More Princesses at WDW? Ugh!

[magicalmom]

A couple of thoughts -

Perhaps they should bring back the canoes, very active!

Tron wasn't the best movie, and it's very dated now, but the concept would lend itself to a rider-directed attraction.

Emperor's New Groove is a very "guy" film, and the movie itself is practically a theme park attraction. Plenty of material there.

If it needs to be a movie tie-in, the National Treasure films ought to appeal to guys.

[chaodj9]

I AGREE 1 HUNDRED PERCENT. I entered this thread expecting pointless complaining about disney but i understand. They got rid of one of my Favorite sections in the whole disney park empire. to put yet MORE PRINCESSES. they have to know when to stop... for once

[chaodj9]

I agree that Disney has a problem with finding something that appeals to boys the way the Princesses do to girls.

Yes, there are Pirates and Cars - but they really appeal to young boys. It's 2010 now and most 10 -13 year old boys are too old for those type of attractions. They live for Video Games- which explains the popularity of Buzz and Toy Story Mania - essentially ride-through video games. Take a look sometime and notice how many pre-teen and early teen boys ride those two attractions alone with no parents in sight.

Disney needs to theme some more attractions that take into account what the boys of of this decade like - which means more Technology , Gaming and Thrill elements.

I'm sure many people will post about how their boys love the current attractions- and I agree that many do. My point is that I agree with the original post that there is still a void.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EXPLAINING EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN!

You made my life 10000000000000000000000X easier...

[caryrae]

Tron wasn't the best movie, and it's very dated now, but the concept would lend itself to a rider-directed attraction.

.

Tron would be a great addition I think especially since they are doing a Tron remake. Could be a real cool attraction.

[pixiesmimi]

Along this line, is there going to be another Princess added? They showed a trailer in Toy Story 3 of the Repunzel movie. Is she going to be the next Princess?

I'm sad to hear that they are taking the Power Rangers out. My DGSs are very disappointed in this. But both of them like the Princesses, too. They won't mind a "land" with Princesses. My two older DGSs have been going since they were about 3 (they are 18 and 14) and they have never complained that there is too much "girly" stuff. They enjoy it all, although they would rather just go ride the thrill rides. But they don't complain when we go to character meals or get their pictures made with characters.

Also, what about Mickey. Isn't Disney predominately about Mickey? That is the only thing that bothers me about closing down Toon Town.

[BrerGnat]

Along this line, is there going to be another Princess added? They showed a trailer in Toy Story 3 of the Repunzel movie. Is she going to be the next Princess?

I wouldn't doubt it for a second. Ugh. Here comes another meet and greet...

[darthmacho]

I'm a 39yo male, and I have to admit...I can't get enough Disney Princesses. Bring them on!

[LVT]

Meet and greets get people out of ride lines. I am in favor of that.

[TheRustyScupper]

I was reading here on Intercot about the anticipated changes/updates to Fantasyland. Each Princess is getting her own section! Give me a break!

1) If it isn't clear, yet, folks spend BIG for girls.
2) They spend little for boys.
3) A fact that Disney has not overlooked.

[Jordan0301]

You can make a boy happy by buying him a gun from pirates, or a sword.

A lot of girls won't be happy until they have the shoes, the dress, the tiara, the hair, the doll, the wand, the book, and the autograph.

Girls = Money

I agree that it is too centered for girls, but I can't deny the money making appeal.

[BrownEyedGrrl]

I also have a son and he was no longer interested in character dining after the preschool years.

Seriously? My boys are six and seven, and thankfully still love the characters and character meals! They realize that they aren't "real", but they still have fun with it, and get excited about it.

As for the OP, I have to respectfully disagree. As a mom of only sons, I'm not bothered by the changes in Fantasyland. My boys are only six and seven, so things might change as they get older, but if there is an unfair amount of girly things in WDW, they don't seem to notice. In fact, they like meeting and getting their picture taken with the princesses. Meeting Jack Sparrow or Buzz trumps Aurora, lol, but they still like seeing them all. They LOVED Tom Sawyer Island, and Indiana Jones, and the Narnia set when it was there. But, they've never complained about "having" to do anything at WDW, they're just happy to be there!

[Goes4FastPass]

1) If it isn't clear, yet, folks spend BIG for girls.
2) They spend little for boys.
3) A fact that Disney has not overlooked.

A Fact???
Does ANYONE on this board (ANYONE) think that a parent or a grandparent looks at thier two (grand)children and thinks, "I have $100 to spend so that's $10 for Jack and $90 for Jill"?

[RedHead]

I think Cars is the sort of thing I mean above - a huge amount of boys love cars, but a huge amount think they're actively boring.

Plus while you could set something in Radiator Springs, basing anything in the clearly-NASCAR setting of their competition (which would be far easier to do) would be very risky in terms of a non-US audience.

The other challenge there is that the REAL racecar home is a little over an hour away - Daytona International Speedway, including Daytona USA. So if there real interest is in racing, it's just a drive up I-4 to the most famous stock car racetrack....

[magicalmom]

I wonder if we're over-thinking the princess thing?

As a child, I thought Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were great fun - why wouldn't boys find the butt-kicking princesses (Mulan, Meg, Tiana, Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, at least **) equally appealing?

Part of the merchandising imbalance may be that girls like to create and control their imaginary worlds, so all the little details are important, whereas boys largely want to jump right in and inhabit their imaginary worlds. A couple of light sabers or a pirate flag and they're out the door!

So I'm hypothesizing that there's not as much demand for all the little accessories among the boys, that they're far more interested in the basics so they can get to the playtime more quickly.

[** I know Mulan and Meg aren't technically princesses, but Jasmine told us once at lunch in Norway that Meg and Mulan are ALWAYS invited to princess slumber parties because they're the most fun.]

[PopPhan]

I'm a 39yo male, and I have to admit...I can't get enough Disney Princesses. Bring them on!

How about some of the Marvel heroines in their skin tight (what I call 'painted on') outfits? That would definitely get the 10+ boys interest!!

[tiggerbuddy]

one word : Ick !!

[garymacd]

I vote for as many princesses as they can put in there! That means more beautiful women I get to have my picture taken with!!! LOL!!!!

Absolutely! I just have trouble finding Pocahontas.

[dixielandings]

Um...did I miss something? Is Toon Town closing permanently for this Princess deal?

[rubato]

My 11 year old son loves WDW and finds tons of things that are special to him. He has to eat at CP every time we go. He loves Spaceship Earth and Mission Space. He really enjoys the silly little kid things like the Pooh ride. He is a total video game playing fool, but that's not why he goes to WDW. It's for the special magic. Of course, there's always Sum of all Thrills for those boys. And, like others have said, the boys have Pirates and Toy Story and dinosaurs and bugs and all those wonderful boy things all over all 4 parks.

[Ian]

Um...did I miss something? Is Toon Town closing permanently for this Princess deal?

No one really knows. The content in this thread is actually somewhat out-of-date since Disney has recently announced that they're re-evaluating the plans for the Fantasyland expansion.

Current rumors (rumors only) sort of indicate that they're going to move away from having so many Princess oriented shows and attractions and try to balance it out a bit more.

Nothing at all is firm at this point, though, and the fate of Toontown is still very much up in the air. What is known is that it's changing, but to what degree ...