Pixarification of Disney World

[Stitchgirl1]

So I'm here in WDW, haven't been since September last year and what's changed? Pixar is taking over!

Don't get me wrong I do like the Pixar movies and I just went on Toy Story Midway Mania - which is great fun. However, all the shops in the parks are now full of Cars, Toy Story, Wall e etc.

I used to love going into the shops at the end of each ride and seeing what was new that I could take home with me, this year there isn't much I want to buy.

Thank goodness George Lucas stopped Disney MGM being renamed Disney Pixar Studios, people need to remember that Disney was great long before Pixar!

There, rant over....hope I haven't offended anybody

[ToddBreakey]

Remember though that Disney dropped their animation division long before their relationship with Pixar. Without Pixar, there wouldn't be any GOOD Disney animated movies. Remember Home on the Range? Atlantis? Treasure Planet? Chicken Little? Valiant? Those movies paled in comparison to the work that is put out by the Pixar crew. The story lines, character development, and technology are leaps and bounds above anything that Disney alone has produced lately. You have to go back to Beauty and the Beast, Pocohantas, Hunchback and that era to find the last of the truly good Disney movies.

Also, keep in mind that the Studios are CURRENT Disney where as the Magic Kingdom could be looked at as more classic Disney. Granted you have Stitch, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, and Buzz Lightyear in TomorrowLand. But they are in TOMORROWLAND. Not FantasyLand. Also, it keeps the park relevant to the younger generation of park goers.

Just my $.02.

[MandaBella]

You beat me to it Todd. The anti-Pixar crowd these past few years have apparently forgotten something. Disney is putting Pixar into the parks because...IT SELLS!!!

I happen to love Pixar because they have consistently been making quality animated films. Unfortunately, Disney hasn't...I wish they would.

[Toad's Buddy]

You beat me to it Todd. The anti-Pixar crowd these past few years have apparently forgotten something. Disney is putting Pixar into the parks because...IT SELLS!!!

I happen to love Pixar because they have consistently been making quality animated films. Unfortunately, Disney hasn't...I wish they would.

Yes, and we all have to remember that Walt originally intended his parks to be a selling point for his movies. So even if Pixar has taken over WDW, (sorta) Pixar still is a division of sorts of Disney.


My $.02

[Stitchgirl1]

I do take your point about Pixar, I'm not knocking their work. I suppose I didn't explain myself properly, what I mean is that I like to check out the shops at each ride for character stuff.

This trend started a couple of years back when they put Pirates merchandise in every store when surely Pirates fans expect to find Pirates merchandise in the Pirates store?

I was so disappointed in the Magic Kingdom this year because every store is now Pixar, the powers that be should realise everyone has favourite characters. Obviously mine is Stitch but I had a choice of......one T-shirt and a couple of toys I saw last year, there's nothing new and the rest of the shop is Cars and Wall e.

[MandaBella]

I do take your point about Pixar, I'm not knocking their work. I suppose I didn't explain myself properly, what I mean is that I like to check out the shops at each ride for character stuff.

This trend started a couple of years back when they put Pirates merchandise in every store when surely Pirates fans expect to find Pirates merchandise in the Pirates store?

I was so disappointed in the Magic Kingdom this year because every store is now Pixar, the powers that be should realise everyone has favourite characters. Obviously mine is Stitch but I had a choice of......one T-shirt and a couple of toys I saw last year, there's nothing new and the rest of the shop is Cars and Wall e.

It's not just Pixar merchandise though. Both WDW and DL are making so many of their stores very homogenous IMHO. It's almost to the point that there's no point in visiting the different stores because the merchandise is all the same.

I do miss the specialized stores and enjoyed shopping at them like you did. My favorites were Villains in Vogue and Le Bat En Rouge, but they've both been taken over by TNBC. It seems your choice as of late that I have noticed is Pirates and Princess and now even "Pirate Princess" merchandise. You've noticed an overabundance of Pixar. And as far as Stitch, did they get of all the Stitch merchandise at the Merchant of Venus in Tomorrowland?

The bottom line is the abundance of merchandise they are stocking is obviously what is selling.

[mritty]

So I'm here in WDW, haven't been since September last year and what's changed? Pixar is taking over!

Don't get me wrong I do like the Pixar movies and I just went on Toy Story Midway Mania - which is great fun. However, all the shops in the parks are now full of Cars, Toy Story, Wall e etc.

I used to love going into the shops at the end of each ride and seeing what was new that I could take home with me, this year there isn't much I want to buy.

Thank goodness George Lucas stopped Disney MGM being renamed Disney Pixar Studios, people need to remember that Disney was great long before Pixar!

There, rant over....hope I haven't offended anybody

Your anger is misplaced. You shouldn't be upset at TPTB at Walt Disney World for merchandising Pixar stuff. You should be upset at Walt Disney Feature Animation for not producing anything memorable or popular enough in the last ten years to be turned into either attractions or merchandise. I've said this before, but for the record, here's the last 10 years of WDFA products:

Meet The Robinsons
Chicken Little
Home on the Range
Brother Bear
Treasure Planet
Lilo & Stitch
Atlantis
Emperor's New Groove
Dinosaur
Fantasia 2000
Tarzan
Mulan

I think you'll agree that Stitch is rather well represented in the shops, even if his attraction is one of the worst. Dinosaur is, briefly, used in the Dinosaur attraction. Brother Bear has meet-and-greets and merchandise in Canada. Mulan has meet and greets in China, and had her own parade for a while. Tarzan had a show that's since been retired.

From that list, which of the attractions that aren't currently or formerly in the parks do you think should be better represented? The only one that I can even *imagine* is Emperor's New Groove, which seems to be popular despite my dislike of it. The rest are pretty much crud.

In contrast, here's the last 10 years of Pixar:
Wall-E
Ratatouille
Cars
Incredibles
Finding Nemo
Monster's Inc
Toy Story 2
A Bug's Life

Every single one of those was a rather huge hit in the box office and remain incredibly popular. The only two that were on the low side of popular - Ratatouille and Incredibles - have no representation in the parks (other than occasional meet-and-greets at the Studios).


So in conclusion, you're welcome to be annoyed at the Pixarification of WDW, but your annoyance should be that WDFA hasn't produced anything worth putting there, not that Pixar has.

Okay, that was more than my 2¢. Closer to 20¢. :-)

[ohiodisneydad]

My wife and I discussed the shops on our last trip. I think the merchandise after the rides should be ride or attraction exclusive! POTc merchandise only in the POTC shop same with Monsters Inc. I also think Park merchandise should be exclusive to each park. My wife and I disagreed with each other on this one since she bought her MK backpack at AK but I think MK merchandies should only be sold at MK. Make those souvenirs mean something.

[gigliowanananic]

So build a seperate PIXAR park but please leave the classics alone. WDW, for me, is about nostalgia. Not $20 stuffed animals. They are dangerously close to hurting the atmosphere that has attracted repeat guests. My half cent.

[ToddBreakey]

I don't think a seperate park would be good at all. mritty is exactly right. Look at the Disney movies on his list for the last 10 years and you only see 1 movie that could be considered a success (that being Lilo & Stitch) The rest are good movies at best and did nothing for Disney to incorporate into their parks. DisneyPixar on the other hand has had success after success with their movies. Out of the movies listed, only A Bug's Life could be argued as not having been a success.

As I said before, I don't think that having Pixar in the parks is "hurting the atmosphere" one bit. Where do you see the Pixar characters? TomorrowLand and DHS. Where do you see the "classic" disney characters? EVERYWHERE ELSE. To be honest, I feel that having Buzz and the Incredibles showing up in TomorrowLand is a GREAT addition. Before there were no characters that made apperances there, save for the odd classic dressed in "futuristic" clothing. As a kid, I thought of TomorrowLand as a place to get out of the heat. If You Had Wings, Mission to Mars and 360* Circlevision were nothing more than a place to get some airconditioning for a few minutes. Now TomorrowLand is a definate stop on our trips just because of the "Pixarifiction" with the addition of Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.

I am glad that we are getting Pixar Place in DHS. It will be a definate "must do" for our future trips. I can't wait to do Toy Story in Oct. I'm even planning on eating at Pizza Planet just because of the theming of the place.

Would we be having this same conversation if those DisneyPixar movies just said Disney in front of them? I think not. Everyone would embrace the new characters and accept them into the Disney family. I think the whole reason that this gets on peoples nerves is because Pixar "caused WDFA to shut its doors." Which couldn't be further from the truth.

[disneyplanningd]

Sadly enough, it is all about money. Disney isn't making these decisions thinking "stitch is really nice." They are researching Which characters will make us how many millions of dollars. Each of our individual opinions aren't worth anything in that equation and the dollars we spend individually at WDW while precious to us are a mere drop in the bucket. If I lament not having enough merchandise that suits my taste, my lament is really that not enough people are spending money on what I like. The great thing about Disney is that they put such a nice spin on merchandising that when I go to WDW I can simply live in the magic and forget how materialistic our society can be.

[harra]

So build a seperate PIXAR park but please leave the classics alone. WDW, for me, is about nostalgia. Not $20 stuffed animals. They are dangerously close to hurting the atmosphere that has attracted repeat guests. My half cent.

The problem is that WDW is nostalgic to you in relation to the Disney Classics of your youth.

To the current youth, who is Disney's real target demographic even though it's our dollars that pay for it, Pixar movies are the foundation of their future nostalgia.

Everything must be put into perspective. It's just like with our music. What we view as great music from our youth, our parents hated and what our kids will enjoy most likely will annoy us.

But the bottom line is that Pixar is now OWNED by the Walt Disney Corporation. So, it's a Disney property and has the right to become 100% of the park's theme. It's no different, in my opinion, to put Woody in an attraction as it is to put Cinderella.

Now, if George Lucas started taking over the parks, then I think someone would have a valid complaint. Lucasfilm is not a Disney property (please don't take this as a knock on Lucas, I love the guy. He's just a good example of a real non-Disney intrusion)

[KINGCRAB]

The problem is that WDW is nostalgic to you in relation to the Disney Classics of your youth.

To the current youth, who is Disney's real target demographic even though it's our dollars that pay for it, Pixar movies are the foundation of their future nostalgia.

Everything must be put into perspective. It's just like with our music. What we view as great music from our youth, our parents hated and what our kids will enjoy most likely will annoy us.

But the bottom line is that Pixar is now OWNED by the Walt Disney Corporation. So, it's a Disney property and has the right to become 100% of the park's theme. It's no different, in my opinion, to put Woody in an attraction as it is to put Cinderella.

Now, if George Lucas started taking over the parks, then I think someone would have a valid complaint. Lucasfilm is not a Disney property (please don't take this as a knock on Lucas, I love the guy. He's just a good example of a real non-Disney intrusion)

Well said.

[SamIAm717]

The problem is that WDW is nostalgic to you in relation to the Disney Classics of your youth.

To the current youth, who is Disney's real target demographic even though it's our dollars that pay for it, Pixar movies are the foundation of their future nostalgia.

Exactly, my daughter, who is 8, doesn't even know there is a difference between Pixar and Disney. She thinks of it as "all Disney".

[kngdmhrts3]

the above post is true, i lived through the disney decade as a kid, (im 19 now) and now that pixar is putting out movies as a disney movie i have no problem with it

i get the point about the argument that the gift shops after the rides should be specific to the attraction.

but as for the pixarification of disney, go for it. its selling, they are darn good movies, and the attractions are awesome, Buzz, Midway, Nemo. like its not like the stuff is bad that they are producing, so lets look at the bigger picture, see disney really does care what the people want, and if the Majority of the people want pixar stuff, and stitch, go for it.

i mean if we all get what we want i would have an indiana jones attraction in DAK =p