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

SNS

SNS

Active Member
doctornick said:
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.
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The idea is that Dinosaur would get its sets removed and Zootopia sets would be put in their place.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
doctornick said:
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.
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I see no evidence that Zootopia resonates with American audiences. My school-age kids are 8 and 5 and their friends backpacks and lunchboxes are Encanto, Coco, Moana, and Frozen. Not Zootopia. Not Big Hero 6 or even Wreck-It Ralph.
 
Brer Panther

Brer Panther

Well-Known Member
Having ANY Disney Princess in Animal Kingdom just feels wrong to me.

I'd say "with the possible exception of Pocahontas", but considering how problematic that IP is...
 
david10225

david10225

Active Member
JMcMahonEsq said:
And I think they did a good job with it. The bigger problem on a macro level is that I think there are a ton of ways to do “dinosaurs” well. There is an old seasonal park in Ma called Edaville RR that expanded with a really nice dinosaur section, with a great walk through experience, camp area with fossil mining, gem mining, ect. Even if Disney does Dino’s to the best of their ability, someone locally can do it different or almost as good….and I don’t have to pay Disney costs or fly to Florida to experience it.

There is a lot more competition in the them park space/entertainment space than existed when WDW first was built. Any company can throw money at great and imaginative talent. But no other place can match Disney’s IP. In that battle they have an almost unbeatable advantage. It makes totally sense for them to leverage that advantage. I still want them to do the rides well, but using the Ip gives them a hell of an edge.
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Oh my...we always went to Edaville for Christmas when I was a kid!
 
J

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
I see no evidence that Zootopia resonates with American audiences. My school-age kids are 8 and 5 and their friends backpacks and lunchboxes are Encanto, Coco, Moana, and Frozen. Not Zootopia. Not Big Hero 6 or even Wreck-It Ralph.
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I would have to say this is probably my biggest knock against Zootopia world here in US. Both my kids liked the movie when it came out....but it didn't stick with them for a long time, say like Cars did, or as Moanna or Frozen did for my nieces. Other than the shakira song it didn't have a huge soundtrack nor did the merch appear all that popular domestically.

Strictly in realm of devil's advocate, long term, other than Frozen, I could see an argument where Zootopia is the better IP choice. From what I remember of Coco and Moana (haven't seen Encanto) those stories seemed someone what "done." I could easily see new stories, either as movies or several Disney+ series based in Zootopia, without the need of involving the main characters from the movie. It seems like a broader "world" in which to play in, which could arguably give you longevity. It even in the movie itself seemed very much a nod to WDW itself in its construction, a monorail style Transporation system bringing you to a city with different hubs/themes around it. A perfect set up for a park.

Of course the fact that it is already designed and easy to implement quickly is likely a big plus as well.
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
I see no evidence that Zootopia resonates with American audiences. My school-age kids are 8 and 5 and their friends backpacks and lunchboxes are Encanto, Coco, Moana, and Frozen. Not Zootopia. Not Big Hero 6 or even Wreck-It Ralph.
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I love Zootopia as a movie but agree. I know the D+ series is coming but it doesn’t really have much of any cultural cache. I’ve got to think the only reason it is being considered is because it’s easy/cheap to clone something than develop something new (same as Tron which also has little persisting casual fandom).

That said, I also don’t necessarily think that having a big fan base and selling a lot of trinkets should be the basis for choosing a particular IP for an attraction. The idea should be to come up with a great ride design regardless of how popular the IP is.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
doctornick said:
I love Zootopia as a movie but agree. I know the D+ series is coming but it doesn’t really have much of any cultural cache. I’ve got to think the only reason it is being considered is because it’s easy/cheap to clone something than develop something new (same as Tron which also has little persisting casual fandom).

That said, I also don’t necessarily think that having a big fan base and selling a lot of trinkets should be the basis for choosing a particular IP for an attraction. The idea should be to come up with a great ride design regardless of how popular the IP is.
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But Tron was new, this is a reskin. If they want to go cheap, the cheapest thing to do is nothing.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
That said, I also don’t necessarily think that having a big fan base and selling a lot of trinkets should be the basis for choosing a particular IP for an attraction. The idea should be to come up with a great ride design regardless of how popular the IP is.
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Of course it should be this, but then there would be no need for an IP mandate at all. You certainly don't need IP for a great ride design (and I'd argue having to use IP actually makes it harder due to existing constraints).

The IP mandate implies popular IP (or something they expect to be popular). They aren't going to greenlight a Rescuers ride even if it was the most impressive design in years.
 
J

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
Brer Panther said:
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.
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As I thought about this, I was actually in the Moanna doesn't fit well camp. But thinking more about the THEME of Animal Kingdom, I am not so sure, as thinking about it more and more, it doesn't seem like ANIMALS is the focus point of Animal Kingdom.

Let's take a virtual stroll around the park. The first thing you see when you get into the park, besides shops on both sides of you, is the Tree of Life. Sure there are carvings of animals embeded it in (might be my favorite in person "scene" in all of WDW) but there are not live animals surrounding the tree, grazing around it. The tree and carved animals are more a depiction of NATURE to me as opposed to just animals.

Moving left in pandora, you have one of the busiest sections of the park, which is certainly not focused on animals. Pandora's themes were again more focused on Nature as a whole, and humans/Navi interactions in the balance of Nature.

In Africa you come to Harambe Theater, focus on the human singers and dancers, no real animals there.

Then you the human dancers and singers that perform in the "streets" and the market itself. Again not animal centric, but more on the culture and nature of the people of the region. Of course you have the safari ride, which is 100% animal focuses.

As you get to Asia you have the river rapids, again not animal centric, but impacts on nature and humans role in same. And then Everest, who's only connection to animals is an imaginary monster who no longer works, imaginary or otherwise.

Then you come to dinoland, where we get some carnival games, a time travel indoor dark ride+ (again one of my favorite rides in all WDW) but neither of which would i say the focus was truly on animals. I guess you could say the fossil areas were animal centric, but i will be honest i never thought those were the true focus of the park.

So with all that in mind, would moanna, with a land dedicated their connection to the Ocean, and mother earth (Tafiti) really be that far of a stretch off the overall AK theme?
 
SoFloMagic

SoFloMagic

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
It’s never been my favorite but…Zootopia?

They can erect a fence tomorrow and start building Moana Splash, though. If they hurry, it can open before Tiana’s Bastardized Adventure.
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New build log flume done faster than a rethemed log flume. I guess they're planning on stocking up on the orange and purple light bulbs and fog machines at spirit Halloween's clearance sales the next three years...
 
Epcot82Guy

Epcot82Guy

Well-Known Member
JMcMahonEsq said:
So with all that in mind, would moanna, with a land dedicated their connection to the Ocean, and mother earth (Tafiti) really be that far of a stretch off the overall AK theme?
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I think it's 100% execution. Moana and Tefiti clearly have incredible connection to the water and life. They could 100% be guides/ambassadors to those creatures. The focus needs to be on the nature, not the characters.

That's where my extreme doubt comes in. There are several ways to do it very well. I have no faith current Disney would accomplish that given what we've been seeing recently story-wise. It would be a Moana attraction. Not a nature-focused attraction that uses Moana characters as a conduit. The characters will always upstage the alleged "story" to make it fit into its surroundings.
 
the_rich

the_rich

Well-Known Member
JMcMahonEsq said:
As I thought about this, I was actually in the Moanna doesn't fit well camp. But thinking more about the THEME of Animal Kingdom, I am not so sure, as thinking about it more and more, it doesn't seem like ANIMALS is the focus point of Animal Kingdom.

Let's take a virtual stroll around the park. The first thing you see when you get into the park, besides shops on both sides of you, is the Tree of Life. Sure there are carvings of animals embeded it in (might be my favorite in person "scene" in all of WDW) but there are not live animals surrounding the tree, grazing around it. The tree and carved animals are more a depiction of NATURE to me as opposed to just animals.

Moving left in pandora, you have one of the busiest sections of the park, which is certainly not focused on animals. Pandora's themes were again more focused on Nature as a whole, and humans/Navi interactions in the balance of Nature.

In Africa you come to Harambe Theater, focus on the human singers and dancers, no real animals there.

Then you the human dancers and singers that perform in the "streets" and the market itself. Again not animal centric, but more on the culture and nature of the people of the region. Of course you have the safari ride, which is 100% animal focuses.

As you get to Asia you have the river rapids, again not animal centric, but impacts on nature and humans role in same. And then Everest, who's only connection to animals is an imaginary monster who no longer works, imaginary or otherwise.

Then you come to dinoland, where we get some carnival games, a time travel indoor dark ride+ (again one of my favorite rides in all WDW) but neither of which would i say the focus was truly on animals. I guess you could say the fossil areas were animal centric, but i will be honest i never thought those were the true focus of the park.

So with all that in mind, would moanna, with a land dedicated their connection to the Ocean, and mother earth (Tafiti) really be that far of a stretch off the overall AK theme?
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I've always felt the real theme of AK is nature in general not specifically animals.
 

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