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

[wareagle57]

I didn't think they would change any more DHS attractions until at least Toy Story Land was open. Down a Tier 1 ride at DHS is going to hurt the capacity there big time. No amount of shows or special fireworks will help disperse the crowds. You'll see long lines at every ride there .. even on a "slow" day (or people will just begin to avoid this park alltogether until late 2018.

When checking wait times in prep for my trip earlier this summer, I often was surprised how low the waits were at DHS compared to the other parks. I think people really are just starting to skip the park all together, or go only for their FP and maybe one ride and a show and get out of there. If that's the case, I don't know that it will hurt wait times all that much. Even though the park only had 5 rides, GRM was still always one we would usually skip, even though we rode the others multiple times.

 

[tlmadden73]

When checking wait times in prep for my trip earlier this summer, I often was surprised how low the waits were at DHS compared to the other parks. I think people really are just starting to skip the park all together, or go only for their FP and maybe one ride and a show and get out of there. If that's the case, I don't know that it will hurt wait times all that much. Even though the park only had 5 rides, GRM was still always one we would usually skip, even though we rode the others multiple times.

Well, if anything, it sells Park Hoppers. I know on my last trip, I went for EMH and left by noon.

 

[AngiTN]

Well, if anything, it sells Park Hoppers. I know on my last trip, I went for EMH and left by noon.

Between that and the need for them to catch both SW Fireworks and F!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Between that and the need for them to catch both SW Fireworks and F!

Ugh see that's annoying to see that Disney put them like that.

For my trip Fantasmic! is at 8:30pm, SW Fireworks is at 9:00pm plus SW Fireworks has that projection show before it starts. You really basically have to choose one or the other.

 

[AngiTN]

Ugh see that's annoying to see that Disney put them like that.

For my trip Fantasmic! is at 8:30pm, SW Fireworks is at 9:00pm plus SW Fireworks has that projection show before it starts. You really basically have to choose one or the other.

Yep. Though the real reason is they can't fit everyone in the park at SW Fireworks viewing areas. They have to have some to go see F!. Putting them at the same time disperses the crowds. As a bonus it gets people to use their hoppers but the real reason is to distribute the crowd

 

[preemiemama]

Ugh see that's annoying to see that Disney put them like that.

For my trip Fantasmic! is at 8:30pm, SW Fireworks is at 9:00pm plus SW Fireworks has that projection show before it starts. You really basically have to choose one or the other.

Or just do what everyone did when we went to F! Decide at 8:20 that you need to "beat the crowd", get up (disrupting everyone watching the show around you ), climb over everyone to get out, and run like a maniac up to the area for SWaGS. How do I know they were running like a maniac if I was still in F! ? I saw a similar phenomenon occur from the GMR courtyard area the night before while watching SWaGS, but it was the maniacs running up to see the show around me!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Or just do what everyone did when we went to F! Decide at 8:20 that you need to "beat the crowd", get up (disrupting everyone watching the show around you ), climb over everyone to get out, and run like a maniac up to the area for SWaGS. How do I know they were running like a maniac if I was still in F! ? I saw a similar phenomenon occur from the GMR courtyard area the night before while watching SWaGS, but it was the maniacs running up to see the show around me!

That would be annoying to have the show interrupted like that

 

[preemiemama]

That would be annoying to have the show interrupted like that

It really was!

 

[kandb]

One thing that really aggrevates me is, why did Disney wait so long to tell people they were closing the GAMR? We aren't big fans of HS but I had us going one day during our trip in August to go on GMR a few times since I knew it was going to be closing. Now that it is going to be closed, we would not of gone to HS at all. We don't have hoppers and don't want to pay extra for them and we would of spent our extra day in AK doing FOP and the river journey but of course those fp's are gone. Disney should not keep this information from it's repeated loyal guests for their own selfish reasons.

 

[BigRed98]

Any chance they are going to combine the multi layer screens with projection mapping? After seeing all of the mapping being done lately, it could help with depth of field and immersion. It will be interesting to see what they ultimately create!

That would be pretty cool if executed well. We just have to wait and see what Disney means by 2 1/2 D.

 

[Redo Epcot]

One thing that really aggrevates me is, why did Disney wait so long to tell people they were closing the GAMR? We aren't big fans of HS but I had us going one day during our trip in August to go on GMR a few times since I knew it was going to be closing. Now that it is going to be closed, we would not of gone to HS at all. We don't have hoppers and don't want to pay extra for them and we would of spent our extra day in AK doing FOP and the river journey but of course those fp's are gone. Disney should not keep this information from it's repeated loyal guests for their own selfish reasons.

Wait times there have dropped significantly since opening if you can get fast passes for Everest and the safari I would say skip Studios and just do standbys for Pandora

 

[BraveLittleToaster2]

Myself and my children (13, 10, and 3) hate the new animated Mickey mouse cartoons. The drawing just doesn't impress and it seems that the characters have even been given different personalities. Mickey is almost a trouble maker and they are all yelling at each other all the time.

I wish they would have gone back to the true Mickey, like a Mickey mouse clubhouse type animation and friendly style. To me it's like the three stooges or like another poster said Ren and Stimpy...which in my house, is not kid friendly.

I will miss GMR, but even more so because of what it's being replaced with.

 

[Brandon B]

This was definitely one of those "head-scratcher" announcements for me, along with the one about Tron coming in but NOT replacing the Speedway. GMR, for me, was always an attraction that - while always in need of some kind of refurb - was still one that I enjoyed going through no matter how many times before I'd done it. I've always loved primarily the Indiana Jones and Alien scenes and even the end film (before they redid it with the TCM update). This announcement, to me, basically is another step forward for Disney saying "bye bye" to the original concept and ideals for the park.......much like the Guardians ride at Epcot is there. I guess we simply have to accept the changes that are coming and hope we're pleasantly surprised when we experience them.

 

[OKW Lover]

One thing that really aggrevates me is, why did Disney wait so long to tell people they were closing the GAMR?

I'm sure it was their desire to make D23 a real showcase of what is happening all around the Disney franchise. No doubt they saved up a bunch of announcements that could have been made piecemeal earlier but they get more attention with the D23 show.

 

[OSUZorba]

I'm sure it was their desire to make D23 a real showcase of what is happening all around the Disney franchise. No doubt they saved up a bunch of announcements that could have been made piecemeal earlier but they get more attention with the D23 show.

My issue with that, though, is they were still giving out 60 day FPPs for GMR the day before the announcement, so people could've basically lost that entire day worth of pre planned FPs of they had planned on GMR. They are the ones that set the 60 day window, they should be mindful of it when selecting closing dates.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm sure it was their desire to make D23 a real showcase of what is happening all around the Disney franchise. No doubt they saved up a bunch of announcements that could have been made piecemeal earlier but they get more attention with the D23 show.

I'm sure that is why they withheld the announcement but it would have been nice had they at least moved the closure date to 60 days from the date they announced it. Could those few days really have made THAT much of a difference to their timeline? Really? I mean, did they HAVE to close it on 8/13? Would the entire project have fallen apart had they waited to close the ride 60 days from Saturday? I think we all know the answer is no. Over the course of the entire project they could have still hit their benchmark dates had they waited those few days. Because in the grand scheme of the entire time of the project, it is just a small portion of the entire time.

 

[MarkE101]

My issue with that, though, is they were still giving out 60 day FPPs for GMR the day before the announcement, so people could've basically lost that entire day worth of pre planned FPs of they had planned on GMR. They are the ones that set the 60 day window, they should be mindful of it when selecting closing dates.

I was quite interested in the announcement as I have a FPP for 4pm on 8/13 - still can't find out if GMR is closing on 8/13 or from 8/13 ....

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I was quite interested in the announcement as I have a FPP for 4pm on 8/13 - still can't find out if GMR is closing on 8/13 or from 8/13 ....

According to Disney Parks Blog:
"As you plan ahead, we also wanted to let you know that in order to begin to prepare the new home of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at the Chinese Theatre in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, August 13, 2017 will be the final day of operation for The Great Movie Ride presented by Turner Classic Movies."


https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...-railway-coming-to-disneys-hollywood-studios/

 

[kandb]

I'm sure it was their desire to make D23 a real showcase of what is happening all around the Disney franchise. No doubt they saved up a bunch of announcements that could have been made piecemeal earlier but they get more attention with the D23 show.

Yes, I am sure you are correct but when almost everything at Disney has to be planned early, it's aggravating that they don't inform their paying guests when they have this information. If you didn't need to plan things at the 180 day or 60 day mark I wouldn't mind but as we all know, a Disney vacation has to be very planned out beforehand.

 

[kandb]

I don't think HS is a full day park, so if you don't have hoppers, it's not worth it to visit. I find it very frustrating that Disney has closed so much there and doesn't seem to compensate it's guests if they do want to go to the park, other than making the guests buy the hopper passes which are expensive.