Attractions that are so bad they're good podcast - rudeness.

[AllysonL]

The thing is, there's a difference between bad and "so bad , it's good"
The speedway is just bad.

And it stinks. Literally.
I'd like to see it turned into something else.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I've often thought that if they could combine the beginning segment of the original Imagination (i.e. the circular Dreamfinder part) with the latter half of the current version that they would have the best of both.

I know it's going to sound corny, but one of my fave parts of the "original Figment" was finding him in all his different outfits, popping up in all the scenes. And yes - I - as an ADULT - used to yell "Hi Figgie!" and wave at him - EACH - AND EVERY - time!!!! Still makes me smile to remember that, and I still have a little PVC figure of him in his top hat from his "Hollywood scene".

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

While I can understand your disappointment that the discussion didn't follow along in exactly the path that Dustin might have intended, I think it is important to realize that Kevin comes at a lot of issues from an entirely different frame of reference. And it is actually my frame of reference, so I almost always find his comments to be well taken and insightful. Kevin and I are almost exactly the same age. We grew up about 90 miles from one another in the northeast. We began visiting WDW right when it first opened and made pretty much annual trips thereafter. His formative experiences were my formative experiences, and they were very different than someone who first flipped a turnstile in the early to mid-90's. To me, WDW is, and has always been, a place with a variety of attractions, not all of which live up to the iconic status of The Haunted Mansion or Pirates. And it was always intended to be that way.

Back when I first started going to WDW, (and, by extension, when Kevin started going), you used Ticket Books with a limited number of tickets for each tier of attraction, and you had to apply both patience and structure to your visits. You couldn't be a commando running from one headliner to another, and instead had to choose your attractions wisely. This forced you to also take time to enjoy the "lesser" (if you want to call them that) attractions, and caused you to develop a fondness and appreciation of them for what they were. You never considered them "bad". Or..."so bad that they are good." You thought of them as A, B and C level attractions and left it at that. When our family would tear out tickets so that we could ride one of the Main Street Vehicles or the Horse Drawn Carriage up or down Main Street, we never thought of that as a "bad" attraction. It was simply an "A" attraction, and we were happy to do it. And the Swiss Family Treehouse was never viewed as "bad". Instead, it was our chosen "B" attraction.

The important thing to keep in mind in all of this is that you never had enough tickets at any one level to cover all of the rides in that category. We would typically get "11 Attraction" Ticket Books, and perhaps supplement that on Day 2 with an "8 Attraction Ticket Book". As hard as it is to believe today, the 11 Attraction Ticket Book had only 1 ticket each in the "A" and "B categories, and 2 in the "C" category. That meant that you actually had to choose, and choose wisely. The "B" level attractions were: Swiss Family Treehouse; Frontierland Shootin' Gallery; Mike Fink Keel Boats; Dumbo and The Mad Tea Party. And you only had one ticket to use for all of these choices. Likewise, for "C" level attractions, you had two tickets and had to choose between Grand Prix Raceway; Peter Pan; Snow White's Scary Adventures; Mr. Toad and the Davy Crockett Canoes. Imagine going to WDW today and not being able to do all of those rides (or the ones that replaced them) in a single vacation. Heck. Now, people knock those off in the first hour of morning EMHs. It is entirely different. Back in the day, you pondered and you chose. And odds are, the attraction that you chose now holds a special place in your heart, and you would never call that attraction "bad", or "so bad that it is good". It just isn't in my mindset to do that. And when I heard Kevin adding to the discussion, I got the sense that this was the underlying premise that informed his opinions. Maybe I am reading way too much into it, and if I am, I am sure that Kevin will chime in and tell me that I am nuts. But I don't think that I am.

I grew up going to Disneyland, and you captured how I feel about the attractions here perfectly. We would get the Deluxe book, which was the biggest you could get at the time, and even at that, we had to pick and choose because in my family buying extra books was outside of our family budget. (But my dad would give my brother and me an extra E ticket each, and I'm sure an extra C ticket, too). These are the coupons we would get with the 15-coupon book: Coupon Book: A-10¢ (1), B-25¢ (2), C-40¢ (3), D-70¢ (4), E-85¢ (5), General Admission Ticket (1)

From 1972 (I was 12 years old)

A Coupon- 10¢

• Main Street Horse Cars (Main Street)
• Horseless Carriage (Main Street)
• Omnibus (Main Street)
• Sleeping Beauty Castle (Fantasyland)
• Fire Engine (Main Street)
• King Arthur Carousel (Fantasyland)

B Coupon- 25¢

• Main Street Cinema (Main Street) (RETIRED)
• Swiss Family Treehouse (Adventureland) (Now Tarzan's Treehouse)
• Motor Boat Cruise (Fantasyland) (RETIRED)
• Casey Junior Circus Train (Fantasyland)
• Alice in Wonderland (Fantasyland)

C Coupon- 40¢

• Peter Pan Flight (Fantasyland)
• Dumbo Flying Elephants (Fantasyland)
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (Fantasyland)
• Snow White's Adventures (Fantasyland)
• Fantasyland Theater (Fantasyland) (RETIRED)
• Mad Tea Party (Fantasyland)
• Mike Fink Keel Boats (Frontierland) (RETIRED)
• Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Main Street) (Later this became a 'free' attraction with an extra ticket for this show)
• Autopias (Fantasyland, Tomorrowland)
• Shooting Galleries (Frontierland, Adventureland) (Now pay 50 cents)

D Coupon- 40¢

• Rocket Jets (Tomorrowland)
• PeopleMover (Tomorrowland) (RETIRED)
• Flight to the Moon (Tomorrowland) (RETIRED)
• Storybookland Canal Boats (Fantasyland)
• Skyway (Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland)
• Tom Sawyer Island Rafts (Frontierland)
• Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes (Bear Country)
• Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad (Main Street, New Orleans Square, and Tomorrowland)
• Columbia Sailing Ship (Frontierland)
• Mark Twain Steamboat (Frontierland)

E Coupon- 85¢ Adults, 75¢ Children

• Mine Train Ride (Frontierland) (RETIRED, now have BIG THUNDER MTN RR)
• Pack Mules (Frontierland) (RETIRED)
• Jungle River Cruise (Adventureland)
• It's a Small World (Fantasyland)
• Disneyland-Alweg Monorail Trains (Tomorrowland)
• Matterhorn Bobsleds (Fantasyland)
• Enchanted Tiki Room(Adventureland)
• Submarine Voyage (Tomorrowland)
• Pirates of the Caribbean (New Orleans Square)
• Country Bear Jamboree (Bear Country) (MOVED TO WDW)
• Haunted Mansion (New Orleans Square)
• Space Mountain (added after 1972)
• Star Tours (added after 1972)
• Splash Mountain (added after 1972)

 

[KingLlama]

If they warranted an E-ticket, those must have been SOME pack mules. Did they sing and dance?

 

[smiths02]

I agree that the bracket shows aren't my favorite, and this idea especially was a little too easy to go negative.
There were a couple of moments that were a little uncomfortable, but I also appreciate Kevin's viewpoint. I really like hearing the "young" point of view and the "veteran" point of view.

 

[imprimouse]

I agree with all of this, and I did enjoy the show.

Has there ever been an attraction or ride at Walt Disney World that you did think was just flat out bad?

"sounds dangerous" was awful, and frequently interrupted my nap.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

"sounds dangerous" was awful, and frequently interrupted my nap.

I have to agree - thanx for reminding me - Sounds Dangerous was AWFUL!!

 

[Hunterr]

i loved Sounds Dangerous
any excuse to sit in the dark in AC while being slightly entertained is always neat.

 

[AllysonL]

Was Sounds Dangerous in MGM?

 

[KingLlama]

Correct, Allyson.

 

[AllysonL]

Alright! Not bad for first thing in the morning before I finish my coffee! I kinda liked that one.

 

[KingLlama]

Yeah, it never bothered me either. As someone else said, it was an air-conditioned way to get off your feet for a few minutes. And it always brought a chuckle or two.

 

[kbelle8995]

I think the Speedway needs to be redone. I haven't done it in years but I understand why some like it.

It needs two things.
1).More energy efficient vehicles that are more clean/or electric
2) MORE SHADE. The person I feel bad for is the lone CM who has to stand out in the middle of that hot ride. At least they finally gave the CM an umbrella to stand under.

But please keep Figment. I would love some version of the Original come back but I can't bear if they take Figment out of the park. I remember E-tickets too.

 

[KingLlama]

I have no idea what it would look like, but I'd love to see Imagineers create a ride/experience based on the "Tomorrowland" movie, and have that replace the Speedway.

 

[disneysteve]

I have no idea what it would look like, but I'd love to see Imagineers create a ride/experience based on the "Tomorrowland" movie, and have that replace the Speedway.

If we aren't getting Cars Land, at least give the Speedway a Cars overhaul. Right now, it has no theme at all.

 

[JimmyV]

If there is a Disney tie in (other than Cars, which is not how this is themed), I don't see it. It's generic theme park stuff and in my opinion always has been.

There used to be a place in Lake George, NY called Gaslight Village and they had the same attraction...only there you drove a Model A horseless carriage. I remember this from the 1960s.

While I usually roll my eyes whenever someone here tries to speak for Walt,... people can start rolling their eyes now, because I am going to fall into that trap and say that I suspect what Walt had in mind as a positive was the very thing that you consider to be a negative. If we are to give credence to Walt's oft-quoted statement that he longed for a different sort of place where parents and children could have fun together, I can think of no greater attraction at Disneyland, (and later WDW) that captures this ideal than the Grand Prix Raceway/Tomorrowland Speedway. While it has no Disney tie in, and while it is a ride that exists in other places, neither of those facts erode the reality that this is a quintessential Parent/child/together attraction. I'm guessing that Walt wanted this in his park despite the fact that it was generic. So are carousels. But they work.

It's true that one's enjoyment of the ride waxes and wanes. And for many, the waning is constant and the waxing never-present. But for others, they loved it as a kid, getting to pretend that they were actually driving a car; then they hated it as a teen because the ride was nothing at all like driving a real car; and then they loved it again when they had a child of their own and got to see the smile on their child's face as they pretended to drive a real car. And so on. The photos below pretty much sum it up. I'm not saying that the emotions captured therein are unique to the Speedway, or that other attractions at WDW can't fulfill that level of joy. But c'mon! Look at that kids' faces and tell me that the ride is just plain bad! This is parent/child bonding of the highest order! And I think that this is what Walt was aiming at.

 

[dekraut]

Ah... while not quite as "mature" as Kevin, I too remember riding If You Had Wings in WDW when I was young. I loved it because the minute you got off the ride you could climb right back into another ride vehicle as quickly as you could walk through the barriers. I loved the geese and specifically remember the tunnel near the end that had skiing projected on the 270 or so degree walls that were surrounding you. It sure felt like you were moving faster than 2-3 MPH.

 

[OKW Lover]

I loved the geese and specifically remember the tunnel near the end that had skiing projected on the 270 or so degree walls that were surrounding you. It sure felt like you were moving faster than 2-3 MPH.

Spoiler Alert!!!


To give you that feeling they simply tilt the ride vehicle back a bit and us fans to blow air onto you.


Sorry if I've spoiled the magic.

 

[Hunterr]

Is it just me, or does the speedway not fit in with the future world theme? Or is ok since its at the edge of Tomorrowland, basically?

I think I just don't like it because as a tall guy, I can't comfortably fit in them now. Maan,I had trouble driving the last time I was in it. I'm just too damn tall! I wanted to just get out in the middle of the track and walk, but I powered through

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Ah... while not quite as "mature" as Kevin, I too remember riding If You Had Wings in WDW when I was young. I loved it because the minute you got off the ride you could climb right back into another ride vehicle as quickly as you could walk through the barriers. I loved the geese and specifically remember the tunnel near the end that had skiing projected on the 270 or so degree walls that were surrounding you. It sure felt like you were moving faster than 2-3 MPH.

I also remember - and loved - If You Had Wings - was that the same thing as Magic Journeys? I remember that too - and a little boy flying through some beautiful white flowering apple trees, and being very blown away by my first experience with 3-D.