How would you make the Astro Orbiter better

[RiversideBunny]

The Astro Orbiter in the Magic Kingdom is a fun ride but it suffers from two, maybe three, problems:

1. Very slow loading
2. The ride itself, after all the waiting, is short.
3. Maybe- the ride vehicles are somewhat cramped.

How would you make this ride better?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I had no idea this simple ride was problematic.:shrug:


Only thing that I would want done to it, would be to fix the orbiting planets.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

I'd put more ride cars on it and spruce it up a little...its a little outdated and its kinda weird at the top with the chains and cement.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Aha! I have another aesthetic issue! The green "Launch Tower" for the elevator....It just looks bad. Make it look like the rest of TL.

 

[Figment632]

First thing I would try to move it so it is not elevated to get rid of the elevator. This should speed up load times.

Then if we can find a new home for it I would make it a triple decker with three levels to give backe the hight. I would have a two towers themed to look like futuristic buildings with stairs to acsses level 2 and 3. The towers wouls be hollow except for the stairs and the rockets would pass through them to make it more exciting. So there would be three lines 1 for each level. With three levels the capacity would be tripled.

 

[DisneyLeo18]

on board audio..... :lookaroun

 

[imagineer boy]

I would agree that they need to make the rockets more spacious. ONe problem I had when I rode it once was that when it starts and ends and you're spinning on the ground, the G-forces throwing me into the hard metal side of the rocket were extremely uncomfortable.

 

[Figment632]

Actually maybe after it is moved put in indoors and give it DL SM effects.

 

[slappy magoo]

First thing I would try to move it so it is not elevated to get rid of the elevator. This should speed up load times.

I'm not sure the slow load times have anything to do with the elevator. Whenever I've been on it, even after taking the elevator, there's usually a group of people already upstairs who has yet to ride and another group riding. It splits the line up between the bulk of the line and the "on-deck circle," but it doesn't make the wait time longer.

What I'd like (and IS NOT PRACTICAL. AT ALL!) is to build an identical version of the ride on the other side of the entrance to Space Mountain. So when both are running, you can see people in the other version of the ride "coming at you." Maybe build them close enough so that the cars are only a few feet apart.

 

[Phonedave]

The whole getting into an elevator thing just allways felt strange to me


As Slappy said, It does not slow load times. It just doesn't feel right to me. Make it somhow more futuristic. I am not sure how, but it really just looks like a plain old elevator to me right now

-dave

 

[Master Yoda]

First thing I would try to move it so it is not elevated to get rid of the elevator. This should speed up load times.

Then if we can find a new home for it I would make it a triple decker with three levels to give backe the hight. I would have a two towers themed to look like futuristic buildings with stairs to acsses level 2 and 3. The towers wouls be hollow except for the stairs and the rockets would pass through them to make it more exciting. So there would be three lines 1 for each level. With three levels the capacity would be tripled.

The elevator is essential to what little story the Orbiter has. It is meant to replicate the elevator used at Kennedy to ascent the launch tower of a rocket.

 

[Figment632]

The elevator is essential to what little story the Orbiter has. It is meant to replicate the elevator used at Kennedy to ascent the launch tower of a rocket.

Well we would have to come up with a new story and the AO in DL works fine with out one.

 

[Master Yoda]

Well we would have to come up with a new story and the AO in DL works fine with out one.

So does POTC but I would not want to remove that queue. The bottom line is that the elevator does not cause a capacity issue because it can handle more guests per hour than the attraction does.

 

[protiius]

an onboard screen into which you input some data about yourself. as the ride finishes and your vehicle's descending you get to watch a personalised video of yourself gardening underwater!!

 

[krankenstein]

First thing I would try to move it so it is not elevated to get rid of the elevator. This should speed up load times.

Doing that would make it Dumbo. The height is the only thing that makes AO unique. :shrug:

 

[Tom]

Thoughts

I guess they could use the same method they used to increase capacity at Dumbo - replace the spinner with one that holds more rockets.

As others have said the ride itself is the only reason of slow loading. It's a spinner - a cycle ride - just like Dumbo and Aladdin.

Personally, i like the planets on top as they are. They really looked good at night from our MK-view room at BLT in October. They were always spinning during park hours, and lights seemed to be working well.

I don't predict that WDW would dump a lot of money into this attraction. It's a B attraction and doesn't absorb enough guests to justify aesthetic improvements...except perhaps making the elevator "cage" a bit more appealing, but I really hardly even notice it when walking around, due to it being hidden by vendor carts, tables and chairs, and being under TTA load.

 

[slappy magoo]

As Slappy said, It does not slow load times. It just doesn't feel right to me. Make it somhow more futuristic.

-dave

Matter transporter? :lookaroun

 

[Figment632]

Doing that would make it Dumbo. The height is the only thing that makes AO unique. :shrug:

That is why I would have it be triple tiered with the center elevated section spinning in the opposite direction as the other two. The whole thing could be made to lift up as well.

 

[Krack2]

They moved the ride in California and it was a terrible mistake. First of all, as someone else pointed out, one of the primary unique features of the ride is its height. Second, where they moved it to ... right at the entrance from the hub into Tomorrowland ... it created traffic flow problems that are astounding. Every time Disneyland Tomorrowland renovations are discussed, moving the Rocket Jets back to where they were is always mentioned as a likely priority.

 

[Figment632]

They moved the ride in California and it was a terrible mistake. First of all, as someone else pointed out, one of the primary unique features of the ride is its height. Second, where they moved it to ... right at the entrance from the hub into Tomorrowland ... it created traffic flow problems that are astounding. Every time Disneyland Tomorrowland renovations are discussed, moving the Rocket Jets back to where they were is always mentioned as a likely priority.

There is a lot of room in TL for it without putting it near the entrance and my idea was to make it triple tiered and the whole thing raises.