Bob Iger says, "No Ratatouille Attractions"

[EvilQueenRocks]

Originally Posted by OFTEric

I will admit, that a Rataouille themed cafe or restaurant in France at EPCOT would be pretty sweet!

This would be about the only thing I would maybe accept even though I am getting a little burned out on characters having to be attached to everything at the parks now and I have 2 children so that's saying something.

[disneyreporter]

This was a Pixar attraction I was actually looking forward too! The storyline was great, and a new coaster would have added a lot more excitement to the dwindling DHS. Why did Iger have to go and ruin it? Could him dropping the axe on Ratatouille mean no more Pixar attractions for a while?

[disneyreporter]

Originally Posted by OFTEric

I will admit, that a Rataouille themed cafe or restaurant in France at EPCOT would be pretty sweet!

It would fit perfectly there, and any new addition to World Showcase would be greatly appreciated.

[Coheteboy]

Originally Posted by OFTEric

Ok on CNN Money Bob Iger has something to say about a Rataouille themed attraction...



http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/11/news...rview.fortune/

Hmmm... have you all thought about what he's saying? He's saying no to a Ratatouille attraction simply because it's not a franchise?

back up one second.

Does this mean that they could ONLY make attractions based on films that have tons of sequels or films that sells a lot of merchandise?

I'm sorry, guys, but that's not exactly the reassurance I was looking for. At Disneyland we have attractions for Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Roger Rabbit, Mr. Toad.... are these franchises? Not when I checked last. They were just properties that lent themselves to good attractions. Song of the South? Not a franchise. I also didn't think Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc were franchises either.


Before you jump to conclusions, I wasn't a strong supporter for getting a Ratatouille attraction, nor was I wasn't against it. I just don't think we should all be celebrating yet from reading Iger's take on the situation. There's still a lot of BAD ideas going around and me personally would rather have seen a Ratatouille attraction before we saw yet another Toy Story attraction (a clone that doesn't quite belong, no less).


And a Ratatouille restaurant in Epcot? Sorry, it's a bad idea. It's way too classy of a pavilion for a rat infested restaurant.

[GhostHost2]

I have mixed feeling about this. No where in this article does Iger say that rides don't have to be based on franchises. What he is really saying is that rides have to be based on franchises with a lot of synergy. There are other ways to make franchises other than sequels, and merchandise is one of the major ways.

Ratatouille was my favorite movie of 2007, and it is PIXAR's best, and the best animated movie of the century so far. As far as quality goes Ratatouille blows Finding Nemo out of the water IMO. I would much rather have a Ratatouille attraction than a Finding Nemo one or a second Toy Story attraction.

Being against the toon invasion that is happening at the parks, I find nothing to celebrate here. It just confirms that the main things taken into consideration when building an attraction are synergy and merchandising sells, not quality and timelessness.

[WDWizard]

Thank god, I guess this shows that not EVERYTHING has to be Pixarified in the parks. I was a bit skeptical on the whole idea of Pixar Place and the Ratatouille coaster taking over the backlot tour. If they remove the backlot tour, they remove one of the few true "studio" attractions left. Enhance the backlot tour, add more television and movie making attractions I say.

I will admit, that a Rataouille themed cafe or restaurant in France at EPCOT would be pretty sweet!

A Ratatouille invasion of the French restaurant?? No thanks! Not everything at WDW has to be invaded by the characters.

[MJMcB]

Originally Posted by OFTEric

Really? I really loved Rataouille!

Me too. I thought it was stronger than Incredibles, which really had a long lull

[tasman]

I am against a Ratatouille restaurant in the World Showcase...it's the one section of WDW which hasn't yet been invaded by toons. Besides the last thing WS needs is another restaurant or shop...it needs rides! I wouldn't mind a ride like Winnie the Pooh for WS, because it closely follows the original illustrations of a classic British fable (leave out that gopher!). But that would be the only kind of Disney toon that I would want to see there (unless it was Mickey Mouse in the American pavilion, I could stomach that).

[EvilQueenRocks]

Originally Posted by tasman

I am against a Ratatouille restaurant in the World Showcase...it's the one section of WDW which hasn't yet been invaded by toons. Besides the last thing WS needs is another restaurant or shop...it needs rides! I wouldn't mind a ride like Winnie the Pooh for WS, because it closely follows the original illustrations of a classic British fable (leave out that gopher!). But that would be the only kind of Disney toon that I would want to see there (unless it was Mickey Mouse in the American pavilion, I could stomach that).

Oh, its been invaded. Almost every pavillion pretty much has characters now. Mexico has the Three Caballeros, Norway has a Princess character meal restaurant, China has Mulan and Mushu every so often, Germany has Snow White and Dopey, Morocco has Aladdin, Genie and Jasmine, France has Belle, Beast and Sleeping Beauty, U.K. has Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh, and Canada has Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear. There is plenty of character presence in World Showcase already. And most of them now have their own meet and greet rooms. The only ones I can think of not having character presence is America, Italy and Japan.

[WDW Monorail]

Originally Posted by evilqueenrocks

Oh, its been invaded. Almost every pavillion pretty much has characters now. Mexico has the Three Caballeros, Norway has a Princess character meal restaurant, China has Mulan and Mushu every so often, Germany has Snow White and Dopey, Morocco has Aladdin, Genie and Jasmine, France has Belle, Beast and Sleeping Beauty, U.K. has Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh, and Canada has Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear. There is plenty of character presence in World Showcase already. And most of them now have their own meet and greet rooms. The only ones I can think of not having character presence is America, Italy and Japan.

I have seen Pinocchio and Geppetto in Italy on more than one occasion.

[EvilQueenRocks]

Originally Posted by WDW Monorail

I have seen Pinocchio and Geppetto in Italy on more than one occasion.

I was wondering about that one....as often as I go, I have never seen them.

[WDWizard]

Character greetings don't bug me. The point with the character meet and greets in WS is that they are trying to promote Epcot as a place to take your kids, and the kids like to see the characters at the different countries. What I don't like is the princess breakfast in Norway, or any other possible character-based attractions (I haven't seen 3 caballeros boat ride in Mexico yet) or characters invading the WS restaurants like the idea of Ratatouille in the French restaurant. It definitely detracts from the authenticity of a WS restaurant if you have characters running around.

[tasman]

Character greetings don't bother me either. They were there when I first visited Epcot in 1985. Back then, there were was a proper balance between thematic integrity and product placement. Epcot still maintains that for the most part. While I wouldn't be supportive of a Ratatouille restaurant I do admit it wouldn't make that big of a difference as long as the food is authentically French. However a Ratatouille ride would be different - I definitely don't want that since the story is of American origin.

[MJMcB]

Originally Posted by WDW Monorail

I have seen Pinocchio and Geppetto in Italy on more than one occasion.

I saw them once

I like the character greetings at Epcot. It might be the easiest place to see characters

[Sorvian]

Originally Posted by tasman

However a Ratatouille ride would be different - I definitely don't want that since the story is of American origin.

What exactly is American origin? Is it the humor? Or something else?

Because I know for a fact that Brad Bird and other PIXAR people actually travelled to Paris. So what exactly is American origin?