Theme Park Characters
Jan 19, 2022 21:33:59 GMT -5
Post by Ronno on Jan 19, 2022 21:33:59 GMT -5
So the Beastlie Kingdom is a few post away from the dragon fight. (Yay!)
However, it occurred to me that there might be a snag in it. (Not yay!).
See, most of the characters never made it past the concept stage and so, while they can’t be used as characters, are fair game for NPC props. So the treasure-guarding griffins and gold-seeking bats can be used (albeit sparingly) by everyone.
Originally I thought the dragon would be in the same category. Sure it made it further than most: it was heavily featured in merchandising (like my favorite Disney Park commercial and the Happy Meal toys), but that falls into Expanded Universe-land and so is of no concern here.
The dragon did make it further than that; a dragon is visible in anyplace the original Animal Kingdom Logo appears (such as park benches), and one of the ticket windows had (possible still has? I couldn’t find any clear shots of the ticket booth after 2020, so I don’t know if it’s still there) a dragon’s head on it. In addition, in Camp Minnie-Mickey, there was a rock formation shaped like a dragon that lasted until the closing day. I don't know I'd call all that an attraction character, but arguably it is starting to enter a gray area (not helped by Disney's rather vague definition of what is and isn't an attraction, as mentioned on this Yesterland article).
(The unicorn is...complicated. It definitely got a parking lot named after it and said parking lot's logo in the final park. In addition, fansites say that during the early previews of Animal Kingdom, guests would past a unicorn statue rearing rampant, complete with strobe lights and fog machine. The effect never really worked though, so the statue was removed prior to official opening, with the discarded state eventually finding itself restored thanks to a fan. While I think it's probably true, I haven't been able to track down enough video and/or secondary evidence [unfortunately it looks like everything traces back to said fan's comments-- I don't think he's lying, but I can't prove it] to make me feel comfortable using the statue as evidence either way for the unicorn's status).
But there was an attraction with the dragon (albeit short-lived and rather lackluster) in the early days of Animal Kingdom.
Guests on the also short-lived Discovery River Boats would glide past a series of "previews" of what to expect, including a ill-fated iguanodon animatronic who was said to have escaped from the Countdown to Extinction ride (presumably a rather off-model Aladar, although I haven't been able to verify that fan identification myself).
One of the previews (a kind of awkward "I owe you" from the Imagineers I guess?) was a (low-budget and frankly kind of dull) dragon encounter. Guests would past a cave from which a stream of fire shot out and were told a dragon lived there. From what I can tell, it looks like the dragon fire lasted as long as the Discovery River Boats did (and possibly through the redubbed "Discovery River Taxi" version of the ride, although the details on that are kind of vague).
Does all this add up to the dragon being eligible as a bona fide attraction character (and therefore off-limits as a NPC), or is it not enough to make the dragon a non-NPC (leaving him free to anybody to control albeit sparingly)?
However, it occurred to me that there might be a snag in it. (Not yay!).
See, most of the characters never made it past the concept stage and so, while they can’t be used as characters, are fair game for NPC props. So the treasure-guarding griffins and gold-seeking bats can be used (albeit sparingly) by everyone.
Originally I thought the dragon would be in the same category. Sure it made it further than most: it was heavily featured in merchandising (like my favorite Disney Park commercial and the Happy Meal toys), but that falls into Expanded Universe-land and so is of no concern here.
The dragon did make it further than that; a dragon is visible in anyplace the original Animal Kingdom Logo appears (such as park benches), and one of the ticket windows had (possible still has? I couldn’t find any clear shots of the ticket booth after 2020, so I don’t know if it’s still there) a dragon’s head on it. In addition, in Camp Minnie-Mickey, there was a rock formation shaped like a dragon that lasted until the closing day. I don't know I'd call all that an attraction character, but arguably it is starting to enter a gray area (not helped by Disney's rather vague definition of what is and isn't an attraction, as mentioned on this Yesterland article).
(The unicorn is...complicated. It definitely got a parking lot named after it and said parking lot's logo in the final park. In addition, fansites say that during the early previews of Animal Kingdom, guests would past a unicorn statue rearing rampant, complete with strobe lights and fog machine. The effect never really worked though, so the statue was removed prior to official opening, with the discarded state eventually finding itself restored thanks to a fan. While I think it's probably true, I haven't been able to track down enough video and/or secondary evidence [unfortunately it looks like everything traces back to said fan's comments-- I don't think he's lying, but I can't prove it] to make me feel comfortable using the statue as evidence either way for the unicorn's status).
But there was an attraction with the dragon (albeit short-lived and rather lackluster) in the early days of Animal Kingdom.
Guests on the also short-lived Discovery River Boats would glide past a series of "previews" of what to expect, including a ill-fated iguanodon animatronic who was said to have escaped from the Countdown to Extinction ride (presumably a rather off-model Aladar, although I haven't been able to verify that fan identification myself).
One of the previews (a kind of awkward "I owe you" from the Imagineers I guess?) was a (low-budget and frankly kind of dull) dragon encounter. Guests would past a cave from which a stream of fire shot out and were told a dragon lived there. From what I can tell, it looks like the dragon fire lasted as long as the Discovery River Boats did (and possibly through the redubbed "Discovery River Taxi" version of the ride, although the details on that are kind of vague).
Does all this add up to the dragon being eligible as a bona fide attraction character (and therefore off-limits as a NPC), or is it not enough to make the dragon a non-NPC (leaving him free to anybody to control albeit sparingly)?