rumored new park question

[Jason71]

If the Disney execs really wanted to resurrect Beastlie Kingdomme they could still save the Festival of the Lion King

Maybe even relocate it from the "North America" section of the park to, I don't know, how about "Africa"?

 

[Ted and Holly]

Thanks all!! It was Beastly Kingdom that I was trying to remember. My discussion with DH stemmed from a phone call from DMIL last night, who is presently down in WDW. She said she was talking to some people down there who said that if you use Google Earth, you can see construction that is going on behind Grand Floridian. Supposedly, it's completly TOP SECRET, (like anything ever truly is) and there are all kinds of security guards posted on the road for deliveries. I can't run Google Earth on my computer for whatever reason, so I can't verify any of this. It all just got me thinking about that "beastly kingdom" and my mind just kinda wandered from there. Well, if nothing else, I can stop racking my brain for the name of that park!! :

I would not trust Google Earth for up to date images. Having said that, I see no construction on GE "behind the Grand Floridian". I do see a cleared area out on a road called Maple Road. I would expect some sort of guard booth and such as it appears as if there is fireworks storage sheds along that road. The clearing just looks like more truck storage and mud.

 

[Another Voice]

Do you people look down your nose at everything?

The joke was made about the suggestion that Disney cancalled Beastly Kingdom because the Lion King show was so popular. Neither the joke nor Disney's action had anything to do with the show - Beastly Kingdom was killed because Disney didn't want to spend the money; 'The Festival of the Lion King' was just a cheap fill-in to paper over even steeper budget cuts.

The fact that the show turned out to be both good and popular was a happy accident for Disney.

And no - we do not "look down our nose". We are simply trying to hold Disney up to the levels of quality it says it produces...and that it charges for. It's become a habit of Disney to present the substandard, shoddy and the lazy and expect people to buy it "just because it's Disney". Magic should be more than a worn out marketing buzzword. Since Disney has lacked a good leader for more than two decades now, Disney quality has had no guide other than instant profit. The result has been a series of cheap flashy wasted efforts racing for the lowest common demonitator - places like Dino-Rama and Pop Century appeal only to people that don't understand "Disney" in the real sense, only as a marketing brand.

 

[minnie61650]

The joke was made about the suggestion that Disney cancalled Beastly Kingdom because the Lion King show was so popular. Neither the joke nor Disney's action had anything to do with the show - Beastly Kingdom was killed because Disney didn't want to spend the money; 'The Festival of the Lion King' was just a cheap fill-in to paper over even steeper budget cuts.

The fact that the show turned out to be both good and popular was a happy accident for Disney.

And no - we do not "look down our nose". We are simply trying to hold Disney up to the levels of quality it says it produces...and that it charges for. It's become a habit of Disney to present the substandard, shoddy and the lazy and expect people to buy it "just because it's Disney". Magic should be more than a worn out marketing buzzword. Since Disney has lacked a good leader for more than two decades now, Disney quality has had no guide other than instant profit. The result has been a series of cheap flashy wasted efforts racing for the lowest common demonitator - places like Dino-Rama and Pop Century appeal only to people that don't understand "Disney" in the real sense, only as a marketing brand.

I agree with most of what you are saying but I would not go so far as to say "places like Dino-Rama and Pop Century appeal only to people that don't understand "Disney" in the real sense, only as a marketing brand."

Dinol-Rama does not appeal to me at all but I could compare the rides at Dino-land to a lot of rides in Fantasyland.

Dumbo, The Tea Cups, and Snow Whites Scary Adventure are just "decorated" average carnival rides that you can find in carnivals and amusement parks all over but they do capture children's imaginations and they give us a glimpse of what "Fantasy" is all about. When children ride on the Dumbo ride many feel like (or pretend with their wonderful imaginations) they are really flying in the air with Dumbo.

I think Walt Disney wanted to reach children's imaginations as well as adult's imaginations.

I love watching the little ones in Fantasyland. I see their eyes light up, the smiles on their faces and I hear their giggles of excitement --for them this a dream come true. I also watch the young children at the All Star resorts and I see the amazed look on their faces when they see Buzz Lightyear larger then life. To the me the All Stars seem to be a children's Fantasyland carried over to the resort.

The CR hotel has a theme like the 1971 version of Tomorrowland.
FW and WL has a theme like Frontierland.
The Poly has a theme like Adventureland.

And the value resorts have a Fantasyland theme and they seem to appeal to children's fantasy's.

JMHO

 

[YoHo]

The problem is that Dinorama and the Values contain none of the show qualities, none of the staging and theatrics that make fantasyland work. Disney didn't understand why fantasyland works, so they couldn't successfully recreate that in either case.

 

[dwaters]

I thought they were laughing at the the idea of Festival of the Lion King being well-liked. Regardless of what you think of the show, it's hard to deny its popularity and the long lines of people wanting to get in.

My only problem is how far you have to walk just to get to the show.

The whole "Beastlie Kingdomme" spelling would bug me, especially since it would be part of Animal Kingdom and near the Magic Kingdom.

I have to agree with Minnie61650 that the value resorts do have their own magic with the larger than life characters. Even though you are somewhat far from the parks, there is little doubt that you are on Disney property when you are there.

 

[minnie61650]

The problem is that Dinorama and the Values contain none of the show qualities, none of the staging and theatrics that make fantasyland work. Disney didn't understand why fantasyland works, so they couldn't successfully recreate that in either case.

I completely agree with your assessment of Dino-Rama. I mean why is Dino-Rama themed to look like a cheap amusement park? It really saddens to me to see that when I think about what the possibilities that could be been for a Dinoland like the ones the Imagineers had in mind.

With that said I can understand how you, and AV and some others who have voiced their personal disappointment of how the value resorts were designed feel let down.

I do think the designers of the values could have thought of a much better design when they created Pop Century. With the 3 All Stars sister resorts they already used the cartoon and giant icon theming more than enough.

I think they really should have looked a little deeper into their imaginations and come up with something new.

Even Walt said, "You can't top pigs with pigs."

JMHO

 

[YoHo]

In fact Imagineering did have a number of interesting hotel concepts. Specifically the old plans around Fort Wilderness/Wilderness lodge and the African Village plan.

Both required a bit more imagination then Eisner was capable of.

 

[minnie61650]

In fact Imagineering did have a number of interesting hotel concepts. Specifically the old plans around Fort Wilderness/Wilderness lodge and the African Village plan.

Both required a bit more imagination then Eisner was capable of.

ITA agree with the Eisner comment!

 

[Another Voice]

Dumbo, The Tea Cups, and Snow Whites Scary Adventure are just "decorated" average carnival rides

I'll agree with you on the teacups - it was 1955 and Disney was still figuring things out.

But the other two go to the heart of difference between "decoration" and "themeing". Decorating something is just a way to make it appear better, but doesn't really try to alter the core experience. Teacups wants to be nothing more than a spinner, making them teacups makes the mechnism look better.

But Dumbo is trying for something different. The idea is that you are flying with the character himself. Listen to the children talk about the ride - the 'Dumbo' to them is real. Now granted, this was 1955 and the technology was limited. The original concept was to suspend 'Dumbo' from cables like the skyway and "fly" all over Fantasyland. But they couldn't come up with a shell that was both light enough and themed well enough, so they had to go to Plan B. And even them there was a plan to make the ear flap on the ride to maintain the illusion.

And that's the key point - themeing is is their to create an illusion that something is different than what it really is. Dumbo started out with "people what to fly with this character - how do we make it happen?".

But in places like Dino-Rama, there's no attempt to make the attraction more than it is on the surface - it's a spinner made up like a toy. There's nothing beyond the surface.

Now you can critize 'Dumbo' for maybe not doing the best job possible. But the ride was designed half a century ago and it was the first time anyone had tired to use movie-storytelling techniques in a "real world" environment. But know, fifty years and a dozen parks later - what's Disney's excuse?

 

[Another Voice]

To the me the All Stars seem to be a children's Fantasyland carried over to the resort.

The concept behind the resorts at Walt Disney World was to allow the guests to actually stay in the fantasy environments created in the parks.

The original "Fantasyland" resort would have been the Persian - it would have appeared as a palace from '1001 Arabian Nights' on the eastern side of Fantasyland. The idea was to allow you to wander through the setting - almost as if you wandered on a movie set where everything was "real". And yes, the Contemporary was actually the most furturist building anyone had been in around 1971.

But the new values drop the whole "experience a world you can't experience anywhere else" idea. The motels are nowhere, nothing places. The giant statues at nothing to the feeling or atmosphere of the place - sit them in a field and children would give the same reaction.

The value aren't themed, they are gaudy - they bash you over the head without any art, without any craft. Sure, in an age when we don't expect anything quality from Disney, they fit the brand image - but they are not Disney in design.

 

[cyberbox2]

For a slight change of pace, does anyone remember the plans for Disney's America park right here in Virginia?

Check out the Wiki link to read up on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_America

 

[MJMcBride]

For a slight change of pace, does anyone remember the plans for Disney's America park right here in Virginia?

Check out the Wiki link to read up on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_America

your link doesn't work

 

[kzoojason76]

This should be the correct link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_America

 

[kzoojason76]

Sorry for the double post

 

[Lilolvr]

How on earth can you not like "Festival of the Lion King"?

It's no surprise that this section of DIS has elitist Disney snobbery in spades, but I never cease to be amazed at the extreme stances taken here.
Do you people look down your nose at everything?

everything....yes, it seems that they do.

 

[RescueRanger]

The result has been a series of cheap flashy wasted efforts racing for the lowest common demonitator - places like Dino-Rama and Pop Century appeal only to people that don't understand "Disney" in the real sense, only as a marketing brand.

So, your the appointed "Disney Sense Police". You can try to talk your self up all you want, but what you have are "opinions". They are your "opinions" and others may agree with you or not. My family has stayed at every level of resort there is DVC, Deluxe, Moderate, and Values. Guess which one my DD12 and DD9 like the best? Yep, Pop Century. My daughters have more "Disney Sense" in their pinkies than you have in your whole body. Why, because they see Disneyworld through unclouded, unbiased eyes without the hidden agendas that some of you obviously have. What really needs to happen is some of you need to spend a little less time on these boards and a little more time in the real world. Maybe then you wouldn't be so full of yourselves. Oh and by the way, I guess I know more than you because I totally get Dino Rama and what it respresents. I am not going to argue with you like others have about if something better could have been done. Because it all boils down to opinions. You have yours and others have theirs. But if you really think that you are the God given authority on all things Disney, you really need to get out more.

 

[Another Voice]

I guess I know more than you because I totally get Dino Rama and what it respresents.

I have no doubt you are exactly the kind of person that Dino-Rama is aimed at.

What you like and what it takes to grow a multi-billion dollar entertainment company are two very different things. The opinions I offer are based on a simple idea – that Disney was successful because they had a unique style and way of creating things. That directly resulted in productions that touched an enormous number of people. Their movies, parks and television shows have entertained and taught generations now.

But in recent times Disney has abandoned their methods in search of “quick and easy” profits for men without skill, talent, drive or even an interest in what Disney truly means. That is a serious business problem – as witnessed by all the millions and millions and millions of dollars that have been lost with yesterday’s abandonment of Disney Mobile.

If you are a fan of what that group had built – I wish you long and happy visits. Come out the California Adventure…you’ll have the place to yourself. I, however, want Disney to stick around and to once again create the products that millions love. I have quite a lot of experience in the “real world”, thank you very much – and that has strengthened my belief of what Disney represents and what it should be doing to live up to its potential.

And that takes a little more than pandering to nine and twelve year girls.

 

[CinderellasSister]

Wow, this is still going on?? How did this turn into a debate about everything in WDW???? I had actually stopped watching my own post.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Maybe even relocate it from the "North America" section of the park to, I don't know, how about "Africa"?

Well that makes NO Sense... I mean why would you have a show about a movie based in Africa in Africa... It's not like they have anything in common... oh wait.