Wait, Could Tomorrowland Be Moving To EPCOT? Earth-Shattering Implications...

[DDLand]

You know, I think if Iger presented this to the BOD, they would ask for him to speed up his retirement, like yesterday! Yes, EPCOT and DHS need major overhauls. But to move rides from one park to another, especially as DDLand mentioned, take an extremely popular ride and move it to a very congested park, is sheer lunacy on the part of TDC if that is going to be corporate's way of solving the problems with some of the parks.

The scary thing is do you think the board would really know this was a problem? What do executives at Starbucks, Blackberry, Twitter, and FaceBook know about running Parks? Scary...

Edit: Those Starbucks Disney cups have been flying off the shelves. Maybe he does have more in common with P&Rs after all.

 

[rct247]

No.

Besides, in the Japanese trailer, they even say Tomorrowland in the parks is just a cover for the real thing. So the theme park isn't supposed to be the real Tomorrowland.

 

[CDavid]

Isn't there an armchair imagineering forum where this would be more at home?

 

[LAKid53]

Yes, this seems to be the most current news. They did consider taking part of Tomorrowland at one time. And this is why I feel like they've considered doing the same for Orlando. The only reason it didn't "work" for me is that I have a hard time seeing Luke Skywalker in the background of Tinkerbell's flight. But, I've realized that Disney's strategy might involved creating a theme for Star Wars where this makes more sense. Space fantasy, if you will.

The Brad Bird film does set the stage for a future world rebrand, which makes sense on paper. I do think future world needs something like this to reinvigorate it. I doubt the film will do exceedingly well, but if it generates a sequel we could see its themes brought into the park.

I don't think Disney will move on anything big now. I imagine Star Wars, like you do, as deserving of it's own gate. Why put millions into a miniature land in DHS, and then be stuck wanting to do more. Well, I guess there is space there for expansion. Still, we have to see exactly how well new Star Wars is received (how many toys are purchased, how long the meet Chewbacca lines become).

Which is why I think we have yet to hear any details about Star Wars expansion in the parks as of yet.

The news of the Brad Bird film's presence in EPCOT is a huge clue to me that Disney might be considering this kind of realignment. But I would agree that any such idea would be wishful thinking on the part of executives about the success of various franchises.

As for DHS, leaving Star Wars out of it makes room for Marvel (Big Hero 6) and other properties.

Didn't Iger recently announce Disney does plan on expanding Star Wars presence in the parks, or was I just dreaming? I thought I read a story in my local paper.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Didn't Iger recently announce Disney does plan on expanding Star Wars presence in the parks, or was I just dreaming? I thought I read a story in my local paper.

Disney's definition of "expand" does not really much up with the widely understood definition.

 

[LAKid53]

The scary thing is do you think the board would really know this was a problem? What do executives at Starbucks, Blackberry, Twitter, and FaceBook know about running Parks? Scary...

Well, I would hope someone would at least look at the numbers and seriously think about backing away..... and telling Iger he needed a jacket in a padded cell.

 

[wm49rs]

Didn't Iger recently announce Disney does plan on expanding Star Wars presence in the parks, or was I just dreaming? I thought I read a story in my local paper.

He's actually said that at the last few quarterly earnings calls he's been on....

 

[LAKid53]

I see nothing about rebuilding Tomorrowland. The original poster is looking at old Disneyland rumors and thinking they would apply to the Magic a Kingdom as well. Renaming Future World to Tomorrowland is not costly, nor does giving it a sense of unity have to involve tearing everything down.

So when the OP talked about taking Tomorrowland out of MK and using it to give EPCOT an update, you thought he was talking just about renaming? He mentioned putting things in the space currently occupied by Innoventions.

This is all just fantasy speculation, albeit on a major scale.

 

[LAKid53]

Isn't there an armchair imagineering forum where this would be more at home?

Probably.

 

[DDLand]

I doubt the film will do exceedingly well, but if it generates a sequel we could see its themes brought into the park.

See this is where you lose me. Why would Disney bring in properties that aren't mainstream into their park? (Unless it's a JV novel or Tron) Disney is known to only stick to big properties that have proven themselves. It lowers risk factors.

I don't think Star Wars should have its own park. Too risky. Also as the Dear Leader has said, Marvel is never coming to Orlando.

Those Universal Disney meetings should be fun. Universal with all the cards, and Disney just offering more and more money and IP for their precious MCU. Not pretty...

 

[LAKid53]

The scary thing is do you think the board would really know this was a problem? What do executives at Starbucks, Blackberry, Twitter, and FaceBook know about running Parks? Scary...

Edit: Those Starbucks Disney cups have been flying off the shelves. Maybe he does have more in common with P&Rs after all.

I think the execs at Blackberry have learned a thing or two about expansion. Sometimes the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim is valid.

 

[lazyboy97o]

So when the OP talked about taking Tomorrowland out of MK and using it to give EPCOT an update, you thought he was talking just about renaming? He mentioned putting things in the space currently occupied by Innoventions.

This is all just fantasy speculation, albeit on a major scale.

Things based on the new film Tomorrowland, a preview of which is apparently headed for the Imagination Pavilion. This whole thing is an exercise in over-extrapolating from bits of news and old (some very old) rumors.

 

[TotalOrlando]

This whole thread is a complete DREAM and FANTASY!
Hey, wait a minute, isn't that what makes WDW so special?

We are hoping, and dreaming that this could be the whole future for Future World!
Nice thinking OP!

 

[tman2000]

You know, I think if Iger presented this to the BOD, they would ask for him to speed up his retirement, like yesterday! Yes, EPCOT and DHS need major overhauls. But to move rides from one park to another, especially as DDLand mentioned, take an extremely popular ride and move it to a very congested park, is sheer lunacy on the part of TDC if that is going to be corporate's way of solving the problems with some of the parks.

Well, a lot about WDW is nearly broken. Future world AND tomorrowland are pretty broken. They both have decent attractions that people like, but altogether nothing draws people specifically to those areas. Star Tours is fun, but not really great by itself - it's appeal is as "the" Star Wars ride. A true Star Wars land's purpose would be to make non-fan casual tourists into Star Wars fans just from cool rides.

I think the idea of putting Star Wars in MK, and taking tomorrowland to EPCOT must surely have been brought up as a best case scenario. It would solve a lot of long-term problems at once, in terms of creating themes that draw people into the parks for the parks' sake. It just depends on so much.

I don't think this is an idea that would get presented to anyone, but I'm sure it's an idea that is thrown around.

The main evidence is the TL film's EPCOT-centric plot. The idea that Walt's EPCOT is linked to a real fantastical tomorrowland. We may be in the experimental phase, but it seems obvious that someone foresees a consolidation of future world and TL.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Well, a lot about WDW is nearly broken. Future world AND tomorrowland are pretty broken. They both have decent attractions that people like, but altogether nothing draws people specifically to those areas. Star Tours is fun, but not really great by itself - it's appeal is as "the" Star Wars ride. A true Star Wars land's purpose would be to make non-fan casual tourists into Star Wars fans just from cool rides.

I think the idea of putting Star Wars in MK, and taking tomorrowland to EPCOT must surely have been brought up as a best case scenario. It would solve a lot of long-term problems at once, in terms of creating themes that draw people into the parks for the parks' sake. It just depends on so much.

I don't think this is an idea that would get presented to anyone, but I'm sure it's an idea that is thrown around.

The main evidence is the TL film's EPCOT-centric plot. The idea that Walt's EPCOT is linked to a real fantastical tomorrowland. We may be in the experimental phase, but it seems obvious that someone foresees a consolidation of future world and TL.

You are assuming Disney coordinates and plans far, far, far, far, far, far more than they do.

 

[tman2000]

Things based on the new film Tomorrowland, a preview of which is apparently headed for the Imagination Pavilion. This whole thing is an exercise in over-extrapolating from bits of news and old (some very old) rumors.

Tomorrowland itself seems like it was concocted as a solution to TL/future world. Both were born out of visions that have lost focus (fantasy future/EPCOT). Brad Bird's plot ties it together and gives purposeful narration to both TL and EPCOT. The green light for this film alone has to be proof that someone up top wants to TRY and do something about TL's thematic glut. Future world has the same glut. Again, it's not rocket science to think that someone would want to consolidate this problem into a single nail to solve with a single hammer.

If they put a Frozen preview in Imagination it wouldn't make sense. But TL makes sense, because it's was green lit in the first place to make sense.

I suspect there are no big plans as of yet, but that TL the film itself is a sign of what execs are hoping to accomplish.

The missing piece of the puzzle would be what happens to old TL in MK? Star Wars is a potential, old rumor based, answer. The DHS part was just further speculation.

Look, TL is proof that they're trying to solve a common problem that future world and TL share. And there are real implications from that.

 

[tman2000]

You are assuming Disney coordinates and plans far, far, far, far, far, far more than they do.

Well, TL has been broken for 10 years. I'm sure a little bit of planning here and there, over 10 years, might add up to a coherent thought.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Tomorrowland itself seems like it was concocted as a solution to TL/future world. Both were born out of visions that have lost focus (fantasy future/EPCOT). Brad Bird's plot ties it together and gives purposeful narration to both TL and EPCOT. The green light for this film alone has to be proof that someone up top wants to TRY and do something about TL's thematic glut. Future world has the same glut. Again, it's not rocket science to think that someone would want to consolidate this problem into a single nail to solve with a single hammer.

If they put a Frozen preview in Imagination it wouldn't make sense. But TL makes sense, because it's was green lit in the first place to make sense.

I suspect there are no big plans as of yet, but that TL the film itself is a sign of what execs are hoping to accomplish.

The missing piece of the puzzle would be what happens to old TL in MK? Star Wars is a potential, old rumor based, answer. The DHS part was just further speculation.

Look, TL is proof that they're trying to solve a common problem that future world and TL share. And there are real implications from that.

The executives believe that the only thing themed entertainment can accomplish is advertising. They don't plan films oparound them being a catalyst for the theme parks. If you want to guess at actions think from the perspective more of someone who thinks theme parks are stupid things for stupid people; that if there wasn't a public image backlash that your preferred course of action would be to sell them.

 

[LAKid53]

I think the speculation of a move of Tomorrowland to EPCOT based upon a movie is a bit of a stretch. As wiser and more knowledgeable folks than me have mentioned, Disney isn't about taking such a huge risk on an unproven IP, i.e., the movie. As was mentioned, the reason we don't see a major Frozen attraction now is because Disney didn't want to take the risk of the movie failing, like some of their recent non-Pixar releases, on top of the development costs of a new related ride. Which is why Maelstrom is now turning into a Frozen attraction. Easier to redo something sometimes than to start from scratch. I'm not a mind reader, but I don't think anyone at TDC anticipated Frozen would be the $1B+ golden egg it still is. And just in case demand slackens, Frozen 2 will be in your theatre in a year or two. Remember how Disney was caught short handed in Frozen merchandise a couple of months after the movie was released? People making Elsa dresses and selling them on ebay for close to $1,000. Fights in the park shops over the limited supply of Elsa dresses. Limits on the number of Frozen items one person could purchase (not just to prevent resale on ebay but running out of stock on the shelves and preventing riots in the stores. I witnessed some of the heated fights over getting to the last dress. Reminded me of Walmart on Black Friday. And the poor little girl who so desperately wanted that dress stood there crying as her mother fought with another parent over the last dress on the rack. "I had it first" "No, I had it first"). Now the back room at the Christmas Store in DTD is all Frozen. And people still want Frozen merchandise.

Somehow I think the new flick would have to be a juggernaut similar to Frozen for Disney to even consider what the OP suggests.

 

[LAKid53]

See this is where you lose me. Why would Disney bring in properties that aren't mainstream into their park? (Unless it's a JV novel or Tron) Disney is known to only stick to big properties that have proven themselves. It lowers risk factors.

I don't think Star Wars should have its own park. Too risky. Also as the Dear Leader has said, Marvel is never coming to Orlando.

Those Universal Disney meetings should be fun. Universal with all the cards, and Disney just offering more and more money and IP for their precious MCU. Not pretty...

I must disagree about the risk factor of a 5th gate that is Star Wars. I think the numbers are there. Avatar will certainly be a test and I don't think Avatar has nearly the fan base Star Wars has. Otherwise, Disney wouldn't have paid George $4B for the property, with the knowledge that they don't own the IP for New Hope.

I don't have all the knowledge about which Marvel properties Disney can exploit and which Universal can, but I don't think Disney is in the position you think it might be. I do understand with entertainment IPs like movies and comics there are different rights - actual ownership of the copyright (IP), film/tv rights, distribution rights, etc. I'm just not clear from what I've read what Disney really owns when it bought Marvel and what pre-existing contracts Universal has, along the same vein as the deal Lucas made with Fox to get New Hope filmed and released.