Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! Reviews, Photos, Info

[BrianLo]

This is what drives me crazy about the franchise exploitation. Disney literally has decades worth of data that the attraction concept is what draws people to ride something and not the property, and yet they are always bassackward with their blue sky process: starting with the property first, working backwards to shove as many familiar references into the thing as possible, and leaving the actual conceptual hook (the entire reason for wanting to ride a ride) as an afterthought.

And, predictably, the result is something crass and soulless.

I've got to disagree with that generalization... I'm not saying a good concept can't be the hook, but a really big franchise base WITH a good hook drives attendance in a summative fashion.

Potter for better or worse has flipped the script. 99% of the GP are not there to ride a Kuka-based omnimover or even realize what it is. They are there for Potter and there because word of mouth on execution has been so good. Universal has nearly seen triple digit growth on the back of a franchise alone.

It's exactly the years and years of data that is the problem here. The franchising of attractions and lands are driving attendance at obscene rates never previously seen. They are going to keep doing it because the numbers support it... for better or worse.


Edit: sorry I just traced back the origins of the conversation. I side more with what @mickEblu was saying that it's not about the sole attraction but the cumulative experience. GoTG didn't bring the 'experience'... the Hogsmead as it were. People are responding to cumulative franchised lands a bit more than isolated attractions.

It's also an overlay... I think the lesson here when it comes to FEA or GoTG:MB is that the public rewards new build outs (Carsland, Pandora, Potter) more than quick turnkey franchise exploitation. An arguement of course can be made that the public rewards any new builds at a baseline, which I think is what you were getting at. I should really read the conversation and not the most recent post.

 

[Californian Elitist]

This is what drives me crazy about the franchise exploitation. Disney literally has decades worth of data that the attraction concept is what draws people to ride something and not the property, and yet they are always bassackward with their blue sky process: starting with the property first, working backwards to shove as many familiar references into the thing as possible, and leaving the actual conceptual hook (the entire reason for wanting to ride a ride) as an afterthought.

And, predictably, the result is something crass and soulless.

Yep.

 

[BrianLo]

I keep hearing about all this praise but where is it? Robert Niles? Or a few AP vloggers who were just happy to have a new ride to report on - after melting down previously about the change?

Guest surveys. I know that comment from Chapek irked a lot of people and I've seen lots of excuses to downplay it, but it is being well reviewed internally. The best reviewed, as he mentioned.

A refresh certainly isn't a guarantee for a review bump, Soaring Over the World didn't light guest satisfaction on fire. Nor is a new build - Volcano Bay is still being torn to sh*t.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

It sounds like it was devastatingly charming.

Vintage post about it:

One effect that has apparently been broken for decades or was never installed was recently added to the DL Mansion and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't even know about this. The fruit on the ballroom table was meant to appear fresh when the ghosts appear using the same pepper's ghost illusion, then decayed when they vanish. No other version of the Mansion has this. I find that whenever I go through the ballroom these days, I look at everything except the table, so I didn't notice until I saw it mentioned online. It's such a charming little effect and I love that they actually did it.



Something like this makes me hopeful that other lost elements may someday return.

Two years later, they brought back the headstones outside (some of them, new versions behind railings), but removed the ghost fruit...

 

[mickEblu]

Guest surveys. I know that comment from Chapek irked a lot of people and I've seen lots of excuses to downplay it, but it is being well reviewed internally. The best reviewed, as he mentioned.

A refresh certainly isn't a guarantee for a review bump, Soaring Over the World didn't light guest satisfaction on fire. Nor is a new build - Volcano Bay is still being torn to sh*t.

Oh ya forgot about those. I was thinking more of like critics/ aficionados. But yea as I've mentioned before it's pretty obvious that an already extremely well liked thrill ride would have positive survey results when overlayed to a popular IP out in theatres now. Especially in the honeymoon phase. What's obvious based on @GiveMeTheMusic s post earier is that summer of heros and the GOTG overlay isn't doing much to bring in new business.

 

[BrianLo]

I was thinking more of like critics/ aficionados.

That was always a doomed proposition. Aficionados do not want to see overlays on principle, +/- the strong sentiment against IP and thematic issues with DCA. In fact Aficionados already gave that a solid thumbs down the moment it was announced.

I wish theme parks had real critics though on the same level of movies. We just aren't there yet. Instead we are stuck with the general public, us fans and paid media. Our opinions don't really move the meter in the same way movie critics seem to be able to.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I wish theme parks had real critics though on the same level of movies. We just aren't there yet. Instead we are stuck with the general public, us fans and paid media. Our opinions don't really move the meter in the same way movie critics seem to be able to.

Oh, you and me both. As it stands, we all look like a bunch of loons complaining about this stuff. The author of Passport to Dreams Old & New is the closest thing we have to a Pauline Kael of the theme park world.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I think overlays will come to be seen like 3D- the initial overlays are well done and popular, which leads them to rush to create more overlays without really thinking about what made the older overlays work, or what the ramifications of their decisions are, before eventually people get sick of them and reject them. I don't think we're at the point that people are ready to turn their back on new overlays yet- we just had Star Wars Space Mountain after all and now MB-but maybe we're starting to move towards that point.

I understand why they went the overlay route, but with fewer risks come fewer rewards-especially when Disney's reputation was gained at least partially by creating groundbreaking new attractions.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think overlays will come to be seen like 3D- the initial overlays are well done and popular, which leads them to rush to create more overlays without really thinking about what made the older overlays work, or what the ramifications of their decisions are, before eventually people get sick of them and reject them. I don't think we're at the point that people are ready to turn their back on new overlays yet- we just had Star Wars Space Mountain after all and now MB-but maybe we're starting to move towards that point.

I understand why they went the overlay route, but with fewer risks come fewer rewards-especially when Disney's reputation was gained at least partially by creating groundbreaking new attractions.

And in just 22 short months you will see 2 new groundbreaking attractions in a brand new land at the park across the way. Think of overlays as an appetizer to the main meal. HyperSM is the appetizer to Galaxies Edge, and GotG is the appetizer to the 2 new attractions that will be built for Marvel Land.

 

[Antaundra]

We have no idea what effect Mission Breakout had on attendance this summer because we'll never know what attendance would have been like had Mission Breakout not opened. The last two summers were both part of the heavily promoted, incredibly successful 60th anniversary. A drop in attendance this summer was inevitable. We'll never know how much bigger that drop in attendance would have been had Mission Breakout not opened. Apparently TDA hoped Mission Breakout would draw more crowds than it has but TOT didn't draw crowds to DCA when it was first built either. I think free fall rides have limited appeal they don't drive attendance the way a ride like Indiana Jones does.

 

[mickEblu]

We have no idea what effect Mission Breakout had on attendance this summer because we'll never know what attendance would have been like had Mission Breakout not opened. The last two summers were both part of the heavily promoted, incredibly successful 60th anniversary. A drop in attendance this summer was inevitable. We'll never know how much bigger that drop in attendance would have been had Mission Breakout not opened. Apparently TDA hoped Mission Breakout would draw more crowds than it has but TOT didn't draw crowds to DCA when it was first built either. I think free fall rides have limited appeal they don't drive attendance the way a ride like Indiana Jones does.

Thats a decent point but Disney is disappointed for a reason right? They didn't meet their own expectations.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

They're taking the exact same approach as with Star Wars. You do an unimpressive overlay/redo of an existing attraction when you can clearly be delivering so much more, then you have corny meet and greets and live entertainment which are mostly terrible and you promote it as being more than a load of crap. Then, you open a real major attraction years later. Only this time, they did it in the park that fewer people go to. Season of the Force was Summer of Heroes. Star Tours II was Mission:SPACE. The Jedi baby show was...whatever they're doing with the Marvel funny book people.

 

[PiratesMansion]

And in just 22 short months you will see 2 new groundbreaking attractions in a brand new land at the park across the way. Think of overlays as an appetizer to the main meal. HyperSM is the appetizer to Galaxies Edge, and GotG is the appetizer to the 2 new attractions that will be built for Marvel Land.

But here's the reality: Star Wars Land is imminent and it will blow people away, and it will become that much harder to convince people to give a crap about DCA. They'd be in better shape If they had really moved and gotten Marvel Land finished before Star Wars, or if they had at least started with a brand new build of some kind.

Moving PTN, MB, and Pixar Pier doesn't really change much. If they blow people away with the upcoming Marvel land, they might have a shot at maintaining roughly DCA's attendance as it is now. Maybe I'll be wrong when it's all said and done but it seems like they're doing the same thing they were doing to DCA a decade ago- moving the night parade across the esplanade, build/reboot the drop tower thinking it'll be the "Hail Mary" that will make the park legit, who cares about long-term park cohesion, etc. They can't have DL be a 5-star restaurant and have DCA mostly serving fancy appetizers. It must be more than that.

 

[Disney Irish]

But here's the reality: Star Wars Land is imminent and it will blow people away, and it will become that much harder to convince people to give a crap about DCA. They'd be in better shape If they had really moved and gotten Marvel Land finished before Star Wars, or if they had at least started with a brand new build of some kind.

Moving PTN, MB, and Pixar Pier doesn't really change much. If they blow people away with the upcoming Marvel land, they might have a shot at maintaining roughly DCA's attendance as it is now. Maybe I'll be wrong when it's all said and done but it seems like they're doing the same thing they were doing to DCA a decade ago- moving the night parade across the esplanade, build/reboot the drop tower thinking it'll be the "Hail Mary" that will make the park legit, who cares about long-term park cohesion, etc. They can't have DL be a 5-star restaurant and have DCA mostly serving fancy appetizers. It must be more than that.

The problem though with what you are saying is that DCA has gotten a large in-flux of money in the past 5 years while DL sat with nothing. So it couldn't be justified to start another Billion dollar project in DCA with no major investment in DL. So they had to do SWL first. Especially since they had to invest 1.5 Billion in order to receive the tax breaks/no gate tax from the City. Sure in a perfect world all the projects would be started and finished in the order you wanted. But we don't live in a perfect world.

DCA was slow to take off, mostly due to missteps, but it's getting its footing with Cars Land and other updates in the last 5 years. And once the new Marvel Land is done it'll likely be better off with two new attractions and a whole land to complement. But in the meantime they are doing minor tweaks here and there to keep things fresh.

So patience is what is needed here.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

My weird prediction is that a ton of people will actually flock to DCA when SWL opens just for the sheer sake of being able to walk around freely.

 

[SSG]

My weird prediction is that a ton of people will actually flock to DCA when SWL opens just for the sheer sake of being able to walk around freely.

That, and the ability to get an adult beverage after being hemmed in for hours.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

That, and the ability to get an adult beverage after being hemmed in for hours.

Adult beverages and some semblance of sanity. That's about all DCA has going for it.

 

[Professortango1]

Just visited the parks Friday and boy Mission BO just doesn't hold up. Cosmo is still broken, but the design flaws are really starting to show. I heard some kids crying because they couldn't see Rocket due to the room not being designed for everyone to see above the shelves, The painted over dials and control panels look really bad, like something in a mid level escape room, and the black paint on the walls of the boiler rooms looks really cheesy. The ride is still fun for most, as you still cannot hear any of the dialogue over the screams; so it is essentially a thrill ride with some projection effects thrown in.

I know Rohde said they were going to paint the sidewalk to look like the building zapped in out of nowhere. When is that going to happen? Also, they said the chaos of letting the animals out would be carried into the giftshop. When are they going to do that as the gift shop looks like a calm regular gift shop. I also remember them saying the CM's would be a big part of the story. Has that stopped? We rode a few times for my friend, and the CMs didn't do anything more than direct us to our rows and tell us to secure loose items.

 

[Travel Junkie]

I also remember them saying the CM's would be a big part of the story. Has that stopped? We rode a few times for my friend, and the CMs didn't do anything more than direct us to our rows and tell us to secure loose items

I've only seen a couple CM's get into it. That's why I think all the storyline stuff they are touting for Star Wars land will fall flat. The CM's will be into it for a short time and then it will slowly revert back to any other theme park land.

 

[mickEblu]

I've only seen a couple CM's get into it. That's why I think all the storyline stuff they are touting for Star Wars land will fall flat. The CM's will be into it for a short time and then it will slowly revert back to any other theme park land.

I agree. Unless they are paid actors and not CMs. Maybe some of the Frozen actors across the esplanade have some free time?