Maelstrom's crappy new exit

[ChrisFL]

Maelstrom isn't the only attraction in WDW like this. Up until recently, One Man's Dream at DHS would have you waiting in the model area before you were let into the theatre at the end. Now they let people out a side door if they want but you still have to ask.

Well, you could go back to the entrance there without any problems if you wanted to.

 

[JimboJones123]

No.

Post of the day.

 

[JimboJones123]

Maelstrom isn't the only attraction in WDW like this. Up until recently, One Man's Dream at DHS would have you waiting in the model area before you were let into the theatre at the end. Now they let people out a side door if they want but you still have to ask.

Personally I'd rather wait outside those doors in the exit area at Maelstrom than to be dropped into the crowded shop at the end of Pirates. Trying to navigate through there is enough to test anyones temper.

One Mans Dream can provide exit by just going back to the entrance. You can't ride the boat back to the load deck.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I never understood this setup. I don't know about the available space, but they should make an exit for the ride that avoids the theater and put the film on the guidemap as its own attraction. You'd probably get more people in to see the thing.

 

[CThaddeus]

The idea of people being allowed to wander through the the theater during the movie is beyond inane. I already tend to glare at those who just skip the film because they "already did the fun ride."
Frankly, I wish they would make the film its own attraction. I've always thought Maelstrom was a waste of my time (mostly because of the lousy oil-is-all-that's-important-to-Norway's-present ending), so if I could skip it and just go to the movie, I'd be a much happier person. Yes, it may be an older film, but I appreciate it for the feeling of Norway and its people that I just don't get from the boat ride.

 

[plaz10]

I'm not going to lie...when I was little, I thought the exit in the village was just another stop in the ride and that we jumped off in the middle of the ride! I was like 'wow we are in the scenes!" :lol:

 

[JimboJones123]

The idea of people being allowed to wander through the the theater during the movie is beyond inane. I already tend to glare at those who just skip the film because they "already did the fun ride."
Frankly, I wish they would make the film its own attraction. I've always thought Maelstrom was a waste of my time (mostly because of the lousy oil-is-all-that's-important-to-Norway's-present ending), so if I could skip it and just go to the movie, I'd be a much happier person. Yes, it may be an older film, but I appreciate it for the feeling of Norway and its people that I just don't get from the boat ride.

By quoting "already did the fun ride" you aren't doing the "must watch the post ride film as a form of vacation punishment" any favors. Hahaha.

 

[LoriSue]

Anything would be better than that solution...

But I confess to being one of the families who just walks through. We've seen the movie so many times that I think we could quote the whole thing. After 15 years or so, it usually is time to change up a movie that wasn't a blockbuster to begin with.

We also go through, however, for those who are not lucky enough to have seen it so many times that it got old, I feel like as a courtesy to them, there needs to be a better way. I truly don't mind hanging out in the fishing village. We look in the windows, stuff like that. Not to mention, if that was the America Pavilion and I was in another country, I'd be really angry that my country was disrespected like that.

 

[SMRT-1]

maybe it was just the day you went...was the park busy?


i will have to further inspect..

 

[Rob562]

It is pretty bad show, but I've skipped that movie several times myself.

Here's hoping the revamp of Maelstrom, if it happens, results in seeing the movie first, moving into the village area for the ride load, and includes a new show scene or two in the old load area as you go by, with the unload happening back in the same village and leading to a new exit. It'd be logistically challenging to figure out how to get the load and unload group of people not to cross, but I'm guess somebody could figure it out.

I can see two good solutions to the problem:

1) Keep the queue and ride as-is, but create a true bypass corridor from the unload village to the exit. Living Seas did this in its final years for people who wanted to skip the pre-hydrolator film. They walled off one of the two theaters and built a corridor straight to the hydrolators.

2) Re-work the attraction so that a newly-updated film is a mandatory pre-show before the ride. There would have to be some re-working of the unload and load situation, though.
Perhaps use the village as the pre-movie holidng area somehow. Extend the unload dock toward the North Sea room a bit, to place the unload point earlier than it is now, but within view of the people waiting for the movie. It's like a "teaser" of what lies ahead for those standing there waiting. Empty boats then leave the new unload point, past the waiting crowd and where unload is now, and then around the corner to Load.
They stage full groups for the film, and then the film crowd exits into the current queue en masse to walk around to the current load area.

-Rob

 

[the-reason14]

If they ever did 'rework' maelstrom to where the film was something you had to see before the ride, I probably would never do it again. It's not one of the longest rides, and I always do it when there's literally no line as I feel I'm not wasting time. Adding a 5 or however long minute film before the ride would make it an automatic skip for me. I hope on future trips they continue to leave one of the doors open so I can easily skip the show like I did in January.

 

[CThaddeus]

By quoting "already did the fun ride" you aren't doing the "must watch the post ride film as a form of vacation punishment" any favors. Hahaha.

That's my point - some seem to think it's a punishment, which I just don't get. I quoted it because it appears to be others' opinion...not mine.
I guess the difference is that I've always seen EPCOT Center (I still prefer that name) as a place for fun through learning, while others just want the "fun."

 

[captainkidd]

maybe it was just the day you went...was the park busy?


i will have to further inspect..

Nope. Not busy. It was like that 3 different days we went to Epcot.

I just find it completely disrespectful to those wanting to watch the film. Imagine watching any other of the films at any Disney park and they left the entrance and exit doors open through the entire film, and let people walk right in front of the screen talking.

It's a horrible solution.

 

[T-1MILLION]

Nope. Not busy. It was like that 3 different days we went to Epcot.

I just find it completely disrespectful to those wanting to watch the film. Imagine watching any other of the films at any Disney park and they left the entrance and exit doors open through the entire film, and let people walk right in front of the screen talking.

It's a horrible solution.

You are right it is a horrible solution and creates rude situations. I walk behind the people at least whenever I could while exiting last week, but what is even more rude to think about is how people from these cultures such as the ones who work there realize this is the film they are showing of your Country.

That is pretty pathetic for the most visited resort on the planet.

 

[imagineer boy]

I'm actually kind of glad about this change. It was always annoying to wait a long time for a movie you didn't want to watch.

I think at this point they should just get rid of the movie entirely.

 

[CDavid]

The door leads to a hallway that curves left back to the load area. A door on the right side of this hallway opens into the area on the left just as you come out of the theatre. A door to the left a few steps further goes to an office, the load area and the boat path turn into the load station.

So there is indeed another way out than through the theater, which makes the 'bad-show' decision to just leave the doors to the theater open all the time even more puzzling.

Why not send those who, for whatever reason, wish to skip the film out through the hallway and leave a proper theater for those of us who appreciate the movie?

 

[Alektronic]

So there is indeed another way out than through the theater, which makes the 'bad-show' decision to just leave the doors to the theater open all the time even more puzzling.

Why not send those who, for whatever reason, wish to skip the film out through the hallway and leave a proper theater for those of us who appreciate the movie?

There is only one way for guests. The other way is for CM's. They use it to move wheelchairs and ECV's from load to unload.

 

[MegaPowersPT]

I feel bad for those in the theater, but at least we're not stuck out there waiting anymore.

 

[LoriSue]

We also go through, however, for those who are not lucky enough to have seen it so many times that it got old, I feel like as a courtesy to them, there needs to be a better way. QUOTE]
WOW.... not sure what I was thinking when I responded. Well, I do...3 weeks from this very moment, I will be on my the way to the airport! Anyway, I realized most of my post had been expressed previously, didn't mean to be redundant. Anyway, Have a Magical Day!!

 

[Oddysey]

Overall I think it is a poor decision to leave the doors open, and the way it was before suited me just fine. I rarely have ever had to wait the full 5 minutes because you typically exit the boat at some point during the middle or end of the movie rather than right as the doors close.

The idea of people being allowed to wander through the the theater during the movie is beyond inane. I already tend to glare at those who just skip the film because they "already did the fun ride."
Frankly, I wish they would make the film its own attraction. I've always thought Maelstrom was a waste of my time (mostly because of the lousy oil-is-all-that's-important-to-Norway's-present ending), so if I could skip it and just go to the movie, I'd be a much happier person. Yes, it may be an older film, but I appreciate it for the feeling of Norway and its people that I just don't get from the boat ride.

Why do you glare at people who dont want to watch the movie. What if your glaring at someone who has been a passholder for years, and has seen the movie so many times that it is no longer interesting to them (like myself). Im sorry but at some point the nearly 22 year old movie loses some of its original luster.

I guess the difference is that I've always seen EPCOT Center (I still prefer that name) as a place for fun through learning, while others just want the "fun."

I am one of the biggest supporters of the vision that was EPCOT Center, but after so many views the movie loses its educational effect.