Nintendo partnering with Universal to make attractions.

[J4546]

Right, you'd expect big stone bricks for the ceiling, and they could have easily done a painted effect to try and evoke that.

Hard to tell until I get a better look, but it also seems the vines just sort of... come out of the ceiling? No cracking... no signs of bursting through or growing through.

Sigh.

seems like the hogwarts castle is looming over you in the que/first ramp

 

[andre85]

seems like the hogwarts castle is looming over you in the que/first ramp

Funny that Hogwarts Castle has a bigger presence in SNW than Peach's Castle...

 

[DarkMetroid567]

This is just an odd thing to wonder. It's not like they're purposely disappointing you with their rides or that they only care about the quality of the rest of the land. These rides were also largely Nintendo's idea. The pushed the interactivity in MK as a top priority over speed.

Oh no, I get you, but these internal conversations happen and costs are always a factor. I mean, do you believe that Universal thought they had a hit with Villain-Con? They knew it wasn’t going to be popular.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Haha, no.

I honest-to-god don’t even remember if Wandering Oaken has any show scenes. Does it? It’s a pretty ride, at least.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I honest-to-god don’t even remember if Wandering Oaken has any show scenes. Does it? It’s a pretty ride, at least.

It's a beautifully themed, small family coaster, with one vignette at the lift hill. But that scenic moment is at least in a full realized and themed space, and not a metal corrugated hallway. Also a fantastic fully themed queue.

 

[yeti]

I think the ride is a home run. Clever, fun, chaotic layout with scares and surprises, animatronics, awesome tech, really faithful to the games, looks great from the ground. That bit with the track switch in the indoor scene is a hoot and I'm stumped why people are coming down so hard on it. I think some POVs are shot from a weird angle that fails to capture how wild and chaotic the ride really is...my first watch was this one and I was really impressed:

 

[Tom Morrow]

The cave scene definitely looks better there, but it seems like at some points during the day the sun is shining in at an angle that is enough to illuminate the space revealing things you shouldn't see. Also those POVs make it look more fun than the previous ones. A stone pattern painted on the ending scene's ceiling would be enough to make it work I think.

I still don't understand why some sections have no fake track covering the real track.

Overall this is a solid D ticket but it's gonna be treated like an E ticket and it doesn't have the capacity for that. Similar to Navi River Journey in those regards.

 

[Disney Analyst]

The cave scene definitely looks better there, but it seems like at some points during the day the sun is shining in at an angle that is enough to illuminate the space revealing things you shouldn't see. Also those POVs make it look more fun than the previous ones. A stone pattern painted on the ending scene's ceiling would be enough to make it work I think.

I still don't understand why some sections have no fake track covering the real track.

Overall this is a solid D ticket but it's gonna be treated like an E ticket and it doesn't have the capacity for that. Similar to Navi River Journey in those regards.

It does look fun, and in the right conditions doesn’t look too bad.

Just some polishing needed I think, to make it truly excellent.

 

[ToTBellHop]

The set dressings are far too cheap-looking. 7DMT is a similar length but has fully-realized caves and a beautiful hill filled with impressive AAs.

This should have been that kind of D-ticket.

 

[andre85]

The set dressings are far too cheap-looking. 7DMT is a similar length but has fully-realized caves and a beautiful hill filled with impressive AAs.

This should have been that kind of D-ticket.

It's funny how that ride got accused of being budget engineered at the time, yet it still features excellent theming. This is something that Disney is still pretty much unmatched at, except only by a select few Universal rides.

Rewatching a POV of 7DMT, DK would have really benefited from a single extended show scene as that ride had.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It's funny how that ride got accused of being budget engineered at the time, yet it still features excellent theming. This is something that Disney is still pretty much unmatched at, except only by a select few Universal rides.

Rewatching a POV of 7DMT, DK would have really benefited from a single extended show scene as that ride had.

Disney just doesn't half-a** rides like some other parks do. Disney's half-a**ed rides are more like three-quarter-a**ed, thankfully.

 

[celluloid]

Rewatching a POV of 7DMT, DK would have really benefited from a single extended show scene as that ride had.

More is always appreciated, the difference is, is that 7 dwarfs is the e ticket of its area and Dk is the supporting ticket to an area.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

More is always appreciated, the difference is, is that 7 dwarfs is the e ticket of its area and Dk is the supporting ticket to an area.

I don’t love this comparison because Fantasylands aren’t really anchored by E tickets, they’ve always been just really dense collections. Stuff like Enchanted Tale is the more the exception.

I think 7DMT has an inflated E ticket view because of its queue times, which MCM will also unfortunately have.

 

[Tom Morrow]

It's funny how that ride got accused of being budget engineered at the time, yet it still features excellent theming. This is something that Disney is still pretty much unmatched at, except only by a select few Universal rides.

Rewatching a POV of 7DMT, DK would have really benefited from a single extended show scene as that ride had.

Yeah, excellent point. We complained about 7DMT but it’s a far more fully realized experience than this is. It’s very rare for Disney to leave any area that makes you ask “why didn’t they theme this or do a little more?”

This is again why I’m not hyping myself up toooo much for Epic. Universal is rarely ever fully committed to the bit and more often you get things like this where corners are cut, leaving everyone asking why they didn’t just go all in instead of 75% in.

I’ll take this time to bring up Hagrid’s, which, while a great ride, also has a few cut corners like the drop track building having a flat painted facade and looking somewhat barren inside with unthemed ceilings.

 

[celluloid]

I don’t love this comparison because Fantasylands aren’t really anchored by E tickets, they’ve always been just really dense collections. Stuff like Enchanted Tale is the more the exception.

I think 7DMT has an inflated E ticket view because of its queue times, which MCM will also unfortunately have.

While one to one comparisons are always hard and unfair to both parties specifically New Fantasyland is a decent comparison because of the actual net gains.

7 dwarfs mine train was the E ticket push of the area to make up for losing snow white and the area's physical thrill with Mermaid and Belle supporting.

Nintendo is pretty close to this.

Mario Kart is the E ticket in this case.
DK and Yoshi supporting.

 

[celluloid]

I’ll take this time to bring up Hagrid’s, which, while a great ride, also has a few cut corners like the drop track building having a flat painted facade and looking somewhat barren inside with unthemed ceilings.

Hard disagree here. I think the show building could have been more hidden from outside but on ride you enter it backwards and it's painted. Which is a neat technique. And it's a trompe lo'eil for imagination extended detail more than facade.

They planted an entire forest of trees for Hagrids and there are show scenes and animatronics, fastest switch tracking and drop tracks safety can feature and moving set pieces with custom fully themed ride vehicles. I have never seen anyone say that it seems like a cut corner ride. Most every environment you are in are fully realized, including the Devil's Snare. Ceiling in dark rides are often unthemed or visible grids as eyes adjust.

Just about every ride can be disected to say a few cut corners. It is always a delegation in design.

 

[yeti]

The set dressings are far too cheap-looking. 7DMT is a similar length but has fully-realized caves and a beautiful hill filled with impressive AAs.

This should have been that kind of D-ticket.

I think DK has a lot more going for it than Seven Dwarfs. Less expensive-looking I guess, but way more interesting.

 

[sedati]

Universal will often only theme for the "photo spot" moment. To date, I think only Diagon Alley gives us full 360 degree immersion. I think they unfortunately learned the wrong lessons from that land however. It is a land in a box, but in that instance, pulls it off as it's both thematically appropriate and offers a good variety of theme. I fear Nintendo will feel very much like a box (having only experienced it in VR, this was my instant impression.) Ministry looks like a series of lofty corridors and I'm not sure how it will feel to be in that land but it does look well and fully themed. Monsters and Dragon I think will be more like Volcano Bay- big reveal, great details, then diminishing returns around the corner.

Pandora, Galaxy's Edge, Cars Land, Frozen (HK), Zootopia, and the OG- TYPHOON LAGOON- these feel like whole and complete worlds that seem to extend far beyond their relatively small footprints

IMHO

 

[Tom Morrow]

Hard disagree here. I think the show building could have been more hidden from outside but on ride you enter it backwards and it's painted. Which is a neat technique. And it's a trompe lo'eil for imagination extended detail more than facade.

During the backwards portion you loop around and have a direct view of the painted facade before you circle around and enter it. This is a bigger deal than how it looks from the queue.

They planted an entire forest of trees for Hagrids and there are show scenes and animatronics, fastest switch tracking and drop tracks safety can feature and moving set pieces with custom fully themed ride vehicles. I have never seen anyone say that it seems like a cut corner ride. Most every environment you are in are fully realized, including the Devil's Snare. Ceiling in dark rides are often unthemed or visible grids as eyes adjust.

So they did all this but putting some decent rock work or something on the drop building was too much? Maybe some physical trees or branches jutting out of it along with some rockwork? It's not that hard and it wouldn't have added that much more to the project.

Remember everyone that Disney had a completely fully realized themed environment on a coaster with BTMRR back in 1980, but it's okay that Universal just painted the side of a building in 2019.

Just about every ride can be disected to say a few cut corners. It is always a delegation in design.

Yeah, but there's "this was scaled down from what was originally pitched" examples like 7DMT and then there's the more common scenario at Universal, where putting just a liiiiitttle bit more into a project would make it a fully realized and complete experience, but they just don't for... reasons.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Universal will often only theme for the "photo spot" moment. To date, I think only Diagon Alley gives us full 360 degree immersion. I think they unfortunately learned the wrong lessons from that land however. It is a land in a box, but in that instance, pulls it off as it's both thematically appropriate and offers a good variety of theme. I fear Nintendo will feel very much like a box (having only experienced it in VR, this was my instant impression.) Ministry looks like a series of lofty corridors and I'm not sure how it will feel to be in that land but it does look well and fully themed. Monsters and Dragon I think will be more like Volcano Bay- big reveal, great details, then diminishing returns around the corner.

Pandora, Galaxy's Edge, Cars Land, Frozen (HK), Zootopia, and the OG- TYPHOON LAGOON- these feel like whole and complete worlds that seem to extend far beyond their relatively small footprints

IMHO

Unfortunately I think this might end up being a spot on analysis of Epic. We already know Super Nintendo World is a compact box. Ministry seems to take the same design principles from Diagon, if perhaps a bit bigger. It's also enclosed, but that is thematically appropriate for the setting. I hope that Monsters and HTTYD don't go the Volcano Bay route and have exposed infrastructure and stuff if you don't look at everything from the "photo op" angle.