News Announced: Mary Poppins Attraction in UK Pavilion

[James Alucobond]

They were really going to have TWO PRESHOWS for a clone of the teacups? That seems pointless and over the top.

I would assume the other rooms are just indoor queue space. The only room that has a visible preshow is the one where it seems folks are transported to the surface of the Royal Doulton bowl.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

They were really going to have TWO PRESHOWS for a clone of the teacups? That seems pointless and over the top.

Interactive holding area and secondary room with "Enchanted Tales with Belle" style doorway reveal leading to queue space for ride itself.

 

[No Name]

You know… if Disney just wanted to add some small attractions like this, well themed, but didn’t make a big fuss about them, and just did it to add capacity and such… I would be more for it.

But to use the D23 stage to announce this? Garbage. Keep the big hyped stuff for the Disney attractions we expect, use the parks blog to announce adding a new teacup ride.

They announce rides they’re just thinking about, meet and greets, and sections in your local Target at these conventions. The bar is very low and a new ride certainly clears that bar.

 

[WowFactor]

They were really going to have TWO PRESHOWS for a clone of the teacups? That seems pointless and over the top.

My thoughts on this is that they had a better ride there and by cutting costs they kept the pre-show areas and just replaced the ride. The fireplace scene (which must be a very magical passage) looks cool though.

 

[No Name]

Another Tea Cups? This would have been the third such ride in as many parks. Yes, Alien Swirling "Saucers" might as well be another tea cup ride. Why not go for broke and put another variation in AK?

A.S.S. is a pretty different ride and doesn’t fit the picture at all. This and the MK ride are not only the same layout and system, they’re both conceptually the same… spinning in a Teacup.

 

[KingMickey13]

I think it would have been a good addition, Disney needs more C-Tickets, but something else was needed as well.

 

[No Name]

This would’ve been better than the empty space it’ll be for the rest of your lifetimes instead.

An addition without a VQ? Count me in.

That’s a bold assumption!

Is it actually cancelled? The last we heard on this says no.

(He was lying!)

 

[ToTBellHop]

I still think this could easily get approved if they need something to market in 2025. Especially if they postpone Play (or whatever it becomes) even longer.

 

[JustInTime]

Everything up to the ride type was great Imagineering. The concept fell apart when the elaborate queue and setup led to teacups. For what it's worth, I'm not really knocking the teacup attraction itself (even though Tea Party personally induces serious nausea) I just think it's the wrong ride type for the concept. Had they gone with a different spinner type I'd be all the more forgiving. Take for instance the classic Musik Express/Himalayas carnival attraction. That ride type could simulate the movement of a slow galloping Carousel and a frenetic spinning, dizzying saucer ride. Combining that with the same projection tech that was to be used here, and you could have the best of both rides and a premise that could explore both the classic Poppins go round and the tea cup spinning storylines. It would have been the better ride type, IMO. Another option could have used a Vekoma's Mad House to recreate Topsy-Turvey's upside down room or a sequence similar to Poppin's visit with Uncle Albert.

Practically ANYTHING would have be better than a rehash of Tea Cups. The IP is most deserving of a dark ride. Anything else is always going to be less then.

I think it’s fine. Especially if the walls had projections similar to what MMRR has. I think it could have been a fun C ticket.

 

[JustInTime]

I still think this could easily get approved if they need something to market in 2025. Especially if they postpone Play (or whatever it becomes) even longer.

Didn’t the project lead leave the company and take the concepts with him? Am I imagining this?

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Didn’t the project lead leave the company and take the concepts with him? Am I imagining this?

You don't get to take your concepts with you when you leave Imagineering.

Not ones you've developed on company time, at least.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I briefly thought this entire idea was supposed to be a joke on the stereotype of England liking tea (yes I'm aware UK is not only England).

I'm gonna join the not understanding why they went with that concept crowd. Not opposed to something simple. Just don't get the choice.

Another Tea Cups? This would have been the third such ride in as many parks. Yes, Alien Swirling "Saucers" might as well be another tea cup ride. Why not go for broke and put another variation in AK?

You take that back; Alien Swirling Saucers is clearly a dressed up tilt-a-whirl. They are different attractions.

 

[No Name]

A.S.S. is mostly a variation of The Whip.

So, I think it’s slightly weird that Disney has two omnimovers where you sit in a shell. I think it’s slightly weird that they have two boat rides with similar dolls. But it would be very weird to build a nearly identical ride where you sit in a giant teacup and spin. It was such a bizarre idea.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Now that this is gone, we can focus on another British property that currently doesn't have any theme park presence that Disney is now throwing money at:

View attachment 705441

On a similar note of leveraging outsider properties they have some distributional involvement in, what they should be doing with the Japan Pavilion. Like the fact that Ultraman sales are wiping the floor with every Disney brand in China right now according to Tsuburaya Productions's own earnings reports should be cause enough to at least consider growing the partnership beyond Marvel books.

 

[OSUPhantom]

I’m sure a different kind of rice would have been a more creative choice but a well-themed family friendly C-ticket is frankly more of what Epcot needs so I would have liked this a lot. Fingers crossed it eventually gets done.

 

[MisterPenguin]

On a similar note of leveraging outsider properties they have some distributional involvement in, what they should be doing with the Japan Pavilion. Like the fact that Ultraman sales are wiping the floor with every Disney brand in China right now according to Tsuburaya Productions's own earnings reports should be cause enough to at least consider growing the partnership beyond Marvel books.
View attachment 705550

Not all IP transfers well across cultures. WDW couldn't make Duffy and Friends a thing in the states.

 

[retr0gate]

I was originally underwhelmed by these plans but the more I thought about it, the more I would've liked to have seen this get built. It seems like the general consensus is that the Poppins IP deserved more than just a spinner, but true as that may be, it's not like building this prevents them from ever building another Mary Poppins experience in the parks again. This is the kind of small people eater that EPCOT needs and I fail to see how all the extra theming is a bad thing. As others have said, would you prefer if this was completely exposed? This is the "Disney difference" we always complain about never seeing. It's not the ride system that diminishes the overall experience, but rather, the theming that enhances the ride system and improves the experience. It's a glass half empty vs glass half full scenario.

Also, this may be me reading too much into it, but I think the whole concept of transporting you into a royal doulton bowl is a cute way to tie the ride (small as it may be) to the overall UK pavilion. It's a subtle yet effective way to celebrate english art and not just the Mary Poppins character herself. If we were going to get a spinner in World Showcase, this is the kind of theming I'd like to see.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Not all IP transfers well across cultures. WDW couldn't make Duffy and Friends a thing in the states.

Tsupro's been making a pretty active push for the brand in the West the last few years ever since they won back their international distribution rights from Chaiyo and its been picking up a lot of steam. The Marvel book was only a small part of their expansion strategy and admittedly, there's multiple fingers in the pie in the West given Netflix's animated movie plans and Shout Factory/Mill Creek holding the streaming/physical rights respectively for the back catalog, but if Tsuburaya wanted to try another live-action western co-production, adapting the Marvel books with Disney might not be a bad way to go.
I mean it's not like Disney's getting all of Doctor Who with their "Let's co-fund the new seasons" thing.

 

[WorldExplorer]

Also, this may be me reading too much into it, but I think the whole concept of transporting you into a royal doulton bowl is a cute way to tie the ride (small as it may be) to the overall UK pavilion. It's a subtle yet effective way to celebrate english art and not just the Mary Poppins character herself. If we were going to get a spinner in World Showcase, this is the kind of theming I'd like to see.

I disagree.

It's nice that they gave the United Kingdom the honor of not setting it's ride in a sewer, and picked a property that actually originated there.

But entering the bowl just happens in the movie, so I don't think they're trying to celebrate anything. Even if they are, it's a tea cup spinner; they could cover those walls in the most lovingly made, accurate tribute to a specific kind of art possible and it would be utterly pointless because the very nature of tea cup rides forces you to look inward and not focus outside of the cup.

(And culture is supposed to be the point in the countries, not a subtle nod.)

If this was forty years ago, and it was a carousel, then I could see the argument that it might be a good way to celebrate the artwork.

But it's now and it's a tea cup spinner.


(Yes I realize the horse left the barn a decade ago. But I'm still watching it from this hill I shall die on.)

 

[MrPromey]

Look at the Little Mermaid ride. While the biggest problem there is that it's just not a good attraction in general, the facade and queue also set expectations that you're about to ride a major E ticket. That exacerbates the issue. Having that sort of build up for a flat ride would almost certainly hurt guest satisfaction due to the expectations game.

I think we have data to back this up, too because they took a very different approach for it in California Adventure and that exterior does seem to set expectations more clearly up front.

It's still the not-exactly-great ride* out there that it is here but people out there at least seem to better appreciate it on the merits of what it was meant to be than they do here in FL and I'm entirely certain that has to do with the different approach to the exterior and queue leading to it.


*Yes, I'm trying to be kind.