Tropical Americas w/ Encanto & Indiana Jones to replace DinoLand? | Page 6 | Inside Universal Forums

Tropical Americas w/ Encanto & Indiana Jones to replace DinoLand?

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I don't think this is political. Looking at the investments Disney is ready to make, it's cheap. It doesn't add rides that need maintenance and cast members to run it. Rides go down (saving money) while being re-skinned and the public will have a new experience. Above that, Test Track is sponsored so it doesn't cost them anything.
Japan is not from the Disney Corp so no costs.
China Zootopia has been started a while back and Disney only owns 30% of that resort.
Paris gets nothing.
Disney has aggressively reducing it's dept, let thousands of workers go, and reduced their movie and tv productions. While doing that they loose money on movies in cinema's and at least the future of the live action movie Show white looks very bad with the attitude of the lead star. Theme parks getting less visitors, subscribers leave Disney+and their stock is down. By now the only profitable part of the company are the cruise ships but they invested heavily in them so return of investment will take years to recoup.
All this, to me, looks like they try to sell of the company to survive.
I don’t disagree that what they put up on the screen skewed toward budget-conscious. Where I was coming from was the announcement strategy angle—announcing a cheap overlay costs just as much as not announcing one, or doing this “maybe we will, maybe we won’t” tease. I can’t in any way see how that would positively impact their bottom line. I mean maybe you could say “they had to announce something for the press” but there was enough non-parks plus international news to tide people over. I’d think cancelling something announced would be worse press than not following through but that’s what they sort of set themselves up for. It’s weird…
 
I’d think cancelling something announced would be worse press than not following through but that’s what they sort of set themselves up for. It’s weird…
I wonder about this a little. Announcing their intention to announce something gets a wave of positive press and largely uncritical influencer posts (that may not even mention these things aren’t definitely happening). If they decide to shelve a project they rarely announce it, and certainly not in such a massive setting. As such, I don’t think you’ll see a bunch of “____ canceled” posts and stories, which might justify this strategy.

No inside information, just something I’m thinking through.
 
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I don’t disagree that what they put up on the screen skewed toward budget-conscious. Where I was coming from was the announcement strategy angle—announcing a cheap overlay costs just as much as not announcing one, or doing this “maybe we will, maybe we won’t” tease. I can’t in any way see how that would positively impact their bottom line. I mean maybe you could say “they had to announce something for the press” but there was enough non-parks plus international news to tide people over. I’d think cancelling something announced would be worse press than not following through but that’s what they sort of set themselves up for. It’s weird…

Fully agreed on your last several posts, I honestly don't see the benefit of doing this whole "Maybe ___?" approach. Something I noticed during the days leading up to the event, is when they were announcing the updates to DL's HM queue etc. and whatnot, people were wondering why are they announcing this stuff now, and not at the event which is all about announcing things? And then Disney does the Blue Sky pitch meeting...again.

That's also another issue, this is the second time they did this kind of announcement! We all thought it was a fever dream when they just started going "Maybe Moana and Zootopia in DAK? Maybe something behind Big Thunder?" at the last expo event. This is not a good precedent, and people are noticing this.

Case in point, there are those who're blindly loyal to the company to a mind-boggling degree, where even the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have in Disney stock doesn't explain everything they say. Even they are wondering what the heck is going on with the parks division, and that is quite the warning sign if I've ever seen one.
 
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I don’t disagree that what they put up on the screen skewed toward budget-conscious. Where I was coming from was the announcement strategy angle—announcing a cheap overlay costs just as much as not announcing one, or doing this “maybe we will, maybe we won’t” tease. I can’t in any way see how that would positively impact their bottom line. I mean maybe you could say “they had to announce something for the press” but there was enough non-parks plus international news to tide people over. I’d think cancelling something announced would be worse press than not following through but that’s what they sort of set themselves up for. It’s weird…
I think the thinking was they already teased this last year and they wanted to show they are still working on it instead of it being just another project that they stop talking about and never speak of again.

…Maybe? That’s what it comes off as to me.

Also, I think they are simply behind on designing new stuff for Disney. They let the stuff announced at D23 2017 essentially take them all the way to this year until they finally ran out of things.

I think they are announcing this and the beyond big thunder with the caveat that they are still working on is purely bc they have nothing else to talk about, but want to still make waves by saying that they’re maybe, possibly, hopefully going to be building cool stuff.
 
With attendance flat, and/or declining since mid March, they probably think they need to generate some excitement, even if it's just BS (Blue Sky) concepts. I've noticed that they've been blanketing our area with Disney ads and deals for the next couple of months. I can't recall this many TV ads in our market at this time of year. Clearly, they're not meeting projections. The announcements seem to be creating some buzz, so that's probably all they wanted. As always, it's easy for Disney to back off these types of announcements, if they don't materialize. GP often has short memories and doesn't follow stuff like us theme park maniacs do. :D
 
Big Picture reactions - Disbelief that they are pulling this pitch meeting on stage poop, maybe we will build this or maybe we will build that, two years in a row for the same land, embarrassing. If you aren't ready to make announcements don't invite everyone over. That their plans are seemingly only replacements and re-themes for parks that do not have nearly enough rides for the amount of guests they get and ticket prices they charge is ridiculous.

More Specific reactions - Dinosaur is my favorite ride at Animal Kingdom, it has been since it was Countdown to Extinction, so I'm always going to be heartbroken to see it go. The rest of Dinoland doesn't mean much to me, especially since they closed Primeval Whirl, so I had been hoping they could find someway to redo the land but keep Dinosaur, alas. Still if it has to go I don't automatically hate this idea, creating a South America land with multiple IPs included feels like it has potential to be a good fit for the park. If my precious Dinosaur has to go then Indiana Jones is probably the best I could ask for, in fact there was once a time where I might have even viewed this as an upgrade, but when I finally got to ride Indy at Disneyland back in 2019 I couldn't help but feel a little disappointment, it's great but didn't live up to a lifetime of dreaming of it especially with the lack of Harrison Ford's likeness and voice making it feel like a bit of a knock off. Still until this opens I can at least convince myself that 30 years later this version will be even better than Disneyland's, and if this land gets an actual additional ride through Encanto beyond just some themed flats I'll be overjoyed.

Stats - Because my brain is broken I decided to look up how the various IPs proposed for this section of the park over the years have done at the Box Office over the years:

Dinosaur - 5th Biggest Film of 2000
Moana - 12th Biggest Film of 2016
Zootopia - 4th Biggest Film of 2016
Encanto - 16th Biggest Film of 2021
Indiana Jones - 1st Biggest Film of 1981
3rd Biggest Film of 1984
2nd Biggest Film of 1989
2nd Biggest Film of 2008
14th Biggest Film of 2023


Also I decided to do an off the cuff rankings of the Animal Kingdom rides:
1. Dinosaur
2. Expedition Everest
3. Avatar: Flight Of Passage
4. Kilimanjaro Safaris
5. Na'vi River Journey
6. It's Tough To Be A Bug!
7. Kali River Rapids
8. TriceraTop Spin
 
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I don't think the Indy ride will be a clone of Disneyland's. It will have a different story and different visual effects.

Plus, having Indy in DAK, they could get rid of the 2 redundant IPs (Indy and Star Tours) in DHS for a significant piece of real estate for a new land.
1) The Indy Stunt show is amazing
2) Star Tours is getting updated next year....so maybe one day but won't be anytime soon
 
I don't think the Indy ride will be a clone of Disneyland's. It will have a different story and different visual effects.

Plus, having Indy in DAK, they could get rid of the 2 redundant IPs (Indy and Star Tours) in DHS for a significant piece of real estate for a new land.
I recall you mentioning Indiana Jones as a replacement for Dinosaur a few years back. You had a good source it seems. ;) :)
 
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Having gotten an AP recently and gone on Dinosaur for the first time in years, I can't tell you how low my appetite is for a replacement, let alone anything like Zootopia and Indy. Dinosaur is so unique, cool, scary, and pretty unlike modern Iger era Disney in the best ways imo. I was worried that the preshow, which is as burned into my head as Haunted Mansion's honestly, might've aged poorly since the last time I rode, but in a room full of little kids, every one of them was laughing and giggling at the little quips from the scientist. The "Hello There" puppet got a remarkably strong response. And even with some broken effects, the ride was fun, fastpaced, and really throws you into a dangerous original adventure that feels really at home next to Kilimanjaro, Kali, and Everest. Some kids were a little shaken afterwards, but I saw one of them go up to their mom waiting for them outside and say something like "Mom! We saw a really big dinosaur and it chased us and we went and...", just beaming and despite the scariness being so excited and loving what they just got to see, real dinosaurs!

Add the fact that the Institute is so far removed from Dino-Rama and the rest of the park, you could clearly just build something new to replace the parking lot and leave Dinosaur alone. I'm sorry but if they get rid of this ride it's gonna be a serious loss. Dinosaur's are such an incredible concept for theme parks. It's the only reason I wanted to go on Ellen as a kid. They are underutilized and mismanaged as DAK, sure, but is the answer to send them to the Beastly Kingdom trashbin? And to replace it with an attraction you can find at every other Disney resort? What a lame, uncreative, IP-addicted way to "plus" a park. I'm excited to go to Disneyland to see Indy, please don't homogenize your resorts any more than you already have.
 
Having gotten an AP recently and gone on Dinosaur for the first time in years, I can't tell you how low my appetite is for a replacement, let alone anything like Zootopia and Indy. Dinosaur is so unique, cool, scary, and pretty unlike modern Iger era Disney in the best ways imo. I was worried that the preshow, which is as burned into my head as Haunted Mansion's honestly, might've aged poorly since the last time I rode, but in a room full of little kids, every one of them was laughing and giggling at the little quips from the scientist. The "Hello There" puppet got a remarkably strong response. And even with some broken effects, the ride was fun, fastpaced, and really throws you into a dangerous original adventure that feels really at home next to Kilimanjaro, Kali, and Everest. Some kids were a little shaken afterwards, but I saw one of them go up to their mom waiting for them outside and say something like "Mom! We saw a really big dinosaur and it chased us and we went and...", just beaming and despite the scariness being so excited and loving what they just got to see, real dinosaurs!

Add the fact that the Institute is so far removed from Dino-Rama and the rest of the park, you could clearly just build something new to replace the parking lot and leave Dinosaur alone. I'm sorry but if they get rid of this ride it's gonna be a serious loss. Dinosaur's are such an incredible concept for theme parks. It's the only reason I wanted to go on Ellen as a kid. They are underutilized and mismanaged as DAK, sure, but is the answer to send them to the Beastly Kingdom trashbin? And to replace it with an attraction you can find at every other Disney resort? What a lame, uncreative, IP-addicted way to "plus" a park. I'm excited to go to Disneyland to see Indy, please don't homogenize your resorts any more than you already have.
I think the reason why Dinosaur is going to dodo bird for Indy is because Indy and Star Tours at DHS are going to be removed at some point for a new land.
 
Having gotten an AP recently and gone on Dinosaur for the first time in years, I can't tell you how low my appetite is for a replacement, let alone anything like Zootopia and Indy. Dinosaur is so unique, cool, scary, and pretty unlike modern Iger era Disney in the best ways imo. I was worried that the preshow, which is as burned into my head as Haunted Mansion's honestly, might've aged poorly since the last time I rode, but in a room full of little kids, every one of them was laughing and giggling at the little quips from the scientist. The "Hello There" puppet got a remarkably strong response. And even with some broken effects, the ride was fun, fastpaced, and really throws you into a dangerous original adventure that feels really at home next to Kilimanjaro, Kali, and Everest. Some kids were a little shaken afterwards, but I saw one of them go up to their mom waiting for them outside and say something like "Mom! We saw a really big dinosaur and it chased us and we went and...", just beaming and despite the scariness being so excited and loving what they just got to see, real dinosaurs!

Add the fact that the Institute is so far removed from Dino-Rama and the rest of the park, you could clearly just build something new to replace the parking lot and leave Dinosaur alone. I'm sorry but if they get rid of this ride it's gonna be a serious loss. Dinosaur's are such an incredible concept for theme parks. It's the only reason I wanted to go on Ellen as a kid. They are underutilized and mismanaged as DAK, sure, but is the answer to send them to the Beastly Kingdom trashbin? And to replace it with an attraction you can find at every other Disney resort? What a lame, uncreative, IP-addicted way to "plus" a park. I'm excited to go to Disneyland to see Indy, please don't homogenize your resorts any more than you already have.
I agree with this…ESPECIALLY considering they need to ADD rides, but try to fix what isn’t broken and duck your ride count for years to do so.
 
I think the reason why Dinosaur is going to dodo bird for Indy is because Indy and Star Tours at DHS are going to be removed at some point for a new land.
Then build Indy at DHS, or in Adventureland, or hey, even somewhere else in Animal Kingdom! I'll say that he still doesn't fit in Animal Kingdom, unless the artifact he's trying to protect is an ancient animal like a Wooly Mammoth, or hey, a dinosaur? But if they plan on just throwing Indy over Dinosaur's bones because "Jungle!! Animal Kingdom is big Adventureland, right? What is Thematic Integrity?" then count me out. Not excited for anything like that at DAK.

If you tear out Dinosaur for anything less than Indiana Jones fighting actual, explicit Nazis trying to find and control a recently unfrozen hidden valley of live Dinosaurs for use against the Allies in WW2, I'm not interested in the slightest. Go way bigger and crazier with it, or don't mess with it at all. Dinosaur is great as is.
 
I agree with this…ESPECIALLY considering they need to ADD rides, but try to fix what isn’t broken and duck your ride count for years to do so.
But their business model is add no "net new" attractions (that drives up labor costs), create longer lines for existing attractions so there's more demand for pay to cut the line services. That's the plan to keep wringing money out of the pockets of guests. They have zero incentive to do anything else until it hurts their business, which so far it has not. People keep going to the parks and spending MORE money, not less.

If Disney/park "fans" want things to change, they need to stop going and stop spending money. That's the only way the real message gets through. They can complain all they want, but if you keep buying into it the problem keeps growing.
 
But their business model is add no "net new" attractions (that drives up labor costs), create longer lines for existing attractions so there's more demand for pay to cut the line services. That's the plan to keep wringing money out of the pockets of guests. They have zero incentive to do anything else until it hurts their business, which so far it has not. People keep going to the parks and spending MORE money, not less.

If Disney/park "fans" want things to change, they need to stop going and stop spending money. That's the only way the real message gets through. They can complain all they want, but if you keep buying into it the problem keeps growing.
I’m loathe to defend Disney’s building practices, but this generally does not apply to most of the recent additions.

Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, TRON, Ratatouille, and Moana are all net additions to the parks they’re in. And something like Guardians is such a hilarious step up in guest usage for that space it basically is as well.

Now, the worrying thing is there’s nothing like these additions in the foreseeable future. But I think to say they won’t actually expand parks is refuted by the recent past. I think the issue is they’ve become absolutely gunshy across the entirety of the company, and that tentativeness has left the parks in the lurch with nothing to look forward to
 
I’m loathe to defend Disney’s building practices, but this generally does not apply to most of the recent additions.

Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, TRON, Ratatouille, and Moana are all net additions to the parks they’re in. And something like Guardians is such a hilarious step up in guest usage for that space it basically is as well.

Now, the worrying thing is there’s nothing like these additions in the foreseeable future. But I think to say they won’t actually expand parks is refuted by the recent past. I think the issue is they’ve become absolutely gunshy across the entirety of the company, and that tentativeness has left the parks in the lurch with nothing to look forward to
Galaxy’s Edge replaced the Motor Stunt Show and the backlot (no more Osborne Christmas Lights) and Toy Story Land replaced the backlot studio tour. Moana replaced the fountain show and stage. You can argue that there is more time spent in the new lands/areas but it would be even more if this where actual additions as they are not. Guardians even serves less guests and a lot of people are now without a ride as they can't do the ride or get sick in it.
 
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Galaxy’s Edge replaced the Motor Stunt Show and the backlot (no more Osborne Christmas Lights) and Toy Story Land replaced the backlot studio tour. Moana replaced the fountain show and stage. You can argue that there is more time spent in the new lands/areas but it would be even more if this where actual additions as they are not. Guardians even serves less guests and a lot of people are now without a ride as they can't do the ride or get sick in it.
Okay, Galaxy's Edge + Toy Story Land additions: Rise of the Resistance, Smuggler's Run, Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, Woody's Roundup BBQ, Woody's Lunchbox, Docking Bay 7, Ronto Roasters, all the GE shops and food stalls, interactive datapad game, character interactions

What they replaced: Lights Motors Action, Backlot Tour, Shrunk Playground, Backlot Express.

To say Galaxy's Edge and Toy Storyland was not a net gain of offerings to DHS is ludicrous.

Moana did not replace the fountain and the stage. You're thinking of where the new celebration plaza is going. But I'd hardly call Fountain of Nations an attraction, and the stage was never used.

Also, LMAO if you think more people were going through Universe of Energy than Guardians.