Originally Posted By fkurucz And when I say AAs, I mean the Android type, and not characters from Cars.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt >>Is it time for DCA or DL to have a brand new AA type show along the lines of the Country Bears or Tiki Room?<< "I'm not sure AAs really capture the public's imagination like they did in the past. I think it's worth upgrading legacy attractions, as they already have a place in people's hearts, but I'm not so sure about a whole new attraction." Agree 100%.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip When I first saw Carousel of Progress at the New York World's Fair it blew me away. I initially thought it was actually a live stage show... until my grandfather leaned over and said "I think those are some kind of puppets". But that was 50 years ago. I still love the CoP, but the technology involved no longer impresses anyone. If I didn't have such great memories of it from 50 years ago, I doubt I would bother with it today. Nostalgia keeps me going back. A new attraction has no nostalgia factor so it has to stand on it's own. Throwing one or two AA's into it does not guarantee a great show.
Originally Posted By utahjosh I think an animatronic stage should could still work. But it would have to be imaginative, exciting, and feature something new. A walking, talking AA - one that bypasses the uncanny valley - could be amazing. I picture something with lots of new technologies, or illusions of new technologies. A Marvel show could be exciting and feature some incredible AAs like Hulk, Spidey, Doc Oc....
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I picture something with lots of new technologies, or illusions of new technologies. A Marvel show could be exciting and feature some incredible AAs like Hulk, Spidey, Doc Oc….<< Yep, these would be good candidates for a next generation AA attraction.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance ""I'm not sure AAs really capture the public's imagination like they did in the past. I think it's worth upgrading legacy attractions, as they already have a place in people's hearts, but I'm not so sure about a whole new attraction." Agree 100%." I also agree with this. AAs are great when they enhance an attraction like Splash Mountain. But to have them be the attraction in something that holds no nostalgia and is brand new, it would have to be so ridiculously clever and well done, that I'm thinking it's down right impossible. Of course an AA based on popular characters like Marvel or Star Wars could be ridiculsouly cool, but that's different than just regular AAs not based on any particular franchise trying to stand alone and be popular.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Plutartcs Alien Review<< LOL :O) Plectu's Fantastic Galactic Review As Leemac pointed out .. we did come close to having an AA show for DCA in 2001: "Circle of Hands", before it devolved into "Golden Dreams". As he said .. it was cut due to budget cuts, not a wane in public opinion on sit-down 'theatre' shows. What I'd like to understand better though - is the average Attention Span Length per DLR guests for the second decade for the 21st Century. We look at the pacing for AA shows back then - CoP, America Sings, Country Bear Jamboree, Tiki Room ... and I bet many laugh (by TODAY's standards, of course) how "slow" they come across to us. The ultimate "laugh" came from editing the Tiki Room by nixing "Offenbach" among other cuts back in 1997. Then midway through the aughts ('00-'09) ... DLR management made the conscious decision to play on DL's old 'nostalgia' ... by sprucing up Tiki Room ... and we seem to have a surge on "DL Nostalgia" (look at the renovation to the DLH - They are really playing up to it). Now we are into the teens ... so where are we now? Is there a new fondness for longer shows? With AAs or not? The cliche back in the 90s ... was the "ADHD Attention Span crowds". Now ... we have the "i-phone" attention span generation. I think it would be worse. I don't know. I have no statistics to show what the "teen" decade is showing. Makes me wonder though the fate of the carousel building in TL. So many ideas nixed .... Tron, Marvel, Star Wars. That's the perfect building for an AA show. So, I wonder what its fate is now. ???
Originally Posted By leemac <<The ultimate "laugh" came from editing the Tiki Room by nixing "Offenbach" among other cuts back in 1997.>> Check out TDL's Stitch reboot then. It is over in a blink of an eye.
Originally Posted By leemac <<"I'm not sure AAs really capture the public's imagination like they did in the past. I think it's worth upgrading legacy attractions, as they already have a place in people's hearts, but I'm not so sure about a whole new attraction.">> AAs are a useful tool when you have characters that can't be rendered as rubberheads - like The Lion King etc. I don't think the format is the issue - if a Frozen AA show was created it would have queues around the block. I think the problem is that the recent AA-heavy experiences have typically been based on product that either hasn't aged or has waned in popularity - or the product itself has been ropey. AA shows are typically high capacity and offer a longer experience than other attractions. That is all great for mix planning.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA It's funny, I sometimes wonder if 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'The Haunted Mansion' at Disneyland are really as good as I think it is, or if I'm so familiar with them, that they're like old friends. Same with 'The Enchanted Tiki Room' - I've been visiting Disneyland since 1969 and I still enjoy going to see those. On the other hand, I think 'America Sings' 'Country Bear Jamboree' and Carousel of Progress' are better in the recesses of my memory and left the park at the right time.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I'm sure Disney relies on nostalgia. At WDW I think the only MK attractions I would bother with without the nostalgia factor would be Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, People Mover, and Buzz Lightyear. At Epcot it would be Soarin', Mission Space, Test Track, and Impressions de France. Disney Studios would be almost everything I usually go on. Not much there relies on nostalgia except for the Great Movie Ride, and I would probably skip that. Same thing with the AK. Not much nostalgia there, just stuff I like.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Jim when I rode Pirates this past summer I remember thinking "I can't believe this is still here" when riding Pirates. I'm not sure if the reaction was a realization that the ride is old or just exhaustion from experiencing it for the 100th time.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Doctor... Same here. I ride Pirates every time I go to the park... out of respect for what it represents, not that I really enjoy it anymore. Because frankly, I just don't. It was probably the WDW attraction that most blew me away during my first visit in 1991. But it just doesn't any more, and that is kind of sad.
Originally Posted By hopemax Remember when everyone insisted the Disney Musical was dead. Today's generation would never respond to them? So they either dropped music altogether, or had to attach some famous name to it, like Lilo & Stitch reusing Elvis songs. That's how I feel about the AA shows. I've been watching Tiki Room and CBJ a little more frequently. While Tiki Room seems more of a nostalgia thing, every time I watch CBJ, people are busting out laughing despite what they think will happen. And it's not "this is really dumb, snort laughter." More people had honest to goodness, I'm enjoying this laughter than I saw when we went to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. And grown men were leaving saying, I can't believe how much they actually enjoyed it. What a new AA presentation needs, is to be put in the hands of people who really love and appreciate them, and some good comic writers. Something like Jason Segel did with the first Muppet movie. I don't think Tiki Room fails because of singing birds, but because the comedy is lost on today's guests. In the right hands, a new AA presentation could be phenomenal. But I don't think current Disney could do it. They would "committee it" to death, and for good measure cut, cut, cut the budget because of all the money spent on committee-ing.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Pirates is still my absolute favorite attraction (with HM and Splash Mtn right up there too), and I can't stand how good it is. Everytime we go to DL, and I ride it for the first time, I can't believe what I'm seeing. But, our first trip to DL was in 2006, so I've probably only ridden it about 30 times maybe.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "What a new AA presentation needs, is to be put in the hands of people who really love and appreciate them, and some good comic writers. Something like Jason Segel did with the first Muppet movie. I don't think Tiki Room fails because of singing birds, but because the comedy is lost on today's guests." I agree with this. Still, I think that AAs alone aren't as good as AAs with some tech wizardry that elevates the storytelling and shifts the focus away from their limitations. "But, our first trip to DL was in 2006, so I've probably only ridden it about 30 times maybe." Wait until you've done it in multiple parks on three different continents. It's like watching the Wizard of Oz or Star Wars for the 100th time; it's still good, but never as powerful as the first couple of times you see it.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I agree with this. Still, I think that AAs alone aren't as good as AAs with some tech wizardry that elevates the storytelling and shifts the focus away from their limitations. > I agree. I like the trend of treating AA's as merely an element in an attraction (RSR, 7 Dwarfs train, even as just a queue element at TSMM) rather than the attraction itself. When they were new, they were considered so amazing they COULD be the attraction itself. But that was a long time ago. And DL especially, with its huge base of AP's and local visitors, are an especially tough sell for a "straight" AA show these days. It would take something as jaw-dropping as the original AA's were back in the day to make it repeatable. A top-notch script would obviously help, but even that may not be sufficient.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Same here. I ride Pirates every time I go to the park... out of respect for what it represents, not that I really enjoy it anymore. Because frankly, I just don't. It was probably the WDW attraction that most blew me away during my first visit in 1991. But it just doesn't any more, and that is kind of sad.<< 1. We all know WDW's version is a pale version of DL's. So getting tired of it is easy. 2. Binging on anything .. will eventually get tiring, and ultimately sick of it. Try watching all 5 seasons of Breaking Bad over and over. Eventually .. one will get sick of it so much. And it has nothing to do with how good of a show it was. It's got to do with burning something out .. even when it really is good.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "And it has nothing to do with how good of a show it was. It's got to do with burning something out .. even when it really is good." Does that mean that people grow tired of something or does it mean that it was never really that great in the first place, or both? I think Jim basically asked the same question in earlier post. To me Pirates is a classic Disney attraction, and will remain beloved and popular for a very long time. It's a larger than life experience that is the standard of Disney creativity and storytelling by which all E tickets are judged. The ride literally changed the theme park experience. The biggest issue I have with the ride today is the pace of the storytelling and the feeling that the presentation is a little long in the tooth. The pace of the story comes to a grinding halt shortly after the second waterfall until the attack on the port. The grotto section of the ride is filled with anticipation when you don't know what's coming, but after dozens of rides on the DL version I find that the long stretch of static displays and dark caves kills the action. Even with the incremental inclusion of contemporary characters and references from the movie most of the experience feels dated. I'm betting that WDI can design better looking fire effects than what's there now, for instance.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I don't think Tiki Room fails because of singing birds, but because the comedy is lost on today's guests.<< I'm not sure if it's really lost on today's guests, or if it was never funny to begin with. There are some things that are probably over the heads of some guests (Bing Crosby-style crooning) but there are lots of others that were never all that funny to begin with ("Ho-oh! I see Schmidt has no hair!"). Either way, it's a show that doesn't rely on humor, so it can survive without it. I think that musical elements add repeatability to any attraction/show, which is probably part of the reason that the Tiki Room and Country Bears have aged more gracefully than Carousel of Progress or Mr Lincoln >>Even with the incremental inclusion of contemporary characters and references from the movie most of the experience feels dated.<< Personally, I think the movie references make it feel even more dated. Since the movies are no longer a pop culture phenomenon, it just sort of feels like when your parents try to use slang to be hip & edgy. It's awkward and doesn't work. Embrace the age, and just go with it; everybody will be more comfortable with that >>I'm betting that WDI can design better looking fire effects than what's there now, for instance.<< They can. There's a great torch effect that's been in Spaceship Earth as long a I can remember, using colored light projected on fog coming out of the torch. It has a lot of life and movement, and looks really cool
