Djsfantasi
Well-Known Member
My problem with SR is that unless you’re a pilot, you’re pre-occupied with those d#%^ buttons and miss most of the mission.
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Anyone Else Prefer Smugglers Run to ROTR
- Thread starter Club Cooloholic
- Start date
OG Runner
Well-Known Member
I completely agree. I may feel differently if I was the pilot. (but no front seat yet.)
TotallyBiased
Well-Known Member
Yep. I loved em both but had more fun with SR. The wife and I rode 3x our last trip and did Gunner/Eng 2x and pilots 1x. Had a blast all 3 times. Did RotR once and, while I thought it was amazing, it wasn't as engaging. More like moving through a movie instead actively playing a game of sorts.
Djsfantasi
Well-Known Member
It’s an inexplicable design flaw. If the active buttons were mounted on the seat in front of you, your eyes wouldn’t have to move away from the action as much. Additionally, smaller screens above the buttons would help as well.
macefamily
Well-Known Member
I dig the interactive aspect of Smugglers Run. But I like the total experience of ROTR. It's a tough decision for me.
bryanfze55
Well-Known Member
I respect what Imagineers do (did?) and am certainly not an expert on theme park artistry, so I'll steer clear of critical judgments. With that being said, I base my own personal judgments of rides on how much I miss them when I haven't been on them for awhile. I haven't been at Disney in a year.
If I were ranking rides based on how much I miss them, Smugglers Run would be near the bottom of the list... much closer to The Magic Carpets of Aladdin than Splash Mountain. The worst spinner ride in the Magic Kingdom compared to an expensive ride that was supposed to be an "A-lite" ticket... and I'm equally apathetic to whether or not I ever ride either one of them again. I really don't know why Smugglers Run falls flat. I enjoy Star Tours way more. Despite the inferior tech, when I ride Star Tours, I can feel the heart and soul. With Smugglers Run, I feel nothing.
If I were ranking rides based on how much I miss them, Smugglers Run would be near the bottom of the list... much closer to The Magic Carpets of Aladdin than Splash Mountain. The worst spinner ride in the Magic Kingdom compared to an expensive ride that was supposed to be an "A-lite" ticket... and I'm equally apathetic to whether or not I ever ride either one of them again. I really don't know why Smugglers Run falls flat. I enjoy Star Tours way more. Despite the inferior tech, when I ride Star Tours, I can feel the heart and soul. With Smugglers Run, I feel nothing.
Trackmaster
Well-Known Member
I also don't know why a ride needs to be "interactive." Its a theme park ride, I want to sit down, relax, and enjoy a great ride. Why do I have to press all these stupid buttons (which I guess don't even do anything)? Whoever thought of this idea of making you press buttons that don't do anything? The most useless thing I could think of.
And why are people giving the park free passes on a ride that's all screens? Whatever happened to natural effects and animatronics on rides? I don't want to watch some terrible video from the inside of a small space.
TotallyBiased
Well-Known Member
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."
bryanfze55
Well-Known Member
The C-suite thinks interactivity = immersion, full stop.
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
When I rode this it just reminded me of two attractions fused together..AKA Mission Space: Battle for Buccaneer Gold. You'll see why...
With the commands Hondo gives you on the ship similar to M:S Green Team.
Fused were the rest of the crew shoots everything in sight in DisneyQuest PoTC: Battle for Buccaneer Gold..
See where I'm going here....
With the commands Hondo gives you on the ship similar to M:S Green Team.
Fused were the rest of the crew shoots everything in sight in DisneyQuest PoTC: Battle for Buccaneer Gold..
See where I'm going here....
I don't think anyone is saying a ride needs to be interactive, just some people like it when it is. Its like anything, my son loves old school side scroller video games, my daughter won't touch them. My kids hate any kind of flume ride, I love them. Different strokes for different folks.
Again I loved both rides, and if I was riding by myself or even just one other person, I would probably pick ROTR but when with my family, Smugglers is what I like.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
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.
JohnD
Well-Known Member
No. I hate to say it but it's a one and done for me. It's clever but the same experience every time. (Yes, I know there are variation based on who's pilot, etc. but it's the same mission.) I would rather go on ST due to the randomness of scenes. And, no, I'm not hung up on when the scenes occur either.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
I'm not totally surprised by that. I think the screens are far more impressive to older people who aren't used to high tech video games with realistic graphics.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Well my father is a lifelong Aerospace Engineer who got me into computers as a child... and is still a techie... so while not a gamer, he's no rube either
Have to ask, why do you think Magic Carpets is the worst spinner? Where it's located doesn't help, but actual ride experience.. I think it's more fun than Dumbo.
Yeah, I mean most of WDW and it's parks aren't what you call bleeding edge but we still adore them, and not always just for nostalgia.Well my father is a lifelong Aerospace Engineer who got me into computers as a child... and is still a techie... so while not a gamer, he's no rube either
Shame ROTR didn't feature Vader, a character who was much more scary and malevolent than Kylo Ren who, I hate to say it is really not that frightening unless you pretend you he's trying to marry into your family!
And yes I know there is supposed to be some sort of timeline and who is allowed to populate Galaxies Edge.. but whatever.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Well my father is a lifelong Aerospace Engineer who got me into computers as a child... and is still a techie... so while not a gamer, he's no rube either
It's just about familiarity with video game technology/graphical fidelity; certainly wasn't implying it had anything to do with being a rube.
It's not entirely about age either -- there are people in their 60s and 70s who play video games and people in their 20s who don't. But the number of people who do play games is significantly increasing with every generation.