Maelstrom going down in October (no FP+)?

[gatordoc]

Just been making FP+ reservations for October, and discovered that Maelstrom is not available to choose on 10/5 or 10/6. Checked MDE both online and through the iPhone app. Hadn't seen anything definitive about a refurb, but...
Mods please feel free to merge with an existing thread if appropriate, but I couldn't find anything about this.

 

[DinoInstitute]

Good for Disney if they plan to do the entire "refurb" on the 5th and 6th

I may be wrong, but I think this has been happening a lot with multiple different dates. They really don't know what to do with the ride, do they?

 

[squidward]

If the Frozen overlay is done as cheaply as the Gran Fiesta Tour was, I would guess they'd only need 2 days.

 

[tigger1968]

If the Frozen overlay is done as cheaply as the Gran Fiesta Tour was, I would guess they'd only need 2 days.

Just how big are those cans of spray on snow nowadays?

 

[wm49rs]

Ongoing discussion here:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/frozen-ride-replacing-maelstrom.878451/

 

[gatordoc]

True, but I didn't see anything about specific dates, and I'm not making any claims about Frozen. BTW, I went back into MDE, and Maelstrom appears to be available for FP+ up to 9/27, but not after (at least for dates I can see).

 

[wm49rs]

True, but I didn't see anything about specific dates, and I'm not making any claims about Frozen. BTW, I went back into MDE, and Maelstrom appears to be available for FP+ up to 9/27, but not after (at least for dates I can see).

Dates are being discussed, and just why do you think the ride may be unavailable?

 

[doctornick]

If the Frozen overlay is done as cheaply as the Gran Fiesta Tour was, I would guess they'd only need 2 days.

I don't know why people seem to think that Maelstrom will get the Gran Fiesta treatment. As skeptical as I am about Disney, there's no logical way they could simply integrate Frozen characters into the existing Maelstrom theme. If the ride is becoming Frozen themed, it is going to mean a whole bunch of new scenes and figures.

When people are talking about an "overlay" to Maelstrom, the impression I get is that it is using the same ride and physical space to make a frozen ride, not reusing the scenes but adding Elsa and Anna and Olaf to them.

 

[The Mom]

@gatordoc , I reopened this because the other tread was drifting a bit OT, so this info was getting lost.

 

[SoccerMickey]

This might have been discussed, the other thread is pretty long, but apparently the exit and entrance to Maelstrom are being reversed, the movie theater is going to be the queue, load and unload are going to be where the fishing village is now, which will probably get an extra show scene where load currently is, but the entire track, ride vehicle, and fiber optic light effect is staying in place.

 

[doctornick]

This might have been discussed, the other thread is pretty long, but apparently the exit and entrance to Maelstrom are being reversed, the movie theater is going to be the queue, load and unload are going to be where the fishing village is now, which will probably get an extra show scene where load currently is, but the entire track, ride vehicle, and fiber optic light effect is staying in place.

I think this was just a rumor and not confirmed.

That said, I think it would make sense, especially since there would be a need for a much longer queue and repurposing the theater's space for that makes sense. My only question would be the practicality of having load and unload being in the current unload (fishing village) area and whether that would require significant construction or affect capacity.

 

[got2lovedisney]

...entrance to Maelstrom are being reversed, the movie theater is going to be the queue, ...

How would this work? Doesn't the theatre dump into the store?

 

[CDavid]

I don't know why people seem to think that Maelstrom will get the Gran Fiesta treatment. As skeptical as I am about Disney, there's no logical way they could simply integrate Frozen characters into the existing Maelstrom theme. If the ride is becoming Frozen themed, it is going to mean a whole bunch of new scenes and figures.

When people are talking about an "overlay" to Maelstrom, the impression I get is that it is using the same ride and physical space to make a frozen ride, not reusing the scenes but adding Elsa and Anna and Olaf to them.

Well, we have been told (by reliable posters) that this will be a fairly quick, cheap redo of Maelstrom into Frozen, so the reasonable assumption is they will lack both the time and budget to do a complete transformation. Hence, the comparisons with Gran Fiesta, as opposed to the Dreamflight to Buzz Lightyear level redo that the concept really needs (Frozen shouldn't go here at all, of course, but they seem intent on forcing it anyway).

Of course, we are also very much aware of Disney's reputation and recent track record. Thus, expectations are low.

 

[SoccerMickey]

That I don't know. I know they don't want a repeat of the meet and greet taking up the outside and the theater provides a lot of space. Also, I think they're going to use a lot of retail space because there's some talk that the meet and greet is coming back to Norway, when the ride opens, and a lot of the shops might be the new place for that. I guess we'll wait and see.

 

[tl77]

If you can only book FP+ on-line 60 days in advance, Oct 5th and 6th are beyond that window from today Aug 6th

 

[SoccerMickey]

This might have been discussed, the other thread is pretty long, but apparently the exit and entrance to Maelstrom are being reversed, the movie theater is going to be the queue, load and unload are going to be where the fishing village is now, which will probably get an extra show scene where load currently is, but the entire track, ride vehicle, and fiber optic light effect is staying in place.

I think its going to hurt capacity. Its not like "it's a small world" where you can have boats backed up due to the drop and with those boats being rather low its hard to get them loaded and unloaded efficiently with the mobility issues many WDW guests face.

 

[DoctorDisney]

If you can only book FP+ on-line 60 days in advance, Oct 5th and 6th are beyond that window from today Aug 6th

If you have a long enough trip (like the dining 180+10 thing), then you can book further past the 60 days.

 

[aw14]

The fact that it would be done as a possible "cheap" frozen replacement is disheartening. I am disappointed about the change in general, as I was in Mexico. Epcot should illustrate a little historical perspective.

Good thing I purchased one ofthe maelstrom shirts

 

[Unplugged]

I think this was just a rumor and not confirmed.

That said, I think it would make sense, especially since there would be a need for a much longer queue and repurposing the theater's space for that makes sense. My only question would be the practicality of having load and unload being in the current unload (fishing village) area and whether that would require significant construction or affect capacity.

You're correct that they would require a ton of construction (not a 2-3 day deal). When you exit at the village the boats go through the little service tunnel and then into the ride entry. If that were changed into a unified load/unload area, the theater/village/entry would all have to be redone in a big way.

 

[wdisney9000]

Well, we have been told (by reliable posters) that this will be a fairly quick, cheap redo of Maelstrom into Frozen, so the reasonable assumption is they will lack both the time and budget to do a complete transformation. Hence, the comparisons with Gran Fiesta, as opposed to the Dreamflight to Buzz Lightyear level redo that the concept really needs (Frozen shouldn't go here at all, of course, but they seem intent on forcing it anyway).

Of course, we are also very much aware of Disney's reputation and recent track record. Thus, expectations are low.

There are two ways to look at this:

Option 1. Maelstrom is getting a total refurb from soup to nuts into a brand new attraction based on Frozen. If so, how long would that take? Judging by Disneys recent build time I would say at least a year or longer. Are they gonna risk taking that much time while Frozen could possibly loose steam with fans? Doubt it, and Im sure they would have announced something by now because we all know Disney likes to announce big plans waaaaaay ahead of the construction start date.

Option 2. Cheap overlay with Frozen characters thrown in the mix of the existing Maelstrom attraction. They could change the name and change a few scenes around, add a screen here and there and thats it. Look at what they did with the HS event. It falls more under the "good enough" category, not the "oh my God, look, how did they do that" category. They did a great job considering it was thrown together in a short period of time, and people are flocking to it. Why would they need/want to do anything other than "good enough" for Maelstrom?

Here is a quote from the interview with Iger the other day: Iger said when Disney now decides to build new attractions, “the likelihood of their success is greater” when they’re branded.

I think this says A LOT of current Disney. "When Disney now decides to build attractions"??? What does that mean? When they used to decide to build attractions they were not concerned about it being successful based on the "brand". Now, thats what they rely on for it to be successful? Some of the most popular attractions are not branded, at least they werent when they were built. They used to build attractions that were so amazing, it created its OWN BRAND! Look at POTC, and HM. Attractions that created THEIR OWN MOVIE because they were so well executed in design and theme. Now its the other way around. Is this the future of Disney attractions? They wait for a movie to become a smash hit, then they buy it (if they dont own it) and build a ride for it?