Was GOTG placed in the right park?

[Brer Panther]

Now the IP is all used in the same fashion

And it's all the same five or ten IPs. Do we really need Moana in two parks?

 

[rct247]

Guardians should have been the update to Space Mountain that needs to happen. Fits more of the sci-fi fantasy with the nostalgia that the Star Lord has.

Tron should have been put at Epcot as part of a digital computing pavilion with the rise of VR, AI, etc.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

I thought Guardians would have fit better in Animal Kingdom, next to the second Moana-thing attraction that doesn’t belong. Rocket is an animal & Groot is a tree of life so it fits right?

 

[Eric Graham]

It really makes it easier for me to ride Soarin. Thank you for that! =)

 

[Poseidon Quest]

Universal started this whole thing with Simposons and it's gotten out of control ever since. (at least with HP, they have been and still are working to expand those lands into the future)

Animal Kingdom's Africa, Asia and Dinoland don't count?

All of Islands of Adventure had single themed lands too (with perhaps the Lost Continent being the exception for a kitchen sink slate of attractions).

 

[MrPromey]

Animal Kingdom's Africa, Asia and Dinoland don't count?

All of Islands of Adventure had single themed lands too (with perhaps the Lost Continent being the exception for a kitchen sink slate of attractions).

Not single themed but the idea of one big attraction (Crusty Land) accompanied by a single minor/afterthought attraction (alien spinners) and then tons of retail/dining tacked on to cash in on an IP.

They did just enough with the attraction thing for Simpson's to make an excuse for it to be its own "land" so they could over-push the retail aspect of it... And people loved it.

Disney has since done the same thing with Pandora, Galaxy's Edge... Toystory Land (kind of, sort of) if you look at it as an expansion and don't count the decade old ride they rerouted the entrance to, Marvel out in California, Universal kind of did it with Diagon Alley* and in the parks outside of Florida, Nintendo World. I wouldn't be shocked if one or two in Epic Universe open that way, too... Plus, they're basically converting a part of Studios into the same sort of thing with the Minions.

I wouldn't count AK (other than Pandora) because Africa and Asia both have animal walk-through attractions in addition to the rides and Dinoland opened with the main E-ticket, the dig site and the temporary walk-through actual museum-like exhibit in that weird inflatable building, later replaced by the spinner and back-breaking coaster.

More importantly, those concepts were wholly original. They weren't IP looking for an excuse for a land. They were chosen to best fit both in style and space in the park they were going into for the purpose of realizing the concept of the park and while retail space was carved out, it was clearly not a major driving reason for the lands' development.

We didn't get Africa, for instance, to sell Lightsabers, Butter Beer, Giant Donuts, Wands/Cloaks, Blue/Green Milk, Giant Chicken Sandwiches or Duff Beer.

You can argue that all that stuff enhances the experience and I'm not going to argue against that but you can't ignore that it's also all a form of shrewdly intentional up-sell retail in the theme park experience in place of actual attractions or things to do that aren't glorified shopping.

I mean, you know the novelty frozen cider with mango foam at Gaston's was Disney's weak attempt to cash in on the butter beer phenomenon, right?

In all those cases, they (not just Disney) were looking for an excuse to slap just enough in there for attraction stuff dedicated to a single popular IP so they could milk the he!! out of the retail aspect of it rather than just having the traditional exit gift shop.

How many donuts do you think they would be selling in that park if they weren't Homer donuts, for instance? Cletus' chicken thumbs are nothing but worse than average chicken fingers and that entire dining space is a poorly reworked version of what was originally there with a fancy false-front exterior added to it which makes up the bulk of what you walk past for Springfield - almost none of which you can actually really do anything with... except of course the Kwik-e-mart which is, surprise, surprise, a gift shop that doesn't even have slushies.

That kind of stuff in these parks where they take an attraction based on an IP and do the minimum to try to make it an instagram-worthy mostly-retail land, intentionally, started with Simpsons.

I didn't just notice this on my own. If you want to spend the time Googling, you'll probably come across some of the old news articles out there discussing how Universal pioneered it, was attempting to replicate it and how Disney seemed to have nicked the concept, themselves after Universals initial success with it.


*They're allegedly working to expand this area with another attraction and the train is of course, the gateway for the land in the other park so if you have a hopper or AP, I guess you could arguably consider that all one big cross-over land but I don't.

 

[Poseidon Quest]

Not single themed but the idea of one big attraction (Crusty Land) accompanied by a single minor/afterthought attraction (alien spinners) and then tons of retail/dining tacked on to cash in on an IP.

They did just enough with the attraction thing for Simpson's to make an excuse for it to be its own "land" so they could over-push the retail aspect of it... And people loved it.

Disney has since done the same thing with Pandora, Galaxy's Edge... Toystory Land if you look at it as an expansion and don't count the decade old ride they rerouted the entrance to, Marvel out in California, Universal kind of did it with Diagon Alley* and in the parks outside of Florida, Nintento Land. I wouldn't be shocked if one or two in Epic Universe open that way, too... Plus, they're basically converting a part of Studios into the same sort of thing with the Minions.

I wouldn't count AK (other than Pandora) because Africa and Asia both have animal walk-through attractions in addition to the rides and Dinoland opened with the main E-ticket, the dig site and the temporary walk-through actual museum-like exhibit in that weird inflatable building, later replaced by the spinner and back-breaking coaster.

More importantly, those concepts were wholly original. They weren't IP looking for an excuse for a land. They were chosen to best fit both in style and space in the park they were going into for the purpose of realizing the concept of the park and while retail space was carved out, it was clearly not a major driving reason for the lands development.

We didn't get Africa, for instance, to sell Lightsabers, Butter Beer, Giant Donuts, Wands/Cloaks, Blue/Green Milk, Giant Chicken Sandwiches or Duff Beer.

You can argue that all that stuff enhances the experience and I'm not going to argue against that but you can't ignore that it's also all a form of shrewdly intentional up-sell retail in the theme park experience in place of actual attractions or things to do that aren't glorified shopping.

I mean, you know the novelty frozen cider with mango foam at Gaston's was Disney's weak attempt to cash in on the butter beer phenomenon, right?

In all those cases, they (not just Disney) were looking for an excuse to slap just enough in there for attraction stuff dedicated to a single popular IP so they could milk the he!! out of the retail aspect of it rather than just having the traditional exit gift shop.

How many donuts do you think they would be selling in that park if they weren't Homer donuts, for instance? Cletus' chicken thumbs are nothing but worse than average chicken fingers and that entire dining space is a poorly reworked version of what was originally there with a fancy false-front exterior added to it which makes up the bulk of what you walk past for Springfield - almost none of which you can actually really do anything with... except of course the Kwik-e-mart which is, surprise, surprise, a gift shop that doesn't even have slushies.

That kind of stuff in these parks where they take an attraction based on an IP and do the minimum to try to make it an instagram-worthy mostly-retail land, intentionally, started with Simpsons.

I didn't just notice this on my own. If you want to spend the time Googling, you'll probably come across some of the old news articles out there discussing how Universal pioneered it, was attempting to replicate it and how Disney seemed to have nicked the concept, themselves after Universals initial success with it.


*They're allegedly working to expand this area with another attraction and the train is of course, the gateway for the land in the other park so if you have a hopper or AP, I guess you could arguably consider that all one big cross-over land but I don't.

I didn't quite understand what you meant at first, but you've explained your perspective very well. I definitely see what you mean.

 

[MrPromey]

I didn't quite understand what you meant at first, but you've explained your perspective very well. I definitely see what you mean.

I know I came on strong in that response with a wall of text and it looks defensive but I just type too much... pretty much all the time.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I know I came on strong in that response with a wall of text and it looks like of defensive but I just type too much... pretty much all the time.

It's one of the more intriguing posts I've read on these forums in a while.

And I get that wall of text typing to much appearing defensive problem. Very strong points were made! Good post.

 

[esskay]

It's a no for me.

I dont think anyone would dispute that Energy was WELL past its sell by date, but replacing it with GoG wasn't the solution. IP has its place, even in Epcot, but shoehorning a ride that would be more fitting in HS just felt wrong.

A far better use of the space could've been found, even with subtle IP. Throw in Wall-E and make it a ride where you're part of the crew trying to prevent the need for the Axiom escape ship. The whole point of Epcot was to be educational and future focused. Slapping random movie IP with a decoupled storyline goes against that.

 

[Magicart87]

If the plot wasn't a game of "keep-away" with a giant spacegod I'd probably give it a pass.