Not sure if anyone has mentioned this or not. I rode JII today and noticed that in the finale room with all the Figments hanging up, they have now switched to color changing LED lights that seem to have brightened the room substantially. Just thought I would share that some TLC has been given to the attraction.
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JII Lighting Upgrade in Finale Room
- Thread starter DisneyBoi1215
- Start date
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
Interesting thanks for reporting. Def news.
I thought it was interesting enough to share with you guys.
backinaction
Well-Known Member
Any chance they will ever decide to bring it back? I'm sure the entire fan community would enjoy them switching back to the original version. Is Kodak still going to be a sponsor now, even though they are bankrupt? Disney should look around to find a sponsor who is willing to put some money into the pavilion. I guess in this economy, those kind of sponsors are few and far between.
I don't think they could bring the original ride back. I am sure they could create a new attraction with Dreamfinder.
They could, and it'd be quite easy. But they won't.
They could though install a better version than the original.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Wait, was anything wrong with the original lighting? I never thought of it as being dark or anything. Does it look more colorful? Or just brighter? I hope its not too bright.
TheDisneyMagic
Well-Known Member
It is always good to hear money being spent, I am sure switching to LED will save some electricity bills as well. if the current incarnation has to stay around I do wish they fix the timing issue in this scenes audio. The first two cars always hear the audio from the previous vehicle's scene as they enter.
PhilharMagician
Well-Known Member
Return the ride to it's original length!
It seems like they plan on this ride to be used for guest overflow in the busy season. I am really shocked that they don't just shutter the doors during the slower times since I have been in there many times when you walk right in and there is not a single guest in sight. :shrug: Can't they take a hint that there may be something wrong. :fork:
GymLeaderPhil
Well-Known Member
They probably ran out of their stock for the older setup, probably no longer manufactured or too expensive, so they made the switch. LEDs are less costly and more reliable. I wouldn't read anything into this minor adjustment. New tech equipment was installed at the clubs at Pleasure Island prior to their closure.
RunnerEd
Well-Known Member
When we were there for marathon weekend 2012, my 5 year old wanted to know what was in "that cool building." She and I walked in and actually surprised the cast that was working. It was almost as if they hadn't seen a guest in hours. They were super nice younger kids. I wonder what they did to get banished to that dump of an attraction.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Any rumors stirring lately of a major redo? A good one i mean. :animwink:
Imagineer Mitch
Active Member
excuse me but can anyone explain the difference from the old imagination to now?
Pioneer Hall
Well-Known Member
It seems that there are some decent plans, but nothing has gotten green lit from management.
Slowjack
Well-Known Member
If you want the long answer, Martin (the marni1971 who posted above you) covers this kind of question better than anyone in his videos. In this case, here. The short answer is, the ride was originally much longer, featured classic Disney AA scenes, and had some unique features, like an opening bit where the cars one the tracks would sync up to an enormous turntable with Dreamfinder on it, so that it played like you were standing still but you were actually moving in a circle.
So the ride used to be clever, fun, long, and worth waiting in line for. Most people don't think any of those adjectives apply to the current version.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I'm not holding my breath for anything amazing until they can get it together in agreeing to invest some in quality Epcot attractions again. The current iteration of Imagination (besides already being a worse concept IMO) honestly feels like they got 5-10% finished with it and ran out of money, so they opened it up as it was.
Besides receiving some basic technology upgrades, i honestly feel the original Imagination would have aged very well and still felt fresh even today. I'd also think that with more up to date technology, the problems with keeping the original in sync and such could have easily been fixed. Either way though I'd take an updated version of it, or a new better version than the original. Either one with a decent budget and good imagineering would likely be far better than what we've got. I'd say the only thing that could happen to worsen it is shuttering it like WoL (which i wouldn't put it past them to do either shamefully).
I'm assuming you never had the chance to ride the original ride. If i may use one of your videos, Martin-
http://www.martinsvids.net/?p=95
^That video has all you need to know, including a ride through of the original ride. Late in the 90's, Disney gutted the insides of the pavilion and changed the attraction entirely. Not to mention closed the upstairs Imageworks. They basically redid the ride from scratch and condensed everything to downstairs and continue to let the upstairs section rot away.
The newer ride i assume you've been on. Martin has another video for it as well-
http://www.martinsvids.net/?p=259
I haven't really come across anyone who thinks the newer one is good compared to the old one. It was yet another one of Epcot's unfortunate losses, though in this case i can't find much in terms of redeeming qualities about the replacement at all. The original was a wonderful ride to me, probably one of my favorite fantasy dark rides of all time.
Besides receiving some basic technology upgrades, i honestly feel the original Imagination would have aged very well and still felt fresh even today. I'd also think that with more up to date technology, the problems with keeping the original in sync and such could have easily been fixed. Either way though I'd take an updated version of it, or a new better version than the original. Either one with a decent budget and good imagineering would likely be far better than what we've got. I'd say the only thing that could happen to worsen it is shuttering it like WoL (which i wouldn't put it past them to do either shamefully).
I'm assuming you never had the chance to ride the original ride. If i may use one of your videos, Martin-
http://www.martinsvids.net/?p=95
^That video has all you need to know, including a ride through of the original ride. Late in the 90's, Disney gutted the insides of the pavilion and changed the attraction entirely. Not to mention closed the upstairs Imageworks. They basically redid the ride from scratch and condensed everything to downstairs and continue to let the upstairs section rot away.
The newer ride i assume you've been on. Martin has another video for it as well-
http://www.martinsvids.net/?p=259
I haven't really come across anyone who thinks the newer one is good compared to the old one. It was yet another one of Epcot's unfortunate losses, though in this case i can't find much in terms of redeeming qualities about the replacement at all. The original was a wonderful ride to me, probably one of my favorite fantasy dark rides of all time.
HMButler79
Member
It was, even at the time of it's closing, the most complex and FX laden dark ride EVER. It was also this ride and Horizons that gave WED and Baxter confidence and vision to turn the DL Fantasyland dark rides into true showcases for new paint techniques, lighting, and FX.
With the original lighting, almost half of the Figments in the last room didn't have any lights on them. You could still make them up, but they just weren't as bright as the others near the end of the room before you head to the Unload area. It's a much welcome change. The colors help brighten the room more and colors add more detail to Figment, IMO.