Rivers of America (plus Railroad & Dioramas) Re-Imagineered 2017

CHOX

Well-Known Member
This sort of thing is one of my biggest peeves. A few Disney attractions will open with really neat effects- but then over the years they'll break, and Disney oftentimes won't spend the money to fix it.

The yeti, the beehive on brer bear's nose in Splash Mountain DL, the doors and ice machine in Indiana Jones, the asteroid in Space Mountain DL, etc.

I think it's awesome the imagineers try to innovate and have new and exciting effects in their rides, but they should probably start having a plan b, or budget more to keep those effects running throughout the life of the attraction.

Did that asteroid ever do anything? I rode it a couple weeks after it reopened...darkness. And I can't find much about it online. Truly one of an anomalies.
 

180º

Well-Known Member
Did that asteroid ever do anything? I rode it a couple weeks after it reopened...darkness. And I can't find much about it online. Truly one of an anomalies.
pic12.jpg


I post this a lot, but here is a photo of the asteroid being prepared for Hong Kong Disneyland's Space Mountain. This is an identical prop to our asteroid here. In Hong Kong, the asteroid has always been lit, along with HKDL's other cosmic projection effects that have played since opening day. Apparently the decision to ditch the lit asteroid and projections in Anaheim was an artistic one, to make the ride as dark as possible. I can respect that, but I also know from firsthand observation that Space Mountain's projection technology has improved drastically between the first year of Ghost Galaxy and what we see today in Hyperspace Mountain, so I would love to see them try out the originally planned effects here sometime.

Check out Hong Kong's spectacular dome effects in this video:


You can tell where the asteroid lights up the ceiling. I imagine this could be fixed with a blacklight color/light scheme. The halos around the projections are a good example of what Space Mountain projections previously had a lot of trouble with but today has been practically solved.

...I guess I got a little sidetracked from the Rivers of America topic. Whoops!

I know I've said before how disappointed I am to see the RoA lose some of its blankness and tranquility, but I must be fair. The new scenery looks fantastic. It is apparent whoever designed this is competent and cares a great deal. I can't wait to ride the Disneyland Railroad again.

Most of all, I am desperate to get Big Thunder trail back. Please oh please just open it already.
 

D.Silentu

Well-Known Member
Pardon me also going off topic, but I've mentioned before that our Space Mountain doesn't have the zest that it used to. I really like the look of the dome experience in Hong Kong, and as you say 180', black light and updated projector's could fix a lot of the light pollution issues.

Now, back to the (not so final) Frontier...
 

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
Rivers of America's new frontier is coming together almost as if the people who worked on this project completely understood that SWL was an awful fit for the park and they did everything in the power to make work as best as possible. The team behind this project is just as passionate about Keeping Disneyland Great as we are. RoA will look even better once the southern side of SWL gets done as that is where a lot of the higher peaks will be to help blend the tree line and mountains together. It will take a while to get there as Alcatraz will be viewable for a while. Once the work goes completely inside the berm, it should start moving faster then.

I tried my best to reassure you all along it was going to be ok. I'll personally feel a bit better when we see the Twain, Columbia, and canoes all on the water at the same time - they will still need to confirm the timing of the two big ships once they get closer to opening to make sure it will work. This is the only real wild card left on the table at this point. Going into the project, they weren't sure if they could keep all 3 running on busy days since the loop time around the island is going to be shorter.

Once this "opens" in a few weeks time, please make sure you express your gratitude to the team behind it (they do read what we say believe it or not). They deserve a tip-of-the-hat for the work they've done on this project. They made the square SW peg fit as painlessly as they could into the round hole they were given for this project.
 
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D

Deleted member 107043

So far I'm not liking the lack of variety in height, but I know this is a work in progress. I'm hoping it'll end up looking as good as the concept art.

Agreed. If I had one "complaint" it would be that it's too low, but that could be a diliberate forced perspective thing. Disneyland's arcitectural scale is generally on the dimunitive side, so it's to be expected I guess.
 

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