brb1006
Well-Known Member
Still mourning over the fate of Spectromagic, it was the perfect nighttime parade for Walt Disney World. It still aged well for it's almost 20 year run.
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RIP - ROL
- Thread starter Thelazer
- Start date
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
What was the motive for ops to do that?
The story goes some wanted it closed. Very high maintenance and low throughput.
Save some spare time and have a read of part of an excellent resource http://www.20kride.com/history.html
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Ahh it’s a Jim Hill Story.
Great read and such a shame the story ends where it does.
I assume the reason for Fire Mountain not being started was due to 9/11?
@marni1971 was Villain Village revisited instead of New Fantasyland? Or by that time were management only focused on the little girl M&G market?
Thinking about the last 20 years, has WDW added any mind blowing additions (ROTR Can’t really count can it? with the overall the lifelessness or SGE?)? I suppose the closest came at Animal Kingdom with Expedition Everest, but we know how that turned out and Pandora but the boat ride is a big letdown.
It would appear adding either of the attractions in the article would have made the world a better place.
FigmentsFangirl
Well-Known Member
I am glad I managed to snap up the soundtrack for Rivers of Light, well worth it. I think its still available. The only two times i had sene it they had the storytellers on the floats
drew81
Well-Known Member
The way leadership treated that parade was pathetic! They stored that parade in horrible conditions and let it rot and didn’t care. They should all be embarrassed.Still mourning over the fate of Spectromagic, it was the perfect nighttime parade for Walt Disney World. It still aged well for it's almost 20 year run.
I've heard others repeat basically the same story. As Martin said, high cost of operation and upkeep for low number of people who could ride each day. Of course, older-school people working in WDW would appreciate the aesthetics and kinetics the ride added to the park. By the time Ovitz was brought in, bottom line was growing ever more important.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
I just missed them on my first visit to wdw. they had just closed for “seasonal maintenance” - but at least I remember seeing the lagoon from the skyway!
I can see the logic for closing them, I don’t understand the logic for operations to sabatoge them. Not saying they didn’t, I just don’t make that connection. “Oh an exec is coming to look at the subs, hurry throw some water in them and say they are all leaking”
The subs needed a lot of work. Before Ovitz's trip, they had already been closed for a while for a "refurbishment" that was really meant as a permanent closure. But from what I understand, unlike Toad, 20K was closed without executive buyoff at WDI & California corporate. It ate up a lot of Ops budget when it ran. One possible factor for any "sabotage" -- department heads that saved money and came in under budget were often rewarded personally. I don't know if that is still true.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Ahh yes that sadly does make sense.
“If we close the subs, we’ll save enough money that I bet the company will give each one of us a honey baked ham for Christmas!”
The ROL barges where a lot of work to maintain, the tech was finicky on its best day, and costly to operate. The floats' fountains had water sanitation systems onboard so that the nasty river water being flung in the air and on guest would not make them sick (as I understand it was high intensity - high current) ultra violet and high volume filters. The sanitation system drew as much power from the batteries as the propulsion system. The sound system was value engineered to the point that your experience at the show was heavily impacted if you were not sitting in one of the few good locations. As someone else stated, the show never had a WOW moment, it just sort of droned on without any soft of crescendo. In even moderate winds they had difficulty keeping the float within their choreography profile and that sometimes would cause floats to go dark and fountainless because they needed to conserve power because of the excessive course corrections. Personally I was never overly impressed with the show but I also realize that much of what they were doing was new tech and version 1.0 of just about anything tends to have issues. How reliable was the original ELP? How about the 1999 version of the earth globe? Lest anyone forget how long was it before test track was up more than it was down? Hopefully they learned from doing this show and the next show in/on that venue will be a knock out.
GenerationX
Well-Known Member
If they were going to get rid of the barges, they should've had one last show, concluding with the river being invaded by pirates firing cannonballs and sinking the barges. That would've been cool.
Movielover
Well-Known Member
TTA94
Well-Known Member
@marni1971 have you heard if there’s anything in the pipeline for a replacement? Would be a shame to see that theater left empty, once nighttime shows can start back up again.
TTA94
Well-Known Member
So does the new Harmonious barges have filtration systems? I’m sure that water isn’t the cleanest lol and it’s definitely going to blow on guests more often then not.
I haven’t. Pre Covid there were plans for a reworked RoL style show.
