EPCOT Announced: Mary Poppins Attraction in UK Pavilion

[yensidtlaw1969]

Double decker carousel with a "show building" that would have had changing screens. It's not completely gone... just shelved. The original author's estate approved the plan, so they're not going to throw it away permanently given the difficulty in that process.

I seem to remember hearing that it was going to feature some of the Runaway Railway-style screens that make the characters appear to be floating within space, like Goofy in the Train or Donald in the Hotdog Hut . . . which, honestly, would probably be a really good way to bring Mary Poppins' animated characters to life in this kind of setting.

I have to assume that their every intention was to lean into the Emily Blunt Mary Poppins, with no real hint of the Julie Andrews original, right?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I have to assume that their every intention was to lean into the Emily Blunt Mary Poppins, with no real hint of the Julie Andrews original, right?

Personally, I have 0 interest in a ride that's based on the requel and not the original.

I'm not really keen on it going into EPCOT either, but that's a lost cause at this point.

 

[WDW Pro]

I seem to remember hearing that it was going to feature some of the Runaway Railway-style screens that make the characters appear to be floating within space, like Goofy in the Train or Donald in the Hotdog Hut . . . which, honestly, would probably be a really good way to bring Mary Poppins' animated characters to life in this kind of setting.

I have to assume that their every intention was to lean into the Emily Blunt Mary Poppins, with no real hint of the Julie Andrews original, right?

I'm not sure it made it far enough into development to determine the screen content. The idea was to have half the Carousel open-air and then half (or perhaps a third, don't remember) in the building with the screens. Content would be different over time, and it was pitched this would reflect positively on Mary Poppins' live action - animation hybrid style in ride form. There was another concept that had the horses leaving the carousel (which would have been faux) via multi-lane tracks to go into a show building hidden by residential home facades, but I think that was dismissed for costs.

 

[No Name]

There was another concept that had the horses leaving the carousel (which would have been faux) via multi-lane tracks to go into a show building hidden by residential home facades, but I think that was dismissed for costs.

I’ve always absolutely loved this idea, I’m thrilled to hear it was actually discussed in the company.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

There was another concept that had the horses leaving the carousel (which would have been faux) via multi-lane tracks to go into a show building hidden by residential home facades, but I think that was dismissed for costs.

I’ve always absolutely loved this idea, I’m thrilled to hear it was actually discussed in the company.

This should be the replacement for the Tomorrowland Speedway.

 

[nickys]

I’ve always absolutely loved this idea, I’m thrilled to hear it was actually discussed in the company.

I’m not sure if we know that they did discuss it. Both those concepts have been discussed here, from before @wdwpro even joined the forums. I don’t think anyone else has said these were serious ideas on the table at any point.

 

[James Alucobond]

As charming as the horses going off the rails sounds, I don’t know that it’s terribly practical as a ride vehicle. Not sure you’d want something that kids could easily dismount, and strapping people in slows things down and really breaks the illusion. The Baxter solution seemed to be making each ride vehicle its own merry-go-round, but I feel like you’d have to space them out a ton for visibility if they had the canopies pictured, limiting capacity. I suppose another option might be to only allow guests to board the “bench” seating common on merry-go-rounds.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

As charming as the horses going off the rails sounds, I don’t know that it’s terribly practical as a ride vehicle. Not sure you’d want something that kids could easily dismount, and strapping people in slows things down and really breaks the illusion. The Baxter solution seemed to be making each ride vehicle its own merry-go-round, but I feel like you’d have to space them out a ton for visibility if they had the canopies pictured, limiting capacity. I suppose another option might be to only allow guests to board the “bench” seating common on merry-go-rounds.

I think the best solution would be to have 4 person cars with seating like Knott's Pony Express coaster.

You still ride horses, but are secured in place and stationary for loading/unloading.

And if you wanted too, you could have the whole vehicle go up and down instead of individual horses like the Tigger scene in TMAWTP.

 

[TikibirdLand]

I would've loved to see Cherry Tree Lane as a physical set in WS. A carousel would have been wonderful. Guess I'll have to keep on dreaming...

 

[aladdin2007]

I believe a Brave dark ride was first considered before Poppins. I miss the bus bar dark rides, guess we will never see one of those made again.

 

[owlsandcoffee]

I believe a Brave dark ride was first considered before Poppins. I miss the bus bar dark rides, guess we will never see one of those made again.

I, in a way, consider the trackless dark rides a spiritual successor to that. There are drawbacks; the trackless vehicles are massive and cumbersome. One wonders if a smaller, faster trackless vehicle is a possibility.

 

[Brer Panther]

Remember when we were all hoping for them to add a trackless dark ride to Disney World?

Now we have, I think, three. And the novelty has worn off.

 

[TikibirdLand]

I, in a way, consider the trackless dark rides a spiritual successor to that. There are drawbacks; the trackless vehicles are massive and cumbersome. One wonders if a smaller, faster trackless vehicle is a possibility.

IMO, they're trying to do too much with the trackless, affecting the storytelling. It's more important than the technology. A simpler, easier to maintain vehicle and support doesn't negate immersion. Take a look at what other parks on doing with less technology.

 

[Brer Panther]

There was absolutely no reason for Ratatouille to be a trackless dark ride, or a dark ride at all. Most of the ride is just spent parked in front of a screen. They could have made it a simulator and it wouldn't have made a difference.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Remember when we were all hoping for them to add a trackless dark ride to Disney World?

Now we have, I think, three. And the novelty has worn off.

Yup. MMRR (and MM) seems to be about as well used as the trackless system can be. It doesn’t add much at all to RotR and is completely useless on Rat. As far as I’m concerned, they can add MM or a similar equivalent (Encanto seems made for this) and then stop with the trackless systems.

Universal’s Scoop is a much more versatile system and a much more logical successor to the Omnimover - which doesn’t need a successor, since it still works brilliantly well.

 

[J4546]

There was absolutely no reason for Ratatouille to be a trackless dark ride, or a dark ride at all. Most of the ride is just spent parked in front of a screen. They could have made it a simulator and it wouldn't have made a difference.

I disagree with that, I think rat is a great mid tier darkride and is a great addition to epcot. The ride itself has the cars moving around in fun ways that couldnt be done without trackless. Is it rise? No, but it's not as bad as people make it put to be imo

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

There was absolutely no reason for Ratatouille to be a trackless dark ride, or a dark ride at all. Most of the ride is just spent parked in front of a screen. They could have made it a simulator and it wouldn't have made a difference.

Respectfully disagree. Look at Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, most of that ride is spent parked in front of screens too, but it's one of the greatest attractions of all time (some may argue *the* greatest). You just don't get the same effects in a simulator. The bits they chose to make practical give it a heightened sense of authenticity. I like it a lot for what it is.

 

[UNCgolf]

Respectfully disagree. Look at Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, most of that ride is spent parked in front of screens too, but it's one of the greatest attractions of all time (some may argue *the* greatest). You just don't get the same effects in a simulator. The bits they chose to make practical give it a heightened sense of authenticity. I like it a lot for what it is.

The heavy use of screens in Spider-Man is why it didn't work all that well for me. It's a good ride, and probably about as good as you can do using screens, but it didn't blow me away. I think I could name at least 10 attractions I've enjoyed more just at Universal Orlando and WDW.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

The heavy use of screens in Spider-Man is why it didn't work all that well for me. It's a good ride, and probably about as good as you can do using screens, but it didn't blow me away. I think I could name at least 10 attractions I've enjoyed more and that's just at Universal Orlando and WDW.

I tend to agree - I enjoy Spider-Man and respect how innovative it was, but I rode both Spider-Man and Indiana Jones at Disneyland for the first time within a month of each other and I was WAY more impressed by Jones. It takes all the best elements of a simulator and runs it through a practical environment.

Ratatouille would be much improved by having some EMV features within the vehicle - that lack of a motion base in the ride vehicle really hurts it when you're parked in front of a screen and meant to believe you're careening through the kitchen. Even some light pitch and yaw would do wonders. But I'll stop there, since my criticism of Rat goes much further and I'm just gonna derail the thread.

There was another concept that had the horses leaving the carousel (which would have been faux) via multi-lane tracks to go into a show building hidden by residential home facades, but I think that was dismissed for costs.

To whom do I make out the Human Sacrifice in order to make THIS happen? If we're meant to finally get a Mary Poppins Attraction, something like this is really the form it should take. I'm sure the Double-Decker Carousel would have been nice enough, but Mary deserves better than another bunted spinner.

 

[J4546]

I also kinda think a nice classy double decker merry go round would be a pretty swell addition to epcot as there isnt one, so even if they cut the budget way down from a dark ride to a nice merrygoround Id be happy, and its be a nice low thrills ride all ages draw to that section of the park