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

[Basil of Baker Street]

Maintancance???

Upkeep the attraction while it is open?? Don't let it get to this far-gone point even if its closing date is on the calendar?

I don't know why people are confused by this.

But they didn't and it would take an extended amout of time to fix everything is wrong with it so here we are. I ask again right now, what should they do?

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

But they didn't and it would take an extended amout of time to fix everything is wrong with it so here we are. I ask again right now, what should they do?

Obviously the only thing they can do is just do better by other attractions in the future.

Nobody expects them to shut down Splash right now and address the issues at hand. But we should absolutely not excuse the falling standards that led to it.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Don’t you know that for Bob I, rather than have a window on Main St. when he FINALLY retires, TWDC is going to award him the first ever Mickey golden shoehorn…

 

[EagleScout610]

But they didn't and it would take an extended amout of time to fix everything is wrong with it so here we are. I ask again right now, what should they do?

We're not asking for them to pull it for a refurb, then reopen and then close it right away again for the retheme. We're asking for some maintenance so Splash can die with the slightest shred of dignity

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Obviously the only thing they can do is just do better by other attractions in the future.

Nobody expects them to shut down Splash right now and address the issues at hand. But we should absolutely not excuse the falling standards that led to it.

This is the heart of the issue, no one expects them to close a ride for maintenance a few months before it closes but it never should have gotten to this point, same with Indy at DL and dozens of others, Disney has gone from primarily fixing things overnight to primarily fixing things once a year during the annual downtime… if you’re fortunate to go after the annual refurb you get a great ride but if you go near the scheduled refurb you’ll likely get a bad show.

Obviously some things can’t be fixed overnight but I’d argue most things can be and throwing lipstick and bandaids on everything for a year is a bad maintenance plan.

 

[EagleScout610]

I honestly don't understand why you all are bothering to track everything that is "wrong" with the ride at this point. If it were staying around you would have a valid gripe that they would let it get this bad until its annual refurbishment. But it's getting rethemed. Why bother refurbishing elements of the "old" theme when it gets taken down next month for a retheme anyway?

Because we're sad that Disney is allowing one of its greatest attractions to limp out its final days as opposed to going out in a somewhat respectable condition where, sure, things don't work, but not a state where it would be faster to list things that are working vs. not functioning.

 

[RobWDW1971]

What's frankly even more sad is that on a Disney theme park fan site, of all places, people are rationalizing and even defending an attraction to be in this state. If apparently hardcore Disney fans have no expectations for attraction quality, why would we assume Disney management would ever care?

The fans are getting exactly what they are demanding - lower quality staff, lower service and appearance standards, lower attraction quality and maintenance, lower food quality, and complete lack of theming/architecture consistency.

And yet this site is filled with people defending it and rushing to pay even more for it.

Disney management just sits back and laughs.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

I don't defend the state its in. I'm just living in the real world. They are not going to do anything to a ride they are about to shutter.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I don't defend the state its in. I'm just living in the real world. They are not going to do anything to a ride they are about to shutter.

Universe of Energy had all of its carpets replaced a month before it closed permanently, and its closing had already been announced publicly.

It didn't matter that the ride was closing, that it was still open was reason enough to take care of it.

 

[JohnD]

What's frankly even more sad is that on a Disney theme park fan site, of all places, people are rationalizing and even defending an attraction to be in this state. If apparently hardcore Disney fans have no expectations for attraction quality, why would we assume Disney management would ever care?

The fans are getting exactly what they are demanding - lower quality staff, lower service and appearance standards, lower attraction quality and maintenance, lower food quality, and complete lack of theming/architecture consistency.

And yet this site is filled with people defending it and rushing to pay even more for it.

Disney management just sits back and laughs.

It's not a matter of "defending" but stating that no corporation in their right mind would spend money on an attraction then immediately demolish it.

 

[JohnD]

I don't defend the state its in. I'm just living in the real world. They are not going to do anything to a ride they are about to shutter.

I'll agree with the first three sentences.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

Universe of Energy had all of its carpets replaced a month before it closed permanently, and its closing had already been announced publicly.

It didn't matter that the ride was closing, that it was still open was reason enough to take care of it.

I really don't know what else to tell you. They aren't

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Just from the past two weeks-

- With the exception of the greenhouses (which is one of the only places on WDW property that is well maintained), Living with the Land is in deplorable condition and suffers very similar if not worse issues to Splash Mountain. Lighting fixtures are inoperable or heavily misaligned, a huge portion of the animals in the ride are either static or missing. Not one single figure in the rainforest scene was moving last week for instance, and a handful were missing outright. None of these are even remotely as complex or difficult to repair as Splash's AA's either, their movement is basically on the level of a classic Fantasyland dark ride.

- Small World received a fairly decent refurb not all that long ago and is at least still much cleaner than it had been in previous years. But in the past couple of months, dolls have started going missing or are stationary. A couple of the spinning ceiling fixtures are also broken again. Every week, I notice a new issue cropping up. And none of the issues are being fixed. Again, these also aren't remotely complex figures.

- On Big Thunder, every single figure in the flooded town scene is inoperable, everything is static. The bats in the cave also had no movement. Quite a bit of the the night time lighting is also broken. And of course, they never bothered to implement the new explosion effects added to the versions at California and Paris. The track is also in desperate need of a replacement.

- Don't even make me laugh about the condition of Space Mountain...

- The Progress City model has never looked worse.

- Both Zurg figures were static and the eye/mouth lights were malfunctioning, as well as the final Buzz figure. Even a number of the moving flat props were also static. No attempt has been made to clean and paint over the mold and water damage this ride has had for over a decade now. This may well be the nastiest ride at any Disney park currently.

Splash Mountain's horrible condition is not unique. There are a number of attractions on property that aren't in any danger of being closed down and are still being run to failure by park management. The only attraction i've noticed any IMPROVEMENT to over the past few months is Spaceship Earth. There's smoke again on some of the torches that have been inoperable for some time prior (though not in the Rome burning scene). And the steam engine has far more movement than it has had in years (not everything though, and the steam is still missing).

 

[𝐌𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝐖𝖊𝖇]

It's been mentioned that the main flume drop will be intimidating to younger children, does anyone know if Imagineering is doing anything to lessen that perceived peril making it appear less intense? Would they employ some type of inversed force perspective at ground level? Or strobe lights to create the illusion of moving in slow motion? I don't think it likely, but I wonder if Imagineering has thought of making such changes.

 

[Trauma]

It's been mentioned that the main flume drop will be intimidating to younger children, does anyone know if Imagineering is doing anything to lessen that perceived peril making it appear less intense? Would they employ some type of inversed force perspective at ground level? Or strobe lights to create the illusion of moving in slow motion? I don't think it likely, but I wonder if Imagineering has thought of making such changes.

What?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

It's been mentioned that the main flume drop will be intimidating to younger children, does anyone know if Imagineering is doing anything to lessen that perceived peril making it appear less intense? Would they employ some type of inversed force perspective at ground level? Or strobe lights to create the illusion of moving in slow motion? I don't think it likely, but I wonder if Imagineering has thought of making such changes.

The final lift hill won't be as scary at least. I spotted Mama Odie's colored bottles inside the cave on the model, so I would guess the trek up to the top will be more upbeat and happy compared to the foreboding music and visuals that are currently there. There also won't be a briar patch at the base anymore, just swamp grass. Though there's probably not much you can do to alleviate children's fears at the peak and during the drop. I also very strongly hope they don't use strobe lights, they won't even work in the daytime. And they're even more likely to induce nausea and disorientation than not at night, it would also pose an ugly distraction to the scenery.

 

[RSoxNo1]

BTMR easily tops Guardians in that comparison, if you're talking about actual storytelling/show scenes/etc. -- Guardians is, of course, a more intense/thrilling coaster.

I think he was making the original comparison because there was an idea pushed that Guardians was going to be a lot more than just a coaster; that it was going to be like a coaster/dark ride hybrid. That obviously didn't happen.

Right, this is a point I was thinking about recently. I just rode Cosmic Rewind and Velocicoaster for the first time. While they are substantially better "coasters" than many of their predecessors if you're considering the whole scope of "themed roller coasters" I'd put Thunder Mountain as the best. There are no breaks / sacrifices to the theming and if that matters to you more than the thrills you have to appreciate how thorough Thunder Mountain actually is.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It's not a matter of "defending" but stating that no corporation in their right mind would spend money on an attraction then immediately demolish it.

Then close it now.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Just from the past two weeks-

- With the exception of the greenhouses (which is one of the only places on WDW property that is well maintained), Living with the Land is in deplorable condition and suffers very similar if not worse issues to Splash Mountain. Lighting fixtures are inoperable or heavily misaligned, a huge portion of the animals in the ride are either static or missing. Not one single figure in the rainforest scene was moving last week for instance, and a handful were missing outright. None of these are even remotely as complex or difficult to repair as Splash's AA's either, their movement is basically on the level of a classic Fantasyland dark ride.

- Small World received a fairly decent refurb not all that long ago and is at least still much cleaner than it had been in previous years. But in the past couple of months, dolls have started going missing or are stationary. A couple of the spinning ceiling fixtures are also broken again. Every week, I notice a new issue cropping up. And none of the issues are being fixed. Again, these also aren't remotely complex figures.

- On Big Thunder, every single figure in the flooded town scene is inoperable, everything is static. The bats in the cave also had no movement. Quite a bit of the the night time lighting is also broken. And of course, they never bothered to implement the new explosion effects added to the versions at California and Paris. The track is also in desperate need of a replacement.

- Don't even make me laugh about the condition of Space Mountain...

- The Progress City model has never looked worse.

- Both Zurg figures were static and the eye/mouth lights were malfunctioning, as well as the final Buzz figure. Even a number of the moving flat props were also static. No attempt has been made to clean and paint over the mold and water damage this ride has had for over a decade now. This may well be the nastiest ride at any Disney park currently.

Splash Mountain's horrible condition is not unique. There are a number of attractions on property that aren't in any danger of being closed down and are still being run to failure by park management. The only attraction i've noticed any IMPROVEMENT to over the past few months is Spaceship Earth. There's smoke again on some of the torches that have been inoperable for some time prior (though not in the Rome burning scene). And the steam engine has far more movement than it has had in years (not everything though, and the steam is still missing).

When did the, "If we can dream it, we can do it" Pepper's Ghost dialogue get removed from Progress City?

Maintenance is bad at WDW but the one thing that really surprised me was the printing press wheel was actually working at SSE last week.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

When did the, "If we can dream it, we can do it" Pepper's Ghost dialogue get removed from Progress City?

The Peoplemover got a brand new script in July this year, I assume that's when they removed it.

Maintenance is bad at WDW but the one thing that really surprised me was the printing press wheel was actually working at SSE last week.

There are still like three smaller gears/wheels on the red machine that aren't turning (and the steam, which has been MIA for a couple years now I think), but yeah there's a lot more movement on the machines than there has been in a long time. The large wheels and pistons on the green machine in particular were fixed I believe at some point between August-October. It's the only ride I can think of that maintenance has improved on at all recently. Um, thanks Chapek?...