New 'Ice Age' sand sculpture being built at Disney's Animal Kingdom celebrating new Disney+ original

Cmdr_CrimsonFeb 17, 2022

Maybe they should go with the one from The Simpsons..

FettFanFeb 17, 2022

GOTG would have made the most sense as a 4D show in a reimagined Imagination... essentially a spiritual sequel to Captain EO.

Brad BishopFeb 16, 2022

No, but it's pirate themed all the way through. You don't start off with dead pirates and then there's a Toyota Prius, and then a mountain goat, and then some CAT earth moving equipment, and then a field of cabbage, and a clown..

TrainsOfDisneyFeb 16, 2022

Is pirates the actual story of pirates?

Brad BishopFeb 16, 2022

I think that if you're honest about Maelstrom, you'd have to admit that it was an odd duck. Now, I get it - most people hate change and because they see the same ride there everyday the new ride/refurb is something that they'll inevitably complain about. Still, Maelstrom was odd: - Norse God - Vikings - Trolls - Polar Bears - Puffins - More Trolls - Oil rig - small seaboard town. Imagine pitching that. It doesn't makes sense. "It's the story of Norway!" - no it's not. It's a bunch of random thing cobbled together to sort of fill the space in Norway. It's like the Imagineers got high and made bets on what they could get past management. The "wonderfully weird" part is, to me, the best part of that ride. The whole, "WTF is going on here?" Still, that really doesn't make it a "good ride", which I think was reflected in the fact that it was almost always a walk-on. A better ride would have been to take you through scenes of Norway sort of like how Canada, France, and China does it (granted, they're all films). Still, to give you the impression of what Norway is like today - make you want to visit Norway (though I understand that when the Norway pavilion opened Norway's tourism went up something like 200%). Does Frozen belong there? No. It's an IP that shoe-horned in but that's how WDW does it now. Look at Tomorrowland.

Club CooloholicFeb 16, 2022

I think the abandoned carnival WAS Dinorama. I have to be honest on the Frozen ride, for years Maelstrom was a walk on, loved the ride and wonder if an update would have helped but the point of a park is draw people in.

CntrlFlPeteFeb 16, 2022

just wanted to bring up 'they' -- wouldn't 'they' be Disney studios (or whichever branch Disney +'s content comes from)? I bring it up for I feel most do not understand that the $$ is promotional funds from the studio that is paid to the parks division. I assume most look at Disney as Disney, but this is really the parks division bringing in income as the books cause this to be the parks making money selling ad space (no different than wraps on the monorail for upcoming movies). I can't imagine what it would cost to go into the festival park if they didn't rent out all that vendor space :)

MisterPenguinFeb 15, 2022

I'm sure they arranged for and paid for this sand sculpture way before Buck Wild came out hoping it would be popular and reignite the franchise and maybe wind up in a park -- rather than being pilloried as being an awful sequel. DAK has also hosted other sand sculptures for: Raya and the Last Dragon Jungle Book NatGeo's Secret Life of Whales Moana DisneyNature Monkey Kingdom

No NameFeb 14, 2022

There really isn’t a difference though. I highly doubt the average person sweats over what the corporate structure looked like where a thing was originally made.

Brad BishopFeb 14, 2022

It'd be funny if Disney got lazy enough to say something like, "The backstory of how Anna and Elsa got into this park is based upon the popularity of one of the songs from the movie which drove IP awareness to the point where everyone was asking, "Where's Elsa and Anna??" This led us to "re-imagine" a ride based upon Norse Gods, trolls, polar bears, puffins, oil rigs, and a little shanty town and making into the magical IP-based attraction, which is going to have a positive return on gate receipts, that it is today!" (not all that far off from having to trot out Rhode for Pandora's explanation - or Dinoland's explanation) I swear they could put some old, mechanically questionable carnival rides into their parks and tell people, "This is the story of an abandoned carnival..." and Disney people would eat it up! "Oh, it's SO authentic! It's like I'm actually inside an abandon carnival! Look at the detail - most of the lights are out on the rides - just like the parking-lot carnival I remember in front of the Safeway when I was a kid! There's just so much detail! That's REAL asphalt!"

RSoxNo1Feb 14, 2022

I'm holding out hope for a proper story treatment for Guardians. We'll see. Frozen Ever After made no effort to thematically fit the area, but the backstory of the meet and greet actually did. The bigger thing with Guardians for the non-uber fans is that it has to be an amazing attraction. The budget dictates it, and EPCOT needs it.

disneygeek90Feb 12, 2022

Guardians is fine (though as someone who has watched nearly all marvel content for the first time in the past year… it’s not my favorite) but it’s position in Epcot is questionable at best.

Club CooloholicFeb 11, 2022

IMO as a previously avid comic reader, it's amazing Guardians was parlayed into a block buster franchise, as they were never that popular in print. It's a testament to Disney's will to work around the limitations of Uni's marvel rights and prop up these characters which fall outside Unis park rights and free to roam WDW parks unlike Spider-Man and the X-Men.

disneygeek90Feb 11, 2022

The IP's in Epcot work well when there's thought put into it. Rat is a perfect thematic addition. Guardians... not so much.