Journey of Water featuring Moana coming to Epcot

J4546

Well-Known Member
I wouldnt consider soarin a thrill ride at all, its a relaxing ride imo. I love soarin and wish theyd expand it, film a unique soarin film for each pavilion location and put them in rotation so you never knew what country you were flying to until you saw the preshow.
 

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
Pardon my naivete, Soarin' is NOT a thrill ride? Just want to be sure I'm understanding. Especially for those with acrophobia?
My grandmother (RIP) was scared of heights, speeds, drops, etc. She refused to do log flumes, kiddie coasters, Ferris wheels, pretty much anything that wasn’t a slow moving dark ride (got scared of the drop on POTC but would tolerate it once per trip to see the rest of the ride.). Well thankfully we convinced her that she would really love Soarin, and while she was nervous the first time strapping in, throughly loved it and it became her 2nd favorite ride (behind isaw) at the resort.

So no, I don’t think Soarin is a thrill ride. However due to the dropping floor and the bigger real movements I think FoP is (she had passed but I don’t think I would have taken her on that, Star Tours was too much for her.)
 

SilentWindODoom

Well-Known Member
I would think the definition would be anything that went a certain speed and/or put a certain force on someone with the goal of getting a spike of adrenaline in the rider's system (a thrill). Test Track whips around at high speeds even before the big run. Mission:Space puts friggin' G-forces on you. Guardians is a roller coaster.

The Thrillitization of Epcot is a part of a larger issue that people have long lamented: the dumbing down/loss of soul/change of mission (whatever term you prefer) of Epcot. The Living Seas having the movie/ride/hydrolators gutted and then the ride only returned as a Fantasyland-style dark ride along with a childish overlay. Imagination being gutted for an edgy remake. These things happened around the same time as the addition of Test Track and Mission:Space, so people likely conflate the two. Thrill rides didn't dominate the park, but they did come about as part of a larger issue. Guardians is a doubling down after all this time.

I don't think there'd be a problem with the addition of thrill rides if they were added in new expansions like the Matterhorn or Fuji being added. I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about Everest dumbing down or watering down Animal Kingdom. But that's also a different matter because Eisner built half a park.
 

Coaster Lover

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I don't think there'd be a problem with the addition of thrill rides if they were added in new expansions like the Matterhorn or Fuji being added. I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about Everest dumbing down or watering down Animal Kingdom. But that's also a different matter because Eisner built half a park.

I have no issues with thrill rides at EPCOT so long as they are in the spirit of the original vision of EPCOT. I think Test Track 1.0 was a great example of how a thrilling ride can be incorporated appropriately into EPCOT. Your example of appropriate coasters being themed to corresponding mountains in World Showcase is another fair example. I am just not a fan of adding thrill rides just to appease people looking for thrill rides (as seems was the case for GotG).

In the same breath though, they need to be careful removing too many minimal/no height requirement attractions and replacing them with thrilling rides. Kitchen Caberet, World of Motion, Horizons, Universe of Energy all were attractions that literally anyone could go on that were replaced with attractions with height requirements that exclude a fair number of guests. In exchange, we got Remy and Moana as two attractions with no height limits. They really need that Mary Poppins attraction and something in WoL to bring back the same number of attractions for the real little kids before they start talking about adding more thrilling rides IMHO.
 

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
I have no issues with thrill rides at EPCOT so long as they are in the spirit of the original vision of EPCOT. I think Test Track 1.0 was a great example of how a thrilling ride can be incorporated appropriately into EPCOT. Your example of appropriate coasters being themed to corresponding mountains in World Showcase is another fair example. I am just not a fan of adding thrill rides just to appease people looking for thrill rides (as seems was the case for GotG).

In the same breath though, they need to be careful removing too many minimal/no height requirement attractions and replacing them with thrilling rides. Kitchen Caberet, World of Motion, Horizons, Universe of Energy all were attractions that literally anyone could go on that were replaced with attractions with height requirements that exclude a fair number of guests. In exchange, we got Remy and Moana as two attractions with no height limits. They really need that Mary Poppins attraction and something in WoL to bring back the same number of attractions for the real little kids before they start talking about adding more thrilling rides IMHO.
Also the shorten ride times create a problem. FW was designed with long ride times in mind. It took over an hour to ride Energy/Horizons/WoM, not counting wait time. Now it takes less than 15. These leads to the "not a lot to do" feeling some people talk about.
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
It’s been tough to find good pictures of this with Bioreconstruct temporarily out of commission since streamers never seem to roll in on the monorail, but it looks like a lot of trees have gone in recently. There’s a very large mature one in the alcove directly behind the entrance rock formation, lots of tall palms have been added, and many fuller bushes and trees are now lining the Celebration-to-Coral-Reef bypass on the side of Journey, helping block a lot of the less favorable views of the attraction’s backstage area.

Hoping this all continues to develop quickly from a vegetation and concrete perspective so that the pit keeps looking a bit less muddy by the day.
 

DCBaker

Premium Member
It’s been tough to find good pictures of this with Bioreconstruct temporarily out of commission since streamers never seem to roll in on the monorail, but it looks like a lot of trees have gone in recently. There’s a very large mature one in the alcove directly behind the entrance rock formation, lots of tall palms have been added, and many fuller bushes and trees are now lining the Celebration-to-Coral-Reef bypass on the side of Journey, helping block a lot of the less favorable views of the attraction’s backstage area.

Hoping this all continues to develop quickly from a vegetation and concrete perspective so that the pit keeps looking a bit less muddy by the day.

There have been more trees planted since these, but here are a couple photos from last Wednesday -

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Haymarket2008

Well-Known Member
It’s been tough to find good pictures of this with Bioreconstruct temporarily out of commission since streamers never seem to roll in on the monorail, but it looks like a lot of trees have gone in recently. There’s a very large mature one in the alcove directly behind the entrance rock formation, lots of tall palms have been added, and many fuller bushes and trees are now lining the Celebration-to-Coral-Reef bypass on the side of Journey, helping block a lot of the less favorable views of the attraction’s backstage area.

Hoping this all continues to develop quickly from a vegetation and concrete perspective so that the pit keeps looking a bit less muddy by the day.

Walked by there last night and was surprised to see how lush it is looking already. Very much populated by a bunch of new trees.
 

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