networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
At what use to be Animation Courtyard
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Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway - Disneyland
- Thread starter GiveMeTheMusic
- Start date
At what use to be Animation Courtyard
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
A few complaints I heard about Runaway Railway is that the ceiling (notably the Carnival, Sea/Volcano sections) is unthemed which can clash with the cartoon aesthetic.
Hunny Hunt was able to make the ceiling in the Hundred Acre Woods section more convincing. It's more notable around Owl's House.
As mentioned above, I love how that section is filled with trees and leaves. Which can surprise guests when they suddenly see Pooh flying their vehicle and throughout the area.
Hunny Hunt looks very charming.
I have the same complaint about RSR’s ceilings.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Radiator Springs Racers- the only attraction that takes you through the exact land you walked through to get to the attraction, instead of a new location.
NateD1226
Well-Known Member
I think that's my biggest complaint with a lot of the modern day Disney rides. Hunny Hunt opened in 2000 which means that all the modern day rides could've easily covered up the ceiling like they did in Hunny Hunt. I know your not really supposed to looking at the ceiling but it is noticeable when your attention is drawn to things that are higher up. I think the worst case of the ceiling fiasco is Ariel's Under the Sea Adventure:A few complaints I heard about Runaway Railway is that the ceiling (notably the Carnival, Sea/Volcano sections) is unthemed which can clash with the cartoon aesthetic.
Hunny Hunt was able to make the ceiling in the Hundred Acre Woods section more convincing. It's more notable around Owl's House.
As mentioned above, I love how that section is filled with trees and leaves. Which can surprise guests when they suddenly see Pooh flying their vehicle and throughout the area.
It looks like they tried to cover up but it does not look that good. I know this a stupid nitpick but it bothers me a lot. I'm hoping Disney begins to think about the whole surrounding area and not what it's front of you.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
It's especially apparent when compared to Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion that are able to either theme or masterfully disguise the ceiling with excellent lighting. Splash Mountain does a decent job as well.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
I don’t think it’s a stupid nitpick. All that equipment is very noticeable In some rides. I know the FL dark rides aren’t a fair comparison but what are on those ceilings? I’ve never noticed and I suppose that’s a good thing.
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mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Exactly.
Splash Mountain is like Hunny Hunt in a way with the foiliage. It’s also why the Africa scene is my favorite scene in IASW
NateD1226
Well-Known Member
100%. I think it works the best with Splash Mountain because everything is condensed and up-close to the logs. It also helps that the top area is covered by the fake trees. I am hoping they don't ruin this up-close environment thing with the PATF re-theme
socalifornian
Well-Known Member
Dark rides are like Hollywood sets meant for the public, I just don’t want it to feel like a Hollywood set and weaken the scene(s)
brb1006
Well-Known Member
The Tokyo Pooh ride still holds up knowing it's almost years ago. That ride is the only Disney Attraction that actually themed the ceilings (The Heffalump and Woozles section can get away with a bit of ceiling since it's a Dream Sequence). I wish Disney Rides would actually think of theme the ceilings, especially Runaway Railway because I remember hearing the Imagineers described the attraction as "Stepping inside a cartoon" despite the ceilings ruining the atmosphere.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
I think it's suppose to be water waves trying to look like the surface of the ocean. But the lights ruins the effect.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The big challenge with ceilings is that they have to be full of stuff and making them something to see is disproportionately expensive to their role in the experience. They have to have things like air registers, fire sprinklers, smoke detectors and even wireless access points, some of which is limited in how much it can be theme painted. All of that show lighting would have to either hang from the ceiling or there would have to be holes in it. Holes in a ceiling means it’s not continuous which creates life safety issues, typically meaning you’ll need to double up on fire safety equipment (smoke detectors, sprinklers, etc.) above and below the ceiling. You’ll want access to that equipment, but too much ceiling and the space could be classified as a second floor, not maintenance catwalks, meaning a bunch of additional requirements regarding safety get triggered as well. They’re definitely disappointing from a show perspective, especially as show scenes become these larger and larger rooms, but it is also understandable why nobody is going to fight for them.
BuzzedPotatoHead89
Well-Known Member
The question now is will they close SM immediately and conceivably rush the ride to a possible Spring/Summer 2022 opening (which now is due to the MMRR delay is an open year with no marketable new attractions), or do they hold off and wait to shudder SM 1.0 until sometime in 2022 for a foreseeable 2024 opening?
Even under the most ambitious timetable its hard to see the “new” ride opening for 2021 since I’d think they’d reserve the year as a rebound year for the parks with SWGE/RoTR “take 2” and Avengers/DCA marketing as well. I think the more sensible option (should cooler and wiser heads prevail) would still be to close the ride later in 2022 (and lightly market it’s “glowing away” MSEP style). Coming off a pandemic that is still likely to take several years to see attendance fully recover, I don’t see why they’d want to market “2 new E tickets” in two different sides of the park simultaneously within the same year.
Particularly since it’s still conceivable MMRR(if delayed roughly 6-9 months) can open in early Spring 2023 to coincide with Toontown’s 30th, then pushing Tiana Mountain to a Spring/Summer 2024 opening would make much more sense.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
The worst ceiling in the biz is the IASW ceiling.
Hello office building.
Hello office building.
BayouShack
Well-Known Member
I was playing around with the dimensions of the DL vs WDW show building. Turns out the width of the DL version is at least 50 ft shorter than the WDW version! The WDW version, however, takes up the entire length of its show building, judging from blueprints available.
I see two ways around this. First, the width could be reduced by reducing the number of cars per set from 4 to 3. This would allow the waterfall scene to be less wide, and other scenes at the beginning of the ride could be shrunk in the same direction with the reduced number of cars.
Alternatively, since they'd already be changing the floor plan, they could just design up a new floor plan that takes advantage of the extra length of the show building being built behind Toon Town.
To be honest, I think the former seems more reasonable. It's difficult to imagine a layout that would optimize the space for a more narrow building.
Either way, given the extra space needed for the queue and maintenance bay, the rumor that the extra square footage would be dedicated to any substantial office space seems unlikely.
I see two ways around this. First, the width could be reduced by reducing the number of cars per set from 4 to 3. This would allow the waterfall scene to be less wide, and other scenes at the beginning of the ride could be shrunk in the same direction with the reduced number of cars.
Alternatively, since they'd already be changing the floor plan, they could just design up a new floor plan that takes advantage of the extra length of the show building being built behind Toon Town.
To be honest, I think the former seems more reasonable. It's difficult to imagine a layout that would optimize the space for a more narrow building.
Either way, given the extra space needed for the queue and maintenance bay, the rumor that the extra square footage would be dedicated to any substantial office space seems unlikely.
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BrianLo
Well-Known Member
I'm suddenly out of the loop on the trackless conversation due to the rapid expansion (Rise and Runaway Railways ... and shortly Beauty and the Beast).
I think trackless is over-rated in the same sense as Omnimovers. The ride system really is not a guarantee of a good ride (Haunted Mansion versus Mermaid). A lot of people pinned the hope that an expensive ride system guaranteed a more lavish ride - and that is not always the case.
That said, if I were to compare and contrast the two, there are a few advantages of trackless versus an omnimover from a design standpoint. Show scenes can be better timed, ride vehicles can more intimately approach, interact and stop in front of major set pieces. But that can also be subject to pacing issues if the designers don't figure out the flow well.
Pooh is definitely zippier than any omnimover. So it's funny that Tackless is gathering the slow romp through a warehouse moniker. They don't have to be.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
I agree that an Omnimover doesn’t guarantee a good ride but then again any ride system doesn’t guarantee a good ride unless one is looking for pure thrills. I think the difference is a trackless ride inherently has a disadvantage. Of course, execution is key and as we see with Hunny Hunt, trackless rides can be great. Here, stateside, it seems they use trackless rides not necessarily to give us the best ride experience but more to showcase tech that Tokyo’s had forever and to give us multiple ride paths. I always say I’ll take one good ride over 2 or 3 possible mediocre ones. I don’t know, maybe it’s done for the AP culture that needs the variation in their rides/ visits. I mean, I’ve literally seen a woman on mermaid stay staring at her phone on social media the entire ride.
I think that trackless rides are at a disadvantage in the way an omnimover is not. They have to figure out how to make these enormous show buildings accommodating multiple ride paths somehow feel more intimate and/ or theme much more wide open area. It doesn’t seem that they re all that concerned. Maybe they feel that with explosions, Star Wars characters on screens and giant AT ATs that people won’t care. With that said, I also understand ROTR might not be the best example and maybe the theme/ aesthetic of being in a Star Destroyer just isn’t my cup of tea.
Maybe we don’t have a big enough sample size? Maybe what makes Hunny Hunt great is that it’s just an attraction that was executed wonderfully (At the right time by OLC) that just happens to be trackless. They just haven’t figured out how to nail it stateside yet. MMRR looks fun (kind of) but also kind of big and empty in parts. Then you have small scenes like the tornado they manage to completely mess up somehow. So maybe it’s not the trackless ride system so much as it is the people who are making these attractions today compared to the people/ company of the past. I believe we do have a generation of imagineers who don’t quite get it in the way the generations that came before did. Maybe it’s not completely their fault and the evolving technology at a certain point became more of a hinderance. I do believe that we may have reached that point in Society in general as well.
With all of this said, I do still stand by my original point. Sure, Imagineers may not be as good as they were and yeah Disney May tie their hands more than in the past but I think the trackless rides do put the imagineers at a disadvantage as they have so much more square footage to theme and make convincing. POTC and HM are huge but don’t have the tech that requires all the stuff on the ceilings and they are true dark rides which helps.
With an omnimover like Mermaid they screwed up royally in every way. I mean not only is the omnimover the wrong ride system for the IP (obviously should have been a boat ride) but the execution is terrible in almost every way possible. A dry little mermaid ride with no water on an omnimover that passively goes around every scene like we re watching a movie from home except with almost none of the drama. With that said, I go on pretty often at DCA because of the ever present the short line even when the park is busy. I also don’t hate it as much as it sounds. When I’m at the park I’m not thinking of what it should be or what it could have been, I’m enjoying it for what it is.
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Magic Feather
Well-Known Member
It'll stay a four car train. DL is getting the "refined" layout which should remove some of WDW's more awkward sections (for instance, their load/unload layout is atrocious) and maybe reorient a few things. For instance, it wouldn't shock me to see the Waterfall Sequence switch walls.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Or how about making the train car tip forward a bit during the waterfall sequence? From what I understand it does not do this at WDW. Not sure what the point of including that scene was without the ride vehicle at least simulating the fall a little bit. Was this a budget cut as well as whatever the heck went wrong with the Tornado room?
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