Originally Posted By markedward DLmusic makes an excellent point that "fantasy" and movie tie ins are not a new thing, and were never meant to be limited to one part of the park. But let me put it this way 1950s Peter Pan cartoon characters in Fantasyland True Life Adventures in Adventureland Disney take on classic American folktales in Frontierland Undersea adventure movie in Tomorrowland 2000s Princess cartoon characters in Fantasyland Alladin cartoon characters in Adventureland Woody, Jesse and Bullseye cartoon characters in Frontierland Buzz Lightyear cartoon characters in Tomorrowland The Pirates in NOS, the jedis in Tomorrowland, and High School Pep rally in DCA are there, but there aren't many exceptions to this explosion of cartoon characters that have taken over Disney's parks.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <I'm a little confused by this movie-tie in attractions only belongs in Fantasyland concept.> Are you really confused? Please allow me to break it down. It's not movie tie-ins - live action with real people in them..it's *cartoon* movie tie-ins. That's the difference. When New Orleans Square opened in the late 60s, it wasn't 'gasp' tied to any movie. Neither was 'gasp' Bear Country in 1972.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror >>>With that said, I do think that Disney should put forth more effort to create a new, ambitious futuristic vision that didn't include established (movie) characters and themes. Why not bring in outside consultants to create a timeless look and feel that evoked hope and promise for the future?<<< Ironically, a potential answer for redoing Tomorrowland, MIGHT be found in a movie... a Disney movie. An ANIMATED Disney Movie, that pokes FUN at Tomorrowland. MEET THE ROBINSONS. The artistic vision in this film of a whimsical, pleasant, somewhat utopian future, is quite thorough and colorful, without being entirely "cartoony". It creates its own ethos about a "future that works", even if their main transportation device happens to be bubbles (how great would THAT ride be?). In any event, ROBINSONS is optimistic, and unified, and centers on both the future, and civilization. It's animated, but in this case... it might not matter. Let's just hope it's really, really good. The buzz on the lot now, is that the movie has improved bunches.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>>>>> <I'm a little confused by this movie-tie in attractions only belongs in Fantasyland concept.> Are you really confused? Please allow me to break it down. It's not movie tie-ins - live action with real people in them..it's *cartoon* movie tie-ins. <<<<<<<<< Thanks Jim .. I was going to say the same thing. It's not about "fantasy" .. it's about a park that is going NUCLEAR over T-O-O-N-S which is driving me crazy. It's the surrealistic reality that has been known in Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and New Orleans Square that has had the biggest hold on my imagination all throughout my life. They are tangeable worlds that *I* .. as a human being can "touch". But everytime Disney foisters another ride devoted to cartoons .. is another chip away at the 3D experience Disneyland is. It may not be so noticeable just yet ... But just keep doing it .. and there'll come a point where Disneyland is just not the "human" experience it use to be ... Where it touched our human souls so deeply ..... that makes us come back time and time again!
Originally Posted By oc_dean We as human beings are deep. Toons are "2 dimensional". They can be fun and whimsical ... but they cannot and never will be material that hits us at various multiple levels with our human hearts and conciousness!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<but they cannot and never will be material that hits us at various multiple levels with our human hearts and conciousness!>> I'm not so sure. Sulley and Boo pretty much did if for me in Monsters Inc.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <but they cannot and never will be material that hits us at various multiple levels with our human hearts and conciousness!> I agree with your objection to the "toonification" of DL outside of FaL, but I can't agree with the above. The scene in Dumbo where he goes to see his caged mother, for instance, hits us at a more primal level than just about any scene in any film ever, and works on a couple of other levels too.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "Disney never created attractions for Tomorrowland without a product to pitch." You make it sound as if none of the current Tomorrowland roster features corporate sponsers. "Enchanted Tiki Room is totally fantasy, have you ever seen singing birds or talking tikis?" Right, and do you think that an attraction like that one (featuring orginal characters and situations) could ever be built at DLR today? Using recent history as a guideline, I would say it's highly unlikely. It was the kind of fertile creative thinking that gave us the Tiki Room that also gave us the Tomorrowland concept. Blank slate thinking and brainstorming seems to be lacking at WDI these days.
Originally Posted By Dlmusic I understand why people want Disney to do original attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, but recently the track record for original attractions hasn't been that great. After all, just across the Esplanade lies an entire theme park full of attractions with virtually no character tie-ins. Hasn't exactly been rolling in dough thus far. Now I know there are a million other reasons why this might be the case, but it certainly doesn't help the "no toons" case at all. I seem to recall what really helped that park get a jump start it's first summer. Oh yeah, it was the Electrical Parade starring a whole case of toons. Getting back to the topic though, the problem that Disney is going to have in terms of tie-ins is that basically all they have is toons to work with. Besides Pirates they haven't had too many live action hits. No television specials or nature shows either. I also wish that more Disney experiences dealt with characters exclusive to the theme parks and with creative environments that aren't completely childish. On the other hand I don't want Disney to go broke, and they will have to always appeal to the "cheap seats."
Originally Posted By FerretAfros There's a difference in not having tie-ins and not having a good story. Disney attractions are known for having stories, even if the whole thing isn't entirely obvious to the average guest (Master Gracey from the Haunted Mansion, the dream sequence in Pirates, and the Native American curse at Big Thunder all come to mind here). This adds a background to the attractions that gives them a feeling of purpose and connection to their area. Most of the attractions in DCA have little to no story. Although they may be fine on their own (Screamin', Grizzly, and even Soarin') they don't tell much of a story that creates a different mood for the average guest. Although tie-ins may help with backstories, they are not nessecary at all, and WDI is still capable of doing them well, like at TDS where all of the attractions have very complicated backstories and the park looks great in order to support it.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>After all, just across the Esplanade lies an entire theme park full of attractions with virtually no character tie-ins. Hasn't exactly been rolling in dough thus far.<< Apples and Oranges. Heck .. If I were a toon .. I'd be pretty insulted to be related to such attractions like Orange Stinger, Mullhouland Madness, and the cheesy bread and tortilla exhibits .. just to name a few of the MANY none related toon attractions which add up to be nothing more than an "A" ticket at best!
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>The scene in Dumbo where he goes to see his caged mother, for instance, hits us at a more primal level than just about any scene in any film ever, and works on a couple of other levels too.<< Sure ... toon characters and animated stories are designed to evoke a few emotions ... otherwise they wouldn't exist. However .. there is a clear defining difference between exploring a world devoted to toons .. and a world designed for humans. One is more believable to our natural human selves ... the other isn't! I'll take Adventure Thru Inner Space over Buzz Lightyear any day. And it's not because of nostalgia ... but because one attraction was specifically designed to explore a very real world; the atom ... the other a space man .. but still a toy. Nonetheless. ATIS did better at tricking my senses ... Buzz is just a shoot-em-up toy world blown up to life size.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I can't wait for the movie based on the Entry Espalande...<< Hmmm...let's see....a family arrives and they start looking for their brick...then they get sucked into vortex that takes them to a parallel universe...where there is......
Originally Posted By RoadTrip << the dream sequence in Pirates, and the Native American curse at Big Thunder all come to mind here)>> Please explain... I've never heard of or noticed such a thing. Thanks.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer >>After all, just across the Esplanade lies an entire theme park full of attractions with virtually no character tie-ins. << Huh? We have one area based just on ONE Pixar movie "a bug's life", then you have the Aladdin show, Monsters, Inc., Muppet Vision, The Animation Exhibit and Playhouse Disney, so that is almost a second area. Then you have the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area getting rethemed to the Brother Bear Movie. And the Block Party Bash event, with the Pixar Characters.. And now the building of the TOy Story Midway Mania attraction. Seems like a lot of the park has Character Tie-Ins.....
Originally Posted By knoxvelour <,I'll take Adventure Thru Inner Space over Buzz Lightyear any day. And it's not because of nostalgia ... but because one attraction was specifically designed to explore a very real world; the atom ... the other a space man .. but still a toy. Nonetheless. ATIS did better at tricking my senses ... Buzz is just a shoot-em-up toy world blown up to life size.>> I thought it would have been a great tribute to ATIS if at the beginning of BLAB, they shrunk you down to the size of a toy in order to help Buzz defeat Zurg.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "After all, just across the Esplanade lies an entire theme park full of attractions with virtually no character tie-ins." Well, I think with the exception of Soarin', DCA's roster of orignial attractions is sorely lacking in originality and creativity.
Originally Posted By gadzuux But it's not lacking in character tie-ins. As DB pointed out above, the place is lousy with `em. Especially considering that, with the exception of 'muppets' and 'animation', none of these character-based attractions were part of the original park, and have only been added in the last few years. There's even rumors of characters being added to 'screamin', one of the park's few successful attractions on opening day.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Re: #91 - apples and oranges. I'm totally with you on why the toonization of the PARKS is problematic outside of Fantasyland; I agree ATIS fired the imagination in a much better way than Buzz, etc. But that doesn't mean that animated films don't touch us as as well as live action, AS FILMS.
