What If…. Season 2 [GAME THREAD]

Tegan pilots a chicken

Tegan pilots a chicken

Sharpie Queen 💜
Premium Member
Original Poster
Tegan pilots a chicken said:

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REVIEWS

I. Love. Both. These. Projects. So. Much.

Seriously it’s like you looked into my brain and did exactly what I would have wanted you to do.

Our teams notably took two very different approaches to redeveloping Tomorrowland’s western half, both in tone and theming as well as attractions and offerings.

Determining a winner is going to be a very difficult task for yours truly. Let’s dive in!

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Okay for starters, 1950s-60s style retrofuturism is the way to my heart. I simply adore that design aesthetic so much. And I think this is the perfect backdrop for the truly “lived in” Tomorrowland that you’ve developed here.

We have not one but two gorgeous maps here! I appreciate that you gave us both a detailed, guest navigation style map in addition to an authentic overhead view. The only thing missing here is a key of sorts to tell us which attractions correlate to which number, unless I’m missing something. But I think I was able to determine what is where based on your descriptions elsewhere.

I’m obsessed with the canopy structure over the main thoroughfare. This would undoubtedly become a favorite gathering place for guests, particularly at night. I think there is a lot of potential for this detail to evolve even further.

The Tomorrowland Hall of Honor is the type of detail that makes my heart warm. I love it when the parks fully embrace their own lore.

Classic Romance caught me completely by surprise. There were a number of ideas I was expecting from these projects and this was not at all one of them. While I did want a little more detail here, such as a track layout or some other visuals, what is present is seriously so charming and somehow it just works perfectly in this version of Tomorrowland. From a story perspective, my favorite segment is probably golfing on the moon, although the Venus scene is probably the most visually stunning. I wonder how many first dates would take place on this ride.

The Tomorrow Show is another small but significant detail. This is the kind of quirky addition that always helped Disney Parks stand out to me. Sadly, we don’t seem to get many of these in modern times. And once again this really helps your version of Tomorrowland feel so truly lived in. The randomization element is exactly the kind of detail that an attraction like this needs to maintain longterm appeal to modern guests. This would be one of those “cult classic” favorites to Park enthusiasts.

I appreciate the small updates to the PeopleMover. It’s an endearing attraction that has become a universal favorite of park visitors and I’m happy to see it get some love here. Getting to see these spaces from a different perspective is always a cool experience and ties the entire land together.

Starlight Bazaar is another home run for me. You absolutely nailed the atmosphere with this. A marketplace makes perfect sense in a post-industrial tourist trap, err, destination! The slightly sinister undertone is a great contrast to the hopeful optimism present in other parts of the land, but that kind of makes perfect sense here!

I. Want. A. Pengalactic Pal!! A pink one with a little translucent bow on her head that has little LEDs! The character interactions being so much life to the whole thing. Once again you’ve taken the lore of Tomorrowland even deeper and I am fully enamored with all of it.

Port of Tomorrow and Fun Times of the Future are small additions that help fill out the land. No land would be complete without little shops like this and I’m glad you included them. I could see the video game spot at FTotF quickly becoming a congregation spot for younger guests as their parents plea for them to hurry up as to not miss their TRON fast pass. …. I really miss the parks before fast pass. Also I will be having a model of the PeopleMover sent to my room at Boardwalk Resort, thank you very much!

Streetmosphere is something so desperately needed at Tomorrowland and you have presented us with a plethora of interesting characters here. I am very tempted to put together a Captain O’Scuggle cosplay! I started assembling a routine in my mind with the Mayor, Officer Sputnik, and O’Scuggle, and I think that is a testament to how successful these characters immediately are.

Captain Talbots finally gives Tomorrowland a desperately needed table service restaurant. I really appreciate the imaginative menu. You successfully made these dishes feel delightfully alien and appetizing! I’ll sit at the bar and watch the PeopleMover go by all day long!

The Milkshake Bar is another perfect fit. A mid-century diner with a cyberpunk twist?! Sign me up! This would definitely be a popular hang out spot, especially on hot summer days! If I have to nitpick, I’d recommend taking milkshakes off the Captain Talbot’s menu to help emphasize that this is the place to go for the galactic goodness!

I love that your origin point for this overhaul is rooted in the 1994 Tomorrowland refurb. As a kid, that environment totally captivated me. I bought into all of it and I can remember believing it was possible to explore beyond the guest spaces of the land. I wanted to find the peoplemover’s green and red lines, and visit these other places that were mentioned on the PeopleMover narration. That was some of the most successful world building I have ever experienced, and my young brain completely filled in the blanks.

Team Rogue, you have succeeded at capturing that feeling here as well.

Great job!


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Okay right off the bat; This is one of the most gorgeous maps I have ever seen in any of these competitions. There is stunning detail here. If I squint it looks like a real photo. Amazing job!

It is not often that a meet and greet experience is a premier experience on its own, but Down to Earth absolutely has that quality. WALL-E as a character and franchise is perfect for a high tech, immersive experience. The trash cubes containing nods to extinct attractions seriously hits hard on multiple levels! This detail immediately makes me happysad. I would need to hug WALL-E on every single trip. PUSH is back! I love PUSH! I miss PUSH!! Thank you for this.

“What type of ride should our headlining attraction be?” According to Team Phoenix; “yes.”

WALL-E’s Operation Green Planet would definitely be the most technologically challenging attraction ever built! In the real world this could prove to be problematic from an operations perspective, but here in the forever Blue Sky world of armchair Imagineering, it’s a work of art! The ride would be a must do for guests purely for the ride experience itself, let alone the story, interactive elements, and effects.

I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the foreboding message about the dangers of technological dependence resonates even more today than during the film’s initial release. And as such, it is a fantastic choice as a central IP to anchor your refurb.

While I do wish there were some more visual elements here, particularly a ride overview, my imagination was definitely able to fill a lot of the gaps in and this is truly a tremendous attraction!

When I opened the tab, I thought the X-S Tech Abandoned Warehouse was going to be some kind of walkthrough attraction. (We do love X-S on this forum don’t we). But it is the perfect backdrop for a retail establishment, and I appreciate a lot of your choices and more obscure references here, especially the HAYLX inclusion! I’m just wondering where this ended up as it’s not on the map.

Next is Plectu’s Intergalactic Review and I am absolutely enamored with character illustrations!! They are so charming and imaginative! I need plushies or action figures immediately! For the attraction itself I love that you did sort of a reverse of the carousel theater concept; seating in the middle of a huge turntable! This show is peak Eisner era Imagineering and I love it! I can’t get over the character designs. They all have such fun and distinct personalities. Great job!

Oh! And I can get my plushies at Concert Hall Collections! Fantastic! I appreciate that the merch is set up in a similar fashion to a rock concert. It’s actually a super efficient way to shop! Lots of HAYLX present here as well, which I enjoy. Granted, they are a very niche group, especially at Walt Disney World, so not many guests are going to “get it” but maybe they’ll feel compelled to look them up!

I love that you put the Asteroid Bistro on the second floor. Cosmic Cocktails?! Sign me up! I’d love to hang out up here and just stare out over Tomorrowland for a while.

Great job, Team Phoenix!



Alright. Now the hard part,…. Results.
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This choice was extremely difficult, probably the toughest judging decision I’ve faced in any game I’ve hosted thus far. Both teams submitted wonderful projects with different upsides.

After going back and forth for two days, I’ve made my pick.

The winners are.

.
.
.
.


Team Rogue

Ultimately in order to determine a winner, I had to really take the entirety of Tomorrowland into consideration. And this is where I landed;

Team Phoenix’s project hit heavy with a 1-2 punch of stellar attractions. Team Rogue’s project did not contain a standout E-ticket type of attraction, but they added an incredible level of depth to Tomorrowland.

This was basically modern Imagineering v classic Imagineering. Neither is inherently the right or wrong choice. But when I considered what the experience of Tomorrowland would be like in both circumstances, I think Team Rogue’s more balanced approach answered the call of what Tomorrowland needs.

Gosh I tried to word this as delicately as possible because I don’t want anyone to feel bad for any part of their submissions because truly I loved them both! I still can’t wait to see what you do next, but you aren’t making things easy on yours truly!

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Our score is tied 1-1!!
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Earlie the Pearlie

Earlie the Pearlie

Well-Known Member
Earlie the Pearlie

Earlie the Pearlie

Well-Known Member
Tegan pilots a chicken said:
Very excited to dig into your Imagination refurbs!!

On a different note:


disneyparksblog.com

Monsters and Muppet Updates for Hollywood Studios

Enter the world of Monsters, Inc. when it is added to the south side of Hollywood Studios, while The Muppets move to Sunset Boulevard.
disneyparksblog.com disneyparksblog.com

How we feelin’ community??
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As a huge Muppets fan who thinks that Muppet*Vision is one of their three greatest works, I am surprised to be very happy with and even excited by this compromise! It’s a shame we’re losing the show, but as long as there’s Muppets representation in the park there’s always a chance it returns in some way. If the show had to go, (and I don’t think it did, but Disney will be Disney) there’s plenty of worse scenarios where it’s replaced by Zootopia and the show is permanently destroyed and the IP eliminated.
 
Mr. Sullivan

Mr. Sullivan

Well-Known Member
Tegan pilots a chicken said:
Very excited to dig into your Imagination refurbs!!

On a different note:


disneyparksblog.com

Monsters and Muppet Updates for Hollywood Studios

Enter the world of Monsters, Inc. when it is added to the south side of Hollywood Studios, while The Muppets move to Sunset Boulevard.
disneyparksblog.com disneyparksblog.com

How we feelin’ community??
Click to expand...
I really love MV3D but I think this compromise is wonderful and exciting. Plus with the statement from the Jim Henson Company today, I feel as though MV3D will continue in some form.
 
Chaos Cat

Chaos Cat

Well-Known Member
Tegan pilots a chicken said:
Very excited to dig into your Imagination refurbs!!

On a different note:


disneyparksblog.com

Monsters and Muppet Updates for Hollywood Studios

Enter the world of Monsters, Inc. when it is added to the south side of Hollywood Studios, while The Muppets move to Sunset Boulevard.
disneyparksblog.com disneyparksblog.com

How we feelin’ community??
Click to expand...
Mostly neutral (losing M*V sucks, but Disney is doing their best to cushion the blow). Honestly, I'm more flummoxed that they're  still not doing anything with Animation Courtyard.
 
Half/CartoonHalf/Human

Half/CartoonHalf/Human

Active Member
Tegan pilots a chicken said:
Very excited to dig into your Imagination refurbs!!

On a different note:


disneyparksblog.com

Monsters and Muppet Updates for Hollywood Studios

Enter the world of Monsters, Inc. when it is added to the south side of Hollywood Studios, while The Muppets move to Sunset Boulevard.
disneyparksblog.com disneyparksblog.com

How we feelin’ community??
Click to expand...
Losing Muppetvision feels like an arrow to the heart, but the Monster Inc. stuff is very exciting as well as the Electric Mayhem RNRC retheme.
 
WaltWiz1901

WaltWiz1901

Well-Known Member
Tegan pilots a chicken said:
Very excited to dig into your Imagination refurbs!!

On a different note:


disneyparksblog.com

Monsters and Muppet Updates for Hollywood Studios

Enter the world of Monsters, Inc. when it is added to the south side of Hollywood Studios, while The Muppets move to Sunset Boulevard.
disneyparksblog.com disneyparksblog.com

How we feelin’ community??
Click to expand...
Am I the only one who thinks the Muppetized Rock 'n Roller Coaster will feel like more of a thematic mishmash than even TBA? Really odd that the Muppets' main representation at Hollywood Studios now will be an intense roller coaster with a 48" height requirement and no broader-skewering attractions to balance it out.
Will say that I'm not opposed to an Electric Mayhem coaster, but at most something like Cosmic Rewind would've been more suitable

On the plus side, at least they're thinking about preserving MuppetVision in some form...though having experienced it in person at its soon-to-be-former spot, part of me is doubting that whatever they do will do it justice.
 
Mr. Sullivan

Mr. Sullivan

Well-Known Member
WaltWiz1901 said:
Am I the only one who thinks the Muppetized Rock 'n Roller Coaster will feel like more of a thematic mishmash than even TBA? Really odd that the Muppets' main representation at Hollywood Studios now will be an intense roller coaster with a 48" height requirement and no broader-skewering attractions to balance it out.
Will say that I'm not opposed to an Electric Mayhem coaster, but at most something like Cosmic Rewind would've been more suitable

On the plus side, at least they're thinking about preserving MuppetVision in some form...though having experienced it in person at its soon-to-be-former spot, part of me is doubting that whatever they do will do it justice.
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See I don’t think think it’s a mishmash at all. I see it as a perfect marriage.

For one, the whole thing with the Muppets is that whatever they do eventually devolves into complete madcap chaos. They are by nature high octane and rambunctious characters. A dark ride wouldn’t work for them at all because the energy just isn’t there. A roller coaster fits right in with the out of control energy the Muppets are supposed to have.

For another thing, the Muppets isn’t a kids property. That isn’t to say kids can’t be interested in it but kids absolutely are not the Muppets’ main audience and hasn’t been for decades. Jim Henson I think would hate to hear that anyone considers them a kid’s property because he spent his whole career going out of his way to try and make puppetry gain respect as an artform by adults. He made content for kids sure, but his core Muppets almost always were shooting for an adult audience. Since Disney took them over, the same has been true. They have made a few family oriented productions but their main swings have been at adults.

But even then, Rock n Roller Coaster isn’t inaccessible to kids. That height requirement isn’t that high when looking at kids today. I rode RnRC the first time at 5 years old and I wasn’t even particularly tall for my age. Lots and lots of kids will be able to ride, but even if they couldn’t, that isn’t who this IP is really trying to court anyway.
 
WaltWiz1901

WaltWiz1901

Well-Known Member
Mr. Sullivan said:
For one, the whole thing with the Muppets is that whatever they do eventually devolves into complete madcap chaos. They are by nature high octane and rambunctious characters. A dark ride wouldn’t work for them at all because the energy just isn’t there. A roller coaster fits right in with the out of control energy the Muppets are supposed to have.
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Will give you that madcap chaotic energy is absolutely one defining characteristic of the Muppets, but it's not their only defining characteristic, and to narrow it down to just that is a vast simplification of who they are.

And saying that a dark ride is incapable of capturing their essence is as wrong as wrong can be - fill it with loads of sight gags and in-jokes, maybe give the vehicles extra motions to add to the mayhem, and you've got an arguably more fitting attraction for them and inarguably easier sell
For another thing, the Muppets isn’t a kids property. That isn’t to say kids can’t be interested in it but kids absolutely are not the Muppets’ main audience and hasn’t been for decades. Jim Henson I think would hate to hear that anyone considers them a kid’s property because he spent his whole career going out of his way to try and make puppetry gain respect as an artform by adults. He made content for kids sure, but his core Muppets almost always were shooting for an adult audience. Since Disney took them over, the same has been true. They have made a few family oriented productions but their main swings have been at adults.
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Wasn't implying the Muppets' target demographic was just kids - I think it's much, much broader than that, actually, and you're completely right about Jim aiming for the same - but I still feel something's off about them being attached to a ride of this intensity.
 

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