Almost a week ago, on the Epcot Monorail track, the monorail advertising the movie Tron: Legacy starting gliding through the skies. One side has a yellow lightcycle streak and the other side a blue lightcycle streak. As you can see below, the whole design is really slick looking.
Many people in the WDW community have opinions on the matter, as they do on everything the Mouse House does, and chatter has been going on nonstop about what people think. We even briefly discussed it on the Be Our Guest Podcast Live Show that was held on Sunday.
(Photos are courtesy of WDWMagic.com)
I actually fall into the category of not being too thrilled with the idea of it, for multiple reasons.
It's not that I hate it per-se, I'm not one of those who's been known among the Disney community as a Doom and Gloomer, it's just I don't like the idea of using the Monorails essentially as Disney billboards...much like bi-state busses get used. Although, I guess it's better seeing Disney advertise their own stuff, versus a lawyer's office! But still...to me, the Monorails are so uniquely Disney that it's odd to see them being used as a method of advertisement. It feels too pedestrian and to me, Disney is way above pedestrian.
I also don't really care for the precedence this may now possibly set. I don't want to see advertisements for every Disney movie that comes out plastered all over the Monorails. I would be more ok with the idea of them doing this if I knew that it was only a 1 time thing.
And for those who say Disney's been advertising other things on the Monorails for years, like the balloons for the most recent Birthday promotion, it doesn't bother me as much because at least that's for something going on IN the parks. Tron:Legacy is definitely (at least at this time) not a presence in the parks at all. And I don't think it's necessary to advertise the movie in this way either. I can see other, better avenues for advertisement for the film.
Part of me dislikes it because the Monorail is a classic. While I don't believe it isn't something that should be messed with necessarily, it just takes a little bit away from the classicness of this well known and loved WDW attraction.
I also guess I don't like it all that much because I just don't get it. I simply don't get the hype. Maybe it's because I've never actually seen Tron, but Tron:Legacy isn't something I'm dying to see. And this advertisement isn't causing me to want to see it either. Although, I know the movie has a lot of fan-boi types that love it.
Which makes me pose this question...if Disney were advertising another movie on the Monorail, do you think people would be as thrilled to see it? I mean, if it were a wrap advertising the recent Alice in Wonderland or the upcoming Pirates 4...would people be as excited that Disney did it? (Please Disney, don't take the idea from me. I really don't want to see Pirates 4 advertised on the Magic Kingdom loop, ok?)
Of course, there are some positives with this new design. As I mentioned before, it does look very slick and I do like the colors that were used. (My favorite side is the Blue side). I also appreciate the fact that it's (hopefully) temporary and will only be in use until the movie is either out of the box office or out on Blue-Ray.
I also like that it's only been done to one train currently. It's nice that didn't decide to decorate the entire Epcot loop fleet or the entire fleet of trains altogether. (Though I thought I heard there was going to be a second one, but I could be mistaken on that.)
Finally, I really like is the nickname it's generated. The Tron-0rail. Very creative on somebody's part.
As I've mentioned, while I'm not in love with it, it's not the end of the world. Instead it's just something else that Disney has done. Granted it's something I can't really get excited about it, but I have to remember to practice what I preach. Not everything that WDW does is going to appeal to everyone. Not everyone on property is going to come away loving everything and this is just one of the things I am lukewarm about. I really dislike the idea of advertising in this way, but the one thing you have to say is it does, at the very least, get the message out about the new movie...and that, is exactly what Disney wants to do.
So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Could care less? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section!
Many people in the WDW community have opinions on the matter, as they do on everything the Mouse House does, and chatter has been going on nonstop about what people think. We even briefly discussed it on the Be Our Guest Podcast Live Show that was held on Sunday.
(Photos are courtesy of WDWMagic.com)I actually fall into the category of not being too thrilled with the idea of it, for multiple reasons.
It's not that I hate it per-se, I'm not one of those who's been known among the Disney community as a Doom and Gloomer, it's just I don't like the idea of using the Monorails essentially as Disney billboards...much like bi-state busses get used. Although, I guess it's better seeing Disney advertise their own stuff, versus a lawyer's office! But still...to me, the Monorails are so uniquely Disney that it's odd to see them being used as a method of advertisement. It feels too pedestrian and to me, Disney is way above pedestrian.
I also don't really care for the precedence this may now possibly set. I don't want to see advertisements for every Disney movie that comes out plastered all over the Monorails. I would be more ok with the idea of them doing this if I knew that it was only a 1 time thing.
And for those who say Disney's been advertising other things on the Monorails for years, like the balloons for the most recent Birthday promotion, it doesn't bother me as much because at least that's for something going on IN the parks. Tron:Legacy is definitely (at least at this time) not a presence in the parks at all. And I don't think it's necessary to advertise the movie in this way either. I can see other, better avenues for advertisement for the film.
Part of me dislikes it because the Monorail is a classic. While I don't believe it isn't something that should be messed with necessarily, it just takes a little bit away from the classicness of this well known and loved WDW attraction.
I also guess I don't like it all that much because I just don't get it. I simply don't get the hype. Maybe it's because I've never actually seen Tron, but Tron:Legacy isn't something I'm dying to see. And this advertisement isn't causing me to want to see it either. Although, I know the movie has a lot of fan-boi types that love it.
Which makes me pose this question...if Disney were advertising another movie on the Monorail, do you think people would be as thrilled to see it? I mean, if it were a wrap advertising the recent Alice in Wonderland or the upcoming Pirates 4...would people be as excited that Disney did it? (Please Disney, don't take the idea from me. I really don't want to see Pirates 4 advertised on the Magic Kingdom loop, ok?)
Of course, there are some positives with this new design. As I mentioned before, it does look very slick and I do like the colors that were used. (My favorite side is the Blue side). I also appreciate the fact that it's (hopefully) temporary and will only be in use until the movie is either out of the box office or out on Blue-Ray.
I also like that it's only been done to one train currently. It's nice that didn't decide to decorate the entire Epcot loop fleet or the entire fleet of trains altogether. (Though I thought I heard there was going to be a second one, but I could be mistaken on that.)
Finally, I really like is the nickname it's generated. The Tron-0rail. Very creative on somebody's part.
As I've mentioned, while I'm not in love with it, it's not the end of the world. Instead it's just something else that Disney has done. Granted it's something I can't really get excited about it, but I have to remember to practice what I preach. Not everything that WDW does is going to appeal to everyone. Not everyone on property is going to come away loving everything and this is just one of the things I am lukewarm about. I really dislike the idea of advertising in this way, but the one thing you have to say is it does, at the very least, get the message out about the new movie...and that, is exactly what Disney wants to do.
So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Could care less? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section!
2 comments:
I'm a fan of it. I'm not a Tron fan, but I like the concept of the Tron-0rail. To me, it's Disney recognizing they have an old property that they can revive. What better way to do it than something that's been around since Tron was in theatres? Also, Disney seems to be getting that they are missing the Fanboi market, and I'm always glad when Disney picks up on something like that.
Great thoughts Rikki! While I do agree with you that Disney shouldn't use the monorail as an advertisement, I challenge this to you: Is it an ad, or is it a theme? Same thing when the "graffiti" was added to the first car of each monorail during the (2) Year(s) of a (2) Million Dreams. It wasn't really an ad for the promotion (a promotional promotion?), it was just a theme, or a fad.
But yes, the Tronorail looks very slick. I look forward to it in May!
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