Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
Your Star Trek preference incredibly ironic considering that your username is in fact 'Endor Sightseer'.
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Star Wars themed land announced for Disneyland
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Pam Hates Penguins
Well-Known Member
I don't mean to start a debate or anything, but Walt Disney would care. He would never leave his first theme park. He cared for it even if he was working on his Florida projects. I know if he were still around, he would not accept 14 acres dedicated to war in space in his Magic Kingdom. Think about it. Star Wars to me, is not Disney. It doesn't fit with this:
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Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
Yes, the facades were changed, a new ride was added, and some attractions were moved around, but Fantasyland, maybe with the exception of Main Street, is the one land that still has a majority of its opening day attractions still there, which is nice. The attractions that came after 1955 weren't outrageously out of place, unlike Tomorrowland's contemporary attractions, and fit in just right, including Matterhorn (yes, I know it was originally a Tomorrowland attraction). The newer facades fit the land much better than the tacky circus ones did and everything just flows nicely in Fantasyland.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
None of us know that, including you, but I understand what your point.
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
No one can know how he would feel about it. Maybe Walt would have been a huge Star Wars fan and wanted it in his park, or maybe he would have recognized how many people did want Star Wars in Ca, and brought it to please his guests, maybe he really would have hated it. And frankly, I don't really see why it matters at this point. He's been gone 50 years now. I can see the first few years after his death wanting to run Disneyland as you feel he would have, but at what point can we stop acting like the assumed viewpoint of a man who lived and died in the sixties in relevant today?
Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
Believe me when I say that, in the heyday of Potter, the merchandise was HUGE. Every kid I knew of that was a fan of it had things like plastic Harry Potter glasses, Harry Potter scarves, and Harry Potter Lego sets. They would also give out Harry Potter jelly beans and temporary lightning bolt tatoos at birthday parties. The fact is that I haven't seen or heard of stuff like that being sold outside Universal theme parks in many, many years. I said my statement because I SAW the popularity at its height and realized that it was mostly 1 or 2 generations fueling it as I and its fans got older. I remember seeing the Deatly Hallows Part 2 opening night and my then 10 year old cousin was one of the youngest people there. I'm not trying to say that there aren't any children who enjoy the franchise. You may have or know children that enjoy it and thats great. I know that the franchise will always have some sort of fame especially in book form, but I still stand by my observation that the franchise, while still having more pull than Avatar, never truly carried the multigenerational torch that franchises like Star Wars and Cars have. This is why I believe that it wasn't a good long term decision for Universal. From my experience, children now at least know of the franchise even if its just from pure name recognition. However, I don't think that name recognition will be as strong in 10-20 years. You don't have to fully agree with me, but I feel I'm coming from a viewpoint that, coming from my experience with Potter in everyday life, has at least some truth to it.
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Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
I think a big part of the merchandising success of Cars, has less to do with the popularity of the movie and more to do with the fact that most little kids like playing with toy cars. Not that Cars isn't popular, but I think even if it wasn't a movie, the merchandise would still do okay on its own. I also think that people enjoy Carsland because of how well it's done, and not because it's a replica of the movie.
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Not really sure how you can say that when -- under Walt's watch -- there was an entire land dedicated to gunslingin' cowboys (often going to battle with Indians), shooting games, development of an attraction dedicated to violent pirates, and a haunted house attraction in which guests witness someone who has committed suicide within its opening scene (I know Pirates and HM opened after his death, but they were well enough along the way beforehand).
Cowboys vs Indians and Pirates were about as close as you could get to a Star Wars in Walt's day and he had no problem featuring them prominently within his park.
Pam Hates Penguins
Well-Known Member
Well you never know. He was a very interesting person to know about. Sure, he's been gone for about 50 years, but that doesn't mean we forget what he would have done.
Most of Disneyland TODAY sticks to his assumed viewpoint. But a 14 acre land dedicated to war replacing Disneyland history?
Star Wars Land belongs at Universal Studios more than at Disneyland.
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dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Have you actually watched Star Wars? Very little of it is actually about war despite its title. It's a story about a hero's journey. It's a modern day fairy tale.
Pam Hates Penguins
Well-Known Member
Oh I agree. Not every attraction has to be happy. I mean..... I am fine with Pirates, the shooting games in Frontierland, The Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones. And Star Tours is fine with me. A theme park needs attractions that are scary. But a 14-acre land dedicated to WAR. Doesn't fly with me. I'm sorry.
Pam Hates Penguins
Well-Known Member
Yes I have. I know. But I just don't see how people in bathrobes and explosions in space fighting with lightsabers have anything to do with Disney.
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Lol, you are taking the title too seriously. Star Wars is not about war.
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
And for what it's worth... Walt already did have a significant plot of land literally dedicated to WAR.
http://www.yesterland.com/fortwilderness.html
From the Tom Sawyer Island brochure in 1956:
At the far end of Wilderness Road stands Fort Wilderness—the outpost of civilization. The time is the War of 1812…the United States flag has only 15 stars. Within the gates there is a Canteen and Trading Post—stocked with pelts, guns, knives, and Indian craft. In the Regimental Hdqrs., Davy Crockett and George Russell, U.S. Army Scouts, can be seen reporting to Maj. General Andrew Jackson during the Cherokee Indian Campaign. From the parapets and block houses can be seen the vast untamed American wilderness…the deer, moose, bear and wildlife of the primitive forest. Beyond the stockade are tepees…hostile Indians on the warpath. A settler’s cabin burns in the distance…mute evidence of a treacherous attack.
http://www.yesterland.com/fortwilderness.html
From the Tom Sawyer Island brochure in 1956:
At the far end of Wilderness Road stands Fort Wilderness—the outpost of civilization. The time is the War of 1812…the United States flag has only 15 stars. Within the gates there is a Canteen and Trading Post—stocked with pelts, guns, knives, and Indian craft. In the Regimental Hdqrs., Davy Crockett and George Russell, U.S. Army Scouts, can be seen reporting to Maj. General Andrew Jackson during the Cherokee Indian Campaign. From the parapets and block houses can be seen the vast untamed American wilderness…the deer, moose, bear and wildlife of the primitive forest. Beyond the stockade are tepees…hostile Indians on the warpath. A settler’s cabin burns in the distance…mute evidence of a treacherous attack.
Pam Hates Penguins
Well-Known Member
And for what it's worth... Walt already did have a significant plot of land literally dedicated to WAR.
http://www.yesterland.com/fortwilderness.html
From the Tom Sawyer Island brochure in 1956:
At the far end of Wilderness Road stands Fort Wilderness—the outpost of civilization. The time is the War of 1812…the United States flag has only 15 stars. Within the gates there is a Canteen and Trading Post—stocked with pelts, guns, knives, and Indian craft. In the Regimental Hdqrs., Davy Crockett and George Russell, U.S. Army Scouts, can be seen reporting to Maj. General Andrew Jackson during the Cherokee Indian Campaign. From the parapets and block houses can be seen the vast untamed American wilderness…the deer, moose, bear and wildlife of the primitive forest. Beyond the stockade are tepees…hostile Indians on the warpath. A settler’s cabin burns in the distance…mute evidence of a treacherous attack.
I said I am fine with minor things like that. I am fine with Star Tours as well. It's a good attraction. But Disneyland doesn't a 14-acre land of Star Wars. I actually don't mind Season of the Force. But STILL Disney is overusing Star Wars too much.
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Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
He was very interesting, and I enjoy learning about his history. But, I dont think we can ever presume to know what he would do if he were alive today. And to try and base decisions on that doesn't make much sense to me. The guns in Frontier land Shooting game used to shoot actual .22 caliber metal pellets. I can't imagine Walt having an issue with lightsabers.
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Pam Hates Penguins
Well-Known Member
That is not what I said.
VJ
Well-Known Member
Honestly, the "what would Walt do" thinking really irks me. The truth is, we don't know. We won't ever know. An Imagineer accidentally turned the top half of a Sleeping Beauty Castle model around and Walt decided, right then and there, that looked better than it did before and that's how the castle is built now. That's one of the best examples of his constantly changing opinion and mindset to me. I'm as much of a Walt fan as anyone, and I'd say I love him more than I do the company of today. I just don't think assuming what he would or would not say or do is a good way to express opinions, as more often than not it reads as projecting your opinions onto a man who's been dead for 50 years.
Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
True, but the only things that still have the direct Walt impact are Casey Jr., Storybook land, Its a Small World, and King Arthur's Carousel. Everything else was gutted and/or rebuilt in 1983. Because they did this, the WDW Peter Pan's Flight is technically the oldest one in existence.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
No, I wouldn't say that. Changes to a ride doesn't it make it new again. Disneyland's Pan is still considered the oldest.