Pixarland

Originally Posted By markedward

I don't know if I've been won over, or just given up. But here it is - Pixarland.

Yes, we've all read complaints against the growing Pixar presence in Tomorrowland. But why fight it?

We already have Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. And Nemo on the way. And Pizza Planet. And Club Buzz. We're all reading the rumors about a CARS overlay to Autopia.

But why stop there? I present Pixarland!

Innoventions, the former home of Carousel of Progress, becomes the Carousel of Pixar Progress. The first scene is a background-less scene of a unicycle balancing some balls. Then a lamp balancing on a ball. Eventually we'd all be awed by the lifelike hair in the Monsters Inc. scene.

Honey I Shrunk the Audience would become Honey I Bought the Audience. The theater would seat 700 guests, roughly the number of employees at Pixar. After putting on your 3D glasses, 10 and a half MILLION dollars would seemingly be fired at you. (The price for Pixar divided by the number of employees.)By the way, if one $100 bill flies at you every second, the attraction would last 29 HOURS.

Star Tours would become Supers Tours. Mr. Incredible, who lost his job in the movie after all, has opened a tour company to take guests on a wild ride through Sindrome's former headquarters. What's that? Something's gone wrong. Watch out.

I haven't come up with an attraction to replace Space Mountain. Let's just make it a meet and greet area for our soon to be favorite characters from Ratatouille.

 

Originally Posted By markedward

Whoops. I forgot Astro Orbiters.

It's tough to come up with enough attractions considering that The Incredibles is the only released or soon to be released Pixar movie that doesn't already have an attraction open or in development.

So ... Pixar Orbiters. It's a lot like Astro Orbiters but a new "Friends" statue is in the center, so we can give proper respect as we fly around and around John Lasseter, Steve Jobs, and Ed Catmull.

Now, I know a lot of people will miss the old Tomorrowland. Or the older Tomorrowland. And a lot of people miss the one before that.

But fear not! It's VTL! Virtual Tomorrowland! A new attraction where you enter a recreation of Andy's room from Toy Story, sit down at Andy's computer (an IMAC of course) and experience all the great Tomorrowland attractions of the past. OK. It's actually a computer logged onto the Tomorrowland section of yesterland.com.

Oh, and to get Bob Iger really excited, people at home can log onto VTL to virtually experience your experience of virtually experiencing virtual Tomorrowland.

 

Originally Posted By alexbook

How about a dark ride in which you're Andre and you're being chased by Wally B.?

A young kids' play area with music and characters inspired by "Boundin'"?

 

Originally Posted By markedward

I wasn't familiar with Andre and Wally B. but I just read about the story at Pixar's website. Shall we turn the rockets on Astro Orbiters into alternating Andres and Wally B.s? That way, Lasseter's first 3D animated film would take its symbolic place at the entrance to Pixarland.

"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a lamp."

 

Originally Posted By markedward

OK. Maybe my ideas are too blue sky. It would blow the budget to convert every attraction. So I have an idea for a milder retheming for Star Tours, to take advantage of a project already in progress.

Perhaps you've read that George Lucas is developing an updated version of Star Tours that will incorporate some of the WONDERFUL improvements he made in the last three movies.

And perhaps you know that what became Pixar was originally part of George Lucas' organization before he sold it to Steve Jobs.

So, I offer you STAR TOURS, EPISODE ONE: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? This attraction is a tribute to all the stuff George Lucas did in the three new movies and in the special editions of the original movies that Ed Catmull and John Lassetter would have talked him out of if they had still been with him. It would be hosted by Jar Jar Binks.

 

Originally Posted By DlandDug

There is no Pizza Planet in Tomorrowland. And the rumors about Cars replacing Autopia have no foundation in reality. So what we have is Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters, Club Buzz (without the themed show, BTW), and Nemo coming soon.

Seems hardly like a takeover to me...

 

Originally Posted By Sweeper

When Disney animation actually produces something great then complaints about Pixar will hold water with me. Since Pixar gets it and wipes the floor with Stitch and Chicken, etc. I will be happy to visit Pixarland. AND since they are now both the same company, who cares! Unless Pixar suffers from the mediocrity at Disney animation...then I will be upset.

 

Originally Posted By markedward

<When Disney animation actually produces something great then complaints about Pixar will hold water with me.>

Obviously, I'm trying to keep it light and have fun. But ...

When Disney parks produce attractions based on The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, Tarzan and Alladin, then the addition of another Pixar attraction will sit okay with me.

Alladin has a Dumbo clone in Florida and Paris. Little Mermaid is well represented at Tokyo Disneysea. Otherwise, the truly awesome movies of Disney's second golden age are represented by some shows in Florida and pretty much nothing in Anaheim. Oh, Tarzan has a tree and Alladin has a show.

Of the Pixar feature films, all of them but The Incredibles have a ride or one being developed (Cars in Paris, Nemo in Anaheim). A Bug's Life has a whole land at DCA. But no Little Mermaid dark ride. No romantic Beauty and the Beast attraction. Nothing for The Lion King. Tarzan gets a tree.

I love Pixar. Toy Story is one of the best, right up there with The Lion King or Mary Poppins. But I cannot believe that there is more demand for attractions based on Monsters, Inc. or A Bug's Life than on The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, or the Little Mermaid.

And before anyone argues that those aren't current movies, and the trend is to tie into current or recent movies, Monsters Inc. isn't exactly current either. When was the last time you rented Monsters Inc.? When was the last time you rented The Lion King? I have three boys, and The Lion King, Alladin, and Tarzan are much more present in our boys' lives than A Bug's Life or Monsters Inc. Next Halloween you'll see more little Ariels, Jasmines and Belles than you will - okay, that's not fair since Pixar doesn't do girls - but there's that Princess ant and Dash had an invisible sister.

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

>>Yes, we've all read complaints against the growing Pixar presence in Tomorrowland. But why fight it?<<

Because we are 3 Dimensional beings .. and 2 Dimensional characters .. are still 2 Dimensional characters blown up to life size.

The magic of Disneyland is mostly due in part to our ability to relate to the worlds that are as 3 dimensional as we, human beings, are.

Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, (and more!), many of the environments that support these reality-enhanced worlds ... All make for the "3D-plus" world that makes up Disneyland.

Even Splash Mountain and the Tiki Room have an artistic flare to them that don't come off so 2-Dimensional Cartoony.

All these decades .... we can accept the notion that in Fantasyland .. a land devoted to "fairy tales come true" that bringing 2-Dimensional worlds into life is appropriate - For Fantasyland .... And even later in Toontown.

But I'm witnessing a balance that has somewhat eroded.

 

Originally Posted By markedward

oc dean - Awesome. You are so right.

I remember being put off by Disney MGM Studios and Universal because they - bear with me hear - they don't copy reality, they copy a copy of reality (the movies). I can ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm in a Star Wars scene, or I'd rather ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm travelling through space. I can ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm on a studio tram seeing how flood effects are done, but I'd rather ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm on a train caught in a flash flood.

Though I like Tarzan, I believe that the Swiss Family Robinson fantasy provides children with a richer vein of fantasy than Tarzan. Tarzan, like most of the films and the attractions based on them, fill in all the blank spaces. Tom Sawyer Island, the Jungle Cruise, the Matterhorn, the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse and some of the other older experiences do a better job as acting as a canvas on which we can put our own fantasies. Our boys love Buzz and really liked the Astro Blasters, but Astro Orbiters, Autopia, and Tom Sawyer Island left them enough room to create their own interpretations.

Sadly, I think I'm one of the folks who think Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, and the submarines are all being shifted that direction - toward the experience telling us exactly what we are seeing.

Would the Mona Lisa have the same appeal if it was called "A Painting of Maria Rabossi two days before her wedding, reflecting her mixed emotions over marrying a man she likes but isn't in love with, captured by an artist who thought she reminded him of his own mixed feelings over being away from Florence"?

Disneyland should walk a balance between enough and too much. Don't spend one dime putting a Cars overlay on Autopia. In a couple of weeks, kids joyfully shouting "I'm Lightning!" "I'm Ramone" "No, you were Ramone last time. I'm Ramone. You're Tow Mater!" will add their own "overlay" and that's the way it's supposed to be. That's the difference between receiving and doing. That's the difference between watching and playing.

 

Originally Posted By ChiMike

markedward, I think that was an excellent post.

 

Originally Posted By markedward

oc dean - Awesome. You are so right.

I remember being put off by Disney MGM Studios and Universal because they - bear with me hear - they don't copy reality, they copy a copy of reality (the movies). I can ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm in a Star Wars scene, or I'd rather ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm travelling through space. I can ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm on a studio tram seeing how flood effects are done, but I'd rather ride an attraction that makes me feel like I'm on a train caught in a flash flood.

Though I like Tarzan, I believe that the Swiss Family Robinson fantasy provides children with a richer vein of fantasy than Tarzan. Tarzan, like most of the films and the attractions based on them, fill in all the blank spaces. Tom Sawyer Island, the Jungle Cruise, the Matterhorn, the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse and some of the other older experiences do a better job as acting as a canvas on which we can put our own fantasies. Our boys love Buzz and really liked the Astro Blasters, but Astro Orbiters, Autopia, and Tom Sawyer Island left them enough room to create their own interpretations.

Sadly, I think I'm one of the folks who think Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, and the submarines are all being shifted that direction - toward the experience telling us exactly what we are seeing.

Would the Mona Lisa have the same appeal if it was called "A Painting of Maria Rabossi two days before her wedding, reflecting her mixed emotions over marrying a man she likes but isn't in love with, captured by an artist who thought she reminded him of his own mixed feelings over being away from Florence"?

Disneyland should walk a balance between enough and too much. Don't spend one dime putting a Cars overlay on Autopia. In a couple of weeks, kids joyfully shouting "I'm Lightning!" "I'm Ramone" "No, you were Ramone last time. I'm Ramone. You're Tow Mater!" will add their own "overlay" and that's the way it's supposed to be. That's the difference between receiving and doing. That's the difference between watching and playing.

 

Originally Posted By markedward

Whoops. Cranky computer led to a double posting.

 

Originally Posted By allygator206

Well, to be fair, Pixar IS Disney now anyway. I don't see anything wrong with including Pixar at DL.

 

Originally Posted By allygator206

I would also like to send my kudos to OC dean on his post. :O)

 

Originally Posted By Monty Cristo

Sounds to me like more of the same - folks complaining that DL isn't standing still as "their" DL. Pixar is the modern day heir in every way to the Disney tradition. There is nothing wrong with Pixar-based attractions.

I'd gladly welcome a "Pixarland".

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

You know what Monty .. that sounds all fine and dandy ........ but just like all things life .... there needs to be a balance.

 

Originally Posted By oc_dean

darn - "... like all things IN life"

 

Originally Posted By Monty Cristo

Dean, but "balance" suggests there's too much of one thing. Pixar IS Disney, so are you saying there's too much Disney in Disneyland? These Pixar movies are the new animated classics and they are what most children (and even adults) relate to now. They're as good as any of the original Disney classics so I have no problem with their inclusion in the park.

 

Originally Posted By DVC_dad

Why al the hubub about Pixar. Pixar is now Disney.