Zootopia at Animal Kingdom?

[Biff215]

Makes about as much sense as potting GotG in FW, but I doubt they're giving this one serious thought. Zootopia made money but time will tell if it becomes a classic. I doubt many will give it any thought in a few years unless there's an unneeded sequel.

AK is the closest thing we have to a purely themed park, please leave it well enough alone for now. A new continent would be the best next best step IMO, even if it has an IP connection like Lion King in Africa. Zootopia simply doesn't fit the park's mission of conserving nature. The fact that it has animals doesn't make it any better a fit than any other Disney animated movie that has animal characters.

 

[yeti]

The villain was a sheep.

Oh is haggis on the menu?

 

[wm49rs]

Corless may be overly aggressive, and generally pro-Disney, but he is not on the media list. Everything he does, he funds.

I find that very hard to believe....

 

[Tom P.]

I think the days of Animal Kingdom being a park devoted to real things ended with the announcement of Pandora. Yes, I know that Pandora is all about conservation and such, but it's still a totally fictional world and fictional characters. In a sense, the Zootopia characters are more real than the Pandora ones -- at least they are based on real Earth animals.

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point that every park is going to end up having more IP-related attractions added. It's just too lucrative for Disney for it not to happen. As long as they are done well, and not skimped on -- which is a big if, I grant you -- I am okay with that. Zootopia can fit into Animal Kingdom just as well as Pandora can, if it's done right.

That being said, I think it is highly suspect at this point whether there is any legitimacy to this rumor at all.

 

[shortstop]

I am not sure how you could possibly think Zootopia fits in DAK if you have ever been to the park. I thought most Disney fans would feel this way, until I saw a bunch of comments on a Facebook article about this "rumor" from people begging to see their favorite anthropomorphic friends in the park. Insert facepalm GIF here. Then again, this is why I come to WDWMagic for my news and not Chip & Co. or the DSNY "News"cast.

 

[Tom P.]

I am not sure how you could possibly think Zootopia fits in DAK if you have ever been to the park. I thought most Disney fans would feel this way, until I saw a bunch of comments on a Facebook article about this "rumor" from people begging to see their favorite anthropomorphic friends in the park. Insert facepalm GIF here.

I have been to the park multiple times. And I think Zootopia could be made to fit. As I said above, it may not fit with the original vision for the park, but now that we've shoehorned Pandora in, I don't see how Zootopia fits any less.

 

[asianway]

I find that very hard to believe....

he's never once reported from a WDW Parks event. I believe DL gave him CarsLand opening access, and the Studios gave him the Zootopia press event at AK, but he has many times railed against the methodology employed by TS, JFB, and Co.

 

[shortstop]

I have been to the park multiple times. And I think Zootopia could be made to fit. As I said above, it may not fit with the original vision for the park, but now that we've shoehorned Pandora in, I don't see how Zootopia fits any less.

Perhaps Pandora wasn't what most people would've picked for the park, but now that it's been completed, I doubt that anyone (outside of haters of the Avatar IP) would believe Zootopia is less of a stretch than Pandora. The two just aren't comparable in my eyes.

 

[wm49rs]

he's never once reported from a WDW Parks event. I believe DL gave him CarsLand opening access, and the Studios gave him the Zootopia press event at AK, but he has many times railed against the methodology employed by TS, JFB, and Co.

He once had a meltdown on Twitter about not being given an invite to a MNSSHP event, to the point of railing against the candy being given out. And unless he's back by his parents' money (as others in that community are), he's getting freebies. But considering he has the habit of taking others' work for his own, his statements about the methodology used by them are more self-serving, hypocritical prattle....

 

[andysol]

I have been to the park multiple times. And I think Zootopia could be made to fit. As I said above, it may not fit with the original vision for the park, but now that we've shoehorned Pandora in, I don't see how Zootopia fits any less.

Could and should are not interchangeable. Could a fictional Arendale be shoehorned into Norway in the World Showcase? Yes- it could. And did. Should it? Any reasonable person would say no.
Could Zootopia fit in Animal Kingdom? Of course. Should it? The answer is obvious.
I knew as soon as this thread came out there would be people saying "If Pandora did, why not Zootopia". Pandora was Beastly Kingdom w/ an IP. No more, no less. Instead of a dragon we got banshees. Instead of unicorns we got a blue leopard alien thing. But the message is still about conservation, which fits perfectly into the park while checking off other boxes in the process.
Zootopia has no place. Again- Could they and should they are totally different answers.

 

[Bairstow]

The villain was a sheep.

Anyway I think this is unlikely while Joe Rohde is still around. It doesn't seem to fit with his ideas about the park.

I'm really curious to know how much control Rohde really has over what goes into the park. He can't possibly have "veto power" or else Avatar wouldn't have gotten built. Wasn't there a story that when Iger announced the deal with Cameron was the first time he heard about it?

 

[marni1971]

I find that very hard to believe....

Quite a lot of bloggers have to pay their way. Not always, but a lot of the time.

 

[wm49rs]

Quite a lot of bloggers have to pay their way. Not always, but a lot of the time.

I have no doubt about that, just Clickbait Tom. He's never been bashful about showing off the access that his site gets him, particularly on his personal Twitter....

 

[Tom P.]

This is an aside, but one that has me genuinely curious.... why can we discuss Corless and his site, and freely reference things that are said on it, but no one is allowed to name said site? Maybe I just don't know the backstory on this, but it seems odd. I apologize if I'm violating a board rule or protocol by bringing it up.

 

[britain]

I think Zootopia would fit just fine. It's ZOOtopia! Of course it goes in Animal Kingdom! It would essentially be the Fantasyland/Toontown of AK. No problem.

 

[disneygeek90]

I think the days of Animal Kingdom being a park devoted to real things ended with the announcement of Pandora. Yes, I know that Pandora is all about conservation and such, but it's still a totally fictional world and fictional characters. In a sense, the Zootopia characters are more real than the Pandora ones -- at least they are based on real Earth animals.

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point that every park is going to end up having more IP-related attractions added. It's just too lucrative for Disney for it not to happen. As long as they are done well, and not skimped on -- which is a big if, I grant you -- I am okay with that. Zootopia can fit into Animal Kingdom just as well as Pandora can, if it's done right.

That being said, I think it is highly suspect at this point whether there is any legitimacy to this rumor at all.

To be fair, they have had a land and ride based upon a fantasy mountain creature for years.

 

[BrianLo]

where otherwise a cartoony land full of cartoon characters would further ruin the near-total dedication of the park to immersion in "real" places.
Otherwise, this will somehow manage to be an even worse fit than Avatar.

This was never a hard limitation of the park except one based on happenstance due to Eisner's cheapness.

The locations in Fantasia are not exactly real, nor were any of the beastly kingdomme animal's real.

That said Zootopia actually doesn't really respect any of the secondary themes of AK, nor does it have an adaptable similar art style. The only thing it matches is vaguely 'animals'.

 

[asianway]

He once had a meltdown on Twitter about not being given an invite to a MNSSHP event, to the point of railing against the candy being given out. And unless he's back by his parents' money (as others in that community are), he's getting freebies. But considering he has the habit of taking others' work for his own, his statements about the methodology used by them are more self-serving, hypocritical prattle....

Not sure if it was the regular "press" night they do every year, but its my understanding anyone with a url can get the 2 free tickets to that party. If they didnt give him those tickets, then he is on a blacklist.

 

[Bairstow]

This was never a hard limitation of the park except one based on happenstance due to Eisner's cheapness.

Maybe not, but it has become the park's best and most distinctive attribute.

The locations in Fantasia are not exactly real, nor were any of the beastly kingdomme animal's real.

That said Zootopia actually doesn't really respect any of the secondary themes of AK, nor does it have an adaptable similar art style. The only thing it matches is vaguely 'animals'.

At least Avatar was about conservation.
If anything, the allegorical subject matter for Zootopia was race relations.

 

[danlb_2000]

I think the days of Animal Kingdom being a park devoted to real things ended with the announcement of Pandora. Yes, I know that Pandora is all about conservation and such, but it's still a totally fictional world and fictional characters. In a sense, the Zootopia characters are more real than the Pandora ones -- at least they are based on real Earth animals.

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point that every park is going to end up having more IP-related attractions added. It's just too lucrative for Disney for it not to happen. As long as they are done well, and not skimped on -- which is a big if, I grant you -- I am okay with that. Zootopia can fit into Animal Kingdom just as well as Pandora can, if it's done right.

That being said, I think it is highly suspect at this point whether there is any legitimacy to this rumor at all.

AK was never going to be 100% devoted to real things, it was always supposed to have an area devoted to imaginary creatures.