Concept Art For Midway Mania

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Can we start hating Lasseter now? He was supposed to save this one.

I'm having a bit of a problem hating someone who does something like this.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

ism: they're wrong. it is lame. well, not so much lame, just ... semi-lame. but you should see for yourself - i was wholly unimpressed by ioa so you probably don't want to be in my "stick-in-the-mud" camp. lolz

Visible Alex Mojo! It must've been hard for you to type like that. Heh.

Seriously Alex, stick in the mud aside - everyone else in the world thinks that ride is among the top 3 on the planet. Why should we believe you? Having never ridden it, it totally intrigues me that you sould way it was semi-lame. I think you're around just to be the 5th dentist that doesn't recommend Crest. There always has to be some dissent.

[Alex]

Could be, and I'll admit that it might just be a product of me not generally enjoying my day at Islands of Adventure. Maybe on a different day in a different mood I would have sploojed all over the ride vehicle at my amazement.

You shouldn't believe me, that's why I told iSm he should definitely see it for himself.

Movie based motion simulator rides (and this is just a complex one), just don't appeal to me. They don't appeal to me at the mall, they don't appeal to me in Tomorrowland, one didn't appeal to me at Islands of Adventure.

It is already hard enough for a ride to "thrill" me with things that are really there. Shaking the car while a projected image of Spider-Man lands on the hood just doesn't do anything for me. It is part of the reason roller coasters don't excite me, I never feel like I'm at real risk and without that, falling is boring. Going fast, but in an entirely controlled environment, is boring.

Other people, obviously, have a easier time getting into the excitement of such things


lolz

[innerSpaceman]

Oh pulease, I bow to the master of curmudgeonality, in whose wake I am but a grumpy pepple of disipledom. I doubt I will ever obtain Alex's stature, no matter how many times I say the magic word, "Bah."

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

I'm having a bit of a problem hating someone who does something like this.

Yes, very very class act. I am impressed, and moved.

(But he still needs to get his head out of his ass about DCA.)



And, hmmm, I was gonna download a ride-thru video of Spider-Man, but if there's a cheap trip to Florida in my future ... I guess I'll just wait and see which camp I'm in.

(I'm generally a fan of theme park rides, so I've a feeling I'll like it. Whether I will be blown-away impressed is yet to be seen. But I won't be curmudgeonly just for the sake of it.)

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

And, hmmm, I was gonna download a ride-thru video of Spider-Man, but if there's a cheap trip to Florida in my future ... I guess I'll just wait and see which camp I'm in.

To be honest, a ridethrough is not going to give you the full in-your-face ride you get with the 3D. It really is a jaw-dropping ride.

[NirvanaMan]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

(I'm generally a fan of theme park rides, so I've a feeling I'll like it. Whether I will be blown-away impressed is yet to be seen. But I won't be curmudgeonly just for the sake of it.)

It will be interesting to see if it can survive the build up. Fortunately, I was not on message boards about disney and such things at the time, so I knew nothing about it. Spiderman was actually an afterthought at the end of a long fun day at IoA. We were on the way out of the park, and saw the ride which was almost tucked away. The line didn't look too long, so we decided...why not.

Man, was I blown away...and so thankful that I hadn't just walked out of the park, as originally planned.

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Can we start hating Lasseter now? He was supposed to save this one.

Well, here's what Al said on Tuesday in his latest article:

For the first time, major Disneyland projects were announced at a press party in Florida instead of Anaheim last week. The new big-budget dark ride for DCA we've been filling you in on for the last year was finally fessed up to at last weeks Florida press announcement, and the title appears to have finally ended up as "Toy Story Mania."

This concept was initially created and designed for the dark ride expansion slot in Paradise Pier behind California Screamin'. The same basic ride system, with much of the same special effect technology, is going in to Tokyo Disneyland as their new Monsters Inc. attraction in a reworked transition space that will bridge that parks World Bazaar and Tomorrowland.

But after the mock-ups and concept design turned out so strongly, Jay Rasulo felt the DCA version of the attraction had the potential to be the next "franchise" attraction, much like the sleeper hit Buzz Lightyear ride originally retrofitted onto a frumpy, old Omnimover ride at Walt Disney World. Eventually, the executives in Florida agreed to add a slightly slimmed down version of the Mania attraction to the Disney-MGM Studios park out in Orlando.

While the original title of the attraction was Toy Story Midway Mania to play up the Paradise Pier location, the addition of a version for Florida has changed the title to Toy Story Mania for now. There is still some debate on whether or not to give the rides slightly different names on each coast, but many people in WDI want to avoid the Buzz Lightyear scenario where that same basic dark ride has a different name in each of the five locations it has been installed. The thought here for Mania is to create an attraction "franchise" like Pirates of the Caribbean or Space Mountain that retains the same title from one side of the globe to the other.

The boardwalk location of the DCA version of the Mania ride had always been earmarked for a dark ride at some future date. But what was assumed five years ago to be a simple C Ticket dark ride is actually going to be a much larger D+ Ticket dark ride, and that means the construction of this facility has taken over that end of the pier (as seen above and below). Add in to this big project the sudden hands-on involvement of John Lasseter, and this ride promises to be the next Submarine Voyage when it comes to heavy involvement and expanded budgets simply demanded by Lasseter.

While the project managers from WDI have tried their best to work around the operation of the E Ticket roller coaster than runs directly above this busy construction project, it's becoming harder and harder to keep the coaster running seven days a week. In the last few weeks there have been several unplanned instances when California Screamin' had to remain closed for the entire day, or for a good part of the day, without warning. During the cold winter months when very few people want to be drenched on Grizzly River Run, that leaves DCA with just two other E Tickets for customers when Screamin' is closed.

Even with the light crowds and nonexistent lines this time of year, a closed California Screamin' ticks off a lot of customers with DCA's razor thin margin for error as a park. And looking ahead to the rest of 2007, there is now the possibility that Screamin' may have to remain closed until early afternoon for several months at a time later in the year.

What's interesting about this latest article is that Al mentions 2 other future additions coming to DCA :

Carland:

sig alerted

and a water show called "Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color":

Oh my, did we stumble into Cher's closet?

He also mentions that Ed Grier wants the Paradise Pier portion of the placemarketing to be completed by summer 2008.

I guess Disney is still interesting in flushing more money down the toilet that is DCA.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by zapppop

I guess Disney is still interesting in flushing more money down the toilet that is DCA.

I'm no expert, but what other practical choice is there? Please note the word "practical". While not enough funds have been invested, it is still a billion dollar investment, and it isn't going away. While the concept art looks hideous, if the main complaints are that DCA is ugly (and most of it is) and that there aren't enough attractions to make it a stand alone park (agreed), then why isn't beautification and adding more attractions a good idea? Granted, they need to be good attractions and tasteful changes to make it more pleasing to the eye.

[innerSpaceman]

It's not that Disney has a choice about whether to do something about DCA ... rather it's the choice between half-measures and a complete overhaul costing billions.

The "more of the same" half measures like "placemaking" and a slew of new Pixar attractions over the span of, what?, a decade - - strike me as the same misguided logic of a certain president in a certain war. I think in fact, it's the definition of insanity to expect different results from the exact same efforts.

[BarTopDancer]

But where did the pointy darts go?