Great Movie Ride Update?

[DisneyLovingPreacher]

I heard that Great Movie Ride might be getting a revamp. Is this true?

 

[rteetz]

I heard that Great Movie Ride might be getting a revamp. Is this true?

The pre show and ending movie were redone. TCM is also now the sponsor. The ride itself is the same except for the fact they have taken out some of the CM talking parts.

 

[Jake]

I just hope that they do something, most people today haven't seen any of the movies. Or actors in the GMR

 

[Spacedog1975]

I think familiarity with the material is a terrible reason to remove displays in GMR. Hollywood history is kind of the point. It would be kind of neat if they could update it like Fantasia was meant to be updated (sections retired for a time and replaced, then return) but the cost of this would be ridiculous.

 

[rteetz]

I just hope that they do something, most people today haven't seen any of the movies. Or actors in the GMR

They are classics. The whole point is to keep those timeless classics alive for younger generations to see them.

 

[Whatsthegoodword]

They are classics. The whole point is to keep those timeless classics alive for younger generations to see them.

I agree with this, but there are sections that could be tweaked - maybe the "Alien" section, or you might could play with the western or gangster sections just to give us something new.

...but you say they're taking out the CM interaction? I hope not. That's what keeps it somewhat fresh.

 

[Spacedog1975]

I remember the Alien section being more tense when I saw it in 1991. It is certainly tame these days.

 

[rteetz]

I agree with this, but there are sections that could be tweaked - maybe the "Alien" section, or you might could play with the western or gangster sections just to give us something new.

...but you say they're taking out the CM interaction? I hope not. That's what keeps it somewhat fresh.

A lot of the CM interaction is already gone. TCM has a voiceover narrating the attraction. The CM is still there for select parts.

I also agree that some sections could be tweaked or updated.

 

[Disbug]

Rode it a couple of weeks ago. Sorry to say I found it lame and rather boring.

 

[Dominic010]

When you don't visit WDW yearly like me.. I think many really enjoy this ride,
the only thing I really did not enjoy was the incredible bad acting .. You're doing something wrong when your animatronics act better then actual humans,
Other then that I love the ride and the montage at the end,
some animatronics are outdated though.. and they should freshen the place up with new technology.. I do get that they keep it as a classics ride,
but those classics should be presented in a more immersive way.. there are ways to immerse riders more in every scene I think,
Like better look-a-like and lifelike animatronics in some cases (Sigourney Weaver!) and perhaps combine scenes with projection mapping technology that will make them feel like everything around you is coming to life..

 

[briand1023]

I ride that ride and COP out of nostalgia. And if it's hot or raining you can usually get in or queue under cover.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Successful TV shows have a "showrunner" to ensure the quality and continuity of episodes from show to show and from season to season.

What WDW needs is "parkrunners" with the mission (and budget) to make sure the parks don't lose their theme, or that their flagship attractions don't slide down the drain into boring irrelevance. Like DHS and it's former flagship ride TGMR have fallen and like Epcot and Spaceship Earth are starting to slide.

Even if they don't win every argument with upper management, somebody should be saying things like this:

I know it's only a minor AA character but this paperboy thing is really stupid. The whole point of the ride - and of the theme park as a whole - is how people communicate with each other. When we turn a scene about a paperboy sharing important news with the world using the latest technology of the 19th century ... into a thing where a kid is waving something at a (lousy) backdrop painting of an empty street ... then we look like clowns. I'm fixing it next quarter with the money we're saving from firing the lumberjacks. In the meantime we're going to be auditioning new musical groups for Canada and they should start in the new year.

I'm not going to sign off on the digital upgrade of TGMR pre- and post-show until we come up with a plan for the ride as a whole. Changing the beginning and end of the ride is like switching the bread and mustard on a really stale sandwich. If I have to watch that Tarzan dummy swing across on that fake vine one more time I'm gonna puke. Give me three different concepts for upgrades to that scene by next week, using any kind of modern technology you want - EXCEPT VIDEO SCREENS. We're gonna upgrade one scene of that ride every 2 years for the next 12 years. Don't show me the pre-and post-show upgrades unless they're going to save us money on projector maintenance and electrical bills.

And so on ...

 

[LeeAndRobin]

We were there early October and rode TGMR for the first time since the changes. I have to say that the new version is at least more informative than the previous version.

 

[eXo]

While I love the idea of a "parkrunner", that is technically what imagineers are supposed to be doing.

They spend as much time, if not more, coming up with ways to refurb and enhance current rides as they do coming up with anything new.

The fact the things you mention aren't happening on the current crop of rides & refurbs falls squarely on their shoulders. The only copout I can see would be if there was zero budget for proper fixes.... but with the kind of money being dumped into things as simple as the castle ramps... I would find it hard to believe they don't have the available cashflow.

After all, if it wasn't an "imagineer" you redid TGMR's intro and ending, then who was it and why were they involved.

 

[FlyingBelle]

I'm pretty sure the recorded voice during the ride is Robert Osborne from TCM. He does some of the voice over in the pre-show movie (and some of the movies are updated), and he does the voice over during the ride. It was ok, IMO, when we were there in September. In the past, sometimes the cast member couldn't be understood if he/she spoke too quickly or softly and where you were sitting in the vehicle. This way you could hear the narrative. The ride itself wasn't significantly changed, except for the movie clips at the end. I prefer the old version, I feel like this version was too repetitive (showed some of the same clips a few times).

 

[Josh Hendy]

I feel like this version was too repetitive (showed some of the same clips a few times).

That sounds really odd, but I assume that the amount of money budgeted for acquiring rights to show film clips wasn't sufficient for the amount that the non-Disney rights holders demanded.

Could it be that since the 1980s, media companies have become simply full of themselves and the idea that their intellectual property is really worth a lot and you should never "give" something away. Which is kind of dumb, since a film clip shown every day to a captive audience of thousands of people is really a huge advertisement for your film. But that's the thing about intellectual property - many rights holders would rather that nobody in the public ever heard of their product than let anybody give them free promotion on youtube, or whatever, without paying them what they think are the royalties that they're "owed".

Therefore it's possible that the current state of competition between media companies over theme park rights is the biggest factor blocking any meaningful update of the Great Movie Ride.

That ... plus maybe "a little bit" of Disney company tight-fistedness ...

 

[Antasia]

I LOVE The Great Movie Ride! It's a nice step back into old Hollywood. I feel the TCM and Robert Osborne addition and update is a most welcomed one! I personally would love to see it become all Disney classic movies but at the same time I love the Busby Berkeley, Singing In The Rain, and Alien segments so much! Just think though... western section now Apple Dumpling Gang and gangster section now Dick Tracy. Disney owns Indiana so that can stay! Replace Alien with more Star Wars? Song of the South finally honoring James Baskett! So many ideas!!!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

The movie at the end was good but the actual ending clip of the Millennium Falcon going to hyperspace was cut as the final scene. It ended kind of meh .

 

[Virtucomp]

We rode the new version a few weeks ago. The queue line show with Robert Osborn was better because it didn't repeat as often while waiting. The old one showed clips with no explanation so people not familiar with the original movie were lost. The ride itself seemed the same accept for the cast member narration. We've been on the ride with talented cast members and some that were not very clear or enthusiastic about the movies. With Osborn it will be consistent, maybe not as good as a good cast member but at least consistent.

We also spent a few days at Universal on this trip. We got to see Dr Suess, Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, The Blues Brothers, Dudley Do-right, and Dagwood. Those are all relevant to young kids these days.

The purpose of the Great Movie Ride is to show the history of movies not the latest characters.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

Boring. I was disappointed with the changes. The only good thing about the changes is that the preshow runs a little longer than the other on with out Robert Osborn. Hoping that if there are more changes that they do not disappoint this much.