Midway Mania at DCA?

[jonvn]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa_63

You have taken the quote that Lasseter made at the Shareholder meeting completely out of context. Think about it. How is it possible to add a new ride for every new movie the Disney whips out. First off, this would never be done because of the limited amount of space at Disneyland and DCA plus Iger himself said there would not be a new gate in the next decade. Second of all, WDI is not going to create a ride before knowing its relative success in the box office so they would not start creating a ride if they didn't know if the movie itself was to be successful. Imagine WDI building a ride based on Home of the Range when they didn't even know that the movie itself was going to flop. This comment was completely taken out of context in the article and besides it would contradict Lasseter's own personal desires for the park in which he wishes to create classic, timeless rides without the need to resort to Disney animation to base the rides on.

You know what they could do is devise a generic dark ride attraction that has content easily swapped out. The content would be based on the most recent Disney feature they want to promote at the park.

How this would work would be you get generic enough looking cars that can have a character or some other small tableu easily put on or removed on the front, keep the track exactly the same for each ride, and put in very simple displays with flats of scenes from the movie. The ride would play for maybe a year so it would be open for a little while befpre the film comes out and during its run.

What would be on the ride would just be painted flats, and simple backgrounds, reusing as much as possible between change outs. As can be seen with the Holiday Haunted Mansion and Small World, relatively large changes can be done fairly quickly, with the proper prep work.

This would make DCA always the home to a relatively new ride, promote the upcoming film, and provide a testing ground for new rides and technologies that may go into more permanent types of attractions.

So, of course, they'll never do it.

[Iframedroger R]

Originally Posted by jonvn

You know what they could do is devise a generic dark ride attraction that has content easily swapped out. The content would be based on the most recent Disney feature they want to promote at the park.

How this would work would be you get generic enough looking cars that can have a character or some other small tableu easily put on or removed on the front, keep the track exactly the same for each ride, and put in very simple displays with flats of scenes from the movie. The ride would play for maybe a year so it would be open for a little while befpre the film comes out and during its run.

What would be on the ride would just be painted flats, and simple backgrounds, reusing as much as possible between change outs. As can be seen with the Holiday Haunted Mansion and Small World, relatively large changes can be done fairly quickly, with the proper prep work.

This would make DCA always the home to a relatively new ride, promote the upcoming film, and provide a testing ground for new rides and technologies that may go into more permanent types of attractions.

So, of course, they'll never do it.

That is actually a good idea...

[ismael flores]

Who said that they would be building an attraction for every movie they create. Nowhere in my post did i say that.

As someone else said disney has more than two parks in the world. Attractions are built for all parks not just anaheim

Iger has consistently said that the animation department is essential for the evolution of the theme parks. Obviously not every movie will become a theme park but Lassitor did say that it made sense to develop an attraction
or SHOW (notice the word show) at the same time that a movie is made.
It would not be the first time that Disney did this. Before every animated movie was released with somekind of entertainment or attraction opening around the same time. Wether it was a stage show or a parade or even a Castle it was always a tradition and marketing advantage to have both parks and its studios work together to get the word out on the movie.

You might even find it a coincidence that most of Disney movies that have been neglected in the parks have had less success than those have had somekind of synergy.

Why can't a classic timless attraction not have characters.
Strange but arn't some of the most beloved and classic attractions based on animation. Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad Wild ride, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland.


Lassitor is a huge fan of animation. That is what he lives for and yes he has said that he wishes to develop attraction at the same time as a movie is being developed so that if possible they could debut at the same time.


A well made attraction can survive no matter how well a movie does at the box office. They have before and they will continue too and at the same time it would keep those specific characters in people minds.

[jonvn]

A well made attraction can survive no matter how well a movie does at the box office. They have before and they will continue too and at the same time it would keep those specific characters in people minds.

True. Alice In Wonderland BOMBED at the box office. So did Sleeping Beauty. Both are the genesis for good attractions at the park.

Alice has an entire sub-area dedicated to her. I think 11 people saw that movie when it first came out, and was pretty much shelved until the early 80s. The Disney company was in fact surprised by the interest the public had in seeing it so they re-released it.

It really is kind of a dull film. Good scene or two, but otherwise, rather bland.

[ismael flores]

Here are Lassitors exact words from the shareholders meeting

"And, I get to help design theme park attractions!
I never understood why you wouldn't start designing a ride when you start coming up with an idea for an animated film. So when
a film comes out, a few months later a ride can open. It is because we believe that you can make great stories, with great characters
that live beyond the boundary of the film, so that people want to be with those characters for the rest of their lives and experience it"


so i don't see how i would be throwing anything out of context when his words clearly say exactly what i mention

[disneyfreak62]

Originally Posted by jonvn

...Alice In Wonderland...It really is kind of a dull film. Good scene or two, but otherwise, rather bland.

One of my favorite Disney films.

[Nemo88]

I love Alice in Wonderland,so imaginative!

[jonvn]

Everything has its fans. I mean, there's even a fan club for the movie Buckaroo Banzai.

But the film did bomb. The lesson to be learned is: Don't build something just because it ties into a popular movie. Build something because it's going to be a good attraction at the park. That has to be done first. The synergy comes later. If it were not for the theme park ride at Disneyland, Alice would be a very buried film.

[ismael flores]

Jovn i like your idea of the ever changing darkride.

I always wondered why Disney geared away from promoting their animated movies in the parks. None of the recent movies had much to do in the parks and they faded quickly from peoples minds. I think that was a huge mistake. Even when Monsters Inc came out they under estimated the importance of the movie and then had a high demand for the merchandise that was nowhere to be seen.

Just this weekend i went to the resort hoping to buy some merchandise based on chicken little. (there one success in animation in awhile) and they had nothing. I asked several CM's in both parks as well as DTD and i received similiar response from them all. "You are not the only one that has asked for chicken little merchanides" "The only thing we have is a plush and we are having a hard time keeping it in stock".

Here is a new release and the only thing marketing can come up with is a large inflatable chcicken looming over the park and yet no PVC characters, toys, hats or how about glasses. A perfect cast of characters that could be linked up with the Easter merchandise an instead we get Stitched sold as an easter plush.

Arn't ducks and chicks rabbits more related to Easter?
Even the chicken little DVD sales were huge.

I really think that both WDI and the Suits need to consider these things when they are building attractions. Is it wise to over saturate the market so quickly with one movie and yet ignore others that could be profitable.

Hey i could even see a fun chicken little fun house in the pier area.
The alien scenes in the movie would make an awesome darkride.

[ismael flores]

Originally Posted by jonvn

Everything has its fans. I mean, there's even a fan club for the movie Buckaroo Banzai.

But the film did bomb. The lesson to be learned is: Don't build something just because it ties into a popular movie. Build something because it's going to be a good attraction at the park. That has to be done first. The synergy comes later. If it were not for the theme park ride at Disneyland, Alice would be a very buried film.

Exactly -- I agree 100000% if it wasn't for these well made attractions the movie could have been lost for future generations to see and an a very marketable group of characters would be collecting dust.