Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (poll)

[JustAFan]

So runaway railroad was cute and the trackless technology is cool but I still wish they had just updated the great movie ride and built this one somewhere else

Agreed!

I saw a video of the ride, and I thought was funny at the beginning when part of the screen "blows up" to allow the guests to get into the boarding area!

That was fun and unexpected. A lot of surprises in this ride. Blowing up the screen was definitely a highlight. Then, you exit out of that hole back into the real world.

 

[ndiniz]

Everything about it was great! The appearance of Daisy duck was very unexpected (yet alone being in a dance studio of sorts)

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

I'll preface by saying that I've not yet been on the ride, but I've watched a ride-through.

M&MRR looks like a good ride, mostly for kids, but enjoyable for adults too. My question is, how does this tie into the theme of Hollywood Studios in general? Isn't this a Magic Kingdom ride stuck out of place? I'm sure it's a great ride, but doesn't it belong in Fantasyland? I'll miss the GMR tremendously. I really enjoyed so many parts of it, and it made me nostalgic for movies of the past. In other words, it tied in perfectly with the theme of the park. Sure, you can say that Rock 'n' Rollercoaster doesn't exactly fit either, but it gets grandfathered in being one of the originals.

I must ask to those who think Great Movie Ride is better... why?

Not sure about others, but I'm far more impressed with the animatronics of the GMR than I am with a projected show ride. I know M&MRR is not completely projected, but the vast majority is. I find what Disney has done with animatronics far more entertaining. Can you imagine the Hall of Presidents as a bunch of projected images? It wouldn't have nearly the wow-factor of watching Lincoln speak. That's just my opinion though. The GMR makes me feel like I visited and saw Hollywood in those times. Watching videos of the M&MRR makes me feel like I'm watching a cartoon on a large screen.

And I completely agree that the dance studio scene while probably entertaining, makes no sense in the story from what I've seen. Unless I'm missing something?

Edit: just correcting some minor grammatical errors.

 

[justintheharris]

I'll preface by saying that I've not yet been on the ride, but I've watched a ride-through.

M&MRR looks like a good ride, mostly for kids, but enjoyable for adults too. My question is, how does this tie into the theme of Hollywood Studios in general? Isn't this a Magic Kingdom ride stuck out of place? I'm sure it's a great ride, but doesn't it belong in Fantasyland? I'll miss the GMR tremendously. I really enjoyed so many parts of it, and it made me nostalgic for movies of the past. In other words, it tied in perfectly with the theme of the park. Sure, you can say that Rock 'n' Rollercoaster doesn't exactly fit either, but it gets grandfathered in being one of the originals.



Not sure about others, but I'm far more impressed with the animatronics of the GMR than I am with a projected show ride. I know M&MRR is not completely projected, but the vast majority is. I find what Disney has done with animatronics for more entertaining. Can you imagine the Hall of Presidents as a bunch of projected images? It wouldn't have nearly the wow-factor of watching Lincoln speak. That's just my opinion though. The GMR makes me feel like I visited and saw Hollywood in those times. Watching videos of the M&MRR makes me feel like I'm watching a cartoon on a large screen.

And I completely agree that the dance studio scene while probably entertaining, makes no sense in the story from what I've seen. Unless I'm missing something?

Edit: just correcting some minor grammatical errors.

I respect your opinion but what you’ve basically just implied is the poopiest animatronic is still better than the most advanced screen technology. The only truly impressive animatronic in the Great Movie Ride was the Wicked Witch.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I choose the option: Great attraction, wrong location. No better or worse than GMR.

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

I respect your opinion but what you’ve basically just implied is the poopiest animatronic is still better than the most advanced screen technology. The only truly impressive animatronic in the Great Movie Ride was the Wicked Witch.

I don't disagree with your point, but bad animatronics aren't the standard with Disney. Sure, the "poopiest animatronic" (I like that term by they way ) isn't good, but I think Disney should be better than that. They should be better than a predominantly projected ride too, but it has it's place... in Fantasyland.

I think they needed to spruce up the GMR for what would've been a far more cost-effective way to upgrade it. Fricken PLUS it!! I mentioned in another thread that updating some of the scenes with more recent blockbusters like say... Star Wars would've been great. I mean, they spent a bazillion dollars getting the rights to SW. Why not use it on the GMR. They should've changed a scene to be Darth Vader telling Luke that he's his father, maybe Veto Corleone making an offer someone couldn't refuse, etc. There are so many ways they could've improved what they already had. M&MRR just naturally belongs in Fantasyland.

And your right, the witch was phenomenal! It was my favorite effect on the ride and I'm really disappointed I'll never see it again. They needed more of that on the existing ride. JMO

Edit: btw, I realize that Soarin' is a projected ride, but that's different. It transports you to other places. Well, at least Soarin' Over Cali gets a break. Soarin' Over the World can go to the scrap heap IMO, but I digress.

 

[justintheharris]

I don't disagree with your point, but bad animatronics aren't the standard with Disney. Sure, the "poopiest animatronic" (I like that term by they way ) isn't good, but I think Disney should be better than that. They should be better than a predominantly projected ride too, but it has it's place... in Fantasyland.

I think they needed to spruce up the GMR for what would've been a far more cost-effective way to upgrade it. Fricken PLUS it!! I mentioned in another thread that updating some of the scenes with more recent blockbusters like say... Star Wars would've been great. I mean, they spent a bazillion dollars getting the rights to SW. Why not use it on the GMR. They should've changed a scene to be Darth Vader telling Luke that he's his father, maybe Veto Corleone making an offer someone couldn't refuse, etc. There are so many ways they could've improved what they already had. M&MRR just naturally belongs in Fantasyland.

And your right, the witch was phenomenal! It was my favorite effect on the ride and I'm really disappointed I'll never see it again. They needed more of that on the existing ride. JMO

Edit: btw, I realize that Soarin' is a projected ride, but that's different. It transports you to other places. Well, at least Soarin' Over Cali gets a break. Soarin' Over the World can go to the scrap heap IMO, but I digress.

Okay now you've mostly lost me. Soarin' transports you to other places but Runaway Railway which is in a ride vehicle that actually moves from place to place doesn't? You still haven't been on the ride. I think you will find the ride to be far more impressive in person than you currently do.
Also I don't agree that Runaway Railway belongs in Fantasyland. Runaway Railway belongs in a theater style facade. The story line is you are going to a cartoon premiere. That's why the Chinese Theater made by far the most sense and why in Disneyland it will be in a theater facade. And the simple fact that it's a children's dark ride is hardly justification as to why it belongs in Fantasyland.

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

Okay now you've mostly lost me. Soarin' transports you to other places but Runaway Railway which is in a ride vehicle that actually moves from place to place doesn't? You still haven't been on the ride. I think you will find the ride to be far more impressive in person than you currently do.
Also I don't agree that Runaway Railway belongs in Fantasyland. Runaway Railway belongs in a theater style facade. The story line is you are going to a cartoon premiere. That's why the Chinese Theater made by far the most sense and why in Disneyland it will be in a theater facade. And the simple fact that it's a children's dark ride is hardly justification as to why it belongs in Fantasyland.

Fair enough. I agree I may feel differently when I actually get the opportunity to ride it... whenever that might be given the current state of things.

 

[UNCgolf]

I respect your opinion but what you’ve basically just implied is the poopiest animatronic is still better than the most advanced screen technology. The only truly impressive animatronic in the Great Movie Ride was the Wicked Witch.

I think an advanced animatronic is almost always going to be better than advanced screen technology, although those advanced animatronics also need an elaborate, detailed set to go along with them. Just an animatronic alone doesn't do much (one of the major problems with Frozen Ever After).

Since Soarin' was mentioned -- if Soarin' consisted of elaborate, impressive sets that you flew through, it would be a more impressive ride than the current screen based one. That would be enormously cost prohibitive and I don't think it's remotely feasible, but just in terms of a hypothetical with unlimited land and money. Flight of Passage would be on a whole other level if you were sitting on some type of animatronic creature that was "flying" (in quotes because even in this hypothetical you'd be connected to some sort of rail) through gigantic sets that looked like what you see on the screen in the current ride.

There's just a sense of being there in an actual physical location that I never get from screen based technology. That doesn't mean screen based technology is bad -- as I just said, rides like Flight of Passage and Soarin' are very good and there's no way to replicate that experience with sets and animatronics in a real world setting because the costs would be astronomical.

 

[justintheharris]

I think an advanced animatronic is almost always going to be better than advanced screen technology, although those advanced animatronics also need an elaborate, detailed set to go along with them. Just an animatronic alone doesn't do much (one of the major problems with Frozen Ever After).

Since Soarin' was mentioned -- if Soarin' consisted of elaborate, impressive sets that you flew through, it would be a more impressive ride than the current screen based one. That would be enormously cost prohibitive and I don't think it's remotely feasible, but just in terms of a hypothetical with unlimited land and money. Flight of Passage would be on a whole other level if you were sitting on some type of animatronic creature that was "flying" (in quotes because even in this hypothetical you'd be connected to some sort of rail) through gigantic sets that looked like what you see on the screen in the current ride.

There's just a sense of being there in an actual physical location that I never get from screen based technology. That doesn't mean screen based technology is bad -- as I just said, rides like Flight of Passage and Soarin' are very good and there's no way to replicate that experience with sets and animatronics in a real world setting because the costs would be astronomical.

So this brings us to why screen technology exists in the first place: It allows us to do things that are not possible with sets. In Soarin and Flight of Passage, it brings us to places around the world OR flying over Pandora which just isn't a practical thing to execute with set pieces. In the case of Runaway Railway, two scenes transform and one of them happens right before your eyes and is a MARVEL to watch. That is why a standard set just isn't practical on this ride. Where they can use animatronics, THEY DO! Daisy and Pete and Mickey and Minnie in the final scene. The only place they might have been able to use an animatronic where they did not is Goofy but I didn't design the attraction and don't know how the Train set piece works so there may be a practical reason as to why he's not an animatronic.

 

[75disney]

I am probably in the minority here. The lines are still long for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. I rode it and wasn't impressed. The same can be said for Slinky Dog. I get the same feeling about this ride.

Just to let you know, I love riding BTMR which is similar to 7 Dwarfs. Just so everyone knows I am not anti-change.

I feel the same way about 7DMT and SDD. Cute rides that did not live up to the hype. I will hold my verdict on MMRR until I actually ride it. I have seen videos, but I feel that I’ll really need to ride it to judge it because there seems to be so much going on around you. Lots of details are missed in the video (unless it’s a 360 and I haven’t found any of those). RoR (which I did ride) is the same way; you can’t get the full scope of the ride from a video.

 

[UNCgolf]

So this brings us to why screen technology exists in the first place: It allows us to do things that are not possible with sets. In Soarin and Flight of Passage, it brings us to places around the world OR flying over Pandora which just isn't a practical thing to execute with set pieces. In the case of Runaway Railway, two scenes transform and one of them happens right before your eyes and is a MARVEL to watch. That is why a standard set just isn't practical on this ride. Where they can use animatronics, THEY DO! Daisy and Pete and Mickey and Minnie in the final scene. The only place they might have been able to use an animatronic where they did not is Goofy but I didn't design the attraction and don't know how the Train set piece works so there may be a practical reason as to why he's not an animatronic.

I don't have any problem with MMRR -- I think it looks great. There do appear to be a few relatively minor issues with it, but they're not anything related to the use of projection technology.

And I agree with you about it allowing things that aren't possible with sets, like Soarin' and Flight of Passage. I'm definitely not opposed to those rides existing. I'm just always worried Disney is going to decide it's a cost saving measure (both for maintenance and ease of making later changes) and start to use screens/projections almost exclusively. Universal has really shifted hard towards using a ton of screens with most of their new rides, and yet I think the two best rides there are Jurassic Park and Revenge of the Mummy (although I will say the screens aren't the problem with Forbidden Journey; it's just the jerkiest ride I've ever been on and is incredibly unpleasant to ride).

They didn't do that with Rise of the Resistance, though, so hopefully they aren't going to start churning out a bunch of Universal style "4D" rides.

 

[Little Green Men]

Having finally ridden it, it’s a worthy replacement for GMR imho. I think it works great with the Chinese Theater and is the type of ride DHS sorely lacked.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Having finally ridden it, it’s a worthy replacement for GMR imho. I think it works great with the Chinese Theater and is the type of ride DHS sorely lacked.

The only place I have seen it is on You Tube and I already feel that it is an appropriate replacement. That is from someone that really enjoyed GMR and rode it any opportunity that I had. To me, GMR had gotten stale just by the nature of itself. I was a history of what built Hollywood but so many people were thinking that it should be updated and shown more modern movies, which, of course, would have changed the entire purpose of the attractions. It was a good move just from what I have seen on video and really hope I get the chance to get there again to see it in person.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Now that I've been able to ride it several times on my recent trip, ( yes I did go back several times) I can say it was enjoyable but still did not give me as much joy as the GMR. The trackless ride vehicles were fun and moving throughout the scenes as the ride progressed was amusing but as as replacement to the GMR I was unimpressed. Yes, the GMR needed help to keep it relevant and updated, but that could have easily been done well enough to keep it in place and continue the theme of DHS. After experiencing MMRR I'll miss the GMR even more.... sigh, another great Dis attraction that forever will remain in the past.

 

[FutureCEO]

Haven't been on it but the videos don't look good to me. The Great Movie ride needed an upgrade too.

But it's not coming back. Just like Splash Mountain won't be coming back when gone.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I don't have any problem with MMRR -- I think it looks great. There do appear to be a few relatively minor issues with it, but they're not anything related to the use of projection technology.

And I agree with you about it allowing things that aren't possible with sets, like Soarin' and Flight of Passage. I'm definitely not opposed to those rides existing. I'm just always worried Disney is going to decide it's a cost saving measure (both for maintenance and ease of making later changes) and start to use screens/projections almost exclusively. Universal has really shifted hard towards using a ton of screens with most of their new rides, and yet I think the two best rides there are Jurassic Park and Revenge of the Mummy (although I will say the screens aren't the problem with Forbidden Journey; it's just the jerkiest ride I've ever been on and is incredibly unpleasant to ride).

They didn't do that with Rise of the Resistance, though, so hopefully they aren't going to start churning out a bunch of Universal style "4D" rides.

Um, your descriptions of Universal are a bit outdated.

Universal's 2 newest big rides are Hagrid's Motorbike, which has animatronics, and Velocicoaster. Velocicoaster is only in soft opening phase, and I don't really want to read spoilers, but I believe it has animatronic dinosaurs. Prior to that, Kong uses a combination of screens and animatronics.

I agree Universal has many screens, perhaps too many. A downside of Universal has too similar attractions. Individually, they are good attractions, but together Universal suffers a bit from too much sameness. WDW is better, but also suffers a tiny bit from a certain type of formulaic storyline over-repetition. WDW uses the something unexpectedly went-wrong storyline a bit too often: Imagination, Philarmagic, ItbaB, Muppets, DINOSAUR, MMRR, (previously Safari, Tiki Room New Management, Star Tours, Stitch/AE.)

As for the thread topic, my gripe about MMRR is that I think the cartoon version of the characters used in this attraction is just plain ugly. I much prefer the way they look in Philarmagic/Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Beyond that, the inconsistency is a bit sloppy. Whenever Mickey's appearance has previously evolved it was always in improvement. The appearance of the characters in this version looks less sophisticated to me. It is different form how they are depicted in Philarmagic (and other attractions). And if that wasn't bad enough...the animatronic Daisy in MMRR doesn't fit. She's is more classic style, but then she's juxtaposed with newer uglier, cruder character-style .

 

[UNCgolf]

Um, your descriptions of Universal are a bit outdated.

Universal's 2 newest big rides are Hagrid's Motorbike, which has animatronics, and Velocicoaster. Velocicoaster is only in soft opening phase, and I don't really want to read spoilers, but I believe it has animatronic dinosaurs. Prior to that, Kong uses a combination of screens and animatronics.

I agree Universal has many screens, perhaps too many. A downside of Universal has too similar attractions. Individually, they are good attractions, but together Universal suffers a bit from too much sameness. WDW is better, but also suffers a tiny bit from a certain type of formulaic storyline over-repetition. WDW uses the something unexpectedly went-wrong storyline a bit too often: Imagination, Philarmagic, ItbaB, Muppets, DINOSAUR, MMRR, (previously Safari, Tiki Room New Management, Star Tours, Stitch/AE.)

As for the thread topic, my gripe about MMRR is that I think the cartoon version of the characters used in this attraction is just plain ugly. I much prefer the way they look in Philarmagic/Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Beyond that, the inconsistency is a bit sloppy. Whenever Mickey's appearance has previously evolved it was always in improvement. The appearance of the characters in this version looks less sophisticated to me. It is different form how they are depicted in Philarmagic (and other attractions). And if that wasn't bad enough...the animatronic Daisy in MMRR doesn't fit. She's is more classic style, but then she's juxtaposed with newer uglier, cruder character-style .

Velocicoaster and Hagrid's don't rely on screens, but almost everything else they've built in the past 15 years does to some extent. Kong has a mix (as does Forbidden Journey and some others), but there are still whole sections of the ride where you just watch something on a screen. That hardly ever works for me (there are exceptions, but they're rare). I actually have a similar problem with Shanghai Pirates, which a lot of people love -- it has a mix too and the screens are incorporated in a more interesting way, but it still looks a bit too much like just watching a movie in places.

Universal absolutely could be changing, since in addition to those two rides they also built Secret Life of Pets, which is very heavy on physical sets et cetera. The Mario Kart ride looks pretty awful, though, so it'll be interesting to see what else they do at Epic Universe.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

LOVED IT! And I was truly disappointed with losing TGMR and didn’t think I’d like or enjoy anything that would replace it yet when I rode it I was completely taken in by the charm, speed, and family appropriateness. So cute! But I think I will never not miss TGMR, lol.

 

[Nottamus]

Went on yesterday.

I’ve heard the preshow was kind of cool? Not doing it now so no way to judge

it’s June, so the wait outside was pretty grueling.
The ride was pretty cool. I can see how kids will love it!
The wife and I enjoyed it but we also enjoyed the GMR.

the thing (for us) about the GMR was, you do it a few times then you kind of skip on trips In favor of other attractions….

I feel this new ride will be the same (for us)

final vote: cuteness factor 6