-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Mexico Ruined!!!!!!
- Thread starter PrinceAndysMom
- Start date
philsfan2185
Active Member
Watched the ride through video and I am disgusted. They have a beautiful pyramid and scenery and THAT'S the best they could come up with?? I wrote a letter to Disney, not that it matters much to them, but I just felt I had to say or do something.... If I were Mexican, I would be HIGHLY insulted by this ride...this is how Disney chose to portray Mexico? Oh gee, lets go into this ancient Mayan pyramid and see....CARTOONS????????? Donald Duck??????? Why Bother????????? What on Earth were they thinking??? Horrible, pathetic, sad. What is happening to Epcot? Why do they only want to attract thrill seekers and preschoolers now? It's really sad to see this happening.
Exactly, you watched the VIDEO. You haven't experienced the ride first hand, therefore your opinion isn't even valid. By the way, it's not a pyramid, it's a Mayan temple. If I was Mexican I would be highly offended right now!:ROFLOL:
hokielutz
Well-Known Member
And sometimes the best way to educate is to bring an attraction down to a level that elementary kids will not think is boring, aka cartoons. I have to admit that when I was taken into the Mexico pavillion when I was in grade school... I really thought it was boring... I got to go onto a boat ride... but the only thing I remembered from it was the film of the merchants running alongside the boat trying to make you buy their wares. The rest was boring... maybe this change will spark some interest and desire to learn more??
only time will tell.
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
As many have stated the original ride was BAD. I think a change is great and I dont think you could make El Rio Del Tiempo worse. I remember going into mexico and saying wow! this is very cool, the theming was/is awesome. Then we went on the ride and said WOW! that was very lame. It needed a change. could they have done more? Yea, biut I dont think they needed to. If this is succesfull maybe they will do more to the ride in the future. For now Im glad they did something, and as far as I can see its an improvement.
hokielutz
Well-Known Member
ok, so its 11AM EST in the US... I have watched the video after reading half of the comments on this thread about the change.
The video makes me want to ride it and fully experience the ride. I'm kinda sad that I spoiled my surprise by watching it early... but I felt I couldn't comment on this thread without seeing what the OP was complaining about.
The ride looks more upbeat and festive than the prior version, (as I am recalling from my experience in December) so using this ride to take a 10 minute siesta may not be an option anymore. (we'll save that for the after-ride movie in Norway)
I will have to withhold my final judgement/opinion until after May 7th when my wife and I ride it in person. I'm looking forward to it.
The video makes me want to ride it and fully experience the ride. I'm kinda sad that I spoiled my surprise by watching it early... but I felt I couldn't comment on this thread without seeing what the OP was complaining about.
The ride looks more upbeat and festive than the prior version, (as I am recalling from my experience in December) so using this ride to take a 10 minute siesta may not be an option anymore. (we'll save that for the after-ride movie in Norway)
I will have to withhold my final judgement/opinion until after May 7th when my wife and I ride it in person. I'm looking forward to it.
MJMcBride
Member
which hopefully they are changing soon
speck76
Well-Known Member
I think the movie at Norway should be changed from a post-ride show to a pre-ride show....as it would appropriately lower one's expectations for the attraction....
bruiser659
Member
You need to go to a history museum and not to EPCOT,lighten up my family loved it.What about paying some kind of attention to the Mayan culture? One of the most advanced civilizations on the planet for it's time. All I am saying is that world showcase is about education and entertainment and I do not find Donald Duck in a Mayan temple entertaining or educational. If you really want to teach people about different cultures, a mariachi band and three birds is not really going to do it. If Epcot wants to change it theme from edu/tainment to Magic Kingom Part 2, then so be it. Remember...THEY are the ones who decided to make the park educational to begin with so of course, thats what we expect when we go there, right? Or were they lying? Or did they change their minds? Maybe not enough money was generated from the educational guests...they must make much more money from toddlers and teenagers. Those of us who have a problem with it will certainly be free to watch old videos from our couches, which is what I will be doing. Believe me, I do not need to sit through it in person to see how awful the remake is, I saw quite enough from the video. I just think with some better planning and ideas they could have used their resources and come up with something a little smarter than dumping charactors from a 50 year old movie into the existing scenery. Lets give a bit more credit to the people of Mexico instead of treating them as only background extras in a Donald Duck film......
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
I know what Mayans were, but whose the Donald Duck person and whys he holding a party in Mexico? Donalds a Scots name so whts he not in the UK, is the Rose and Crown shut or has he been barred for tossing his caber again.
v_misses_epcot
Member
I've seen enough from the video. I don't need to ride it to give an opinion. For one, I don't want to see donald in mexico and that's just me. And I have a right to be a little angry so don't be telling me that I'm wrong. I'm venting
When I go back in the summer, I'll ride it and I'll still hate it. A few people can't even hate the ride without the entire forum going all :fork: on their behinds.
Just like you all have the right to say how much you think it's "okay" or "fun for the children" I have a right to say that it makes me sick.
beachclubbasics
New Member
I've seen enough from the video. I don't need to ride it to give an opinion. For one, I don't want to see donald in mexico and that's just me. And I have a right to be a little angry so don't be telling me that I'm wrong. I'm venting
When I go back in the summer, I'll ride it and I'll still hate it. A few people can't even hate the ride without the entire forum going all :fork: on their behinds.
Just like you all have the right to say how much you think it's "okay" or "fun for the children" I have a right to say that it makes me sick.
I agree V, you have a right to vent and share your opinion. And, as you are truly of Mexican descent, than you have more of a right than those of us who aren't to complan about the images in the ride. It's like me saying that I don't like Pocahontas. I'm Native American and find that movie stereotypical and also highly historically inaccurate.
That being said, neither El Rio nor Grand Fiesta was/is a great ride. To me, boh feel like filler...EPCOT needed another dark ride so lets throw something in the bottom of Mexico's pavillion. While EL Rio really never did make much sense, it did show a little more of Mexico's culture and beautiful landscape in the films than GF does. Is it me, or does it look like they cut the number of screens in the ride? I believe that the pavillion used ot be sponsored (it may still be) but the Mexican Tourism agency..if so, they've done a disservice to the sponsor by taking away pictures of some of the more beautiful places of Mexico and its culture.
I also have to wonder if the addition of the Three Caballeros was in response the the growing anti-Mexican sentiment in the US.
Like other posters have stated, I see this doing nothing more than increasing the amount of Donald Duck merchandise sold in the park. There's nothing educational about the ride..of course there wasn't that much educational value in the OLD ride either, though you did get to see a smidge more of Mexican culture.
I'm also sure that there are people who don't like Japan because there's not anime everywhere and Hello Kitty isn't walking around as a costumed character. We only know what the US media presents to us about certain countries. There's so much more to any country than what can be shown in the EPCOT pavillions.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
As Im not sat here in a kilt eating haggis and drinking whiskey, I think most nations could argue that point, except Belgians of course, it really is that boring.
In these days of low cost travel, t'internet, and the Discovery channel do people really look to amusement parks for information?
Sherrybaby
New Member
^^ That's how it really IS in the tourist towns (not cities) of Mexico.
It's not PC, but real life isn't, either.
I'm sorry, but you are wrong. The street sellers are everywhere--even in the *cities* of Mexico--not just tourist towns. I lived two weeks with a Mexican family in Cuernavaca, Mexico and in the main part of town (not touristy!) the street sellers were out in droves. It didn't bother me though, I enjoyed talking to them and trying to get good deals on items.
And BTW--I agree--El Rio was one of my favorite rides (sorry I'm a geek) but now I don't even want to go on it.
Sherry
beachclubbasics
New Member
I was talking about Pocahontas the movie. The problem is that when kids see movies before you teach them about the history in school..they get the inaccurate story embedded in their brains and its hard to teach that out of them.
Of course, amusement parks should be fun, but I think that where many people who feel EPCOT should be educational is based on the view that that is what Walt Disney had planned for HIS EPCOT and when EPCOT first opened the Imagineers adheed to the educational component. But as this isn't his concept for EPCOT that point might well be moot. I also don't think that Walt woudl be thrilled at the prices in the park or the prices of the homes in Celebration either as his view was to try to make Dsiney properties affordable to the average person....and we are quickly losing that.
CrashNet
Well-Known Member
I. LOVE. this post. :lol: Change is good everyone, and remember, Epcot (not E.P.C.O.T.) still understates the characters more than any other Disney park on the planet. It still teaches, but in new exciting and interesting ways, through culture, interaction, and entertainment.
beachclubbasics
New Member
Sheery,
My whole family is a bunch of geeks! We go to EPCOT to bet away from the cartoon characters of the MK...and tend ot hang out in the wolrd Showcase. Lst year my then 11 year old got a flag from every nation as part of his souvenirs. My older kids bought books fro Japan and China.
I'll miss El Rio, but I also miss 20K Leagues and the Miceky Mouse Revue too. MMR is the first attrcition I'm going to at TDL.
My whole family is a bunch of geeks! We go to EPCOT to bet away from the cartoon characters of the MK...and tend ot hang out in the wolrd Showcase. Lst year my then 11 year old got a flag from every nation as part of his souvenirs. My older kids bought books fro Japan and China.
I'll miss El Rio, but I also miss 20K Leagues and the Miceky Mouse Revue too. MMR is the first attrcition I'm going to at TDL.
beachclubbasics
New Member
I will admit..if there has to be characters in Epcot, The Three Caballeros are much better than having characters run around in those ugly 70s sace suits like they used to!
MJMcBride
Member
those space suits were the definition of cool, man
WDW FAN 4 LIFE
New Member
If any video in the World Showcase pavilions needs to be changed is the Canadian version. I am Canadian and I can't believe how horrible the video is that shows Canada. I can only imagine what non Canadians think when viewing it.
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
Exactly, In no way was El Rio good or educational in my eyes. I never got anything from the ride nor would it have ever made me want to travel to mexico. Granted the new one won't either, at least its a bit more fun.