And Disneyland has a land where The Lion King would fit like a glove. It wouldn't be shoehorned in with some flimsy excuse of a "story".
Or... maybe there doesn't have to be a Lion King celebration at all?
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News "The Lion King" celebration coming to Disney California Adventure
- Thread starter VJ
- Start date
Or... maybe there doesn't have to be a Lion King celebration at all?
I’m also guessing that executives are looking at from two ways:
-Paradise Gardens festivals (which I assume this will be one) have been massively successful (Viva Navidad, Coco, Lunar New Year) they probably want one this summer.
-Thers a lion king movie coming out this summer, the soundtrack is super popular, we have a wildly suscessful broadway and theme park show on the other coast (that we can borrow costumes and ideas from them) and after highlighting Hispanic and Asian performers with other festivals we can now highlight African American performers. Win, win, win.
-Reads report from PR that the internet still isn’t happy...F-it next time it’s just going to be another 4D preview.
-Paradise Gardens festivals (which I assume this will be one) have been massively successful (Viva Navidad, Coco, Lunar New Year) they probably want one this summer.
-Thers a lion king movie coming out this summer, the soundtrack is super popular, we have a wildly suscessful broadway and theme park show on the other coast (that we can borrow costumes and ideas from them) and after highlighting Hispanic and Asian performers with other festivals we can now highlight African American performers. Win, win, win.
-Reads report from PR that the internet still isn’t happy...F-it next time it’s just going to be another 4D preview.
Where, in Disney California Adventure Park, would a celebration themed to The Lion King fit thematically? Hollywoodland, right? Might as well turn the rest of the park into Disney's Hollywood Studios West.
you've got a point there
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Wakanda is in Africa, not California.
FerretAfros
Well-Known Member
Honestly I find it kind of refreshing that they aren't even attempting to justify why it's in DCA. After nearly two decades of tortured backstories about how the characters are on vacation in California, the Imagineers were digging and discovered some bugs, or Tony Stark taking up residence in an old Circuit City, I'm glad that we can all (tacitly) acknowledge that DCA is simply a dumping ground for things that they can't put in DL
The park needs a summer promotion to give even the faintest excuse to pull crowds away from the Star Wars stuff. There's a new big-budget movie coming out. Disney likes synergy. It is what it is. Honestly, it's no worse of a fit than Aladdin or Mad T, neither of which seemed to bother much of anybody.
Do I think it fits? Nope. Do I have any interest in seeing it? Nope. But at least they aren't peeing on my leg and telling me it's raining.
The park needs a summer promotion to give even the faintest excuse to pull crowds away from the Star Wars stuff. There's a new big-budget movie coming out. Disney likes synergy. It is what it is. Honestly, it's no worse of a fit than Aladdin or Mad T, neither of which seemed to bother much of anybody.
Do I think it fits? Nope. Do I have any interest in seeing it? Nope. But at least they aren't peeing on my leg and telling me it's raining.
Have you seen that show? Because don’t knock it, it’s better then any day show at Disneyland or Disney World. It has a Samoan Fireknife dancer (who does his act to Be Prepared.) While that alone is worth seeing the show it also has a good tumbling routine and a women who dances and “flies” to can you feel the love tonight. There is a reason a show that was only supposed to run for a year got moved to a permanent home when Pandora went up.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Bingo.
Just read the Parks Blog pablum about this temporary Lion King thing, and it's all very low-ball and minor. A little character "cavalcade", arts-n-crafts tables for bored kindergartners too short for Goofy's Sky School, banners on some light poles, face painting, and a few snack bars set up between the abandoned stucco warehouses and closed theaters of the failed Hollywood Backlot area. Entertaining dozens of customers at a time who couldn't get a Fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers.
Whoopee.
They've done this before, they do it almost every summer now at DCA. And it's generally hokey and corny and temporary, slathered in vinyl signage and all tacked together with hot glue and plywood screws and random patio umbrellas as it limps towards its Labor Day closure.
You can't really blame them though. They've got the land and the abandoned facilities and open space in DCA. There's no way they could try this in Adventureland this summer, especially when the end of line for the Millenium Falcon starts next to Tarzan's Treehouse.
At some point though, they've got to do something permanent with DCA's empty stucco warehouses and abandoned cement plazas. These annual summer temporary "Fill-In-The-Blank Celebration!" at DCA begin to damage the brand after a few years.
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D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
I have no background to claim how easy or not it would be to do this, but if they really want to pull crowds they should have a Lion King: World of Color. I doubt you could get a seventeen minute show out of it, but there's a lot of music to work with and it could serve in part as a preview to the new movie, combinding the new and old. If it was set up for a summer run only, I imagine it would get a lot of attention. As I said, I'm not sure how easy the show is to program, but it sure would move crowds faster than a face painting booth.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
I've seen the original parade many times. I've also seen the show at DAK a few times. It's the same thing just plused up with some acrobats.
Personally, I had thing for the gazelles and the cheetahs.
Meow!
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
For what it's worth, when I drive Lyft I have The Lion King running on the headrest monitors for the passengers to watch during the trip. I can't even count how many people have gotten excited it was on and claim it's their favorite Disney cartoon.
Whether or not this is any indication this show (experience?) will be popular......who knows. I mean, we already knew The Lion King is a classic, but that doesn't mean it will draw crowds. I'd be interested in at least checking it out. The movie has a great soundtrack!
Whether or not this is any indication this show (experience?) will be popular......who knows. I mean, we already knew The Lion King is a classic, but that doesn't mean it will draw crowds. I'd be interested in at least checking it out. The movie has a great soundtrack!
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Aladdin fit because big budget stage shows often preview in California and run in major theatre houses.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
l
I went with my girlfriend, who is a huge Lion King fan, and we hated it. The bland unthemed warehouse, the tired old parade floats parked in the corners, the soundtrack recorded vocals for Circle of Life, the bad giant pre-recorded Timon. I could see the show working in Camp Minie Mickey, but in the hyper realistic Harambe, it was really weird to see such a tonally confused show. It's one of the weakest shows at the WDW Resort.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Is there a way they could set up a temporary CircleVision theatre in one of the warehouses? Or a WDI archive exhibit (I know D23 is happening this year, though). I feel like some substantial nostalgia exhibit would draw more people than movie tie-in photos/kids crafts.