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

[DCLcruiser]

The theme integration of Pandora into DAK is flawless. I will die on this hill. You can argue about the quality of the attractions all you want, but they nailed the integration into Animal Kingdom. It is the best example of adding a land to an existing park without diluting the original themes of that park. Anyone that says otherwise, has no idea what they're talking about.

We seek out Beastly Kingdom because we think we know what it is. The original land was a hedge maze and a dragon themed roller coaster. That's not really what the park needs right now.

Pandora the land, is amazing, especially at night. Na'vi River is terrible. Either way, "alien land" is not the same as Earth; past, present and myth. I would find Dragons, Griffins, etc more acceptable to the ethos of DAK. The Banshee are very cool though.

Beastly Kingdom would have been awesome. Dueling Dragons coaster, Fantasia maze, Pegasus, etc. A lot of material from myths, sagas and ancient lore.

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.

Ice Age, the theme, not the movie, would be great. The movie, especially how doofy the main character is, seems more like a spoof than an honest attempt to show Ice Age animals/experiences. I get it's for kids, but it's low-brow for Disney to associate.

 

[ChrisM]

Pandora really is screaming for some large scale AAs of the cool fauna from the movie. It absolutely befuddles me that they didn’t have some at land opening with as part of NRJ or with some sort of walk through animal trail.

Spot on.

NRJ would be greatly improved with a couple full scale AA animals (and would be a legitimately solid attraction with those and if it was just a little bit longer with a Pirates style drop).

Oh well.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think NRJ is a legitimately solid attraction as-is -- it's one of the best C tickets at WDW, if not the best.

Of course it would be better if it was longer with more AAs, but then it's a D or even an E ticket. Which would be great, but I don't think that was the intent.

 

[RSoxNo1]

NRJ is a ride without a ticket class. Everything about it says very solid D-ticket except the attraction length. During development it was classified as a C-ticket.

 

[pdude81]

very solid D

 

[DCLcruiser]

I think NRJ is a legitimately solid attraction as-is -- it's one of the best C tickets at WDW, if not the best.

Of course it would be better if it was longer with more AAs, but then it's a D or even an E ticket. Which would be great, but I don't think that was the intent.

What is the purpose of the ride? What is the quest, or the adventure, or the peril, or the excitement? It's just a song and some neon jelly fish. It's not worth it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

What is the purpose of the ride? What is the quest, or the adventure, or the peril, or the excitement? It's just a song and some neon jelly fish. It's not worth it.

Something needs to go horrible wrong?

 

[DCLcruiser]

Something needs to go horrible wrong?

It's Pandora. Humans in mechanized suits invading an alien world with banshees (fine, this land takes place after that). Something exciting should happen on the ride.

PotC is more exciting and engaging, and it's the same slow boat with a song.

 

[gorillaball]

It's Pandora. Humans in mechanized suits invading an alien world with banshees (fine, this land takes place after that). Something exciting should happen on the ride.

PotC is more exciting and engaging, and it's the same slow boat with a song.

Does something "exciting" need to happen on every ride? I like it (other than the already mentioned length etc).

 

[Rich Brownn]

What is the purpose of the ride? What is the quest, or the adventure, or the peril, or the excitement? It's just a song and some neon jelly fish. It's not worth it.

You could say the same about "It's A Small World". Or PeopleMover. Or any number of rides.

 

[Ghost93]

While I don't think the length of Na'vi River Journey will ever be expanded, I could see one day a few animal animatronics being added to the ride. There are a number of areas on the ride where there is empty space and not much happening where the presence of an animatronic creature would do a lot to liven things up.

Since it's unlikely that an expansion of Pandora would be ready in time for Avatar 2 (2022), Avatar 3 (2024) or Avatar 4 (2026) I think it's possible that a few animatronics could be added to the ride at some point in the next 5 years to give the land something new and shiny until a much larger expansion is ready.

 

[DCLcruiser]

Does something "exciting" need to happen on every ride? I like it (other than the already mentioned length etc).

It's a movie about action/adventure. So, yes, it should. Or at least give us some reason to be interested, why are we on the river, where are we going, what will we discover!? A new human outpost? A new alien animal? I don't want a book report, but I don't want to be bored either from a zillion dollar expansion. The scenery is good inside, but the land outside is even more impressive. So the bioluminescence inside isn't as much of a wow.

You could say the same about "It's A Small World". Or PeopleMover. Or any number of rides.

I hear you, but I consider those rides acceptable as "my feet hurt, let's sit and relax" rides. Pandora (film) has an energy to it.

 

[UNCgolf]

What is the purpose of the ride? What is the quest, or the adventure, or the peril, or the excitement? It's just a song and some neon jelly fish. It's not worth it.

The purpose is that you get to be in a jungle on an alien planet -- it sells that hard. It's one of the more immersive/transportive rides at Disney.

It's all subjective/a matter of taste, of course, but while I do like Flight of Passage and think it's a good attraction, I actually enjoy NRJ more.

 

[Suspirian]

Especially when considering a park such as AK, I wish Disney would stop playing games already and add the IP that will never go out of style aka Lion King!

Its so bizarre to me that The Lion King, the same movie they're milking nostalgia from via cgi remakes, has very little presence in Disney theme parks globally. Seems very weird and near-sighted to prioritize an IP like Zootopia over that.

 

[networkpro]

Its so bizarre to me that The Lion King, the same movie they're milking nostalgia from via cgi remakes, has very little presence in Disney theme parks globally. Seems very weird and near-sighted to prioritize an IP like Zootopia over that.

Well, Lion King has that underlying theme of a primitive existence and natural selection... that whole circle of life jingo. Care to explain to junior why Simba's jowls are covered in blood while he gleefully chomps away on one of his neighbors or even better Little Red?

Zootopia doesnt have to face those hard facts as they have stores to buy food in

 

[SpectreJordan]

I'm guessing they are waiting to see how TLM does in 2023 before making a call with that space.

And maybe the Grotto?

Honestly, that whole area needs a retheme. I like the idea to expand Magic Kingdom, but it's crazy they're thinking of doing that before they do anything with the giant dead area in their second busiest park.

 

[fgmnt]

Its so bizarre to me that The Lion King, the same movie they're milking nostalgia from via cgi remakes, has very little presence in Disney theme parks globally. Seems very weird and near-sighted to prioritize an IP like Zootopia over that.

As someone who is a fan of the original movie, I do not think you can better manifest the IP in the parks than Festival of the Lion King, unless you wanted to replace it with an abridged version of the Broadway show (beyond unlikely). This might sound weird, but the very nature of Disney Renaissance movies: a marriage of so many technical disciplines working at their highest levels to produce a self-contained end product, I think anything that attempts to transform those characters and their worlds into a kinetic theme park attraction would wind up feeling too alien to the IP, or too closely mirrors a book report to be meaningful.

Modern theme park experiences, for all of their strengths and faults, aspire to be transportive to a living environment. For The Lion King, the world you can be transported to is in Kilimanjaro Safaris. You can't retell a Shakespearean play in the world of a Savannah excursion in real life--they couldn't even keep the goofy, nebulous story they had on the ride.

Zootopia and Avatar are not nearly the movie that The Lion King (1994) is, but they do lend themselves more easily to a transportive experience in a theme park.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It's Pandora. Humans in mechanized suits invading an alien world with banshees (fine, this land takes place after that).

It's the Animal Kingdom... no it shouldn't.

 

[FigmentForever96]

What is the purpose of the ride? What is the quest, or the adventure, or the peril, or the excitement? It's just a song and some neon jelly fish. It's not worth it.

The purpose of the ride is to simply be an extension of the land you’ve been exploring. Its simply a vessel to further explore and drive the narrative the entire land is trying to showcase the moment you walk into it. Whether it does that well or doesn’t is probably more in the eye of the beholder but it earns more respect from me when I see it as an extension versus just a stand alone.

 

[JustInTime]

Its so bizarre to me that The Lion King, the same movie they're milking nostalgia from via cgi remakes, has very little presence in Disney theme parks globally. Seems very weird and near-sighted to prioritize an IP like Zootopia over that.

WDW is covered on the Lion King front. We went to DL in 2019 and were shocked to not see a single thing for it though. I guess there just aren’t many places it fits. But the good news is that since then, DL has gotten a show and it’s almost getting a large segment in the new World of Color. So it’s a start!