Winnie the Pooh - New Orleans Square or Frontierland?

[DLcub]

(My apologies if this has already been discussed)

IF Critter Country is removed in favour of extending NOS, where does Winnie the Pooh fit best? NOS or Frontierland?

And do you think dividing Critter Country between NOS and Frontierland would work - i.e. the northern part of CC becomes part of Frontierland and Splash Mountain gets absorbed by NOS?

[Mr Wiggins]

I think a Winnie the Pooh attraction properly fits in Fantasyland. Like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad and Sword in the Stone, the Pooh ride is based on Disney's theatrical animation of a British children's literary property. In the Pooh books and in Disney's animation, the stories take place in the 100 Acre Wood, which is based on an actual place in England. In the Disney theatrical films, Christopher Robin spoke with a British accent.

Frontierland and its connected land of New Orleans Square, both on the banks of the Rivers of America, represent the legends, myths, and "hard facts" of pre-20th century America. Culturally and thematically, Frontierland and NOS have nothing whatsoever in common with the animated fantasy world of Winnie the Pooh.

Remember, too, Critter Country was originally Bear County, representing the great American forests -- not the fantasy world of the 100 Acre Wood.

[Blurr]

Honestly, neither.

It will probably remain a part of "Critter Country" until they find a replacement for Pooh. Critter Country/the riverfront has always been a little bit of a strange thing; the Davy Crockett explorer canoes are technically located in CC but are definitely more Frontierland than anything else. The rafts to Tom Sawyers Island are nestled in New Orleans square a bit, too.

I think the correct, technical answer is that Pooh belongs best in Fantasyland, if anywhere at all. Or Critter Country, which is what the land will probably remain for the foreseeable future. There are enough critters from Princess and the Frog for it to work as a kind of bridge between NOS and CC in terms of theme. Again, until Pooh someday gets replaced.

[Eagleman]

I AGREE
Winnie the Pooh

Need to move to > ***Fantasyland***
or be replace with a a more fitting Theme Attraction !

IMO

[Sun Bonnet]

I like both Winnie the Pooh and the Country Bears. They both remind me of childhood (that's a 4 yo me in the avatar) and Pooh definitely belongs in the parks. But Pooh should be in Fantasyland. I'd like the Country Bears to return to their original home or at least something that better fits the theme of the area.

[tarheelalum]

California Adventure.

[Mr Wiggins]

Let's also not forget the reason why Pooh ended up in Critter County in the first place. At the time of the switch, Pooh merchandise sales were (and still are) ginormous -- pressure was on DLR management to promote the IP with a clone of the Tokyo Disneyland Pooh ride. At the same time, attendance of the Country Bear Jamboree had severely declined, due largely to years of neglect in updating the show's content and technology (its association with the bomb Country Bears movie didn't help). Management's penny-pinching solution: stick an embarrassingly cheap clone of the top-quality Tokyo attraction in the old Country Bears building, and ignore the thematic conflict with the park's Westside.

[Sun Bonnet]

Agreed. When The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 30 minute afternoon tv show was on you could find Pooh merchandise for every age. Better quality stuff than they sell nowadays too, but I guess that's across the board.

[Eagleman]

Agreed. When The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 30 minute afternoon tv show was on you could find Pooh merchandise for every age. Better quality stuff than they sell nowadays too, but I guess that's across the board.

Well
Old Disneyland merchandise was lot better........and Now most cases
the quality have went way down.....for a higher price !

Side Note:
Got a 55 year Disneyland T-Shirt for $40.00 ........and all the marking came off , in the first WASH !

I have never like Disney concept, just stick attraction in a area
that out of Theme !.........

[DLcub]

Personally I don't think it's realistic to think that they're going to spend any money, time or resources to "move" Pooh anywhere just because it would fit slightly better into the new surroundings.

If they managed to find a way to make a new entrance for Splash Mountain by the fastpass distribution / HM exit, they could make Splash Mountain a part of NOS and either keep the rest of Critter Country the way it is or make it part of Frontierland.

[DLcub]

Side Note:
Got a 55 year Disneyland T-Shirt for $40.00 ........and all the marking came off , in the first WASH !

I have never like Disney concept, just stick attraction in a area
that out of Theme !.........

You haven't washed it in 10 years?

[Mr Wiggins]

Personally I don't think it's realistic to think that they're going to spend any money, time or resources to "move" Pooh anywhere just because it would fit slightly better into the new surroundings.

Obviously, any Disneyland fan who is familiar with Cheaptastic Chapek's M.O. knows he would never greenlight funds to upgrade DL's cheap-out Pooh clone to the quality of the Tokyo original -- much less that he would care enough about theming to move the ride to Fantasyland. Especially when he and his management team can just point to the fact that not only would it not make them any extra money, but the vast majority of DL customers don't care (e.g., it would be only "slightly" better).

[Eagleman]

You haven't washed it in 10 years?

LOL..... only worn it one day-I wash it that week after got it .................
and all Mickey-Disneyland Logo-55 base Drum - wash away down the drain
Geeeeeeeee

Maybe I should have gotten the $43.00 dollar shirt ?
and it last longer
like the marking would have came off in the 2nd wash ...............

[Mike_M]

Like Wiggins said above, Pooh is British, not American in origin, and belongs in Fantasyland with the rest of the European stories, not NOS or Frontierland. If that ever came to be, I’d prefer it taking over part of the FL theater and not replacing an existing dark ride.

I’ve never really missed the country bears, but they definitely fit the theme of the area better than Pooh. It’s highly unlikely, but a fresh idea for that corner of critter country would be great (if done right of course). Perhaps even a 3rd life for the AAs that might not stay in Splash Mtn.

[DLcub]

Obviously, any Disneyland fan who is familiar with Cheaptastic Chapek's M.O. knows he would never greenlight funds to upgrade DL's cheap-out Pooh clone to the quality of the Tokyo original -- much less that he would care enough about theming to move the ride to Fantasyland. Especially when he and his management team can just point to the fact that not only would it not make them any extra money, but the vast majority of DL customers don't care (e.g., it would be only "slightly" better).

While I don't entirely disagree I also feel the need to point out that space is obviously very limited in Disneyland, but especially in Fantasyland where there is no room for expanding outwards, and it probably doesn't make sense for anyone to waste the precious piece of existing land that could potentially house a new Fantasyland attraction on an already existing attraction.

Could they refurbish Pooh to a modernized version of the one in Tokyo if they wanted to? Sure, but then you could also demand the same treatment for all the old school Fantasyland dark rides. You could say that it was a "cheap" version of the Tokyo attraction, but at the same time no one said that it had to live up to the Tokyo version to begin with. If the Tokyo attraction didn't exist I'm pretty sure we would think of Pooh as a good C-ticket that you perhaps could argue doesn't really fit in the Critter Country theme.

But in order for it to fit into Fantasyland they could for example have replaced Mr Toad with Pooh, but it would have been even smaller and would have definitely seemed "cheap", so... lose - lose?

[JerrodDRagon]

OR we just remove it because no one rides it...its like Bugs land a few people here will cry about it leaving but no one really cares about it

[MrGoat]

I love Pooh, but I think it would fit better in Fantasyland. I'm wondering if it's completely impossible to fit a new ride there. What about all that open space in front of IASW? Memory is failing me right now, but it seems like there's a building nestled in the trees there too, but that's what I don't remember: what is that building? Can it be moved?

Sorry, I don't know my cardinal directions in DL, but I think I'm talking about the space to the NE of Storyland Book Boats, right between there and IASW. Is there room enough there for a ride?

[BillFraser29]

Pooh doesn't fit in Critter Country or NOS, use that show building for a relocated Star Tours from Tomorrowland and flip the entrance to the other side of the show building to be accessed from Galaxy's Edge.

[Mr Wiggins]

I love Pooh, but I think it would fit better in Fantasyland. I'm wondering if it's completely impossible to fit a new ride there. What about all that open space in front of IASW? Memory is failing me right now, but it seems like there's a building nestled in the trees there too, but that's what I don't remember: what is that building? Can it be moved?

Sorry, I don't know my cardinal directions in DL, but I think I'm talking about the space to the NE of Storyland Book Boats, right between there and IASW. Is there room enough there for a ride?

Yep -- all kinds of room if they got rid of the Wonderbra Theater. And there's the ex-Motorboat Cruise. Or even replacing Pinocchio.

Room they got. What they don't have is the desire to make it happen.

[Blurr]

Like Mr. Wiggins said, there's room for "expansion" in Fantasyland (though something would have to go).



I don't think Small World would lose too much charm if it lost the sort of "mini-land"/esplanade status it currently has. -and there's even more space just past the Monorail beams in the old Motorboat Cruise area (though that would require factoring the Monorail into the equation/possibly re-routing it).

Pinocchio has such a small footprint sharing it's show building (-and even maintenance bay, have you ever noticed the vehicles for Snow White and Pinocchio are identical design?) with Snow White and Red Rose Tavern that I don't think much more than the scale of the current attraction could fit in there.

If anything, the above screenshot just makes me realize more and more just how much valuable space something like the Autopia and Subs take up. I love the lagoon but there's no denying that real estate is massive and could potentially be used down the line for a major "expansion" for the park, too.