Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Only sharing my opinion of what we've heard/seen so far. I leave prognosticating to the groundhogs.
Punxsutawney Phil is actually a distant relative of Mahalia the Beaver!
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News Tiana's Bayou Adventure - latest details and construction progress
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Punxsutawney Phil is actually a distant relative of Mahalia the Beaver!
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Actually, you're Exhibit A.Only sharing my opinion of what we've heard/seen so far. I leave prognosticating to the groundhogs.
Punxsutawney Phil is actually a distant relative of Mahalia the Beaver!
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
The Book Report is bad thing really took off in the last few years. The term definitely has a negative connotation and I think some of that stems from a Tony Baxter interview where he called Little Mermaid a book report ride. Book report rides aren’t inherently bad. It comes down to execution. Like you said Pan is good. TLM is bad. One we feel like we are part of the adventure. The other we are watching the highlights of the movie on a moving vehicle. Moving around every set and never through any which just reinforces the feeling that we are only watching a movie. We're not really there.
Would TBA be a guaranteed hit if they followed the source material more closely? No. Does the source material have all the right ingredients to make for a fun, rich and well rounded attraction? Yes. Much more so than what it seems we’re getting with TBA and much more than anything based on Frozen. Which I don’t think is great source material for a ride. Especially if you go the route they went in Tokyo.
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Drew the Disney Dude
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
TONS of additional flora being installed right now out front.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
Including, it seems, along the grassy fence in front of the drop? Am I seeing that right?
Wait!!! It wasn't finished!!!??!?
I just finished writing my ten page review!!!
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Looks like it, was hoping that wasn't finished yet. Didn't look like it was.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
As was I. It looked rather too wall-like before.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
Wonderful and underrated little song!
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I thought this opened months ago.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
The issue may be D/E ticket book reports vs. a C ticket book report. Peter Pan is short and essentially just a collection of scenes from the film; while I understand why people call it a book report (although I'm not sure I agree), there's not really a story to follow if you aren't already familiar with the material. Frozen Journey, on the other hand, is apparently trying to retell the full plot of the movie from A to Z.
The former approach feels like it works much better than the latter for an attraction.
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Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
It’s definitely much less of a book report than Frozen at Tokyo. That might be the new poster child for Book Report rides.
SilentWindODoom
Well-Known Member
People dislike book report rides? But they can be so charming. Honestly, I'd love if this ride was a book report. As I mention below, I love the soundtrack and EVERYONE has talked about how great it would be to see Facilier. Unfortunately, it's not possible. With the stupid bad-faith complaints about the whole frog thing, they could never do it without pulling the old Snow White's Adventures trick, and then those same people would complain about taking the black princess out of her own ride.
In the end, I would love nothing more than to have all those things, but I understand that the circumstances don't allow it, so I don't ask for the impossible. And I don't hold the impossible against what we're getting, which looks like it can be wonderful in its own right. That's not specifically a response to you, but an overall declaration of my stance on the whole project and the things we see. Why I'm not a negative mancy.
Mermaid doesn't fail to me because of the book report nature *or* the journey past the story rather than through as you suggest. It's the cheapness of it all. So many fish figures with no motion whatsover. The moving figures being moved with clearly-visible large pieces of plastic. The drummer being at eye-level rather than above or any angle that would make it look halfway like he's anywhere near touching the drums. The clear repeat of the figures from Under the Sea in the end above the surface. It was the first dark ride in what felt like forever with a huge facade in a legendary spot, and what we got was so underwhelming in so many ways, even with the couple impressive animatronics that keep breaking.
I will say, though, that the shoving of the entire climax into a TINY vignette really kills it. One additional scene depicting the sea battle between this and Kiss the Girl would really make the whole thing feel less rushed and paltry.
Is it underrated? That makes me sad. The original Beauty and the Beast soundtrack may be the best in animated canon. It definitely has a 100% hit rate. I was surprised at the talk of the Princess and the Frog soundtrack earlier, as I consider it the best since 1993. Frozen and Moana had some great hits, but don't have quite the same consistency and variety.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I suppose I meant it isn’t played much. I can’t recall ever hearing it in the parks, though it was part of the playlist while on hold to shopDisney (perhaps they’ve kept it since their rebranding). Another great song that feels underappreciated to me is “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)”. With any luck, it’ll be one of the new numbers performed by the Country Bears.
SilentWindODoom
Well-Known Member
In that respect, I can see it. It's not a showstopper. It's sort of transitional. But it is absolutely great.
Drew the Disney Dude
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Photos from earlier this afternoon. As I shared earlier, tons of final touches are being done with the flora outside, and in the queue. After that, it's done and ready to be revealed to the world. I was going to go back tonight to get more videos, but it's way too hot outside. I know I'll be there multiple days next week, so more updates to come.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
I'd say that Mermaid is a dud because of its lack of integration.
For a simple spook-show style darkride like we see in Fantasyland, we ride past scenes pretty quickly, only getting a second or two to understand what is going on. This makes big bold choices key because guests don't have a ton of time to explore scenes. Omnimover attractions move a bit slower and the focus they give to scenes through orientation makes it demanding of more complex scenes. More detailed scenes, more dynamic effects and show scenes. This is where want to feel integrated more into the story, pass through the story rather than on the fringes of it.
By result, Mermaid feels little. The scenes seem smaller, the tone more one-note (this was a preview of where they were heading with Frozen Ever After), and the figures too static and plasticky to be started at for so long. That and a terrible finale.
As for Pan, I would say that the successful portion of the ride is that it isn't a book report ride. It spends almost half the ride-time just soaring above London and Neverland. I think if they had just kept with the idea of flying over and around vistas, it would be far more successful. For myself at least. Once we pass Tiger Lilly, the ride is all downhill and dull for me.
