I would have thought that the environment might be uppermost in our thoughts these days. One of the best eco-messages from Disney was using "It's tough to be a Bug" to inform how important bugs are and how they affect us all. So it's surprising that they've chosen to replace this fascinating and entertaing attraction with Zootopia.
Anyway it got me thinking about the current programme of re-theming and how, on a purely personal level, some of their decisions don't at first work for me.
Installing The Muppets, who I love , as hosts of Rock'n'Roller Coaster seems an odd choice. These characters might've been better suited elsewhere.
I even thought of how Kermit & friends might've fared as the theme for the re-vamped Splash Mountain instead of Tiana with the latter getting the berth with a new dedicated ride where Cars is planned.
Particularly as Cars seems a little incongruous anyway. A new Tiana ride may even have been something that could've been incorporated into the Rivers of America thus saving that iconic area too.
Past re-themings didn't work. Stitch's Great Escape did not improve on the Extra Terrorestrial for example. Stitch could've got another attraction but didn't.
So are there any attractions where you think you'd like to swap the character theming over for a better fit ?
yes, put stranger things ride in the middle of dreamworks land, not to be a TH creative but COME ON PEOPLE
I'm suprised to hear you say that that you think Muppets to Rock n Roller Coaster is an "odd choice" as I remember many commentators here pushing for it on the back of the Electic Mayhem series.
I agree with hypothetical TH Creative on this one.... yikes.
Look I said it was a hot take okay
its alright,veloco fan if its successful enough they could put it on RRR, but that seems like a bit of a stretch. what confuses me is how rob called its tough to be a bug, or as i like to call it, its tough to be the parent of a horrified screaming child, as fascinating and entertaining.
Epicuniversefan the point isn't that we need a stranger things ride, the point is that we have a aging ride whose system lends itself to an IP that has proven successful in a park. We don't need it, but it at least works. And this isn't to say I wouldn't rather have a refurbish of ET.
IPs wear out their welcome and eventually aren't drivers of ticket sales. If that happens before the attraction hardware is ready to be retired, repurposing what's there makes a ton of sense from a business perspective. Whether or not the swap is successful depends on a variety of factors, thus it's often difficult to know whether the replacement will be worthwhile until the finished project is operational. I've seen some rethemes go over extremely well even if I was a skeptic, and I've seen others that wound up being a disappointment in my eyes even though the new IP was more appealing to me than the old.
Responses from Chad H and Epic clearly illustrate that one man's ceiling is another man's floor when it comes to the theming of attractions.
@ Chad H
I fully take on board your comment about The Muppets Electric Mayhem. It's just that, for me , when I think of The Muppets I think of the main characters like Kermit, Miss Piggy etc.
Yet I have to concede that the Electric Mayhem might be workable.
@ Epic
Your comment does surprise me. I've been on TTBAB so many times over the years and it's always been a theatre packed with guests of most ages having a great time. It doesn't feel educational but the message is still there. So ,yes, both fascinating and entertaining. I guess it depends on the sensitivity, and age, of the child in this case.
eh, i was always bawling my eyes out when i was five, and i still get the heebie jebbies at times. everyone in my family agreed that it was the worst ride/show in animal kingdom, so maybe its different from other people. i always thought that the "immersive" affects in the seats were a pain in the butt(literally!)
Never watched the Muppets so really couldn't care less if they left the park but re-theming a coaster to them is indeed a terrible decision in my opinion.
I love E.T. and the only thing they need to do is re-painting and making sure all of the animatronics work. That ride should never be touched other then that! The most heinous thing Universal has done to date is Fast & Furious. Disaster was super old and needed a refresh but replacing it with F&F was even worst then the new Minion "ride".
I'm with AJ on this. Sometimes an IP runs its course, and no longer serves to draw guests to a ride, and doing a complete retheme can often be cheaper and more efficient than building an entirely new attraction. Personally, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often, especially on attractions that are running on fumes in terms of interest, but parks let them continue running as if there's value in keeping an unpopular attraction open.
I will reserve judgement on the Muppets reskinning of Rock 'n Rollercoaster, but going in, I'm not terribly enthusiastic about this primarily because I think this is going to be a low-cost, low effort project that will just change the soundtrack and a few props in the queue.
You say 'as if' like it's bad to keep an unpopular attraction open. attractions that are unpopular can be crowd eaters on busy days and can pad our park map when there is no replacement. As long as the ride is basic enough and cheap to operate, there is no real reason to close it.
Sadly, we drift further and further away from "edutainment" into the world of "YAY Marvel!" TTBAB was a fabulous attraction that used an IP I couldn't care less about. The original movie was at best...meh. The attraction however, was such a good use of the source material that it brought a newfound fondness to Flick and the gang. As an old-school Epcoter, edutainment will always hold a place in my heart where inspiration and creativity bubbled over for years after a visit.
I've stood atop my "original IP" mountain and shouted to all corners of the lands..."Go forth and reskin that with something original!" Dabbing the corners of my eyes right now, I realize the days of original concepts in theme parks are gone. Edutainment is gone. Sure Zootopia will be popular and have long waits. I get it.
The fact that IP fades and gets stale is inevitable, but look at the Mansion and Pirates. I still consider it a sin that DL gets an NBC overlay in the mansion every year. And if you are going to reskin a ride, it needs to be better or as good as the previous. These are regurgitations of feelings that I know many of you have stated before, but they're true! The Muppets reskin IS going to be cheap! If history teaches us anything, we've come to expect it.
Should we swap Figment with Inside Out? Is The Seas better with Nemo? Would Wreck It Ralph be more engaging than the old fun of Wonders of Life? Should Living with the Land be reskinned to a panda experience with Turning Red? And finally, why hasn't some other property taken over Mission Space?? Other than the fact it's a horrible ride system.
It's a numbers game. Tastes have changed and morphed. We can no longer risk original content. At least Monsters Inc is building a new attraction instead of re-skinning an existing. Well...except for Muppet Vision. **sighs**
And we all know Spielberg is the reason ET is still at Universal and will never be re-skinned.
Sarah Warner - "And we all know Spielberg is the reason ET is still at Universal and will never be re-skinned."
I posted something like this a while back and received a lecture from one of the long time members on here. Pointed out all of my spelling errors, then responded with a rhetorical and superfluous "I respond".
You are 100% correct, however.
Oddly enough, on my drive home last night, I was listening to The Jim Hill Media podcast where he actually confirmed Spielberg is the reason it hasn't been touched. Jim usually knows his stuff.
Hot take: If Universal doesn't fix up E.T., they should retheme it to Stranger Things for three reasons:
Bikes are prominently featured in the show, so the ride system works
Stranger things houses at HHn have proven popularity in theme parks, at least a little
E. T is fun, but its popularity is declining.
I know it doesn't fit the area too much, but using the portals from the series could function as a way to keep it thematically accurate. And I know it means the death of USFs classic attractions, but let's be honest, ET was always one of the weaker ones anyway. Bring back Jaws.