News Tron coaster coming to the Magic Kingdom

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
Once The Imagineering Story reached Iger's time and China, an awful lot of opinions were being stated as actual fact.

I will never get over them saying that the Chinese people wouldn't appreciate classic Pirates of the Caribbean.
Let's be real, the main reason why no one wants the American version of Pirates of the Caribbean to change is nostalgia. But it is an outdated ride. People who did not grow up with the original Pirates would of course want something more technically sophisticated and more in line with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Let's be real, the main reason why no one wants the American version of Pirates of the Caribbean to change is nostalgia. But it is an outdated ride. People who did not grow up with the original Pirates would of course want something more technically sophisticated and more in line with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I wouldn't call it outdated. Sure, they have more more advanced AAs they could use today, but the American version of Pirates is still a better/more impressive ride than the one in Shanghai. An updated version full of newer AAs would be tremendously good, but the heavy reliance on watching things happen on a screen in Shanghai knocks that ride down several pegs.
 
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wedenterprises

Well-Known Member
Once The Imagineering Story reached Iger's time and China, an awful lot of opinions were being stated as actual fact.

I will never get over them saying that the Chinese people wouldn't appreciate classic Pirates of the Caribbean.
Didn't Disney say this when they built Florida, that because Florida was "so close" to the Caribbean no one would find PotC interesting?
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't call it outdated. Sure, they have more more advanced AAs they could use today, but the American version of Pirates is still a better/more impressive ride than the one in Shanghai. An updated version full of newer AAs would be tremendously good, but the heavy reliance on watching things happen on a screen in Shanghai knocks that ride down several pegs.

That and it is missing the song that carries the tone.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Then they went ahead and built California Adventure in California 🤣
I make that joke a lot too. I honestly think that is more of an issue of it was not done sincerely. It treated the guests like they just wanted puns and hoaky themed versions of the real life things, rather than a romanticized tribute/love letter. They tried to remedy a bit of that with Buena Vista Street, but overall too little too late.
 

BubbaisSleep

Well-Known Member
I make that joke a lot too. I honestly think that is more of an issue of it was not done sincerely. It treated the guests like they just wanted puns and hoaky themed versions of the real life things, rather than a romanticized tribute/love letter. They tried to remedy a bit of that with Buena Vista Street, but overall too little too late.
I agree and find that Knotts actually does a great job at tackling a California adventure. Especially in the last few years where they've been investing in their history and attractions a lot more. It was definitely possible for DCA.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
I agree and find that Knotts actually does a great job at tackling a California adventure. Especially in the last few years where they've been investing in their history and attractions a lot more. It was definitely possible for DCA.
Took the words right from my thoughts. I have had geeky theme park design talks about that with my friends and coworkers. Knotts did it right years before DCA did it not so great.
 

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't call it outdated. Sure, they have more more advanced AAs they could use today, but the American version of Pirates is still a better/more impressive ride than the one in Shanghai. An updated version full of newer AAs would be tremendously good, but the heavy reliance on watching things happen on a screen in Shanghai knocks that ride down several pegs.
I think the Shanghai Pirates is one of the rare times where Screens are used effectively. However, I will agree that it is best for rides to avoid using screens as much as possible. No matter how impressive a screen is, it is almost always the part of a ride that ages the worst. Animatronics are more timeless.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
I think the Shanghai Pirates is one of the rare times where Screens are used effectively. However, I will agree that it is best for rides to avoid using screens as much as possible. No matter how impressive a screen is, it is almost always the part of a ride that ages the worst. Animatronics are more timeless.

I think they're used decently in that ride -- there are rides that are much worse about screen usage -- but there's still too much time spent essentially watching a movie on a screen in front of you. I think most rides are better when the screens are used solely as a complement to other physical sets, AAs, etc. instead of the main (or sole) focus of certain scenes.
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
What was culturally unfair? I don’t agree with Disney’s reasoning.

The story that you relayed regarding the outdoor portion is widely shared. It’s claimed that Chinese people at Hong Kong Disneyland couldn’t figure out that Space Mountain was ride and would just take a picture and go about their day. This question and story ignores history. TRON Lightcycle Power Run isn’t the first Space Mountain that starts outdoors. Nobody tells the story of the silly clueless French people who couldn’t figure something out so they had to put the launch for Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune outside. And let’s not forget that the marquee for Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom once included a physical ride vehicle with riding astronauts. There are challenges communicating an experience that cannot be seen, but the story as related to TRON and Space Mountain at Hong Kong Disneyland is specifically about Chinese people and how this is an example of building a park suited to Chinese people.

This though is not the only story about the Chinese parks that gets shared. There are a variety of them and the common thread, often played for a laugh, is that Chinese people just wouldn’t understand the discussed aspect of a theme park. When they all get combined you get a very negative stereotype of Chinese people. Disney did wise up a bit after Hong Kong Disneyland and doesn’t discuss the “distinct” aspects of Shanghai Disneyland.

Both Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland are very much laid out based on this silly idea that Chinese people prefer to take pictures instead of ride rides. This is the public justification Disney gave for reducing the size and number of rides that were originally announced for Hong Kong Disneyland.

That originally announced version of Hong Kong Disneyland, the one Hong Kong officials were mad did not materialize, included Frontierland and Toon Town. The lands nixed because the Chinese apparently wouldn’t understand and would not be interested in so many rides.

You’ll also see claims that what rides that were built had to be simple and calm lest they overwhelm Chinese visitors, completely ignoring that there are plenty of thrill rides in China. It’s also one of the reasons Mystic Manor had to be more cartoony than The Haunted Mansion and it’s original conception, so as not to be too startling, even though it is the local entertainment team at Hong Kong Disneyland that puts on the one Disney Halloween event that actually has scary elements including a haunted house walkthrough.

The Progress City Radio Hour interview Tom Morris is worth a listen. It’s about a variety of topics of which the Chinese parks is a small part, but he gives examples of some the ridiculous ideas that Disney had regarding their audience in China.
Read my post again - my entire point was that YOU were not the one being culturally unfair, Disney was. And whoever it was who first told me the Space Mountain story, because they DID seem to agree with Disney and I was shocked by their phrasing.
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
I make that joke a lot too. I honestly think that is more of an issue of it was not done sincerely. It treated the guests like they just wanted puns and hoaky themed versions of the real life things, rather than a romanticized tribute/love letter. They tried to remedy a bit of that with Buena Vista Street, but overall too little too late.

Yes, much (not all) of it seemed very cynical/tourist trap-ish instead of a proper tribute
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
I recall hearing basically a similar assessment somewhere, although I can't recall where

It was accompanied by the anecdote that Space Mountain at Hong Kong initially had a lot of people walking up to it, taking a picture with it, and then walking away, thinking it was entirely sculptural and having no awareness that there was actually anything inside.

In fairness, if you didn't already know that Space Mountain *wasn't* purely sculptural, the structure itself doesn't really hint at its true purpose. Without any context it is very abstract.


I'd like to emphasize something here...a lot of people who aren't very familiar with mainland China and Hong Kong may be under the impression that Hong Kong locals wouldn't understand vs. mainland Chinese visiting HKDL.

I can totally see that being an issue with mainland Chinese who didn't have any real access to information about Disney parks, but Hong Kong locals had much more awareness and access. I don't honestly know the initial numbers of how many mainland Chinese people visited HKDL compared to locals before Shanghai, but it was probably a good percentage.

Side note: I worked with a few HK locals at WDW and visited them a few times when they went back to HK and we went to HKDL during Chinese New Year, 12 years ago. They were visibly upset and I didn't realize why until later when they said they were annoyed by how many mainland Chinese were in the park and causing issues. Honestly I didn't notice it at first. HK residents speak Cantonese and mainland mostly speak mandarin, so it's more easily spotted for them I guess.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Walt's version of the Magic Kingdom had Pirates of the Caribbean and every other ride at Disneyland. The plan for MK was just to build a clone of Disneyland with an ice rink near the park entrance.
Yes and no. A master plan is a general outline. It’s not uncommon for something existing to be duplicated into a master plan simply to fill up a reasonable amount of space. In the case of Disney World the amusement park space was filled with Disneyland to show that it would be something like Disneyland without having to get sidetracked with designing another park (More recently there are versions of the Universal Beijing Resort master plan with a second gate that is just a mirror of Universal Studios Florida). Walt himself spoke about the park being something different from Disneyland but didn’t offer any sort of detail, really saying that he would leave a lot of the design up to the Imagineers. Disneyland East being a direct clone of Disneyland was never an actual plan.
 

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