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No more Indiana Jones stunt show? Say it ain't so.


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The Tomorrowland Speedway is, and always, has been very popular. I have no clue why.

As an example, right now, the wait time is equal to, or longer, than BTMR, IASW, Buzz Lightyear, JC, HM, and a number of prominent attractions. It's not going anywhere.

Your point apparently being that Disney would not nuke a popular attraction, even for something that would be wildly more popular? They took out 20k and replaced it with POOH CORNER! They took out the SkyWay and replaced it with... oh, that's right, NOTHING! People are still crying about Mr Toad even though TMAoWtP is at least as successful (though it be lame). How long is Disney going to be able to ignore the cries of environmentally conscious soccer moms complaining about the choking cloud of exhaust emanating from the speedway? And it's obviously a major maintenance headache since even on busy days it seems a third of the cars are parked for repairs.

As for the PR machine vaulting Avatar II to prominence, no doubt they will try, but no amount of money can turn a sows ear into a silk purse. And you're right, Disney ain't no dummies, they will fill the airwaves with ads, promote the attractions on billboards from NY to Miami, fill every shelf with merch, but when the public's interest flags and it is no longer profitable the PR machine will be refocused elsewhere. My guess, that'll take about nine months assuming II is half as good as I.

My point: friendly cars with faces will always be popular with kids, even if they've never seen the movies. Angry 9' blue cats with environmental agendas might have a somewhat more narrow appeal. But what do I know, I just talk to 3000 kids a year about their most ardent wishes!

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By comparison: I get at least a dozen requests for Indy Lego sets every year, Cars and Planes stuff got 4 times as many, and Star Wars 4 times that. I cannot remember any request, ever, for an Avatar toy. I have had more little boys asking for princess dresses (2) than I have had ask for Avatar. Just sayin'

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...Disney ain't no dummies, they will fill the airwaves with ads, promote the attractions on billboards from NY to Miami, fill every shelf with merch, but when the public's interest flags and it is no longer profitable the PR machine will be refocused elsewhere. My guess, that'll take about nine months assuming II is half as good as

 

Unfortunately (for those of us not hooked on the whole Avatar thing) this time around they're going to give the public the double whammy... Disney promotion and the movie studio promotion, who's probably investing almost as much in the 3 sequels planned as Disney did in MagicBands.  Throw in James Cameron on a publicity tear, and I'm afraid we won't see the last of this hubbub until well after the last movie is released in 2018.  Assuming they stop here.

 

Right now the sequels are planned to come out in 2016, 2017 and 2018.  I don't doubt for a second that Disney is looking to time the opening of Avatarland to capitalize on the height of the hubbub. 

 

If you look at Harry Potter - they wrapped up their movie franchise years ago now, and yet the furor over the just-about-to-open expansion at Universal is as high as it was when WWoHP opened in the midst of the craze.  Although HP has the advantage of the books still being popular.

 

As much as I might like to think the funky blue people are a flash in the pan, I expect they will be here to stay for a while at least - assuming Disney and Cameron come anywhere close to living up to the hype.

 

Time will tell...

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Oh and also... clearly it doesn't look like Disney's target audience for Avatarland is the under 12 set, so maybe all this is an attempt to suck in an older audience. After all, the original movie was rated PG-13 and how many kids that are fans of the classic Disney stories even saw (or understood) the first movie.  That said, if it's done right, younger kids may still think it's cool - even if they don't make the connection to the movies/characters.

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Your point apparently being that Disney would not nuke a popular attraction, even for something that would be wildly more popular?

 

I never said that they shouldn't have a Carsland ride, just why pull out the Tomorrowland Speedway to do it. Put it in HS.

 

They took out 20k and replaced it with POOH CORNER! They took out the SkyWay and replaced it with...

 

Come on Shannon, you know why they got rid of 20K and the Sky Way attractions.

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III will be direct to video. IV will be a Japanimation streaming feature. I liked the original ok, despite the heavy-handed enviro-political messages (to say nothing of the animistic proselytizing). Basically I liked it because of the graphics and the interesting fantasy world. The characters were all one-dimensional (the bad guys are rabidly, disgustingly bad, for instance) and the plot simplistic. There's just not enough there to build a franchise on, IMO, at least not a compelling one. Lucas had hooks to a dozen other stories laced through Star Wars, story was chief and the effects and environs were just the window dressing, and at least some of his characters had a bit of complexity to make them a little interesting (Han most notably). I'm not rooting for failure here, if nothing else I'm a Disney stockholder. I'm glad of several things about Avatar land: it forced Lion King to move where it should have been to begin with (Africa, duh. Why was it at the back of Camp Minniemickey?), and it will keep AK open after dark. I will look forward to seeing what they do there, it could look cool. But that's about my highest hope for the land or the films, maybe they'll look cool. I don't think they'll ever inspire fandom like Star Wars or Harry Potter. I seriously doubt I'll ever see a tween walking around with an "Ewa doesn't take sides" tee shirt. I just hope Disney is smart enough to not throw good money after bad.

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Come on Shannon, you know why they got rid of 20K and the Sky Way attractions.

Sure, but they were wildly popular, and both could have been retrofitted to fix their inherent problems (roll on handicap access and enclosed gondolas). Speedway is dated, boring, smelly, high maintenance and a difficult handicap transfer to boot. There is no motive to replace it right now, while the new FL is still glimmering, but once the shine starts to fade there I can't imagine why they'd keep Speedway. (Where's that dead horse?)

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Only 3000? Son of a.......

I thought the real Santa was here on FF.

Dadgumit.

And just how many kids did you think I could visit with between overseeing toy production, and checking N-N lists? A man's gotta have "helpers". ;-)

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III will be direct to video. IV will be a Japanimation streaming feature.

 

I won't be surprised in the least.  8)

 

... I'm glad of several things about Avatar land: it forced Lion King to move where it should have been to begin with (Africa, duh. Why was it at the back of Camp Minniemickey?), and it will keep AK open after dark. I will look forward to seeing what they do there, it could look cool. But that's about my highest hope for the land or the films, maybe they'll look cool. I don't think they'll ever inspire fandom like Star Wars or Harry Potter.

 

Agreed!

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Sure, but they were wildly popular,

 

I think the key word is "were".

At the end, do you really believe that they were still wildly popular.

 

both could have been retrofitted to fix their inherent problems

 

Agreed, but it would have been very expensive and the maintenance challenges with the 20K concept would still be there.

 

The refurbs would have been extensive and so would have been classified as new construction. And you know what that means, ADA. Hello even bigger bucks.

 

Speedway is dated, boring, smelly, high maintenance

 

Why haven't they converted to electric motors?

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Why haven't they converted to electric motors?

Because it would still be boring and dated! And yes, the last times I rode the SkyWay and 20k they were wildly popular. The 20k line was PAINFULLY long, but SkyWay, though packed, moved at a good pace.

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I like Indy, but I won't miss it too much. I do like that it fits with the theme of the "theme park". Star Tours doesn't fit (though the queue tries), Toy Story doesn't , ToT is tenuous, and of course the BAH is an abomination. The stuff that really fits, the backlot tour and animation studios, have been gutted and should be replaced, and Great Movie Ride is tired and dated. Maybe it's time to completely re-theme the park, maybe break it into genre sections: Sci-Fi (Star Wars), animated (Pixar land), kid's (Disney Junior & relocated Muppets), action (RnR & relocated/rethemed car show), horror (ToT & reincarnated Mr Toad), drama & romance (GMR & Hollywood Blvd). Frankly, the whole park is a mess, it's always been my least favorite, and if they nuked the whole thing I'd only ever miss would be RnR and Osborne. As it sits now, admission should be dropped to about $19. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I do agree that MGM studios needs to have it's themeing and layout fixed.

 

There is enough space if they tookover the buildings between eco lake and Commissary Lane and the area between Star tours and the parking lot.  Studio Dr or part of the parking lot might have to be moved tough.

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