Attila the Professor said:
This one I grant. Harper Goff, the designer, frequently mentioned The African Queen at the time. On the other hand, the attraction is not merely African and has a lot more wildlife involved than the film does. The land <I>was</I> originally to be called True-Life Adventureland, after the series of films, but no direct reference to that series remained in the land, from what I understand, upon the park's opening.
To my knowledge, Harper Goff torpedoed Walt's plans for live animals because of the fact that they'd be asleep for much, if not all of, the operating day. And when they weren't asleep, they'd be hiding. Once the live animals were scrapped, the "True-Life" portion of Adventureland was similarly done away with.
One thing that I didn't know until recently, however, was that Disney still played the ride's narration straight. The camp and corny vaudevillian jokes weren't added until a few years later. While I find the jokes to be eternally amusing, I wouldn't mind it reverting to a more serious tone. The ride itself would have to be re-worked, but it could be done. That brief golden period just after the opening of
The Temple of the Four Hour Breakdown deserves a second chance.
Dig it!
While the late Mr. Goff may have mentioned
The African Queen regularly at the time of design and construction, what are you referring to as the nod to the original project, Stoo? Yes, the steamer fleet is quite obviously inspired by the Queen, but that's where the similarities end.
It should also be noted that nowhere on the ride does it mention the debt of inspiration it owes to Mr. Huston. It's only through popular lore that is even known.
As previously mentioned, Animal Kingdom seems to inherited this "True-Life Adventureland" mantle. Whether intentional or not, I couldn't say. From what I know of the Kilimanjaro Safari Tour though, this seems to be the case. Disney has taken the natural world, imbued it with a few stock ride tricks, and layered it with a pro-conservation, anti-poaching message.
Well.
But in getting back to my original intent, it seems that
Al Lutz is convinced that the new Avatar additions are destined only for Florida and the Asian Parks. It makes a certain amount of sense, but I wonder what information he has.
Al Lutz said:
Upon a closer look the Avatar/Cameron deal appears to be more geared towards the overseas parks and at appealing to Orlando's huge overseas visitor base. Shanghai Disneyland is a strong contender for an Avatar land within a year or two of opening, and there?s a large expansion pad in Tokyo DisneySea that the Imagineers would love to sell the Oriental Land Company on using for Avatar. Those are the top two contenders, with the Studios park in Paris a very long shot due to the Paris resort?s shaky financials and the current European situation.
It's only a couple of paragraphs in a larger article, but you can read it
here. Past articles can be found
here.
mattzilla said:
But again, in Adventureland, where no Fantasylands, princess castles, or cartoon characters are anywhere to be seen, and every effort is made to create a well-themed and immersive "jungle exploration"...
You must have missed Aladdin & Jasmine. Or the groovy calypso bands that used to play in that exact spot atop the boathouse. I've seen Tarzan there before, and
The Jungle Book stalwarts, but I think the absence of characters has more to do with logistics than anything else. The area is so congested already that a popular character would bring the entire land to a screeching halt.
As an example, after the second Pirates movie came out, I saw Jack Sparrow attempting to make his way towards New Orleans Square. Unfortunately a throng of teenage girls and children were holding him up... right around Bengal Barbecue. That's also right near the entrance to Indy, and the mob of people eventually blocked access to the rest of the park.
Despite the apparent mis-theming,
this guy would add a metric tonne to the street-mosphere of Adventureland. Just a little section off by the bazaar would be all he needed...
Thanks for reminding me of that Summer of Adventure, matt! It really made Adventureland stand out as a unique environment, and is funny because I had that exact same idea for a roving stunt show just after Indy initially opened. I need to dig out those ideas.
