The Land Boat Ride.. NO AUDIO in 1st Greenhouse

[Thelazer]

So among the many things I did yesterday was visit the land at epcot.

Well so much for the whole "update" the tour recording now and then idea. The first set of greenhouses there was NO narration, the 2nd set had some narration but as I recall it remains unchanged from when the conversion from "live host" to "is it Memorex?" happened.

Pretty sad indeed.

On the plus side, I did see the dream squad hand out some mouse ears to the boat before us. Never seen people so happy to get a cheap hat.

 

[tigsmom]

Everything was fine when we were there on Friday. I do like the "live" version better though.

 

[DisneyPhD]

When we rode it back in Jan the audio was missing too. DH rode it again the same trip and said it was playing.

Then a few weeks ago we were there and it was playing again.

It seems pretty off again on again. I wonder why?

 

[maggiegrace1]

So among the many things I did yesterday was visit the land at epcot.

Well so much for the whole "update" the tour recording now and then idea. The first set of greenhouses there was NO narration, the 2nd set had some narration but as I recall it remains unchanged from when the conversion from "live host" to "is it Memorex?" happened.

Pretty sad indeed.

On the plus side, I did see the dream squad hand out some mouse ears to the boat before us. Never seen people so happy to get a cheap hat.

It worked 2 weeks ago when we were there...

Sometimes things can go wrong...:shrug:

I was one of the ones EXTREMELY Happy to get a cheap hat...

 

[Robfasto]

Everything was fine on our trip in early February.

 

[Captain Hank]

It happens.

The spiel is activated by RFID-type sensors on the boats, which read keycards positioned along the edge of the flume. Depending on how the boat is weighted, the sensor may or may not pick up the signal from the keycards. There are several keycards that are notorious for not activating the sensor, such as the first one in String house ("These plants are definately on their way up!"). Usually tropics is semi-reliable. Whether or not the full spiel is heard varies from boat to boat.

The spiel is somewhat different from the last incarnation of the live script. There are some differences, though mostly with just how things are stated. It is a little more general as well, to allow for more crop rotation with fewer spiel changes.

 

[Cynderella]

When we went on it in November there was absolutly no narrations until the greenhouses. Is there supposed to be talking prior to the greenhouses? We were very confused!

 

[Captain Hank]

When we went on it in November there was absolutly no narrations until the greenhouses. Is there supposed to be talking prior to the greenhouses? We were very confused!

Yes, there is narration prior to the greenhouses. When the boat ride first re-opened, the show scene narration was very spotty. It had improved by the time I left in January.

 

[mousermerf]

I was on the ride roughly 2 weeks ago. The speils all seemed to work, but we had a breakdown in the middle of String.

I always wondered what happened when a ride like that "broke down" as I've been on other flumes where there are little barriers that rise up to stop the boats and the Land has none.

Essentially the water pumps all stop and you slowly stop as the current eases.

I miss the female narrator

 

[Captain Hank]

I was on the ride roughly 2 weeks ago. The speils all seemed to work, but we had a breakdown in the middle of String.

I always wondered what happened when a ride like that "broke down" as I've been on other flumes where there are little barriers that rise up to stop the boats and the Land has none.

Essentially the water pumps all stop and you slowly stop as the current eases.

I miss the female narrator

There are actually boat stops in the ride, but are rarely used. I was helping out with evacuation training one day, and the boat stop in the barn theater was activated. There's actually a lantern near the end of the barn theater that flashes red when the boat stops are up.

 

[Moustronaut]

All the spiels were working this past Saturday afternoon when I rode it. I actually kinda like the new automated spiel. Definatly more enthusiastic about the script than some of the CM's I've had guiding the tour in the past.

The thing I didn't like was the "voice from above" telling people to stay seated or keep their hands in the boat for their own safety.

When is Imagineering going to finish that teleporter to quietly beam guests to a 15 minute penatly box for flash photography, cell phone talkers, and hanging out of the dark ride cars.

 

[kcnole]

when the spielers were excited about this job it was wonderful with a live host. Unfortunately, over time, they've been so tied down to having to stay exactly on script and reprimanded for the least little variation that any spark they once had had long gone from them. At least the recorded narration, when it's working, is exciting.

 

[DisneyNut7578]

The last time my wife and I rode this, the narration was working the whole ride, and rather well.

The only problem was there was a lady behind us singing "Where the Buffaloes Roam" the whole ride, full volume. And everybody in her party thought it was sooooo funny. I really wanted to throw her overboard.

 

[gjpjtj]

I think the rude talkers are worse now that there is not a live narrator. The times we rode it, with the new recorded spiel, it seemed like alot of people were talking over it, and made it hard to hear. I don't remember this being a problem with the live narrator.

 

[steve2wdw]

I think the rude talkers are worse now that there is not a live narrator. The times we rode it, with the new recorded spiel, it seemed like alot of people were talking over it, and made it hard to hear. I don't remember this being a problem with the live narrator.

I agree...two women sat next to me and had a conversation throughout the entire ride. I couldn't hear anything. With a CM onboard, conversations between guests were non-existant for fear of being rude to the CM. Bring 'em back I say.

 

[MomofKatie]

DD and I visited in January, and there was no narration at all in the greenhouses. We just silently floated by everything.

 

[BSikor]

I think the rude talkers are worse now that there is not a live narrator. The times we rode it, with the new recorded spiel, it seemed like alot of people were talking over it, and made it hard to hear. I don't remember this being a problem with the live narrator.

No... it was a problem then too. When I worked there for four years I would always get thrown off track when someone was talking too loud or trying to stand up of put there hands in the sand. It was a little annoying.

The one sensor that I always remembered being trouble was at the entrance to the rainforrest and thusly the dessert. If there were a lot of boats on the canal or the boat was heavy the boats would ride lower and hit the jets more which made the ride much faster. It wouldn't be noticable to the riders but if you rode it 22 times a day, 110 times a week, 5720 a year... you did. The boat would fly past the sensors as it was wraping up the previous narration. Faster boats also meant I had to get the mandatory info out faster and loose some of the optional text.

As far as evacs went. In my day there were no boat stops. The added the doors when I was there but the ride stopped when the pumps shut off.

I remember one time a huge batch of sugar cane fell across the canal and we were heading for it a full speed. I had to jump off and call dispatch to e-stop the ride. Unfortunatly the greenhouse team was at a confrence for the day and we were stuck for a while. To remedy to situation and amuse my audience I tried to clear the tall sticks of sugar cane myself. I learned a valuble lesson that day... Sugar cane has little prickly pieces on it.

Ouch.

 

[CThaddeus]

This was one of the worst rehabs in my opinion, based on my visit in December. I went on it three times, and each time sat in a different location in the boat. I never heard more than a few words of the spiel at any given time, and there were many points as mentioned before where there was no narration whatsoever. It basically then became a free-for-all, since no one could tell what was going on, they started to yap amongst themselves, tell jokes, and on one boat, let their kids run rampant at the front of the boat. Somehow the kids knew when we were coming up to those "we're watching you" areas, and they'd behave just long enough to be out of the "watcher's" eyesight. Still, we got the "Remain seated speech" quite a few times. At least I could hear that, but those it was directed to didn't seem to care. So, while some CMs might not have been Captains Excitement when narrating the attraction, they did seem to command enough respect (and had a loud enough voice) to keep people from being absolute maniacs. Either bring back the CMs, raise the volume of the on-board speakers significantly (maybe those directional overhead speakers they have in Innoventions, perhaps?), and/or post more "watchers"/cameras/whatever along the way or this attraction is just going to become the ghetto of all Epcot attractions...a title I once applied to the whole Test Track area/atrraction. Such a shame, too. I loved going on Living with the Land. It was one of the last bastions of honest-to-goodness EPCOT edutainment.

 

[BwanaBob]

I was on the ride roughly 2 weeks ago. The speils all seemed to work, but we had a breakdown in the middle of String.

I always wondered what happened when a ride like that "broke down" as I've been on other flumes where there are little barriers that rise up to stop the boats and the Land has none.

Essentially the water pumps all stop and you slowly stop as the current eases.

I miss the female narrator

I'm glad you said that merf.

That was the FIRST thing I thought to myself as soon as I got on it.
At LEAST use the nice, calming voice of a female... if the orig narrator is nowhere to be found.

But then again, we didn't use the 'monorail guy' when we updated the monorail spiels.

I guess when Jack left us, that whole idea left too.