The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have a hard time being forgiving when I know that an older iteration of an attraction has more to it than a subsequent version.
While it's true that the DLRR didn't originally open with those features, they were added in eventually. At WDW these enhancements became yet another item on the to-do list that they eventually forgot about or decided didn't matter. It could have-should have-been an easy thing to do for the 50th. Alas, nothing won out, as it tends to do.

But apart from Disney, I also visit lots of theme and amusement parks around the country. I can think of several non-Disney parks that have superior train rides to WDW, either by virtue of there being more to see or by the lack of scenery being less of a big deal when I'm not paying such exorbitant ticket prices to enter. Off the top of my head, Silver Dollar City, Dollywood, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa, Six Flags Over Texas, Knoebels, and Cedar Point all have more interesting railroads than Magic Kingdom.

Think of it this way: the pass through Splash Mountain is probably the best part of the WDW railroad. That's the high point and there's else nothing comparable really on the WDW route.
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There are some nice things that you don't get at Disneyland in Florida: the aforementioned pass right next to Big Thunder (though Tokyo also has this) is one, and because Magic Kingdom doesn't have a berm, you can look out onto the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Contemporary as you approach Main Street station.

But the rest of the route is basically the Adventureland portion of the DLR train ride: just trees, except unlike the DLRR you're almost never close enough to the rest of the park to see anything of interest, and you're in a swamp. No figures, no dioramas, no people on midways. Only trees. That's most of the route.

The worst part is basically the area that I and @lazyboy97o earlier referred to-the stretch at the back of the park-where you're far removed from the park and there's nothing except trees the entire way, but even more so than the rest of the route. But then, right before you get to the Fantasyland station, you literally go under a highway-style overpass, as seen in this photo from the Passport2Dreams blog:
View attachment 687140
It's a low point that no other Disney castle park train approaches.

RE the dioramas: I love them! They add visual interest, and if they weren't there at Disneyland you'd be either looking backstage or in a long featureless tunnel, and DLR is the only park that has two dioramas! I imagine you might miss them if you were on WDW's train, which really and truly has long stretches of nothing to look at. Perhaps a situation where you don't know what you got 'til it's gone.

Here's a POV of the WDW train (pre-Tron closure) if you want to check it out and compare:


I kind of like our Adventureland stretch. I like being nooked between the foliage and how close we are to the Jungle Cruise.

Definitely enjoy our dioramas. It’s just the least enjoyable stretch for me by sheer virtue of being indoors.

Well it doesn’t sound great but you’re still on a train at the Magic Kingdom so I guess it has that going for it and people seem to miss it. How long was DL’s train down for GE? Like two years right? Almost forgot about that. Their is definitely something off when the trains aren’t running at a castle park.

Thanks for sharing the video but I like to keep some surprises. I’ve actually avoided a good amount of ride throughs of WDW attractions and although I have a general sense of what the parks look like and their layout it’s kind of hazy.
 

Centauri Space Station

Well-Known Member
The WDW Railroad has long been the worst one of all. WDW guests don't expect show scenes or Primeval Worlds or what not, so none were given to them. It's also the least scenic trip of any castle park railroad IMO.
I would say HKDL looks a lot worse and it only has two stations. The biggest issue is after the ROA and the Native American diorama it’s mostly woods until fantasyland station.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Lol, Merry Christmas TP! I love that song but had no idea what it was called or who the Ronettes were. In fact, this made me realize I know very few of the singers names of my favorite Christmas songs. I guess that just means they haven’t made very many great Christmas songs from the 80s on.

The Ronettes, featuring Ronnie Spector as the lead singer, were a flagship group for Phil Spector's record label in the early-to-mid 1960's. So flagship, in fact, that he quickly became romantically involved with Ronnie and eventually married her in the late 60's.

Phil Spector put out a fantastic Christmas album in 1963 featuring all of his hit groups. If you've ever been in a department store or shopping mall during December in the last 50 years, you've heard several songs off that one album.

Ronnie Spector passed away earlier this year, after a very long and successful life and career. Her music with The Ronettes ranks among some of the finest girl group Rock N' Roll this great nation has produced. And you cant Twist to it!
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The Ronettes, featuring Ronnie Spector as the lead singer, were a flagship group for Phil Spector's record label in the early-to-mid 1960's. So flagship, in fact, that he quickly became romantically involved with Ronnie and eventually married her in the late 60's.

Phil Spector put out a fantastic Christmas album in 1963 featuring all of his hit groups. If you've ever been in a department store or shopping mall in December in the last 50 years, you've heard several songs off that one album.

Ronnie Spector passed away earlier this year, after a very long and successful life and career. Her music with The Ronettes ranks among some of the finest girl group Rock N' Roll this great nation has produced.

It interesting how these songs have become so immortalized that someone like me can “forget” that at one point they were a brand new song made by a Pop artist of that day. So most of the classic Christmas songs are from the 50s and 60s right? Maybe some 70s? We really dropped the ball the last 4 decades.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing the video but I like to keep some surprises. I’ve actually avoided a good amount of ride throughs of WDW attractions and although I have a general sense of what the parks look like and their layout it’s kind of hazy.

That's probably smart. When you get there and do most of their Disneyland clones, you'll often be saying "Oh... dear." Or a version of that.

The one exception is Splash Mountain. The WDW version is vastly superior for storytelling and pacing. I had no idea that Splash Mountain even had a plot until I went on the WDW version for the first time in the mid 1990's.

After riding the Disneyland version of Splash Mountain many times from 1989 to 1994, I honestly just thought it was a log ride whose theme was "Singing Geese, More Singing Geese, Drop! with Bees, Crazy Animals, Sad Rabbits, Spooky Vultures, Don't throw me in the briar patch!, HUGE DROP!, Instrumental Alligators and Singing Chickens! Also a pig that plays ragtime piano, and an owl who wants to sell you your picture."

Apparently the ride was based off a movie no one ever saw, but that movie had an actual plot, and the ride has more to it than singing chickens and a sales-savvy owl. Who knew?!? Thanks Disney World! 😍
 
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TP2000

Well-Known Member
It interesting how these songs have become so immortalized that someone like me can “forget” that at one point they were a brand new song made by a Pop artist of that day. So most of the classic Christmas songs are from the 50s and 60s right? Maybe some 70s? We really dropped the ball the last 4 decades.

Yes, we kind of did. Which is why we have to listen to "Last Christmas" by George Michael and "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey over and over and over. There hasn't been much else since about the early 1970's and some stuff by The Carpenters.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yes, we kind of did. Which is why we have to listen to "Last Christmas" by George Michael and "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey over and over and over. There hasn't been much else since about the early 1970's and some stuff by The Carpenters.

Lol yup those are the two pretty much. Ed Sheeran and Elton John came out with one last year that I thought was pretty good. Not memorable I guess though because I can’t remember the name.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yes, we kind of did. Which is why we have to listen to "Last Christmas" by George Michael and "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey over and over and over. There hasn't been much else since about the early 1970's and some stuff by The Carpenters.

Well there’s also “Do they Know it’s Christmas” which I enjoy but that’s more of a Christmas version of “We are the World.”
 

Centauri Space Station

Well-Known Member
That's probably smart. When you get there and do most of their Disneyland clones, you'll often be saying "Oh.... dear." Or a version of that.

The one exception is Splash Mountain. The WDW version is vastly superior for storytelling and pacing. I had no idea that Splash Mountain even had a plot until I went on the WDW version for the first time in the mid 1990's.

After riding the Disneyland version of Splash Mountain many times from 1989 to 1994, I honestly just thought it was a log ride whose theme was "Singing Geese, Singing Geese, Drop! with Bees, Crazy Animals, Sad Rabbits, Spooky Vultures, HUGE DROP!, Instrumental Alligators and more Singing Chickens!" Apparently the ride was based off a movie no one ever saw, but that movie had a plot, and the ride has more to it than singing chickens. Who knew?!? Thanks Disney World! 😍
It depends on tastes. Some rides like POTC are absolutely inferior to DL. Then things like Peter Pan are obviously outdated compared to DL but I have seen a few folks who prefer the MK version due to it being “classic design”.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Well there’s also “Do they Know it’s Christmas” which I enjoy but that’s more of a Christmas version of “We are the World.”

I do like that one. But that was about Christmas, 1983 or '84, wasn't it? Nearly 40 years ago.

A shame current Disney stars, like Jaboukie Young-White, don't release Christmas songs. Or perhaps it's for the best that they don't?
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It depends on tastes. Some rides like POTC are absolutely inferior to DL. Then things like Peter Pan are obviously outdated compared to DL but I have seen a few folks who prefer the MK version due to it being “classic design”.

I can tell you that for sure MK has the better London scene. I still can’t believe how they massacred that scene at DL for the 60th redo. It’s not talked about enough.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
It depends on tastes. Some rides like POTC are absolutely inferior to DL. Then things like Peter Pan are obviously outdated compared to DL but I have seen a few folks who prefer the MK version due to it being “classic design”.

Are the mysterious people who prefer WDW's Peter Pan also driving a 1982 Cadillac Cimarron, by any chance?

I already question their taste, but if you tell me they drive an '82 Cimarron, it would make more sense.

1982_Cadillac_Cimarron.jpg


 

Centauri Space Station

Well-Known Member
Are the mysterious people who prefer WDW's Peter Pan also driving a 1982 Cadillac Cimarron, by any chance?

I already question their taste, but if you tell me they drive an '82 Cimarron, it would make more sense.

1982_Cadillac_Cimarron.jpg


I couldn’t tell you for sure but you never know 😜
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
If you watch a ride-thru video of MK’s Pan, you can actually hear how dated it is.

As a kid, I was jealous of WDW because I kept hearing the same thing: it’s bigger, and therefore better. I still hear that, and it tends to be the main thing fans throw out. Size and number of resorts. I never realized it as a child, but size and number of resorts don’t speak to the actual theme park experiences. I started realizing this as I got older.

Now that I’ve actually been on WDW property, albeit for one or two-ish days at one park and Disney Springs, I found there’s likely nothing to be jealous of. I’ll have to see the other parks, of course, but I don’t think my mind will change.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
If you watch a ride-thru video of MK’s Pan, you can actually hear how dated it is.

As a kid, I was jealous of WDW because I kept hearing the same thing: it’s bigger, and therefore better. I still hear that, and it tends to be the main thing fans throw out. Size and number of resorts. I never realized it as a child, but size and number of resorts don’t speak to the actual theme park experiences. I started realizing this as I got older.

Now that I’ve actually been on WDW property, albeit for one or two-ish days at one park and Disney Springs, I found there’s likely nothing to be jealous of. I’ll have to see the other parks, of course, but I don’t think my mind will change.

Oh ya i remember watching a ride thru of MKs pan and hating the voice acting. Especially Hook.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Oh ya i remember watching a ride thru of MKs pan and hating the voice acting. Especially Hook.
I’m sad I never got to ride it during my trip. Got in line and got out because the line kept wrapping. Their queue is nice (this was a common theme…more effort put into the queues versus the actual rides).

There’s also a clicking noise in the ride that I find strange.
 

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