Great Movie Ride closes for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway

[Josh Hendy]

(though, even things like Winnie the Pooh were acquired by Dinsey and not originals, so it's not a perfect thought)

Disney bought the movie rights to the Milne books and illustrations, but the Pooh cartoons are 100% Disney are they not? In that case, Winnie is just as "Disney" as Peter Pan, Mary Poppins and Uncle Remus.

I agree that the non-Disney developed properties such as Star Wars and Marvel belong in DHS better than in any other park, but we're getting to the point where acquired film franchises outweigh the more purely Disney characters by a fair bit. The entire company is getting skewed towards Star Wars and Marvel to the point where it may be hard to distinguish the original Disney brand any more.

Among other issues, the Star Wars and Marvel properties are essentially about weapons, violence and war. That automatically implies attractions which are more noisy and violent, not to mention the cultural tone that it sets. Instead of pulling a sword fron a stone, kids learn to wield light sabers whose purpose is to cut bad guys in half. Moral issues aside, what does the Disney brand stand for? When you wish upon a star, or go ahead - make my day?

 

[Lee Matthews]

Moral issues aside, what does the Disney brand stand for?

Entertainment for all ages and not just kids?

I do kinda see what your saying but while Disney have acquired Star Wars and Marvel, i think that will be it. In orlando at least, out of 4 parks (currently) it seems that Star Wars and Marvel will only be present in Hollywood Studios once all said and done which i don't think is really over saturating at WDW.

 

[rteetz]

Marvel will only be present in Hollywood Studios

Well rumors say Epcot will have a marvel presence as well.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Moral issues aside, what does the Disney brand stand for? When you wish upon a star, or go ahead - make my day?

I feel weird for saying this but: to me, the company represents animation. Walt for sure, but definitely what he brought forth to animation. Everything the company has become was built upon it. The parks, television, the live action department, were all built upon animation. And it still represents the keystone of the company to this day. I could go on all day about this. I'm going to leave this clip from Waking Sleeping Beauty (amazing documentary by the way!) that proves my point

 

[skier_pete]

While animation is the cornerstone of Disney - live action has been a part of the business since the early 50s, and The THEME Parks were built on LIVE ACTION much more than on Animation. Animation was a part of Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland were all built on Walt's live action stable.

 

[Josh Hendy]

While animation is the cornerstone of Disney - live action has been a part of the business since the early 50s, and The THEME Parks were built on LIVE ACTION much more than on Animation. Animation was a part of Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland were all built on Walt's live action stable.

20000 Leagues, Swiss Family Robinson and Davy Crockett are the only live action influences on Magic Kingdom that i can think of, compared with a much longer list of animated films. And these are not exactly enduring classics.

 

[skier_pete]

20000 Leagues, Swiss Family Robinson and Davy Crockett are the only live action influences on Magic Kingdom that i can think of, compared with a much longer list of animated films. And these are not exactly enduring classics.

You hit three of them, but forgot Treasure Island, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, True Life Adventures, Zorro, 3rd man on the mountain (Admittedly Disneyland only), Mary Poppins. Again, I will agree that Animation is at the CORE of Disney and the Disney company - but the parks themselves were inspired by the live action adventures that Walt Disney was MUCH more interested in starting around 1950. Again, look at the original lineup of Disneyland and also the original Magic Kingdom. Animation was confined 100% to a SINGLE land in both parks. The other FIVE lands were based on either true life, american legends, or live action stories from the Disney Studios or Disneyland television shows.

Star Wars / Indiana Jones has been a part of the parks for 30 years now. (We are coming up on the 30th aniversary of Star Tours in January.) Star Wars has been a part of Disney Parks for half their existence. Unless you are including Pixar in your "doesn't belong at Disney" there really is ONLY Avatar that is outside of Disney, and whatever Marvel they bring in - which so far is practically zero.

Of course, this is all off the topic of this thread. Speaking of the argument against things like this - the GMR is almost the LEAST Disney attraction in all of Disneyworld. THere are perhaps 2 or 3 scenes in there that are "Disney", everything else is licensed - so I am clear - you are in FAVOR of replacing GMR with a Mickey Mouse Attraction?

 

[Josh Hendy]

I would happy with almost any mix of attractions as long as the theme isn't too badly broken or incoherent, and most of all if the attractions and other elements (like food services) are kept fresh and interesting. Meaning unique, original, imaginative.

A mickey mouse ride that is virtually a clone of Ratatouille would be nice but it's not very original sounding and it might make the theme of DHS even harder to discern.

 

[rteetz]

I would happy with almost any mix of attractions as long as the theme isn't too badly broken or incoherent, and most of all if the attractions and other elements (like food services) are kept fresh and interesting. Meaning unique, original, imaginative.

A mickey mouse ride that is virtually a clone of Ratatouille would be nice but it's not very original sounding and it might make the theme of DHS even harder to discern.

We don't know if it's a clone of ratatouille. The only thing said is it would use the same ride system.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

This ride needed to go.

Is the Chinese theater going to go as well...? I really think with his ride gone it's going to be an odd, and tacky park icon then.

 

[rteetz]

This ride needed to go.

Is the Chinese theater going to go as well...? I really think with his ride gone it's going to be an odd, and tacky park icon then.

No Chinese theater stays. How is the Chinese theater a tacky park icon? The Chinese theater is a huge part in movie history.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

What exactly does the park have to do with movie history now..?

 

[rteetz]

What exactly does the park have to do with movie history now..?

Sunset and Hollywood boulevard are remaining old Hollywood so the park still has movie history aspects.

 

[mrmattymouse]

Count me in as an unhappy person. I could ride it all day just to see the Wizard of Oz part. Wish they would auction that stuff off. I decorate my house with it!

I'd like to ride it one last time, hope it's still open when we go in Fall 2017!

 

[gregdep]

Aw, this is a shame. I love this ride... especially the Alien and Wizard of Oz portions.

 

[C.C. Langley]

We are going next month. I'll have to definitely make sure we ride it a couple of times while we are there. I love GMR, but my kids love it even more, especially the Marry Poppins and Wizard of Oz sections. So sad. : (

 

[Scalemaster34]

I don't know how many times I've ridden GMR.... one last time.

Now there was a time with GMR had for some reason become a walk on, and they hardly ran the Cowboy cars. But then there was the rumors of it becoming some villains ride (10 years ago or so) and it started becoming popular again. Last Jan we waited 40 mins.... Seems to be a fairly popular attraction that east a lot of people....

 

[skier_pete]

I don't know how many times I've ridden GMR.... one last time.

Now there was a time with GMR had for some reason become a walk on, and they hardly ran the Cowboy cars. But then there was the rumors of it becoming some villains ride (10 years ago or so) and it started becoming popular again. Last Jan we waited 40 mins.... Seems to be a fairly popular attraction that east a lot of people....

The reason the wait times have increased is because it has become a FP+ attraction, Previously there was no FP there. Similar to what happened at SSE in Epcot and HM in MK. Standby lines have doubled or more at some of these attractions.

 

[rteetz]

The reason the wait times have increased is because it has become a FP+ attraction, Previously there was no FP there. Similar to what happened at SSE in Epcot and HM in MK. Standby lines have doubled or more at some of these attractions.

Also the fact that there isn't a whole lot to do at DHS right now for most.

 

[mikepizzo]

The reason the wait times have increased is because it has become a FP+ attraction, Previously there was no FP there. Similar to what happened at SSE in Epcot and HM in MK. Standby lines have doubled or more at some of these attractions.

This.

But also I see what @Scalemaster34 is saying (if I'm seeing what he/she is saying correctly). There is a way to create an inflation in relevance. Remember when Disney announced they were going to discontinue the Disney dollars? How fast did the remaining bucks sell out? Within days. What would have happened if Disney said, "Oh...we're thinking about not having this thing that isn't relevant anymore." Everyone goes, "No! Please! I love those things even though I haven't bought them the last 6 trips. I'm going to go buy a bunch now to show you how much I love them."

Disney effectively put Disney dollars "back on the map" in my hypothetical example. They would inflate their relevance by threatening to not have them anymore.

Same can apply to a ride. Anyone remember when they announced that one Epcot ride was going to be going away? And everyone was up in arms about it because it was their favorite ride even though it was basically a walk on? So on the last day the lines were hours and hours long?

Artificial relevance.