Expedition Everest is Official

[King Triton]

GREAT NEWS!!!!! I can't wait to ride this new ride. Way to go Imagineers!!! This will be a great addition to Aninal Kingdom.


I love it!

 

[Bob O]

Now what would be great would be a great coaster ala- The Hulk, where you are launched at great speeds up the mountain and do inversions as you are attacked by the yeti!!!
The ride could be greatly themed with very thrilling coaster elements interspersed to make a great/thrilling ride that would leave the guests saying "wow" and getting back in line asap to enjoy it again!!!
But we are more likely to get a ride that a 5-7 yoa says "wow" while most guests will enjoy the ride but not be "wowed" like a Indy/TOT "wow's" its guests.

 

[wdwguide]

Originally posted by Bob O
Now what would be great would be a great coaster ala- The Hulk, where you are launched at great speeds up the mountain and do inversions as you are attacked by the yeti!!!
The ride could be greatly themed with very thrilling coaster elements interspersed to make a great/thrilling ride that would leave the guests saying "wow" and getting back in line asap to enjoy it again!!!
But we are more likely to get a ride that a 5-7 yoa says "wow" while most guests will enjoy the ride but not be "wowed" like a Indy/TOT "wow's" its guests.

To each their own - I think that the Tower of Terror, for instance, is not very physically thrilling and pales in comparison to something like Phantasialand's Mystery Castle, which is not only fantastically themed, but just amazingly intense - sitting in a tiny seat, your feet just dangling down 180 or so feet above a pitchblack pit, not knowing when you are going to fall... It does have a 57-inch height restriction though! Amazingly, it took only six months to build, either. If you get a chance to visit that park, definitely go - it's amazing what amazing stuff they have managed to cram into that tiny area, and all that for less than 30 bucks

 

[raidermatt]

One of the differentiating factors about Disney was that they "Wow'd" everyone with creativity and show, and did not rely on having the highest/fastest/whirliest ride mechanism.

If Everest does this, it WILL be great.

 

[crusader]

Now what would be great would be a great coaster ala- The Hulk, where you are launched at great speeds up the mountain and do inversions as you are attacked by the yeti!!!

Man, if they build this count me in!!!!!!!!!

One of the differentiating factors about Disney was that they "Wow'd" everyone with creativity and show, and did not rely on having the highest/fastest/whirliest ride mechanism.

Agreed but they have to push the envelope here and incorporate more than show for this attraction. It doesn't have to be the highest or fastest but it has to be a great ride.

there will be this teeny weeny part of me that knows I should've gotten the steak and gravy, and dined on a great hamburger instead.

Why? because they put some thrill into a coaster and not everyone could go on? I seem to recall a big warning sign out in front of PoTC. How is this any different?

I might not feel so strongly about this if the new innovative family rides were coming as well...but they haven't been, and we haven't heard a peep that anything is in the works.

Ok - but I still maintain that this is a family ride. Not everyone has children under the age of 7.

 

[YoHo]

Gah, I don't think I can read this thread anymore. Too many People talking at each other.

 

[raidermatt]

Agreed but they have to push the envelope here and incorporate more than show for this attraction. It doesn't have to be the highest or fastest but it has to be a great ride.

Maybe its just that we have a different definition of great, but what I am saying is that if you were to strip away all show and themeing, the ride mechanism would need to be something modern, but nothing particularly thrilling. I think you disagree, which is fine of course, but I just wanted to make sure I was clear.

Ok - but I still maintain that this is a family ride. Not everyone has children under the age of 7.

Sure, everything is relative, and of course there are families without children under seven. There are also families who have adults who simply can't or don't want to ride anything more intense than Splash Mountain.

The point is, regardless of one's definition of a family ride, Disney didn't become Disney instead of Six Flags by building rides that physically exclude children under 7. That said, as it stands now, Everest appears to fit the profile of a potentially successful Disney attraction.

When viewed in a vacuum, I have no problem with the specs for Everest. Even if its viewed in the context of what AK needs, I have no problem, because AK has multiple needs, and a Disney-quality thrill attraction is one of them.

Its just that when I step back and look at the big picture, again, there is no effort to really stay ahead of the curve on the attractions without physical limitations. Just "kiddie" rides (which have their place) and another 3D movie. Maybe a very good 3D movie, but still...

 

[KNWVIKING]

'Family Ride" is a very subjective term. To a family with kids 7 & 4, Pooh is a family ride. Is Pooh still a family ride for them when the kids are 15 & 12 ? Disney needs to have rides for families of all ages. I think part of the success of IOA is that Disney loses the family with older kids. Everest seems to be an attempt to get some of those families back.

 

[Dznefreek]

I guess we can say goodbye to Beastly Kingdom.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Disney Typically tries to build its attractions with a minimum 2000 guest per hour capacity. Rock n Roller Coaster has an hourly capacity of about 2800. Multiply that by the almost standard 10 hour operating day (9am-7pm) and you have 28000 which is an attendance level not too common at the studios. PW also has an hourly capacity (total for both sides) of approx 2800.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Originally posted by OnWithTheShow
Disney Typically tries to build its attractions with a minimum 2000 guest per hour capacity. Rock n Roller Coaster has an hourly capacity of about 2800. Multiply that by the almost standard 10 hour operating day (9am-7pm) and you have 28000 which is an attendance level not too common at the studios. PW also has an hourly capacity (total for both sides) of approx 2800.

Show - I'm having a hard time reconciling this with the 96% of capacity figure you provided earlier. At 96% of capacity you would expect that there would be 26,880 rides on RnR per day. I assume this is also way above what you'd expect given the Studios attendance.

I guess the 96% of capacity figure applies during peak ridership periods during the day. Overall though, through the course of that 10 hour day, what is the capacity that RnR operates at?

I bet when you look at a ride like RnR vs say Pooh, it is like a tortoise and hare deal. RnR might have a longer line (say an hour) for portions of the day while it might only be 10 minutes at other times. Pooh will only have a 45 minute line, but that will continue for a longer period. In the end, which ride services more guests?

 

[crusader]

In the end, which ride services more guests?

I'm betting it's the coaster but who knows given these two comparisons. Capacity %'s have alot to do with the popularity of the ride. Pooh is still considered a relatively new attraction and one of the best kid friendly "show" rides in fantasyland. You've picked the most popular attraction in kiddieland to measure against the only 48" coaster in all of disneyworld.

 

[YoHo]

I bet Mr. Toad's wild ride services more guests in an average day then Indy does.

Toad loads faster, and less time is spent checking for seatbelts and such.

 

[crusader]

YoHo -

I disagree given that Indy loads from dual tracks and has a much larger rider capacity per vehicle than Mr. Toad.

 

[raidermatt]

PW is a 48" coaster, though its clear its not in the same class.

Regardless, it sounds like a fair comparison.

With RnRC being the only "real" 48" coaster, and if that's what guests are desparately thirsting for, guests should be flocking from everywhere to get to it.

With Pooh, guests have plenty of other options to get their "kiddie dark ride" fix.

Lines are really not relative anyway. Ultimately, its about what makes people actually pay for a day in your park, or stay an extra day in your hotel. And in that case, RnRC most likely does have more value than Pooh, even if Pooh has greater ridership. But that's more a factor of the difference in scale and resources applied to the two attractions.

Further, RnRC was more expensive, I'm sure.

Now, if anyone has the costs of recently built attractions, we could maybe make some judgements about RnRC's value vs. its cost equivalent in less exclusive, smaller scale attractions, which would be a more fair comparison.


If we do want to look at ridership, then lines are still not relative. Too many other things go into what contributes to line length. Frequency of breakdowns and capacity, to name two biggies. And as show points out, on some rides, capacity can fluctuate based on whether both tracks are open, or how many trains or shafts are running.

That's why the arguement that Spaceship Earth is not that popular because it is a walk-on during parts of the day is flimsy at best.

 

[YoHo]

Originally posted by crusader
YoHo -

I disagree given that Indy loads from dual tracks and has a much larger rider capacity per vehicle than Mr. Toad.

I submit that by the time Indy loads both those cars and has them both pass the seatbelt inspection and sends both of them on to the ride, MR. toad has placed an equal or greater number of people into the ride.

It isn't just about how many people are accomidated per car, but how long it takes for those cars to get going and new ones to come in. Mr. toad I think has a slight advantage.

 

[raidermatt]

Since the two tracks merge, the relevant point is how fast the cars flow through the single track after merging, and how that compares to how fast Toad (and the rest of the Fantasyland dark rides) flows into the ride.

The loading process for Indy is really part of the queueing process, and the capacity is limited by how fast the cars can move into the ride "proper".

The only time the loading/seatbelt process would effect capacity would be if the load were delayed to the point that the car was not ready to enter the ride when the track ahead was clear, which I suspect does happen more frequently with Indy than it does with Toad, but would be sporadic.

So we could sample the capacities just by watching the single track on Indy for a given time period, and do the same for Toad.

Anyone have a guess at how long the entering interval is between cars on Indy (or Dinosaur)? How about on Toad, or one of the other FL dark rides?

(Warning: the following numbers are being pulled out of an orifice somewhere in my body)

I think Indy cars hold 12, while most of the dark rides hold 2-3, probably averaging very close to about 2.1.

So, do the dark ride vehicles enter the ride more or less than 5-6 times as fast as for Indy/Dinosaur?

That would give a good comparison of theoretical capacity. Then you have to factor in downtime, which is probably higher on Indy/Dino than for the FL dark rides.


Did I overdo this a bit?

 

[EUROPA]

Indy - 2,400 per hour....

Mr. Toad - unknown could not find it....

 

[YoHo]

Indy is 4 rows of 4, so they hold 16 people.

 

[crusader]

I'm going on pure speculation here but...........

Mr. Toad - 5 riders per vehicle

# of vehicles : 12 (or 10?)

ride time: approx. 2.5 minutes

at full capacity = 1400 to 1500 per hour.