Maelstrom going down in October (no FP+)?

R

Ralphlaw

Well-Known Member
Maelstrom needed an update. For me, it starts great, even in the queing area, but then kind of peters out around the time of the oil rig. A subtle insertion of characters would be okay, but I truly fear it's going to feature Olaf and Sven. Yeah, my daughter will love it, but where would the history, culture, and depth be? Personally, I really like the film, and the village is nice as well. I hope they don't destroy them.

Both the old Mexican boat ride and Maelstrom were transformative, taking you away to some mysterious place far from commercialism and pop culture. In some way, both classic rides made you feel as if you were "somewhere". I don't get that same feeling after It's a Small World, and I no longer get that feeling on the Mexican boat ride.

World Showcase drew upon the old Worlds Fair traditions, in which countries proudly sent their workers to build a pavilion and fill it with that country's food, treasures, and culture. There was pride and wonderment, like a National Geographic magazine coming to life. When Ackershus became a princess restaurant, it all began to fall away for Norway. Now it's all heavy perfume, little girls in glittery dresses and tennis shoes. Hardly anyone visits the little museum inside the Stave Church, instead opting to watch Agent P chase Doofenschmirtz.

Norway is a great and full country, with much to be proud of. I fear it's beautiful Orlando outpost is all being lost to a cartoon glaze over.
 
R

Ralphlaw

Well-Known Member
Actually a Thor and Loki overlay might be fun, but I guess there's probably some contract forbidding that. Perhaps just a touch of Asgard wouldn't be too illegal.
 
wdisney9000

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Might as well put Frozen in Morocco pavilion as well. The defenders of stupidity could justify it by tracing some type of lineage between Arendale and Morocco Im sure. I cant even watch the on ride videos without feeling extremely sad that I may never get to ride it again. I dont care if the overlay is the best ride ever created, it doesnt belong there and Id rather ride Maelstrom for 108 minutes than watch Frozen and its one half decent, over saturated and already annoying song. And please, stop calling it an "addition" to EPCOT, its a replacement, big difference.
 
Beholder

Beholder

Well-Known Member
If true, then this is no longer a sign of the way Disney (parks) will be ran, it's a declaration. No more wondering if they will ever turn to original and unique attractions. If the IP doesn't make at least a billion worldwide, then forget it. Now I'm VERY worried about JII. We're losing EPCOT. At least the EPCOT I grew up with, the themepark unlike any other. Built with intelligence to BE intelligent. This is maddening and heartbreaking at the same time.
 
Communicore

Communicore

Well-Known Member
Beholder said:
If true, then this is no longer a sign of the way Disney (parks) will be ran, it's a declaration. No more wondering if they will ever turn to original and unique attractions. If the IP doesn't make at least a billion worldwide, then forget it. Now I'm VERY worried about JII. We're losing EPCOT. At least the EPCOT I grew up with, the themepark unlike any other. Built with intelligence to BE intelligent. This is maddening and heartbreaking at the same time.
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EPCOT is already lost when it turned into Epcot theme park. It's never coming back and it pains me greatly every single day.
 
WondersOfLife

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
gatordoc said:
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.
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squidward said:
If the Frozen overlay is done as cheaply as the Gran Fiesta Tour was, I would guess they'd only need 2 days.
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hazelrah

hazelrah

Member
I too was wanting to book Maelstrom for my October trip, and have been wondering why it wasn't showing up. It seems to me that if Disney really is closing it for a makeover in a little over a month, they would have announced it by now. They have nothing to gain by keeping that info secret. All it would do is infuriate fans of the original who would be denied one last chance to ride because they didn't know the change was coming. Then again, maybe they are trying to avoid all the petitions and picket lines and so forth.

For what it's worth, there's a thread on Disboards where someone had issues booking FP+ for Maelstrom in August. It eventually became available. The theory was around system issues, since Maelstrom recently switched from Tier 1 to Tier 2 at Epcot, and perhaps the entitlements aren't getting generated properly. Maybe the same thing happens every month, until someone at Disney notices and manually fixes it?
 
cw1982

cw1982

Well-Known Member
wdisney9000 said:
Might as well put Frozen in Morocco pavilion as well. The defenders of stupidity could justify it by tracing some type of lineage between Arendale and Morocco Im sure. I cant even watch the on ride videos without feeling extremely sad that I may never get to ride it again. I dont care if the overlay is the best ride ever created, it doesnt belong there and Id rather ride Maelstrom for 108 minutes than watch Frozen and its one half decent, over saturated and already annoying song. And please, stop calling it an "addition" to EPCOT, its a replacement, big difference.
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Best post I've read all day!
 
M

morningstar

Well-Known Member
ElvisMickey said:
Any of us who are passionate about the company, on these boards on a regular basis and get a bigger thrill when thinking of WDW returning to its former glory as opposed to the thrill of Olaf cupcakes, didn't need a verbal confirmation from Bob Iger about the company's lack of investment in the parks with original, innovative attractions. We've seen the way this company has done business over the last several years. Gone are the days of creativity, taking chances, giving the guests an entertaining attraction that they also might learn something from...things which made Disney, Disney. Now it's just, "What classic attraction can we gut to throw in Elsa?" Then on top of that, they do it cheaply to save as much money as possible (Three Caballeros). I'm not completely bitter. I will say that I DO like certain aspects of New Fantasyland. But I can't help but get aggravated everytime I walk through EPCOT or Hollywood Studios and see how these parks are only shells of their former selves...and getting worse and more ridiculous (more dance parties?) to keep the guests with the Disney rose color glasses occupied and happy.

I hear a lot of people blast Michael Eisner, but this company had b*lls when he was in control when it came to investing in WDW. Crazy expansion...new parks, new (original) attractions, hotels, night clubs.

To the average fan, Disney is probably still Disney and nothing has changed for them. Then there are us Disney freaks who know better lol...
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Bravo. Nice screed.
 

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