News Announced: Mary Poppins Attraction in UK Pavilion

[MisterPenguin]

we all love Disney dark rides or we wouldn’t be here...

but they’re doing too much screens and trackless for comfort right now.

reprogrammability is what they’re telling themselves they have....less cost in the long run.

so use it. Don’t expect to get 10-20 years off millennium falcon or runaway railway...they are once or twice and done. That captures most of the customers in 5 years flat

In four parks with nearly 60 rides, there are only 3 trackless rides:

• MMRR
• Rat
• RotR

What rides would you consider to be "screenz!"?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

In four parks with nearly 60 rides, there are only 3 trackless rides:

• MMRR
• Rat
• RotR

What rides would you consider to be "screenz!"?

All 3 of those are heavily screen dependent...they do “other things”...one has the wicked witch of ren...but they are heavy screen.

those 57 things...by the way...were built since 1970...

I can say “wow”...tron is the only vekoma tandem onsie seat launch coaster opened in 2022.

and I’d be right...but it’s not much of a complaint

I like dark rides...I’m ok with the trackless...but don’t Laud for opening 3 in a row just yet. They may announce 2 more when they start building again in 2027....just wait

oh and just to be clear...avatar and falcon are hybrid screen rides

the new Spider-Man is a screen...midway mania is a screen...

so they are on quite a run

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

What happened to the black box ride that was rumoured for the studios? I guess its been cancelled

Was that ever really a thing?

From several sources, yes.

But... Main Street Theater.

So not a thing, then?

I don’t recall that one

 

[Magicart87]

So not a thing, then?

I don’t recall that one

A one-size fits all "ride the movie" attraction that utilizes "screenz" as showpieces designed in such a way to be quickly changed out to satisfy the latest IP craze or as a cross-promotional gimmick. Ride type wasn't fully mentioned but one could guess based on the more recent ride offerings.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

A one-size fits all "ride the movie" attraction that utilizes "screenz" as showpieces designed in such a way to be quickly changed out to satisfy the latest IP craze or as a cross-promotional gimmick. Ride type wasn't fully mentioned but one could guess based on the more recent ride offerings.

that’s sound awful...

...chapek is looking to buy the company with the patent...correct?

 

[owlsandcoffee]

All 3 of those are heavily screen dependent...they do “other things”...one has the wicked witch of ren...but they are heavy screen.

MMRR is mostly projection heavy. Where it uses screens it is to show the animated characters.

 

[James Alucobond]

-Lots of disparate things-

I'm not entirely sure I follow your point. Do you have a problem with trackless rides or just screen dependency? Screens and projections have been more and more a part of the experience lately regardless of ride type. I don't think any of the rides mentioned would be any more or less screen-dependent if they were omnimovers, for instance.

Poppins in particular, though, would be an opportunity to really take advantage of what trackless rides do best since the movies have plenty of song and dance numbers. Some of the most magical parts of Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast and MMRR are Be Our Guest, the ballroom scene, and the conga line, in large part because of how they simulate dancing through free movement. Being part of the action in Chim Chim Cheree, Super-cali-fragil-istic, Trip a Little Light Fantastic, or A Cover Is Not the Book would be excellent.

As for screens, an attraction based on the Poppins films also has a great opportunity to make sensible use of projections and screens by transporting both you and realistic animatronics directly into animated scenes based on the sequences from the pavement artist and the Royal Doulton Music Hall.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

MMRR is mostly projection heavy. Where it uses screens it is to show the animated characters.

Right...I was lumping “projections” together

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm not entirely sure I follow your point. Do you have a problem with trackless rides or just screen dependency? Screens and projections have been more and more a part of the experience lately regardless of ride type. I don't think any of the rides mentioned would be any more or less screen-dependent if they were omnimovers, for instance.

Poppins in particular, though, would be an opportunity to really take advantage of what trackless rides do best since the movies have plenty of song and dance numbers. Some of the most magical parts of Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast and MMRR are Be Our Guest, the ballroom scene, and the conga line, in large part because of how they simulate dancing through free movement. Being part of the action in Chim Chim Cheree, Super-cali-fragil-istic, Trip a Little Light Fantastic, or A Cover Is Not the Book would be excellent.

As for screens, an attraction based on the Poppins films also has a great opportunity to make sensible use of projections and screens by transporting both you and realistic animatronics directly into animated scenes based on the sequences from the pavement artist and the Royal Doulton Music Hall.

I have no problem with either trackless or screens...

I have a big problem with “mailing it in” on rides and doing the same things over and over again...particularly when they take 5 years to build something and then sit on the park for years after.

the main problem with Disney parks is they haven’t been refreshed enough for the last 25 years. One replacement every few years isn’t cutting it.

I don’t want anything becoming a “standard ride”

Eisner did two spinners in a year and you’d think they shot someone on Main Street at the time?

now we have trackless to replace onmimovers with little differences and sims out the wazzu

 

[James Alucobond]

I guess I just don't feel that either of the two trackless rides I've been able to board in Disney World feel similar enough for me to assert that trackless, as a ride type, is becoming part of some cookie cutter formula for them. I agree that it has certain strengths and that it should be reserved for experiences where those strengths can best be utilized, but I don't really understand the thinking that more shouldn't be built when they're actually underrepresented at the parks compared to other ride types.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I guess I just don't feel that either of the two trackless rides I've been able to board in Disney World feel similar enough for me to assert that trackless, as a ride type, is becoming part of some cookie cutter formula for them. I agree that it has certain strengths and that it should be reserved for experiences where those strengths can best be utilized, but I don't really understand the thinking that more shouldn't be built when they're actually underrepresented at the parks compared to other ride types.

they’re not “under represented”...they didn’t build any in Florida because olc and the Chinese partially financed the ones built first...

and during that period...not a lot was being done in Orlando. A land to counter potter and repurposing in magic kingdom and mgm...

Listen...I’ll take any addition...but “underrepresented” give excuse to the poor little conglomerate.

so we don’t need to have a ticker tape parade on these yet.

after rat opens...where do you want one next?

 

[James Alucobond]

I'm ... still really confused about what exactly you're saying because there seem to be so many tangential points you're bringing up. I'm just pointing out that the ride type is not oversaturated in WDW, so I wouldn't see a problem with adding more trackless rides. I also don't see the two I've been on as terribly similar. As for where they should go next, I don't care as long as it makes sense with the content of the ride and the associated IP. This topic happens to be about a ride where I think it makes sense for reasons I listed previously.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm ... still really confused about what exactly you're saying because there seem to be so many tangential points you're bringing up. I'm just pointing out that the ride type is not oversaturated in WDW, so I wouldn't see a problem with adding more trackless rides. I also don't see the two I've been on as terribly similar. As for where they should go next, I don't care as long as it makes sense with the content of the ride and the associated IP. This topic happens to be about a ride where I think it makes sense for reasons I listed previously.

Again...how many do you want and where do you want them?

and have you ridden these? I’m at 3....4 when they deign open the clone that’s completed waiting.

 

[James Alucobond]

All of the questions you just asked were answered in previous posts I made, which is part of what's confusing me.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

All of the questions you just asked were answered in previous posts I made, which is part of what's confusing me.

Well I’m confused now...and it’s a “familiar” kinda confusion...like one I think I’ve had before...more than a month ago.

but that can’t be?

 

[IMDREW]

Are you agreeing or disagreeing?

Mystic Manor and Pooh's Hunny Hunt are the two best overall (well, and Rise, but that's different because the setting lends itself to large open rooms), but even they have a couple of warehouse scenes. They're nowhere near as bad as some of the others, though.

I am agreeing. I mentioned MM because that one has a few spaces where the vehicles split or dance around eachother, but also a big part where they follow eachother as an omnimover. Imo a good use of the system. Hunny Hunt is also great ofcourse.

 

[marni1971]

Was that ever really a thing?

Yes.

 

[Magicart87]

Yes.

Ugh!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yes.

...in the ether above Glendale somewhere...

...I bet those guys are miserable these days?

 

[TikibirdLand]

I am agreeing. I mentioned MM because that one has a few spaces where the vehicles split or dance around eachother, but also a big part where they follow eachother as an omnimover. Imo a good use of the system. Hunny Hunt is also great ofcourse.

But, is this anything a busbar or wire-guided system can't do? As @Sirwalterraleigh points out above, it's not the ride vehicle that's important, it's the story and the experience being presented. Love what's going on overseas: Mystic Manor, BatB, because you are immersed in the story. Yeah, they do involve some screens. But, they're blended with the background and are not major players. When Rat is finally open, I think that will be it's main issue: Screens front and center. Compare that to other dark rides. it's more TSMM than it is BatB.