level like they did with the incredicoaster, so I really hope they don’t fabricate a bunch of fiberglass statues of the characters like they did for the incredicoaster. This also worries me about animatronic removal, since I’d assume they would remove a handful to save maintenance costs
Giss Neric
Well-Known Member
They better be playing this song before the final drop. That would be epic.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I also imagine Disney sees this as an opportunity to lessen the burden of maintaining all those audio-animatronic figures. I doubt they'll be trying to keep as many as possible, but rather seeing what scenery and effects they can put in to replace them.
As for the possibility of a New Orleans Square-style new land, I also can't imagine the budget extends that far or that they would see it as worthwhile. I do think they will have to re-theme the buildings around the queue in the area behind the railway station. Kind of a shame, to be honest, as I like the theming and the music around that part of the park.
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LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I don’t believe the term is used in official Disney announcements anyway.
InnKpr
Well-Known Member
I agree the characters look cheap, but sadly enough, that's still considered an "upgrade" from the former California Screamin' theme of track & beams.
I've always argued that creating a land themed to carnivals & piers was a terrible idea for Disney's standards from the get-go, making it hard to level up to theming/ambiance we expect from the Mouse, even when upgrades are added.
MythBuster
Active Member
That would never work.
1. It block access from Gate 3, it is the main road for supplies and equipment for Main Street, Jungle Cruise, Pirates and the rest of Adventureland including Splash, Big Thunder, and the parades.
2. It would block all the Splash Mountain maintenance access.
3. It would go right by the AVAC bldg and no matter how you would re-theme it, that place still stinks.
4. The big building behind Splash is for Parade Storage and Maintenance, so maybe get rid of the parade floats?
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Back in 2014, PhotoDave219 (who used to post here and was often a good source of information) stated that Frozen at Epcot was approved at $75 million (after a significant 40% cut apparently). I believe this included the ride along with new restrooms and meet & greet facilities. I don't know how much was spent on the ride itself, but one would think a significant portion. Perhaps $50 million, though someone who knows the exact amount can clarify. The reason I bring this up is to give some perspective about what that budget gets you in the modern era. A very small handful of somewhat advanced face-projected AA's, and a lot of barren corridors with projections on the walls.Wow, this is worrisome. I don’t think Disney will stoop to the lowest level like they did with the incredicoaster, so I really hope they don’t fabricate a bunch of fiberglass statues of the characters like they did for the incredicoaster. This also worries me about animatronic removal, since I’d assume they would remove a handful to save maintenance costs
The original Splash Mountain at Disneyland by contrast also had a reported budget of $75 million. Most animatronics were reused, but they still had to create an entirely new building, ride system, scenery etc etc. It was still a very expensive attraction for the time, but imagineering was far less bloated and much much better at managing costs back then.
I'm not sure what the budgets for WDW and Tokyo Splash Mtn were. They share similarities but largely have very different and more detailed scenery, a somewhat different ride system, and a handful of more advanced AA's (though slightly fewer in quantity). Regardless of the version though, if modern Disney were to gut and replace most of the interior Splash Mtn scenes with the same amount of quality scenery and number of AA's (assuming their creative teams even have the capacity to do so anymore), it would still likely cost at least 3-4 times more than the original's $75 million.
WDW Pro (whose source was correct about Splash Mtn and other attractions being looked at for overhauls several weeks ago) has thrown out $50 million for this PATF overhaul. I don't know if this was an assumption, or a number shared by the source, but I assume it was the latter. That in and of itself is a pathetic amount. That's comparable to what I ballparked for the Frozen ride, but stretched far thinner due to Splash Mtn being an immensely longer ride with far more scenes to have to deal with.
The alleged budget I saw was even lower... Which is a disaster if true, but honestly either of these amounts is absolutely unacceptable. Even with the best and brightest creatives involved (assuming there's even anyone left at the company who could match Tony Baxter and the original Splash Mtn team), doing justice to the original scenery detail and animatronics in Splash Mtn would require a budget of several hundred million.
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Panchito Pistoles
Member
BEGUN, THE CHAPEK WAR HAS.
the.dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
It’s waay lower than FEA or Mission:BREAKOUT.
Money would be better spent on actual anti-racist initiatives. Perhaps the money could be spent lobbying for mandatory K-16 Slavery/Anti-Racism education in the states where Disney has a major presence like California, Connecticut, Florida, and New York. Not unlike the mandatory Holocaust education programs that already exist in said states.
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