It’s too bad they can’t do something like this in Orlando, instead (where they have lots of room for an entire Marvel-themed park).
Sadly, Universal built a Marvel Island in its Islands of Adventure (back before Disney owned the rights), and owns the rights to any Marvel theme parks in the area, so that’s off the table (unless Disney wants to throw a Hulkload of money at the problem).
I’m kind of okay with this, if only because the DCA version of ToT (as well as the clones in the other Disney parks) is a neutered version of the original at WDW. They cut out the entire section (spoiler?) where the elevator leaves the shaft, basically for cost (and to simplify maintenance). As long as they leave that one alone, this seems less terrible. (And they can’t do this at WDW because of the Marvel contract with Universal.)
I think Disney Orlando can’t build any Marvel character themed ride that exists in Universal. So, they couldn’t build a spiderman or hulk ride (which are in Universal). But Disney could build a Guardians, Ironman or Thor ride.
I’m not sure about Captain America…as there is a Captain America diner in Universal Orlando. http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2015/05/22/making-sense-of-disney-and-universals-messy-joint-custody-of-marvel
It’s all very complicated and lawyeree.
I hate when a good theme park ends up being managed by business people who don’t understand what a theme is.
Bull and Shit. NO, No No No No and NO!!! The Tower of Terror is a masterpiece of Art direction, a beautiful experience and a great ride. It’s a tribute to lost architecture and the myths we build around it. It doesn’t need a makeover or more Marvel characters glued on to “elevate” it to a more desirable status. Leave it alone and let Groot and the gang hang somewhere else. You can’t get more classic than The Twilight Zone and this ride belongs in California Adventure - it’s now part of the landscape. Disney ----- upgrade the ride a bit if you need to. Give it more thrills and scares, if you’re so compelled. But leave it in Rod Serling’s able hands please. He knows what you’re afraid of.
Well, I’m bummed.
Though I guess if you were approaching the decision from a purely marketing-driven perspective you’d be hard pressed to find many park-goers under 30 who even know who Rod Serling was, much less get all the easter egg references to old Twilight Zone episodes placed throughout the queue.
I’m kind of surprised they’d choose Guardians of the Galaxy though, surely there are many other Marvel properties with a more established track record and staying power than one fun movie and some comics most people aren’t familiar with. “Elevator falling out of control” seems like it would be a natural fit for a Spider-Man themed ride. (Saved by webbing at the last second!)
To be objective here: the Disneyland version of the Tower of Terror is a rather mediocre and scaled down version of the original in Florida. The theming and the ride itself are much less impressive. I love the Tower of Terror, but giving California Adventure something truly unique, rather than a clone, makes a lot of sense for that park.
I’d also add that from what I’ve read, they were going to have to remove a lot of the Twilight Zone theming anyway, due to a weird quirk of copyright law that affected the California ride but not the Florida one.
“The rethemed Tower will be part of a Marvel corner of California Adventure that will absorb the Monsters, Inc ride and the old Muppetvision theater.”
Sounds like they’re converting a corner of the park with failed rides and no theming whatsoever into a themed area.
The author forgot one crucial aspect of this story: the fact that, at least at this point, this is an unfounded rumor from a fan site. Disney has not announced any changes to the Tower of Terror, and MiceChat is wrong just about as often as they’re right when it comes to these types of rumors. Don’t believe any of this unless/until it is actually confirmed by Disney.
Did you read what the author quoted? When you joined up, 24 minutes ago?
Yes, I did. What’s your point? MiceChat (the quoted text to which you refer) calls it “a juicy rumor, that happens to be true.” Whether or not it’s true remains to be seen, and MiceChat has a long history of reporting rumors that turn out to be nothing more than a blue sky idea that never makes it off the drawing board.
The author himself says that the Tower of Terror “is to be a casualty of Disney’s media property purchasing blitz” and that the Tower of Terror “will be part of a Marvel corner of California Adventure.” So what, exactly, am I missing here? Cory seems rather convinced that this rumor is true, and all I’m doing is pointing out that it is only a rumor, as Disney has not announced any such plan.
The fact that the word “rumor” appears once, in the context in which it appeared, does not change the fact that Cory is reporting this as fact when it has not been verified. I may have just joined BoingBoing to comment on this article, but that doesn’t mean I was born yesterday.
Having recently been to Disneyland Paris, these movie-themed refurbs are destroying the park experience. Between 1/4 to 1/3 of the Paris parks were closed for Star Wars re-theming, some re-duxing of Frontierland (everything but the Haunted Mansion was closed), and a lot of the Hollywood Studios. The Tower of Terror was open, at least.
What bugs me is the lead time on these rebuilds happens so slowly that by the time they make the changes, people don’t really care what the premise is. Sure, more folks will ride the ride, but primarily because it’s “new”, not because it’s Guardians of the Galaxy or whatever.
And honestly…Guardians of the Galaxy? That’s flash-in-the-pan stuff right there…kind of like Aerosmith’s Rock & Rollercoaster. It will maybe have a cultural lifespan of 5 years if they’re lucky.
kind of like Aerosmith’s Rock & Rollercoaster…
…But Illeana Douglas…Who is in the pre-show and interests me more than Aerosmith…
As for your central point, I completely agree…even worse is the fact that they’re building an entire “land” themed after Avatar in the Animal Kingdom park in Florida.
I have no problem with an Aerosmith ride, given that Aerosmith is still on the radio and putting out records 15+ years after the ride opened. It was originally supposed to be the Rolling Stones coaster. I’ve often wondered if they would consider re-theming it to a new band if Aerosmith ever broke up for good; maybe Foo Fighters? They seem like they’ll be around for the long haul.
The Avatar land is fascinating. I don’t know anybody really excited about it, even though Avatar is still, by far, the biggest movie ever made, with four sequels on the way. It’s a big gamble. But from the concept art and work in progress, I think it’s going to be amazing enough to stand on its own. They’re doing really incredible stuff with it.
In some ways the IP of these rides is just an excuse to do some awesome theming. If someone told me they were building a Twilight Zone ride, I doubt many teenagers would be exactly excited by it. But the Tower of Terror is hugely popular.
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