Theme Park Game Changers

danlb_2000

Premium Member
Original Poster
In my lifetime the two game changing attractions I have experienced following their introduction are Expedition Everest and Forbidden Journey. Expedition Everest for the combination of the usage of the most complex AA ever built at the time (tear), the use of forward and backward track, and intense roller coaster all in one attraction just felt like something that had never been done before. Forbidden Journey also was an experience like no other the first time I rode it. The complex show scenes along with the KUKA arm's motion capabilities felt special and I am not a Harry Potter fan. I got a different feeling after riding both of these attractions, one that I had not felt prior on any attraction.

Like others in this thread you are describing technological breakthroughs, not necessarily game changers. How did Everest or Forbidden Journey change the way rides after them were designed?

Imagine you are a ride designer. For me a game changer means you rode ride X and then went into the office the next morning and basically say "stop the presses, I just rode ride X and we need to totally re-think our approach to future rides".
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
You could give it credit for it's queue, but I feel Indiana Jones Template of the Forbidden Eye took queues to the next level well before that.

I feel like MK's POTC probably more than anything started the trend on highly themed queues. Indy expanded on that certainly, but I think it was an incremental change.
 

tmthomas52

Well-Known Member
Like others in this thread you are describing technological breakthroughs, not necessarily game changers. How did Everest or Forbidden Journey change the way rides after them were designed?

Imagine you are a ride designer. For me a game changer means you rode ride X and then went into the office the next morning and basically say "stop the presses, I just rode ride X and we need to totally re-think our approach to future rides".

I see what you are saying ,but from me at least when I first rode both of these attractions I just felt a different sense of a joy and I was blown away. I will try to describe why. I think Everest changed the future development of audio animatronics. This was the first animatronic that truly blew me away as I did get to see it in A mode. Every animatronic I've seen from both Disney and Universal (minus the catastrophic Ariel experiment) since then was an attempt to improve realism and fluidity. Forbidden Journey's complexity of motion blew me away. I still don't understand how Disney has not used the KUKA arm in a more effective manner than Sum of All Thrills. I would assume maybe Universal has an exclusive agreement to some sort of technology. Anyways, this attraction's complexity of motion allowed riders to move back and forth from sets and animatronics that I hadn't experienced before. Keep in mind I'm 20 years old and my first visit was in 1999 so I have a smaller amount of brand new attractions I've experienced since that time then most people.
 

kap91

Well-Known Member
It really depends on degree. Everything builds on itself. Even relatively things people can agree on as game changers build on previous experimentation. For example, Pirates, perhaps the definition of a game changing attraction largely builds on the kind of storytelling present in the disney world's fair attractions.

In terms of stuff that permanently affected how attractions were developed in the future...

The original disneyland, which shaped the basic format of most theme parks that came after.

Matterhorn, which affected coaster design everywhere from then on.

The tiki room, which debuted the major use of animatronics as the main subject of an attraction. (Really I'd group it as a part of a trinity with Carousel of Progess and Lincoln)

Pirates/New Orleans Square as being the first examples of a fully immersive dark ride (with maybe the exception of the Ford Pavillion) and the first example of a fully immersive land devoted to a single theme/location complete with merchandise and food - a format that largely remained unused in favor of almagation lands until Potter decades later.

Adventure through inner space, for inventing the omnimover which specifically for Disney was used numerous times afterwards including most of the original epcot attractions.

Thunder Mountain as the first example of a non-experiential story for a ride and the introduction of the "something goes wrong" cliche.

Disney World, for introducing the idea of a multi-park destination resort.

Star Tours, specifically for Disney introducing the use of outside IP.

Really any of the original epcot future world attractions for basically inventing the documentary style attraction (again some precedent from worlds fairs, but first major application). Really raising the bar in terms of length of experience, and scope a ride could create. Arguably not game changing though as with the exception of the great movie ride this approach has largely been abandoned in favor of Indy-style rides.

Indy for the introduction of simulator/tracked ride systems and making the rider an active participant (in a non coaster attraction) basically setting the modern expectations for ride length, thrill, story structure, and such. Tower of terror can be included here being developed roughly at the same time and with similar influence.

Shout to the original Universal Orlando attractions for collectively pushing the boundary of extreme complexity in scale and sophistication of rides and effects - particularly technologically - something that Universal still largely leads at.

Disney Sea for just blowing the lid off the level of detail and immersion expected of a theme park. Its influence is felt today in the proliferation of the modern IP based lands and in the philosophies of imagineers like Joe Rohde who breath authenticity and story as sacred.

Wizarding World - for reintroducing the Idea of a specifically themed land in all facets, and setting the precedent of what a theme park expansion and land should look like for the 21st century.

There's surely some I'm forgetting but these are the major ones I can think of that specially had a long term influence, not necessarily just what might have been a huge accomplishment. And everything again builds on what already exists so you can always trace the accomplishment back further
 
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cheezbat

Well-Known Member
I guess you're right about RSR, but before FJ there weren't many (if any at all, that I can recall) rides that used a kuka arm + omnimover + screen caurosel hybrid ride system. (If there are, I'd love to be proved wrong so I can visit it.)

EDIT: Just read your other post and I guess you are right that those technologies haven't really spread to other rides, good point. I revoke my statement of FJ being a game changer, since by definition, it did not change the game much.
You do realize that The KUKA robocoaster dark ride system is under I believe a 7-10 year exclusivity deal with Universal. That's why you haven't seen it anywhere else.

Just wait...I'm sure in a few years we'll see a lesser version of the ride pop up in some foreign country.
 

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
List of game changers based on rides that I can easily point to multiple other offshoots.

Peter Pan's Flight (Ultimate Book Report Fantasyland ride)
Matterhorn (Steel mountain coasters)
Tiki Birds (Animatronics)
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Further Animatronics)
Small World (The E-ticket Dark ride)
Pirate's of the Caribbean
Adventures Through Inner Space (The omnimover)
Haunted Mansion (?the preshow.... otherwise credit to whatever ride had it before)
Star Tours (Simulators)
Universe of Energy... but I think Pooh's Hunny Hunt is actually more evident in current design (trackless/LPS)
Indy (queue, EMV)
Tower of Terror (like Pirates)
Spiderman (Hybrid Simulator... pretty much the entire pinnacle basis of all Universal rides, way too many are repackaged spidermen's at their core)
Radiator Springs Racers (controversial... but I think this is a game changer for ride facades. Flights of Passage and Star Wars experience are very obviously inspired by its success. Even Kong I think takes inspiration)


Possible future game changers: Forbidden Journey, Shanghai's Pirates... They both changed my view of what was possible, but technically neither are reflected in other opened projects. The Gringotts hybrid coaster could have been a game changer, but seems like it needs another go around the design wheel.
 

montyz81

Well-Known Member
Single attraction game changers?

Forbidden Journey
Spider-Man
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye
Star Tours
Universe of Energy
Spaceship Earth
Big Thundermountain Railroad
Pirates of the Caribbean
I like your list, but I think Soarin needs to be on there too. Game changer in terms of the ride mechanics. Nobody has ever moved people into the screen like that before. I believe that without Soarin, parts of Forbidden Journey would not exist.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Game changers are difficult to pin down. If I had to select any it would be The Matterhorn. From all the things I have seen it was the beginning of tubular track usage on coasters. The thing that almost all have used since then and enabled all those special coasters, that invert, etc. Using Monorails for transportation/entertainment would be another but, monorails existed long before Disney picked up on them. In a general sense, AA's were game changes. It's not so much the attractions/shows it is the way they are presented and made. Mission: Space with all it's detractors is something I had never seen before in the lines of simulator, theme park style. Omni-movers are another! Basically a show is a show, a ride is a ride, it is the uniqueness and creative usage that makes something a game changer.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I like your list, but I think Soarin needs to be on there too. Game changer in terms of the ride mechanics. Nobody has ever moved people into the screen like that before. I believe that without Soarin, parts of Forbidden Journey would not exist.
People were moved into and out of visual displays en mass at the 1964 Worlds Fair. Not suspended, but still moved vertically as a theatre group.

The Van Helsing Kuka attraction was under development at the same time as Soarin'. Though Soarin' and FJ are different genres.

Anyway, it's all subjective.
 

montyz81

Well-Known Member
People were moved into and out of visual displays en mass at the 1964 Worlds Fair. Not suspended, but still moved vertically as a theatre group.

The Van Helsing Kuka attraction was under development at the same time as Soarin'. Though Soarin' and FJ are different genres.

Anyway, it's all subjective.
Fair enough. I sort of figured you'd come up with something I didn't know about and I know I am really talking about one small part of the entire Forbidden Journey experience. As an entire attraction, I felt like FJ was almost a game changer at "Great Moments with Mr Lincoln" levels.
 

Bill Cipher

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
You do realize that The KUKA robocoaster dark ride system is under I believe a 7-10 year exclusivity deal with Universal. That's why you haven't seen it anywhere else.

Just wait...I'm sure in a few years we'll see a lesser version of the ride pop up in some foreign country.
I didn't know that. I guess it does have the potential to change the game in the future. Thank you for teaching me something new :)
 

BlindChow

Well-Known Member
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Now any ride can be made into an advertisement. :p:(
Actually, I haven't seen Buzz Lightyear mentioned for the way it brought direct interactivity into theme park rides. (Though Men in Black might have been first?)
 

BlindChow

Well-Known Member
Single attraction game changers?
...
Universe of Energy
...
Curious about Universe of Energy's impact on the theme park world, since I've seen it mentioned a few times.

Did theme park design significantly change after its debut? Or did it simply introduce elements (integration of film & ride or big honkin' theatermobiles or whatever) that hadn't been done before? Was there a rush to bring any of these elements into new designs anywhere else?
 

montyz81

Well-Known Member
In my lifetime the two game changing attractions I have experienced following their introduction are Expedition Everest and Forbidden Journey. Expedition Everest for the combination of the usage of the most complex AA ever built at the time (tear), the use of forward and backward track, and intense roller coaster all in one attraction just felt like something that had never been done before. Forbidden Journey also was an experience like no other the first time I rode it. The complex show scenes along with the KUKA arm's motion capabilities felt special and I am not a Harry Potter fan. I got a different feeling after riding both of these attractions, one that I had not felt prior on any attraction.
I think that the Matterhorn was probably the most game changing roller coaster of all time. It started a company (Arrow). None of the roller coasters would exist today if it were not for Arrow.
 

disneylandcm

Well-Known Member
People were moved into and out of visual displays en mass at the 1964 Worlds Fair. Not suspended, but still moved vertically as a theatre group.

The Van Helsing Kuka attraction was under development at the same time as Soarin'. Though Soarin' and FJ are different genres.

Anyway, it's all subjective.

Thank you for that info about moving guests vertically through a display at the 1964 Worlds Fair! I'm interested to search out more about that. Do you know which pavilion it was in?
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Curious about Universe of Energy's impact on the theme park world, since I've seen it mentioned a few times.

Did theme park design significantly change after its debut? Or did it simply introduce elements (integration of film & ride or big honkin' theatermobiles or whatever) that hadn't been done before? Was there a rush to bring any of these elements into new designs anywhere else?
The autonomous travelling theatre was a revelation.
 

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