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

[larryz]

And the Buzby Berkeley roundtable and water effects, and the acting, and the voice over, and the face of Gene Kelly, and the lack of kinetics in the Mary Poppins scene. It's a movie ride. I wouldn't call it "great."

"Great" describes "movie," not "ride."

 

[Thanks phoenicians]

Sadly I'm still told yes.

Interesting you say sadly. Has it been cut down more? Obviously it should be an expansion but at least it's an ip that really is worthy of an e ticket. I mean we lost an entire land or mini land in toon town dedicated to Minnie, Mickey, and the gang so its time for something of substance to be added back regarding the original characters. That being said GMR should get a massive overhaul and this should be separate possibly in the animation area, but I realize that would ask for too much.

 

[marni1971]

Interesting you say sadly. Has it been cut down more? Obviously it should be an expansion but at least it's an ip that really is worthy of an e ticket. I mean we lost an entire land or mini land in toon town dedicated to Minnie, Mickey, and the gang so its time for something of substance to be added back regarding the original characters. That being said GMR should get a massive overhaul and this should be separate possibly in the animation area, but I realize that would ask for too much.

Sadly since it's a replacement not an addition.

And that it's replacing the GMR. So many better options. See my earlier post about the proposed 1991 Hyperion Studios on Sunset Blvd.

 

[flyerjab]

Sadly since it's a replacement not an addition.

And that it's replacing the GMR. So many better options. See my earlier post about the proposed 1991 Hyperion Studios on Sunset Blvd.

I remember the concept art you posted for that. It is a shame that was never given the go ahead as it looked incredible.

Question...had that proposal been built, would the RnR ride never have existed?

 

[willtravel]

I think it would have been nice if they would just take out either the Alien or Tarzan scene and replace with a Mickey storyline and just keep the rest. Best of both worlds.

 

[flyerjab]

The smart way to do this would have been to build Mickey elsewhere. Mickey would be done and open before SW Land. Then in 2019/2020 close GMR and refurb it in time for the 50th.

Ummm, Animation Courtyard anyone?

Since DHS is going to be an amalgam of unrelated IPs coupled with the Hollywood that never was but always will be, the GMR could have at least served as a great central anchor for this park, especially since the departure from the original thematic basis for this particular theme park has turned slightly dystopian in the eyes of many a fan of the DHS that once was.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Ummm, Animation Courtyard anyone?

Since DHS is going to be an amalgam of unrelated IPs coupled with the Hollywood that never was but always will be, the GMR could have at least served as a great central anchor for this park, especially since the departure from the original thematic basis for this particular theme park has turned slightly dystopian in the eyes of many a fan of the DHS that once was.

Might as well call them Disney Store parks at this point.

 

[Otterhead]

Might as well call them Disney Store parks at this point.

Sure, because selling merchandise isn't something the Disney parks have ever done before. *cough*

 

[marni1971]

I remember the concept art you posted for that. It is a shame that was never given the go ahead as it looked incredible.

Question...had that proposal been built, would the RnR ride never have existed?

Well, they were on different areas, so who knows.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Sure, because selling merchandise isn't something the Disney parks have ever done before. *cough*

Have you been to a Disney Store lately? It's a hodgepodge of BRANDS without any thinking other than new releases up front. How are the studio parks any different?

 

[Otterhead]

Have you been to a Disney Store lately? It's a hodgepodge of BRANDS without any thinking other than new releases up front. How are the studio parks any different?

Like the Disney stores, the parks organize things by theme. You won't find Marvel merchandise in a Star Wars attraction, nor will you see Muppet merchandise mixed in with Marvel, etc, etc. They tend to have merchandise areas specific to different themes based on where you're at. Hey, I'm in a Disney villains themed store, and there's villain-themed merchandise. Now I'm in a Muppet store, and there's Muppet merch. Disney Stores in malls are much smaller, so there's a lot more visual overlap.

 

[Kman101]

How did the TCM deal, which was reported as 5 years, go from 5 to 3? Not that it really matters, Disney will do what they want to, did they announce it late? Did it start years earlier? Mis-reported?

 

[marni1971]

How did the TCM deal, which was reported as 5 years, go from 5 to 3? Not that it really matters, Disney will do what they want to, did they announce it late? Did it start years earlier? Mis-reported?

Buy out?

 

[The Empress Lilly]

With the closures of CinéMagique in DLP and GMR in DHS (both the central movie attractions in their parks) for Disney IP attractions, the trend seems clear. Out with promoting film in general, in with promoting Disney movies only. Mickey as centerpiece strikes me as not incidental, but deliberate statement.

 

[cheezbat]

While I'm not thrilled with replacing yet another ride instead of just adding, I am curious to see if the Chinese Theatre becomes the park's icon(or whatever it becomes if it's replaced.).

 

[Kman101]

Buy out?

Or that works too ... lol

 

[Animaniac93-98]

With the closures of CinéMagique in DLP and GMR in DHS (both the central movie attractions in their parks) for Disney IP attractions, the trend seems clear. Out with promoting film in general, in with promoting Disney movies only. Mickey as centerpiece strikes me as not incidental, but deliberate statement.

CinéMagique and The Great Movie Ride are the thesis attractions for their respective parks. They acknowledge that Disney is part of a shared film history and community (including French cinema in the former's case) and show a level of respect for that in the quality of their presentations. This likely is the result of Eisner's passion and influence for the industry, having come from Paramount prior to his tenure at Disney and being an all around film guy, for better or worse.

@the.dreamfinder 's comment about about The Disney Store is apt, because its layout is determined by the five key brands that drive merchandise sales (Star Wars, Marvel, Princesses, Toy Story and "Classic Disney" (aka Mickey and friends), and now both Studios parks will have a similar focus. In the world of retail, having different products organzied by shelf works, but in a themed enviroment it doesn't do anything to create a cohesive whole or smooth transitions, and yes, Universal is guilty of this too.

The closing of The Great Movie Ride would be the final nail in the coffin of Disney-MGM Studios. No more Superstar Television, Monster Sound Show, Animation Tour, Backlot Tour, or anything remotely related to film history or production. The only thing left will be superficial facades and the Indy stunt show (maybe). I know many here are excited for Star Wars Land, but all it and Mickey are going to do is replace a dead movie studio with a handful of good rides with a dead movie studio with a handful of somewhat better rides. They don't do anything to give new meaning to the park, much less badly needed expansion.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Sure, because selling merchandise isn't something the Disney parks have ever done before. *cough*

There is a huge difference between a theme park selling merchandise and merchandise sales being more important to the design of a theme park than story and experience (aka themed entertainment).

 

[GoofGoof]

Hall of presidents is not exactly a good comparison. With GMR they could have product being designed and manufactured long before the closes. With HOP they really can't do anything until after the election.

It may take 18 - 24 months for construction, but if construction took place off site and started before GMR closed, then only a few months of downtime would be needed to gut and install everything. That's pure speculation though. Hall of Presidents is taking 6 months because they are likely going to have new visuals and narration added, as well as updates to some current animatronics and maybe even a speech from the new president himself. I'd say a 6 month time frame is pretty good for doing all of that.

I only use HoP as an example since it's a relatively small change to the attraction compared to gutting it and adding a whole new ride system and theme. With HoP the show building, theater and most of the AAs stay the same. They just need to add 1 AA and some new audio. I think 6 months is a reasonable timeframe for that. I don't think it's likely that they could gut a ride the size of GMR and replace it in that time.

Maybe a better example is Frozestrom. Maelstrom closed October 5, 2014 and Frozen opened June 21, 2016. That's almost 21 months and the ride has the same ride system/boats with little change to the show building except for the change to load/unload. They also had the opportunity to do design work and build AAs and other components for the ride before construction started offsite and it still took nearly 2 years. If the rumors are true that the Mickey ride will not use the GMR ride system I'm doubtful that at the pace Disney builds lately that they could gut GMR, build new show scenes and set pieces and a new ride system in less than 2 years. 18 months would be a miracle if they threw every resource into it.

 

[GoofGoof]

How did the TCM deal, which was reported as 5 years, go from 5 to 3? Not that it really matters, Disney will do what they want to, did they announce it late? Did it start years earlier? Mis-reported?

Buy out?

Or that works too ... lol

That would be my guess too. It's not like Disney to voluntarily give money back though so maybe they negotiate a sponsorship for a different ride and/or the new Mickey ride to replace it.