News Tron coaster coming to the Magic Kingdom

[RSoxNo1]

Even doing that with Kong didn’t temper expectations for that naff ride

Kong is a solid attraction, it was just on the heals of Potter. Fast and Furious on the other hand, is awful.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Anecdotal and unsubstantiated. You have no way of knowing how well the ops team will perform on a coaster opening at the earliest next year. Neither does Bob Chapek. No one does. The only logical assumption is that they can use previous lessons learned in Shanghai to improve ops on the new version. Just because you hate Florida does not mean that they will do worse.

Yeah, that's not the *only* logical assumption that can be made. It's entirely possible that a new team and a new audience will not have the same learning curve on a new attraction as the original did.

It may be bold to assume either way, but it's not like success is the only option.

 

[HauntedMansion513]

Universal doesn’t announce attractions well before they’re done with design work. They did something’s fast but they too are getting slower and more expensive. Bourne Stuntacular opened much later than originally announced.

Granted, I agree Bourne took too long... but let's not pretend there wasn't a delay because of the pandemic. Universal is still routinely building quicker than Disney. I love them both, but Universal is making huge strides lately, even with everything that has been going on, while Disney is getting lazy IMO.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Granted, I agree Bourne took too long... but let's not pretend there wasn't a delay because of the pandemic. Universal is still routinely building quicker than Disney. I love them both, but Universal is making huge strides lately, even with everything that has been going on, while Disney is getting lazy IMO.

Bourne was delayed by a year well before the pandemic. Again, Disney often announces projects just as design is really getting started and Universal after construction is well underway.

 

[HauntedMansion513]

Bourne was delayed by a year well before the pandemic. Again, Disney often announces projects just as design is really getting started and Universal after construction is well underway.

Fair point. Bourne took way too long, but other than that, I can't think of another attraction that was unnecessarily delayed at Uni. Opened too soon though.... that's another story (Hagrid).

 

[Jrb1979]

Bourne was delayed by a year well before the pandemic. Again, Disney often announces projects just as design is really getting started and Universal after construction is well underway.

Honestly I think it works against them way more then it helps them. It would make more sense to follow the Universal route when announcing new attractions. IMO what hurts them the most is how a lot of the time the design they release never ends up being that way.

 

[marni1971]

Honestly I think it works against them way more then it helps them. It would make more sense to follow the Universal route when announcing new attractions. IMO what hurts them the most is how a lot of the time the design they release never ends up being that way.

Even in the early days of social media, remember the Bay Lake Tower?

 

[trainplane3]

Even in the early days of social media, remember the Bay Lake Tower?

What's that building?
Disney - Nothing.
It's a DVC tower for the Contemporary, isn't it?
Disney - Nope.
Then what is it?
Disney - Nothing. There's nothing there.
Then why's there a crane and trucks at the site?
Disney - They aren't there. Again, we're not building anything.

Wasn't there a reason why couldn't announce it as early as they normally do? Something to do with timeshare laws?

 

[Jrb1979]

Even in the early days of social media, remember the Bay Lake Tower?

Look at the original concept for Animal Kingdom. They released all these designs for what was planned and a lot got cut.

 

[marni1971]

Look at the original concept for Animal Kingdom. They released all these designs for what was planned and a lot got cut.

Oh I know, I have them all. In all fairness the publicity machine didn’t release that much that was cut. Joe public didn’t know much about Beastly or Tiger River. I don’t even think they have Excavator a name (that was labelled as an early park design)

We can go back decades and see things cut for various reasons. As you may know it’s a little hobby of mine. Even if those cuts come just weeks before starting.

 

[lazyboy97o]

What's that building?
Disney - Nothing.
It's a DVC tower for the Contemporary, isn't it?
Disney - Nope.
Then what is it?
Disney - Nothing. There's nothing there.
Then why's there a crane and trucks at the site?
Disney - They aren't there. Again, we're not building anything.

Wasn't there a reason why couldn't announce it as early as they normally do? Something to do with timeshare laws?

The story is that it has to do with timeshare laws but I’ve never seen (or sought out) the specific law or regulation.

I do though recall sharing a front cab monorail ride with a couple of other visitors and they asked about the 10+ stories of steel frame and the pilot just sighed “Yeah... I have to say it’s nothing.”

 

[Incomudro]

Oh I know, I have them all. In all fairness the publicity machine didn’t release that much that was cut. Joe public didn’t know much about Beastly or Tiger River. I don’t even think they have Excavator a name (that was labelled as an early park design)

We can go back decades and see things cut for various reasons. As you may know it’s a little hobby of mine. Even if those cuts come just weeks before starting.

Yes, it's always happened but we didn't have as much access to the process as we do now.

 

[CastAStone]

What's that building?
Disney - Nothing.
It's a DVC tower for the Contemporary, isn't it?
Disney - Nope.
Then what is it?
Disney - Nothing. There's nothing there.
Then why's there a crane and trucks at the site?
Disney - They aren't there. Again, we're not building anything.

Wasn't there a reason why couldn't announce it as early as they normally do? Something to do with timeshare laws?

My understanding is that in 2007 and 2008 they we’re trying to sell AKV and SSR - both gigantic resorts - and didn’t want people to know that a DVC right next to MK was coming, for fear that they’d be stuck with SSR and AKV points forever, and the worst thing that can happen to a timeshare company is that your project doesn’t sell out on time.

Then they built Aulani.

 

[marni1971]

My understanding is that in 2007 and 2008 they we’re trying to sell AKV and SSR - both gigantic resorts - and didn’t want people to know that a DVC right next to MK was coming, for fear that they’d be stuck with SSR and AKV points forever, and the worst thing that can happen to a timeshare company is that your project doesn’t sell out on time.

They certainly denied it. Even if it was several floors high, in plain sight, and anyone with an internet connection knew what it was.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Oh I know, I have them all. In all fairness the publicity machine didn’t release that much that was cut. Joe public didn’t know much about Beastly or Tiger River. I don’t even think they have Excavator a name (that was labelled as an early park design)

We can go back decades and see things cut for various reasons. As you may know it’s a little hobby of mine. Even if those cuts come just weeks before starting.

Tiger River was definitely included in the Making of Animal Kingdom book that was available for sale on opening day. The book was also written by Melody Malmberg (Joe Rohde's wife). I'm pretty sure it included discussions on mythical lands but I don't believe the Excavator was established at that point.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Tiger River Run was also mentioned in one of the guidebooks... I think Burnbaum.

 

[CastAStone]

They certainly denied it. Even if it was several floors high, in plain sight, and anyone with an internet connection knew what it was.

If DVC direct buyers did research there wouldn’t be half as much DVC.

 

[Giss Neric]

Tron is taking forever at WDW, despite that it's a cloned attraction.

And Ratatouille, another cloned attraction, could've opened in EPCOT months ago, but it won't open till October.

Is it just me, or does Universal open its attractions more quickly & intelligently than Disney does?

(I'm just referring to Disney's American resorts, though Disneyland Paris took way too long to refurb Phantom Manor
a few years ago.)

When Disney opened Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland, it lacked features that "Slow Bob" had boasted about that fans then expected. Fans were later disappointed when they weren't delivered.

Universal, in contrast, seemed to almost deny that the potentially cool raptor coaster at Universal Orlando was even being built (wink wink nudge nudge) despite that there were big freakin' coaster hills guests could see.

If I hear reports that WDW is phoning it in, cutting more perks, and not addressing
miserable over-crowding, inconvenience, & overpricing,**
for examples:

-- restaurant reservations SIX months in advance?! (PLEASE, DO NOT BRING THAT BACK!) That makes planning a trip to Disney World much more onerous in my opinion that visiting Europe.

-- Ride reservations three months in advance?!

-- Resort parking fees,

--$10 per person restaurant cancellation fees,

--slow & insufficient busses making more stops than a bus crossing downtown Detroit,

--no more Magical Express, etc.

then I'll put off my next Florida visit till 2024 through 2028
and it will be mainly to visit Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, and maybe spend 3 nights at WDW.


** Footnote! Correct, if guests are willing to pay any shocking price that Disney charges, one could argue that it is by definition not overpriced IN THE SHORT RUN. But charging as much as possible for many things could hurt the brand in the long run.

You might want to watch this panel.


I purposely put in the time where they discussed how Disney and Universal differs in how they approach/build stuff., but you can watch the whole thing as it's fascinating. Disney is very aware of Universal's speed when building. Scott's reasoning was Disney is such a large organization with lots of branches that it hinders their decision making and it affects how they respond to certain decisions.

Also, it's funny how Joe is so well spoken and smart that I feel bad for Thierry and Scott speaking after him.

 

[owlsandcoffee]

You might want to watch this panel.


I purposely put in the time where they discussed how Disney and Universal differs in how they approach/build stuff., but you can watch the whole thing as it's fascinating. Disney is very aware of Universal's speed when building. Scott's reasoning was Disney is such a large organization with lots of branches that it hinders their decision making and it affects how they respond to certain decisions.

Also, it's funny how Joe is so well spoken and smart that I feel bad for Thierry and Scott speaking after him.

I don't think I'm gonna blow any minds here but Joe really is a genius.

 

[marni1971]

Tiger River was definitely included in the Making of Animal Kingdom book that was available for sale on opening day. The book was also written by Melody Malmberg (Joe Rohde's wife). I'm pretty sure it included discussions on mythical lands but I don't believe the Excavator was established at that point.

That it does, by name. But the following description is Kali. The well published boneyard/ Excavator art is also included without description. Both same for the preview book. Neither describe the longer version of the raft ride.

We could talk about the 1972 WDW guide that talks about Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Western River as coming soon. Or Spain, Russia, Africa etc.