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

[No Name]

I don’t know…Universal does well with it and has added hotels at an incredible rate.

Perhaps you completely missed my point! Not only does Universal currently have just 2 parks, they are part of a well-established market of people already interested in spending multiple days at theme parks. I’m not questioning their current success.

 

[Brer Panther]

For those on the Zootopia bandwagon, Do you think they'd tailor the ride to fit Animal Kingdom's mission statement?

All signs point to "No".

 

[ToTBellHop]

Perhaps you completely missed my point! Not only does Universal currently have just 2 parks, they are part of a well-established market of people already interested in spending multiple days at theme parks. I’m not questioning their current success.

And my point, then, is if Disney moves to a similar model, the existing popularity of themed entertainment will keep the parks busy. The biggest issue parks see with the current model is stagnation loses guest interest. So we see ride rethemes and substitutions. The parks have become really nice permanent state fairs with ever-changing attractions, food, and merch.

 

[doctornick]

For those on the Zootopia bandwagon, Do you think they'd tailor the ride to fit Animal Kingdom's mission statement?

That’s a big question/problem I have. Sure it’s possible to develop a Zootopia area that focuses on various biomes and different animal habitats and kinda maybe can fit well in DAK - though arguably if you do that, it kinda defeats the point of using Zootopia and what makes it recognizable.

But I’m under the impression that part of the motivation to use Zootopia is to be able to copy the area from SDL and the main ride is a cab driving through the city right? And it’s certainly not going to have a conservation type theme or storyline. Would they bother to add Zootopia to DAK but do something radically different from Shanghai? I doubt it.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I think nature, and/or man's presence in nature - mostly in an older sense is the key part of AK.
Everything in AK is either natural, or worn - with the exception of the Dino Institute which was "built" to study and display dinpsaurs.
Zootopia is a modern metropolis.
It's got nothing to do with animals or nature.
Honestly, if Disney were looking to put a larger IP presence in AK - then LIon King or Jungle Book would be a far better fit.
The settings are at least natural.
The look can be integrated much more seamlessly, and the animal behavior and movement is far less anthropomorphic.

In that case, they better get rid of all the Disney animal characters (Mickey, Donald, etc) who wander around Animal Kingdom all day upright, wearing clothes.

 

[doctornick]

Oh give me a break. And you didn’t respond about Beastly Kingdom, but honestly don’t bother. They’re building Zootopia whether some of you like it or not.

We’ll see. For starters, many phase 2s (and that’s what this is, with Moana being the first phase of a Dinoland retheme) never happen at Disney. And I actually wonder if they presented it at D23 specifically to get some real world feedback about how people would react to Zootopia at DAK because doing it “officially”

 

[UNCgolf]

Oh give me a break. And you didn’t respond about Beastly Kingdom, but honestly don’t bother. They’re building Zootopia whether some of you like it or not.

Well there's actually no guarantee of that. Phase 2s are hardly ever built at Disney, and in the event they actually do go through with a Dinosaur retheme, it's not hard to imagine they'll have shifted to a different IP by the time they're ready to get started in like 2026 or 2027.

 

[UNCgolf]

But I’m under the impression that part of the motivation to use Zootopia is to be able to copy the area from SDL and the main ride is a cab driving through the city right? And it’s certainly not going to have a conservation type theme or storyline. Would they bother to add Zootopia to DAK but do something radically different from Shanghai? I doubt it.

Yeah, it seems highly unlikely that they'll design an entirely new Zootopia ride when they can build off the one in Shanghai (even if they can't copy it exactly) and that ride doesn't seem like it remotely fits at Animal Kingdom.

They're not even bothering to build a new D or E ticket level attraction for one of their most popular IPs ever (Frozen) in Paris; they're just cloning a mediocre C ticket instead.

 

[BuddyThomas]

For those on the Zootopia bandwagon, Do you think they'd tailor the ride to fit Animal Kingdom's mission statement?

Here is the first sentence of the Animal Kingdom mission statement: “"Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient, and imagined.”

The characters in Zootopia are imagined, so it sounds like they will fit right in.

 

[doctornick]

Here is the first sentence of the Animal Kingdom mission statement: “"Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient, and imagined.”

The characters in Zootopia are imagined, so it sounds like they will fit right in.

The “animals” of Zootopia are people with fur.

 

[BuddyThomas]

The “animals” of Zootopia are people with fur.

That’s one opinion.

 

[Incomudro]

That’s one opinion.

It's not really an opinion, it's a fact - though you've seen lots of people who share that "opinion" here.

 

[BuddyThomas]

It's not really an opinion, it's a fact - though you've seen lots of people who share that "opinion" here.

Just because you declare something is a fact does not make it so. I don’t know what is going on with this entire board lately. Every single thread is filled with people who want to do nothing but moan and complain about rides that haven’t even been built, about movies that haven’t even been released, and everything in between. And now I am being “informed” that a movie called Zootopia that is filled with nothing BUT animals has NO animals in it. Is the the Twilight Zone?????? Does 101 Dalmatians have any dogs in it? Does the Aristocats have any cats in it? What planet it this?????

 

[lazyboy97o]

Here is the first sentence of the Animal Kingdom mission statement: “"Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient, and imagined.”

The characters in Zootopia are imagined, so it sounds like they will fit right in.

Do you think the lead creative for the development of the park was unfamiliar with Eisner’s dedication speech?

 

[Incomudro]

Just because you declare something is a fact does not make it so. I don’t know what is going on with this entire board lately. Every single thread is filled with people who want to do nothing but moan and complain about rides that haven’t even been built, about movies that haven’t even been released, and everything in between. And now I am being “informed” that a movie called Zootopia that is filled with nothing BUT animals has NO animals in it. Is the the Twilight Zone?????? Does 101 Dalmatians have any dogs in it? Does the Aristocats have any cats in it? What planet it this?????

Uhhh, no - facts are facts.
I don't get to declare that.
Zootopia is about people, it's animals living human lives with jobs in the PD, DMV, riding trains, living in cities that they built.
It's not about animals.
There's nothing about it that fits the premise of Animal Kingdom.
If you can't understand the difference, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[peter11435]

That’s one opinion.

It’s really not an opinion.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think the issue is that Zootopia both is and isn’t about animals, depending on how you look at it. I agree that it has very little to do with the themes of nature and conservation, but not everyone is going to regard that as a problem.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Just because you declare something is a fact does not make it so. I don’t know what is going on with this entire board lately. Every single thread is filled with people who want to do nothing but moan and complain about rides that haven’t even been built, about movies that haven’t even been released, and everything in between. And now I am being “informed” that a movie called Zootopia that is filled with nothing BUT animals has NO animals in it. Is the the Twilight Zone?????? Does 101 Dalmatians have any dogs in it? Does the Aristocats have any cats in it? What planet it this?????

I think people here would be far less opposed to Zootopia if it didn't take place in a large metropolitan city, which is the complete opposite of the natural/wild environments that are the main appeal of the park.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

That's a good point. A big issue - at the highest level, all areas of Animal Kingdom focus on the natural world where animal inhabit with more minimal human intervention and interaction. Each of the areas focus squarely on natural areas with more "village" or "outpost" feelings. This is the interaction between humans and the world(s) inhabited by animals (i. e. the natural world). Regardless of the message, that is the overarching approach of DAK in design. And Zootopia doesn't fit that at all. All aspects of the Zootopia world are really urban and suburban areas. Not nature-adjacent and nature-respecting areas.

 

[peter11435]

I think people here would be far less opposed to Zootopia if it didn't take place in a large metropolitan city, which is the complete opposite of the natural/wild environments that are the main appeal of the park.

That setting is a huge problem but the bigger issue is that Zootopia is really not a story about animals at all.