Peter Pan's Flight... Over-rated, or not?

[WondersOfLife]

I'm interested in hearing other peoples opinions about this attraction.

I personally believe that it has become very old, over-rated and outdated. I don't particularly think that flying beside tiny dolls and paper mache mountains is really that impressive. What I really don't care for are the audio animatronics.. If one can consider them even that. They barely move. It's like flying past a bunch of glow-in-the-dark statues. I've also never cared for the ride length, but I could probably stand that if the ride quality was better.

Imagine seeing Captain Hook and Peter Pan sword fighting in full action-packed movement! With this type of ride, they wouldn't even need to use the MOST advanced audio animatronic figures. They could probably be on the same quality as the 7 dwarf AAs in the coal mine scene! With the animated faces and smooth movement and such! It would be AMAZING to see! As well as all of the other AAs... Like Wendy and her brothers at the very beginning.. By god, let's at LEAST have them point a finger at Peter Pan's shadow or SOMETHING! I just think that Disney could just do a major overhaul on this particular part of the ride.. Even if the miniature dolls just stayed!

I've always HATED that line across Michael's neck.. gave me the creeps!


Imagine the movement that they could put into Captain Hook at the ending of the ride!

Now this is just my personal opinion on this ride. I do understand the nostalgia and it being a classic and all... How about keeping it a classic, but in much better shape! Not with very minimal AA movement, but with full realistic movement! It would be amazing!

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

I personally love the ride. It's nostalgic and think it tells the story well. HOWEVER, I do think they could modernize it without it losing its charm. They don't need to add all the interactive garbage they like to push all the time. But update the "statues" add some motion is a great start. I also wish it was longer. The line is terribly long typicall for such a short ride. But I just think it's very well done and tells a good story.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I personally love the ride. It's nostalgic and think it tells the story well. HOWEVER, I do think they could modernize it without it losing its charm. They don't need to add all the interactive garbage they like to push all the time. But update the "statues" add some motion is a great start. I also wish it was longer. The line is terribly long typicall for such a short ride. But I just think it's very well done and tells a good story.

I agree. I'm not trying to hate the ride altogether, I think it's a GREAT concept! It's just really starting to show its age now.

 

[belledream]

I love it in it's classic state, but I wouldn't throw a tantrum if they spruced things up a bit either - as long as they don't add a touch screen and make it an interactive experience . In terms of waiting upwards of 50 minutes for such a short ride, yes, it is overrated and I wouldn't do that.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I love it the way it is. The ride system is cool and the basic feeling of flying over London and Neverland brings me back every time. The AA's are basic and the foil effect in the volcano is laughable and it is still great to me. Today these classic rides seem boring to many guests with all of the new technology in the newer attractions. However PP still draws a fairly large crowds and it's stand-by wait times are up there with the best rides in the park, so I guess it really does no need to much updating.

 

[MikeTaylorSound]

PPF needs a queue line upgrade before a ride upgrade. It is now the worst in all of WDW since Maelstrom is gone. I refuse to go on this w/o a FP (and it's a waste of a FP, honestly because the standby is still busy at night).

At the very least, some big, industrial fans would help combat the sweltering heat in the day during the summer months. But no, you just get a few old ceiling fans set on low placed sporadically. Why? Because @#$^ anyone who'll wait 80-120 minutes to ride a 3:45 C ticket, that's why.

 

[DinoInstitute]

I'm interested in hearing other peoples opinions about this attraction.

I personally believe that it has become very old, over-rated and outdated. I don't particularly think that flying beside tiny dolls and paper mache mountains is really that impressive. What I really don't care for are the audio animatronics.. If one can consider them even that. They barely move. It's like flying past a bunch of glow-in-the-dark statues. I've also never cared for the ride length, but I could probably stand that if the ride quality was better.

Imagine seeing Captain Hook and Peter Pan sword fighting in full action-packed movement! With this type of ride, they wouldn't even need to use the MOST advanced audio animatronic figures. They could probably be on the same quality as the 7 dwarf AAs in the coal mine scene! With the animated faces and smooth movement and such! It would be AMAZING to see! As well as all of the other AAs... Like Wendy and her brothers at the very beginning.. By god, let's at LEAST have them point a finger at Peter Pan's shadow or SOMETHING! I just think that Disney could just do a major overhaul on this particular part of the ride.. Even if the miniature dolls just stayed!

I've always HATED that line across Michael's neck.. gave me the creeps!


Imagine the movement that they could put into Captain Hook at the ending of the ride!

Now this is just my personal opinion on this ride. I do understand the nostalgia and it being a classic and all... How about keeping it a classic, but in much better shape! Not with very minimal AA movement, but with full realistic movement! It would be amazing!

I completely 100% agree with you on all points. All (or most) Disney rides are cool to just ride and watch, and this isn't an exception to that. However, it just wasn't "fun" the last time I rode it, honestly quite disappointing from my memories of it, too. I don't understand how the line is so long for a rather low-quality experience. Again, this is just my opinion too, but I really hope that this gets updated.

 

[AndyS2992]

It's very over rated and very out dated. It needs a complete modern rebuild with new animatronics, newly rebuilt sets and scenes, new sound system lighting and a new score, in fact they should just gut it and rebuild from scratch since the ride system itself is a little rickety. With a major refurb it could be great again.

When New Fantasyland was unveiled with Pixie Hollow it was rumoured a new, expanded and higher capacity Peter Pan's Flight was being built which would have been cool and they then could have reused the old PPF building for a new ride but obviously things didn't turn out that way.

 

[Hakunamatata]

One of the things I love about this attraction is its simplicity. Its basically like flying through scenes of an illustrated book. There are some people left that like to use their imaginations a bit and don't have to be ultra stimulated by screens and life like AAs.

 

[DinoInstitute]

One of the things I love about this attraction is its simplicity. Its basically like flying through scenes of an illustrated book. There are some people left that like to use their imaginations a bit and don't have to be ultra stimulated by screens and life like AAs.

That's true. But there are a lot that don't.

It's very over rated and very out dated. It needs a complete modern rebuild with new animatronics, newly rebuilt sets and scenes, new sound system lighting and a new score, in fact they should just gut it and rebuild from scratch since the ride system itself is a little rickety. With a major refurb it could be great again.

When New Fantasyland was unveiled with Pixie Hollow it was rumoured a new, expanded and higher capacity Peter Pan's Flight was rumoured which would have been cool and they then could have reused the old PPF building for a new ride but obviously things didn't turn out that way.

Speaking of the ride system, on my last 3 trips, every time I was in that area the ride would temporarily stop working and we could see inside the open doors of the maintenance room in one of the trips.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I'm interested in hearing other peoples opinions about this attraction.

I personally believe that it has become very old, over-rated and outdated. I don't particularly think that flying beside tiny dolls and paper mache mountains is really that impressive. What I really don't care for are the audio animatronics.. If one can consider them even that. They barely move. It's like flying past a bunch of glow-in-the-dark statues. I've also never cared for the ride length, but I could probably stand that if the ride quality was better.

Imagine seeing Captain Hook and Peter Pan sword fighting in full action-packed movement! With this type of ride, they wouldn't even need to use the MOST advanced audio animatronic figures. They could probably be on the same quality as the 7 dwarf AAs in the coal mine scene! With the animated faces and smooth movement and such! It would be AMAZING to see! As well as all of the other AAs... Like Wendy and her brothers at the very beginning.. By god, let's at LEAST have them point a finger at Peter Pan's shadow or SOMETHING! I just think that Disney could just do a major overhaul on this particular part of the ride.. Even if the miniature dolls just stayed!

I've always HATED that line across Michael's neck.. gave me the creeps!


Imagine the movement that they could put into Captain Hook at the ending of the ride!

Now this is just my personal opinion on this ride. I do understand the nostalgia and it being a classic and all... How about keeping it a classic, but in much better shape! Not with very minimal AA movement, but with full realistic movement! It would be amazing!

You sound like Ted Turner when he decided to start colorizing black and white movies.

 

[epcotisbest]

I'm interested in hearing other peoples opinions about this attraction.

I personally believe that it has become very old, over-rated and outdated. I don't particularly think that flying beside tiny dolls and paper mache mountains is really that impressive. What I really don't care for are the audio animatronics.. If one can consider them even that. They barely move. It's like flying past a bunch of glow-in-the-dark statues. I've also never cared for the ride length, but I could probably stand that if the ride quality was better.

Imagine seeing Captain Hook and Peter Pan sword fighting in full action-packed movement! With this type of ride, they wouldn't even need to use the MOST advanced audio animatronic figures. They could probably be on the same quality as the 7 dwarf AAs in the coal mine scene! With the animated faces and smooth movement and such! It would be AMAZING to see! As well as all of the other AAs... Like Wendy and her brothers at the very beginning.. By god, let's at LEAST have them point a finger at Peter Pan's shadow or SOMETHING! I just think that Disney could just do a major overhaul on this particular part of the ride.. Even if the miniature dolls just stayed!

I've always HATED that line across Michael's neck.. gave me the creeps!


Imagine the movement that they could put into Captain Hook at the ending of the ride!

Now this is just my personal opinion on this ride. I do understand the nostalgia and it being a classic and all... How about keeping it a classic, but in much better shape! Not with very minimal AA movement, but with full realistic movement! It would be amazing!

You are way too young to appreciate nostalgia.

 

[DistractedGenius]

I feel like I would like this ride more if the wait times were not so high for a such a short ride. I appreciate the classic-ness of it. And I don't even know if it's because it's "over-rated" that the lines are so long, but therein lies the problem for me.

 

[JasonDeyoung]

It's a classic and nice ride, but it's defiantly dated. Could use some updates/upgrading in my opinion. It obv is still very popular just look at the lines each day lol. Just makes me think how much better it could be now with some updating

 

[MarkTwain]

Mixed feelings on this one.

Here's a quote from Tony Baxter that sums the ride up nicely:

"All of these things are kind of like what a magician does, which is throwing the focus. I think Disneyland has mastered that. Probably the simplest one is Peter Pan. I’ve got to sit down and measure the square footage on that. I would say it’s probably no more than a large home; it’s pretty small. There’s about three rooms in there. But by turning out all the lights and telling you that you’re flying out of a bedroom window, out over London, and then off to the stars, it can go so profound as to get someone like Ray Bradbury to write Walt and say just that: ‘today, I will be eternally grateful because I flew out of a child’s bedroom window, out over moonlit London in a galleon on its way to the stars.’ You’re thinking about this poet, this writer, this inspirational mind, who was completely captivated by that. It’s weird to me because obviously ride technology and sophistication are way, way beyond Peter Pan, but I can tell you, right now the park is open and there’s about 40 minutes of people waiting in line for it, — I can guarantee that without being at Disneyland. People are willing to suspend that disbelief and buy into what it does offer because the thought of doing that is so compelling. It’s such a compelling experience that they’re willing to overlook the shortcomings of it."

I agree with him and agree that despite the technical shortcomings, the ride carries a huge amount of appeal. The sensation of flying is obviously a powerful experience, and the notion of escaping to Neverland is obviously a charming and timeless idea for everyone.

At the same time, I think there's a LOT of lost potential. "Classic" only gets you so far (it certainly doesn't prevent the CoP from badly needing a refurb), and nostalgia won't do much for first-time guests that who have no fond memories of the attraction, and exit wondering why they just waited 2 hours for it.

If Disney were to keep the strong aspects (the flying ships and the small-scale, neon glow "Fantasyland dark ride" feel), while upgrading the animatronics with more fluidity and motion, or even simply bringing in the fiberoptic pixie dust effects from Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, they would have a much stronger attraction on their hands. Doubling the capacity of the boats and revamping the queue to be less mind-numbing would be welcome changes as well.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

While I do still enjoy it as-is, I think it could be a terrific thing if they gave Peter Pan's Flight the Little Mermaid treatment: it's own building, with an incredibly imaginative queue, and up-to-date effects and animatronics.

 

[BuzzKillington]

I personally believe that it has become very old, over-rated and outdated.

Based on the wait times for this ride, I would say the masses disagree with you. This one of the most popular attractions and I wonder if that keeps Disney from upgrading it or any other popular ride for that matter? You know the expression, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

[copcarguyp71]

As much of a curmudgeon as I am I in fact love this tidbit of classic disney. If they would just set it back to a no Fastpass ride it would be 100% AOK for me.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I'm neutral. I'll go on if the line's short.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Its a ride that sorely needs an upgrade. Yes it is still very popular and draws the crowds in but like the old Snow White ride it falls behind the technology and wow factor that it could be. Peter Pan deserves a better representation than what we have, reminds me of the old worn out carnival rides that come around to our state fairs. Disney can and should do better.