TCM teams up with Disney to refresh Great Movie Ride

yoda_5729

yoda_5729

Well-Known Member
Correction, I guess ET and Jurassic Park were not in the original, though I thought the fingers from ET or him flying across the moon were at one point, and thought the Raptors in the kitchen were there too. I still cannot comprehend though how they wouldn't include Avatar. In my eyes Avatar wasn't necessarily a great movie, but with Disney owning the rights, and making a major push for it to be a legitimate draw, I would think something from it would be there. If nothing else just to remind people it existed. When it's all said and done there are a ton of great and legendary movies and I'm sure rights have a lot to do with what is represented. A few of the big glaring omissions though I would try to fix if possible. Pretty Woman was a nice addition in my opinion, though Buster Keaton having the house fall on him was great and the Jazz Singer Showboat transition was nice. Now it doesn't go into Showboat though instead going into Mary Poppins I think. Quite a few scenes from Oz too. If anything I'd downplay the rides that have animatronics, though not eliminate them. I think Raiders boulder and Casablanca should be there, as should one Oz scene, and Kelly Singin in the Rain. With so many thousands of movies though, I'd try not to be too repetitive.

I don't know that they'd want to do it, but they could include the theme from Harry Potter, as I know for a fact I have heard the theme played inside Hollywood Studios.
 
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DaGoof00

DaGoof00

Well-Known Member
Overall, I think the changes are positive. It gives a nice refresh to the ride, and puts it on the back burner from being demolished as part of the rumored revamp of DHS into a new park. I think the best part of it is the finale montage, which pays tribute to the previous one but does so with much needed updates. I don't think the on board audio adds much to the overall experience, and I actually find it somewhat annoying, and hard to hear (I realize it's a recording; however, even the old on board audio was a challenge at times to hear). I do miss the introduction to Alien, as I feel the previous recording for that was much more dramatic. Overall though, I think this is a positive change, glad I got to ride it in its now historic state a couple weeks ago, but excited to see the new version on my next trip.
 
DaGoof00

DaGoof00

Well-Known Member
Mike S said:
Pretty sure King Kong and Terminator have been in there since day 1 which was before USF opened and even further before Uni added T2-3D. Plus Universal doesn't own the rights to the original 1933 Kong film which is why Disney can use it.
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They sure have been there since day 1!!! Theres a web site out there that has the old montages for GMR if you google it, it's a fun site. Both were present historically.
 
Seabasealpha1

Seabasealpha1

Well-Known Member
I enjoyed it...seems a little more polished than it used to be...still would like to see further updates...

I've come to believe that it's not this ride's concept that's out of date or out of place...it's the park that's around it...it's out of sync.

I just really hope the rumors of this one being "retired" never come to fruition...it's a hip ole-granny! :)
 
jbeechuk

jbeechuk

Active Member
So dissapointing that they didn't update any of the on-ride scenes. The Alien scene is really outdated and Sigourney Weaver looks really bad. Why won't they update things like that? We are not taking about $20 M in costs here.
 
R

RandySavage

Well-Known Member
Ugh. Osborne's new narration is so dull... it's like listening to a bored professor give a Film History 101 lecture. It just sucks the fun/life out of the ride.

Listen to Osborne's presentation of the Old West to Indiana Jones segments in the video above and then listen to the original "You are aboard the spaceship Nostromo!" narration. Night and day. I'm fully behind more recorded spiel versus half-hearted live guides, but in a style that electrifies, as the original did, not puts one to sleep.

It's a massive downgrade. Thankfully, inexpensively corrected if anyone with a clue takes charge. The only change I like is the removal of some abysmal Touchstone films (i.e.,"Pearl Harbor") from the finale edit.
 
roj2323

roj2323

Well-Known Member
I rode this today (gangster) and I'm torn. The new preshow video is great and exactly what I was hoping for. Crystal clear video with someone to explain just what it is I'm viewing. The post show is just fine except for the first 30 seconds or so of Robert Osborne's weird staring into the sky. Once they switch to a close shot the weirdness disappears.


The actual show is kinda confusing. On one had I like the Robert Osborne narration at the beginning as it flows much better than the cast spiel ever did but then it gets weird when the "driver" starts in with their "performance". The gangster scene has a noticeably larger amount of simulated gun fire which does make the scene more authentic but it also makes the gangster look absurd standing around with his/her gun pointed to the sky in the supposed line of fire. Disney has also made an effort to plus other scenes but nothing worth pointing out as they just cleaned things up and fixed things that have been broken for years. Finally I think they tweaked the ride time a bit as it seems slightly faster.

I think the new show has an identity crisis as It just doesn't flow like the old version. The Robert Osborne narration is well done but it feels out of place.
 
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Y

YodaMan

Well-Known Member
Rode first thing this morning once the news broke. To recap for those who haven't muddled through all the posts:

-All signs on the Chinese Theatre and inside the queue and even on the prop displays mention the TCM sponsorship
-Inside the queue, all of the "movie posters" (screens) are active and rotate through lots of classic film posters and use some cool motion effects
-By the prop display cases, the screens now rotate through the information cards displayed within that case
-In the pre show, most of the same films are displayed. However, there's now documentary/behind-the-scenes narration and full scenes from the films are used instead of trailers (e.g. they show the majority of the umbrella sequence from "Signin in the Rain")
-On the ride, almost everything is narration. Like before, it seems like it's up to the Tour Guide as to how much additional information they want to add once the narration finishes playing (I think they might be allowed to say nothing if they so choose, but have the option to add a few additional lines in most instances)
-In the post-show, they kept a lot of the score and classic scenes from the previous iteration, but simply updated it with minor changes and a new format (but the whole clip has been posted online so it's probably not necessary to elaborate)

And then of course the spires will be coming back, but I think that basically covers everything.
 
TalkingHead

TalkingHead

Well-Known Member
RandySavage said:
Ugh. Osborne's new narration is so dull... it's like listening to a bored professor give a Film History 101 lecture. It just sucks the fun/life out of the ride.
Click to expand...

As a fan of TCM and Osborne, I like the narration -- it's very much in the vein of his movie intros on TCM.

But the CM/Osborne interplay doesn't seem to work completely. If anything, the recorded spiel makes the CM's spiel seem even more obnoxious. The updated CM script is still filled with forced jokes that aren't funny and scripted enthusiasm that's eye-rolling. (Doesn't help that some of the CMs sound like they're auditioning their hyper, fake radio announcer voice.)

The new script dropped the awful Sixth Sense "I see dead people" line but in exchange we get some equally lame bits ("It's a jungle out there").

The montage looks fine. The fact that most of the "modern" movies are by Disney/Pixar animation stands out, but that's Disney being Disney.

Overall, it almost makes me wish they'd gone entirely with a recorded spiel and axed the live CM roles entirely.
 
Next Big Thing

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
TalkingHead said:
As a fan of TCM and Osborne, I like the narration -- it's very much in the vein of his movie intros on TCM.

But the CM/Osborne interplay doesn't seem to work completely. If anything, the recorded spiel makes the CM's spiel seem even more obnoxious. The updated CM script is still filled with forced jokes that aren't funny and scripted enthusiasm that's eye-rolling. (Doesn't help that some of the CMs sound like they're auditioning their hyper, fake radio announcer voice.)

The new script dropped the awful Sixth Sense "I see dead people" line but in exchange we get some equally lame bits ("It's a jungle out there").

The montage looks fine. The fact that most of the "modern" movies are by Disney/Pixar animation stands out, but that's Disney being Disney.

Overall, it almost makes me wish they'd gone entirely with a recorded spiel and axed the live CM roles entirely.
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He said "I See Dead People" in the video @wdwmagic posted. He just said it a lot sooner, faster and softer than they used to.
 
Next Big Thing

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
There has been an slow upgrade program for the AAs over the last year or two. Mainly limbs as opposed to full figure. The first A100 is still as impressive as ever.
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If they would just at least replace the Tarzan, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford AAs it would make a world of a difference for the whole ride.

Hell, rip the Tarzan scene out for something worth the space
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Haven't ridden in person, but from the videos I have to say I approve of all of the changes, although I wish there had been more upgrades.

Having most of the script be fed from onboard audio instead of the driver means that if you have a bad spieler, it will have a much smaller impact on the ride experience.

Both the pre-show and finale film are a vast improvement, I'd say, although I will miss my nostalgic feeling I got from hearing the old ones. I'm so glad the finale film is now almost entirely relevant and important films.
 
DisneyJunkie

DisneyJunkie

Well-Known Member
I'm not overly impressed by the "changes". If not replacing any of the show scenes or animatronics, then why bother? Personally I always liked the end montage and the films of the opening queue as they were.
 

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