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

[Praying Colonel]

The drop-dead date (NLT Summer '18) was news to me.

 

[rteetz]

I have heard it could close sooner than that. A permit was filed yesterday for an address that matches that of GMR and expires in Oct. 2019.

 

[mom2rtk]

Makes me wonder if they are holding off until Toy Story Land is closer to opening since there are so few attractions in the park right now.

 

[rteetz]

Wow...sorry, I don't know who this is?

Oswald was a character Walt created prior to Mickey.

 

[ThistleMae]

I just love the GMR. I'll be sure to ride it in July....will be sad to see it go.

 

[wareagle57]

Oswald was a character Walt created prior to Mickey.

Which has always made the "it all started with a mouse" quote seem strange to me. You can literally meet a character in DCA that existed before Mickey.

 

[ucfknight]

Which has always made the "it all started with a mouse" quote seem strange to me. You can literally meet a character in DCA that existed before Mickey.

Maybe the "it" in that phrase refers to "Walt's business sense and making sure he kept ownership rights to his creations all started with a mouse".

 

[wareagle57]

Maybe the "it" in that phrase refers to "Walt's business sense and making sure he kept ownership rights to his creations all started with a mouse".

Probably so. I just always took it as him pretending Oswald never happened since he didn't have ownership of him anymore. The spirit of the quote remains the same.

 

[rteetz]

Which has always made the "it all started with a mouse" quote seem strange to me. You can literally meet a character in DCA that existed before Mickey.

Maybe the "it" in that phrase refers to "Walt's business sense and making sure he kept ownership rights to his creations all started with a mouse".

Oswald was created by Walt when he was creating cartoons for another company. That eventually led to Oswald being owned by Universal. Mickey was created by Walt when he had his own studio and owned those characters he created.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Wow...sorry, I don't know who this is?

My favorite character pictures of my kids ever is with Oswald in California adventure

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Oswald was created by Walt when he was creating cartoons for another company. That eventually led to Oswald being owned by Universal. Mickey was created by Walt when he had his own studio and owned those characters he created.

Interesting story...disney got the rights back from NBC for a bizarre reason: they released al michaels from his Monday night football contract so he could go do Sunday night football with John madden.

 

[rteetz]

Interesting story...disney got the rights back from NBC for a bizarre reason: they released al michaels from his Monday night football contract so he could go do Sunday night football with John madden.

Yep, and Al doesn't like to discuss that story.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Yep, and Al doesn't like to discuss that story.

Of course...you can't play hardball in contract negotiations if you were once traded for a rabbit

 

[umichigan10]

Of course...you can't play hardball in contract negotiations if you were once traded for a rabbit

Not even a living breathing rabbit. A cartoon rabbit

 

[Redo Epcot]

I think GMR closes in January to help relieve crowds from holidays and when that puts Toy Story land only a few months from opening in Spring 2018

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I think GMR closes in January to help relieve crowds from holidays and when that puts Toy Story land only a few months from opening in Spring 2018

A very reasonable theory

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Maybe the "it" in that phrase refers to "Walt's business sense and making sure he kept ownership rights to his creations all started with a mouse".

I think the "it" also refers to all the money that Mickey brought in because he was so popular ... Mickey enabled them to do Snow White which made them a major player which ultimately enabled them to build Disneyland, etc.,

Not of that would have happened on just Oswald Money - that took Mickey Money ... so if it wasn't for Mickey none of what we know today as the Disney empire would have been possible

 

[skier_pete]

My daughter wouldn't ride it for years, when she was 12 we finally forced her to go, the last trip she made us ride it twice. Personally, I think it is a poorly done attraction and won't mind it being re-done, the only parts I liked were the wizard of Oz and the movie clips. How a ride could make Alien seem boring is beyond me.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

My daughter wouldn't ride it for years, when she was 12 we finally forced her to go, the last trip she made us ride it twice. Personally, I think it is a poorly done attraction and won't mind it being re-done, the only parts I liked were the wizard of Oz and the movie clips. How a ride could make Alien seem boring is beyond me.

Well it was built in the 80's...so you know it's gonna be a bit dated...

But I think it is really done well except the alien section...which was an odd move. They obviously could have just included some Star Wars there...but "saved" it for star tours...which sucks, frankly.

 

[OKW Lover]

TCM change to Mickey ride by a lot of accounts from insiders is due to cost to run and maintain the current ride system and the fact the current system is in dire need of repair. So they are going to a whole new ride, new ride system(similar to RAT in France) which will be easier to maintain. So it was driven some by cost, and some by wanting a new experience in the Park to help overflow due to SWE coming to DHS

I've never heard that the current ride system is in dire need of repair. Its a very simple system so I wonder what the issue is.

As far as the new ride system like Remy's in France, other than being newer I don't see how that would be any better for an attraction like GMR.

Well Robert Osborne is the narrator and he has since passed. I have heard they want to get rid of that portion at leas since they wouldn't be able to update with his voice anymore. The Mickey ride Rumor is pretty strong and is coming from numerous sources. The ride would close this year and the new trackless ride would open late 2019.

Disney could easily find a similar sounding voice where deeded. Remember how many voices Mickey has had over the years.

Oh, and the current ride is already "trackless".