Yoda To Battle Harry Potter In Theme Park Wars

[Goofy Daddy]

Originally Posted by Lynn, Renaissance Woman

Disney may not own the rights to Narnia outside of producing the movies. The rights to the books and characters would be separate. Plus the covert Christian message may not be acceptable in these offend no one times.

I have seen the "White Queen" for a time make appearances at the castle (where they had villain's corner set up for a time) so they may have rights to characters but that could have been for a special deal/limited time only.

[jimmay]

For those asking about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at IOA, the consensus, based admittedly on conjecture from concept art and rumour, is that the "land" will consist of a rethemed Dueling Dragons (themed to the Tri Wizard cup tournament from Goblet of Fire), a Forbidden Forest section with a rethemed Flying Unicorn set to imitate the flight of the Hyppogryph from Prisoner of Azkaban, the town of Hogsmeade (sort of its main street with shops and restaurants, and, of course, Hogwarts Castle serving as the land's 'weenie' and housing the centerpiece of the land, the Kuka arm Weasley car ride from Chamber of Secrets. There has been some rumour of a technologically advanced interactive wand feature to be used somewhere, but whether it will be its own attraction or not remains to be seen.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Originally Posted by Ride Warrior

...Movies - plural? So far, there has only been one Narnia film released - the 2005 Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It is way premature to compare a single film with film series' such as Rings, Potter or Star Wars. Watch the popularity soar as new films are released every year or two now...

Well I proposed a whole land dedicated to NARNIA before the Harry Potter land was announced, before any of the movies came out. I saw this as a potential rival or at least equally powerful franchise to Harry Potter.

[Lynn, Renaissance Woman]

Originally Posted by MasterGracey

Regardless of what they're doing to it, the point is that Narnia already has a presence in the theme parks. This would leave me to believe that Disney owns theme park rights to these films and its characters. A perfect opportunity for a mega E-Ticket, or even a Narnia-themed land.

I have never seen any Narnia character at Disneyland, perhaps it is just WDW. It's hard to tell about rights, they may be limited in either scope or time.

There are several episodes in the books that might work well as the basis for a ride. I'd like to see what they have planned.
As for a Narnia land, it might be difficult as the books don't have just one main setting or narrative; they're not chronological dispite the name ;-).

[Goofy Daddy]

Originally Posted by Lynn, Renaissance Woman

I have never seen any Narnia character at Disneyland, perhaps it is just WDW.

I repeat, The White Queen made appearances and did M&G in Fantasyland for about a year at the "Villain's Corner" they had set up for a time to the right of the Castle's main entrance tunnel as you enter FL. This was in DL, we met her, took pics, ect.

[fkurucz]

Originally Posted by Ride Warrior

the theme park experience is being created by the same creative talents that created the potter films - including the author herself. Entertainment , it should be an astonishing immersive experience - provided that they don't turn it into an extreme coaster park.

All that guarantees then is that it will look like a movie set.

[jimmay]

Originally Posted by fkurucz

All that guarantees then is that it will look like a movie set.

I don't know about that; google the concept art, I think it looks pretty darn good, and far more immersive than a movie set (incidentally, looking like nothing more than a movie set is one of the main criticisms of Disney's WDW film attractions right now, in Hollywood Studios' Star Wars and Lion, Witch and Wardrobe attractions). I used to scoff at Universal, too; before I actually visited Islands of Adventure. It's an extremely well-themed park, at least partly due to the fact they employed imagineers laid off from Disney when Eisner started scaling back the scope of Animal Kingdom. Indeed, the reason, according to rumour, that Universal won the rights to Harry Potter over Disney is that Disney simply wasn't willing to invest as much space, time, or effort into the project as Rowling wanted.
For the record, I think Harry Potter is a much better fit with Islands of Adventure (as a franchise deserving its own themed land), and wouldn't really fit in with Disney. In fact, the idea of Disney devoting a whole land to Star Wars/Indy is already generating a lot of discontent in the internet community, as farming out whole lands to specific franchises isn't really something Disney does (or perhaps, should do).

[GhostHost2]

Originally Posted by jimmay

In fact, the idea of Disney devoting a whole land to Star Wars/Indy is already generating a lot of discontent in the internet community, as farming out whole lands to specific franchises isn't really something Disney does (or perhaps, should do).

Well they are doing it with Cars in DCA. If Cars, a movie that is just 1 and a half years old, can get an entire land, than Star Wars and Indy definately deserve them.
I much rather have a Star Wars or Indy land, rather than a Carsland any day of the week.

[Maverick]

Originally Posted by MasterGracey

If an updated 20+ year-old attraction is all Disney can muster against a completely new mini theme park within a theme park based on the powerhouse that is Harry Potter, then that's just sad.


Why doesn't Disney get its successful book/movie franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia, in the parks and give Harry some real competition?

are you really scared of a little competition?

[Ride Warrior]

[quote=EricMontreal22;2477551]Ride Warrior, while I agree with most of your points, I think the pretty banal comment about book 7 being subpart and a resurgance of sci fi being likely was about book 7 of Potter--not the Narnia books :P However it doesn't seem Potter mania subsided whether the book was sub par or not (and most seemed to think i was a good ending)--and especially with the movies still coming...

I really liked the idea early on about combining Narnia with a mystical beasts land for Animal Kingdom/quote]

There was quite a bit of confusion among posters as to which story's book 7 was the subject of conversation. Harry Potter's final book may or may not be up to speed with the others. Regardless of the moot point Eric, I agree with you that the franchise as a whole will not suffur so much as a blemish.

Beasty or Beastly Kingdom as a name for a land just grates at me like finger nails loudly scrapinmg against a window payne. Compared to Wizarding World, the old ideas for this ancient rumor seriously if not tragicly pale in comparison.

If Narnia is to become a part of Animal Kingdom, it should be a land unto itself. A land that would be themed to a mix of various mythical creatures of fantasy and lore should be under the umbrella of it's own cohesive theme.

[ROBONICS95]

Originally Posted by fkurucz

All that guarantees then is that it will look like a movie set.

Not necessarily true. Consider Disneyland itself being created and designed mainly by Animation, Storyboard, Set Design, and Background artists.

The approach seemed to work...and still may.

[DisneyPixar]

Given the number of Harry Potter fans I seriously doubt if Narnia would make a dent in Islands of Adventure's draw to that land. As far as Lucasland goes, well, you could have Willow, Indy and Star Wars all living side by side (and American Graffiti). I don't see that jiving very well. I'd rather have Star Wars in Tommorrowland and Indy in Adventureland and Willow in Fantasyland. Sort of like they do now (sans Willow, although I'd love a Willow attraction).

However, if they were to make Narnia as a serious land in one of the parks, then I believe it could feed off of the success of Harry Potter. For example, people come from New York to experience Harry Potter land. The next day, these people, who like fantasy fiction, decide to check out MGM's Narnia. You see? Narnia won't divert Harry Potter crowds from attending the other park, but fans who came to see Harry Potter will be excited for more book fantasy come to life.

[fo'c's'le swab]

Originally Posted by MasterGracey

If an updated 20+ year-old attraction is all Disney can muster against a completely new mini theme park within a theme park based on the powerhouse that is Harry Potter, then that's just sad.


Why doesn't Disney get its successful book/movie franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia, in the parks and give Harry some real competition?

It is sad, but ultimately it may pay dividends to DL fans. It would do Disney some good to fall a few rungs down the food chain, IMO. Life at the Top can be an easy one; and just as easy to take for granted.

I agree that competition is the best catalyst I can see to stimulate DL's stagnant attitude toward theme and overall experience. And is why I have not yet given up hope on a new re-examination of the principles that guided each Land's original foundation.

[DisneyPixar]

Adding to what Swabbie said, all that Disneyland has to offer that trumps others is theming and experience. For "rides" you can do equal or better in a ton of other amusement parks. That's what killed DCA: The lack of theming that allows so-so rides to turn into experiences.

Let's face facts: If Space mountain were outdoors with an outdoor queue, it would be an okay coaster with some twists and turns, but put it inside, give it a themed queue like a space station and make it dark and starlit, then you can get lost in the wonder of it all. As places like IOA continue to make their push towards better theming, Disney will lose this edge unless they get back to immerssive worlds with cutting-edge rides.

[Ride Warrior]

Originally Posted by fkurucz

All that guarantees then is that it will look like a movie set.

Absolutely not. You interpreted my post as if I was inferring that the creative talents behind the Potter movies are the only people working on the Wizrding world island/theme park. These talents (including J K Rowling herself) are working together with Universal's designers and engineers - many of them former Disney Imagineers. This caliber of a team is rather unique - and should prove highly volatile.

Originally Posted by ROBONICS95

Not necessarily true. Consider Disneyland itself being created and designed mainly by Animation, Storyboard, Set Design, and Background artists.

The approach seemed to work...and still may.

You are 100% acurate. Nobody should underestimate the visionary abilities of multi-talented creative artists. Walt Disney pretty much killed the ancient mindset of the pre-theme park era.