Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway - Disneyland

[MisterPenguin]

The ride count between the two is comical at this point. The fact that a ride was gutted for this attraction in Florida and no ride was torn down in California for the same attraction is ironic and hysterical.

You gotta laugh at that and/or scratch your head.

The ride that was replaced was starting to cost too much to run and the cost of a complete upgrade was pretty much the cost of a brand new attraction. And a brand new attraction brings in more guests. And... IP! Granted, people liked TGMR, but, the business decision to replace it wasn't capricious. A replacement was needed: More of the same history of movies, or, a Mickey Mouse ride.

The lack of thought and expansion in WDW sometimes confuses me. One of the things that i could not understand when the fantasyland expansion was designed was why they needed to cramp everything together. Why not just expand the land a bit further up near the railroad tracks. the small pond could have been pushed west and the backstage road re-aligned.
would have given them more room to expand and properly create a Beauty and the Beast area and then maybe eventually allowed them to connect this area with a nice wooden pathway behind the rivers of America that would connect to Frontierland.View attachment 471859

That area is starting to get too close to the fireworks.

Also, that area of Fantasyland is up one story over the utilidors. The ground level of that wooded area is the same level of the utilidors, and if you drive up to the park from that direction, you'll see the backside of Fantasyland one story above you. Expanding like that would be really expensive.

Also, for WDW, MK already has too many rides at the expense of the other parks. People are overcrowding into MK. WDW has just as many rides as DLR, just spread over four parks instead of two. Problem is MK has about 27 rides, while the other three have about 9 each. Before MK gets more rides, the other three parks need them more. A zoo, a world showcase, and stage shows can't compete with differential of 15 rides with the MK.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I never loved GMR. I thought the premise was kind of dumb and forced, the ride vehicles were like tanks in those massive rooms, and whatever improvement they were going for with the TCM tie-in didn't work in practice. It was never my favorite, and I don't know if it's entirely accurate to say that I miss the ride.

BUT!

Removing a ride in a park that only had 9 and was going to be receiving significant guest focus because of the Star Wars and Toy Story expansions was fundamentally a stupid move on their part. While the attraction was dated, it had no problem attracting a crowd and giving the people in the park another thing to do, and was one of the only things in the park with no height requirement (negated somewhat by the Alien scene, but still). Judging by the obscene wait times I was seeing at DHS earlier this year, the GMR would have helped bring those wait times down, and the park as it exists now needs all the capacity it can get. But alas, it's WDW, and so more than any other Disney complex in the world it DEFINITELY won't get it. Or if it does come it won't nearly be at the speed the park needs it to be there.

A similar story could be told about UOE and Disney's decision to use its massive show building solely for the queue. Blessing of size indeed.

 

[TROR]

The biggest travesty in the destruction of TGMR is the loss of The Wizard of Oz segment. Everything else was ok at best. I do hope they preserved all the AA’s, though. Many of them could be easily repurposed to a Wild West dark ride.

 

[Disneylover152]

Hollywood Studios also has infinite backstage production studios that are no longer in use, not to mention countless outdated stage shows from the 90s they could have plopped this ride into. Makes no sense to take one of the parks few good attractions for a ride that literally could have been built in 10 other places.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Hollywood Studios also has infinite backstage production studios that are no longer in use, not to mention countless outdated stage shows from the 90s they could have plopped this ride into. Makes no sense to take one of the parks few good attractions for a ride that literally could have been built in 10 other places.

It makes perfect sense when you understand that Disney want to keep attractions per guest per hour as low as possible.

 

[PiratesMansion]

It makes perfect sense when you understand that Disney want to keep attractions per guest per hour as low as possible.

On my last visit it was so bad, particularly at MK, that it made me wonder at what point some of their guests would think about how much cheaper and easier it was to do attractions at their local Six Flags and just stick to that instead. And why wouldn't they, especially when a larger percentage of what they choose to build leans towards conventional amusement park rides with Disney characters on them?

WDW makes all ride lines move glacially slow, but then rushes you through your expensive table service dinner. While the way they do it is more profitable, it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that it's supposed to be the other way around.

I truly feel like they're playing with fire down there at this point. It's just so MUCH worse and more noticeable at WDW than at any of their other properties that anyone with a brain has to be wondering if this was even worth all the time, money, and planning (if they did any) they put into it.

 

[mickEblu]

It makes perfect sense when you understand that Disney want to keep attractions per guest per hour as low as possible.

Have they built any attraction with a ride time longer than 5-6 minutes in the last 25 years?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Have they built any attraction with a ride time longer than 5-6 minutes in the last 25 years?

I guess “it’s a small world” at Hong Kong Disneyland technically counts. Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure is about that long.

 

[Californian Elitist]

and not just any ride, they tore out the flagship E ticket ride of the park.

Right. Like, what? Lol.

The ride that was replaced was starting to cost too much to run and the cost of a complete upgrade was pretty much the cost of a brand new attraction. And a brand new attraction brings in more guests. And... IP! Granted, people liked TGMR, but, the business decision to replace it wasn't capricious. A replacement was needed: More of the same history of movies, or, a Mickey Mouse ride.

Regardless of the reason, whether this is it or not, it’s still ironic and comical.

All that land (apparently, maybe I’m missing something) and there was no space to put it elsewhere without tearing out another ride? They did the same thing with Snow and the Mine Train attraction.

If we’re actually still getting this attraction, I’m happy it isn’t replacing a ride, thought I wouldn’t care if Gadget’s was replaced.

 

[lazyboy97o]

All that land (apparently, maybe I’m missing something)

poor planning. The land aquired for EPCOT is the very sort of chaotic, disorganized, inefficient sprawl Walt was reacting against.

 

[Californian Elitist]

**** poor planning. The land aquirked for EPCOT is the very sort of chaotic, disorganized, inefficient sprawl Walt was reacting against.

Was there was sort of intention in design with the amount of sprawl? Or did it just end up that way?

 

[No Name]

Have they built any attraction with a ride time longer than 5-6 minutes in the last 25 years?

The Little Mermaid ride.

In Hong Kong, there’s Jungle River Cruise and It’s a Small World. In Shanghai, there’s Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, Battle for the Sunken Treasure, and Roaring Rapids.

And I think that’s literally it. I agree it’s not much.

 

[mickEblu]

I guess “it’s a small world” at Hong Kong Disneyland technically counts. Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure is about that long.

Technically. But that’s just them cloning a staple Disney attraction. I guess they could have made it shorter though. Safe to say we’ll probably never see a new attraction longer than 5-6 minutes in our lifetime. As much as I feel that I would like a long 10-12 minute boat ride at DCA, I have to wonder if modern WDI/ Disney could pull that off in a way that wouldn’t bore me to death. Or if it’s even possible at all in 2020? I wonder if I would love POTC as much as I do if I rode for the first time as an adult in 2020.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Was there was sort of intention in design with the amount of sprawl? Or did it just end up that way?

Like the actual suburbs, upfront it is a lot easier and cheaper. You just keep doing it and then you have an expensive mess to manage and try to bandage.

 

[No Name]

Right. Like, what? Lol.



Regardless of the reason, whether this is it or not, it’s still ironic and comical.

All that land (apparently, maybe I’m missing something) and there was no space to put it elsewhere without tearing out another ride? They did the same thing with Snow and the Mine Train attraction.

If we’re actually still getting this attraction, I’m happy it isn’t replacing a ride, thought I wouldn’t care if Gadget’s was replaced.

There was space, but they’re idiots who would rather limit capacity than increase operational costs. Now they have to block 60,000ish CMs from the park, everything has long lines, the snack stands are always running out of pretzels, etc. It’s a mess across the board. And if Galaxy’s Edge pulled the attendance they had expected in DHS, I have no idea how they’d handle it.

Replacing the GMR with MMRR wasn’t even the worst of it in my opinion. Replacing the Backlot Tour and Lights Motors Action with three major rides that don’t do more than 1500 an hour each is a huge problem.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

In all fairness, the stuff they replaced at MGM Studios was lame aside from the GMR.

Not saying they expanded properly and that park is still ridiculously low on rides.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Isn't ROTR's length longer than 5-6 min?

Sindbad's Storybook Voyage would certainly fit that category too.

 

[Disneylover152]

Isn't ROTR's length longer than 5-6 min?

Sindbad's Storybook Voyage would certainly fit that category too.

The experience as a whole (queue, preshows, ride) is way longer than 5-6 minutes, but the physical ride portion is a little under 5 minutes.

Speaking which, remember when we all thought Rise of the Resistance was the future of theme park rides? Now I doubt we are gonna see many rides with pre shows in the near future, unless they are absolutely essential to the ride, such as Haunted Mansion.

 

[TROR]

The experience as a whole (queue, preshows, ride) is way longer than 5-6 minutes, but the physical ride portion is a little under 5 minutes.

Speaking which, remember when we all thought Rise of the Resistance was the future of theme park rides? Now I doubt we are gonna see many rides with pre shows in the near future, unless they are absolutely essential to the ride, such as Haunted Mansion.

I doubt it. This entire thing will blow over in a year's time. We'll be right back in tightly packed theme parks and not even think about germs anymore than we did before.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

I doubt it. This entire thing will blow over in a year's time. We'll be right back in tightly packed theme parks and not even think about germs anymore than we did before.

I agree there will likely be a bigger snap back to normal than most people are currently thinking. I think the most interesting long term implications which will stem from this pandemic are related to teleworking.