I certainly see this as a companion thread to this modern classic, but there's a tidbit of information in an interview I quoted there that bears some looking into. To whit, George Lucas's desire for his own theme park:
This, of course, was about Star Tours, and the notion of a Lucas park or a Lucas themed land occasionally shows up among Disney rumors. And that's certainly a part of this conversation - can Indy live alongside Star Wars in a themed environment, or is there just no real connection between them? (I suspect the latter.)
Could there be a whole Indiana Jones complex or land at a single theme park? Spending some time looking at the old plans for the "Indiana Jones and the Lost Expedition" planned project would be a good start. This would have combined the Indiana Jones Adventure as we know it with a mine car attraction as well as guest appearances from the Jungle Cruise and the Walt Disney World Railroad. This might be something of a start in looking at just how much mileage you can get out of the Indiana Jones concept in a theme park environment.
Would an entire park be possible? Would it become a number of different Adventureland-type lands, themed to various areas? Some melange of Epcot Center's World Showcase, of Tokyo DisneySea's ports of call, and of Animal Kingdom's Asia and African continents? Would it be imperialist overkill? Too much of the same thing? Or could you really mix it up enough for it to work?
The question of <I>who</I> would make such a park seems, to me anyhow, to not quite be the point. After all, we have that other thread for that. But just how much can you expand the Indiana Jones experience beyond the precise character of Indiana Jones and still have it work without it becoming overly generic? Or is that all right - can Indy just be the jumping off-point?
Tony Baxter said:So one day they flew up to the Silverado Vineyards and had lunch with Diane Disney Miller as the host. They presented George Lucas the idea of bringing Star Wars to Disneyland. Lucas said he wanted to do a park himself, but he wasn’t able to afford it at the time. So his second choice would be to have something at Disneyland. Lucas was a Disneyland geek having had a lot of memorable experiences in the park growing up.
This, of course, was about Star Tours, and the notion of a Lucas park or a Lucas themed land occasionally shows up among Disney rumors. And that's certainly a part of this conversation - can Indy live alongside Star Wars in a themed environment, or is there just no real connection between them? (I suspect the latter.)
Could there be a whole Indiana Jones complex or land at a single theme park? Spending some time looking at the old plans for the "Indiana Jones and the Lost Expedition" planned project would be a good start. This would have combined the Indiana Jones Adventure as we know it with a mine car attraction as well as guest appearances from the Jungle Cruise and the Walt Disney World Railroad. This might be something of a start in looking at just how much mileage you can get out of the Indiana Jones concept in a theme park environment.
Would an entire park be possible? Would it become a number of different Adventureland-type lands, themed to various areas? Some melange of Epcot Center's World Showcase, of Tokyo DisneySea's ports of call, and of Animal Kingdom's Asia and African continents? Would it be imperialist overkill? Too much of the same thing? Or could you really mix it up enough for it to work?
The question of <I>who</I> would make such a park seems, to me anyhow, to not quite be the point. After all, we have that other thread for that. But just how much can you expand the Indiana Jones experience beyond the precise character of Indiana Jones and still have it work without it becoming overly generic? Or is that all right - can Indy just be the jumping off-point?