December 29, 2015

Norway Part of Magic Kingdom South

 Star Wars Land. Avatar's Pandora. Norway. What could these all have in common? These are all the location of the latest infusion of Disney characters- all fictional, all popular, all awaited by many theme park and movie fans. 

It still seems rather odd to me that Frozen is finding its way into Epcot's aging but still beautiful World Showcase. Honestly, I do not know why this should be so. The Three Caballeros were placed in Mexico years back. Canadian Comedian Martin Short made his way into his home country's pavilion, (and he is certainly a lively character!), and there remains some (mostly fan) talk of Remy from Ratatouille making his home in France. In other words, Epcot is turning into Magic Kingdom South one pavilion at a time. One plea for the suits in charge- please do not get rid of the epic Impressions de France, and I may be just slightly  more forgiving.

The mission is mostly accomplished in Future World, where in the oddest turn of events, the one fictional character that really belongs there- Figment- has been given the short end of the stick with an attraction not in the least bit worthy of the source material.  He could be on his way out with Dreamfinder already being kicked to the curb. You don't even really have to use your imagination at all to see this. So Norway, now becomes home to Anna and Elsa. (Nice piece of Imagineering concept are above, though.)

In some ways, things aren't all that much different on the West Coast. Star Wars Land will be built next to Frontierland, dedicating an all too important property to a park and location where it doe not belong. The same can be said for Marvel attractions being badly shoehorned into California Adventure, right behind Hollywood Land to be precise. 

At least at Disneyland, the biggest animated hit Frozen will be given a proper home in Fantasyland as soon as Mickey and his toon friends vacate and the nearby theater closes sometime after Star Wars Land opens up. 

Bottom line- all these changes will bring in even bigger crowds, moving the turnstiles and ringing the cash registers. Even bigger profits ahead for Robert Iger and Company.

2 comments:

  1. Where have you seen that Frozen is replacing Toontown?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mix some speculation with a bit of putting facts and comments together. But you can bank on it!

    ReplyDelete