Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! Model | Disney California Adventure - 10/10

[*NikkiBell*]

Hear from the designers behind Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! coming to Disney California Adventure about their inspiration behind the model of the attraction that will repurpose the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I have to say, taken in a vacuum - so not thinking of this replacing ToT, etc. - it sounds like a really cool ride!

 

[cxcelica]

At first seeing Joe Rohde is reassuring...but then when he has to look down (at 0.08) to look at notes as to what the heck is going on with this attraction, that warm fuzzy feeling goes away.

I mean couldn't they have reshot that 5 seconds.

 

[Jobie]

When was the last great ride re-purpose/reskin done? All of the ones I can think of are barley good, and some just stink. By using this approach they are trapping themselves into a box for ideas, which I do not like.

• Stich's Great Escape - repurpose of Alien Encounter. Also considered as one of the worse attractions at WDW
• Test Track - replaced the original with a TRON overlay. I have not many people who prefer this overlay to the original.
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends - repurpose of The Living Seas. When I was a child, I actually believed I was going into an underwater base. It was incredible. I was looking forward to seeing the new technology to have nemo swimming with real fish. Once revealed, it all felt meh.
  
• Frozen Ever After - repurpose of Malestorm. I have not ridden it yet, but it seems to be a classic Disney Dark ride. The animontronics see impressive in the videos, but it seems like they were limited by Malestorm's track layout. This is probably the only one I would place in the "good" category, but I have not ridden it yet.

The only attraction repurpose I really liked was when Alien Encounter replaced Mission to the Moon, and that really just used the circular theater. Everything else was changed.

What do you guys think?

 

[pjweaver]

Maelstrom Ever After shows that they can not fit a square peg in a square hole. I can't ride Frozen without pointing out what used to be there.

Dear Mr. Rhode,
Please finish Avatar before 2025. I know you said you are a great multi-tasker but perhaps we could keep Tower of Terror open a few more years.
Sincerely
Bob 'Kink Llama' Iger

 

[rteetz]

Maelstrom Ever After shows that they can not fit a square peg in a square hole. I can't ride Frozen without pointing out what used to be there.

Dear Mr. Rhode,
Please finish Avatar before 2025. I know you said you are a great multi-tasker but perhaps we could keep Tower of Terror open a few more years.
Sincerely
Bob 'Kink Llama' Iger

Avatar will be done before 2025. It's on schedule and will open next year.

 

[Hunterr]

I'm looking forward to it. At the very least, it will be the same ride mechanics, so it's still a drop thing going on.

However, they better not touch our original TOT!

 

[Tonyz]

At first seeing Joe Rohde is reassuring...but then when he has to look down (at 0.08) to look at notes as to what the heck is going on with this attraction, that warm fuzzy feeling goes away.

I mean couldn't they have reshot that 5 seconds.

Wow that is such a great point and you're absolutely right. Usually Joe's energy and passion just shoots out of him. Watch him talk about Avatar or Rivers of Light. You could tell he's just not that into this project. It feels more like an "act" in this video.

I'm just eternally grateful our Tower dodged this bullet. Has Joe ever worked on anything in Disneyland?

 

[NeuroCindy]

When was the last great ride re-purpose/reskin done? All of the ones I can think of are barley good, and some just stink. By using this approach they are trapping themselves into a box for ideas, which I do not like.

• Stich's Great Escape - repurpose of Alien Encounter. Also considered as one of the worse attractions at WDW
• Test Track - replaced the original with a TRON overlay. I have not many people who prefer this overlay to the original.
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends - repurpose of The Living Seas. When I was a child, I actually believed I was going into an underwater base. It was incredible. I was looking forward to seeing the new technology to have nemo swimming with real fish. Once revealed, it all felt meh.
  
• Frozen Ever After - repurpose of Malestorm. I have not ridden it yet, but it seems to be a classic Disney Dark ride. The animontronics see impressive in the videos, but it seems like they were limited by Malestorm's track layout. This is probably the only one I would place in the "good" category, but I have not ridden it yet.

The only attraction repurpose I really liked was when Alien Encounter replaced Mission to the Moon, and that really just used the circular theater. Everything else was changed.

What do you guys think?

Hmmm. I like the Nemo overlay. Test track I couldn't care less about, with any overlay, it doesn't impress me. The same can be said with Stitch's great escape. Frozen Ever After I wouldn't put in the good category. It doesn't tell a story, it's just like "let's look at frozen stuff...ooooh"

 

[Tonyz]

Maelstrom Ever After shows that they can not fit a square peg in a square hole. I can't ride Frozen without pointing out what used to be there.

Dear Mr. Rhode,
Please finish Avatar before 2025. I know you said you are a great multi-tasker but perhaps we could keep Tower of Terror open a few more years.
Sincerely
Bob 'Kink Llama' Iger

I gotta disagree with you about Maelstrom. I loved it and thought for sure Frozen Ever After wouldn't work. But damn it if the Imagineers didn't laughed at my lack of faith, because I think this new one is everything Malestrom should have been. Would I have preferred a refurb to keep it connected to Norwegian culture? Absolutely. But in my opinion there's no doubt that it's an improvement on the attraction that used to be there... so much so that I don't really miss Malestrom when I ride it.

But that's not gonna work for this Guardians of the Galaxy nonsense. Tower of Terror is too iconic for this ridiculous overlay to be successful.

 

[rteetz]

Wow that is such a great point and you're absolutely right. Usually Joe's energy and passion just shoots out of him. Watch him talk about Avatar or Rivers of Light. You could tell he's just not that into this project. It feels more like an "act" in this video.

I'm just eternally grateful our Tower dodged this bullet. Has Joe ever worked on anything in Disneyland?

Joe worked on disneylands "new fantasyland", and Captain EO.

 

[KingLlama]

"Kink Llama"?

 

[pjweaver]

"Kink Llama"?

I didn't want to forge your nome

 

[KingLlama]

"Kink Llama" is my overlay, actually.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

My mine was spinning with possibilities, but (wisely) chose not to share any of them here......

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I'm not a fan of the new theme. It just sounds like they were trying to find a spot to stick the franchise in to say it has coverage. I don't plan on riding.

I was also surprised to see Joe Rhode speak of it, but like a few mentioned earlier, he did not appear that enthusiastic about the project which is very uncharacteristic of him.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not a fan of the new theme. It just sounds like they were trying to find a spot to stick the franchise in to say it has coverage. I don't plan on riding.

I was also surprised to see Joe Rhode speak of it, but like a few mentioned earlier, he did not appear that enthusiastic about the project which is very uncharacteristic of him.

My speculation is joe isn't thrilled with this project. He is the head of marvel for imagineering but this is something that was pushed by executives like Bob Chapek.

 

[pjweaver]

Has Joe ever had a project like this where he is so limited by the original ride? He seems like he would to prefer building from a blank slate like with AK.

 

[rteetz]

Has Joe ever had a project like this where he is so limited by the original ride? He seems like he would to prefer building from a blank slate like with AK.

I am not sure. Captain EO maybe is the only other project where he had limitations being that it's a 3D show and working with George Lucas and Michael Jackson. Most of Joe's projects are blank slates like you said.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I think you're 110% right with the "blank slate" thinking, and this stifling his creativity. All I can hear is him singing "Don't Fence Me In".