News Disney Not Renewing Great Movie Ride Sponsorship Deal with TCM ; Attraction to Close

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
The extra benefit of replacement over a new build as far as TDO is concerned is the cost of operation. With a new build, TDO ends up having to pay for the operation of all of the existing attractions, plus a new one, but with a replacement, there isn't as large of a difference in operations costs. Plus, the "savings" in ops costs from not operating the attraction being replaced helps offset the cost of building the replacement.
And we know how much manpower and maintainence the GMR takes up.
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
The GMR is one of a dying breed of what used to make WDI great. Larger than life scale, intricate theming, creative animatronics and effects, evolutionary ride system, surprises, story, length, capacity, a finale.... it goes on and on.

The travesty here is then ride would still be fantastic if updated to modern standards. There's nothing actually wrong with it. Like a lot of other places we could mention it was allowed to go stale and stagnate. It could again be the parks banner E ticket family attraction.

We now have a company hell bent on overlays. The last five years (and moreso more recent) have seen a concerted effort to overlay and makeover as opposed to new, purpose built facilities. What used to be considered the norm, the bare minimum is now considered worthy of huge celebration. Not so long ago the park would have gotten a constantly refreshed GMR PLUS a new E Ticket on an expansion pad. And it's not secret this park certainly needs more capacity. What's currently planned will not address that. If anything it will be a net loss.

Will the new ride be good? Yes. Will it be fun? Yes. Is it worthy of its location? That's not my call. Is it worth removing the GMR for? I don't think so.

Now you know why I said when news comes out it will generate debate.
True

I bought a ticket to the World
But now I've come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
Oh, I want the truth to be said

(Ha-ha-ha, ha-ah-hi)
I know this much is true
(Ha-ha-ha, ha-ah-hi)
I know this much is true

With a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue
Dissolve the nerves that have just begun
Listening to Marni (All night long)
This is the sound of my soul
This is the sound of my tears
Always slipping from my hands

(Not that you old rocker would've cared much for posh Ballet :cool:, me thinks....)
 

wdwfan22

Well-Known Member
Hopefully what ever they decide to replace the Great Movie Ride with will be a family attraction. Disney's Hollywood Studios doesn't offer much that the entire family can do together unless it's a show.
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Well, this helps explain why George K was so adamant that the Guardians Tower project simply couldn't happen operationally because that park has no attractions (no, I don't care what individuals may feel for the mess that is there now).

Also, it does explain the very short window for the TCM sponsorship deal, which I always chalked up to companies not wanting long-term ties to DIS.

I will say that I have heard the plans now, but have been asked to keep them quiet, which I will do until/unless someone drops them into my lap (you know how to reach me).

It would seem the Theater will definitely stay. And while I actually like the sounds of the attraction,and the IP being used, there is absolutely no GOOD reason why GMR couldn't stay and this be added. This addition by subtraction is pure bull$hit of the highest order.

And understand that even assuming this happens and all the Star Wars Experience and Toy Story Land stuff opens as planned, the park will still have less attractions and have a smaller physical footprint than it did 20 years ago.

Chew on that and go on crowing about how great Bob Iger and Company are ...
 

RoysCabin

Well-Known Member
There's something that strikes me in all of this, and I don't know whether to call it cynicism or short-sightedness, but it's really noticeable to me how Disney seems to create these self-fulfilling prophecies time and time again wherein they allow older attractions to age and rot then use that as a reason to completely get rid of them. It happened in World Showcase with El Rio del Tiempo and Maelstrom, it appears to be happening here, it still could happen at Universe of Energy, etc.

Sadly, I think this all comes back to simply not wanting to use expansion pads, since that level of construction is undoubtedly going to be the costliest. An overlay or the gutting of a ride building means no net gain in attractions, but it can still be hyped and advertised as something brand new. That's where the short-term thinking comes in: you overlay something, hype it as something new, print a bunch of merchandise for it, and then see a short term boost in the new ride's wait time before the realization hits that you'll have to update THIS iteration of the ride by the time a decade's out, too. Thus, you likely wind up back at square one, plus you've deprived your park of a possible long term classic, the type of attraction that brings people back again and again even after they've already visited WDW over a dozen times, and thus likely create less lifelong fans.

Imagine if Pirates or Mansion never received any type of care outside of small cosmetic things? Imagine if the AAs were exactly the same from the day they opened, if the opening effects in the Mansion preshow were not well maintained, if the sound system was allowed to degrade to the point of being nearly unlistenable? Those rides wouldn't be classics anymore, and suddenly there'd be a contingent of people cheering the idea of Jack Skellington taking up permanent residence in the Mansion.
 
Last edited:

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
Well, this helps explain why George K was so adamant that the Guardians Tower project simply couldn't happen operationally because that park has no attractions (no, I don't care what individuals may feel for the mess that is there now).

Also, it does explain the very short window for the TCM sponsorship deal, which I always chalked up to companies not wanting long-term ties to DIS.

I will say that I have heard the plans now, but have been asked to keep them quiet, which I will do until/unless someone drops them into my lap (you know how to reach me).

It would seem the Theater will definitely stay. And while I actually like the sounds of the attraction,and the IP being used, there is absolutely no GOOD reason why GMR couldn't stay and this be added. This addition by subtraction is pure bull$hit of the highest order.

And understand that even assuming this happens and all the Star Wars Experience and Toy Story Land stuff opens as planned, the park will still have less attractions and have a smaller physical footprint than it did 20 years ago.

Chew on that and go on crowing about how great Bob Iger and Company are ...

Your posts are making me want to drown my sorrows... and I'm taking medicine for a sinus infection that prohibits the consumption of a beverage that would sooth my bleeding soul.

Bob has an MBA from an Ivy League university. What are they teaching in B schools nowadays? Must have changed in the thirty years since I graduated. Before the likes of Jack Welch and the "increase shareholder wealth is your only goal" mantra that has become the norm. But Bob and I are close in age. They must teach business differently in a public school, like I attended.

I swear, there are times I want to burn my diploma......
 
Last edited by a moderator:

seabreezept813

Well-Known Member
Well LMA was sparsely attended as was BLT in recent years. So yes, we technically may be about only +1 in the end, but these are going to be things people are actually going to ride as opposed to a 30+ minute show or 25+ minute tram ride that took up a huge amount of space.

We always did LMA because my husband loved it. While I am not sad to see it go, each show we went to was completely filled up. We usually go in August so maybe that's why, but we never saw it sparsely attended.
 

spresso81

Well-Known Member
Well, this helps explain why George K was so adamant that the Guardians Tower project simply couldn't happen operationally because that park has no attractions (no, I don't care what individuals may feel for the mess that is there now).

Also, it does explain the very short window for the TCM sponsorship deal, which I always chalked up to companies not wanting long-term ties to DIS.

I will say that I have heard the plans now, but have been asked to keep them quiet, which I will do until/unless someone drops them into my lap (you know how to reach me).

It would seem the Theater will definitely stay. And while I actually like the sounds of the attraction,and the IP being used, there is absolutely no GOOD reason why GMR couldn't stay and this be added. This addition by subtraction is pure bull$hit of the highest order.

And understand that even assuming this happens and all the Star Wars Experience and Toy Story Land stuff opens as planned, the park will still have less attractions and have a smaller physical footprint than it did 20 years ago.

Chew on that and go on crowing about how great Bob Iger and Company are ...


Agree with Marni and WDW1974! I think that the GMR if anything should have been updated after all of the new lands opened - so it could have maintained capacity during the construction of SWL and TSL. GMR is a classic ride that with some updates could have been as good if not better than when it opened. For example, maybe they could have removed Tarzan section for something new.

DHS will need additional capacity to handle the SWL crowds and as the GMR is a people eater getting rid of it makes even less sense. I get that it will save money operationally but the money saved by operations may be lost by angry customers not wanting to wait 3 hours to go on a SWL ride and not coming back to Disneyworld next year but instead 5 years down the road...

As a compliance attorney who works for a large international bank, I have a great distain for operational folks. They come in to simply make changes without thinking or really caring about the long term effects of their decisions. This is a pure example of why only thinking with an operational hat STINKS.
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
This is Disney. They can afford it.

Not to mention they've three years before this is slated to open.
I would tend to agree, but I am not the one that has to justify an expense to a boss whose main goal is to keep costs in the basement.

It is a whole different world than the one we grew up in.
 

DisneyFans4Life

Well-Known Member
Many of the arguments (at least the intelligent ones) against FEA had nothing to do Maelstrom. The GMR scenraio is the same predicament. Regardless of how good it turns out, it is not adding to the parks lineup of attractions. There is no gain. You cant get to the end zone by running left and right.
You're right on that, but I'm not arguing gains and losses. I am simply stating that what goes in place of GMR may be a fantastic replacement and draw more people.
 

JustInTime

Well-Known Member
The site that shall not be named is reporting that the RUMORED IP is going to be Mickey Mouse. If this is true then I am personally all for it since it is about time Mickey received a proper ride. I turn my attention to @marni1971 and @WDW1974 . I understand you obviously can't confirm but is there any sort of truth to this rumor?
I could get behind a Mickey Mouse ride.
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
Well LMA was sparsely attended as was BLT in recent years. So yes, we technically may be about only +1 in the end, but these are going to be things people are actually going to ride as opposed to a 30+ minute show or 25+ minute tram ride that took up a huge amount of space.
Just because some people skipped those doesn't mean that they weren't a vital part of the park's attraction menu. And although they often had short waits, nearly all the seats were filled because they had adequate capacity to process large numbers of guests (something that current WDI knows nothing of). With the 30+ minute show, the 25+ minute tram ride, and the 20+ minute Great Movie Ride, we're going to losing a huge amount of stuff to occupy guests' time in the park (and this is assuming we're not talking about things like the walking tour, extended tram tour, animation tour, and sound show that have been gone for years)

The replacements will be two 5-ish minute Star Wars ride, a 90-second Buzz spinner, a 90-second marginally-themed coaster, and this new IP-based ride (which would be shocking if it lasted more than 10 minutes)

That takes us from 75+ minutes of attraction time to 23 minutes, if we're being generous. Although the older attractions may not have been generating huge queues, they still helped round out the experience and add depth to the park

This is all eerily reminiscent of what happened to Epcot in the late 90's, leading to its current sad condition. But at least Epcot had the benefit of being a full-day park before all the "enhancements"
 

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
The site that shall not be named is reporting that the RUMORED IP is going to be Mickey Mouse. If this is true then I am personally all for it since it is about time Mickey received a proper ride. I turn my attention to @marni1971 and @WDW1974 . I understand you obviously can't confirm but is there any sort of truth to this rumor?

Wow, NOW you're talking! Finally a ray of sunshine!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom