New Attractions and Attraction Changes
Newly acquired content from Fox also opens the door to completely new attraction experiences and the potential to tout new effect techniques.
8. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen escape from Venice
Epcot’s Italy pavilion gets a brand new action attraction based on the graphic novel turned movie “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” Part simulator, with projected scenes from the film, and part coaster, the attraction is also ported to the steampunk themed areas of DisneySea (Tokyo) and Disneyland Paris.
9. Garfield’s Lasagna Quest
Nermal (Garfield’s nemesis) has stolen the lasagna and framed Garfield with the crime. Join Garfield and Odie as they attempt to retrieve the favored food and free Garfield from suspicion. The new dark ride, in the style of Peter Pan’s Flight joins several others at Fantasylands across the various Disney theme parks.
10. Ice Age: Global Warming
Taking its cue from the second movie in the franchise (“Ice Age 2 The Meltdown”), global warming replaces Circle of Life story at the Land Pavilion. Characters and clips from the Fox animated movie warn of climate change dangers.
11. Alien Encounter (the original “Alien” concept)
Before Stitch, and even before the aspirations of XS Technology, the “Alien” movie was supposed to frame the fear at “Alien Encounter.” Now that Disney owns that franchise, perhaps the ultimate Xenomorph can finally have a starring role as originally intended (instead of a now long gone appearance from The Great Movie Ride).
12. Night at the Museum
As guests take after-hours tours of the new “Disney Museum,” they gets more than they bargained for as the “artifacts” come to life. Combining projection mapping and practical (peppers ghosts, animatronics) effects the “Night at the Museum” franchise gets a Disney update for a brand new trackless dark “tour” ride. This would fit nicely into the space now occupied by the Odyssey restaurant at Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios or Disney’s California Adventure parks.
New Lands and Other Experiences
Pixar, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Avatar have all pushed through to complete entirely new and immersive experiences for guests. These Fox properties also could fill that same role.
13. Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Fans of the popular teen novel series have already enjoyed two movies: “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: the Lightening Thief” and “Percy Jackson and the Sea Monsters.” With seven books (5 in the original series, 2 sequel series) to pick content from, this Fox film franchise has the makings of a Potter-like themed area. Of note, the books were originally published by Disney Hyperion.
14. Planet of the Apes
Either the original movies and TV series from the 1960’s and 1970’s or the modern reboots, or both, would make a fun backdrop for a new area to explore at Animal Kingdom. Because the characters, costuming and sets of the original films are not CGI based, they might make a better fit. Imagine seeing what’s left of the Statue of Liberty peeking up from the shore at the park, or scores of armored apes patrolling the area (Disney if you do this, please don’t mix this with “the Jungle Book”).
Tours and Stores
Finally these two temptations were too much to resist for possible Fox fun in the Disney theme parks.
15. Kingsman Clue Quest
Evolving the Kim Possible/Phineas and Ferb clue finding adventure at World Showcase into a “Kingsman” themed mystery would be a fairly easy task and a fun way to fold the franchise into a Disney theme park.
16. “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”
Imagine the Emporium coming to life on Main Street. Projection mapped effects, moving props and displays, and animatronics could easily make this happen.
The Fox TV and Film vaults have scores of untapped ideas that could make their way into a Disney theme park. Though Mickey and company are pretty busy right now with new additions and experiences under construction, the above 16 ideas (either realistic or pure fantasy) might have future potential.
And then there are a few things that won’t work: Borat’s tour of the World Showcase, “The Omen” overlay to Peter Pan’s Flight, “Titanic” themed Friendship boats at Epcot, “Die Hard” Tower of Terror Christmas transformation, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” princess party, or changing the Tomorrowland Speedway into an attraction based upon the movie “Turbo.”
What Fox franchises do you think would make a good addition to Disney theme parks? Share your blue sky tales in the comments below.
Source and images: Fox Movies, Mezzacotta, YouTube, Wikipedia
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