What IP, in your opinion, was the original frozen/star wars/marvel? (AKA overused/overstuffed)

Christian Fronckowiak

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Even while everyone was still complaining about Frozen being everywhere, Beauty and the Beast had...

stage show (DHS)
meet & greet (Epcot)
table service restaurant w/ meet & greet (MK)
lead float in parade (MK)
featured in Mickey's Philharmagic (MK)
themed quick service/snack location (MK)
store devoted completely to its merchandise (MK)
interactive show/meet & greet (MK)
the main stars of a castle projection show (MK)

am I missing anything?

side note: I love most of these things.
and Fantasmic!
 

TwilightZone

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm surprised no one mention roger rabbit yet. That's what inspired this post.
. Promos (if those count)
. toontown + toontown faire
. the planned roger rabbit's hollywood
. multiple stage shows in the park where he played a part
. featured in parade floats or had parade floats
 

Christian Fronckowiak

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
I'm surprised no one mention roger rabbit yet. That's what inspired this post.
. Promos (if those count)
. toontown + toontown faire
. the planned roger rabbit's hollywood
. multiple stage shows in the park where he played a part
. featured in parade floats or had parade floats
Roger Rabbit I think most would have accepted. If it weren't for the contractual friction with Spielberg post-feature, and the animation renaissance filled with IPs that Disney had complete control over, Roger would have been Eisner's Mickey Mouse.
 

FettFan

Well-Known Member
101 Dalmations, huh. That is not one that stands out as an all-time classic.

Even the Earful Tower got in on the 101 Dalmatians action.
dal596434LARGE.jpg
 

FettFan

Well-Known Member
I would say Indiana Jones.

Because no other Disney attraction ever got an entire Super Bowl halftime show dedicated to promoting it when the Indiana Jones Adventure opened in Disneyland.


And the Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney-MGM/Hollywood, and the Indiana Jones portion of the Great Movie Ride, and the wild mouse roller coaster Indiana Jones et un Temple du Peril at Disneyland Paris, and Indiana Jones Adventure at Tokyo Disneyland that featured a Crystal Skull long before George Lucas dreamed up aliens.
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Even while everyone was still complaining about Frozen being everywhere, Beauty and the Beast had...

stage show (DHS)
meet & greet (Epcot)
table service restaurant w/ meet & greet (MK)
lead float in parade (MK)
featured in Mickey's Philharmagic (MK)
themed quick service/snack location (MK)
store devoted completely to its merchandise (MK)
interactive show/meet & greet (MK)
the main stars of a castle projection show (MK)

am I missing anything?

side note: I love most of these things.
In fairness, half of those things didn't appear in the park until 20 years after the films release. We had to wait a while for it to get what many consider it's due, even if the amount of accrued offerings seems large.

Lion King might be a good example, though I don't know that the parks felt overstuffed with it. Certainly though that's one where it popped up quickly and in several places in recognition of its success, but I'm not sure I'd say guests were beat over the head with it.

Stitch pops to mind too, though I hesitate to say he's the first simply because he's a creation of the early 2000's. Surely something else must have been crammed down our throats sooner than that.

I almost wonder if you could make the case for Mickey -- between the Mouse Ears, plushes stacked 20 high in stores across the resort, Mickey's Birthday/Starland/Toontown Fair, the floral out front of MK, various celebrations of his birthday, and the crazy 90's Mickey Mania parade . . . the parks have certainly been well saturated with him for a while. Not that any of these advances were particularly unwanted. Love for Mickey is strong and his status as a cultural icon is well earned. But I might think he was everywhere before anyone else.
 

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
I would argue that Beauty and the Beast is the absolute pinnacle of modern Disney animated films. One might even say it is practically perfect in every way. I'm sure some others here would disagree.

That aside, I think the thing that makes BATB feel different in terms of park tie-ins is that something like Frozen felt very rushed and forced. Like Disney was surprised that it was a hit and suddenly said, "Crap, what can we do to capitalize on this? Stick a Frozen logo on that, stat!" I didn't get that vibe from the BATB stuff.
 

FettFan

Well-Known Member
I would argue that Beauty and the Beast is the absolute pinnacle of modern Disney animated films. One might even say it is practically perfect in every way. I'm sure some others here would disagree.

That aside, I think the thing that makes BATB feel different in terms of park tie-ins is that something like Frozen felt very rushed and forced. Like Disney was surprised that it was a hit and suddenly said, "Crap, what can we do to capitalize on this? Stick a Frozen logo on that, stat!" I didn't get that vibe from the BATB stuff.

BatB was kind of a slow burn. I don't remember anything going overly insane for it back in the day, except that the stage version replaced the Mickey and Minnie "Hollywood, Hollywood!" show at Disney-MGM at the original Theater of the Stars before it was demolished to make way for Sunset Boulevard.

It was then relocated to the now-demolished Backlot Theater, then moved to the current Theater of the Stars once Sunset Boulevard opened.
But the thing was..... they were doing live shows for almost all the new animated movies. I remember Pocahontas and Hunchback both getting live stage shows. Only BatB stood the test of time....I'm going to say it's because of the success of BatB's Broadway debut in 1994.

EDIT - PS If you're interested in "Hollywood, Hollywood!", here's the video.

It features Tigger dressed as John Travolta dancing to the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive".
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
I would argue that Beauty and the Beast is the absolute pinnacle of modern Disney animated films. One might even say it is practically perfect in every way. I'm sure some others here would disagree.

That aside, I think the thing that makes BATB feel different in terms of park tie-ins is that something like Frozen felt very rushed and forced. Like Disney was surprised that it was a hit and suddenly said, "Crap, what can we do to capitalize on this? Stick a Frozen logo on that, stat!" I didn't get that vibe from the BATB stuff.
I might put it as a toss-up between BATB and Lion King, but either way they both place the bar very high and I don't think any effort from Disney Feature Animation has come close to it since. At all.

Word about town at the time was that Disney WAS surprised by the success of Frozen, as evidenced by the lack of merchandise that was initially available. There was a drought of it for months after the initial release because the little was ordered to be made was snatched up immediately with no backup merch to restock the initial supply. Once they finally got stuff back on shelves they made sure to produce enough to last forever.

I do agree that Beauty and the Beast and Frozen were capitalized on differently within the Parks, which is probably a symptom of the eras in which they were produced. Disney today has no problem shoving successful franchises into the parks -- you could almost say New Fantasyland was them playing catch-up on some of the biggest ones that weren't massively represented near the times they were released. And I'm glad they did! Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid totally belong in Fantasyland alongside older classic films like Peter Pan and Snow White.

I do still wonder how New Fantasyland would differ had Frozen been around at the time of its inception . . .
 

TwilightZone

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This one just popped in my mind: Peter Pan!
. parade floats
. restaurant in disneyland
. many stage shows
. appeared in many promotional materials for the parks
. a ride
. water slides
. mini lands
. and maybe even more that I'm not remembering!
 

Robbiem

Well-Known Member
I'm surprised no one mention roger rabbit yet. That's what inspired this post.
. Promos (if those count)
. toontown + toontown faire
. the planned roger rabbit's hollywood
. multiple stage shows in the park where he played a part
. featured in parade floats or had parade floats

When DHS opened Roger was everywhere- he was a major presence on the backlot tour with the gag warehouse and dip mobile, not to mention you followed his footpints between the tram and walking tours. I also remember him being almost a member of the fab five appearing all over with mickey and the gang. I remember meeting space cadet roger in tomorrowland for example. He wasalso prominent on spectromagic & thats before toontown and cartoon spin in Disneyland etc. What was interesting was that by the time pop century opened he was viewed as nostalgia theming, which is a shame as he had a lot of potential if it weren’t for the legal wrangling
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
And that was just one part of it. The Monorails were plastered with the image of Stitch. I understand promotion, but, they went way overboard on it for Stitch, but, it didn't seem to have a lasting affect. Chalk up one for the public for not buying into it. As a side note, I thought the castle papering was clever as the new show was introduced, but, the other stuff was just beyond need. Was that 'Stitch is King' photo shopped? I don't remember seeing it, but, it is possible I guess. If it was real all they really had to do is say 'Stitch was here' and gotten the message across.
 

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