TTA Refurbishment on schedule?

[sweetpee_1993]

I wonder if the trains still slam into each other.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

thats only fun when you know to expect it

Yep. Bumper TTA trains (vs. bumper cars). Fun. And safe!

 

[huntzilla]

Okay, so the positives:

1. The TTA is open again, and has been hit with a fresh coat of paint.
2. The most important scene to the story of the TTA and Tomorrowland '94 is still intact. The show scene with the little robot riding the rocket ship, that features the TTA "red line" and "green line", is still there.
3. Walt's Progress City model may have received a nice dusting, but I don't have that confirmed.
4. Addition by subtraction- I know @rct247 said that they were having audio issues, but I'm not sure that is the case. Watching the video, there is a very poignant "cut" of audio when the TTA vehicle passes by the Carousel of Progress. It seems like they may have cut certain sections of the audio. This would actually be an improvement, as the new narration is awful, if they cut some of the most egregious sections, like the "four families" line.

Overall though, this refurbishment is a bust. I know most said not to expect any significant changes for the TTA, but they also said that back in 2007, and look what that got us. A $25 million dollar lighting package that literally cannot work and a dumbing down of narration and story of Tomorrowland.

The current, new paint scheme is visually repulsive. The now, red legs that are at the TTA loading area aren't completely offensive, they just don't fit with the overarching blue's and white's defining the attraction. However, the escalator looks like a 3rd shift worker threw-up all over it. It just doesn't work at all. It's strange too that they good go with orange, when they decidedly changed the color of the Space Mountain marque during its 2007 refurb, from orange to green. Again, I know @rct247 said this is the beginning a 5-6 repaint of Tomorrowland, but did anyone really have a problem with the color of Tomorrowland? With all the problems that the land has, one of the few redeeming qualities is how beautiful the 20-year-old re-theming still looks at night.

Most importantly, this was a chance to bring back the old, beloved narration. Granted, the narration had been changed and altered since it's 1994 debut, but it still worked and still kept to the theme and backstory of Tomorrowland. This was an opportunity to change the narration back to what everybody still wants, and that doesn't seem to be the case. Even if they wanted to re-record the classic for cheap, Pete Renaday, is still out there, and doesn't charge a high rate for his voice work.

The last hope I have for this refurb is what will happen over the next few weeks. The Astro Orbiter is still being rebuilt, and work is actively being done in that area. In 2007, when the TTA reopened from its several month refurb, it still had the original narration for about three weeks. Space Mountain was still being worked and didn't open until November. I hope that there could be a similar situation here, where we are hearing apparent show quality cuts to the narration, as a placeholder for a new narration or remaster of the original.

 

[Wikkler]

I seem to be one of the few people on here that actually like the paint scheme.
Wow. You people seem to think even repainting something vibrant colors is awful. I don't like the Innoventions Plaza color scheme, so I understand the hate on that, but this?

 

[Wikkler]

Oh, I get it. It's not the classic whites and blues. Well, it actually helps tie together the two sections of Tomorrowland.

 

[note2001]

I personally don't care if they paint it puke green. When my eyes are closed taking a few Zs, it all looks the same to me.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Love the red and yellow accents, not sold on the orange. I'm just jealous your peoplemover works, I have a DL AP and I can't help but wish they'd bring their peoplemover back to life every time I walk into Tomorrowland. I know it would require a complete rebuild at DL so it is about as likely as me hitting the lottery but the TTA offers such a great view and is such an amazing break for sore feet that it's one of my favorite WDW only rides, I probably rode it a half dozen times during my WDW vacation last year.

 

[TubaGeek]

God, how depressing that we have nothing to talk about but a bad paint job. They didn't even fix the bumping cars.

 

[rct247]

I'd agree. The refurb was an overall bust. It did fix some structural issues, but even those are not completely fixed as water was dripping through a speaker when I rode yesterday. That's the type of stuff that probably caused the need for a refurb.

According to my friends in Tomorrowland, TTA is still limping along as it was prior to it's refurb. Day 1 saw lots of downtime and exit ramp issues. Apparently, there was more downtimes, evacs, and the exit ramp was off all day.

The rest of the ride still is having audio issues which again are not planned in any way. It is broke. The track and show scenes untouched and dirty. People think the ride is smoother, but I'm not sure how because no work was done on the track.

Trains are still bumping too.

I hate to say it, but TTA needs another month of refurbishing. Don't even get me started again on the paint scheme.

 

[marni1971]

Brilliant.

 

[MinnieM123]

The TTA has always been such a pleasant ride. The previous, softer color tones for the ride's queueing area, created a more relaxing atmosphere. At least for me, that subtle effect helped to set it apart, from all the fast-paced action below in Tomorrowland. It is for that reason, that I prefer the older color scheme.

 

[PirateFrank]

Yikes -- talk about all the wrong colors in all the wrong spots. Hideous! I'm not sure what else was done for this refurb, but between this and the epcot future-world external paint.....they need to fire the moron in WDI coming up with these colors.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Of course they would botch the refurbishment. Of course they would. I should have known not to get my hopes up for a WDW refurbishment to actually accomplish much of anything at all. We all clamor for them to refurbish the attractions, but what's the point if they almost consistently turn re-open with almost all the same problems as before and sometimes more? Why even schedule extended refurbishments? If you're going to make the ride unavailable for that long then why not take the opportunity to fix as much as possible?

 

[Communicore]

The orange screams Tomorrowland Terrace! I love it!

 

[xstech25]

I think people are really over reacting on the condition of the ride. I go on it every time i'm there (and I ride it a lot when i'm there) and have never noticed anything "wrong" with it. Sure some of the scenes are a bit dated and corny, but I never noticed them being dirty or broken, at least that I could tell. I've also never heard anyone say anything like that about the Peoplemover other than this forum.

Also it's perfectly normal when a ride goes up from rehab for it to be less reliable for the first week or so. Anybody who has worked at a seasonal park will tell you that rides are always more unreliable at the start of the year, you never know how they're going react when you fire them up again after they've been sitting there for so long. They probably could have kept the ride closed a few days longer for testing though, i'm sure they didnt want to extend 2 rehabs (Tough to be a Bug).

 

[DisneyJunkie]

I don't mind some bold color here and there, but painting red and orange in close proximity to each other is just gauche.

 

[Tom Morrow]

^ ^ They didn't bother to clean the track or mold along it or make the vehicles look nice, or fix the lighting.

If they don't make the ride as "like new" as possible, then what's the point of extended refurbishments?

 

[rioriz]

WDW has been on a roll with refurbs as of late but this one screams of laziness. I hope the Astro orbitor is given more care

 

[Gabe1]

Okay, so the positives:

1. The TTA is open again, and has been hit with a fresh coat of paint.
2. The most important scene to the story of the TTA and Tomorrowland '94 is still intact. The show scene with the little robot riding the rocket ship, that features the TTA "red line" and "green line", is still there.
3. Walt's Progress City model may have received a nice dusting, but I don't have that confirmed.
4. Addition by subtraction- I know @rct247 said that they were having audio issues, but I'm not sure that is the case. Watching the video, there is a very poignant "cut" of audio when the TTA vehicle passes by the Carousel of Progress. It seems like they may have cut certain sections of the audio. This would actually be an improvement, as the new narration is awful, if they cut some of the most egregious sections, like the "four families" line.

Overall though, this refurbishment is a bust. I know most said not to expect any significant changes for the TTA, but they also said that back in 2007, and look what that got us. A $25 million dollar lighting package that literally cannot work and a dumbing down of narration and story of Tomorrowland.

The current, new paint scheme is visually repulsive. The now, red legs that are at the TTA loading area aren't completely offensive, they just don't fit with the overarching blue's and white's defining the attraction. However, the escalator looks like a 3rd shift worker threw-up all over it. It just doesn't work at all. It's strange too that they good go with orange, when they decidedly changed the color of the Space Mountain marque during its 2007 refurb, from orange to green. Again, I know @rct247 said this is the beginning a 5-6 repaint of Tomorrowland, but did anyone really have a problem with the color of Tomorrowland? With all the problems that the land has, one of the few redeeming qualities is how beautiful the 20-year-old re-theming still looks at night.

Most importantly, this was a chance to bring back the old, beloved narration. Granted, the narration had been changed and altered since it's 1994 debut, but it still worked and still kept to the theme and backstory of Tomorrowland. This was an opportunity to change the narration back to what everybody still wants, and that doesn't seem to be the case. Even if they wanted to re-record the classic for cheap, Pete Renaday, is still out there, and doesn't charge a high rate for his voice work.

The last hope I have for this refurb is what will happen over the next few weeks. The Astro Orbiter is still being rebuilt, and work is actively being done in that area. In 2007, when the TTA reopened from its several month refurb, it still had the original narration for about three weeks. Space Mountain was still being worked and didn't open until November. I hope that there could be a similar situation here, where we are hearing apparent show quality cuts to the narration, as a placeholder for a new narration or remaster of the original.

Putting on my cynical hat I offer up two possibilities to your monolog:

1. The new paint scheme could likely be just the first and the beginning for the overall change in color to Tomorrowland. Think Future World, the new paint scheme appeared in just one section and then imploded in subsequent months.

2. The "very poignant "cut" of audio when the TTA vehicle passes by the Carousel of Progress" might not be editing of a poor narration. The cut maybe a deliberate gap by Disney for the CoP. Remember how the narration was altered on the Epcot monorail loop through Future World??? History repeated itself 3 times with the deletion of narration for Wonders of Life, Horizons, and World of Motion as they ceased to exist.

 

[NJL]

So happy it's back open, i'm gonna be there in 2 days.