News 'Beyond Big Thunder Mountain' Blue Sky concept revealed for Magic Kingdom

[SplashJacket]

But that’s what the setting feels like it demands. RJ is D- or E-level sets with nothing in them. Toad was a bunch of painted flats, but it felt more complete because things happened and the aesthetic was consistent and C-level. RJ isn’t a C, it’s an unfinished chunk of an E.

I agree with this. I like the ride, but I think that’s the issue so many people have with it. What’s there is absolutely fantastic, but there’s just not enough of it. It’s an E-ticket concept squished into a C-ticket.

What’s there is too good to just be a C-ticket. It’s a C-ticket because it fails to provide a complete experience, not because its quality is lacking.

My main frustration is it wouldn’t have taken much more to get an incredible D or modest E. A relatively modest increase in budget could’ve gotten it a higher capacity and a complete experience that would’ve alleviated pressure off FoP.

NRJ should really be a walkthrough. Why commit to a boat ride if you’re only gonna go 75%.

 

[ToTBellHop]

So...getting back to Beyond Big Thunder...

A valiant effort. Failed. But valiant. We will write songs about you.

 

[Fox&Hound]

People love simpler B / C / D tickets when they already *exist* at the parks, but for some reason people get angry when Disney builds them

I think the problem is they build them in isolation (Moana) so people expect them to be huge e-ticket experiences. Open one in addition to Rise and MF for example and people would be happy.
Yes they did that with TSL but the alien ride is poorly done. Who thought a stationary crane was the way to go? Why not have it move and then one of the cars lights up and announces “I have been chosen! Farewell my friends. I go on to a better place.” That would add some charm…

 

[J4546]

they built a very nice junior coaster in HK to go along with FEA and people on here were ragging on it because its so well themed but so short lol. you cant win

 

[monothingie]

It will be renamed Disney Fun World next year along with Epcot becoming Disney Happy World.

And commemorative popcorn buckets and cupcakes will rain down from the sky.

 

[aladdin2007]

So...getting back to Beyond Big Thunder...

 

[Casper Gutman]

they built a very nice junior coaster in HK to go along with FEA and people on here were ragging on it because its so well themed but so short lol. you cant win

We'll criticize Curse of the Werewolf at EU for the exact same thing.

You can win. Making rides that last more then a minute is a start.

 

[Touchdown]

We'll criticize Curse of the Werewolf at EU for the exact same thing.

You can win. Making rides that last more then a minute is a start.

Those Mack spinner launched coasters are a blast, don’t knock it. I know it won’t be as forceful but Time Traveler at SDC is amazing, I welcome being able to ride more of that type of coaster.

 

[DisneyDean97]

they built a very nice junior coaster in HK to go along with FEA and people on here were ragging on it because its so well themed but so short lol. you cant win

lol true, I think that's because the concept art looked similar to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and people assumed it was going to be its equivalent. Its basically their park's Barnstormer coaster, just really really well themed.

 

[Bocabear]

they built a very nice junior coaster in HK to go along with FEA and people on here were ragging on it because its so well themed but so short lol. you cant win

You certainly can... make a ride longer than 90 seconds... Any coaster is going to have huge long lines... Nothing is more frustrating than waiting an hour plus for a ride that is literally under a minute long... This is not an advanced concept to understand...

 

[Tha Realest]

It’s scenes. Disney can’t or won’t create scenes anymore, the kind that defined not only Es like HM or WoM but also smaller scale dark rides. River Journey is disappointing because it lacks scenes - it’s like looking at a stage with no performance. At least Frozen sort of tries to create scenes in the newly created first show room before devolving into Disney’s copyrighted “elaborate figures gesture at you in empty room” - the same thing that afflicts RJ’s Shaman.

How much do you think this phenomenon stems from the original / second generation Imagineers having been steeped in other disciplines like animation layout and story development vs more modern Imagineers (who, nothing against them, but don’t necessarily come up from that sort of background).

 

[BrianLo]

We'll criticize Curse of the Werewolf at EU for the exact same thing.

You can win. Making rides that last more then a minute is a start.

Mary poppins is being put on a pedestal as well, but would have been pilloried. Though the facade concept looked nice.

The concept there also needed to be a fantasyland busbar C ticket, not a carousel. It’s not hard for them to set an expectation of ‘this ride is like Snow White or Peter Pan’ from the get go.

 

[Dcgc28]

You certainly can... make a ride longer than 90 seconds... Any coaster is going to have huge long lines... Nothing is more frustrating than waiting an hour plus for a ride that is literally under a minute long... This is not an advanced concept to understand...

On average roller coaster are only 2 minutes long. This is not an exclusive to Disney problem, it’s most roller coasters ever built. How long should it be? 90 seconds isn’t egregiously short by that metric.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

On average roller coaster are only 2 minutes long. This is not an exclusive to Disney problem, it’s most roller coasters ever built. How long should it be? 90 seconds isn’t egregiously short by that metric.

Tron is egregiously short. SDMT is egregiously short. In my opinion, Barnstormer is not *egregiously* short because it is not sold as an "E-ticket". Story coasters like Hagrid's (in my opinion) should be the blueprint for all "story" coasters going forward. If Disney (or any other theme park) is pouring 100s of millions of dollars into a headliner it should be no shorter than 2-3 minutes (especially for a coaster).

 

[PREMiERdrum]

On average roller coaster are only 2 minutes long. This is not an exclusive to Disney problem, it’s most roller coasters ever built.

All 4 minutes and 10 seconds of The Beast is an hour fourty-five down the road, so I might be excluded from this discussion.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Tron is egregiously short. SDMT is egregiously short. In my opinion, Barnstormer is not *egregiously* short because it is not sold as an "E-ticket". Story coasters like Hagrid's (in my opinion) should be the blueprint for all "story" coasters going forward. If Disney (or any other theme park) is pouring 100 of millions of dollars into a headliner it should be no shorter than 2-3 minutes (especially for a coaster).

Guardians is a well-paced experience. Hagrid's is good, and Velocicoaster is my current #1. SDMT is iffy and Tron is offensively short. The gravity building has plenty of room for a longer layout. With the financial outlay of that project, the ride experience itself is a miss.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Mary poppins is being put on a pedestal as well, but would have been pilloried. Though the facade concept looked nice.

The concept there also needed to be a fantasyland busbar C ticket, not a carousel. It’s not hard for them to set an expectation of ‘this ride is like Snow White or Peter Pan’ from the get go.

Yeah, the problem with Poppins is that fans and imagineers have been discussing a Poppins dark ride for decades, so announcing a flat fell flat.

Bringing this back to BBTM, the Phase 1 Coco expansion needs some capacity eaters, perhaps a flat and a small show venue (actually, Coco would be ideal for a major show that integrates live actors, screens, and AAs, a sort of souped up version of the Genie show in Tokyo. But we're not getting that, so...)

 

[Casper Gutman]

On average roller coaster are only 2 minutes long. This is not an exclusive to Disney problem, it’s most roller coasters ever built. How long should it be? 90 seconds isn’t egregiously short by that metric.

Not sure where you're getting your "average" here. Even if we take that claim as true, Frozen is UNDER a minute, so its less then half as long as the "average" coaster. That's significant.

 

[Casper Gutman]

How much do you think this phenomenon stems from the original / second generation Imagineers having been steeped in other disciplines like animation layout and story development vs more modern Imagineers (who, nothing against them, but don’t necessarily come up from that sort of background).

I think that's a huge part of it. Dark rides are closely akin to film - you're just moving the audience instead of the camera. I'm sure there's a whole host of other reasons for the move away from scenes we could speculate about.

 

[MaximumEd]

Not sure where you're getting your "average" here. Even if we take that claim as true, Frozen is UNDER a minute, so its less then half as long as the "average" coaster. That's significant.

Did you mean Tron?