Why a Land Themed to a Great IP Matters- Short Version

[EPCOTCenterLover]

OK, so the suits at Disney will give us a Star Wars land, Avatarland, and only God knows what else. Why? Here's a short answer...

My nieces and nephews (ages 15,17,19, 22) from the midwest come back from two days at Disneyland Resort. I ask about their trip. The only attraction they mentioned and got excited about was Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers. World of Color got a slight nod.

Returning home with good word of mouth to all their friends is worth more than talking about an attraction with little name value when it comes to drawing guests in.

Not that I like this approach, even though I think Cars Land is one of the best things Imagineering has accomplished since Indiana Jones Adventure, but it works- at least short term.

 

[lego606]

OK, so the suits at Disney will give us a Star Wars land, Avatarland, and only God knows what else. Why? Here's a short answer...

My nieces and nephews (ages 15,17,19, 22) from the midwest come back from two days at Disneyland Resort. I ask about their trip. The only attraction they mentioned and got excited about was Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers. World of Color got a slight nod.

Returning home with good word of mouth to all their friends is worth more than talking about an attraction with little name value when it comes to drawing guests in.

Not that I like this approach, even though I think Cars Land is one of the best things Imagineering has accomplished since Indiana Jones Adventure, but it works- at least short term.

And when the IP the land is based on is out of popularity and suddenly you're stuck with a completely dead area?

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Theme parks based on the formula of 'collection of movie franchises' feel unmagical. They don't have any real place that you visit. You are not a participant, but a spectator.

To add further injury, invariably, half an IP park tends to feel stale and outdated. Most movies and IPs have a short lifespan. Anybody want to ride The Matrix 2?

 

[tare]

I am in favor of Star Wars land. Not ghat I think Star Wars is so great I just think it will have some really great rides. Star Wars has been around forever. I saw the movie when I was little and look how popular it still is today. Cars land will be great too. Can't wait to see it in dl soon!!!

 

[mickeymatt]

Yes I think Star Wars has stood the test of time. Generations have continued to watch it. Carsland is so incredibly done and that franchise is gold when it comes to little kids. But Avatarland? I thinks the suits are defiling AK with that one. Just my opinion.

 

[mickeymatt]

My hope is that avatarland goes the way of hyperion warf

 

[WED99]

I have a feeling the plan all along with Carsland has been that when that movie is outdated they simply do a little re-theming and change it to a Route 66 land.

 

[retroeric]

When I read the subject line, I first thought "97.101.337.29 Land". And the amazing new "172.28.392.40 Land"

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

^^^ Ha!

 

[Stu29573]

Yeah Avatar was a miss, in my book. Its like they said, "Potter is killing us in publicity! Quick, grab a paper and see what movie is popular right now!" Zero staying power and a depressing yawner of a movie, IMHO.

 

[unkadug]

Yeah Avatar was a miss, in my book. Its like they said, "Potter is killing us in publicity! Quick, grab a paper and see what movie is popular right now!" Zero staying power and a depressing yawner of a movie, IMHO.

Except that the paper that they grabbed was three years old!

 

[FettFan]

 

[Bob]

Just give the Imagineers free reign and keep the bean counters out of it. In that kind of situation, I'm sure that they could put in some attractions that would have people talking for decades and blow away anything being done at any other park.

 

[Hollywood Magic]

I REALLY just want to beg on my knees for them to NOT DO AVATARLAND.
I think they could make a good Lion-King area or something there...

 

[ctxak98]

I don't understand why people say the ride will be boring once the IP is outdated or irrelevant. I mean Imagine if Avatar was a world Disney created, and they just added it to Animal Kingdom without it being tied into a movie. PEOPLE WOULD LOVE IT!

I think people are so stuck on it being an outside source that they think it ruins the park or something. I think Avatar is going to be awesome no matter what they do with the area, because the world of Pandora is awesome. Its not a land based off the story of the movie! (at least from what we know so far!)

 

[FettFan]

I still want Australia as a land. It's the one continent on earth where all the animals are designed to kill.

Dingoes eat babies, Tasmanian devils have jaws like a steel trap and temperaments worse than honey badgers, platypuses have venom-injecting spikes on their heels, Saltwater crocodiles, and the koalas...

oh lordy the koalas....you know those razor sharp claws nature gave them to climb trees?

They can really do a number on human flesh.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

* cancels order of two pet koalas for the kids *

 

[Magenta Panther]

And when the IP the land is based on is out of popularity and suddenly you're stuck with a completely dead area?

Like Muppetvision?

 

[FigmentJedi]

It really depends on the property and how rich a setting might possibly be for exploration and how much you can actually build from the source as far as IP-based lands go. Carsland was kind of a case of overdoing it, but Lasseter's weird obsession with the franchise actually ended up paying off and it's expansion of Radiator Springs compensates for the flaws of the source material and it ends up being a pretty good Route 66 land. The Beauty and the Beast section of New Fantasyland is incredibly successful at bringing in all the key locations of the movie to life. Universal's doing a great job bringing the settings of Harry Potter to life (though I don't like Dueling Dragons being a naked coaster) and Springfield's turning out pretty decent for the limitations they had.

Avatar is a movie that was more green-screen then anything else and it'll probably rely a lot on simulators more then anything else. And aside from riding with blue pterodactyls, none of the animals really stand out as creatures that'd be interesting to have an experience with seeing as they're just blue recolors of Earth animals with extra limbs. It just seems like a property that could really only support a standalone ride rather then a full land. You have a queue in the human base, then you go out exploring Pandora on a simulator and paint with all the shades of blue of the wind and that's really all you can do with it because we cannot build real flying mountains.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I really hate the idea of Avatarland but would love a Star Wars land! Maybe Disney could create something unique for HS instead of Carsland (it is fantastic) like Monstropolis or something. And for AK Australia or a North America area would be rockin'!