Why are carnival rides disliked?

[Californian Elitist]

Some of you are ridiculous. "I don't go to Disney to ride carnival rides." "I didn't spend a hundred dollars to ride carnival rides." Yes, you do. Yes, you did. Disneyland opened with carnival rides, like Dumbo, the dark rides, Mad Tea Party and the Carousel. All of these types of attractions are currently in Disney parks.

 

[Cesar R M]

Some of you are ridiculous. "I don't go to Disney to ride carnival rides." "I didn't spend a hundred dollars to ride carnival rides." Yes, you do. Yes, you did. Disneyland opened with carnival rides, like Dumbo, the dark rides, Mad Tea Party and the Carousel. All of these types of attractions are currently in Disney parks.

Carnivals do have castles? characters? meet and greets? restaurants with characters? showcases? completely themed zones?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I love carnival rides, BTW. Spinners, swings, the classic wooden coaster, carousels. Yes.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Carnivals do have castles? characters? meet and greets? restaurants with characters? showcases? completely themed zones?

What do these things have to do with what I said? My point was carnival rides are at Disney parks. I didn't mention castles, themes, characters, restaurants, meet and greets and showcases.

 

[Cesar R M]

What do these things have to do with what I said? My point was carnival rides are at Disney parks. I didn't mention castles, themes, characters, restaurants, meet and greets and showcases.

way to miss the point. :|

anyway to resume.. if I wanted to ride carnival rides, I would have gone to a local carnival and ride their rides...
Disney is way beyond that by much..regardless if Disney has a few "carnival rides".
I go to Disney for the full whole experience, not just the sole rides.

 

[Gabe1]

Why is it that carnival-type rides at any Disney park are always looked down on by the people here at this forum? Why is it these people think that such rides are (or should be) beneath Disney's standards and thus should never be done?

I look at it this way, carnival rides have been notoriously unsafe and difficult to maintain.

I never cared for the look of Primeval Whirl nor did I enjoy the ride the only time I rode it. But worse it has cost 2 cast members their life's with 2 separate accidents, 2 separate issues.

 

[Californian Elitist]

way to miss the point. :|

anyway to resume.. if I wanted to ride carnival rides, I would have gone to a local carnival and ride their rides...
Disney is way beyond that by much..regardless if Disney has a few "carnival rides".
I go to Disney for the full whole experience, not just the sole rides.

You actually missed my point, but okay.

 

[Cesar R M]

You actually missed my point, but okay.

sure ok.

 

[Gabe1]

I would have said that "just sayin" or "Keep Calm and ___" were more overused, but that's just me.....

Indeed. The Keep Calm phrase is obnoxious.

For a $100 a day, I find it that be a legitimate argument. Consumers should have an expectation for quality when reaching the highest bar of cost in any given industry. Disney is definitely at the higher end of cost for consumers in the themepark and amusement park arena, so it is fitting to use the phrase for a $100 a day........

 

[LucyK]

I must be in the minority that don't really care and ride and like those carnival-type rides. They are fun and something else to do.

 

[Californian Elitist]

sure ok.

You can roll your gif eyes if you want, but you really did miss my point. Some people were making it seem like carnival rides don't exist at Disney parks, which they do. That was my point, and you missed it.

 

[Tom Morrow]

There's nothing wrong with them if they are used sparingly. Adding the Magic Carpets of Aladdin to the MK when it already had Dumbo and Astro Orbiter was pointless. And of course, DinoRama in DAK is just tacky.

When used correctly, they're great, like in Paradise Pier at DCA.

 

[EricJ]

Not necessarily in each of our hometowns. My hometown has never and probably never will put on one of these county fairs.

I'm in a college town near a farming area, and we've got three of those County Fairs every summer. (In addition to the State fair fifteen minutes away every fall.) More for good ol' genuine livestock judging than for rides, but those cheap itinerant traveling-trailer rides are just plain scary to LOOK at.

There's nothing wrong with them if they are used sparingly. Adding the Magic Carpets of Aladdin to the MK when it already had Dumbo and Astro Orbiter was pointless. And of course, DinoRama in DAK is just tacky.

Although to be fair, this was back in the pre-Circus days, when getting onto the one Dumbo ride was the parent-with-kids equivalent of the Frozen line.
If you had a preschooler on their first trip, you had to get in that Dumbo line, and that left a lot of folks who just wanted to go on the ride for the heck of it with nowhere to go.
(And FWIW, I always preferred the Carpets, since you didn't feel you were going to fall out of the darn thing, as with Orbiter and Dumbo.)

When used correctly, they're great, like in Paradise Pier at DCA.

And when they had a theme, like in Paradise Pier. As opposed to an excuse, as in Dinoland USA.
It's when they didn't that got all the old angry-fans (from the Eisner/Pressler years) holding their grudges, and the new kids, who don't get the idea from the beginning.

 

[Gabe1]

I must be in the minority that don't really care and ride and like those carnival-type rides. They are fun and something else to do.

You bring up a valid point in your post. Something else to do.

Barnstormer, Whirl, Carpets and Tops were hastily added because of the general lack of attractions in an area of those parks. Disney returned to a relatively cheap solution that was used in Fantasyland early on. Put in carnival rides when you do not wish to build or fund attractions. Dumbo and the Carousel were classed up carnival rides, still are, but a practice Disney deliberately got away from when building the Studios, Epcot and AK.

I am surprised On the Cheap eek'd back into the mix over sound imagineering practices Disney had risen to for decades in Florida. Quick, cheap-o fixes come in many forms to WDW from time to time, the entertainment attempts in Tomorrowland over the last decade have been pretty mind numbing too along with the clowns added as fillers to Storybook Circus. While some of Carnival rides are age appropriately fun it is difficult to argue that the carnival rides are not out of their element in Disney Parks worldwide.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I'm sorry, but, the original Disneyland had massive numbers of carnival rides. The Carousel, Dumbo, Mr. Toad and even the Wild West rides could be found at roadside parks all over the country. Yes, they were themed to a degree (not Carousel), Dumbo was an Elephant with big ears instead of a make-believe airplane and Mr. Toad was and still is a fun house ride. It was the creation of the Omni-mover that changed all that. What is Splash Mountain but a carnival log ride with scenery? What about the rockets in Tomorrowland?

My point is most of the rides in Disney are basically carnival rides. Ironically, the ones that aren't are the ones that people keep asking to be removed. Tiki, CoP, Country Bears to name a few. Dinoland, is as themed as any of the other rides, it's just that as a group we don't relate to them much. In fact, an argument can be made that it is more themed then most. Has a backstory and everything. One of the most maligned attractions was "Sounds Dangerous" which was one of the best, most graphic demonstrations of how sound effects play an important role in movies and entertainment. Yet, everyone got caught up in the idea that all they could do was hear it. The concept went directly over their heads, to bad, it had a lot to offer if anyone would have had the ability to understand the purpose. I honest to god understand why Disney has lost the desire to create something different. Why waste it on the clientele of today as they plead to not have to exercise their imagination.

 

[RandomPrincess]

I When you walk into Dinoland USA at AK it is like you entered a whole other park and left Disney property all together. The theming is atrocious and looks like it is right out of the local county fairs that get put on each year in each of our home towns. .

That area of Dinoland is supposed to look like an old tacky Route 66 roadside attraction.

 

[ZodIsGr8]

That area of Dinoland is supposed to look like an old tacky Route 66 roadside attraction.

Mission accomplished then and thank you for reading my reply.

 

[bubbles1812]

Why is it that carnival-type rides at any Disney park are always looked down on by the people here at this forum? Why is it these people think that such rides are (or should be) beneath Disney's standards and thus should never be done?

I don't mind the "carnival type" rides at Disney, though you are never going to convince me that the Dino-rama area isn't ugly.... But they are fine, and fun, and serve a purpose. As long as they aren't put up everywhere (then I do have problems), it's aok with me. Now if you want to talk about actual carnival rides, I always feel like those are one dislodged rusty bolt away from a collapse, and thus, they scare the shi* out of me. Disney's rides do not make me feel that way... Well except for Captain EO, but that's for a myriad of other reasons

 

[ZodIsGr8]

Some of you are ridiculous. "I don't go to Disney to ride carnival rides." "I didn't spend a hundred dollars to ride carnival rides." Yes, you do. Yes, you did. Disneyland opened with carnival rides, like Dumbo, the dark rides, Mad Tea Party and the Carousel. All of these types of attractions are currently in Disney parks.

Raven you make a great point but I think most of us think of the dark rides as classic Disney attractions plus they have the element of Disney characters. When I see Dinoland USA at AK it has nothing to do with Disney at all and it just looks cheesy. The worst thing to me Raven is the fact that they charge you to play those games once you get in. I also think we have come to expect a lot more from Disney than what was put in that area ok AK. At any rate I really enjoy reading all of your posts as you always add interesting bits of information.

 

[bethymouse]

I am assuming we're talking about Primeval Whirl? It's not that bad. It's something to do. I do understand what you're saying though that Disney is held to a higher standard. I also love DCA wheel and other "carnival type" rides. It's all in how you look at it.