Zootopia at Animal Kingdom?

[churrosandwaffles]

I don't think there will be a Zootopia attraction or area but one thing that could work if they wanted to use the IP is have a kids play area similar to Honey I Shrunk the Kids. One that let you play in all the different areas from the movie. A big playground is needed at the parks these days. I think that would be the best use of the IP but will never happen.

 

[OG Runner]

It better have a vegan restaurant....on second thought I'm starting to realize why none of the main characters in the movie were livestock

Oh, I don't know, some people like RABBIT.

 

[HauntedPirate]

that’s not what I meant! Currently there are no plans for a Zootopia attraction in WDW as far as I know, as far as I can see (which is quite a way).

Does this mean this thread can be moved to 'General Discussion' or just closed, since it's not happening in the foreseeable future?

And, again - Box office numbers don't necessarily equate to popularity. *coughLastJedicough*

 

[Next Big Thing]

It made $235.6 million in China, if it's going to go into any park, my money's on Shanghai.

Pandora makes the same amount of sense based on this logic. Actually more sense given that all of the R&D work is finished and that it was a huge smash in China as well.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Exactly. You know it's bad when Disney says it didn't sell well even though they didn't even try selling Zootopia merch, yet you can find that merch being sold online is doing very well and some are even out of stock.

The thing about merch . . . they order as much as they think they'll need, and then restock or not according to how that sells. They didn't expect much from Frozen, but when the limited merch that was out there disappeared immediately they realized they underestimated and ordered several thousand bulldozers-worth into production. And it's still selling.

You couldn't find Frozen merch for a few months after it's release because it disappeared so quickly. Now you can find it everywhere because they ramped up massively to meet the demand.

If you can't find Zootopia merch, and haven't been able to for a good while . . . it's because Disney didn't feel demand from the public. If there's one thing you can count on them to do it's make money where it's easy. High demand for merch = easy money for Disney. By this point it would be everywhere if people really wanted to buy. "They didn't even try" means they didn't put out a lot to begin with and even THAT wasn't moving, so they didn't make the effort to put out more.

If merch is out of stock for a little while, it's popular. If merch is out of stock chronically . . . they might just not see the need to restock. And Disney is not known for leaving money on the table.

 

[Lemanic]

The thing about merch . . . they order as much as they think they'll need, and then restock or not according to how that sells. They didn't expect much from Frozen, but when the limited merch that was out there disappeared immediately they realized they underestimated and ordered several thousand bulldozers-worth into production. And it's still selling.

You couldn't find Frozen merch for a few months after it's release because it disappeared so quickly. Now you can find it everywhere because they ramped up massively to meet the demand.

If you can't find Zootopia merch, and haven't been able to for a good while . . . it's because Disney didn't feel demand from the public. If there's one thing you can count on them to do it's make money where it's easy. High demand for merch = easy money for Disney. By this point it would be everywhere if people really wanted to buy. "They didn't even try" means they didn't put out a lot to begin with and even THAT wasn't moving, so they didn't make the effort to put out more.

If merch is out of stock for a little while, it's popular. If merch is out of stock chronically . . . they might just not see the need to restock. And Disney is not known for leaving money on the table.

The thing is that Disney, as last minute marketing initiative before the premiere, counted on the fans, trying to capitalize on the surprise phenomenon Bronies became for that market. What they got was the grand opposite of that.

First, the Furry fandom is a queer one, meaning that evergreen and wholeseome fan-art and merch is thrown out the window in favor of lewd and sexual ones that reflect the age demographic that populates it. What was the first "scandal" surrounding Zootopia? a sex-negative petition against lewd Zootopia fan-art. What followed it? The infamous "I Will Survive" fan-comic that touches on the topic of abortion. And this will continue to happen because the demographic that loves Zootopia is a queer one that easily sees our beloved characters in less child-friendly scenarios and will keep go on with that.

That teaser that blatantly spelled out the word A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-M-O-R-P-H-I-C opened up a Pandora's box for Disney.

So the lack of official merch is indeed a bummer, but that's pretty much what Disney had in mind, because they didn't thought through well enough. There are Nick & Judy sex toys at Bad Dragon now though.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Nick and Judy sex toys? Yuck! And gross!

 

[Disney Maddux]

The thing is that Disney, as last minute marketing initiative before the premiere, counted on the fans, trying to capitalize on the surprise phenomenon Bronies became for that market. What they got was the grand opposite of that.

First, the Furry fandom is a queer one, meaning that evergreen and wholeseome fan-art and merch is thrown out the window in favor of lewd and sexual ones that reflect the age demographic that populates it. What was the first "scandal" surrounding Zootopia? a sex-negative petition against lewd Zootopia fan-art. What followed it? The infamous "I Will Survive" fan-comic that touches on the topic of abortion. And this will continue to happen because the demographic that loves Zootopia is a queer one that easily sees our beloved characters in less child-friendly scenarios and will keep go on with that.

That teaser that blatantly spelled out the word A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-M-O-R-P-H-I-C opened up a Pandora's box for Disney.

So the lack of official merch is indeed a bummer, but that's pretty much what Disney had in mind, because they didn't thought through well enough. There are Nick & Judy sex toys at Bad Dragon now though.

So we have one saying it's because there wasn't any demand (which I doubt considering the amount of demand there is now), then you're saying it's because of furries.

Which one???

 

[Lemanic]

So we have one saying it's because there wasn't any demand (which I doubt considering the amount of demand there is now), then you're saying it's because of furries.

Which one???

There is a demand. It's just that Disney counts on the fans to make the merch for them, but the fan-art made so far that's wholesome enough for proper licensing is so far and few in-between that Disney don't seem to make a profit out of it.

So Disney counts on the furries to change their habits and make more wholesome fan-art they can properly monetize. But that will never ever happen.

 

[Disney Maddux]

There is a demand. It's just that Disney counts on the fans to make the merch for them, but the fan-art made so far that's wholesome enough for proper licensing is so far and few in-between that Disney don't seem to make a profit out of it.

So Disney counts on the furries to change their habits and make more wholesome fan-art they can properly monetize. But that will never ever happen.

well hecc

 

[trainplane3]

There is a demand. It's just that Disney counts on the fans to make the merch for them, but the fan-art made so far that's wholesome enough for proper licensing is so far and few in-between that Disney don't seem to make a profit out of it.

So Disney counts on the furries to change their habits and make more wholesome fan-art they can properly monetize. But that will never ever happen.

I'll never forget when the first trailer came out and the explosion of "art". I've been a member of a gaming forum for 11 years and it goes through memes every so often and Zootopia was one of them. At some points you just couldn't avoid the art, even in the mapping subforums. Weird times.

People can be themselves but when I'm digging through threads on how to do something in Hammer, I want Hammer info. Not...well I'll stop.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

So we have one saying it's because there wasn't any demand (which I doubt considering the amount of demand there is now), then you're saying it's because of furries.

Which one???

There isn't demand now - what you're seeing as demand is a limited group seeking access to limited merch. If the demand outsized the supply, Disney would produce more. As they did with Frozen.

If they could be making money hand over fist from Zootopia merch there is absolutely no reason they wouldn't be. The demand isn't there. Even if the film made good money.

The furries have nothing to do with it.

 

[Princess Leia]

There isn't demand now - what you're seeing as demand is a limited group seeking access to limited merch. If the demand outsized the supply, Disney would produce more. As they did with Frozen.

If they could be making money hand over fist from Zootopia merch there is absolutely no reason they wouldn't be. The demand isn't there. Even if the film made good money.

The furries have nothing to do with it.

Shortly after the film came out, I saw a lot of merch in the discount aisle at Target. It just wasn’t selling (though I think simple plush would probably sell okay).

 

[Lemanic]

There isn't demand now - what you're seeing as demand is a limited group seeking access to limited merch. If the demand outsized the supply, Disney would produce more. As they did with Frozen.

If they could be making money hand over fist from Zootopia merch there is absolutely no reason they wouldn't be. The demand isn't there. Even if the film made good money.

The furries have nothing to do with it.

I don't think you get the new paradigm. The new economy powered by social media and e-commerce have for the better or worse democratized the merch industry to the point that the only thing stopping Disney to monetize fan-art with their IPs on it is the clash of ideas and values that meets them. Have you been to a Hot Topic lately? A good two-thirds of the prints on their T-shirts are monetized fan-art.

The furry fandom simply failed Disneys expectations, because the furry fandom works fine without Disney and thus making merch for Disney is of very low priority for the furry fandom. And once the furry fandom focus on Zootopia, they got other ideas than Disney on what do with it.

So, the demand is out there, just not for the things Disney is pigeon-holing this franchise on, which is patronizing to say the least. A nice comparison is the treatment of Tony the Tiger by Kellogg's.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I don't think you get the new paradigm. The new economy powered by social media and e-commerce have for the better or worse democratized the merch industry to the point that the only thing stopping Disney to monetize fan-art with their IPs on it is the clash of ideas and values that meets them. Have you been to a Hot Topic lately? A good two-thirds of the prints on their T-shirts are monetized fan-art.

The furry fandom simply failed Disneys expectations, because the furry fandom works fine without Disney and thus making merch for Disney is of very low priority for the furry fandom. And once the furry fandom focus on Zootopia, they got other ideas than Disney on what do with it.

So, the demand is out there, just not for the things Disney is pigeon-holing this franchise on, which is patronizing to say the least. A nice comparison is the treatment of Tony the Tiger by Kellogg's.

Right, Disney isn't making millions of dollars of of Zootopia merch because the fan artists they want to steal ideas from aren't making work they like. Got it.

If only they had someone on the payroll to design Zootopia merchandise they see fit to sell to those hungry, hungry masses.

Thank goodness the kids on DeviantArt drew Olaf in way the company liked, or I'd NEVER have been able to buy a t-shirt with him on it at MouseGear.

 

[Ag11gani]

2. The problem is with the poor decisions their making with Zootopia representation at WDW. All of the other parks around the world have a M&G, as well as a lot moore (fellow fanboys will get this) merchandise.

Not true, AFAIK DCA is the only park to have a Zootopia M&G. DLP and TDR certainly don't and I'm 80% sure that Shanghai and Hong Kong don't either.

Don't get me wrong I'd love a M&G, in WDW, but that is it, attractions don't really fit the IP well IMO.

EDIT: Just checked and Hong Kong and Shanghai do have meet and greets.

 

[Disney Maddux]

Not true, AFAIK DCA is the only park to have a Zootopia M&G. DLP and TDR certainly don't and I'm 80% sure that Shanghai and Hong Kong don't either.

Don't get me wrong I'd love a M&G, in WDW, but that is it, attractions don't really fit the IP well IMO.

Hong Kong added one very recently. I do believe you're right about Shanghai though, heck I don't think Judy and Nick appear in their park at all.

Tokyo has a meet-n-greet I believe, and DLP also added one recently.

So with that, WDW and Shanghai are the only ones to not have a M&G.

 

[Pi on my Cake]

Zootopia doesn't lend itself well to any of the Disney Parks in any existing lands. And it was too current and modern. It was neither timeless enough or a big enough phenomenon to justify building a whole new land around it.

I'm surprised there isn't a M&G somewhere, but WDW has seemed to be moving to a model of less characters to meet but with better set ups. They get a parade appearance. But there are other characters that get more of a priority for M&Gs. Especially when Zootopia doesn't fit naturally in any lands of any of the parks.

 

[IMDREW]

Shanghai had one when I went last year..

 

[IMDREW]

Wanna give us some more juice about that avatar land expansion? @marni1971