Al Lutz provides great details of Midway Madness

[dbm20th]

enjoy...

The basic plotline to this attraction is that the Toy Story gang has created a series of midway games for you to play, and they are all themed to their individual character. Riders will sit in rather traditional looking dark ride vehicles that have a cannon mounted on a rotating turret for each seat. The vehicles will travel through the show building and come to a stop in each show scene, where a different midway game is laid out for riders to play. The plan is to have a half dozen different midway games offered up to each car, with a bonus round at the end to determine the winner in each car.

After an animatronic Mr. Potato Head acting as a midway barker lures you in to play, you move from one game to the next during the 5 minute long ride. For instance, the vehicles would come upon Little Bo Peeps Balloon Pop where you play the famous water gun race found at most county fairs. That would be followed up by the Green Army Men Shooting Range with moving targets coming at you, or Barbie's Beach Ball Bash throwing balls into rings. A Frontierland-style shooting gallery and a Rex the Dinosaur Red Hot Dino Dash amongst lava flows and erupting volcanoes are also planned.

What has the designers most excited, and where the huge costs come into play, is the interactive elements and extremely sophisticated technology needed to pull all of this off. The riders would be wearing 3-D glasses, and the animatronics and some of the special effects would be controlled much like the Roz figure on the Monsters Inc. ride where specific lines and reactions are directed at specific riders. It all promises to be very impressive and WDI plans on offering up several "How Did They Do That?!" moments throughout the ride. Older folks may find it a bit too frantic, but much like Buzz Lightyear the kids will instantly take to it and likely outscore their parents on the first ride. With all of the randomization and individuality offered up by each show scene, it's also an attraction that is going to have immense repeatability. And just as nice is that the construction of this large attraction and its boardwalk frontage will erase much of the bland, generic strip-mall look that Paradise Pier was saddled with by the original designers.

 

[MJMcBride]

I'm not sure what to think of this. The effects sound great, but the premise does not thrill me.

 

[dbm20th]

Do you like Buzz Lightyear? If I explained that to you, would you be excited? I think this sounds awesome!

 

[MJMcBride]

I'm not sure if I like the midway games idea. And they already have Buzz, it seems a little close in premise. But thats just a first gut reaction, we'll see.

 

[tmt martins]

I'll be on it as soon as it opens . Me and DD doing battle in any form is great and we love the boardwalk type games.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

I'm not sure if I like the midway games idea. And they already have Buzz, it seems a little close in premise. But thats just a first gut reaction, we'll see.

Close in premise. Hmmm.... kind of like Aladdin, Dumbo and Astro-Orbiters..... but there always seems to be lines for all of them.

Let's face it, if done well, it would be a hit. The Al Lutz article had a lot of interesting WDW talk in it besides this ride. Apparently a lot of WDW managers got to see the big-time sprucing up/capital preventative maintenance going on at DL attractions the past few years and were put to shame at how WDW rides have not been kept up. Hopefully they'll see that and implement some changes.

 

[MJMcBride]

Close in premise. Hmmm.... kind of like Aladdin, Dumbo and Astro-Orbiters..... but there always seems to be lines for all of them.

Let's face it, if done well, it would be a hit. The Al Lutz article had a lot of interesting WDW talk in it besides this ride. Apparently a lot of WDW managers got to see the big-time sprucing up/capital preventative maintenance going on at DL attractions the past few years and were put to shame at how WDW rides have not been kept up. Hopefully they'll see that and implement some changes.

I'm not saying it won't be a hit. I was talking on a personal level.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

This sounds great!! Thanks for the info!

 

[yalegracey]

I agree with MJMCBRIDE, but I'm sure the attraction will be popular.

 

[YoHo]

I don't know anybody who dreams of playing midway games with the Pixar characters.

 

[MJMcBride]

I agree with MJMCBRIDE,

Well, thats one.

 

[raidermatt]

I think YoHo is with you, and I'm there too.

I'm not saying the ride will be good or bad, only that the premise doesn't exactly stimulate the imagination.

I also get nervous when Disney seems to be latching on to a formula and rolling it out over and over. Its the way Hollywood makes movies these days, and we see the results there.

I like Buzz. Its premise, helping defeat the evil emperor Zurg and save the galaxy, is a heck of a lot more exciting than playing ringtoss with Sully. But when you get down to it, the execution isn't what you'd call imaginative or even elaborate. It is popular, but its not like its the greatest thing since sliced bread. It does load fast, but its also got pretty short lines a lot of the time.

It seems as if they said, hey, people like these shoot 'em up rides, so let's make some more. I would hope that this would at least take the Buzz idea to new levels, and maybe it will. Its just that there's reason to doubt how well this will be executed.

One reason for optimism, though, is with Lasseter lurking, perhaps he will make sure the Pixar characters get their just do.

We'll see.

All that said, I have little doubt that the end result will be at least reasonably popular.

 

[dbm20th]

What has the designers most excited, and where the huge costs come into play, is the interactive elements and extremely sophisticated technology needed to pull all of this off. The riders would be wearing 3-D glasses, and the animatronics and some of the special effects would be controlled much like the Roz figure on the Monsters Inc. ride where specific lines and reactions are directed at specific riders. It all promises to be very impressive and WDI plans on offering up several "How Did They Do That?!" moments throughout the ride.

There are rollercoasters...and then there's Space Mountain or Expedition Everest. There are log flumes rides...and then there's Splash Mountain. There's free fall rides...and then there's the Tower of Terror. Read this part again. This looks like much, much more than midway games, just like the rides I mentioned above are much more than their carnival platforms.

MJMcBride I am ashamed of you, taking the side of the fundamentalists...

 

[Amity 3]

the technology sounds like a winner, a 3D interactive attraction is a new level. but why has the Toy Story gang created a series of midway games for us to play?

 

[tmt martins]

the technology sounds like a winner, a 3D interactive attraction is a new level. but why has the Toy Story gang created a series of midway games for us to play?

Because Chester and Hester already have the Animal Kingdom covered

 

[dbm20th]

Because Chester and Lester already have the Animal Kingdom covered

And by the way, It's Hester...and now he's pissed at you

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

I don't really see how this fits in at MGM??? I am not thrilled at the idea of midway games but as someone else mentioned i'm sure it will be more than just the typical midway game experience. I bet this will be a big hit but I don't know if I will like it. Buzz was closed for refurb last time i was at MK so I have never experienced that one to compare. I think MK would be a better place for this ride.

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

I am with you to MJM. I am not liking the sound of this attraction. The premise does not belong in the studios... I'll give it a try, but as of now, it doesn't sound too exciting... I could be wrong though....

 

[YoHo]

I don't think there is any proof at all that this is coming to MGM, He's talking about the DCA ride specifically.



My problem with the ride is two fold,

1: Paradise pier is a really stupid place, It just needs to be bulldozed. Chester and Hester's hasn't really won any praise either. The entire midway game experiment has failed. Putting a dress on this pig ain't gonna fix it.

2: even totally seperate, the concept sounds weak.

 

[jw2736]

If Midway Madness, or some form of it, come to WDW I think it would only add to the commercialism that is intruding into the parks. If other rumors are true that Disney-MGM Studios will become Disney-Pixar Studios, to me that park would be a complete waste of my day (except for RNR or TOT).

This ride sounds ok but enough of the "film to ride" concepts. As you can see by the lack of lines at the Stitch attraction, leave the films on the screen and develop other attractions that have more imagination to them.

Yes I know there are other rides that came from films, but enough already.