Originally Posted By utahjosh <I still think they should have J Audubon Woodlore and Humphrey the Bear in that area. Especially if they're now trying to make it a mid-century National Park, it's just a perfect fit> THIS IS A MUST. Get on it, Disney. <They may think the problem is that people under a certain age will have no idea who they are. It's one thing to print up a little sign to get a chuckle out of those of us who get the reference - another to spend more serious money on introducing characters that might get a "who's that?" from the kids. > The characters are fun enough that they don't need to be recognizable. He's a funny ranger, and he's a funny bear. Now that section of the park will never seem complete to me without them.
Originally Posted By monorailblue Dummy, er, Duffy: A Disney Bear, or whatever its name is, is probably the main reason that (mostly) unknown walkaround characters are unlikely to appear.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I agree that the characters are fun enough on their own that they wouldn't need much introduction. Additionally, if Disney can make Oswald popular again, after having been completely out of circulation for decades, then I think that these semi-known characters could certainly fit in Typically I'm not a fan of adding characters to everything imaginable, but I think that they would be a great fit for the area (either the new Grizzly Airfield or existing Grizzly Peak area). I think they could have a really fun show on a similar scale to Minnie's Fly Girls (and more thematically appropriate) showing everybody how to do the Humphrey Hop or how to pick up litter
Originally Posted By utahjosh I see that the characters have been used in the area in one small way before. There were (are?) fire warning signs that feature all Humphrey and the Ranger Woodlore. Pictures here: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2013/06/california-adventure-grizzly-peak.html">http://sporktogo.blogspot.com/...eak.html</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Additionally, if Disney can make Oswald popular again, after having been completely out of circulation for decades, then I think that these semi-known characters could certainly fit in> I get what you're saying, but Oswald's re-emergence was a company-wide effort: TV, video games, social media, etc. etc. A real commitment. Understand - I'd LIKE to see Humphrey and RW in the area. Like you, I'm not a "gotta see characters everywhere" kind of guy, but they just seem such a natural here. Perhaps they could put them in more signage (like the above, along the main walking path, and in the RCCT) - as noted, they're pretty easy characters to understand - and then when they appear "in the flesh," no one will necessarily need to have seen the old cartoons to "get" them.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Imagine doing the 'pick up the trash' musical number 5 times a day -- it would bring the house down! 'C'mon boys - pick up the trash!' First you take the trash put it in sack - boom-boom!
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Additionally, if Disney can make Oswald popular again, after having been completely out of circulation for decades, then I think that these semi-known characters could certainly fit in " Oswald is always going to hold a special spot in my heart because my little man loves him and he literally was one of the major highlights of my son's trip to Disneyland in October. I'm really glad they brought him back. That said, I bet unknown characters do cause a lot of confusion for the non diehard fans. They probably hear a lot of guests whispering, "What movie is this character from?" when they are out in the parks.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <That said, I bet unknown characters do cause a lot of confusion for the non diehard fans. They probably hear a lot of guests whispering, "What movie is this character from?" when they are out in the parks.> Boy howdy, CC. When DCA first opened, they had a group called 'Three Bags Full' -- performers who were completely encased inside large stretchy fabric envelopes (think the magic carpet in the 'Aladdin' stage show). They would walk around and interact with guests. Here's a link to a photo of what they looked like <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://tinyurl.com/ov5ndrr">http://tinyurl.com/ov5ndrr</a> I rather like weird street theater and the like so I thought it was great. But man, between them and the 'Eureka!' Parade (which featured no Disney characters at all) I saw a lot of guests in the park who were very confused. How they're able to deal with all those 'non-Disney' Streetmosphere characters on Buena Vista Street is beyond me.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^It always seemed odd to me that Eureka! and the random atmosphere entertainment in DCA's early days never quite caught on, since Epcot had just had such a successful run with the non-character-based Millennium Celebration. I'd argue that the stuff at DCA was far more mainstream than the stuff at Epcot, yet Epcot's event is fondly remembered as one of the highlights of all of WDW's history I think a lot of it has to do with guest expectations. Epcot guests (and WDW in general, to a lesser extent) know that they're going to see something that's less Disney-branded and more real-world than in other areas. Most early DCA guests only had DL as their frame of reference for what a Disney park "should be", so they were confused when they got something more Epcot-like. DCA's marketing team sure didn't do them any favors with the character-heavy ad campaign either
Originally Posted By Kusin_It "Shakes! Vanilla and chocolate! Wow! So creative. Let's not think of something that could be backwoodsy or mountain" Ummmm, Last I checked this is a Disney section; the Universal discussion is over in the "other destinations" section where creative things like butter beer are found.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I always find it funny when people think every character is tied to Disney. I used to hear it all the time when I worked at the Disney Store. People would ask for Bugs Bunny, and we would have to send them to the Warner Brothers Store just down the corridor.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss ""It always seemed odd to me that Eureka! and the random atmosphere entertainment in DCA's early days never quite caught on, since Epcot had just had such a successful run with the non-character-based Millennium Celebration. I'd argue that the stuff at DCA was far more mainstream than the stuff at Epcot, yet Epcot's event is fondly remembered as one of the highlights of all of WDW's history" I completely missed all of DCA's early days. But I never "got" all the affection for Tapestry of Nations at Epcot. I just found it rather bizarre.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt ^^I feel the same way about DCA's early "streetmospehere" entertainers. Having worked in corporate events for so many years it all seemed very pedestrian to me. We used to have shroud mimes on risers at cocktail parties back in the 90s and even in that context people never seemed to be impressed by them. I always assumed that the walk-around entertainment failed to wow people at DCA because there wasn't really anything special about most of it. I do give them a pat on the back for at least trying something different from the more predictable theme park character entertainment though.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I don't even bother watching most Disney parades... they do nothing for me. But I thought Tapestry of Nations was spectacular.
Originally Posted By utahjosh The Millennium Celebration at Epcot was one of the best "celebrations" that Disney ever did. The original music composed for is some of my favorite music, ever. Illuminations: Reflections of Earth was just incredible, and so was Tapestry of Nations.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<"Shakes! Vanilla and chocolate! Wow! So creative. Let's not think of something that could be backwoodsy or mountain">> <Ummmm, Last I checked this is a Disney section; the Universal discussion is over in the "other destinations" section where creative things like butter beer are found.> DCA did used to have date shakes at the "Sam Andrea's" place; that was both creative and quintessentially Californian (especially in the Indio area). But like Three Bags Full and Eureka, it's one of those things I liked from early DCA where they tried for something different that is sadly no more.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Wait, does Universal have a monopoly on clever drinks? From what I gathered, people were super excited for Butterbeer long before Universal had the Harry Potter deal; it would have been popular regardless of who was selling it and if it was any good I agree that it would be great to have some more unique flavors available (like the famous date shakes), but I'm not sure how practical that is within a working restaurant. Sam Andreas has some unique flavors, but they only had milkshakes so it was easier to have a wider variety
Originally Posted By RoadTrip The various Disney Parks have plenty of creative drinks... both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Epcot's World Showcase, being basically devoted to dining and shopping, is probably the best. But as FerretAfros mentioned, many of them are found at stand-alone places (or a table service restaurant)... not a quick service restaurant. That is the case for Butter Beer at Universal. The place where it's found sells two things... Butter Beer and Frozen Butter Beer.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I love how you guys fell for the old "UNIVERSAL!" trolling trick. It's like a kid yelling fire in a crowded movie theater just to see panicked people stampede the exits.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Given that IOA's attendance is lower than any of Disney's American parks (and USH and USF are even farther down the list) I'm really not especially concerned with Universal's rise I was more questioning why Universal gets credit for creating the beverage, when it was popularized by the books and movies; had Disney gotten the HP theme park rights, I'm sure their Butterbeer would have been immensely popular instead
