Theme Park Game Changers

[njDizFan]

I'm pretty sure CoP was an original idea but you don't see it's influence too often. How many circular moving theaters out there in theme parks.

Another would be Alien Encounter, such a great and original idea but it did not translate to other parks.

 

[cheezbat]

I'm going to probably get a lot of flack but no, I don't believe the attractions are. The built environment however is a site to behold and some of the best themed immersion built yet. The land itself hasn't changed the game but certainly kept the bar raised.

Of course I'll withhold a proper review - should anyone be interested - until I've visited in person.

You don't deserve any flack.

I experienced Pandora for myself today and while the land is gorgeous, it's not worth the price tag. The boat ride is too short and Flight of Passage for me truly was a Soarin' 2.0. I think if the screen was more curved and the seating arrangement was in such a way where you couldn't easily see the other riders next to you, it would be more immersive. I didn't really have to move too much to see the people next to me or the entire system moving up and down while riding. I also saw the edges of the screen. Maybe sitting in the center of the seats changes that perception, but I was in seat 13 and clearly saw the ride system and screen edges. It reminded me of Back to the Future, where if you ended up in one of the corner rooms, your experience would be more warped and nowhere near as good as the centered cars.

I enjoyed the ride, but the way some people talked(including people in line in front of me who had already ridden), this was way better than Soarin', Everest, Spider-Man, and Forbidden Journey combined. It's not that at all. It's an obvious evolving of the Soarin' ride system with 3-D. Fun, but not a game changer.

Matterhorn is a game changer.
Tower of Terror is a game changer.
Spider-Man is a game changer.
Pooh's Hunny Hunt is a game changer.
Forbidden Journey is a game changer.

These attractions did something remarkable for ride systems and the industry.

I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but nothing has wowed me the way Hogsmeade and Forbidden Journey did when I first experienced it in 2010...Diagon Alley came close...that land is remarkable, but it's Star attraction(Gringotts) isn't as phenomenal as HPFJ.
I truly hope Super Nintendo Land or Star Wars Land can bring the wow factor.

 

[c-one]

I'm pretty sure CoP was an original idea but you don't see it's influence too often. How many circular moving theaters out there in theme parks.

Another would be Alien Encounter, such a great and original idea but it did not translate to other parks.

I was ranting in another thread about how much I hate Its Tough to be a Bug, but it does continue that legacy of physical effects in the dark, perhaps also with HISTA influence too. HISTA was the first 3D film I can think of that moved that genre into realistic-ish sensory assault but I'm not sure that was game changing.

 

[c-one]

Back to the Future. I believe it was the first massive size screen ride where the entire room (essentially) was the screen.

What outdoor night time show pioneered the use of "projection on buildings"? I can't think of a definitive first one... was it RoE? That concept is being used in a lot of places now at both Disney and Universal.

RoE was maybe the theme park basis for that concept, but the super advanced projection mapping tech we are seeing now evolved from outside the theme park industry. Still probably a game changer for night time shows though!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

But was it a game changer?

Disney used the technology for The Great Movie Ride (I assume), but it doesn't seem like it inspired any significant rethinking of designs for other attractions, at Disney or elsewhere. Seems like kind of a one-off. Unless you consider it the precursor to simulator rides like Star Tours?

There aren't a lot of direct copies, but you can definitely draw a direct line from UoE to GMR to ToT to Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Ratatouille and so on.

 

[ARoss]

Space mountain would be a big one for me, as it was the first roller coaster design assisted by a computer. Another would be Matterhorn for being the first with tubular steel tracks.

 

[jimbaker84]

I would class FoP as a game changer, hands down the best attraction in Orlando and completely removes you from reality for 3 minutes. The seat even breathes as if the guest is riding on a banshee. The level of refinement of the attraction is completely staggering.

 

[IanDLBZF]

FOP, Test Track, and TOT are all game changers to me.

 

[marni1971]

I would class FoP as a game changer, hands down the best attraction in Orlando and completely removes you from reality for 3 minutes. The seat even breathes as if the guest is riding on a banshee. The level of refinement of the attraction is completely staggering.

I discounted it since it offers nothing new. It just refined existing techniques and systems. But for the record I did enjoy it.

 

[celluloid]

It has been said for other reasons but I will Echo Back To The Future: The Ride.

Before then no one for sure was thinking Universal Studios Florida had what it took to compete as a mostly Theme Park against Disney at all or let alone a rushed Studio park that Disney was opening.
After Back to The Future: The Ride was completed it not only proved to be better than Disney's Star Tours(and made Steven Spielberg give a Thumbs up to the designers after walking out with George Lucas, who sort of hung his head in disbelief that Universal could group designers and create a better theme park attraction than he had with Disney.
Another point that should be made with Back to The Future, prior to that, there was never a movie ride or attraction before that where original main cast members reprised their roles. Ground breaking and would start a realistic tradition for both Universal and Disney who followed suit.

Another game changer I don't think is likely anyone else on here has stated.

Busch Gardens, Silver Springs and Lion Country Safari.
They paved the way for Animal Attractions as well as amusement and themed entertainment staples among the exhibits and the exhibits and post shows among the attractions. This would pave the way for Animal Kingdom and great advancements in the industry.

Lion Country and similar drive thru parks so much so that it became part of inspiration for Jurassic Park's aesthetics and concept within its story of being a drive thru park as the main attraction in its fictional theme park, which means Lion Country Safari's existence would eventually help literature, blockbuster film making and the real theme parks themselves.

 

[Bob Harlem]

I'd add Terminator 2:3-D for the way it combined high production value, immersive show and live actors in a way that hadn't done before (and really never to that degree since). FJ, Spiderman, BttF, Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror, Matterhorn, the Soarin hit it too, as well as Test Track. Outside of that, Timber Mountain at Knotts, which inspired Splash Mountain. (Although there were log flumes before it, it was really the first themed one at Knotts).

Flight of Passage is just a well refined combo of Soarin and Back to the Future's ideas, but nothing really new -- still very good.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Space Mountain at MK

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

I'd say Matterhorn, Tiki Room, Spider-Man, Hunny Hunt, Forbidden Journey, Indy, Radiator Springs Racers, and Tower Of Terror are game-changer rides. Hogsmede, Cars Land, and maybe Pandora are game-changer lands.

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

I would class FoP as a game changer, hands down the best attraction in Orlando and completely removes you from reality for 3 minutes. The seat even breathes as if the guest is riding on a banshee. The level of refinement of the attraction is completely staggering.

flight of passage is not a game changer

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

Game Changers are

Forbidden Journey
Pooh’s Hunny Hunt
Tower Of Terror
Indiana Jones
Radiator Springs
Spider-Man
Matterhorn
Tiki Room
Haunted Mansion

 

[kap91]

flight of passage is not a game changer

Flight of Passage is absolutely a game changer. Completely new level of simulator technology and immersive storytelling.

 

[larryz]

All the mentions of steel track and Matterhorn are salient, none of it would have been possible without the upstop, or under-friction wheel. Patented in 1919 by John Miller (who also invented the roll-back preventer), it gives modern coaster cars the ability to seemingly defy physics and gravity while scaring the carp out of us.

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

Flight of Passage is absolutely a game changer. Completely new level of simulator technology and immersive storytelling.

it’s really not. as others have said before, new. It just refined existing techniques and systems. It’s basically a Soarin’ 2.0. It is fun, it it’s not a game-changer. It has the same ride system as Soarin’, it’s a little more immersive but not new or original. Forbidden Journey, Matterhorn, and Hunny Hunt are game changers because they did something remarkable for ride systems and the industry as a whole.

 

[George]

This came up in another thread so I think it deserves it's own thread. What theme park elements, doesn't necessarily need to be rides, do you consider to be "game changers" in the theme park industry. I know this is a Disney discussion forum, and I am sure Disney has had it's share of game changers, but we don't need to limit it to Disney. For reference the dictionary definition of a game changer is:

"an event, idea, or procedure that effects a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something."

so this is not just about great attractions but things that changed the way things were done at theme parks.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin were a game changer for me because that wonderfully themed spinner made walking through Adventureland miserable.

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin were a game changer for me because that wonderfully themed spinner made walking through Adventureland miserable.

agreed, doesn’t it really distract from the land overall?