Patcheslee
Well-Known Member
I still haven't hit the 65" for girls
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind attraction confirmed for Epcot
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
CntrlFlPete
Well-Known Member
the pedestal puzzles me a bit
jaxonp
Well-Known Member
Tame your expectations. It’s over before it begins.
jaxonp
Well-Known Member
Shanghai pirates was more wow for me that RotR.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
That's understandable; plenty of people love it. I've never been on a ride that relies heavily on watching a video on a screen that's overly wowed me, though, and I can't imagine Shanghai's Pirates would be any different. The Shanghai Pirates system is certainly preferable to something that's just a simulator -- I'm not opposed to them using it for something else -- but it's incredibly unlikely it would really move the needle for me. People think Forbidden Journey is one of the best rides in the world and it didn't do much for me either.
jaxonp
Well-Known Member
It probably the best integration of old meets new. The boat moving forwards, backwards, turning around, speeding up and slowing down at times takes classic pirates to the next level. I have no doubt people would be torn on between what they liked more at WDW if it were here. My only hope is they ride system makes it’s way to the US one day soon. It’s incredible.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
The ride system itself seems excellent. If they would dump the screens and use all AAs/physical sets I'd be completely on board.
Or use the screens as background supplements like in Na'vi River Journey (and Rise too, I think... still haven't been on it). It's not that I think Shanghai's Pirates is bad -- a lot of it looks fantastic. There's just a few too many scenes that rely on watching something happen in a video as you float by.
Last edited:
SplashJacket
Well-Known Member
Having gone to all the parks, I think Shanghai Pirates is the best ride in the world, and RotR is the best attraction in the world. Everything else is distantly below that.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
This is the exact same conclusion I've come to! Maybe not the distant part, there is lots of fondness for other attractions.
But firmly they are one and two.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I dream of an Indiana Jones ride for DHS with the Shanghai Pirates ride system...the ability to change speed would lend itself very well to typical Indy pacing. And it’s the right park for such a sensory, high-tech water ride.
Anyone got $400 million sitting around?
Anyone got $400 million sitting around?
jaxonp
Well-Known Member
Exactly. Need to comment on the scope, scale and massiveness of the ride scènes that truly can’t be comprehended on YouTube either. The scene when you’re coming up from under the water to the surface is the the best use of screen tech I’ve seen. Magic.
Movielover
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Disney...
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
For me, though, it's the screens themselves. I don't need to be on it in person to know that -- it's a constant across all rides. Even a ride like Flight of Passage is fun but not anything special to me.
That's not a limitation of the ride system, though (they could use the same ride system without screens), and it's something personal. I don't expect everyone else to feel the same way, but whenever I'm watching something happen on a screen I feel like I could just be at home watching on my couch -- it's why I like riding Na'vi River Journey more than FoP.
With that said, all the other parts of the ride look phenomenal.
Last edited:
jaxonp
Well-Known Member
You have two full size pirate ships duking it out surrounded by 30 foot tall screen backdrop on all sides at home?
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
You have two full size pirate ships duking it out surrounded by 30 foot tall screen backdrop on all sides at home?
That's not really the scene I'm talking about -- the screen is more of a supplement to the actual ships in that one -- although it also kind of misses the point. If the main focus is on watching something happen on the screen, that's what it feels like I could watch at home.
I'm certainly not saying other people are wrong to feel differently, but that experience just doesn't translate for me. There's no reason to think it would be different on Shanghai Pirates than every other ride that wows people with screens.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
I don’t think RotR is even the best attraction in its own park - or even the second best! In fact, if given the chance to ride one SW ride over and over, I’d take Tours without thinking twice (of course, I realize that if you hate screens, that’s not an option).
RotR is a very fun, well-done ride, but… the queue is uninteresting; the preshows are neat once, but none of them are particularly fascinating, and the shuttle section is badly laid out so that many guests don’t see much of anything at all; the settings in the ride section are monotonous, empty, and sterile; the storm troopers who shoot at you are projections for no reason; the AT-AT room is cool but badly laid out, with nothing drawing attention to the Finn figures so they are very easily missed; the AAs are simply unexceptional human figures and thus wastes of AA tech; and many of the effects are wildly unreliable or permanently broken! Many of the coolest things about RotR are impressive when discussed outside the ride - divergent paths and two Finns in the AT-AT room, for instance - but don’t actually add a great deal to the actual experience of the ride.
All that said, I still think it’s a 4.5 star ride. The pod drop is genuinely exhilarating and immersive, the areas before and after the shuttle are very impressive, and going outside at the end is great. I just think that it’s newness, the ballyhoo surrounding it, the sheer amount of pre-shows piled on top of one another, the sorry state of MGM before it’s arrival… they all add up to give the attraction a somewhat inflated reputation.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
Everyone can have there own opinion of course, but it strikes me as strange that you are so enthusiastic about River Journey, which supplements sets with screens, and relatively negative about Pirates, which does the same on a MUCH grander, more complete scale. You love the way River creates a sense of atmosphere, but surely Pirates does that to an even greater extent?
Screens work best when they are one tool in the toolbox and when they are used to create effects that could not be created in any other way. I think Pirates does this, but I think most of the screens in River could have been replaced with AAs and the overall effect would be improved.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Because Pirates has at least one scene where the screen is the scene -- NRJ doesn't. I'm specifically thinking of the scene where you watch Jack Sparrow run around; I can't remember if there are others but I think there's at least one. Of course it's followed up with physical effects etc. that match what you saw happen on the screen, which is very nice and certainly elevates it over some competitors, but that's the kind of thing that kills the ride's momentum and seriously detracts from the atmosphere for me.
It's obviously not the majority of the ride, and I've never suggested that Shanghai Pirates is a bad ride. I think it looks very good (and I'm also not arguing that NRJ is a better overall ride). But, only speaking for myself, it would be even better if those "watch something happen on a screen" segments were replaced to keep the ride's momentum going.
I also disagree about replacing the screens with AAs in NRJ. Most of what's done in the screens is background movement which ends up feeling more realistic than having a couple of stationary animals just looking at you -- as you mentioned, they are used to create effects that would be hard to replicate in another way. In a D or E ticket version of that ride, there would be some additional AAs to fill out the scenes in places (and it would be twice as long), but I think the background screen animals moving through the jungle would still be there for the full effect. That's not to say the current version wouldn't still benefit from a couple of additional AAs, though.
We're way off topic from Guardians now, though, so I'll leave it at this.
Last edited:
No Name
Well-Known Member
I question row 11 for girls!