Well they did build this in Storybook land at DLP.Is there any Chance we could see a Return to Oz attraction with a FL expansion?
Well they did build this in Storybook land at DLP.
He is in the garden at Skywalker Sound.Now we re talking! Where’s Tic Toc?
He is in the garden at Skywalker Sound.
This was tough, since I generally consider myself a very big fan of this type of ride - coming at it with the intention of being objective, I think this is where I rank everything.
Winnie the Pooh makes for a pretty distant 7th, where all the others live generally closer to each other in quality. Peter Pan feels like the strongest conceptually and is the most unique and exciting in terms of ride system - as was well said earlier in the thread, it's experiential storytelling at it's finest. "Come on, everybody, here we goooooooo!" . . . and do we ever.
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
- Alice In Wonderland
- Snow White's Scary Adventures
- Pinocchio's Daring Journey
- Winnie The Pooh
Mr. Toad comes next in terms of harnessing the potential of the medium, and that it does it so well without characters that most people can recognize is a testament to the strength of the attraction. You may get in line for Snow White because you love the movie, but you get in line for Toad because of the quality of the ride.
Roger's next for sheer ambition and innovation of the form that pays off both as an experience for the guest and a meditation on the world and characters of Roger's movie. Both the queue and the ride are so thorough and take advantage of the ability to suck you into the cartoon world -- and despite being able to view it all in 360, you'll never see an exposed blacklight anywhere. No small feat!
Alice has a lot going for it in terms of being unique - it makes brilliant use of space with the indoor/outdoor and the multiple levels, and the Mad Tea Party scene feels like a nice surprise finale for the guest who thinks the ride is basically over once they approach the bottom of the outdoor "vine". It also does quite well by its movie in terms of aesthetics and tone, which is pretty masterful since the quirks of the layout and ride system could easily work against it rather than for it.
Snow White is pretty beautifully painted and makes nice use of its "Scary" nature to distinguish itself tonally as a ride while still capturing a defining element of the film that translates well in experiential form, but it doesn't entirely stick the landing. It starts off strong but loses its footing even before the actual finale, and the lack of an "ending" is a bold choice for the ride that serves the experience but doesn't necessarily please the guest. It feels like a little more editing could really tighten up.
Pinocchio may be the MOST beautifully painted, but loses points for being the most dour in tone - much of the ride fails to invoke the spirit of the film, and as a result merely presents a number of stern circumstances one after the other without the briskness or joyful punctuation to make it worthwhile. Blessedly, the ending is pretty delightful, and the Blue Fairy effect is a nice touch. A little more of that magic sprinkled through the rides would do wonders, I think.
Pooh is Pooh. It's the most poorly assembled of the Pooh dark rides the world over, and even if it didn't have siblings to compare unfavorably to it still doesn't have strong enough legs to stand on its own. Which is sad, because there's plenty of potential for the property in this medium, and it just doesn't seem to commit to "going there".
Now, if I'm being a little more subjective, I think I rank things this way:
To me, Mr. Toad checks every box. A beautifully realized, seamless experience that succeeds pretty purely on the strength of its own merits. It's a fun idea well executed that takes every advantage offered by the Dark Ride form and uses them to truly wild and memorable effect. The nostalgia I have for the long-gone WDW barely factors into my favor for this one, since they were so different, though I do make a point to try to squeeze in an extra ride when I'm at DL knowing that there isn't another one out there anywhere in the world.
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- Pinocchio's Daring Journey
- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
- Alice In Wonderland
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Snow White's Scary Adventures
- Winnie The Pooh
Pinocchio ranks this high personally out of my love for the movie, which was "my movie" when I was little. Growing up visiting WDW I longed for greater representation for Pinocchio. My first trip to Disneyland felt like a homecoming with Pinocchio having his own ride, and every time I ride I get a little bit of that wind again. I recognize that it offers less for other guests, which is why I ranked it as I did up top, but it does something special for me.
Roger is still a super-solid attraction, and is a shout out to a killer movie that doesn't get the attention it deserves. The ride doesn't try to retell the movie but lives up to it anyway. It's the trip through Toon Town you could only imagine and then a little more.
Alice is just so weird, it really almost shouldn't even exist - it still stuns me to think that they actually built the ride in that space, because there's really no space for it. Totally the kind of thing they'd never do now, which is such a shame, and that surreality of its own being is totally fitting of Wonderland. There are a few little moments where the bizarre use of space catches up with it and intrudes on the experience, but the good is so good that it's worth looking the other way.
I really wanted to rank Peter Pan higher in my subjective list, as I do think there's a charm and a magical quality to it that's just totally unique, but I think some of the fussing they've done with it in recent years was ultimately for the worse and not the better. The Flight over London has always been the heart of the ride, and it was pretty severely tarnished in its 2015 rehab and has yet to recover. There's a line between keeping a ride sparkling and making it plastic, and unfortunately I think they've crossed that line. It's an old-school ride that thrives on old-school Black Magic, and in trying to add new layers though tech I think they've actually managed to flatten the experience. But, thankfully, the ride system and concept are still in place, so hopefully one day we can get a little more of the rich texture back in the ride. It was really important.
Snow White basically falls to what I said above - beautifully painted, but it doesn't stick its landing. The ride peaks with the projection-mapped Magic Mirror scene - a rare moment where a totally classic effect was actually improved by infusing tech. A couple moments were improved with this in Alice and almost none were in Peter Pan, but Snow White's tops them all with this already brilliant staging made even better. The rain projected on the Dwarfs and the Mountain at the end are a nice touch, but nothing lives up to that Magic Mirror moment, and you really feel it at the end of the ride.
Pooh is Pooh. It is what it is.
Pan is just too short and abrupt for me. It leaves me wanting more, whereas the others don’t.Well said. My list is pretty close to your objective list if you swap Alice and Peter. It’s interesting though- I would imagine Pan would be higher on your subjective than your objective list. If we take away the nostalgia and factor in what the 60th neon paint did to the London scene I can’t see how it’s #1.... on an “objective” list at least.
It’s true that what Pan does well it does better than maybe anything at the park. Just that childlike wonder of flying through the nursery, London and Neverland with the amazing soundtrack in the background. Upon reflection, I think that’s more a compliment to the source material than the attraction though. The ride system is kind of clunky and the second half of the ride is probably worse than the second half of every other FL style dark ride except Pooh.
Great critique! To say that Snow White "doesn't stick the landing" is the best single comment I've ever heard about that ride.This was tough, since I generally consider myself a very big fan of this type of ride - coming at it with the intention of being objective, I think this is where I rank everything.
Winnie the Pooh makes for a pretty distant 7th, where all the others live generally closer to each other in quality. Peter Pan feels like the strongest conceptually and is the most unique and exciting in terms of ride system - as was well said earlier in the thread, it's experiential storytelling at it's finest. "Come on, everybody, here we goooooooo!" . . . and do we ever.
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
- Alice In Wonderland
- Snow White's Scary Adventures
- Pinocchio's Daring Journey
- Winnie The Pooh
Mr. Toad comes next in terms of harnessing the potential of the medium, and that it does it so well without characters that most people can recognize is a testament to the strength of the attraction. You may get in line for Snow White because you love the movie, but you get in line for Toad because of the quality of the ride.
Roger's next for sheer ambition and innovation of the form that pays off both as an experience for the guest and a meditation on the world and characters of Roger's movie. Both the queue and the ride are so thorough and take advantage of the ability to suck you into the cartoon world -- and despite being able to view it all in 360, you'll never see an exposed blacklight anywhere. No small feat!
Alice has a lot going for it in terms of being unique - it makes brilliant use of space with the indoor/outdoor and the multiple levels, and the Mad Tea Party scene feels like a nice surprise finale for the guest who thinks the ride is basically over once they approach the bottom of the outdoor "vine". It also does quite well by its movie in terms of aesthetics and tone, which is pretty masterful since the quirks of the layout and ride system could easily work against it rather than for it.
Snow White is pretty beautifully painted and makes nice use of its "Scary" nature to distinguish itself tonally as a ride while still capturing a defining element of the film that translates well in experiential form, but it doesn't entirely stick the landing. It starts off strong but loses its footing even before the actual finale, and the lack of an "ending" is a bold choice for the ride that serves the experience but doesn't necessarily please the guest. It feels like a little more editing could really tighten up.
Pinocchio may be the MOST beautifully painted, but loses points for being the most dour in tone - much of the ride fails to invoke the spirit of the film, and as a result merely presents a number of stern circumstances one after the other without the briskness or joyful punctuation to make it worthwhile. Blessedly, the ending is pretty delightful, and the Blue Fairy effect is a nice touch. A little more of that magic sprinkled through the rides would do wonders, I think.
Pooh is Pooh. It's the most poorly assembled of the Pooh dark rides the world over, and even if it didn't have siblings to compare unfavorably to it still doesn't have strong enough legs to stand on its own. Which is sad, because there's plenty of potential for the property in this medium, and it just doesn't seem to commit to "going there".
Now, if I'm being a little more subjective, I think I rank things this way:
To me, Mr. Toad checks every box. A beautifully realized, seamless experience that succeeds pretty purely on the strength of its own merits. It's a fun idea well executed that takes every advantage offered by the Dark Ride form and uses them to truly wild and memorable effect. The nostalgia I have for the long-gone WDW barely factors into my favor for this one, since they were so different, though I do make a point to try to squeeze in an extra ride when I'm at DL knowing that there isn't another one out there anywhere in the world.
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- Pinocchio's Daring Journey
- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
- Alice In Wonderland
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Snow White's Scary Adventures
- Winnie The Pooh
Pinocchio ranks this high personally out of my love for the movie, which was "my movie" when I was little. Growing up visiting WDW I longed for greater representation for Pinocchio. My first trip to Disneyland felt like a homecoming with Pinocchio having his own ride, and every time I ride I get a little bit of that wind again. I recognize that it offers less for other guests, which is why I ranked it as I did up top, but it does something special for me.
Roger is still a super-solid attraction, and is a shout out to a killer movie that doesn't get the attention it deserves. The ride doesn't try to retell the movie but lives up to it anyway. It's the trip through Toon Town you could only imagine and then a little more.
Alice is just so weird, it really almost shouldn't even exist - it still stuns me to think that they actually built the ride in that space, because there's really no space for it. Totally the kind of thing they'd never do now, which is such a shame, and that surreality of its own being is totally fitting of Wonderland. There are a few little moments where the bizarre use of space catches up with it and intrudes on the experience, but the good is so good that it's worth looking the other way.
I really wanted to rank Peter Pan higher in my subjective list, as I do think there's a charm and a magical quality to it that's just totally unique, but I think some of the fussing they've done with it in recent years was ultimately for the worse and not the better. The Flight over London has always been the heart of the ride, and it was pretty severely tarnished in its 2015 rehab and has yet to recover. There's a line between keeping a ride sparkling and making it plastic, and unfortunately I think they've crossed that line. It's an old-school ride that thrives on old-school Black Magic, and in trying to add new layers though tech I think they've actually managed to flatten the experience. But, thankfully, the ride system and concept are still in place, so hopefully one day we can get a little more of the rich texture back in the ride. It was really important.
Snow White basically falls to what I said above - beautifully painted, but it doesn't stick its landing. The ride peaks with the projection-mapped Magic Mirror scene - a rare moment where a totally classic effect was actually improved by infusing tech. A couple moments were improved with this in Alice and almost none were in Peter Pan, but Snow White's tops them all with this already brilliant staging made even better. The rain projected on the Dwarfs and the Mountain at the end are a nice touch, but nothing lives up to that Magic Mirror moment, and you really feel it at the end of the ride.
Pooh is Pooh. It is what it is.
Well said. My list is pretty close to your objective list if you swap Alice and Peter. It’s interesting though- I would imagine Pan would be higher on your subjective than your objective list. If we take away the nostalgia and factor in what the 60th neon paint did to the London scene I can’t see how it’s #1.... on an “objective” list at least.
It’s true that what Pan does well it does better than maybe anything at the park. Just that childlike wonder of flying through the nursery, London and Neverland with the amazing soundtrack in the background. Upon reflection, I think that’s more a compliment to the source material than the attraction though. The ride system is kind of clunky and the second half of the ride is probably worse than the second half of every other FL style dark ride except Pooh.
In terms of weirdness I don't even really mean the scenes themselves, which are mostly only ever as weird as the movie, but the structural nature of the ride is so kooky and unusual with the way some scenes are on top of Toad and outside and inside and down the ramp and all over. The layout is just such a ball of string, no reasonable person would have looked at that area and said "we can fit a full 4 minute ride here" . . . and yet somehow they did. Such a weird, beautiful mess. They didn't waste an inch of space.Great critique! To say that Snow White "doesn't stick the landing" is the best single comment I've ever heard about that ride.
"Alice is just so weird." You think it's weird now? I grew up with the original, pre-1983 version. Nightmare fuel in the best possible way!
In truth, I thought Pan would be higher on my subjective list too. I think part of that is the fact that I grew up as a WDW kid with their Pan, Snow, and Toad (until Pooh showed up) which I deeply loved, so the novelty of there being all these other jewel-box Dark Rides that were "new" to me puts them somewhere else in my mind and elevates them slightly. That plus Pan slipping in its execution . . . I won't pretend that WDW's is in better shape, but DL's Pan is not quite what it once was. It's still the most striking concept, though, with the ride system being a brilliant inversion of what you get from all the others that delivers a simple but totally thrilling effect. It totally benefits from great source material, but it also lives up to it - a feat many attractions never come close to managing. If only it were longer - as @shortstop says, it leaves you wanting more, but I think it's because what you get "gets" you in that special spot. It actually does the thing most Disney rides aspire to do, and it somehow does it without much in the way of frills.
The ride system is definitely a little too clunky these days. I don't know if I'd agree that the 2nd half is not as good as that of any of the other dark rides, though it's for sure not as novel as flying over the models its first half. It's nice to see such a big cast of characters in one space, though, no other Fantasyland ride gives us that many at one time.
In terms of weirdness I don't even really mean the scenes themselves, which are mostly only ever as weird as the movie, but the structural nature of the ride is so kooky and unusual with the way some scenes are on top of Toad and outside and inside and down the ramp and all over. The layout is just such a ball of string, no reasonable person would have looked at that area and said "we can fit a full 4 minute ride here" . . . and yet somehow they did. Such a weird, beautiful mess. They didn't waste an inch of space.
Maaaan do I wish I could have ridden the original version of the ride. From the limited info out there that version really seems like a trip. I lament the loss of the upside-down room in particular, that is just so well suited to this kind of ride and doesn't exist anywhere else (except for, like, Figment's open house, which isn't the same).
Feel free to wax poetic on your memories of the original ride, I really can't find a lot of writing about it and I'm dying to fill in the blanks in my mind. The couple photos that exist are tellingly spooky!
Great critique! To say that Snow White "doesn't stick the landing" is the best single comment I've ever heard about that ride.
"Alice is just so weird." You think it's weird now? I grew up with the original, pre-1983 version. Nightmare fuel in the best possible way!
That poor cast member.I have to ride Snow White every time I go to Disney or my day isn't complete without it.
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