I disagree, the original ride was anything ‘but’ static, ‘that’ ride was dynamic.. The current one is the one that’s actually static, which stops for unreasonable parts of time with barely anything to see except static desks, doors, charts, and office equipment. Nothing constantly moving, changing color, etc. AAs moving, spfx going on, color, projection effects, like the original had etc. We traveled through the realms with constant things going on & happening before. We were constantly stimulated, enlightened, & inspired by what we saw & what could be accomplished, just like Figment was in that original ride, Dreamfinder guiding both Figment & us, the guests, along. Figment taking in & exploring within that environment much in the same way we ourselves were. But in the current one, that doesn’t happen. We’re instead passive watchers, watching chaotic scene after needlessly chaotic scene of Figment proving Channing wrong again & again with hardly anything to see or happening except for one projection or so. Leaving you underwhelmed and with nothing that really sticks other than “what just happened?”. Nothing that actually inspires you to use your creative abilities to their potential or that it does society better like the OG did.
Static was the word that came to mind, but perhaps what I am thinking about is a different word. What I mean exactly is with the way the scenes play. The original ride is similar to PotC and some other rides, where the scenes aren't tied to the vehicle motion and will constantly play & repeat, even if a breakdown occurs. In JII, the transitions between scenes were a slight bit awkward(like the transition between the horror & theater scene), where you can still both scenes audio at the same time and you can still see it if you look backwards. It makes it seem like the characters are not really "following" the vehicle, compared to the "dynamic" scenes I described where the rider will only hear one scene playing at a time, not having a thought about the ride vehicles after/before them because they are separated.
The argument that can be made is that type of storytelling you describe of “dynamic storytelling” doesn’t work in theme parks most of the time. Marc Davis has made this point quite a number of times. That most of the rides and experiences that work aren’t there to tell a story the same way a film or cartoon does. It’s to immerse and put you into an environment with a encapsulating message, which is exactly what Journey Into Imagination did. I also don’t see how the transition is awkward when the entire ride is going through all the different realms of imagination (darker things exist too), after we thought up all the ideas present in the opening scene/stored into the dreamport and then sorted and let out into the various realms we explore after. It makes perfect sense if you follow the entire ride scene by scene and pay attention to the dialogue and what happens.
I still think we might be talking about different things. Let me give a different example of a ride that does "dynamic" scenes, the Tower of Terror(even though there are some technicalities as to why). The scenes before and after the drop are all tied to the actual position of the ride vehicle and separates the vehicles where you never see any other vehicle during the ride.
The opening scene on the turntable did this “dynamic storytelling”. The vehicles change position in different parts of the ride. But most of the original scenes have things constantly happening ‘all around you”, if your vehicle turned one way, you’d miss what was going on elsewhere. The current ride only turns in one/a different place to hide the fact they didn’t properly theme the show scenes and utilize the space properly. ‘Big’ difference.
Yes, these were the words that I was trying to use but escaped my mind at the time.
OMG I love your enthusiasm. I'm just saying is "purple dragon" is all that's needed to be popular. I'm not saying there's nothing more to the character. Agree!
Excellent breakdown of the 2 types of scenes. I will say I think these 3 ride's use of trigger scenes is appropriate since we as the riders are the protagonist of the ride. The story revolves around us as the rides advancing the story. Its a good example of knowing and using the right ride type/ scene type for each attraction.
100% agree. Its all about a fine balance between the two to make a park feel complete.
