Bairstow
Well-Known Member
Space Mountain's "SMTV" was a great example of this concept done right. I thought the video loop was pretty funny and had some really interesting old sci-fi schlock clips that I haven't seen anywhere else. Wish they would bring that back.
I'm not sure why people are using Universal's use of TVs in the lines as a negative example. Overall, Islands of Adventure has better queues than Disney, if only because they all were designed after Disney perfected the queue in the early 90's with things like Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones at Disneyland.
Let's take a look at a couple of examples of IOA's use of TV's in the queue:
1. Jurassic Park: Great use of TVs showing a dedicated loop. It's basically a parody of the kinds of in-resort TV programming you see at Disney Resorts, basically playing up the idea that Jurassic Park is a real place and you're in it. I'm especially happy that we get to see Richard Attinborough as John Hammond again.
2. Dr. Droom's FearFall: Maybe my favorite queue video loop anywhere. It's a 20-minute long loop of all-original animation of Dr. Doom that explains who the character is, what the ride is supposed to be, AND gives us our safety spiel in the most twisted manner possible. Honestly, the faux-propaganda "cartoon within a cartoon" film starring an unfortunate blue-haired Latvarian named Leopold is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in a ride queue.
OH! And to top it all off the whole thing is played on a giant screen turned on its side, so it has an unsettling 3x5 perspective that forces you to look up, further heightening your sense of fear. This is probably the biggest pre-show themeing ever given to a piddly 30-second ride ever.
3. The Hulk: Ok, THIS you Disney fans can use as a negative example. It's an annoying, maddeningly under-produced combination of dated '90s animation, dated '90s techno, and dated '90s CGI that looks kind of like a WinAmp visualization plugin I had... back in the '90s. The pounding techno music and flashing colors reminded me more of a six flags queue than anything else, and put me in a pretty bad mood before I got on the ride.
Also, a note to the OP, when I was at Six Flags over Georgia this summer, enjoying Goliath, DareDevilDive, and Mindbender, all the TVs I saw were only playing a short, hour-long loop of "Six Flags TV." which was mostly a collection of advertisements for tater tots and short previews for upcoming Warner Brothers entertainment properties. There was no actual ball game broadcasts or MTV, other than some awful music videos from some insipid tween artists. The worst thing about it was how short the loop was. I was at the park all day, and being that I spent almost the whole time in line for things I probably saw everything in the loop about 4 times. This is just laziness on their part. Don't they realize how long the average guest is going to spend in line for their coasters and they can't be bothered to produce a full-day's programming of crap they already own the IP to anyway? I mean, there's that new Looney Tunes show on Cartoon Network I've been wanting to see, why not show more than 30 seconds of that at one time?
Aggravating.
Anyway, this post has become a novel, but I think I share the same opinion with almost everyone else: A well-designed queue will interface with the theme of the attraction itself to the point that you don't need to be distracted by non-related videos. If videos can be integrated into the queue in such a way as to enhance the themeing, fine. If not, don't.
