Does anybody know why Pinnocchio gets absolutely no attention from a ride perspective in WDW? I would have thought the Fantasyland Expansion would be the perfect time to add a great dark ride. Also, the park needs to show more attention to non-princess movies such as Sleepy Hollow, Fantasia, Robin Hood, Jungle Book and Sword in the Stone. I'm sure i'm in the minority though...
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Pinnocchio Ride in wdw
- Thread starter Ichabod55
- Start date
harryk
Well-Known Member
You are not in a minority - Many guests I have spoken with have noted that there is almost no attention paid to the non-princess movies. I guess that Disney management finds that little girls are a fantastic source of revenue.
Sleepy Hollow get a notice in the Halloween parade when the headless horseman rides through, Sword in the Stone did have Merlin doing a stint outside the flying horses - the anvil with the sword was still there last time I visited - but no Merlin showed up. The other movies you mention have a little acknowledgement in the parades - but that is all. Yes - the expansion was a great time to add a few more things - but who are we to guess or suggest -- just spend the money and keep on coming......
elcanatureboy
Member
I rode the Pinnocchio Ride about two years ago for the first time at DL. It would be a great addition to Fantasyland. The ride, like the movie tells a great moral lesson. I had to check my self after it was over. The crying donkeys got to me.
As posted above though, the reason that it's princess oriented is because of the massive revenue that it takes in. :king:
As posted above though, the reason that it's princess oriented is because of the massive revenue that it takes in. :king:
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
From a ride standpoint I think there is a lot of movies that should be represented (or better represented) in the parks. To me, Lion king, Aladdin, the nightmare before x-mas, princess & the frog are a few. Mermaid was another but thats been corrected.
cameronmouse
Active Member
i would love to see a Pinnocchio ride, but it is one of my favorite movies so I'm partial to it.
David S.
Member
Me too, Pinocchio's Daring Journey is my FAVORITE of the 5 dark rides found in Disneyland's Fantasyland, and is my 4th or 5th favorite attraction in Disneyland (not counting thrill rides, which I rate seperately). And Pinocchio itself is my 2nd or 3rd favorite of the 51 films in the Disney Animated Classics series, so I would have LOVED for it to be included at Walt Disney World, given all the space it has.
In addition to being found at Disneyland, Pinocchio's Daring Journey can also be found in Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Meaning that Orlando is the only Disney Magic Kingdom-style "Castle Park" missing this ride besides Hong Kong, but then again, more than half of the Disney "Castle Park" classics are missing in Hong Kong
I guess one hope is that if they do indeed close the Snow White dark ride as expected, there are rumours that the Princess meet and greet location that would replace it may be "temporary". And if that building would ever be repurposed as a dark ride at some point in the future, this would be a prime location for the long-awaited Pinocchio ride.
In addition to being found at Disneyland, Pinocchio's Daring Journey can also be found in Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Meaning that Orlando is the only Disney Magic Kingdom-style "Castle Park" missing this ride besides Hong Kong, but then again, more than half of the Disney "Castle Park" classics are missing in Hong Kong
I guess one hope is that if they do indeed close the Snow White dark ride as expected, there are rumours that the Princess meet and greet location that would replace it may be "temporary". And if that building would ever be repurposed as a dark ride at some point in the future, this would be a prime location for the long-awaited Pinocchio ride.
Crazy Harry
Active Member
I agree that there are so many great Disney properties that are vastly under utilized. I do and don't understand this at the same time. I understand that cloning attractions is more cost effective than creating original attractions and that utilizing current properties arguably creates a more relevant attraction. But then again there are so many rich characters and environments from timeless classics that would make emersive and popular attractions as the Little Mermaid has illustrated. And with the Little Mermaid and 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride on the way, there is still hope for other classic films to make the transition.
If they were to build a Pinnochio ride, I would like to see a new variation. I think they should utilize a water coaster style ride system. The first portion of the ride would be your dark ride portion, sailing through a European village at night, and telling the story of Pinnochio, including a trip to pleasure island. The coaster portion would be utilized for the scene with the whale, and would include strobe lights for lightning and a whale AA, and end with a drop and a splash to the outside of the show building out of the whales mouth. Where this would go is another question.
There are so many other movies that should be rides. 101 Dalmations would be a nice replacement for Snow White, Jungle Book would make a nice addition for Animal Kingdom, and an Alladin ride would be nice anywhere. I was wondering if the latter would end up in Shanghai. The back left of the park almost looked the cave of secrets.
If they were to build a Pinnochio ride, I would like to see a new variation. I think they should utilize a water coaster style ride system. The first portion of the ride would be your dark ride portion, sailing through a European village at night, and telling the story of Pinnochio, including a trip to pleasure island. The coaster portion would be utilized for the scene with the whale, and would include strobe lights for lightning and a whale AA, and end with a drop and a splash to the outside of the show building out of the whales mouth. Where this would go is another question.
There are so many other movies that should be rides. 101 Dalmations would be a nice replacement for Snow White, Jungle Book would make a nice addition for Animal Kingdom, and an Alladin ride would be nice anywhere. I was wondering if the latter would end up in Shanghai. The back left of the park almost looked the cave of secrets.
the-reason14
Well-Known Member
Me too, Pinocchio's Daring Journey is my FAVORITE of the 5 dark rides found in Disneyland's Fantasyland, and is my 4th or 5th favorite attraction in Disneyland (not counting thrill rides, which I rate seperately). And Pinocchio itself is my 2nd or 3rd favorite of the 51 films in the Disney Animated Classics series, so I would have LOVED for it to be included at Walt Disney World, given all the space it has.
In addition to being found at Disneyland, Pinocchio's Daring Journey can also be found in Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Meaning that Orlando is the only Disney Magic Kingdom-style "Castle Park" missing this ride besides Hong Kong, but then again, more than half of the Disney "Castle Park" classics are missing in Hong Kong
I guess one hope is that if they do indeed close the Snow White dark ride as expected, there are rumours that the Princess meet and greet location that would replace it may be "temporary". And if that building would ever be repurposed as a dark ride at some point in the future, this would be a prime location for the long-awaited Pinocchio ride.
Pinocchio was under refurbishment when I was in DL two years ago, but I really wish I could have ridden it. I heard something about it's not as big of a draw over there as the other dark rides. Is that true? Either way, I think the best spot for it in WDW would be where the current Snow White ride is. If they absolutely have to get ride of that ride, then at least replace it with another ride and not some crappy meet n greet. It doesn't even seem like it would be that difficult to retheme to Pinocchio anyway. Just paint a new mural and add some Pinocchio statues and scenery and waa laa, new ride!!
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
They're getting rid of the current Snow White ride because they're replacing it with the 7 Dwarf Mine Train coaster in the new Fantasyland expansion. That and they are transforming the space into a princess meet and greet (which i sincerely hope is temporary until a new dark ride comes along). They're hell bent on dedicating as much space as possible to the meet and greets. At least they are compensating us by giving us a new ride experience. Our Snow White ride is the worst version of them all anyways, compared to Disneyland and Paris.
I'd personally love the see a Sleeping Beauty dark ride, and original attraction for WDW in that space. But i'll take Pinocchio. I had the wonderful fortune to ride it at Disneyland Paris a few times as a child. I'd say it's a pretty standard dark ride in terms of the experience, but it's truly great IMO. All the show scenes are extremely well constructed and charming. I especially like the Pleasure Island part, and the Blue Fairy near the end (it's a neat little effect).
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I'd be all for a Lion King ride, though i feel it would be better suited to Animal Kingdom (along with my ideas for a Jungle Book ride). It just wouldn't quite fit Fantasyland. And yes i know they used to have a Lion King show where Philharmagic is, i saw it and enjoyed it. But i don't feel like it fit there either. Animal Kingdom is a good fit for that IMO.
Hunchback of Notre Dame would be interesting, though i dunno how well that would transfer into a ride. I can't get the feeling it would
David S.
Member
To be fair, this is a subjective question that all comes down to personal taste. For those who (like me) prefer faithfulness to the original film, and ESPECIALLY a heartwarming Happily Ever After scene, more than the evil witch, darkness, and scares, the current WDW version is clearly better than Disneyland's, from that point of view. Paris has a better Happily Ever After scene than Disneyland, but it lacks the "Love's First Kiss" introduction to it (as found in WDW's).
And the Anaheim and Paris rides also lack one of my favorite scenes in the WDW ride, which is when Snow White is fleeing through the forest, and all the trees and logs have menacing, ominous eyes in her imagination, set to ominous score from the film. Just as the score shifts to the gentle "Animal Friends" motif, you see that the threatening eyes in Snow White's imagination are really the gentle animals of the forest, who want to help Snow White. This sequence PERFECTLY captures this shift in mood, IMO. And just as in the movie, this leads to a happy scene inside the Dwarf's cottage. (which was several sequences and songs in the longer runtime of the film).
This whole gentle and happy sequence (from the appearance of the animal friends until the end of the dwarfs singing "The Silly Song") is, for my taste, a nice ray of sunshine mid-ride that breaks up the unpleasant gloom and darkness of the evil witch, and tides the rider over until the payoff of the final Happy Ending scene. This middle bit also mirrors the fact that the movie, too, had these fun, gentle, light bits in the middle, and wasn't solely about a psychotic lunatic trying to kill an innocent young girl (like the original WDW ride).
For those interested in a complete breakdown of the current WDW version of the ride, and how it compares to all other versions past and present, I highly reccomend this site:
http://www.kennetti.fi/swscary_10.html (thorough breakdown of current WDW ride)
http://www.kennetti.fi/swscary_1.html (site index with links to his thorough scene-by-scene breakdowns of every Disney Snow White ride that ever existed)
PS. I'm glad you like the Pinocchio ride! It, too, does a great job of summing up the entire movie of Pinocchio in the condesnsed dark ride format, and has a very touching, charming, Happily Ever After scene, set in Gepetto's cottage, perfectly scored with music from the film.
maelstrom
Well-Known Member
When I went to Disneyland last year, Pinocchio was a walk-on when Peter Pan, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, and Mr. Toad all had long lines.
Also keep in mind, Pinocchio is not original to Disneyland's Fantasyland; it was added during the major 1983 (I think that's the year) refurbishment of Fantasyland.
bayoubelle
amuck, amuck, amuck
I like your Pinnochio ride idea.
DisneyPhD
Well-Known Member
We were there just last week and found the same thing. On our last day we were in Fantasyland around 3:30 and Pinocchio had a 5 minute wait while every other dark ride was running a 25-45 minute wait.
the-reason14
Well-Known Member
Really? I didn't know it wasn't an original. Learn something new everyday, thanks. But I do wish I could have seen it when I was there, and I wish WDW could get a version of it since they're so set on getting rid of Snow White.
Random Vids Inc
Member
I'd be really okay with a Jungle Book dark ride at Animal Kingdom!