After a decade of troubled development, Disney Feature Animation’s take on the Rapunzel fairy tale finally arrived in theaters last fall. Despite near-constant meddling from executives and marketing mavens during those long years, Tangled scored a hit with both critics and audiences, and is one of the most thoroughly satisfying offerings from Disney animators in years.
While it took Tangled‘s sizable domestic and international box office take to offset the massive costs incurred by a decade of endlessly rebooted production, the fact is that the film was a big hit – which makes it all that much more confusing that its home video release (available on DVD, Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo, and Four-Disc Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo) is so embarrassingly sparse. There are probably about 4-5 different versions of this film that were developed in the last ten years, and barely any of that work is hinted at in this release’s extra features. The apparent disregard by Disney’s home video department for fans and animation buffs is pretty glaring by this point, and the fact that a major new release comes out with barely any supplemental material shows how far things have fallen off at the studio since the glory days of the early 2000s. That being said, the movie is still excellent and well worth your time, so you might as well give into the darkness and check out this bare bones release!
For a wide swath of Disney fans, Epcot Center of the early 1980s would be the first destination on any time-traveling itinerary. The list of fondly-remembered classics is legendary: Horizons, World of Motion, Journey into Imagination, Mr. Intelligence…
Wait, what?
Calllll the poliiiiiiccceeeee...
From Walt Disney World Eyes & Ears, February 2nd, 1984:
Epcot Center visitors casually strolling the bridge between Future World and World Showcase have recently encountered a most unusual sight: A young, studious-looking chap, sporting the attire of a gentleman scientist – silver bow tie-and-vest, pinstripe pants and lab coat – accompanied by a lovely young lady with the frozen pose of an android.
And indeed, that capsule description provides the starting point for Epcot Center’s most recent entertainment addition: “Mr. Intelligence.”
The fun begins with “Mr. Intelligence” puts his pretty “robot” creation through her paces. The “robot,” named IB4E (i before e, get it?), then engages in a number of delightful demonstration exercises “programmed” by “Mr. Intelligence” via a remote control device filled with colorful, blinking lights: Waving “hello,” walking, shaking hands … even flirting!
Later, “Mr. Intelligence” selects a youngster from the audience to help operate IB4E. The youthful volunteer unwittingly programs IB4E to snatch purses and unleash a physical attack on “Mr. Intelligence” himself!
The 15-minute show occurs Saturday through Wednesday, approximately every half hour from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and from 4 to 5 p.m.
Aside from the realization that even Epcot Center didn’t always exude 100% dignity, here are other stray thoughts:
Overnight, Shanghai Disneyland went live with their new website, with this more flattering rendering of the proposed new castle. Named “Storybook Castle” according to the site, it will be “the most interactive Disney castle yet, complete with entertainment, dining and performance spaces.” No doubt there will be plenty of opportunities to meet and dine with princesses; this will surely benefit from all the planning done for similar proposed attractions in Florida’s Fantasyland.
Bob Iger’s focus on technology will obviously feature heavily in this new park; according to Disney, Shanghai Disneyland “will take advantage of advances in technology to place Guests in exciting worlds where they can be part of the action like never before” and “the park will take full advantage of advances in virtual technology as well as new gaming and ride systems that will fully immerse our guests in our attractions.” This could mean something truly new and exciting, if the art of placemaking in the real world doesn’t get overlooked in the rush for “NextGen” street cred.
Other details gleaned from the website include the fact that the two hotels Disney plans to build – one value and one deluxe – will total 1,220 rooms, and will surround a 100-acre lake alongside “other outdoor recreation facilities, and parking and transportation hubs.” A 300,000 square foot retail location, similar to Anaheim’s Downtown Disney, will sit adjacent to the theme park.
The promise that “classic Disney characters and storytelling will blend with Chinese customs and celebrations to create a unique experience for guests in Shanghai” hints again at the cultural mandate Disney has received for this park. I continue to wonder what, exactly, they have in mind to achieve this goal. My vote is for an area themed to 1930s Shanghai, a la Indiana Jones. It will probably be quite a while before we start seeing finished designs, and how Disney plans on ensuring that “Shanghai Disney Resort will have something for everyone – thrilling adventures, lush gardens where guests can relax together and enriching interactive experiences, all with the world-class guest service that Disney is known for around the globe.”
In Shanghai, tomorrow has already arrived and so Disney has finally and officially announced the Shanghai Disneyland project. Disney released the first renderings for the park on its blog, and Imagineer Bob Weis, who has been Tweeting pictures from the construction site, posted this brief video of the groundbreaking:
So what have we learned from the announcement and first official renderings? Well, aside from the fact that it looks like Thomas Kinkade has picked up some work moonlighting at WDI, not a whole lot. After years of whispers that the park would be something truly striking and new, the first thing that springs to eye is that, once more, Disney has decided to build an imitation of Florida’s Cinderella Castle. Unlike the direct clone in Tokyo, though, this is a beefy, plus-sized castle, which Disney says will be its largest yet. As this is the first new park of the interactive meet-and-greet focused era, we can no doubt expect Cinderella’s new double-wide to be full of restaurant space and meet-and-greet opportunities. Disney wants to make sure that billions of Chinese consumers get full princess exposure.
There are obvious departures in the park layout from the traditional model; as we had heard, there is no Main Street. Instead the area between the turnstiles and castle is filled with an 11 acre park which, according to Disney, will feature yet more meet-and-greets. According to these renderings, this area will also feature the traditional Carousel and Dumbo spinner.
The rest of the park is more mysterious. You can make out a smudgy, blurry Pirate mountain, originally designed for Hong Kong, in the digital rendering, but everything else is fairly indecipherable. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that the park will be “authentically Disney but distinctly Chinese,” and according to the New York Times the Chinese government has insisted that the park be “sharply different” from Disneyland and that it heavily incorporate Chinese culture. It will be interesting to see how Disney intends to do this, especially when the castle and other elements seem surprisingly boilerplate.
As uninspiring as I find these images, this isn’t a cheap-out project like in Michael Eisner’s waning years. The large 225-acre park represents a $3.7 billion investment, while the entire resort will clock in at $4.4 billion. As long as all that cash doesn’t go into interactive character shenanigans and flat-screen TVs, WDI should be able to do something really impressive. Let’s just hope it’s not all franchise overload.
According to Disney, the rest of the resort area outside the park will contain “two themed hotels, a venue for retail, dining and entertainment, a wonderful sparkling lagoon and some outdoor recreation areas.” They are aiming for a completion date of 2015, which is extremely impressive considering that it’s going to take almost that long for them to build the single new Snow White ride in Florida’s Fantasyland.
It’s hard to say when we’ll find out more about this project; Disney wants to keep other fly-by-night Chinese theme parks from cobbling together cheap rip-offs of its planned attractions, so it’s playing its cards close to the vest. We also don’t know how finalized the park’s design is, but with construction beginning and the 2015 looming (and the fact that they’ve had 20 years to plan this) one expects that things should be pretty far along. I would have chalked up the vague nature of these renderings to the typical and expected fluctuations in the design process, and I wonder how much of even these concepts has been settled on, but they don’t have a whole lot of time to spare messing about. Hong Kong Disneyland’s makeup changed considerably in the time following its announcement, but this project is the subject of much greater scrutiny. Hopefully they have a good idea of what’s coming, and hopefully we’ll find out more soon.
From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats.
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