Stoo said:
I've only been to Walt Disney World in Orlando (1978 & 1982) and DisneyParis (April 2008) so I trust you on the present demographics of the Anaheim park.
I've been to Walt Disney World ('82), but don't count it. My contemporary experiences, however, involve Disneyland (many, many times), Disneyland Resort Paris ('00, '05, '08), and Tokyo Disneyland ('07 & '08). While largely the same, cultural differences rear their heads, and distinguish each park.
For example, Tokyo Disney fans don't relate to the Disney Corpus. Sure, many of them have seen the movies, especially the Pixar ones, but that's not the go to reason for its appeal. To the Japanese, Disney is high-end imported
luxury brand. Part of this is why you'll find items & characters there that you don't find anywhere else. (See Duffy the Bear.) Families attend, like at all Disney Parks, but the majority of visitors are Japanese youth.
Stoo said:
However, when I was at the Paris park in '08, it was overwhelmingly FAMILIES of TOURISTS. Children were everywhere and barely any French could be heard amongst them. (One can only guess what the Tokyo demographics are.)
Of course it was. April equals the beginning of the high season in not only Disneyland, but France. Go there in January or February when its full of French families and young French servicemen willing to brave the cold. Based on the number of times I was offered to swap ca$h for their "discount" coupons, it seems like DLRP marketing offers substantial discounts to locals during this time period.
Stoo said:
Sabby-baby, I disagree with your 20+ years comment. The last Young Indy TV movie aired in '96 and the "Complete Adventures of Indiana Jones" was released on VHS a couple of years after that. Not exactly "willfully ignored" for the past 20+ years.
Did it? I missed them. In fact, I didn't even know I had missed episodes until the recent dvd release came out. But while the edutainment of Young Indy is beyond compare, it doesn't compare to a theatrical release. The eight years between
Crusade and the Millennium would have been a perfect to put out one, two more movies and been completely done with the series.
Didn't those last movies air on ABC Family? Guess who owns ABC/ABC Family? Oh, snap! Indy
is in the Disney family. In all seriousness though, Disney didn't create the series, but they did allot it air time.
You know more about that than I do so I'll give a humble bow...but maintain that "Pirates"
is Disney property. Indy
isn't.
Plus, the Indy attractions started to appear, like, 2 decades before the "Pirates" films even began. Oh, my goodness...
Stoo said:
Temple du Péril is a shameless PROSTITUTION of the Indiana Jones name. Apart from the coaster being similar to the mine carts in "Doom" there is NOTHING else related to Indy. As far as I can recall, there isn't even a fedora in the set-ups for the waiting line.
You won't get an argument here. I will say that
Temple du Peril is relic of the Pressler/Harris era of Disneyland Theme Park management. Go over
here and ask about it if you want to see some serious flesh and garment rending; the likes of which would put their kin here to shame.
A quick bit of history.
The Pressler/Harris era of management put the emphasis on marketing and profits above all else. So much so that maintenance at the parks was routinely ignored or put off. Light bulbs remained burned out, the Mark Twain Steamboat often had bare wood exposed, and any new rides were designed on the cheap. Often no better than what you would find at a traveling carnival.
It's also when Disney rightly or wrongly expanded into Europe. At the time, Euro Disney didn't have much of a draw even if you get past the protests, resignations, and the lack of such e-ticket rides as Space Mountain. It was opened on the cheap, and (in my opinion) there was probably legitimate discussion given to the idea of shuttering the park. So why invest a huge sum of money into something they may have to shutdown?
Getting back to
Temple of the Forbidden Eye, it was originally 1/3 of a proposed "Lost Expedition" addition to Adventureland based around the exploits of Indiana Jones. In addition to the jeep based temple scrum most of us know and love, it was supposed to include a mine car chase lifted right out of
Temple of Doom, and the Jungle Cruise would be worked in on the periphery. The Disneyland Railroad would also pass through allowing passengers a glimpse into the fiery hell.
Check out
The Never Land Files for some of the awesome concept art. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Temple of the Forbidden Eye is purported to have cost a cool $100-million. Not chump change. You could probably add another $100-to-200-million for the Jungle Cruise refurb, new railroad trestle, and mine car chase. Disney would have broken the bank; and when Scrooge McDuck is in charge of the purse, fat chance of getting that kind of funding. Especially when Splash Mountain was competing for time and attention with the brass.
So what does this have to do with the travesty that is
Temple du Peril? After the project was quashed at Disneyland, there was talk of moving forward with it at Euro Disney. It failed to materialize given the early problems with the park -- again, the cost and lack of attendance killed it -- and the Europeans have had to suffer through a sub-par ride ever since.
Rumors that John Lasseter is reviewing the original plan for future viability have had Disney Geeks -- and should have Indy Fans -- salivating for a couple of years now. Given the hu-uge amount of space around Disneyland Paris, I wouldn't doubt that it gets built there first.
See
this article for an explanation of how it was all supposed to come together.
Stoo said:
"What's more Adventureland than Indiana Jones", you ask? SINDBAD!
(For those not in the know, it is spelled that way.)...and he doesn't require a license!
SINBAD!
could work, but Dreamworks beat Disney to the
movie version. (Unless, of course, you meant the
Sinbad who appeared in
First Kid!)
However, SINBAD! is known for his voyages. Given the current setup of a Southeast Asian rain forest, he would be out of place. In fact, I would go so far as to say he would dilute the spirit of Adventureland and in turn, SINBAD! would be diluted. No, best to leave him in Tokyo.
Speaking of which,
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, is
not in Tokyo Disneyland; it's in Tokyo DisneySea, their second gate. The entire realm is based on exploration, and both Indy and SINBAD! belong there.
It should also be mentioned that Disney Imagineering had been working on the "Lost Expedition" concept since the early eighties, well before Eisner was brought on board to helm the company. It took a decade just to get T
emple of the Forbidden Eye up and running.
Stoo said:
P.S. Le Saboteur, I forgot to mention that you're one of the Disney freak crew I mentioned before!
There's a lot more to say, but this is already long enough. Both Indiana Jones Adventures are solidly PG-rides. They're not the non-entity you find in France.
Pale Horse said:
...but the fact that they were all Stepford wives, essentially.
Zing! Right over my head on the initial read!
Is this where we tell Stoo that they have an entire land dedicated to Jules Verne in Tokyo?