MickeyWaffleCo.
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Um, there IS one problem. @JokersWild is working on Judge Doom attraction.View attachment 643683
Before getting into reviews, notes, etc. I just wanted to thank each of you again for joining @D Hulk and I on this journey. When mapping out the season and the challenges that lay ahead, our goal was to give the teams a bit of familiar, a bit new and others that had a mixture of familiar and new.
A Disney villains park is one of those ideas that is tossed, and tossed, and tossed around the armchair Imagineering community and the general Disney public at large whenever new park ideas are mentioned. The 2 parks dreamed up by @Outbound and @James G in Season 5 of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice were unique in that while the villain tropes were there, the depth of thought into each, was more than just Villain A, Villain B, and so on. When Hong Kong was bandied about as a potential site for challenges, Disney’s Dark Kingdom was too easy a choice considering it was dreamed up by one of our own, had a great template and vision with which to work, an already built in expansion plot, and what we hoped would be a great warmup round for vets and newbies alike to dip their toes into something new park wise, but still offer the world of Disney with which to work.
Disney’s Dark Kingdom was built on the core concept of Optimism vs Pessimism with the initial lands in the park an inversion in some fashion of HKDL’s lands. or those of other castle park lands. E-tickets abound in Dark Kingdom as well with many flat rides in place to keep some sense of balance. Let’s see how your Studios did capturing the pessimistic vibe and general structure of the park.
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Blight Reef
Touchstone Films, right off the bat, we saw great teamwork from this group. We purposefully gave teams a week and a half to get acquainted and allow ample time for brainstorming and creation, especially with this being a theme park land round. While there were contributions big and small, if I am not mistaken, there was contribution in some fashion by every team member to the initial brainstorming and final project itself. That type of structure is ideal in a team-based format like this. Even a bunch of small parts go a long way in filling out the end-to-end structure of a project, but let’s see how your “filming” went with all that cooperation.
In all honesty, Blight Reef was not a concept I expected, and you even anticipated next week’s Scene a bit here. I recall from working with @Outbound on this park during SA5, and while that expansion pad was there and blue-sky ideas for future expansion were mentioned, I was very curious what each Studio team would do.
Music and Artwork
Before we even get to the project, we are hit with not just a movie poster (amazing), land commercial (top notch) and specially created music (on point). While the writing, background and details still need to be good, this type of what I’ll call world building, is the kind of thing that can make a project come to life and help sell an idea. Kudos with these opening statements and getting me ready for your actual land. (And there’s still more great artwork to come!)
Presentation
A google site has become a go to for Imagineering projects, and in particular land expansions, which makes complete sense. Everything here is well laid out, organized, and broken up into the various sections. The opening page is perfect, we get our backstory into the land, updated map, and details on a 2nd park entry where you have accounted for the 2023 opening of Downtown Disney. I like that you have taken this non-IP backdrop and used it to set up both non-IP and IP attractions within this world. My only nitpicks here would have been an extra sentence or two tying Blight Reef into the overarching story of Dark Kingdom as was done with the original project for those lands. I am also not 100% sold on a 2nd entrance to the park. This is not a castle park, but it is in a sense with its inversions of many of the lands, and I think Jiu Cheng does a wonderful job setting up the park as its main street that would get lost here. Overall, though, still a well-done idea with the sea theming and transition.
Attractions
Fantastic detail and work all around on the attraction line up here. Everything here shows a great deal of care, thought and story. I know an uber detailed walk-through experience was included (and unexpected!) but considering the nature of the Lighthouse and Sunken City attractions, I think you could have gotten by with adding a 2nd flat ride of some sort here to partner up with Ursula’s Twisted Tentacles to even up the land’s lineup a bit. Since I am talking about Ursula’s here, no time like the present to bring up how great this artwork is!
The Eldritch Lighthouse makes for a perfect landmark with its land placement on the map and the very nature of the structure. The idea behind it is solid, and there is enough of a story there to make it interesting, but not so overwhelming for a ride system of this type. Perfect amount of detail with the queue, pre-show, ride stats (missing those on the other attractions?) and more leaving the Journey to the Sunken City to headline the land.
Fantastic level of detail with this attraction and original artwork to boot. As with the lighthouse, I like that you pushed the boundaries here and went for a unique type of ride system for the park but just in general. The work here in not just making this an original attraction, but just enough references so that it fits Hong Kong into the lore is great. Considering the issues Disney has had with attractions and multiple pre-shows (Rise and more recently Guardians), I would be curious to see how consistently this much pre-show would work in the real world, but nonetheless, great storytelling like the ride itself. Plenty of scene detail with the only thing missing being some type of ride layout, but you have done such a wonderful job describing the adventure and transitions, its something that could be left out.
Shopping & Dining
I love shopping and dining with land challenges like this. As important as the attractions are, themed offerings for guests complete themed lands of this type and in many cases put it over the top. All the choices here make sense, whether it be Cargo Gifts, or the on-point names in Chipwreck and The Shark’s Lair. Each is fitting for the land and detailed menus always go a long way in fleshing out the restaurants themselves. I think you could have gotten away with another paragraph for each of the restaurants to describe interiors, layout, etc. but overall, though, excellent job on these entries.
Top to bottom, this was a really solid project. As I brought up at the beginning, contributions from everyone which is the only way projects of this type get completed. A fitting entry for Disney’s Dark Kingdom!
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Mean Street
This was not an easy week for you all. We know there were a couple of folks we did not hear from this week, on top of a few real-world things that came up, severely limiting your “film crew” for the week. Thank you though to those that persevered and made yourselves available and did what you could.
First let’s dive into your land idea this round. You all were on to something with your Dark Toontown direction in Mean Street. There were several solid ideas that were considered, but you eventually settled on one that could be interesting, was a fit for the parks lore, and had enough familiarity for the team members that were available to give them a comfort level in building out the land.
Presentation and Artwork
Google docs is always a solid choice for projects of this type and scale with the straight-line organization it allows. I had a bit of a tough time reading this one with the background and font color choices but appreciate that you did not stick with the standard layout. I love the logo though! Great little extra for the project, and I assume a bit of a reference to Judge Doom (who was mentioned in your brainstorming for the land) with the eyes if I am not mistaken?
Attractions and Shops
With Beagle Boys Gifts, I love the irony and story of this store being that all the goods are stolen. A business only an e-bay pirate could love. The Beagle Boys are great villainous characters to include, but still with enough whimsical nature for all to enjoy. This was the perfect little shop for the land. The attractions included here in Baddy Break-in and The Lonesome Tower are both solid inclusions for the Mean Street narrative. The organization is there for both with the title, queue, and ride breakdowns. For each I would have loved to see at least one reference photo to help visualize the attractions, and a little more detail on the ride systems themselves, more so in the case of The Lonesome Tower.
Considering the attractions you have, a simple flat ride or two would have really helped round out the attraction lineup and brought the land overall more in line with what currently exists in Dark Kingdom. Again, I know a tough week for you all, but we know you all have great talents to bring to this competition. Hopefully, a smoother week lies ahead!
I'm sure in the future there will be an opportunity to use that concept - but the challenge is over, time to move on to the next one!Um, there IS one problem. @JokersWild is working on Judge Doom attraction.
@Disney Dad 3000 will post our group chat shortly - just hang tight for nowSorry. Were we supposed to talk as a group before posting?
Okay. Do remember that I am new, so mistakes will be made.@Disney Dad 3000 will post our group chat shortly - just hang tight for now
SCENE 2
Location: Hong Kong
Into the Deep
- THIS WEEK’S SHOT LIST -
Design a new theme park attraction and world-class exhibit for Ocean Park
You can visit Ocean Park here
View attachment 643725
Using the roughly 4 acres of land formerly occupied by the parks’ Wild West Mine Train and facilities within Adventureland, your Studios will be utilizing the unique space and location to create a new theme park attraction and exhibit. The land area does come with its challenges, but also the opportunity to create something truly memorable with its prominent location overlooking the Aberdeen Channel.
Your projects should meet the park’s goal of continuing to promote education and/or conservation, but for our purposes, also help replace the rides that were lost with the current redo of the park. The type of exhibit and attraction are entirely up to you but keep in mind existing exhibits and attractions currently located within the park.
This week's Guest Judges:
@Chaos Cat
@Outbound
@ThemeParkPriest
This Project is due Saturday June 11th at 11:59 PM EST
Time Zones
Walt Disney World- 11:59 PM
Disneyland Park - 8:59 PM
Disneyland Paris - 5:59 AM
Disneyland Tokyo - 12:59 PM
Hopefully he used up all his aquatic ideas in Blight Reef*quickly double-checks to make sure @PerGron is still on Touchstone Pictures*
Do you have a screenshot of this location with more context? I can’t seem to find it on the map.
Do you have a screenshot of this location with more context? I can’t seem to find it on the map.
Wow, new teams! I wish I was on a team with @Honey Bee (Rebooted) , though, I really want to work with her someday, but I’m glad to be with different teammates (I might miss old Touchstone)View attachment 643712
As indicated in the Awards post, we are making some slight adjustments to the Studio teams to make sure each team has enough coverage to account for various vacations, work and life schedules that we know can and already have popped up after 1 week. These are minor, but we hope will keep things balance season long on both teams. We also want to welcome in two new players in @The Excavator and @MagicKingdom4Ever to the competition!
View attachment 643703
@AceAstro
@Brer Oswald
@Brer Panther
@DisneyFan32
@Disney Warrior
@Henry Mystic
@MickeyWaffleCo.
@Miru
@PerGron
@Shannoninthemagic
View attachment 643704
@EmFromPlanetEarth
@FireMountain
@Honey Bee (Rebooted)
@JokersWild
@MagicKingdom4Ever
@MickeyMousketeer
@Tegan pilots a chicken
@The Excavator
@TheOriginalTiki
@spacemt354
It's the former site of Ocean Park's Mine Train. Can confirm from firsthand experience, the views are spectacular.
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