News Zootopia and Moana Blue Sky concepts for Disney's Animal Kingdom

[Brer Panther]

Moana does not belong in Animal Kingdom.

It is a movie about humans. The focus is on humans. Moana is a human. Maui is a demigod. Yeah, there's a pig and a chicken and a giant crab, but that doesn't make the movie about animals. If they actually build this Moana crap, I guarantee you that it'll be focused on Moana and Maui, not animals. Plus, we're already having Moana shoehorned into EPCOT, we don't need to have it in two parks (granted, we don't need Frozen or The Little Mermaid in two parks either, but still...).

I loathe the idea of replacing Dinosaur with Zootopia too.

If they really want to shove an IP into Dinoland and they're too afraid to do original dinosaur attractions, they'd be better off just going with Ice Age. Yeah, Disney murdered Blue Sky Studios, but that Buck Wild movie shows that they're still perfectly willing to milk the franchise. And the franchise actually focuses on, y'know, ANIMALS.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Yup

Yet, at D23, they plastered his image everywhere. Put up his quotes on the walls. Used his audio in the presentations. I saw him being used all over this convention. They leaned into Walt and his philosophies all over the place.

This is why current Disney management is so terrible. They take a dump on everything he stood for with the parks. Then pretend that they are continuing the legacy of him. It's just a sad time to be a Disney parks fan.

Seems appropriate given the Walt statue they’re using…

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Moana does not belong in Animal Kingdom.

It is a movie about humans. The focus is on humans. Moana is a human. Maui is a demigod. Yeah, there's a pig and a chicken and a giant crab, but that doesn't make the movie about animals. If they actually build this Moana crap, I guarantee you that it'll be focused on Moana and Maui, not animals. Plus, we're already having Moana shoehorned into EPCOT, we don't need to have it in two parks (granted, we don't need Frozen or The Little Mermaid in two parks either, but still...).

I loathe the idea of replacing Dinosaur with Zootopia too.

If they really want to shove an IP into Dinoland and they're too afraid to do original dinosaur attractions, they'd be better off just going with Ice Age. Yeah, Disney murdered Blue Sky Studios, but that Buck Wild movie shows that they're still perfectly willing to milk the franchise. And the franchise actually focuses on, y'know, ANIMALS.

What sort of animal is a yeti?

 

[HauntedPirate]

What sort of animal is a yeti?

Mythic?

 

[doctornick]

Why in the world would they rid of Dinosaur?! AK needs all the capacity it needs, and that's a moster ride with good capacity.

And now for my biased opinion – Dinosaur was my favorite ride at WDW for years until the recent additions (aka ROTR), so I would be devastated if they ride of it for a Zootopia ride/land....ugh

Keep it and build new things for additional capacity.

Yeah, this is the part I don't get. Replace Dinorama? Sure. Add Zootopia, well I think it's a bad fit but I'm resigned to them making poor thematic choices. But why the heck would you get rid of Dinosaur (the ride) and the Dinoland USA area? There's absolutely nothing wrong with Dinosaur/Boneyard/Restaurantasaurus - just leave them as is. Like everywhere in WDW, DAK needs additional capacity not replacements. How in the world does Disneyland with 1000 rides gets MMRR as an addition but virtually nothing can be build at WDW parks with less than 10 rides unless they replace something else. It's bizarre.

 

[MadderAdder]

well, more so, Moana is very connected to nature and nature-spirits. Feels like conservation esque. No?

 

[Tom Morrow]

What sort of animal is a yeti?

Mythical creatures have been part of the park's concept since the beginning.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Mythic?

I don't know... I don't think Animal Kingdom is about animals, it's about nature.

Like... there's no magic in Space Mountain but Space Mountain still belongs in Magic Kingdom.

 

[Tom Morrow]

well, more so, Moana is very connected to nature and nature-spirits. Feels like conservation esque. No?

Sure, but this is what the thing at Epcot is about too. Why do it in both parks? Pick one.

(preferably don't do it at all though)

 

[celluloid]

What sort of animal is a yeti?

One of legend inspired by ape like creatures and on a direct conservation message to AK as a protector of nature and against mankind invading for business with the story of Expedition Everest.

 

[Brer Panther]

What sort of animal is a yeti?

Touche. However, a yeti still isn't a human. Moana is. And it at least looks and acts somewhat like an animal.

 

[doctornick]

Much of the existing buildings would be yanked out altogether. It’s the Moana area that keeps some existing structures.

Such a waste of money. It would be so much better to just refurb Dinosaur to something that you can actually see things and enjoy more. And the Boneyard is the best "playground" of that style that Disney has every done. Why oh why would they ever get rid of it?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Such a waste of money. It would be so much better to just refurb Dinosaur to something that you can actually see things and enjoy more. And the Boneyard is the best "playground" of that style that Disney has every done. Why oh why would they ever get rid of it?

Boneyard is unusable from April through September.

 

[MadderAdder]

Sure, but this is what the thing at Epcot is about too. Why do it in both parks? Pick one.

(preferably don't do it at all though)

I don’t think the Epcot attraction makes sense so

 

[CJR]

They are crazy to not use expansion plots.

This.

In California, they somehow manage to make room for new park experiences without taking out high capacity attractions. In Florida, instead of using the vast space for expansion, they keep overhauling existing spaces, despite record attendance.

This approach is why the parks are packed, because they didn't grow with the attendance. Josh, keep making the same mistakes as your predecessors.

 

[erasure fan1]

You don't operate a company that was founded 100yrs ago, like it was still 100yrs ago.

You can honor the man, his vision, and what he did to found the company, but that doesn't mean you make every decision with a What Would Walt Do magic 8 ball.

No one is saying you should run the place like they did 100 years ago. But some things like theming, design and story telling all still are as relevant today as back in the beginning. So if you're going to run around telling everyone how you are continuing Walts legacy. How about actually continuing Walts legacy.

 

[Brer Panther]

well, more so, Moana is very connected to nature and nature-spirits. Feels like conservation esque. No?

The main focus of the movie is still human characters, though. If they do a Moana attraction, I doubt it'll just be five minutes of Moana talking about conservation.

And animals are still a pretty big part of Animal Kingdom. The pig's a minor character and the chicken's hardly a great representation of animals.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I don’t think the Epcot attraction makes sense so

It's part of what they're trying to hail as "World Nature", combined with The Land and The Seas.

 

[doctornick]

If you look at the ride vehicle for the Zootopia ride thats going to the china park. It's the exact same ride vehicle as indiana jones/Countdown to Extinction and because of TRON there is now precedence for cloning rides that prove popular in China.

Seems to me then that the best option is to put Zootopia in DHS then and keep Dinoland USA (not the Dinorama part) as is. If it's the same ride type of Dinosaur, you probably wouldn't want it in the same park.

 

[UNCgolf]

Seems to me then that the best option is to put Zootopia in DHS then and keep Dinoland USA (not the Dinorama part) as is. If it's the same ride type of Dinosaur, you probably wouldn't want it in the same park.

The plan is to retheme Dinosaur into Zootopia if they go through with it (please don't go through with it).

I don't think it's using the Dinosaur/Indiana Jones ride system in Shanghai, though.