Theme Park Game Changers

[danlb_2000]

This came up in another thread so I think it deserves it's own thread. What theme park elements, doesn't necessarily need to be rides, do you consider to be "game changers" in the theme park industry. I know this is a Disney discussion forum, and I am sure Disney has had it's share of game changers, but we don't need to limit it to Disney. For reference the dictionary definition of a game changer is:

"an event, idea, or procedure that effects a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something."

so this is not just about great attractions but things that changed the way things were done at theme parks.

 

[djkidkaz]

This came up in another thread so I think it deserves it's own thread. What theme park elements, doesn't necessarily need to be rides, do you consider to be "game changers" in the theme park industry. I know this is a Disney discussion forum, and I am sure Disney has had it's share of game changers, but we don't need to limit it to Disney. For reference the dictionary definition of a game changer is:

"an event, idea, or procedure that effects a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something."

so this is not just about great attractions but things that changed the way things were done at theme parks.

Im curious what your three are danlb? I know you feel that Flight of Passage is not a game changer but what do you consider the last three attractions to be game changers?

 

[danlb_2000]

Im curious what your three are danlb? I know you feel that Flight of Passage is not a game changer but what do you consider the last three attractions to be game changers?

For single attraction I honestly don't know, but I would be interested to year what others think. As for more general things I would say Carsland and Wizarding World were game changes since they showed that highly immersive, single IP lands could be successful. I don't think we would have Avatarland without the success of those two. I think we may still have gotten a Star Wars land but it probably would have ended up being a loose group of attractions instead of something that appears to be taking the immersive land idea to the next level. If Star Wars Land pulls off the level of interaction they are talking about then I think that could also be a game changer.

 

[marni1971]

Single attraction game changers?

Forbidden Journey
Spider-Man
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye
Star Tours
Universe of Energy
Spaceship Earth
Big Thundermountain Railroad
Pirates of the Caribbean

 

[Bill Cipher]

Spiderman, Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Forbidden Journey, and Radiator Springs Racers are all game changer rides to me.
I'd say Cars Land, Diagan Alley, and Pandora are all game changers in terms of atmosphere/walkaround.

 

[danlb_2000]

Spiderman, Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Forbidden Journey, and Radiator Springs Racers are all game changer rides to me.
I'd say Cars Land, Diagan Alley, and Pandora are all game changers in terms of atmosphere/walkaround.

I don't see Forbbiden Journey of Radiator Springs Racers as being game changers. They are both great rides, and as I said their lands were game changers, but I don't see ride designers looking at either of those and saying, "wow, this changes how we are going to design rides in the future".

 

[marni1971]

I don't see Forbbiden Journey of Radiator Springs Racers as being game changers. They are both great rides, and as I said their lands were game changers, but I don't see ride designers looking at either of those and saying, "wow, this changes how we are going to design rides in the future".

Springs no. Very good but pushing the existing boundary of bus bar and Test Track tech.

 

[danlb_2000]

Springs no. Very good but pushing the existing boundary of bus bar and Test Track tech.

What about Forbidden Journey? It's technologically groundbreaking but I don't see it's influence on anything after it so far. You could give it credit for it's queue, but I feel Indiana Jones Template of the Forbidden Eye took queues to the next level well before that.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

A couple of things come to mind. However, as a possible game changer, I'm going to have to go with the incorporation of Augmented and Virtual Reality into the Theme Park universe.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

+
Matterhorn
Tiki Birdses
DL
MK and WDW
EPCOT
River Country
Wet 'n Wild

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Single attraction game changers?

Forbidden Journey
Spider-Man
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye
Star Tours
Universe of Energy
Spaceship Earth
Big Thundermountain Railroad
Pirates of the Caribbean

I'd almost be tempted to swap out Thunder for The Matterhorn -- but I wonder if I am perhaps missing something about Thunder?

 

[BigRedDad]

ADRs at 180 days out. It changed the spontaneity of dining at WDW and requires you to plan your trip around dining times

FP+ ahead of time instead of at the kiosks. Limits the people that know how to use it and requires you to plan your entire vacation around it.

AP benefits. Treating annual pass holders as third class citizens because they visit more often.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Well, if you're talking about game changers at Disney, let's go all the way back to the beginning...Walt's idea of the "spoke and wheel" design of Disneyland was a game changer...EVERY amusement/theme park built after Anaheim utilized that same park layout...

The second IMO, would be the original AA of Abraham Lincoln at the NY World's Fair...the third would be the Matterhorn, the first use of tubular tracks in a coaster type ride.

 

[Bill Cipher]

I don't see Forbbiden Journey of Radiator Springs Racers as being game changers. They are both great rides, and as I said their lands were game changers, but I don't see ride designers looking at either of those and saying, "wow, this changes how we are going to design rides in the future".

I guess you're right about RSR, but before FJ there weren't many (if any at all, that I can recall) rides that used a kuka arm + omnimover + screen caurosel hybrid ride system. (If there are, I'd love to be proved wrong so I can visit it.)

EDIT: Just read your other post and I guess you are right that those technologies haven't really spread to other rides, good point. I revoke my statement of FJ being a game changer, since by definition, it did not change the game much.

 

[Jeremy P]

When I think of game changers, the first attraction that comes to mind is definitely ToT. I think it took a fairly common ride system (meaning the tower drop system) and made it into something no one could have expected. When I think of a drop ride as such, I immediately think of a quick up and down system but this totally immerses you into the environment and puts you in these show scenes where you watch the story unfold before experiencing effects that are still mind blowing to me and then eventually facing the ever popular randomized drops.

 

[djkidkaz]

I guess you're right about RSR, but before FJ there weren't many (if any at all, that I can recall) rides that used a kuka arm + omnimover + screen caurosel hybrid ride system. (If there are, I'd love to be proved wrong so I can visit it.)

EDIT: Just read your other post and I guess you are right that those technologies haven't really spread to other rides. Good point

But if FJ is a game changer for combining the kuka arm as a seating device with older tech like an omnimover and a screen then wouldn't FoP be the same? Its using a screen, with 3D and smell / water effects and a new style of seating device that has motion in the "bike" seat it uses.

When I think of game changers in the past 20 years there really isn't much that comes to mind. I think of Harry Potter land as a whole which changed the industry mindset on how far you could take theming and Spider-Man which I believe was the first attraction to use those large screens which we see in continuous use today.

Theres been rumors that this new Star Wars ride is going to have you disembarking mid-ride and getting on another vehicle, which if thats the case, depending on how well it works could be the next game changer. We shall see....

 

[djkidkaz]

When I think of game changers, the first attraction that comes to mind is definitely ToT. I think it took a fairly common ride system (meaning the tower drop system) and made it into something no one could have expected. When I think of a drop ride as such, I immediately think of a quick up and down system but this totally immerses you into the environment and puts you in these show scenes where you watch the story unfold before experiencing effects that are still mind blowing to me and then eventually facing the ever popular randomized drops.

The only thing about ToT that I see as game changing would be the fact that the ride is randomized. I'm not even sure if its the first attraction to have different outcomes or not. But just the fact that it took another ride system and made it better isn't really game changing to me.

 

[Uncle Lupe]

Dessert parties, Upcharge events, separate admission celebrations. Putting entertainment inside entertainment creating a perceived value to a previously free product.

 

[Bill Cipher]

But if FJ is a game changer for combining the kuka arm as a seating device with older tech like an omnimover and a screen then wouldn't FoP be the same? Its using a screen, with 3D and smell / water effects and a new style of seating device that has motion in the "bike" seat it uses.

When I think of game changers in the past 20 years there really isn't much that comes to mind. I think of Harry Potter land as a whole which changed the industry mindset on how far you could take theming and Spider-Man which I believe was the first attraction to use those large screens which we see in continuous use today.

Theres been rumors that this new Star Wars ride is going to have you disembarking mid-ride and getting on another vehicle, which if thats the case, depending on how well it works could be the next game changer. We shall see....

In the post you quoted me in I was trying to say in the edit that I revoke my statement of it being a game changer, but i guess it wan't that clear, so I'll edit again.

For FoP, I, like others, belive that the ride is great and verly well done but still not a game changer, and @danlb_2000 has made a point to me that has caused me to change my opinion of FJ to be similar (I still think FJ is a bit better though). And for the record, I have been on both rides recently.

 

[tmthomas52]

In my lifetime the two game changing attractions I have experienced following their introduction are Expedition Everest and Forbidden Journey. Expedition Everest for the combination of the usage of the most complex AA ever built at the time (tear), the use of forward and backward track, and intense roller coaster all in one attraction just felt like something that had never been done before. Forbidden Journey also was an experience like no other the first time I rode it. The complex show scenes along with the KUKA arm's motion capabilities felt special and I am not a Harry Potter fan. I got a different feeling after riding both of these attractions, one that I had not felt prior on any attraction.