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

[Skibum1970]

no need to lose the dinosaurs...condense them around the Dinosaur attraction, build the Moana/ Oceana area in what used to be Chester and Hester's area...no reason we can't have both. The carnival area is not integral to the Dinosaur portion of The Animal Kingdom...but was added filler when the park felt light. when you look at Google Earth you see that the Dinoland Area is larger than Pandor...almost twice as large... If they moved the Boneyard, opened up the waterfront near Restaurantosaurus and made some modifications, it could be a more concentrated and probably more engaging land... Then that leaves a large piece of property to create the whole new land and a large attraction...and to have Oceana/Moana connected to the Nemo theater just makes sense...
If we add anything to Magic Kingdome, Mystic Manor and Mystic Point would be a lovely addition...and theme-appropriate.

For Magic Kingdom, I would go with Tangled or even a Sleeping Beauty dark ride. Could not agree more about splitting Dinoland into Dinosaur and then Oceana with Moana. That is exactly what they should do and leave Dinosaur alone.

 

[Brer Panther]

Just stick the Moana ride in Adventureland. Surely there's room.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Just stick the Moana ride in Adventureland. Surely there's room.

There's a large chunk of land just to the southwest of POTC (outside the train track). It's a designated expansion plot around the size of the Jungle Cruise footprint. I believe the canceled Fire Mountain attraction was planned to go there. Presumably with a new guest walkway nestled between the Pirates building and Jungle Cruise (which is currently backstage access).

I'm not sure if this plan is official or fan-made (the site I linked from says the source is from Disney), but it's probably enough to convey the general idea regardless-

 

[RSoxNo1]

Moana would be a stretch at DHS... The park doesn't have any space that feels like it is leaning towards pacific island culture...it just feels wrong for the park... Much like Moana feels wrong for EPCOT. DAK feels like a natural place for a Pacific Island/Oceana area to exist which would fit the "Exotic Travel" framework of the park rather than be a complete departure...

I'm going to withhold judgment on Journey of Water but agree that Moana makes sense for DAK and Adventureland.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I would put it in a fleshed-out Animation Courtyard (replacing Launch Bay) with some sort of Walt Disney Animation Studios stage show replacing Mermaid.

Not that any of this matters. DHS is apparently all set through 2030.

Of course, Chapek’s firing throws all of this into question.

I know this is sarcasm, but DHS desperately needs ride capacity that isn't high demand attractions. If they could put 2 or 3 Little Mermaid equivalents in that park it would help tremendously.

 

[Brer Panther]

And there's so much wasted space in Hollywood Studios. There's the Launch Bay, that theater playing one Mickey Mouse short on a loop, what was once PIXAR Place...

 

[MaximumEd]

Hollywood Studios has a lot of underutilized or wasted space. It also needs expansions. The truth is that neither it nor AK, which I love, could survive on their own at the prices they charge if MK wasn’t right up the road. Would you pay 120, or whatever it is today, to check out a park with 6 rides, half of which are seemingly always broken?

 

[Tha Realest]

There's a large chunk of land just to the southwest of POTC (outside the train track). It's a designated expansion plot around the size of the Jungle Cruise footprint. I believe the canceled Fire Mountain attraction was planned to go there. Presumably with a new guest walkway nestled between the Pirates building and Jungle Cruise (which is currently backstage access).

I'm not sure if this plan is official or fan-made (the site I linked from says the source is from Disney), but it's probably enough to convey the general idea regardless-

Haven’t there been rumblings about them building an exclusive hotel experience here? Not sure if that’s still a priority given the shakeup, but I feel like I’ve heard a few rumors about a MK adjacent hotel going in somewhere near there

 

[Brer Oswald]

Moana would be a stretch at DHS... The park doesn't have any space that feels like it is leaning towards pacific island culture...it just feels wrong for the park... Much like Moana feels wrong for EPCOT. DAK feels like a natural place for a Pacific Island/Oceana area to exist which would fit the "Exotic Travel" framework of the park rather than be a complete departure...

I think it’s a perfect fit in Adventureland. Oceania/Pacific Island theming is such a big part of that land. I liked the idea of using the expansion plot to build a volcano, and a Moana boat ride that floated through the lower levels of it.

In every other park I feel that it’s a huge stretch. Epcot definitely being the biggest stretch.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

There's a large chunk of land just to the southwest of POTC (outside the train track). It's a designated expansion plot around the size of the Jungle Cruise footprint. I believe the canceled Fire Mountain attraction was planned to go there. Presumably with a new guest walkway nestled between the Pirates building and Jungle Cruise (which is currently backstage access).

I'm not sure if this plan is official or fan-made (the site I linked from says the source is from Disney), but it's probably enough to convey the general idea regardless-

I LOOOVE THAT IDEA! Oops, sorry for raising my voice, lol. Anyway, a Moana mini-area/attraction would be extremely perfect for the patch of land below POTC and past the train tracks! There could be either a bridge or tunnel for pedestrians crossing said tracks. Perhaps the attraction could be a musical stage show based on the movie, or a ride using one of the recent patents that were revealed.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

With Iger back could we see Moana replace Dino land for 2025?

 

[J4546]

I LOOOVE THAT IDEA! Oops, sorry for raising my voice, lol. Anyway, a Moana mini-area/attraction would be extremely perfect for the patch of land below POTC and past the train tracks! There could be either a bridge or tunnel for pedestrians crossing said tracks. Perhaps the attraction could be a musical stage show based on the movie, or a ride using one of the recent patents that were revealed.

Better yet, build the canceled fire mountain area. Regardless of ip success. This is imo of course.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Fire Mountain was originally IP-less I believe, but allegedly they altered it tie into the then-upcoming Atlantis animated movie. When that movie underperformed, they presumably scrapped FM entirely.

If FM was ever actually built (pretty sure it never will be), I wouldn't want it tied to an IP anyway. But it wouldn't be reasonable to hope for such a thing. It is a concept that I could imagine would be adaptable to the Moana IP if they wanted to.

I haven't really commented on this D23 concept. Setting aside the suitability of the Moana IP at Animal Kingdom (I'm against it, but i'll admit that C&H's Dinorama is also quite horrible and needs to be replaced with something better), a Moana water ride ala Splash Mountain sounds like it could be really good in the proper hands. That said, if those patents are indicative of the plans, then that sounds like a huge waste. Not happy with that idea at all.

 

[Jrb1979]

I know this is sarcasm, but DHS desperately needs ride capacity that isn't high demand attractions. If they could put 2 or 3 Little Mermaid equivalents in that park it would help tremendously.

With a 48" height requirements.

 

[SpectreJordan]

no need to lose the dinosaurs...condense them around the Dinosaur attraction, build the Moana/ Oceana area in what used to be Chester and Hester's area...no reason we can't have both. The carnival area is not integral to the Dinosaur portion of The Animal Kingdom...but was added filler when the park felt light. when you look at Google Earth you see that the Dinoland Area is larger than Pandor...almost twice as large... If they moved the Boneyard, opened up the waterfront near Restaurantosaurus and made some modifications, it could be a more concentrated and probably more engaging land... Then that leaves a large piece of property to create the whole new land and a large attraction...and to have Oceana/Moana connected to the Nemo theater just makes sense...
If we add anything to Magic Kingdome, Mystic Manor and Mystic Point would be a lovely addition...and theme-appropriate.

This idea would be great. Hopefully if they actually go through with this idea they'll do something similar. If they're dead set on Zootopia then they should use some of AK's large expansion space for it.

And there's so much wasted space in Hollywood Studios. There's the Launch Bay, that theater playing one Mickey Mouse short on a loop, what was once PIXAR Place...

What could they reasonably do with all of those theaters outside of better shows? They seem really awkwardly placed to be replaced with rides.

 

[Brer Panther]

What could they reasonably do with all of those theaters outside of better shows? They seem really awkwardly placed to be replaced with rides.

Better shows would be good enough.

I think Launch Bay is big enough to fit a ride. I've heard they considered putting Mickey's Runaway Railway there before deciding to shove it into the Chinese Theater.

As for PIXAR Place/the Incredibles thing... I dunno.

 

[Touchdown]

Remember “Pixar Place” has no room, the building on the right walking in is TSMM, and the one on the left is MMRR. It has the space that used to be the Buzz and Woody meet and greet and that’s it.

 

[J4546]

Keep dinosaurs in AK in a big way.

Maybe they could take the Moana ideas over to Epcot and build a new area between the land and seas pavilion with a massive walkthrough volcano rope course like shanghais camp discovery, new river rapids/flume, and spinner just like artwork but instead of AK its in Epcot and linked to Jow....giving a major new area with 3 rides that show land and sea working together. Also making Moana the "Epcot princess" imo

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

And there's so much wasted space in Hollywood Studios. There's the Launch Bay, that theater playing one Mickey Mouse short on a loop, what was once PIXAR Place...

Also the theater where Voyage of the Little Mermaid was. That whole area from Voyage to Launch Bay is prime unused real estate. Or at least not properly used.

 

[Brer Panther]

After seeing Strange World, I'm fully convinced that if it weren't bombing, Disney would be making plans to shoehorn THAT into Animal Kingdom as well.