News Splash Mountain retheme to Princess and the Frog - Tiana's Bayou Adventure

[WondersOfLife]

For what it’s worth, here are the guest ratings for both attractions on TouringPlans, which suggest that the new ride is generally more popular than the old:

The Great Movie Ride | Disney's Hollywood Studios

Entering through a re-creation of Hollywood's Chinese Theater, guests board vehicles for a fast-paced tour through soundstage sets from classic

touringplans.com

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway | Disney's Hollywood Studios

Disney restarted regular production of Mickey Mouse cartoons in 2013. Mostly written and directed by Paul Rudish, these 4-minute vignettes—

touringplans.com

M&MRR opened in 2020. It's only 2 years old.
GMR opened in 1989. It was roughly 27 years old when it closed.

They call MMRR a "Major Attraction."
They call GMR a "Headliner."
Let me know how this attraction holds up 25+ years from now....


But even then, all of that is irrelevant. I never brought up MMRR. Nor did I ever say it was a BAD ride. We were talking about GMR... That was a phenomenal slow moving dark ride that everyone of all ages could get on and enjoy with the family. And the amount of decent quality AAs in that ride made quite a difference. Of course its replacement will be "more popular." It is new. It's not 25+ years old, nor was it a thrill ride. It also had super high capacity.

Your opinion of GMR if it is anything related to "eh" or "bad" just doesn't speak any words to me. I like MMRR as much as the next guy. But that is irrelevant. GMR was a phenomenal attraction. It is truly a shame that it was replaced entirely with something that should have gone somewhere else... (Although that just seems to be the norm these days.)

 

[LittleBuford]

Any non-thrill ride ends up being a walk-on so many years later after no updates.

That does not mean the ride was bad lol. It was one of the best, actually.

My view of the ride has nothing to do with whether or not it was a walk-on (in my experience, it wasn’t). I just didn’t think it was especially strong. Clearly you disagree, and that’s fine. I’m a huge fan of the Country Bear Jamboree (no surprises there!), but I fully realise many aren’t. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

 

[WondersOfLife]

My view of the ride has nothing to do with whether or not it was a walk-on (in my experience, it wasn’t). I just didn’t think it was especially strong. Clearly you disagree, and that’s fine. I’m a huge fan of the Country Bear Jamboree (no surprises there!), but I fully realise many aren’t. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

CBJ is a different case. I am a HUGE fan of the show. But I totally GET why people don't like it.

GMR is a different animal, though. Comparing GMR to CBJ does not make any sense to me.

I'd compare GMR to Spaceship Earth, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and other attractions of that nature... It was definitely just as iconic and spectacular as those other dark rides.

 

[LittleBuford]

I'd compare GMR to Spaceship Earth, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and other attractions of that nature... It was definitely just as iconic and spectacular as those other dark rides.

In your opinion. Many, myself included, never warmed to it in the same way. I respect your view, but I’m not going to agree with it or accept it as gospel just because you hold it so passionately!

 

[Club Cooloholic]

In your opinion. Many, myself included, never warmed to it in the same way. I respect your view, but I’m not going to agree with it or accept it as gospel just because you hold it so passionately!

I can agree, for me it did not quite reach the level of say Haunted Mansion, but GMR had way more soul to it than what they put in there now.

 

[WondersOfLife]

In your opinion. Many, myself included, never warmed to it in the same way. I respect your view, but I’m not going to agree with it or accept it as gospel just because you hold it so passionately!

Eh. I don't consider it opinion. I consider it a fact. The ride was truly spectacular. Especially for its time.

 

[LittleBuford]

I can agree, for me it did not quite reach the level of day Haunted Mansion, but GMR had way more soul to it that what they put in there now.

That’s what it lacked for me—soul. I found it technically impressive but uninspiring. I’ve not experienced the new ride, so I’m reserving judgement on that.

 

[fgmnt]

CBJ is a different case. I am a HUGE fan of the show. But I totally GET why people don't like it.

GMR is a different animal, though. Comparing GMR to CBJ does not make any sense to me.

I'd compare GMR to Spaceship Earth, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and other attractions of that nature... It was definitely just as iconic and spectacular as those other dark rides.

It's great to make the comparison to Spaceship Earth: attraction housed inside the park icon that exists as the mission statement for the park itself, and both had the ambition and follow through needed to make them matter on opening. What the company has done with them since that period, well... not great!

 

[WondersOfLife]

That’s what it lacked for me—soul. I found it technically impressive but uninspiring. I’ve not experienced the new ride, so I’m reserving judgement on that.

Its a big empty warehouse with screens and a car that kind of jiggles.

Not a bad ride though.

 

[WondersOfLife]

It's great to make the comparison to Spaceship Earth: attraction housed inside the park icon that exists as the mission statement for the park itself, and both had the ambition and follow through needed to make them matter on opening. What the company has done with them since that period, well... not great!

Agreed.

 

[JD80]

I have some faith that the new ride will be fun and enjoyable. Rat, MMRR, Rise, FoP, Guardians and everything else that has been built in the last decade has been very enjoyable. MMRR is one of my favorite attractions on property.

I chase nostalgia and the warm and fuzzys just like anyone else here, but I don't understand the massive attachment to Splash. Splash is an amazing attraction, one of the best in MK because of it's duration, thrills, size and scope. I'm not tied to the story inside or the characters at all.

I very much doubt you can find a great portion of people who know who those characters are and what story they were telling after they come off the ride for the first or second time.

 

[LittleBuford]

Eh. I don't consider it opinion. I consider it a fact. The ride was truly spectacular. Especially for its time.

It’s a fact that it was an ambitious spectacle and technically impressive. Whether those attributes made it a top-notch experience, however, is a matter of opinion.

 

[LittleBuford]

It's great to make the comparison to Spaceship Earth: attraction housed inside the park icon that exists as the mission statement for the park itself, and both had the ambition and follow through needed to make them matter on opening. What the company has done with them since that period, well... not great!

I love Spaceship Earth! For me, it achieves what the Great Movie Ride somehow never managed to.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I have some faith that the new ride will be fun and enjoyable. Rat, MMRR, Rise, FoP, Guardians and everything else that has been built in the last decade has been very enjoyable. MMRR is one of my favorite attractions on property.

I chase nostalgia and the warm and fuzzys just like anyone else here, but I don't understand the massive attachment to Splash. Splash is an amazing attraction, one of the best in MK because of it's duration, thrills, size and scope. I'm not tied to the story inside or the characters at all.

I very much doubt you can find a great portion of people who know who those characters are and what story they were telling after they come off the ride for the first or second time.

I'm among those who understands and accepts why the attraction is changing, but I can say that my particular attachment to this attraction has to do with the fact that, to me, it represents the pinnacle of Imagineering. They managed to take a fairly standard amusement park ride to another level through a combination of storytelling, music, set-design, pacing, and thrills. The story builds and moves along so seamlessly to the drop and then the big celebration at the end. There's also no need to take you into several rooms to help explain to you what is going to happen on the ride as in so many other recent attractions; you just get on and it all unfolds before you. There's no clunky attempt to make you feel that you are part of the storyline or doing something when you're clearly just sitting in a ride vehicle: the 'participation' comes through experiencing the thrills that mirror the beats of the storyline. To me, it's just brilliant how well all the elements come together to create a whole experience on Splash perhaps more than on any other attraction. The music is also very catchy!

So, while I get why it's changing, I am nervous about the ability of WDI to recreate that experience with a new storyline. All the talk about salt mines and food co-ops only heightens my concern that the they'll fall into the trap of over-complicated backstories that need to be explained to be understood at the expense of creating a fun and entertaining as well as immersive experience.

 

[JD80]

I'm among those who understands and accepts why the attraction is changing, but I can say that my particular attachment to this attraction has to do with the fact that, to me, it represents the pinnacle of Imagineering. They managed to take a fairly standard amusement park ride to another level through a combination of storytelling, music, set-design, pacing, and thrills. The story builds and moves along so seamlessly to the drop and then the big celebration at the end. There's also no need to take you into several rooms to help explain to you what is going to happen on the ride as in so many other recent attractions; you just get on and it all unfolds before you. To me, it's just brilliant how well all the elements come together to create a whole experience on Splash perhaps more than on any other attraction. The music is also very catchy!

So, while I get why it's changing, I am nervous about the ability of WDI to recreate that experience with a new storyline. All the talk about salt mines and food co-ops only heightens my concern that the they'll fall into the trap of over-complicated backstories that need to be explained to be understood at the expense of creating a fun and entertaining as well as immersive experience.

I can't agree that Splash Mountain is the pinnacle of Imagineering.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I can't agree that Splash Mountain is the pinnacle of Imagineering.

Fair enough. As we see on this thread, there are many and varied opinions on pretty much every attraction!

Edit: Just to add, I can understand why people who have only experienced it with chronic maintenance issues over the past few decades would be less impressed. One of the great tragedies of Splash at MK (not so much at DL until very recently) is how it's come to look cheesier and cheesier over the years as the AAs became clunkier or stopped working, the lighting is too bright in sections, and the sets came to look more worn and tired. If I only experienced the current version, I'm not sure I would have such a high opinion of the attraction.

 

[Joel]

I’m a huge fan of the Country Bear Jamboree (no surprises there!), but I fully realise many aren’t. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

No, it's OK to say that those people are objectively wrong.

 

[JD80]

No, it's OK to say that those people are objectively wrong.

Yes. They are all wrong.

 

[erasure fan1]

Eh. I don't consider it opinion. I consider it a fact. The ride was truly spectacular. Especially for its time.

It’s a fact that it was an ambitious spectacle and technically impressive. Whether those attributes made it a top-notch experience, however, is a matter of opinion.

It all boils down to a lack of attractions in 3 of the 4 parks. If you aren't a fan of movie ride, great, no worries. If you love Mickey, fantastic. The truth of the matter is they should both be there. The reason people get upset, is when there was no good reason to kill an attraction. Just like splash. there's no reason to kill it as it's still one of the best attractions in the world. So no matter how Tiana turns out, people will be mad. While we can't know for sure, I think we all realize that Disney is only concerned with reducing costs. Not raising guest experience.

 

[drizgirl]

It all boils down to a lack of attractions in 3 of the 4 parks. If you aren't a fan of movie ride, great, no worries. If you love Mickey, fantastic. The truth of the matter is they should both be there. The reason people get upset, is when there was no good reason to kill an attraction. Just like splash. there's no reason to kill it as it's still one of the best attractions in the world. So no matter how Tiana turns out, people will be mad. While we can't know for sure, I think we all realize that Disney is only concerned with reducing costs. Not raising guest experience.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner.