Anyone Else Prefer Smugglers Run to ROTR

[Trackmaster]

Well to be fair, how many ARE interactive? I would say it's a step in a different direction which I found interesting. Being a gamer I thought it was a pretty neat spin. The controls have 'some' effect on the final score, but I don't know how much as it pertains to the script. Both rides are a little out of the box which is cool regardless in my book.

I'd imagine that practical effects are more expensive and require more upkeep. Hence we get things like Disco Yeti and such when the repair budgets are like, "Nahhh."

I'm not sure how many regional amusement/theme parks you go to (not meant to be mean by saying this, I just don't know your situation), but obviously with those parks they're mostly outdoor, unthemed flat ride and coasters. Nothing wrong with that, they have a limited budget. And what frustrates me to no end is when they do decide to take a step up and make a dark ride is when they just make it a lame shooting ride. I feel like a dark ride should be a ride where you get get in the vehicle, and you enjoy the theming and story, not when they put a gun in your hands, and you're too focused on shooting some lame things, and not enjoying the ride.

And about your point about the cost, I'm sorry, when your parks are (pre-Covid days obviously) packed to the brim and everybody is paying a ton of money to go, where does all that money go? Its not asking much for Disney to invest in their parks when people are paying a lot of money and they're packing a ton of people in.


For the record, I just think that most shooting rides are just lame in general, but its possible to have a quality one if they really tried. Maybe have a Halo IP with a trackless technology where its themed to riding around a convoy with a mixtures of screens, natural effects, and animatronics. Make the shooting actually worthwhile where you feel realistic recoil/backfire, and there are some gunpowder smell effects. Probably not for Disney, because they probably wouldn't go for an M rated IP, but maybe for Universal or a European park. But the point is if they insist on shooting rides, at least make them somewhat interesting and realistic feeling.

 

[Trackmaster]

I think the pivot to using more and more screens may backfire tremendously down the road because they're creating a experience that people can mostly get at home, and which will be outdated much faster. You can play a Star Wars video game that's both more realistic and more impressive than Smuggler's Run at home right now, and the number of people playing video games is skyrocketing and continues to increase with each generation. The Millenium Falcon set itself is great, of course, but the ride is not. The only real benefit over a video game/movie at home is the physical motion simulation, but if the game itself is far less impressive than what you can play at home, those things may cancel out.

It's much harder to recreate the experience of actually being in a physical three dimensional space with smells etc. than something created mainly by watching a screen. On the other hand, Toy Story Mania is basically just an obsolete 15 year old video game and people still seem to love that ride (for some unfathomable reason), so who knows.

I think that DHS just has the bar set pretty low. People are there, the park is packed, and there aren't many E-Tickets, so anything that's halfway presentable as a ride people will gravitate towards. For God's sake, that Alien Swirl flat ride was a tier 1 not too long ago. A lame kiddie coaster (Slinky) was the #1 attraction at the park not too long ago. The one new ride that's really up to Disney's standards the vast majority of the guests don't even have a prayer of getting on. This is just why I get so defensive and angry when a park that desperately needs big time rides with some capacity majorly whiffs on a ride, and even worse when some people try to rationalize it.

I get that some of these rides are popular, but the park just needs a lot of rides that whip a lot of people through, and they need to be popular enough that people want to ride them every time. Not just once every few visits and they're really there just to get on RotR.

 

[HongKongFooy]

For the record, I just think that most shooting rides are just lame in general,

I see you and raise you.

ALL are lame without exception from Universal Men in Black to Space Ranger Spin to Tokyo Disney's Ride and Go Seek to Midway Mania.

 

[HongKongFooy]

For God's sake, that Alien Swirl flat ride was a tier 1 not too long ago.

Randy Macho Man Savage:
"UNBELIEVABLE YAH"

 

[bryanfze55]

I see you and raise you.

ALL are lame without exception from Universal Men in Black to Space Ranger Spin to Tokyo Disney's Ride and Go Seek to Midway Mania.

Idk if I would call any of them lame (except maybe WDW’s Buzz), but I think I could comfortably say that all of them would be better as regular dark rides, without exception.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Idk if I would call any of them lame (except maybe WDW’s Buzz), but I think I could comfortably say that all of them would be better as regular dark rides, without exception.

I will take Midway Mania over Mike and Sulley to the Rescue any day, but I am sure there are many others that would agree with you too.

 

[Trackmaster]

I see you and raise you.

ALL are lame without exception from Universal Men in Black to Space Ranger Spin to Tokyo Disney's Ride and Go Seek to Midway Mania.

I actually really don't like the Men and Black ride. I think it may have had more potential just as a dark ride that you sit and enjoy, but the shooting aspect I think is kind of lame. It just distracts me from the ride. I feel like for a shooting ride to actually be satisfying there'd have to be some kind of backfire/recoil, and some more done to make it feel natural and believable. The plastic guns that you just pull a trigger for feel lame and like an arcade game.

One that stands out to me as good as Wonder Mountain's Guardian at Canada's Wonderland. Not that the shooting aspect as amazing, it was an interesting ride itself, how it combined a roller coaster with shooting, and even had a drop track.

One thing I've done a few times this year is Hyperdeck at Hersheypark. While its an upcharge attraction and more of an arcade sideshow than a ride, it makes pretty good use of the shooting aspect. Its a full VR experience with some natural effects, and while that's pretty amazing, I think it does a good job with the shooting aspect too. One of the few experiences where I thought the shooting part added to it and didn't take away. You would shoot to grab something, take it, and then push it back out to hit targets. And you'd get special boxes with different types of guns. You also have double taps where you got more and more points the more you shot. I think in general seeing your points awarded for hitting a target helps.


I'm not saying that shooting can't be done, its just in general been doing horribly at the theme park level. I also think that for the regional parks where its tough to get a dark ride out of them, its very disappointing when their one dark ride is a shooting ride where you can't look around because you have to focus on the shooting (let's face it, if their one dark ride is a shooting ride, the theming will be pretty cheap and lame too).

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

I prefer the original Star Tours to both rides honestly.

 

[91JLovesDisney]

If anyone gets bored on Smuggler's Run, I highly recommend sitting back and not touching the controls. It's quite hilarious.
In all seriousness, I do not prefer SR to RotR, and I prefer RotR to Star Tours as well. Star Tours gets old for me quickly - it's like sitting in a rocking chair whilst watching a 3D roller coaster animation. I do enjoy Smuggler's Run more than most, but really only for the queue. I like all the winding tunnels of the Falcon, and especially loading into your own cockpit.

 

[Trackmaster]

If anyone gets bored on Smuggler's Run, I highly recommend sitting back and not touching the controls. It's quite hilarious.
In all seriousness, I do not prefer SR to RotR, and I prefer RotR to Star Tours as well. Star Tours gets old for me quickly - it's like sitting in a rocking chair whilst watching a 3D roller coaster animation. I do enjoy Smuggler's Run more than most, but really only for the queue. I like all the winding tunnels of the Falcon, and especially loading into your own cockpit.

Yeah, I think that the queue is amazing. But I think that the ride itself is trash. I try not to give too many points for a great queue unless the ride itself lives up to the queue. I pay to go to theme parks to ride rides, not wait in line. Nor do I pay to go to parks to push flashing buttons that don't do anything.

 

[bryanfze55]

If anyone gets bored on Smuggler's Run, I highly recommend sitting back and not touching the controls. It's quite hilarious.
In all seriousness, I do not prefer SR to RotR, and I prefer RotR to Star Tours as well. Star Tours gets old for me quickly - it's like sitting in a rocking chair whilst watching a 3D roller coaster animation. I do enjoy Smuggler's Run more than most, but really only for the queue. I like all the winding tunnels of the Falcon, and especially loading into your own cockpit.

The queue for SR is terrific, and yet it’s missing something. It’s physically immersive, no doubt, and yet I don’t leave feeling satisfied. There’s an emotional disconnect that’s missing that Disney used to have mastered.

 

[Trackmaster]

The queue for SR is terrific, and yet it’s missing something. It’s physically immersive, no doubt, and yet I don’t leave feeling satisfied. There’s an emotional disconnect that’s missing that Disney used to have mastered.

It might just be that you're older now and have been around the block. When you were a kid, or even a little older but experiencing Disney for the first time, it was all new to you and you were transported into a different world. Now the curtain's been pulled back some and your standards are higher. I've thought about parts of Disney that I missed from being a kid -- yeah I understood before that I was a kid and I'm an adult now, but I still thought that it was a shame that they got rid of them -- and I've gone back and watched the YouTube videos of the rides and saw how in reality they were kind of cheesy and used old tech that I wouldn't be OK with now. And in some cases I go back and wonder how they could replace that ride with a stupid IP screen ride. But for the most part, some of the disappointment is just us getting older and the curtain being pulled back some. You can't expect Disney to have the same magic as an adult as when you were a kid.

 

[bryanfze55]

It might just be that you're older now and have been around the block. When you were a kid, or even a little older but experiencing Disney for the first time, it was all new to you and you were transported into a different world. Now the curtain's been pulled back some and your standards are higher. I've thought about parts of Disney that I missed from being a kid -- yeah I understood before that I was a kid and I'm an adult now, but I still thought that it was a shame that they got rid of them -- and I've gone back and watched the YouTube videos of the rides and saw how in reality they were kind of cheesy and used old tech that I wouldn't be OK with now. And in some cases I go back and wonder how they could replace that ride with a stupid IP screen ride. But for the most part, some of the disappointment is just us getting older and the curtain being pulled back some. You can't expect Disney to have the same magic as an adult as when you were a kid.

Yeah I don’t doubt things get old, but this one I don’t chalk up to Disney fatigue. I actually never went to Disney as a child... first time I went was with my own daughter about 5 years ago.

Thing is, I’m still perfectly satisfied taking a lap around the Rivers of America on the Riverboat. There’s no immersive queue, no interactivity, no jokes or puns, no fancy tech... but it works for me. I understand I’m not representative of the average person, though. If the aforementioned factors didn’t work on the average guest, Disney wouldn’t build it I presume.

 

[Trackmaster]

Yeah I don’t doubt things get old, but this one I don’t chalk up to Disney fatigue. I actually never went to Disney as a child... first time I went was with my own daughter about 5 years ago.

Thing is, I’m still perfectly satisfied taking a lap around the Rivers of America on the Riverboat. There’s no immersive queue, no interactivity, no jokes or puns, no fancy tech... but it works for me. I understand I’m not representative of the average person, though. If the aforementioned factors didn’t work on the average guest, Disney wouldn’t build it I presume.

I mean... are there people who actually do want terrible jokes or puns? It seems like the only people who like them are the ones telling them.

 

[91JLovesDisney]

I mean... are there people who actually do want terrible jokes or puns? It seems like the only people who like them are the ones telling them.

I’ve always been confused by the fact that with Mike Brassel’s TTA narration they use the “out of this world” joke twice... why

 

[bryanfze55]

I mean... are there people who actually do want terrible jokes or puns? It seems like the only people who like them are the ones telling them.

The GotG ride at Disneyland is full of them. For one reason or another, Disney clearly thinks there’s a subconscious desire for it among park guests.

 

[Trackmaster]

The GotG ride at Disneyland is full of them. For one reason or another, Disney clearly thinks there’s a subconscious desire for it among park guests.

I guess the best thing I can think of is that its just really hard to tell jokes when you have to be G or PG rated. And then throw in the PC culture on top of that. If they're trying to be squeaky clean, they don't even really need jokes. One thing I kind of like about Disney and Pixar movies and rides is that they tend to take the stories seriously when their competitors make them lowest common denominator and tasteless. When you watch a Pixar movie, they aren't a joke a minute, win Oscars, and they have a serious artistic tone to them, and they do alright at the box office.

 

[Touchdown]

The one new ride that's really up to Disney's standards the vast majority of the guests don't even have a prayer of getting on.

Tower of Terror still lives up to that standard. It’s still my second favorite non coaster ride at any theme park. It’s still spectacular. MRRR is a very good ride that has plenty of wow moments that is worthy of its status. TSMM is a ride I can do over and over again, RnRC is a major coaster and thus an E ticket.

DHS lacks enough quality live shows, high capacity popular rides (HM, POTC, Peoplemover, every ride at Epcot that isn’t TT, Soarin or Frozen) or highly repeatable theatre attractions (Muppets 3D isn’t enough) to fill out your day inbetween E tickets. I would welcome announcements of things like this much more then another E ticket for the park.

 

[Freshee61]

IMHO Star tours is the best.
Smugglers - eh it’s ok.
Rise resistance- it’s amazing once on the ride but process to be able to ride is a fiasco.

 

[Trackmaster]

Tower of Terror still lives up to that standard. It’s still my second favorite non coaster ride at any theme park. It’s still spectacular. MRRR is a very good ride that has plenty of wow moments that is worthy of its status. TSMM is a ride I can do over and over again, RnRC is a major coaster and thus an E ticket.

DHS lacks enough quality live shows, high capacity popular rides (HM, POTC, Peoplemover, every ride at Epcot that isn’t TT, Soarin or Frozen) or highly repeatable theatre attractions (Muppets 3D isn’t enough) to fill out your day inbetween E tickets. I would welcome announcements of things like this much more then another E ticket for the park.

Yeah, Tower of Terror is my favorite drop ride/tower. Zoomanjaro at Great Adventure and the Hersheypark drop towers are up there as well, but the combo of great theming and the airtime that you get on ToT are awesome. I guess that there are mechanical limitations that most parks deal with, but I'm amazed at how they're able to keep you bouncing around for so long. Intamin just gives you the one drop, and S&S bounces you around a little, but nothing too special after the initial drop or launch. In general, I think that most other drop towers are dumb, so you go through all the hype for a few second drop.

I'm not saying that DHS has NO rides. I was just saying that there needs to be a whole lot more than they have. I could argue that they have 4-5 rides that I have no problems with, but that needs to be something like 10-15 and then having lower tiers, kiddie rides, and failures (just under the assumption that not every ride can hit the mark) mixed in as well to eat through crowds and justify the price that people are paying.