Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[mickEblu]

Post-Universal Disney produced Tower of Terror, Alien Encounter and Indiana Jones. Their most 90s Universalian attractions!

And at the same time Univeral made E.T the ride. Their most Disney attraction. But yeah those rides are Universal Esque in the sense the ride is happening to you and they are based on IP but they were still executed very much with Disney quality.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Disneyversal

 

[EagleScout610]

Disneyversal

Retheme Ripsaw Falls into Song of the South! Perfect

 

[EagleScout610]

I also feel like Eisner was willing to listen to people around him. Eisner wanted characters from the movie Splash in Splash Mountain. Thankfully, he listened to the Imagineers and they convinced him that wasn't a good idea.

That would've aged well

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

So guy on the WDW forum is saying that he'd be surprised if this ended up happening due to current financial state of the company, or that if it did it would only be in Disneyland and that WDW's Splash would stay as is. Also mentioned that re-routing the flume is one of the proposed changes to the attraction.

He also mentioned there's concepts (unapproved it sounds like) to replace Main Street with "Mickey Avenue" due to PC reasons.

 

[EagleScout610]

Princess and the Frog Star Hopes Disneyland Builds Tiana's Palace Restaurant

With The Princess and the Frog, the fan-favorite movie that has long been all-but-invisible at Disney Parks, taking over the theming of the beloved Splash Mountain log flume ride at Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the film’s star hopes to see Tiana’s Palace, the character’s...

comicbook.com

 

[mickEblu]

So guy on the WDW forum is saying that he'd be surprised if this ended up happening due to current financial state of the company, or that if it did it would only be in Disneyland and that WDW's Splash would stay as is. Also mentioned that re-routing the flume is one of the proposed changes to the attraction.

He also mentioned there's concepts (unapproved it sounds like) to replace Main Street with "Mickey Avenue" due to PC reasons.

This Mickey Avenue thing has to be a joke right?

 

[lazyboy97o]

I've realized for a while now that current Disney honestly believes their products/creations are much better than what came before them.

This has been a continual trend and the Imagineering Story comments by the narrator as well as Kim Irvine really drove home this point.

I'd bet you that Disney management honestly believes that Mickey Avenue is much better than Main Street USA, solely because it is their creation.

“More Disney.”

 

[lazyboy97o]

The thing that always bothers me is when they make dumb additions and changes to the park and say it's about their "storytellers" wanting to tell great stories.

Really, you employ "storytellers" who just retell stories that were already in a film?

What’s worse are the fans who say they love Imagineers but do not think them creative enough to come up with a good idea.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I wouldn't trust Imagineering to design a bowl of cereal and milk these days.

 

[mickEblu]

What’s worse are the fans who say they love Imagineers but do not think them creative enough to come up with a good idea.

This was a weird twist

 

[Mac Tonight]

Imagineering still has good people in it. They're just not able to be good.

Think of it like an Art class with some top-tier artists enrolled... But instead of letting them do what they want, all the teacher lets them do is Paint-By-Number designs so that the teacher can make more money.

 

[Mac Tonight]

I honestly don't know who is calling the shots, Imagineers, or CEOs / Company Presidents. I think it boils down to marketing.

If the Imagineers are the ones making overall design and story decisions, they are failing miserably. If they are just the task force to complete an executives demands, I can't blame them.

I'd imagine whoever is head of imagineering is pretty much marketing's "boy toy".

Current Disney has one singular goal in mind: to make more money.

Any decision made has to simultaneously make the company more money, while costing the company less.
I honestly don't think any Imagineer level decision would get through until it was scrutinized by a bean-counter, and assessed for every level of "value" (ie: money) that it would bring to the company.

Creativity doesn't drive decisions anymore since creative people don't run the company.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I honestly don't know who is calling the shots, Imagineers, or CEOs / Company Presidents. I think it boils down to marketing.

If the Imagineers are the ones making overall design and story decisions, they are failing miserably. If they are just the task force to complete an executive's demands, I can't blame them.

It's probably a mix of both. I'd imagine whoever is head of imagineering is pretty much marketing's "boy toy".

Definitely a mix and of course people learn what sells and will focus on that sort of work.

Bob Weis, creative lead for the Disney-MGM Studios and its 1994 expansion, Disney’s America, Disney’s California Adventure expansion/rebuild and Shanghai Disneyland is the current President of Walt Disney Imagineering.

 

[Mac Tonight]

The thing I don't understand is that Disney thinks all its branches serve to promote their film branch.

The idea that rides need to promote an existing movie or character to be "profitable" is insane to me.

Could you imagine if it was the inverse, Disney would develop new rides and its TV shows and movies had to promote the rides?

That's what Disney thinks of its park division. They fail to see that Disney theme parks were profitable for decades without each ride needing to become a movie/toy advertisement.

They are going all in on their film division right now. If someone doesn't care for "Marvel, Cars, or Star Wars", the last 9 years of additions to their parks wont mean anything to them.

Before the parks were about exploring different historical and fictional settings. There was no prerequisite of having seen and being a fan of dozens of films to understand the parks.

I would LOVE if the attractions influenced the films and TV shows, instead of the other way around. Admittedly, they've tried, but outside of Pirates 1, it hasn't proven to be a huge success. Though one has to wonder with Disney+ now, imagine a new Disneyland TV series where each episode told a "story" from a different attraction... man, that would be awesome.

Like you said, the people running the show do not understand the parks, or their ability to be profitable on their own. Which is a shame. But that's what you get when the head of Merchandising presides over the department for so long... and worse, is now the "CEO" of the whole company.

 

[Mac Tonight]

I mean it definitely would be a nice change of pace if Disney reversed course.

"We made this new log cabin mining ride, now our film/tv/toy division will be doing everything they can to promote this ride".

Didn't realize that Chapek was at one point the head of merchandising. I think it would benefit the company if themeparks were a separate entity from everything else.

Selling toys or making films isn't the same as making in-person entertainment.

Yes, Chapek was President of Consumer Products from 2011 to 2015 until he replaced Tom Staggs as Chairman of Parks and Resorts. Iger was probably already seeing the parks as over-sized Disney Stores, so the promotion made the most $en$e to him. And now Chapek is de-facto CEO... so it just doesn't seem the trend will change anytime soon.

 

[mickEblu]

Imagineering still has good people in it. They're just not able to be good.

Think of it like an Art class with some top-tier artists enrolled... But instead of letting them do what they want, all the teacher lets them do is Paint-By-Number designs so that the teacher can make more money.

I agree to an extent but then you have cases like Galaxies Edge where they just missed the mark yet had a healthy budget. Or GOTG:MB. Their is no reason the building had to look like that.

 

[Mac Tonight]

I agree to an extent but then you have cases like Galaxies Edge where they just missed the mark yet had a healthy budget. Or GOTG:MB. Their is no reason the building had to look like that.

Sadly, healthy budgets don't always equal creative quality. Especially when the people approving the final designs are more bean-counter than creative mind. It's mind-boggling that, while they had a healthy budget, the "finished product" still looks and feels like a land with the bare minimum amount of effort put in. Extremely generic designs, virtually no kinetic energy, and the barest amount of "live" entertainment. Where oh where did the budget go?

I also happened to listen to the latest Len Testa/Jim Hill podcast this morning (needed a Disney fix on my morning walk) and according to a TEA report, GE gave Disneyland a 0% attendance increase. A BILLION dollars added and 0% increase? I don't think they got their $$'s worth.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

It was money well-spent. I mean, only a billion dollars? Seems like a steal.

 

[mickEblu]

Sadly, healthy budgets don't always equal creative quality. Especially when the people approving the final designs are more bean-counter than creative mind. It's mind-boggling that, while they had a healthy budget, the "finished product" still looks and feels like a land with the bare minimum amount of effort put in. Extremely generic designs, virtually no kinetic energy, and the barest amount of "live" entertainment. Where oh where did the budget go?

I also happened to listen to the latest Len Testa/Jim Hill podcast this morning (needed a Disney fix on my morning walk) and according to a TEA report, GE gave Disneyland a 0% attendance increase. A BILLION dollars added and 0% increase? I don't think they got their $$'s worth.

I think we can blame the lack of kinetic energy and entertainment on the bean counters but can we blame the design on them too? I think the design blame goes to the imagineers. Granted, the workmanship in GE is impressive but it’s just boring and drab. The same way I blame them for the ugly new tower at DCA. Chapek made his Marvel request but he didn’t tell them to make it an oil refinery fortress warehouse

Wow 0 % after a billion spent and then Corona hit.