Is No Theming a Good Theme?
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Exposed pipes? Metal grates? Big ol' HVAC machines? It's actually part of the theme of the land! This is what a real Hollywood movie set looks like! That might be a problem, as it turns out.
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Avengers Campus Announcement, The DIS, • Avengers Campus Attrac...
Hollywood Studios Backlot Warehouse, Laughing Place, • Disney's Hollywood Stu...
When I was in Disneyland seeing Avengers Campus for the first time, the queue for Web Slingers was long enough that they opened up a backstage area for overflow queue... and I didn't even notice we were backstage fo a while. I was seriously thinking, "wow, the industrial theming just got a whole ton more realistic for some reason."🙃
This is hilarious
@@stanfordite1 Would be nice. And wth kind of name is Avengers Campus? It sounds like a school, not a theme park land. Disney's become so uncreative under Iger.
@@joemama5181 Disney is still creative under Iger. Look at cars land for example. Cars land is creative because your inside radiator springs itself and you feel like your actually there and you are immersed inside a movie which is creative for me
@@stanfordite1So Disney will instead pay billions in licensing to Paramount for Twilight Zone? Your thought process is truly blowing my mind.
@stanfordite1 L rage bait, it was good until you started saying you would storm disney. 3/10 overall, next time try to double down on the land being under done instead of saying it's a failure because it makes millions a year.
Same thing is happening with Las Vegas…they used to build great themed hotels but now every new hotel pretty much looks the same
Yes! Went for our tenth wedding anniversary a few months back and were shocked at how homogeneous it all looked. We hadn’t been there since we got married there 10 years earlier and it was completely different. I lived in Vegas as a teen in the late 90s and it was so fun back then even as someone who wasn’t old enough to partake in a lot of things that were happening.
Yes, and if it IS uniquely themed somehow, they slap a huge scrim with an ad on it anyway. The Luxor is a giant Dorito right now iirc. Hideous and sad
I love a theme but when theming something you have to make sure it’s actually immersive and not just IP interjection. Overall another great video!
Like how Tropical Americas has little to do with the animals of that said region of the world and more about fictional IPs and nothing original.
I feel like the 90s are just far enough that people would get a kick out of a 90's themed mall area :p
essentially epcot! lol
@@stanfordite1 stop lying.
Please no... there are enough dead 90's malls, I don't need them ruining my Disneyland experience. Also, just stand in the queue space for Monsters Inc. It has that 90's vibe, it's awful.
@@rienailo It wouldn't be a DEAD mall.
Real.
This man's obsession with The People Mover and Living with the Land is so endearing. 😊
I've never been to Epcot, but Living with the Land is the only "must ride" attraction I have for the park.
I share his affection for Living with the Land, it’s one of my favorite experiences in all of the four Disney World parks
Avengers Campus as MCU New York with a Sanctum Sanctorum, Daily Bugle, and Stark Industries could have been great. Lots of room for other Marvel references just like we see in the Spiderman or Lego video games.
I think I saw plans to set it in 1940s New York, which would of brought such great themeing and character and an ability to tell a relatable story or a place I want to visit. Would be so easy to include references like a billboard for Murdoch law firm etc
@@theojenner1902 that'd be great if they could move it to Disney world!
@@kdusel1991not legally possible.
@@kdusel1991 Can’t do it on the east coast, universal still has marvel theme park rights over there
@Beamer490 ah, so that's why there aren't many Marvel stuff in disney World when I visited. Kinda sad tho.
My family loved the backstage and backlot tours at Disney/MGM Studios. It wasn't the theming we loved, but the behind the scenes things going on. We actually go to see Mortal Kombat: Conquest (1998-1999) during a break in filming and one of the stars waved at us.
i love love love theming i feel like it always enhances a ride, park, or area. i’ve only been to disneyworld twice so im not super familiar with how each areas theming feels, but at my local park my favorite roller coaster is the one that’s THEMED. it just makes things so fun! we need to bring back fun theming! hopefully universals epic universe pushes disney to try out crazy ideas more.
I’ve just gotta say, as someone who always makes jokes about drops and loops in Living With The Land, 15:19 made me point at my TV and go “Exactly! There we go!”
I finally got to do Behind the Seeds when I went last week for FArts. The ride line was 25 min. Longest I’d seen it!
As for the no-theme…be gone. I want immersion. I did love the Backlot Tour at MGM, especially the explosions and water. That was immersive
Teehee farts
I am lucky enough to have enjoyed FArtsat all of those attractions. Especially after the Disney buffetts
For Club Cool, bring back Ice Station Cool with the ice cave and snow track vehicle, frozen caveman, and snowmobile!
The industrial theming did work for some things, like Tower of Terror and Test Track 1.0, but it flopped in other places. It was its own genre in the 90s.
Club Cool now looks like a gas station convenience store. It’s awful.
I respectfully disagree with you that Living with the Land lacks theming. Me and my mother (a much bigger Disney parks fan than I) agree that education on agriculture is sufficient to call that ride “themed.” The theme is, well, living with the land, it’s in the name. Moreover, it ties into Epcot’s theme of the future with its messages of sustainability.
Living with the land is awesome!
I agree. It goes perfectly with the original “theme” of Epcot which was edutainment, if you will
regardless of theming that pan flute automatically elevates it to elite tier
I can ride Living with the Land on every Epcot visit,same with Spaceship Earth.
@@Art_V101 same! I do hope the spaceship earth retheme that was initially planned during Covid still happens!
I think thats why Universal Studios Hollywood works so well. The backlot and the park almost perfectly meld together. Coming down the escalators to the Lower Lot, at first it is almost impossible to tell what is part of the park, and what is a working soundstage. It is something which is impossible to hide, so why hide it?
If you are theming something to a "real" location, why not deliberately show the underbelly of what is making the space work? The best parks take what is given to them and make the most out of it
Congrats. This is your PhD vlog. Well done. Akin to the explanatory fast pass dissertation from defunctland (?). This no theme theme pondering is thoughtful and helpful. It’s like a key to what is going on in the parks. Rest easy, you’ve had a busy day. ;)
I wasn’t alive for the backlot tour in Florida but I wish I was because I love anything that has to do with films being made so that really would’ve worked for me
I got picked to be in the preshow once!
The backlot tour was awesome. If you liked props and old school special effects it was amazing. You got to see lots of stuff like original alien suits, hurbie the vw bug. Plus they demonstrated a battle with water cannons and green screens. It was cool.
@@maxhocks2006 that sounds right up my alley
@@maxhocks2006 I loved seeing that stuff
I know the backlot tour pre-show and ride has been uploaded to UA-cam on MartinsVidsDotNet.
The title of the three part series is Disney MGM Studios - The Tours History (part 3 is the full experience right before closing).
I love the People Mover, we always ask to stay on. It’s so relaxing
They seem to show the fans amazing art then ask "What's the bare minimum we can do?"
Capitalism, yay!
Disney needs to not go the 'we must make shareholders money through the safest option' route
The backlot tour was awesome!! I got picked to be in the preshow once!!
I’m a UK theme park enthusiast, and I’d say that the ‘less is more approach’ can work with rides. My favourite ride at Alton Towers is Oblivion, which uses a minimalist government experiment theme to its advantage to create unease and suspense. The park I grew up going to was Drayton Manor, which back in the day had largely a mix of irrelevant rides with individual aesthetics, which didn’t blend that well but allowed for more variety. Theming does go a long way, and a ride with great set pieces and premises will always strike a bigger crowd.
I truly believe some internal, political drama, went down between WDI and Share Holders around 2012. (the year Disney acquired Lucasfilm). The moment Tony Baxter had his awkward departure from WDI is the moment I personally noticed Disney lean hard on milking IP at the parks and a loss of creative originality.
While the opening day of Disneyland was unquestionably a mess, through the lens of time it has become a GLORIOUS mess. What would you not give to experience that day?
Perfect timing for this upload, I was just about to check Patreon if there were any new videos lmao.
“I hope we get something better for Spider-Man.” The perfect Spider-Man ride is already at Universal Islands of Adventure and it opened in 1999
Great video as always, love all the content! Keep it up! Have a great weekend!
I think a thing themed to itself can work quite well if done thoughtfully. California Adventure has (or had) some good examples. California Screamin' was themed in a way that was a much more satisfying theme than Incredicoaster. I heard a lot of people say it wasn't themed. The point was that it is a steel launched coaster themed to being a classic wooden coaster at a California boardwalk park like either of the Giant Dippers. It's a coaster in a theme park themed to being a coaster in a different setting that you are supposedly actually visiting. In that way, the theme was very similar to Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure where the theme is that you're at the actual Jurassic World and they've built a coaster that goes into a dinosaur exhibit. It's a coaster at a theme park themed to being a coaster in a different place you'd love to visit.
The problem with theming something to itself is when you do it in such a phoned in way that there's nothing to enjoy. When the only thing to appreciate is scale. If you have to be reassured that what you're seeing is high quality if you squint or over think it. Dinoland is a great example. And frankly, I think Pixar Pier is exactly that when ironically it is meant to replace something that supposedly had that same problem.
Also you give World Celebration / Nature WAAAAY too much credit. There’s no detail to it at all, way less than even Hollywood Land. It feels like a generic office park.
I felt like Future World, atleast at night, had a fantastical vibe due to the neon lighting & fiber optics (plus the rounded buildings were /are somewhat futuristic. Moreso than C-Hall box)
That neon vibe, the fountain, the music, all chefs kiss
🥲
I passed through DCA last fall on a family trip, and one of my party REALLY wanted to take photos with the Sam Wilson/Captain America actor, so I escorted them over and got my first look at Avengers Campus.
WOW, what a disappointment! I didn't even want to try any of the attractions. It all looked incredibly dull. I'd suspected something of the kind when a friend gave me the Avengers Campus cookbook and I realized none of the food sounded appetizing, but yeesh! The only part of the campus I liked was a wall that had the weathered insignia of the Strategic Scientific Reserve on it, with fake bullet marks. THAT was cool and made the space feel like it had a history, like it was lived in. I had my companion take a picture of me in front of it with a giant grin on my face, and my mother loved it so much that she put it in the photo album she kept as a souvenir of the trip.
Watching this video made me realize why I liked that wall and not the industrial non-theme of the rest of the campus. As a kid visiting Disneyland, I loved feeling like I was in another, more interesting place. I was wandering a futuristic city on another planet in Tomorrowland or traipsing through a bazaar with Indiana Jones in Adventureland. Being in those places was better than being in the places I spent every day in, like my school or my neighborhood.
Industrial buildings aren't more fun than most homes or workplaces.
A ramshackle, long-abandoned secret bunker used by a WWII spy agency? THAT'S cool. I want to go in THERE. I don't want to tour a warehouse that looks like the one my Amazon packages come from.
The frustrating part is that Marvel DOES have some cool locations! I would love to visit Wakanda, or Asgard, or Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, or even a generic MCU New York with Avengers Tower on the horizon, Captain America's Brooklyn, and a Spider-Man dark ride set at Midtown High. But there's a reason those movies don't set any really interesting scenes inside the Avengers compound. It's a boring setting.
Really a wasted opportunity, if you ask me. All that concept art and they went with gray boxes.
Edit: aaaand obviously you agree because you say several of the same things later in the video.
I remember walking to the back lot and thinking, "Am I even supposed to be back here?" I felt like I had accidently gotten past some barrier and was in some unfinished area or something.
That brief "no peoplemover" killed me.
Dallin, you’re overthinking it! The Living w the Land ending proves it! Not everything needs to be fantasy rockwork.
I think you’re discounting the golden age Hollywood theme too, even in Hollywood Land, those facades & that architecture is quite intricate & interesting to look at. It’s not too different from Main Street…or really any other of the other classic lands’ buildings / architecture, it’s often been “just” detailed facades.
Granted, the actual backlot soundstages are indeed basic, but kind of endearing in a way, idk. I actually prefer that dated backlot vibe (at least at MGM) because it truly felt like you were behind the scenes. With the small corner in DCA it can’t feel that way due to size etc
Dinoland felt worse than the backlots because like Paradise Pier, it wasnt bringing you behind the scenes, it was recreating a lesser amusement space lol…quite a questionable choice of theme.
Not sure if the problem is financial or creativity? Even on a small scale compare what they did with the Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion queue of fifteen years ago, to what they did with Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion queue just recently completed. The Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion queue is very creative, interactive and tells a story.The Disneyland Haunted Mansion queue is a bit lackluster, static, and at best is better than what was there before. Even compare the two Madame Leota shops. The Magic Kingdom shop was a reimagined existing building, while the Disneyland version they were allowed to build from scratch.
It’s a creatives problem and a problem with the people telling others what the design direction at the moment is. Disney needs to put the FUN back into their work. They won’t win a design price, the won’t redefine architecture or whatever. They can only make people happy by designing their parks exactly as the opposite of the real world we all see every freakin day
The Magic Kingdom HM queue is tacky, tasteless, overblown, and ruins the atmosphere before you even get inside the attraction. The current Disneyland queue is a downgrade from what it replaced, but it makes the Florida queue look like exactly what it is: a trashy mess. You should feel like you're approaching a real house, not something out of a cheap carnival.
I grew up in California and my favorite park was always Universal Studios Hollywood. I loved that it was meant to put you backstage and show you how movies were made. I miss that vibe and I’ll forever be sad that I never made it to Universal Studios Florida before all the old school attractions were removed. Except for ET of course. I hope they never ever remove that one.
Epcot hub used to be so cool with the kite shade sprawling from the middle and the fountain of nations it really was something grand that you didn’t see anywhere else felt like something from the worlds fair unlike what we got
Agreed! I miss the fountain of nations so much!!
It was a concrete wasteland. The kite shade was a joke that barely provided anything
@@toyaliens actually with the refurb they removed more trees definitely around Tt and wonders and the original hub also had plenty of trees I don’t think people remember that though
@@santiago7129 Nope, no trees have been removed, World Celebration has 4 times the trees now
1:56 Nice matching Hat, socks, shorts and purse
I totally agree with the dino land theming stuff - it's only appreciated when you know the effort and lore
8:15 - I was so baffled by this statement I was compelled to stop what I was doing and write a comment. We rode webslingers once and it was so bad that the other week when we went to DCA we *refused* to go on it despite having an unusually short wait (had just reopened). I legitimately can't imagine what metric someone would be using to rank it above toy story to the point where I'm wondering if our experience was just straight up broken.
agreed, web slingers should entertain us, and not make us do any work entertaining ourselves. as far a shooter ride both toy story and astro blasters are way more fun
@@ChrisLucas3 Its an interactive ride
@@loonytunescrazy I know I've ridden it
I think it's hilarious that it takes them the same amount of time to build one ride now that it took to build a whole park in the past
If I'm not mistaken Innoventions Opened in 1994, so "Old Innoventions" would be cutting edge in the 80's. Love the content, keep it coming Dalen!
The reason why DCA and Disney Studios in Paris were also lacking themeing and had reworks was due the financial blackhole that was Disneyland Paris when it first opened, that had a knock back effect on the other parks that took Disney a while to recover from, so they went with the minimal theming for budgetary reasons.
Web Slingers is NOT better than Midway Mania. Midway Mania manages to not feel like a screen-based ride. There's actually skill involved. Web slingers feels like you're just watching a video game. It's hard to tell where you're shooting and the arm motion required is awkward
Exactly! Web Slingers is far inferior long before you even get to the pay-to-play power up cash grab.
I think the part where you were talking about how it's realer than the real thing but the real thing is kinda boring, in association with Chester and Hester, is absolutely true.
I remember being there when Dinoland USA was just a dig site, and as much as it was just some buildings that looked like temporary/portable buildings like you'd see on a dig site... It still felt like you were at a dig site, which is something that you don't see every day. And I'll admit I was young enough to go to the actual fake dig site climbing rig thing and enjoy it, but there was still this sense of wonder.
"Here's the dig site where we can uncover the bones. Here's the restaurant that the diggers use with all their photos and trophies on the wall." So on and so forth.
Chester and Hester? Now this is just when the carnival comes and sets up in the parking lot of the abandoned Toys-R-Us but the person had a thing for Dinosaurs. That dig site, while cool, feels like a gimmick, and the restaurant is now a themed restaurant nearby where they bought dinosaur stuff.
Ultimately, what you need to ask is whether “theme” refers to aesthetic or content. That is, are we talking about the “theme” of a party (ie decades, costume, grown up fancy dinner, etc.) or the “theme” of a book (ie the nature of humanity, the inevitability of change, etc.)? Two completely different contexts. Now, I don’t necessarily think it’s either or, and I think food parks do both. That being said, I do feel like I gravitate more towards preferring the “theme of a book” at the moment because it feels like, while a lot of recent “theming” has largely aimed at spectacular and detailed aesthetic theming, it also feels like these are a bit shallow once you dig into them.
This is to say, one of the reasons I tend to be very against entire lands dedicated to IP is because very often it doesn’t feel like it serves a larger theme, story, or identity of the park. This is a problem DCA has. I know, I know I’m a snobby hipster intellectual Disney parks fan type, but I just wish the conception of theming wasn’t just about spectacle and profit at this point.
To put it another way, I guess you could say that “the only movies/shows worth seeing are those that have huge budgets and make you go ‘wow’”. And it’s true that there are a lot of good movies/shows that are like that, and some of them also have quite a lot of substance as well. But, to say that there aren’t any movies/shows that are worth seeing or experiencing, that may have minimal sets, props, stunts, costumes, and so would simply be wrong. There is more to storytelling than just spectacle, the same way fancy ingredients don’t always make the best meal or the most expensive gifts the most meaningful.
From this, my highest priority is that there’s an actual intent to converse and excite the imagination - that the lands, attractions, and experiences in the parks, actually make you think to some degree. Yes, you should have fun and not everything needs to be worth of of PhD level analysis or challenge you to a brutal extent, but there needs to be balance between simply doing things because they seem impressive versus doing them for a more meaningful purpose. Applying this perspective, I think that minimal themeing and “every day” theming can be OK, so long as it serves a larger purpose. And sometimes less is more.
PS We aren’t also going to get into the fact that “everyday” is relative and some things may feel boring but are just the kind of vibes people want. We also won’t get into the at times necessary but often toxic discourse about exoticism and how that can entrench stereotypes and misrepresent culture; every culture does this to some extent and I think Disney is more culturally sensitive aware now (and perhaps too much sometimes), but we should be careful about saying that a Central/South America land is better because it feels more “different” (ie exotic), at least without being willing to interrogate what that means.
PPS Also, Disney can take the animation academy from my cold dead hands.
The asphalt is exactly what I hated about C&H's. I felt like I was walking into my local fair, filled with rip-off carnival games, a generic coaster, and a baby ride. Like Dinoland was built around an old carnival.
Exactly; it wasn't anything you couldn't get somewhere else for a lot cheaper.
i remember when i worked at animal kingdom on my college program they told us during park orientation that the theme is the whole reason it’s the only place in all four parks where commercial music plays LMAO
I don’t understand why people are so keen to shove Avatar into the Hollywood Backlot. I just don’t see how it can thematically fit back there.
I don’t understand why people even WANT Avatar in the parks
@ It’s fine in Animal Kingdom, but I don’t want to see it in any other park.
@@ILoveCats2muchYippieAvatar is so overrated. It’s one of the only IPs I NEVER want to see in a Disney park
Thanks as always, love your videos
I miss the "movie making" themed areas. Why can't I geek out on making movies and feel like I'm in 1993!!!!!!!!
That’s what I miss about Universal Orlando
When DCA first opened, the entire Hollywood section was called Hollywood Pictures Backlot. You passed through the studio gates off of Sunshine Plaza and were seemingly on Hollywood Boulevard. However, the further down the street you went, the more it was revealed that it was a set on a studio backlot. You could see the buildings were flats that opened up on "backstage" areas and even the sky was a painted backdrop! This was actually very clever. The problem was that after the reveal, you were now in an equally fake unthemed backlot full of boring beige buildings.. At least in the early days, there were attractions there like MuppetVision and Who Wants to Be a Millionare that were backstage themed. Today, however, Hollywood Boulevard is no longer a set and is more an immersive period themed land, the reveal is gone and the backlot, now separated by a small gateway, is just a pointlessly unthemed area.
I have nostalgia for old DCA and I remember really loving the less themed areas, but only because I am autistic and I have a lot of sensory difficulties. Going to the non-themed areas was a good break mid day because there was no one there and I could run around while we waited for our fast pass to be ready lol
This is just depressing to me, a Disney guy since 1960. I can't watch Disney half-a** things. The problem isn't money, or lack of imagination. The problem is mega-corporation greed. Every dime they put into the parks comes out of somebody's bonus. That's not how it should be anywhere, but specially not at Disney. They need to destroy their corporate thinking, and start worrying about the fact that attendance is declining yearly. It's because every suit in the corporation is worrying about their huge end-of-year bonus rather than worrying about making the parks enjoyable and worth a multi-thousand dollar investment by the basic, normal, not-rich, middle income family. This corporate thinking might very well end the Disney parks. I've watched it happening for a very long time. Disney is dying, and it's not the fans' fault. If anyone disagrees, wait 20 years. If Disney hasn't changed their core goals, Disney will be forced to close the parks. In the last 30 years, I've seen some of the stupidest corporate decision I've ever witnessed come out of the Disney corporations. I really believe that Disney is in its death throes. If they don't tend back to Walt's plan, they won't survive. We'll be stuck with the equivalent of a midway carnival with a Disney logo stuck on it. I hate this.
I was a fan of the backlot at HWS, until I saw the new lands that replaced it and now I’m glad it’s gone.
I hope that Tropical Americas at least has SOME live animals. It can be something small like a capybara pool, sloths, peccaries, coatimundis, tamanduas, small monkeys, caimans, or even a snake house by the Indiana Jones ride. It doesn’t have to be anything big like jaguars, llamas, or Andean bears.
A snake house near the Indiana Jones Ride would be super cool!
I do think theming needs to be very well thought out. Though I'll admit that they did make it timeless with Living with the Land.
One issue I have is that Disney is stripping the theming away from their hotels. The new generic hotel with Ikea furniture theme they're doing at the resorts is not going to age well.
Additionally, part of what can make theming good is if the whole park has a flow to it. Magic Kingdom and pre 2020s Epcot have this. Each section needs to blend together. In a sense, both Living with the Land and Test Track 1.0's lack of theming kind of worked since it's inside a fancy building, plus it's educating you on how the respective industries (food and automotive) work behind the scenes.
I should also add, you may get that same issue with a land that is tied to an IP. The IP may become culturally irrelevant (which is kind of happening with Star Wars sadly as they milked it to death). It kind of happened to some of the films in the Great Movie Ride. Some of those films are kind of irrelevant today.
It's really sad that Epic Universe looks so good while Disney has been floundering a bit. Tropical Americas looks great, but the destruction of some really beloved properties for other attractions is problematic.
I might spend a day in Epic Universe while I'm there in September.
Universal removves claasics all the time without a second thought. EU looks nice but will not hold a candle to MK or the og DL.
@@toyaliensAgreed
Everyone misses why Hollywood Backlot is the perfect land. It is a blank slate where any movie IP attraction can be placed. The problem is that Disney has NEVER really done much with it. They could add at least two new attractions in the (mostly) empty sound stages. Imagine a Mary Poppin's dark ride, a Great Movie Ride style attraction, or an animatronic (non-wax) museum walk thru. There's so much wasted potential. But what will they probably do? Rip it all out, including a now classic Monster Inc. dark ride, for a lame scaled down Pandora. An IP that personally I care nothing about. And who knows what else might be on the chopping block: Hollywood Street and Animation Academy.
BTW: Totally agree Avengers Campus is a mess and very disappointing.
I thought the video was going to be about EPCOT and the new resorts they are building. 😂😂 I’ll take end stage Eisner theming over that any day!
Planning a day trip to go see Muppetvision one last time, and I’m debating getting a park hopper so I can ride everything I haven’t ridden yet/ also say goodbye to Dinosaur. The Florida parks hold a special place in my heart, but I’ll always prefer Disneyland. They need to step up the theming on the new stuff they are building. They keep cutting corners and it shows. Epic universe is hopefully pushing Disney harder because they don’t want to get beat at their own game.
It would be fun to have Avengers Campus incorporate "What If...?" comics. It could be changing constantly, or rotating through different story arcs. That would give the campus more staying power and allow for easier rethemes. Dallin's right about the prospects for the MCU in the future. "Infinity War" will be a distant memory, but incorporating "What If...?" could, at the very least, have Marvel Zombies. Adding something like Doom Island or Wundagore Mountain could add even more sustainability to the campus.
I wish Disney would just dive head first into a "Space Age" theme for Tomorrow Land. Lean heavy into the atomic powered shuttles, abstract cities, Googy architecture. Disneyland park itself is already associated with the 50s. why not preserve that era in Tomorrow Land. There's so much you could do with a timeless theme such as that. Not even to mention the wonderful Easy Listening and Exotica music to match the setting. It would be so perfect.
Lack of theming as a theme can work if the point of the land or the ride is to shatter that normalcy , dinosaur and cosmic rewind as examples , where it starts as a mundane experience but the events of the ride quickly turn it on its head
When Florida’s Back Lot Tour opened - it was great! There were so many cool things to see - that was a theme in itself. Hollywood Studios was really cool - sadly it didn’t last long. You had to be there. The remnants didn’t do the same thing. You had to experience it in the beginning.
This was a fantastic video Dallin. I really hope Disney’s watching.
Man. I miss the theming of the 90s. Even if the theme was Hollywood backlot. Simple but perfect for me.
It depends on where it’s at and what it’s for. The back lot tour was awesome because it was like a behind the scenes peak into movie making. If you were interested in non cgi special effects it was one of the few places you could both see and participate in movie making. And the tour portions showed all kinds of cool props. Many it was impossible to see back in the 90s and early 2000’s.
Think of it this way there’s a difference between just letting random weeds grow and having a garden. One takes planing and design. One is lazy.
I don’t agree with the hate on avengers campus. Yes, it is very industrial, but that is what the avengers campus in the movie looked like. I don’t think it’s the best, but they were for one accurate to the movie.
Also about the sanctum, I was thinking about if they did an avengers land at Hollywood studios ( I know legally they can but it was just a thought). My idea was that it would take place in New York in an alternate universe, and you enter through a dr strange portal and at the end of the street is the avengers tower, with the main E ticket in there and there would be a doctor strange walk through where you see all the weird stuff, and there would be a web shooters type ride but it would be more basic spider man where in this universe he isn’t part of the avengers yet. In the ride you would fight a villain, and there would be practical effects as you go thought the story trying the stop the bad guy. These practical effects could be the villain throwing a car at you and a physical car flys are you on a robotic arm or something.
DCA already had a junkyard in carsland, it didn't need mission breakout.
Tower of Terror was way better in regards to theming and atmosphere and tone and mood and story telling.
I've only been to Universal in Orlando once, and while I liked Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios is just a bunch of soundstage warehouses and it felt really cheap because of it. There were a few exceptions (Diagon Alley, Simpsons Area) but overall, it paled in comparison to IoA or WDW. Give me the strong transporative themes. If I'm going to a theme park, WOW me with what you can come up with.
C&H was built to look cheap, mission accomplished. They could have fixed this part of Dinoland and saved it. I don't dislike Avegers Campus. It works with the character interaction. Will be nice to see how it develops with the 2 new upcoming attractions
It was built to look cheap because it WAS cheap. When you can't afford a whole meal, it doesn't change anything to say, "This dry baloney sandwich was designed to taste cheap."
I go to Disneyland to escape this world. I want to walk into a place that feels out of this world. Somewhere I can't go to in my daily life. Back in time, outer space, something entirely made up or from a movie. It doesn't need IP to be immersive (although probably anything new will have IP) it just needs to take me somewhere new and interesting.
yah As a Californian I have never been to California so California adventure was going finally let me know what it is like being in California. Great Idea there Disney.
I like the MGM studios Hollywood theming, for what it is, but the parts towards the back that led to Toy Story Land and other stuff were pretty weak. I also agree that the Avengers theming could be more wild than it is.
As someone whos only disney experiece is Paris. The disney studios park did have some charm to me as a kid. But as soon as i saw most buildings were 2d it made me see how small the park was. I have high hopes for adventue world. SO THEY BETTER ADD GALAXY'S EDGE BACK IN
I love the studios park at DLP and it will be even better soon with the new expansions
It’s definitely a fine line between historic, retro, and outdated. Disney shouldn’t make anything to look too modern because it will quickly be outdated, might last long enough to look retro (like Tomorrow Land for those of us who enjoy old sci-fi movies made in the 1950’s imagining what the future would look like), but will probably be torn down and rethemed before it has a chance to look historic. Non-theme is like Christmas decorations: it’s still your house but Christmas style, it doesn’t transport you to the North Pole. Non-theme takes things that are familiar and mundane and gives them a light plus up; we don’t visit the parks for a variation of real life, we visit to escape into something totally different.
You are awesome 😎
The west side of Disneyland always had the best theming at that specific park. Tomorrowland used to have it with its kinetic energy before they screwed it up back in 1998.
Ive been saying for years disney needs to have a theme park that's dedicated to halloween- have hocus pocus, halloweentown and nightmare before Christmas in their own area!!!
8:19 you are wrong for that 😂
great video- I had no idea about the pavement in Dino-Land- I am so sad about how many things created by artistic imagineers that are being ripped out.
Yes I know it’s a personal opinion, but saying Webslingers is better than Toy Story Midway Mania seems like a hot, hot take…
They’re getting back to their good theming supposedly with the new villains land, encanto section, and cars thing slapped into the middle of OLD AMERICA Frontierland/New Orleans Square (cuz that totally makes sense.
Dinoland themeing is objectively good. You might disagree with the overall theme choice, but it is done well.
Imo, the parks in the video, dca, Hollywood studios, and adventure world, are moving backwards because they have no theme. They are all becoming "adventure worlds" where random IP is inserted and destroys the theming of the park. I would prefer dino rama over the new land even if the new one is better just because it's actually themed to animals instead of random IP with a loose connection.
i think of the three DHS still has the most cohesion, yeah it’s still a bit of an IP hodgepodge but to me the front half of the park is still hollywood and show business themed to a degree and the back half is literally “stepping into the movies” with toy story land, galaxy’s edge and soon monstropolis (rip muppets ;-;)
It doesn’t destroy the theming. The castle parks should include Disney ip with the occasional non ip and the studios parks should be Pixar, marvel and Star Wars IPs
@DisneylandParisLover The US parks haven't added a new non IP ride since expedition Everest in 2006, 19 years ago. IP doesn't have to ruin the theming of castle parks, but the new cars land will destroy frontierland. The studios parks aren't just a dumping ground for IP, they're supposed to be about how movies are made and the history of movies. Now it's just Disney adventure world.
@@Bnkl-f2h I still don’t get why everyone hates IPs but loves original rides. You go to DISNEYland to see places from your favourite DISNEY movies. You don’t go to a place called DISNEYland to see a random idea an imagineer thought of that has nothing to do with Disney movies
@DisneylandParisLover The thousands of people who go to Disneyland to ride haunted mansion, jungle cruise, pirates, big thunder mountain, and space mountain say otherwise. Non IP rides are more timeless and often fit better thematically because it's not an ip shoehorned into a place where it's not supposed to be. Also original stories and experiences are usually more interesting than a ride based on a movie.
I think it's really funny that the singular thing that killed backlot tours is simply the DVD movie.
Maybe it truly does just come down to nostalgia but I don't just like the "no theme" theme, I would say it's my favorite. From when i was a kid up through now Hollywood Studios has always been my favorite park, mostly due to the combination of the Old Hollywood theme and the backlot/movie-set theming. By the time I was able to experience the whole backlot theme it was already considered outdated, so it really had no effect on me. I can definitely see how experiencing a land's theming through it's relevancy into it being outdated can really ruin that though, as EPCOT had been starting to feel that way up until the refresh.
I miss the gorilla suit alien in the convertable that used to be where that ice cold refreshment stand is now at DCA. It really evoked the scifi dine-in theming at the restaurant in mgm studios. Originally there was a food court in that corner area whenever California adventure opened, now it's just craptain marvel's jet.
as someone who works at living with the land i was not expecting that name drop along with the words "loop-dee-loop" and "drop" LOL can you imagine ??
During a group trip, my friends and I kept telling our first-timer friend to get ready for the big drop and the loop, and hyped it up during the whole first half of living with the land. We did this for most of the calmer rides in the parks. I still make this joke to anyone to anyone who rides living with the land with me, even though I’m now an Epcot cast member. 😂
D, I am going to be 67 in June…Pausing for the Hip, Hip, Hooray! I have visited Disneyland ever since I was 4 and have seen so many changes, good and bad. The most recent…SWGE good….cutting the Disney RR track and Rivers of America, bad! Haunted Mansion queue…good…Barn at exit, bad ! Theming is extremely important…..theme the change for the adult but theme it for the kids! Those people in charge should not just Mickey Mouse a project!…or maybe they should! Thank you D!
The current Disney is making it so all parks have the same theme: IP quilt.
Well Disney is a movie company so of course they will make rides about their movies in their parks
@DisneylandParisLover Well they do make more off theme parks.
@@randomusernameCallinBecause of all the IPs In the parks and the few non IPs
Thing is, no one cares about how movies are made anymore. They wanna be IN the movie and the world it exists in.
@@southpuddle I love being inside a movie because it is so immersive and fun
This kind of "theme" worked really well for DCA, Disney-MGM Studio, and Walt Disney Studios in Paris.
Yeah.....
No one would fault you for wanting to check out "Epic Universe." There's nothing wrong with expanding your horizons, and I remember that you incorporated the "Poseidon" ride during your hour-long "Galaxy's Edge" video.
Personally, I think a big short coming of Dino land was not having a walk through attraction showing different dinosaur animatronics. Or like a dark ride showing off the different biomes these animals would have lived in with more of a education style with dino animatronics that aren't meant to scare you, Almost like a dino living with the land.
Living with the Land is more than just a greenhouse - it's a giant ecosphere.
6:18 That Rock is giving Splash Mountain vibes and the fact they didn't do that with Tianas is sad
I also agree to Epcots theming I. World Nature it needs something amazing it looks outdated
Here's what I think about "lack of theme as theming": it's safe. They might come up with a better idea down the road. 25 years down the road maybe, but then you have this plot of land that barely has anything in it that they can fill with a theme. Maybe a half hearted IP cram, or maybe a legit immersive local that's lush with detail (and also IP. We're never escaping IP. Original thought it dead)
Truly. Dinorama proves this, lol.
Some of these "unthemed" areas that they put a lot of work into to get that realistic crappiness just got way too cute and meta, and were the antithesis of Walt's vision. He specifically wanted something far and away better and more magical than cheap carnivals and amusement parks, but somehow those became retro so we started building campy, cheap looking recreations of the exact things Disneyland was supposed to NOT be. Dinoland USA was a pretty realistic recreation of cheap road side attractions, but no one wants to pay premium prices for recreations of cheap stuff. Those are fun to visit on a road trip, far less when you just dropped thousands on a trip.
Putting random IP into the parks is not themeing! Tell me how putting cars into frontierland is good themeing or Monsters into Hollywood vs how muppets is done currently.
Monsters inc is fine in Hollywood studios because studios park should have non Disney ip such as Pixar and Star Wars so monsters inc fits in the park. But for cars I completely agree it should go in Hollywood studios instead of Frontierland
Let's fix Tommorowland
Any Ideas?
Yeah, I think they need to have something that, hm, moves... People?
I don’t know about Tomorrowland but I can definitely fix Discoveryland at DLP
1: Retheme Buzz to a journey to the centre of the earth theme
2: Bring back space mountain from earth to the moon
3: Retheme star tours to a educational simulator based on the solar system
4: replace autopia with a family rollercoaster based in the Jules Verne novel the golden volcano
Mission Breakout isn't 'fine', it's a boring, soulless vehicle to sell Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I love your content Dalin, but I'll never forgive Disney for replacing a truly amazing ride for that piece of garbage.
Disney are not even taking this half as far as they could - Merlin have WON this game by theming to "Post-apocalyptic wasteland"! overgrown weed filled peeling paint? ALL INTENTIONAL! Thorpe Park has some great theming along the "nobody's touched this for five years" themes!
Half of what we've seen is a problem with theming, but it's a problem of maintenance and investment. A contemporary, industrial theme CAN work when it's immersive and cohesive - the architecture isn't my problem with Avengers Campus so much as the concept. Industrial warehouses worked fine for the Backlot Tour because we were being taken into that world. But at DCA, no, it's just nothing. It's default Amusement Park, not Disney's standard!
I actually enjoy the web slingers ride quite a bit (although I wish the plot actually involved Spider-Man villains). All that said, it does have one of the worst “themed” queues I have been in for a Disney park. Just long thin hallways that’s pretty much a warehouse. It’s suffocating tbh.