Best refurbishment?

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I think Star Tours 3D is kind of overrated. Yes, it did deliver a fresh experience and multiple destinations with numerous story possibilities.

Yet, something still feels off. The whole production feels very Pixar (not in a good way). I mean, too much CGI. For some reason, I can't connect with any of it. Prequel stuff is also everywhere. It's basically a prequel ride. It also has the same problem the original ride had for a lot of people in its later years. For whatever reason, it gets old. I've ridden all the different scenes. None of them are really strong enough to make me want to race back on. Even putting it in 3D wasn't enough to propel it into the 21st century. It's a dated ride system that has been outdone by Universal's Spider-Man and Harry Potter. In many ways, even Back to the Future years ago.

When I think of the possibilities for a Star Wars ride these days, I'm disappointed with the new Star Tours.

 

[PUSH]

Star Tours
Haunted Mansion
And the rooms at Riverside are so much better.

Still waiting to see what the Test Track refurb will be like before I judge it. I like what I'm seeing so far though.

 

[John]

Overhaul means it gets a health check.Refurb means it gets transformed.Which Star Tours has got.

yup, the best refurb hasnt happened yet. When DHS and EPCOT get thiers....This ride is what can be done. Just not enough of them.

 

[FettFan]

I think Star Tours 3D is kind of overrated. Yes, it did deliver a fresh experience and multiple destinations with numerous story possibilities.

Yet, something still feels off. The whole production feels very Pixar (not in a good way). I mean, too much CGI.

I agree on this point. Would it have been so hard to actually have actors dressed as Vader and the Stormtroopers in the opening scene? I mean, they had an actual actor dressed as Boba Fett pop on the screen.

Star Tours: TAC suffers from the same overuse of cartoonish CGI as the prequel trilogy.

The sad reality is that almost 20 years ago, a company founded by George Lucas created a living, breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex that blended seamlessly with it's animatronic counterpart.

Yet that same company can't get Jabba the Hutt right, despite trying again and again, and having an actual puppet with which to base the CGI on.

I find that to be extremely sad.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Ugh don't remind me. They did film some real stuff, but the majority seems to be a CGI cartoon.

 

[rct247]

Test Track 2.0... trust me... you all will agree.

 

[erasure fan1]

Star Tours and Test Track are overhauls, not refurbs, so they don't count in my book.

Thats how I feel as well. Pirates and haunted mansion are a tie for me. Neither is an absolute home run for me because of a few things they seemed to cheap out on. But overall I was pretty happy. If it wasnt for the finale, I would have said spaceship earth.

 

[Thrill Seeker]

Test Track is a completely different ride experience btw. I stand by not calling it or Star Tours refurbs though. FYI, Test Track 2.0 > Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. That's coming from someone who opened Star Tours.

 

[Thrill Seeker]

Thats how I feel as well. Pirates and haunted mansion are a tie for me. Neither is an absolute home run for me because of a few things they seemed to cheap out on. But overall I was pretty happy. If it wasnt for the finale, I would have said spaceship earth.

Pirates was good except I felt they put too much Jack Sparrow in it. I also disliked that they removed the talking skull from the drop (fans of him will probably like The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow btw) and didn't unpolitically correct the pirates chasing the women scene. Other than that, it was good. 2012's Mermaids in the cave are a big addition, as were 2011's cemetary queue and interactive hitchhiking ghosts to Mansion.

 

[Thrill Seeker]

Let's define some terms shall we?

Retheme/Overhaul: Same ride system/show concept as it's predecessor, but the experience/look of the attraction has completely changed.

Examples: Test Track 2, Star Tours 2, Stitch, Buzz, Ellen's Energy Adventure, Tiki Room UNM

Refurb: Ride/show experience is largely the same with some tweaks made to enhance the attraction.

Examples: Pirates, Mansion, Spaceship Earth, Living With The Land, Space Mountain

Replacement: A completely different attraction replacing previous one.

Examples: Soarin', Test Track, Mission: SPACE, American Idol, Winnie the Pooh

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Over my head now....

 

[rct247]

Well in that case...

Best Retheme/Overhaul: Test Track 2.0

Best Refurbishment: Haunted Mansion

Best Replacement: Toy Story Midway Mania

 

[Gabe1]

Well in that case...

Best Retheme/Overhaul: Test Track 2.0

Only if Test Track operates reliably. If it doesn't all the retheming overhaul will be a waste.

Best Refurbishment: Haunted Mansion

Wholeheartedly agree, HM is a jewel that was treated with respect.

Best Replacement: Toy Story Midway Mania

Meh, it is a cute ride that seems more popular than it is because it loads slower than a turtle.

 

[rct247]

Meh, it is a cute ride that seems more popular than it is because it loads slower than a turtle.

Better than Millionaire.

 

[Gabe1]

Better than Millionaire.

However I hardly believe better than Millionaire makes Toy Story Midway the BEST replacement attraction.
My pick would be Test Track for Motion.

Even with all of the operational issues TT 1.0 had and setting aside what happens with TT 2.0 I can't put Toy into the same realm of an E attraction like TT. Toy isn't even an original concept MIB set the bar for that type of attraction and Disney just upped Buzz in a different park, hardly a cutting edge imagineering on Disney's part. TT at least in the replacement category pushed the bar for creativity.

Now the only challenger I've seen anywhere world wide to the innovation of Test Track is Ferrari in Dubai. Now there Ferrari laid down the gauntlet of Challenge to General Motors Test Track.