Disneyland Announces Star Wars/Fortnite Collaboration, 'Avatar' Attraction, and a Newer Tomorrowland (hollywoodreporter.com) 31
Saturday Disneyland announced a special Star Wars-themed collaboration with third-person shooter game Fortnite — including a slick new trailer for its Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit quest.
Visitors to Disneyland's Smuggler's Run attraction at Disney's theme parks in Orlando and in Anaheim can accept a special mission while waiting in line for the ride, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And "If they succeed, they will get a unique Forsworn Trooper Outfit in a newly-created Fortnite adventure called Smugglers Gambit set in that same universe." "Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Fortnite marks the first time this attraction has reached beyond its physical walls into a connected game world — a story that starts in a queue in Orlando or Anaheim can now continue on a screen almost anywhere," said Sean Shoptaw, executive VP of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment.... "Together these experiences reflect our ambition to connect stories and worlds across formats into one converged entertainment ecosystem...."
The cockpit technology in the ride was actually created using Epic's Unreal Engine, which allows for many assets from the ride to appear in Smugglers Gambit.... "Whether you're at a Disney Park or playing Fortnite with your friends, fans have new ways to keep their Star Wars adventures going," [said Adam Sussman, president of Epic Games]. "This is only the beginning of what's possible when world-class storytellers bring their creativity into Fortnite." Disney, of course, is an investor in Epic Games, and the two companies have been at work building a new world that will connect to Fortnite with all of the Disney's beloved characters... This new collaboration, however, extends to the real world for the first time, bringing some video game magic to Disney's parks, and some of that theme park magic to the video game.
Disneyland will also launch a new area based on James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water, reports The Orange County Register — which even has a picture of the Avatar Destination ride's model, showing an enormous (and very colorful) waterfall. The model was part of Saturday's Disney fan expo "D23", showing the Disneyland Monorail traveling around the edge of the attraction (which reportedly involves a 30-person vehicle).
Saturday's event also included details on the long-awaited "reimagining" of the park's Tomorrowland area, with their official blog promising "Yesterday's tomorrow, today!" Tomorrowland has some history, explains the Orange County Register: The land's first update in 1967 was dubbed the New Tomorrowland with the 1998 makeover jokingly referred to as the New, New Tomorrowland. The latest iteration is already being called the New, New, New Tomorrowland. Disneyland's Land of Tomorrow has plenty of empty spaces in need of some Imagineering magic with the Tomorrowland Theater, Star Wars Launch Bay and PeopleMover track all sitting underused.
Or, as The Wrap puts it, "The problem with Tomorrowland, of course, has been keeping up with tomorrow." 1967 introduced New Tomorrowland, with Adventures Thru Inner Space, Carousel of Progress and the PeopleMover giving it the "World on the Move" theme. In 1975 Space Mountain opened and in the 1980's the Tomorrowland stage was enclosed to become a 3D theater, where "Magic Journeys" and "Captain EO" played. Star Tours also opened in the 1980's, giving the area some additional adrenaline. But an elaborate redo of the area, planned for the 1990's, was cut short due to financial woes following the opening of Disneyland Paris and were largely shuttered. (In Florida, a new Tomorrowland was approximated in the mid-1990's but not really followed through on, adopting some of the timelessness of the Jules Verne-inspired Discoveryland from Paris.)
Since the 1990's, Tomorrowland in Disneyland has become largely defunct or outright abandoned... In the late 1990's, Disney tried to use the [PeopleMover] track for a high-speed attraction called Rocket Rods. The attraction never worked properly and was shuttered after just a few years. Rumor has it that the intensity of the ride vehicles actually weakened the PeopleMover track and removing the track would be time consuming and costly. So since the turn of the millennium, there has just been track above and all around Tomorrowland that sits, untouched.
Visitors to Disneyland's Smuggler's Run attraction at Disney's theme parks in Orlando and in Anaheim can accept a special mission while waiting in line for the ride, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And "If they succeed, they will get a unique Forsworn Trooper Outfit in a newly-created Fortnite adventure called Smugglers Gambit set in that same universe." "Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Fortnite marks the first time this attraction has reached beyond its physical walls into a connected game world — a story that starts in a queue in Orlando or Anaheim can now continue on a screen almost anywhere," said Sean Shoptaw, executive VP of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment.... "Together these experiences reflect our ambition to connect stories and worlds across formats into one converged entertainment ecosystem...."
The cockpit technology in the ride was actually created using Epic's Unreal Engine, which allows for many assets from the ride to appear in Smugglers Gambit.... "Whether you're at a Disney Park or playing Fortnite with your friends, fans have new ways to keep their Star Wars adventures going," [said Adam Sussman, president of Epic Games]. "This is only the beginning of what's possible when world-class storytellers bring their creativity into Fortnite." Disney, of course, is an investor in Epic Games, and the two companies have been at work building a new world that will connect to Fortnite with all of the Disney's beloved characters... This new collaboration, however, extends to the real world for the first time, bringing some video game magic to Disney's parks, and some of that theme park magic to the video game.
Disneyland will also launch a new area based on James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water, reports The Orange County Register — which even has a picture of the Avatar Destination ride's model, showing an enormous (and very colorful) waterfall. The model was part of Saturday's Disney fan expo "D23", showing the Disneyland Monorail traveling around the edge of the attraction (which reportedly involves a 30-person vehicle).
Saturday's event also included details on the long-awaited "reimagining" of the park's Tomorrowland area, with their official blog promising "Yesterday's tomorrow, today!" Tomorrowland has some history, explains the Orange County Register: The land's first update in 1967 was dubbed the New Tomorrowland with the 1998 makeover jokingly referred to as the New, New Tomorrowland. The latest iteration is already being called the New, New, New Tomorrowland. Disneyland's Land of Tomorrow has plenty of empty spaces in need of some Imagineering magic with the Tomorrowland Theater, Star Wars Launch Bay and PeopleMover track all sitting underused.
Or, as The Wrap puts it, "The problem with Tomorrowland, of course, has been keeping up with tomorrow." 1967 introduced New Tomorrowland, with Adventures Thru Inner Space, Carousel of Progress and the PeopleMover giving it the "World on the Move" theme. In 1975 Space Mountain opened and in the 1980's the Tomorrowland stage was enclosed to become a 3D theater, where "Magic Journeys" and "Captain EO" played. Star Tours also opened in the 1980's, giving the area some additional adrenaline. But an elaborate redo of the area, planned for the 1990's, was cut short due to financial woes following the opening of Disneyland Paris and were largely shuttered. (In Florida, a new Tomorrowland was approximated in the mid-1990's but not really followed through on, adopting some of the timelessness of the Jules Verne-inspired Discoveryland from Paris.)
Since the 1990's, Tomorrowland in Disneyland has become largely defunct or outright abandoned... In the late 1990's, Disney tried to use the [PeopleMover] track for a high-speed attraction called Rocket Rods. The attraction never worked properly and was shuttered after just a few years. Rumor has it that the intensity of the ride vehicles actually weakened the PeopleMover track and removing the track would be time consuming and costly. So since the turn of the millennium, there has just been track above and all around Tomorrowland that sits, untouched.
COOL! (Score:2)
Pepperidge Farm remembers! (Score:2)
Hell, the average price for a family of four to spend a week at Disney has climbed to a mind-numbing $7,250 [magicguides.com]. That would buy one hell of a VR setup that keeps working after the end of the week.
Re: Pepperidge Farm remembers! (Score:2)
Granted, the lightning lane passes are an add on, but unless you're going Premier Pass, they're reasonable. Well, at Disney World anyway; Disneyland's system is a little different and the multipass is harder to use effectively, making premier relatively more attractive there.
Now, if you want to stay at the deluxe Disney hotels, that DOES add up. They aren't cheap. But there are cheap hotel options nearby.
Re: (Score:2)
I know, I know, this is Slashdot and I should be happy you read past the title, but c'mon man, try a bit harder?
Re: Pepperidge Farm remembers! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Pepperidge Farm remembers! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You can't do everything in 2 days. You can get worn out in 2 days though.
Worst pick-up line ever. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't know if it's actually true, but people have posted (elsewhere) that it's less expensive to buy round-trip tickets to Japan and and spend a week at Tokyo Disneyland.
Never going there again... (Score:5, Informative)
We took our family to Orlando to both Disneyworld and Universal Studios. It was extremely crowded, very expensive, and if you wanted to get in more than a couple of major attraction rides, you pretty much HAD to purchase the "jump the line" pass for another few hundred bucks per ticket holder. We took our elementary school aged kids and it was $4-5k for a few days for park tickets and food (not including travel and hotel expenses). Everything was egregiously expensive and the waiting around, even with the "cut the line" passes, were still fairly long.
I can't imagine how most people out there can afford the expense once you layer in the travel costs. I can only assume that many people are borrowing money to make it work. When we got home the kids said they had fun, but they didn't want to return. Whew....
They Don't Give A Fuck (Score:2)
I agree with your position, But, they don't give a fuck.
They have people paying additional fees for the privilege of being "special" pass holder. Grown adults dedicating their lives to "Disney Life" attending parks several times per month.
Some people have money to burn; and choose to do so.
Re: Never going there again... (Score:3)
And yes, lightning lanes are essential during normal hours. Budget for it.
Re: (Score:3)
We took our family to Orlando to both Disneyworld and Universal Studios. It was extremely crowded, very expensive, and if you wanted to get in more than a couple of major attraction rides, you pretty much HAD to purchase the "jump the line" pass for another few hundred bucks per ticket holder. We took our elementary school aged kids and it was $4-5k for a few days for park tickets and food (not including travel and hotel expenses).
For those who don't know, you should be aware that THE SINGLE BIGGEST EXPENSE they had in this trip was paying for the "jump the line" pass the poster said they "HAD" to have. It would have cost under half that without those passes.
Re: Never going there again... (Score:2)
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Interesting (Score:3)
Re: Interesting (Score:2)
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During the old days, they were fun but now not anymore. Good thing I don't have any younglings.
I'm Kind Of Proud (Score:5, Funny)
I understood no part of this article.
I'm still working on... (Score:2)
a "Newer TomorrowLand".
Re: (Score:2)
"Disneyland Promises New, New, New Tomorrowland"
Re: (Score:2)
a "Newer TomorrowLand".
Internal documents list it as, "Todayland". :-)
Misson to Mars (Score:2)
I’d like to see them bring back an attraction like “Mission to Mars” (1975–1992) now that NASA is running semi-autonomus rover missions on that planet and planning to send a manned exploration crew there at some point in the near-to-mid future. And perhaps add an attraction related to deep space discoveries by telescope (e.g. exoplanets and other galaxies). This could be more inspirational to kids than all the sci-fi / fantasy rides they’ve been adding mainly for cross-market
Re: (Score:1)
This is not possible, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.
Re: Misson to Mars (Score:2)
Disney knows how to whore out an IP (Score:2)
cash money (Score:2)
cash money, with big ears and happiness, yay! hand it over or no ears for you!
Ew (Score:2)
Avatar overrated.
Re: Ew (Score:2)
A newer Tomorrowland? (Score:2)
So, the Day After Tomorrowland?