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

[RSoxNo1]

We don’t have New Orleans Square. Tiana is opening a co-op in Albuquerque AND New Orleans, apparently.

A retheme to Pecos Bill and/or Tortuga Tavern and permanently docking the Riverboat near Tiana's Bayou Adventure gives you a mini New Orleans square.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Nope, the themes of the park are as follows:

• The intrinsic and superior value of nature – this means that nature, above all else is at the forefront of the design. This leads to parts of the park being out of their true control (live animals, overgrown pathways, etc.).
• Transformation through adventure – this idea is that adventure changes people when they experience something they’ve never experienced before.
• Personal call to action – a sense of responsibility for the animals and the conservation message.

I can easily see how to pull off all three with Moana. Zootopia is definitely a head scratcher. Surely there are better options in the catalog.

 

[ToTBellHop]

A retheme to Pecos Bill and/or Tortuga Tavern and permanently docking the Riverboat near Tiana's Bayou Adventure gives you a mini New Orleans square.

That could work but they aren’t doing that by 2024.

 

[JustInTime]

We don’t have New Orleans Square. Tiana is opening a co-op in Albuquerque AND New Orleans, apparently.

Fits as much as song of the south.

 

[castlecake2.0]

@ToTBellHop whats your thoughts on Josh and the article from “the other site” that seems to think there light at the end of the tunnel. Do you think Josh gets “it” and we are about to see what he’s capable of? It felt like in the D23 presentation if you read between the lines he was trying to say things are going to get better and he gets that the last few years have not been great. Are we just having to navigate some rough patches leftover from chapeks time as chairman before we get to the good stuff?

 

[ToTBellHop]

@ToTBellHop whats your thoughts on Josh and the article from “the other site” that seems to think there light at the end of the tunnel. Do you think Josh gets “it” and we are about to see what he’s capable of? It felt like in the D23 presentation if you read between the lines he was trying to say things are going to get better and he gets that the last few years have not been great. Are we just having to navigate some rough patches leftover from chapeks time as chairman before we get to the good stuff?

I think Josh is giving his solid best effort. His constraint is Bob’s IP mandate but he’s trying to better understand what guests want.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I can easily see how to pull off all three with Moana. Zootopia is definitely a head scratcher. Surely there are better options in the catalog.

Not with this management

 

[SirLink]

And that's really the closest thing they would have to go by. If Joe Rohde was in charge, I'd have confidence that he'd find a way to make it work. If Chris Beatty is in charge, I'd have confidence that it would look good but theme and story would be secondary. If anything we'd get a Zootopia book report ride.

You also forgot going 2 times over the budget. But that is Carni Chris whole schtick he over designed a restaurant and under designed rides.

 

[SirLink]

You're probably not wrong, but you should be. I'm constantly convinced that the decision makers at the company simply don't get it.

They could change the story but I wonder if its a Parks thing cause they don't care that much I think its personally coming from Lucasfilm themselves.

 

[MKeeler]

I have to agree with much of what is said here. I can get behind Moana as part of an Oceania land, bringing in Finding Nemo, so long as there are sufficient animal exhibits. Even an aquarium would be nice to explore a new part of animal life in the park. I also hope that Zootopia never comes to pass and we get to keep a small Dinosaur section that remains with Dinosaur/CTX, the Boneyard, and Restaurantasaurus.

What will continue to baffle me is Disney ignoring the real need in service of an imagined one. The need for the parks is capacity, which Disney continues to ignore in favor of a perceived bump from IP. This is most evident in the Moana/Zootopia announcement and in the San Fransokyo announcement for DCA.

Here, DAK needed new attraction capacity. Particularly to balance Genie+. This could have been easily achievable by adding a replacement or few for Primeval Whirl. Imagine if they had added a new roller coaster toward the back of the Primeval Whirl plot, and then reconfigured the Dinoland space for a dinosaur carousel and tea cups or bumper cars. That would have at least added some capacity. And could have been achieved for a fraction of the cost they are about to expend.

As it is, they are adding no attraction capacity and throwing I'm sure what will be a lot of money at a questionable re-theme that gains them little and locks them into a very specific theme for expansion. How much Moana merchandise can this move? How much moves now and how much could this increase it?

 

[ctxak98]

Nope, the themes of the park are as follows:

• The intrinsic and superior value of nature – this means that nature, above all else is at the forefront of the design. This leads to parts of the park being out of their true control (live animals, overgrown pathways, etc.).
• Transformation through adventure – this idea is that adventure changes people when they experience something they’ve never experienced before.
• Personal call to action – a sense of responsibility for the animals and the conservation message.

I think these are more of the core values of the park, which then overlay into
The different themed lands we have today.

While not the overall theme, Originally the park did want to focus on the 3 sections: real, extinct, and imaginary. This structure was a primary focus in the parks first years of operation. Which those would then have something to do With the above you mentioned. The theme of animal kingdom is complex

 

[gerarar]

In actual news, the Dino Diner snack cart has been removed overnight....

I always grabbed churros from here after riding Dinosaur a dozen times in the morning after rope-drop..


Here's what it looked like before:

 

[SirLink]

I have to agree with much of what is said here. I can get behind Moana as part of an Oceania land, bringing in Finding Nemo, so long as there are sufficient animal exhibits. Even an aquarium would be nice to explore a new part of animal life in the park. I also hope that Zootopia never comes to pass and we get to keep a small Dinosaur section that remains with Dinosaur/CTX, the Boneyard, and Restaurantasaurus.

What will continue to baffle me is Disney ignoring the real need in service of an imagined one. The need for the parks is capacity, which Disney continues to ignore in favor of a perceived bump from IP. This is most evident in the Moana/Zootopia announcement and in the San Fransokyo announcement for DCA.

Here, DAK needed new attraction capacity. Particularly to balance Genie+. This could have been easily achievable by adding a replacement or few for Primeval Whirl. Imagine if they had added a new roller coaster toward the back of the Primeval Whirl plot, and then reconfigured the Dinoland space for a dinosaur carousel and tea cups or bumper cars. That would have at least added some capacity. And could have been achieved for a fraction of the cost they are about to expend.

As it is, they are adding no attraction capacity and throwing I'm sure what will be a lot of money at a questionable re-theme that gains them little and locks them into a very specific theme for expansion. How much Moana merchandise can this move? How much moves now and how much could this increase it?

The parks need high capacity rides, they needed them with FP, they definately needed them with FP+ and they absolutely need them with Genie+

 

[SpectreJordan]

Sure. I’d just be happier if a blue sky thing was a Pandora addition as opposed to a Dinosaur replacement. They could work on that at the same time as Moana for a big splashy combined opening without hurting capacity as much in the interim

I think they might wait to see if Avatar 2 is a hit first. They probably don’t want another Galaxy’s Edge on their hand where the general public is mixed on the source material of the new ride.

 

[Brer Panther]

Ice Age would be a far better choice for a Dino-Rama replacement. Disney owns it now, it's about prehistoric animals, and that Buck Wild movie shows that Disney still wants to milk the franchise.

 

[No Name]

While I agree that Dinoland's days are numbered, I bet if Avatar: The Way of Water does well at the box office Disney may prioritize a Pandora expansion over Moana/Zootopia in Animal Kingdom.

Ironically an ad for an Avatar re-release next week appeared right under your comment.

I can’t imagine an outcome in which they’re thrilled with the box office result, especially considering the first movie’s success, but we shall see.

 

[Joel]

I can’t imagine an outcome in which they’re thrilled with the box office result

What if it makes 17 trillion dollars?

 

[No Name]

What if it makes 17 trillion dollars?

Perhaps they’ll add a Na’vi meet and greet!

 

[Ghost93]

What if it makes 17 trillion dollars?

If Avatar 2 makes 17 trillion dollars, Disney might be able to afford to fix the Yeti!

 

[ToTBellHop]

Perhaps they’ll add a Na’vi meet and greet!

*only at Disneyland