Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway confirmed

[SteveAZee]

Must admit that I am exactly the same. I adore SSE, but Great Movie Ride always left me cold. Perhaps the slow-moving giant ride vehicles and soundstage-scale sets all ultimately gave it the feeling of rolling past a series of reconstructions of scenes from major motion pictures without any sense of intimacy or involvement. The guides, in my experience, didn't really overcome that and the film montage at the end probably packed the most emotional punch of the whole attraction for me.

I know this will not be a popular view here, but I think it was one of those attractions that was ambitious and sounded good on paper but never quite worked in practice.

This is why I won't really miss the GMR; having seen the film versions, the animatronic versions (minus the wicked witch, maybe) paled in comparison to what they were imitating without adding anything new. Secondly, when the cast members/guides were more often misses rather than hits... mumbling and rushing through the dialogue, uncomfortable interactions with the 'characters', just an unease about it all. I would guess there are ways to have done/redone the ride to make it more immersive, but I'm OK to see what's next.

 

[LittleBuford]

Must admit that I am exactly the same. I adore SSE, but Great Movie Ride always left me cold. Perhaps the slow-moving giant ride vehicles and soundstage-scale sets all ultimately gave it the feeling of rolling past a series of reconstructions of scenes from major motion pictures without any sense of intimacy or involvement. The guides, in my experience, didn't really overcome that and the film montage at the end probably packed the most emotional punch of the whole attraction for me.

I know this will not be a popular view here, but I think it was one of those attractions that was ambitious and sounded good on paper but never quite worked in practice.

Thank you for verbalising what I wasn’t able to. I think this is a great explanation of why the ride didn’t work for some of us.

 

[The Pho]

Must admit that I am exactly the same. I adore SSE, but Great Movie Ride always left me cold. Perhaps the slow-moving giant ride vehicles and soundstage-scale sets all ultimately gave it the feeling of rolling past a series of reconstructions of scenes from major motion pictures without any sense of intimacy or involvement. The guides, in my experience, didn't really overcome that and the film montage at the end probably packed the most emotional punch of the whole attraction for me.

I know this will not be a popular view here, but I think it was one of those attractions that was ambitious and sounded good on paper but never quite worked in practice.

I understand why people disliked it, it certainly wasn’t for everyone. But to me it was as critical to my Disney going as Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. I fully credit Great Movie Ride, and to a degree MGM as a whole, with giving me my love for film. MGM I generally credit with lots of my passions, including Disney in general. It enthralled me as a child, to a greater degree than any other top notch true Disney classic. Because of this ride I’ve now seen over 10,000 movies, including nearly every last one featured on the ride or the end video or as a prop or connected to the ride in some other loose manner (I’m still working on a few of them). To me, it was one of the most crucial things I’ve ever experienced and I’ll always love it for that reason. I’ll miss it dearly and am saddened that nobody else will ever get to gain the same things that I did from the ride. It remained until its end, one of the only of a handful of rides that I was willing to wait for. I’ll argue to my end that it worked as well anything Disney has ever created.

 

[aladdin2007]

I understand why people disliked it, it certainly wasn’t for everyone. But to me it was as critical to my Disney going as Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. I fully credit Great Movie Ride, and to a degree MGM as a whole, with giving me my love for film. MGM I generally credit with lots of my passions, including Disney in general. It enthralled me as a child, to a greater degree than any other top notch true Disney classic. Because of this ride I’ve now seen over 10,000 movies, including nearly every last one featured on the ride or the end video or as a prop or connected to the ride in some other loose manner (I’m still working on a few of them). To me, it was one of the most crucial things I’ve ever experienced and I’ll always love it for that reason. I’ll miss it dearly and am saddened that nobody else will ever get to gain the same things that I did from the ride. It remained until its end, one of the only of a handful of rides that I was willing to wait for. I’ll argue to my end that it worked as well anything Disney has ever created.

very well stated and feel the same way.

 

[Rogue1138]

Must admit that I am exactly the same. I adore SSE, but Great Movie Ride always left me cold. Perhaps the slow-moving giant ride vehicles and soundstage-scale sets all ultimately gave it the feeling of rolling past a series of reconstructions of scenes from major motion pictures without any sense of intimacy or involvement. The guides, in my experience, didn't really overcome that and the film montage at the end probably packed the most emotional punch of the whole attraction for me.

I know this will not be a popular view here, but I think it was one of those attractions that was ambitious and sounded good on paper but never quite worked in practice.

I love the history of cinema being a one time film student but I always wondered how much of GMR even resonated with anyone. There's several movies a lot of adults haven't even seen and I don't see your average 10 year old rushing out to watch The Public Enemy or Casablanca, especially now in the age of YouTube.

 

[FigmentFan82]

Keeping hope that they have a breakthrough and it'll be ready for my early December trip!!

 

[phillip9698]

its a culture thing....every new ride is all this over the top xyz crammed into a 4 minute experience...no time to soak anything in or really take it in. PS this is why SSE is my favorite ride on property and im not some old fart. im 29....but i appreciate things more so maybe....i dont want all the pizzaz and glitter for 30 seconds....i want something deeper with meaning.

It wasnt a culture thing as much as an age thing. Put some movies in there that released after 1980 if you want to connect with everyone. I'm 37 years old and none of the movies on that ride would have put this as a must ride for me. Maybe Alien but to do that property justice risks scaring a core audience group. Besides Wizard Of Oz the whole ride needed to be put in a museum.

I mean for most riders it was scene from movie you have never seen to movie you have never even heard of to boy at least the AC works while I look at a busted Tarzan dangle back and forth.

 

[Goofyernmost]

It wasnt a culture thing as much as an age thing. Put some movies in there that released after 1980 if you want to connect with everyone. I'm 37 years old and none of the movies on that ride would have put this as a must ride for me. Maybe Alien but to do that property justice risks scaring a core audience group. Besides Wizard Of Oz the whole ride needed to be put in a museum.

I mean for most riders it was scene from movie you have never seen to movie you have never even heard of to boy at least the AC works while I look at a busted Tarzan dangle back and forth.

Again, it wasn't about recognizing a movie. It was about the History of Hollywood and the huge movies that happened before a lot of us were born. It was to show what built Hollywood and the film industry. One of the reasons why it didn't connect was because people were always trying to distort its mission to fit their own desires. If one listened to the spiel it explained what built it and why. By the time the majority of the people actually road the GMR all they could think of was why there weren't more recent movies. It was because those recent movies didn't create Hollywood, those early ones did.

It is the same as how people view CoP. It is a history of how much progress was made during the 1900's. They did attempt a future view when it first came out and it was easier to take a crack at what was coming later. After the 1980's things changed so fast that Disney wisely stopped trying to guess what was going to happen. That is why leaving the last scene the way it is gives the show a complete overall view of the 20th Century. There is no need to change the story line of the show, just the attitude and knowledge of the people that attend it and an upgrade of the AA's along with a bit of a sprucing up.

 

[matt9112]

Again, it wasn't about recognizing a movie. It was about the History of Hollywood and the huge movies that happened before a lot of us were born. It was to show what built Hollywood and the film industry. One of the reasons why it didn't connect was because people were always trying to distort its mission to fit their own desires. If one listened to the spiel it explained what built it and why. By the time the majority of the people actually road the GMR all they could think of was why there weren't more recent movies. It was because those recent movies didn't create Hollywood, those early ones did.

It is the same as how people view CoP. It is a history of how much progress was made during the 1900's. They did attempt a future view when it first came out and it was easier to take a crack at what was coming later. After the 1980's things changed so fast that Disney wisely stopped trying to guess what was going to happen. That is why leaving the last scene the way it is gives the show a complete overall view of the 20th Century. There is no need to change the story line of the show, just the attitude and knowledge of the people that attend it and an upgrade of the AA's along with a bite of a sprucing up.

i dont agree with you often but your spot on here.

 

[phillip9698]

Again, it wasn't about recognizing a movie. It was about the History of Hollywood and the huge movies that happened before a lot of us were born. It was to show what built Hollywood and the film industry. One of the reasons why it didn't connect was because people were always trying to distort its mission to fit their own desires. If one listened to the spiel it explained what built it and why. By the time the majority of the people actually road the GMR all they could think of was why there weren't more recent movies. It was because those recent movies didn't create Hollywood, those early ones did.

It is the same as how people view CoP. It is a history of how much progress was made during the 1900's. They did attempt a future view when it first came out and it was easier to take a crack at what was coming later. After the 1980's things changed so fast that Disney wisely stopped trying to guess what was going to happen. That is why leaving the last scene the way it is gives the show a complete overall view of the 20th Century. There is no need to change the story line of the show, just the attitude and knowledge of the people that attend it and an upgrade of the AA's along with a bite of a sprucing up.

Its the job of the ride to connect with the riders not vice versa. It failed to do so. The ride needed a complete gut job, not a new coat of paint if Disney actually wanted it to draw going forward. Another problem I had with the ride is that so many of the properties represented a time when people with my skin tone weren't allowed to participate in the industry or were extremely marginalized. So right out the gate there was very little connection or want for a connection with me. Is there any minority representation at all on that ride outside of a few seconds during the montage?

Not every idea Disney comes up with is going to be a hit, this one just wasn't and they needed to go back to the drawing board with it.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Its the job of the ride to connect with the riders not vice versa. It failed to do so. The ride needed a complete gut job, not a new coat of paint if Disney actually wanted it to draw going forward. Another problem I had with the ride is that so many of the properties represented a time when people with my skin tone weren't allowed to participate in the industry or were extremely marginalized. So right out the gate there was very little connection or want for a connection with me. Is there any minority representation at all on that ride outside of a few seconds during the montage?

Not every idea Disney comes up with is going to be a hit, this one just wasn't and they needed to go back to the drawing board with it.

Bull... is the world going to have to babysit everyone? If I go to a NASCAR race should I be upset because it doesn't have bumper cars that I can drive? If I go to an Opera, should I be upset because the Rolling Stones aren't on stage. The ride was about a specific message, not a "click" on this if you want to change the theme.

If you don't like the message that the show is sending (which apparently happened in the case of GMR) then it is not open for change unless there is consensus that they want to change the message. They did not and without that particular theme, it was just a ride through of a bunch of robots. I loved the ride, I will miss the ride, but, because of the limited imagination of the general, please hold my hand, pubic it is now gone because not enough people felt it worthy. Life is like that.

I'm not upset with what they are going to replace it with. I think the GMR ran it's course and far from being unsuccessful on it's own, it became that way because of the park itself changing along with the cognitive ability of the guests. At one time it was king of the hill. So because it did lose its ability to draw, they did gut it, as you requested, and I am looking forward to what is coming and I hope to go into it knowing what it was trying to do. This one seems to be to entertain and not to educate. Disney has had a shelf life problem with any of its edutainment ventures. They all go stale over time.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Again, it wasn't about recognizing a movie. It was about the History of Hollywood and the huge movies that happened before a lot of us were born. It was to show what built Hollywood and the film industry.

While I agree with you about the attraction, society has changed and with it, the attractions need to change or you risk having a huge attraction with empty cars going through them.

If Epcot had opened this year with the attraction lineup from 1982, it would be a flop. If DHS opened this year with the attraction lineup from 1989, it would be a flop. Why? Relevance. You need to know your audience. Epcot and MGM worked when they opened because the attractions were built with the current society in mind.

The Great Movie Ride was a history lesson... While I loved the attraction when it first opened, it quickly got stale IMO and the rest of my family never cared to ride it. Taking my family as a very small sample size (a big Disney buff that wants to hang on to any bit of Disney nostalgia in the parks he can, a wife that just enjoys going there to vacation with her children, and two young kids [9 and 5]), it's no wonder that it saw less and less riders.

You may say, "Your kids are too young to understand..." and then I'd say, "What teenager wants to ride that when Tower of Terror, Rock n Rollercoaster, a giant Video Game, and a shiny new Star Wars land" is right around the corner? Maybe the adults? Well, they're going to be steered by their children. Older folks? Again, most will be there as grandparents.

In it's current state (and even if they refurbed a few scenes), it was destined to fail going forward. To bring it back it would've needed to be a complete redo with updated tech and more relevant movies and more of a mix of classic and current. To me, the attraction dealt with the history but moreso focused on riding through different genres of films. Guess what is a HUGE genre right now? Comic Book films. Basically the only types of films keeping theaters open at the moment.

 

[phillip9698]

Bull... is the world going to have to babysit everyone? If I go to a NASCAR race should I be upset because it doesn't have bumper cars that I can drive? If I go to an Opera, should I be upset because the Rolling Stones aren't on stage. The ride was about a specific message, not a "click" on this if you want to change the theme.

If you don't like the message that the show is sending (which apparently happened in the case of GMR) then it is not open for change unless there is consensus that they want to change the message. They did not and without that particular theme, it was just a ride through of a bunch of robots. I loved the ride, I will miss the ride, but, because of the limited imagination of the general, please hold my hand, pubic it is now gone because not enough people felt it worthy. Life is like that.

I'm not upset with what they are going to replace it with. I think the GMR ran it's course and far from being unsuccessful on it's own, it became that way because of the park itself changing along with the cognitive ability of the guests. At one time it was king of the hill. So because it did lose its ability to draw, they did gut it, as you requested, and I am looking forward to what is coming and I hope to go into it knowing what it was trying to do. This one seems to be to entertain and not to educate. Disney has had a shelf life problem with any of its edutainment ventures. They all go stale over time.

I fail to see how not liking the GMR leads one to believe someone has a limited imagination or cognitive ability. It's a fairly straightforward ride through movie scenes that most of the audience going forward had or will have no connection to. Given that, as time moves on its reach becomes more and more focused on movie buffs and historians. It desperately needed something to scratch the nostalgic itch of people under 50 years old. You can include more recent properties and not lose the overall message, id say someone who is unable to see that is the one who lacks imagination. Would the message have been hurt by including a Forrest Gump scene?

Final thought, GMR is the type of attraction that needs a good refresh every 15-20 years to remain relevant. It's not the type of ride you can just build and forget. Maybe Disney didn't want to foot that bill going forward.

 

[Goofyernmost]

While I agree with you about the attraction, society has changed and with it, the attractions need to change or you risk having a huge attraction with empty cars going through them.

If Epcot had opened this year with the attraction lineup from 1982, it would be a flop. If DHS opened this year with the attraction lineup from 1989, it would be a flop. Why? Relevance. You need to know your audience. Epcot and MGM worked when they opened because the attractions were built with the current society in mind.

The Great Movie Ride was a history lesson... While I loved the attraction when it first opened, it quickly got stale IMO and the rest of my family never cared to ride it. Taking my family as a very small sample size (a big Disney buff that wants to hang on to any bit of Disney nostalgia in the parks he can, a wife that just enjoys going there to vacation with her children, and two young kids [9 and 5]), it's no wonder that it saw less and less riders.

You may say, "Your kids are too young to understand..." and then I'd say, "What teenager wants to ride that when Tower of Terror, Rock n Rollercoaster, a giant Video Game, and a shiny new Star Wars land" is right around the corner? Maybe the adults? Well, they're going to be steered by their children. Older folks? Again, most will be there as grandparents.

In it's current state (and even if they refurbed a few scenes), it was destined to fail going forward. To bring it back it would've needed to be a complete redo with updated tech and more relevant movies and more of a mix of classic and current. To me, the attraction dealt with the history but moreso focused on riding through different genres of films. Guess what is a HUGE genre right now? Comic Book films. Basically the only types of films keeping theaters open at the moment.

I totally agree and have pushed that idea for a while. It never stops amazing me that even at my age I can still look forward and not constantly think that only what was, that I once enjoyed would be better then what is ahead. A lot of my favorites have gone. 20K, World of Motion, "original" Imagination, GMR and others. All except Imagination was replaced by something either better or at least as good as what was there before. I classify as very "older folks", but, I still love seeing new things and experiencing new events. I may be in the minority for my age, but, nothing was ever accomplished by living in the past or striving to go back to an imaginary past.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I fail to see how not liking the GMR leads one to believe someone has a limited imagination or cognitive ability. It's a fairly straightforward ride through movie scenes that most of the audience going forward had or will have no connection to. Given that, as time moves on its reach becomes more and more focused on movie buffs and historians. It desperately needed something to scratch the nostalgic itch of people under 50 years old. You can include more recent properties and not lose the overall message, id say someone who is unable to see that is the one who lacks imagination. Would the message have need hurt by including a Forrest Gump scene?

Final thought, GMR is the type of attraction that needs a good refresh every 15-20 years to remain relevant. It's not the type of ride you can just build and forget. Maybe Disney didn't want to foot that bill going forward.

Cognitive ability to understand the theme. Yes, of course, they see the show scenes just like everyone else. What they don't see is the reason that they were there to begin with. Once that is understood the purpose and impact of the show is clarified and can be appreciated for what it actually was and not what we might randomly think it should have been.

 

[TeriofTerror]

So... any word on when MMRR will debut?

 

[Surferboy567]

So... any word on when MMRR will debut?

Word is that it has been delayed so end of year/Jan 2020

 

[TBrass84]

So... any word on when MMRR will debut?

Word is that it has been delayed so end of year/Jan 2020

Officially, no. Rumors, whispers from insiders, but nothing official from Disney. My money is if it opens this year, they announce the date on May 1st on the 30th anniversary. If no word by then or on that date, then the rumors and whispers are likely on track for being correct.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Another problem I had with the ride is that so many of the properties represented a time when people with my skin tone weren't allowed to participate in the industry or were extremely marginalized.

I never knew that Swedish people had such a hard time in Old Hollywood!

 

[Hawg G]

Its the job of the ride to connect with the riders not vice versa. It failed to do so. The ride needed a complete gut job, not a new coat of paint if Disney actually wanted it to draw going forward. Another problem I had with the ride is that so many of the properties represented a time when people with my skin tone weren't allowed to participate in the industry or were extremely marginalized. So right out the gate there was very little connection or want for a connection with me. Is there any minority representation at all on that ride outside of a few seconds during the montage?

Not every idea Disney comes up with is going to be a hit, this one just wasn't and they needed to go back to the drawing board with it.

GMR was waaaaaaay too dated. If featured that "really old movie" Alien(s) to quote Soider-man. And that was one of the newest movies it featured.

Who gives a damn about Busby Berkeley, John Wayne, Casablanca, or Singin' in the rain now? Very few Disney guests, that's for sure.. Even Wizard of Oz is pretty unknown to anyone under 20. It is well beyond its once a year TV event status