News Paradise Pier Becoming Pixar Pier

[smile]

Writers have been creating cynical stories like this about the parks since 1955. In his 1968 book "The Disney Version," Richard Schickel went on and on and on about how making AA figures that looked liked (gasp) humans was--in his view--practically the freaking end of the world and the most horrific and offensive thing any showman had ever perpetrated on the human race. I'm only exaggerating a little; it's just stupid.

keep an eye out if you're in a field that can be automated, however

 

[Rich T]

...TSM is not a compelling or good attraction IMO - a moving Wii - but what people like about it has absolutely nothing to do with the IP. Buzz is better, but it's not great or compelling. What's fun about Buzz, shooting lasers, has nothing to do with the IP, as evidenced by HKDL's decision to retheme theirs to Ant-Man.

So theoretically WDI could come up with a compelling Toy Story attraction that stands the test of time. They haven't done it yet though.

Gotta disagree strongly on your dismissal of TSM. It's an amazing, intensely fun experience for myself and many others, and remains one of the most popular rides in the parks. It's never-ending long lines were probably initially responsible for the flood of unwanted TS attractions that followed. Calling it a "moving Wii" is like calling PoC a "flume ride." There is so much amazing processing going on in there to make all you're seeing and interacting with happen in real time in 3D high-def for four players simultaneously...and the combination of vehicle motion, music, voice work, physical effects and gameplay just all work together perfectly. It's a giddy, happy ride that makes guests laugh and scream. This experience cannot be replicated at home (and, believe me, I tried the Wii home version). Will it stand the test of time? With occasional upgrades, possibly. We'll see.

But I'm completely in agreement about the park presence of the TS franchise in general. I think TSM should have been a one-and-done use of the the characters. Move on, Disney. Move on. Or move backwards to a lot of great, popular IPs still waiting on the shelf for their chance.

 

[Rich T]

keep an eye out if you're in a field that can be automated, however

Agreed, but, c'mon, the robots doing the job-taking are not AAs, don't look like people, and probably aren't even much directly linked to the developments at WED. As I recall, he brought up the "horror" of using AA's instead of actors. I guess he wanted Disney to populate Pirates with a cast of humans standing in one spot each, reciting the same dialouge over and over for eight hours every day of their working lives...

 

[Phroobar]

Where is that Oliver and Company: Chase thru NYC ride that was promised back in the early 90's? Now USF did it with their Jimmy Fallon ride.

 

[Rich T]

Where is that Oliver and Company: Chase thru NYC ride that was promised back in the early 90's? Now USF did it with their Jimmy Fallon ride.

And, wow, is the Fallon ride a "masterpiece" or what? Hey-- Remember when Conan O'Brien used to do that recurring skit where he and Andy drove the interview couch all over the world at high speed via green-screen? How come no park ever gave us a ride version of that?"

 

[dweezil78]

Gotta disagree strongly on your dismissal of TSM. It's an amazing, intensely fun experience for myself and many others, and remains one of the most popular rides in the parks. It's never-ending long lines were probably initially responsible for the flood of unwanted TS attractions that followed. Calling it a "moving Wii" is like calling PoC a "flume ride." There is so much amazing processing going on in there to make all you're seeing and interacting with happen in real time in 3D high-def for four players simultaneously...and the combination of vehicle motion, music, voice work, physical effects and gameplay just all work together perfectly. It's a giddy, happy ride that makes guests laugh and scream. This experience cannot be replicated at home (and, believe me, I tried the Wii home version). Will it stand the test of time? With occasional upgrades, possibly. We'll see.

But I'm completely in agreement about the park presence of the TS franchise in general. I think TSM should have been a one-and-done use of the the characters. Move on, Disney. Move on. Or move backwards to a lot of great, popular IPs still waiting on the shelf for their chance.

I don't disagree TSM is a really fun ride... but it does always feel like more of a cool tech demo (of its time) to me than a fully flushed out experience. Like they only barely scratched the surface and didn't fully deliver on it. I wish there was more to the ride than moving on to game screen to game screen and then back to the station. There should have been more to see during the transitions, some semblance of a story or action happening between the characters.

I think that's why so many people are quick to compare it to a Wii. Sure there's air blasts and water here and there, but other than that, the motion doesn't ever actually tie to the gameplay and it never really transcends being more than a 3D video game. A really fun one, but still.

It kind of amazes me that people are willing to wait as long as they do based on the type of incredible gaming tech and VR we have in our homes these days!

 

[Phroobar]

And, wow, is the Fallon ride a "masterpiece" or what? Hey-- Remember when Conan O'Brien used to do that recurring skit where he and Andy drove the interview couch all over the world at high speed via green-screen? How come no park ever gave us a ride version of that?"

Isn't it just a number of small motion simulators in front a screen just like Minion Mayhem? Isn't this just a duplicate ride vehicle in the same park? Just swap out the movie and it's the same ride.

 

[TROR]

was rollin right along until then...
toy story easy fix notwithstanding, eisner era disney would never build pandora, swge, sdl, or villages nature; instead we got dino-land, dca and wdsp.

have a very hard time believing that bob would have ever built disneylands sister (of all places!) 'on the cheap'... look at the money that's been poured in since in an attempt to make right

But the Eisner era brought us Disneyland Paris, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Tokyo DisneySEA. I'll take these over Pandora or Shanghai Disneyland any day. Far better theme parks and lands.

 

[smile]

Agreed, but, c'mon, the robots doing the job-taking are not AAs, don't look like people, and probably aren't even much directly linked to the developments at WED. As I recall, he brought up the "horror" of using AA's instead of actors. I guess he wanted Disney to populate Pirates with a cast of humans standing in one spot each, reciting the same dialouge over and over for eight hours every day of their working lives...

hah - of course
9 parts joke, only 1 truth

And, wow, is the Fallon ride a "masterpiece" or what? Hey-- Remember when Conan O'Brien used to do that recurring skit where he and Andy drove the interview couch all over the world at high speed via green-screen? How come no park ever gave us a ride version of that?"

ugh, that thing


and a sad state too when satisfaction is higher for the queue than the ride itself -
just deserts for such a lame premise

 

[smile]

But the Eisner era brought us Disneyland Paris, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Tokyo DisneySEA. I'll take these over Pandora or Shanghai Disneyland any day. Far better theme parks and lands.

fair enough, but dlp was with wells around - dak, yes...
but even that gave him cold feet regarding his next park (dca)

tds was not paid for by disney, an important distinction - a park, which i feel, is among the best to have ever been built, btw

 

[Deleted member 107043]

I don't disagree TSM is a really fun ride... but it does always feel like more of a cool tech demo (of its time) to me than a fully flushed out experience. Like they only barely scratched the surface and didn't fully deliver on it. I wish there was more to the ride than moving on to game screen to game screen and then back to the station. There should have been more to see during the transitions, some semblance of a story or action happening between the characters.

I think that's why so many people are quick to compare it to a Wii. Sure there's air blasts and water here and there, but other than that, the motion doesn't ever actually tie to the gameplay and it never really transcends being more than a 3D video game. A really fun one, but still.

It kind of amazes me that people are willing to wait as long as they do based on the type of incredible gaming tech and VR we have in our homes these days!

I think it's generational. Consider TSMM the millennial version of Country Bear Jamboree or the Monorail, attractions which were popular and hyped in their day, but seem quaint by today's standards.

 

[TROR]

fair enough, but dlp was with wells around - dak, yes...
but even that gave him cold feet regarding his next park (dca)

tds was not paid for by disney, an important distinction - a park, which i feel, is among the best to have ever been built, btw

But are Toy Story Land, Pixar Pier, and Mission Breakout any better than what Eisner built after Wells's death? I'd say no. To me, there is no notable difference between Dinorama and Toy Story Land other than one is based on an IP. Both cheap, colorful messes. Give me DCA in 2004 over the one we're getting in 2018.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

fair enough, but dlp was with wells around - dak, yes...
but even that gave him cold feet regarding his next park (dca)

tds was not paid for by disney, an important distinction - a park, which i feel, is among the best to have ever been built, btw

I don't think Eisner's managerial weaknesses stemmed from him being generally stingy or not caring about the parks. I think it was the opposite; he was too involved, and according to reports he was known to get lost in the weeds with design choices like choosing curtains for hotel rooms and handpicking architects. Iger's strength, in my view, is that he allows his direct reports greater autonomy to drive their business units as they see fit.

 

[dweezil78]

I think it's generational. Consider TSMM the millennial version of Country Bear Jamboree or the Monorail, attractions which were popular and hyped in their day, but seem quaint by today's standards.

Maybe... But even by the time it opened in summer '08 (already a year into the iPhone era), people already had Wiis in their home for a year and a half at that point where you could play similar games -- just with not as good graphics - including the home edition of Midway Mania. Since the first time I rode it shortly after it opened I always was internally conflicted because while I always had a great time on the ride it was also met with a fair amount of 'Oh... that's it?!'

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Maybe... But even by the time it opened in summer '08 (already a year into the iPhone era), people already had Wiis in their home for a year and a half at that point where you could play similar games -- just with not as good graphics - including the home edition of Midway Mania.

Right, and within a few years of the Monorail's debut at Disneyland a daily operating system monorail opened in Seattle. At one point even Magic Mountain had one. In a few short years after the Country Bears show opened we had AAs performing at Chuck E Cheeses across the country.

I can't fully explain why TSMM is so popular, but I do think one explanation is that it appeals to a generation of people raised on video games. At some point a new generation will come along and find it no longer fashionable, like singing anthropomorphic bears and monorails.

 

[Rich T]

t kind of amazes me that people are willing to wait as long as they do based on the type of incredible gaming tech and VR we have in our homes these days!

I definitely agree the ride could have been more than it is. But no matter how advanced home gaming and VR become, not everyone's interested in home gaming and VR. Taking those elements out into a public setting and adding in the "live" elements, the laughter of other riders, the ticking clock element, the sudden centrifugal forces in between games-- it all makes TSM more than the sum of its parts. But, yeah, it could have been more.

But, I tell you: my younger sister can't stand video games and wouldn't play one at home under any circumstances. But she LOVES Toy Story Mania. Not only that, she somehow beats my score (and I'm a gamer) every single time. If fact, her trouncing me at the game has become a much-loved family tradition now.

 

[Curious Constance]

Gotta disagree strongly on your dismissal of TSM. It's an amazing, intensely fun experience for myself and many others, and remains one of the most popular rides in the parks. It's never-ending long lines were probably initially responsible for the flood of unwanted TS attractions that followed. Calling it a "moving Wii" is like calling PoC a "flume ride." There is so much amazing processing going on in there to make all you're seeing and interacting with happen in real time in 3D high-def for four players simultaneously...and the combination of vehicle motion, music, voice work, physical effects and gameplay just all work together perfectly. It's a giddy, happy ride that makes guests laugh and scream. This experience cannot be replicated at home (and, believe me, I tried the Wii home version). Will it stand the test of time? With occasional upgrades, possibly. We'll see.

But I'm completely in agreement about the park presence of the TS franchise in general. I think TSM should have been a one-and-done use of the the characters. Move on, Disney. Move on. Or move backwards to a lot of great, popular IPs still waiting on the shelf for their chance.

I think her point though was that would you enjoy the ride any less if it was based on any other IP that exists in the universe?

 

[dweezil78]

I can't fully explain why TSMM is so popular, but I do think one explanation is that it appeals to a generation of people raised on video games. At some point a new generation will come along and find it no longer fashionable, like singing anthropomorphic bears and monorails.

But, I tell you: my younger sister can't stand video games and wouldn't play one at home under any circumstances. But she LOVES Toy Story Mania. Not only that, she somehow beats my score (and I'm a gamer) every single time. If fact, her trouncing me at the game has become a much-loved family tradition now.

After dwelling on it, I think the magic ingredients for TSM are the frenetic pacing and shooting mechanism. They really did nail both of those things. With Buzz, you're rewarded with precision and accuracy -- but TSM, you're just constantly tugging on that string for the duration of the ride to the point where you are cramped by the end, only given a chance to catch your breath while you're quickly whipped around a corner on your way to the next game. Those things can never be replicated at home nor are they a product of any technology, modern or antiquated... and for some reason, they translate into a pretty fun experience!

 

[Rich T]

After dwelling on it, I think the magic ingredients for TSM are the frenetic pacing and shooting mechanism. They really did nail both of those things. With Buzz, you're rewarded with precision and accuracy -- but TSM, you're just constantly tugging on that string for the duration of the ride to the point where you are cramped by the end, only given a chance to catch your breath while you're quickly whipped around a corner on your way to the next game. Those things can never be replicated at home nor are they a product of any technology, modern or antiquated... and for some reason, they translate into a pretty fun experience!

Yes! Perfectly stated. It can't be overstated how important those goofy little cannons are to the experience. Firing them as quickly as possible makes people laugh, energizes the ride and brings a lively, genuine carnival-game atmosphere to the whole thing.

 

[Rich T]

I think her point though was that would you enjoy the ride any less if it was based on any other IP that exists in the universe?

Possibly not... but I can't think of any other IP that fits a Carnival game setting as well. Strike that-- Classic Mickey & Co. would have been a fantastic fit. Also Dumbo. Roger Rabbit. Um...this would be awful, but It's a Small World (with the dolls on the game screens...)