EE Update Feature

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fundesign

Member
Jose Eber said:
Actually EpcotServo -- the noiseless lift is in existence and isn't too terribly new.

Personally, I avoid Philharmagic (rehashed old cartoons) and Mission Space, so I agree on those points.

Personally, I think over the last 20-30 years things have gotten less innovative or entertaining at the newer Disney Parks....

BUT -- I don't know -- who's is doing it better? I think Disney is still trying hard -- maybe another Walt is out there and will start some things up -- but sorry, the whole industry is in the condition you are talking about, its not just EE and WDI, its Sally, GGE, Universal Creative etc. don't just harp on WDI.

I don't know -- its not my line of work, so I really don't care...its 100 million bucks spent on a rollercoaster... and you probably need double that these days to pull off an Indy.

But no one budgets like that. You first fundesign!

J.
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I totally agree. The entire industry has been in a slump for a while. The reason I'm picking on WDI is because traditionally they have set the pace with respect to standards and quality. Universal is not doing much better right now.

You'd be surprised what an extra $5 Million can buy you. With the right project management and upper management support, that money could have been used to bring Everest to the next level. Instead there is a lot of waste and quality control standards have gone down. Another huge problem with the current WDI is the red tape. There are too many extremely talented vendors that can't even make it to the bid list because of ridiculous requirements. Than on the other hand, there are too many bad vendors that make it because of they are simply the lowest bidder. Many of these have done poor jobs in the past and are now working on current projects.

Let's not get off topic though. The bottom line is, in my opinion, Everest does not meet the Disney standard of exceeding expectations.
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
fundesign said:
Let's not get off topic though. The bottom line is, in my opinion, Everest does not meet the Disney standard of exceeding expectations.
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I think though that you are going to be in the minority on this. Most people expect a steel coaster to be just that, a steal coaster. A ball of steel on a concrete base.

A queue through an elaborate village, a gigantic mountain, waterfalls, lush vegetation, highly detailed trains with smoke effects, interior and exterior scenes, and a huge animatronic certainly exceeds most people's view of a rollercoaster.
 
Legacy

Legacy

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
I think though that you are going to be in the minority on this. Most people expect a steel coaster to be just that, a steal coaster. A ball of steel on a concrete base.

A queue through an elaborate village, a gigantic mountain, waterfalls, lush vegetation, highly detailed trains with smoke effects, interior and exterior scenes, and a huge animatronic certainly exceeds most people's view of a rollercoaster.
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But Steve, a lot of the posters on this site will condemn Revenge of the Mummy, when it is, across the board, very similar to Everest. The only big difference is the fact that Everest is a mountain outside, while Mummy is indoors. Mummy has an elaborate queque and engaging story. Impressive animatronic, backwards section, fire (rather than water) effects, impressive show scenes.

I'm just playing devil's advocate on that one though...
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Legacy said:
But Steve, a lot of the posters on this site will condemn Revenge of the Mummy, when it is, across the board, very similar to Everest. The only big difference is the fact that Everest is a mountain outside, while Mummy is indoors. Mummy has an elaborate queque and engaging story. Impressive animatronic, backwards section, fire (rather than water) effects, impressive show scenes.

I'm just playing devil's advocate on that one though...
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Right, but I think the outstanding part of Everest is the sheer scale of the mountain and the village. Everest is on a scale that no other theme park company in the world can do. Whilst the Mummy and RnR are great indoor coasters, there is something very impressive about having an actual mountain as the setting of a ride.
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Lee said:
THAT is most of the problem right there.
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Thats the problem with every large company now though, it's certainly the case here in England. Unfortunately it's become a standard practise that we have to live with now.
 
Tim G

Tim G

Well-Known Member
Lee said:
THAT is most of the problem right there.
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The problems within WDI have been there for about 20 years... and IMO they will never disapear... I don't see why now all of the sudden this comes up, because someone who simply dislikes the EE ride and clames to have worked for WDI...

IMO) this has nothing to do with the problems inside Creative... :D
 
F

fundesign

Member
Corrus said:
The problems within WDI have been there for about 20 years... and IMO they will never disapear... I don't see why now all of the sudden this comes up, because someone who simply dislikes the EE ride and clames to have worked for WDI...

IMO) this has nothing to do with the problems inside Creative... :D
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I'd agree that the problems started around that time, when Eisner began bringing in his favorites. This is not just now coming up, I've been saying this for years. It has just manifested again in the form of Everest.

I didn't say the only problems were in Creative. I'm not one that believes all problems will be solved when Creative is given free reign. I've seen some crazy Art Directors cost projects a lot of money. They are able to convince management, for example, that a particular scenic piece would look much better six feet to the left. so consequently a crew must work overtime to move that piece. Those "small" changes add up. Before you know it $5 Million is lost that could have been spent on some killer effects. There has to be a good balance of project management, creative and technical. We've seen it on many projects.

But recently the litany of lower quality attractions shows that balance to be lost. Jobs and company will help straighten out the mess so this is probably just a comment on history.

Test Track, Mission Space, Journey into Your Imagination, Stich, California Adventure...the list goes on and on. Poor story, poor execution...just blah. Entertaining enough. Not all terrible, just blah.
 
F

fundesign

Member
wdwmagic said:
Thats the problem with every large company now though, it's certainly the case here in England. Unfortunately it's become a standard practise that we have to live with now.
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Yes, sad but true. Corporate mentality has seeped into Disney like a disease. As Corrus said, it started about 20 years ago and we started seeing the effects in the parks about 10 years ago.
 
O

OmegaKnight

New Member
Just my 2 cents on this whole debate: I work at Expedition Everest and I see the guests as they come off the mountain. When they come clapping as the train pulls into the unload station or when they come screaming down the main drop, thats how WDI knows they have done their job well. Yes, at its heart, Everest is nothing more than a roller coaster that happens to go backwards but with the incredible theming present throughout the entire village, it raises it above most other attractions and as Disney said: "no other company would dare to build something like this."

WDI has received a lot of flack in the past couple of years due to some stinkers like Stitch's Great Escape (no one is going to disagree on that) but no company is perfect. To me, Expedition Everest could only come from the minds at Disney and WDI has built something very special at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Families have been planning their trips years in advance just to come back and experience this unbelievable attraction. That should say a lot about what WDI has created and about what people think of their work.
 
dxwwf3

dxwwf3

Well-Known Member
OmegaKnight said:
WDI has received a lot of flack in the past couple of years due to some stinkers like Stitch's Great Escape (no one is going to disagree on that)
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Some people like it.

Maybe some people like everything :lookaroun

:lol: :lol: :lol: j/k wannab@dis
 
Legacy

Legacy

Well-Known Member
OmegaKnight said:
Just my 2 cents on this whole debate: I work at Expedition Everest and I see the guests as they come off the mountain. When they come clapping as the train pulls into the unload station or when they come screaming down the main drop, thats how WDI knows they have done their job well. Yes, at its heart, Everest is nothing more than a roller coaster that happens to go backwards but with the incredible theming present throughout the entire village, it raises it above most other attractions and as Disney said: "no other company would dare to build something like this."
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So when I see guests clapping and screaming when they come off one of those ugly steel behemoths that so loathed around here they aren't as good?

One thing that I keep noticing is how Serka Zong keeps getting lumped into Everest. Now, I understand that a new area of the park was built completely for the mountain. The Asia/Dinoland bridge was built with Everest in mind. Serka Zong is a beautiful expansion, from what I have seen, fitting perfectly into the unreal theming and development of Animal Kingdom. But how much of the $100 million went into the village surrounding the mountain? How much money could have been funnelled into more effects for the ride rather than another way Disney can soak money from their guests?

I cannot wait to ride the attraction. I'm glad Imagineering has stepped up and made something that almosts seems to prove that they still got it (although Soarin' is an amazing attraction, even though technically it is, 'meh' it is super effective). However, I can't help but listen to the debates about Everest and come away thinking that the mountain is Disney's Top Thrill Dragster.

It's big! It's grand! We spent a crap load of money! But their is little substance there.
 
J

Jose Eber

New Member
Original Poster
OmegaKnight said:
When they come clapping as the train pulls into the unload station or when they come screaming down the main drop, thats how WDI knows they have done their job well.
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I've seen the clapping as well -- and on Soarin too. But no one does that at Space or Splash or Haunted Mansion -- so -- does that mean that those rides suck?

The fact is if you take a bigger look -- entertainment quotient in general has really started to decline over the years at least in North America. I mean, I haven't seen a movie at the theatre in a long time because nothing is drawing me to it.

This just isn't in a theme park industry thing I'm afraid, its a bit of a pandemic.

Entertainment and innovation are a dying thing, but when it comes to EE -- I'm just glad Disney is at least putting money into something -- its a step in the right direction (as those sorts of steps become rarer and rarer).

I don't think Jobs btw will have much impact at Disney. His skill set is not in entertainment -- with Pixar, I think he just hired the right people (or at least the right people came with the package from George Lucas).

Anywho -- bla bla bla.

J.
 
Monty

Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
My only input to the debate is fairly basic:

Myself and DS10 rode ten times in one day. Every ride was exhilerating and we came off out of breath and excited by the ride. That hasn't happened before. So, in our collective opinion: Nobody got it wrong, skimped or lowered the bar! It's a really good ride, plain and simple.
 

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