Living With The Land Refurbishment Question

[mdhkitten]

I had read on allearsnet that it was rumored that during the refurbishment of this ride, that they were going to eliminate a CM in each boat and instead have pre-recorded narraration. Since today is supposed to be the first day that the ride resumes, can anyone verify whether or not this has happened. I hope it hasn't. That would be sad! Thanks!

 

[Hannathy]

I'm not there but when we were there at the end of August we took the behind the seeds tour and that is what the guide said they were doing. Actually while on the tour the boats came thru with the plastic water filled dummies and he said they were working on getting the timing for the spiel right and you could hear a voice speaking. I don't think it will change the ride at all I even think it will be better because some of the CM's were very hard to understand. And should mean they can increase the number of boats when it is busy.

 

[Plutofan1]

There is a thread about this on *************. Apparently, someone saw the boats on a test ride and they heard recorded narration. Here is the link to the thread: http://forums.*************/showthread.php?p=1841201#post1841201. I think that removing the cast members on the boat will sort of make the ride lose some of it's quality.

 

[pezheadmeg]

Frankly, I liked Living in the Land for the human tour guide. If those are removed, what's next animatronic tour guides on the Jungle Cruise? Though, it might be pretty funny to hear the quips coming out of a broken animatronic.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I for one am not sad about losing the human narration of the ride.

The last two times I've been on the ride, I've had "lackluster" guides.

The first one just said everything by rote and had no inflection what so ever (like charle brown's teachers - waa waa waa waa, waa waa waa waa.)

The second one was actually kind of awful - fading in and out, breathing in the middle of a word (liv - whoosh - ing) and was difficult to listen to at best.

At least with the recorded narration, you get a quality performance every time.

 

[LizAgna]

This makes me sad...no more nutrigents and nasaw...

When we went in 2001 we had the nicest little older gentleman that was our tour guide although there were a couple of places that it was all DH & I could do to keep from laughing out loud. When he was talking about the hydroponic plants he kept saying that the plants get all of their "nutrigents" from the water...he said it several times. Also in the part that was sponsored by NASA he said that it was sponsored by "Nasaw". It was truly a Living with the Land experience that we will never forget!!

 

[craZ4diznee]

I'll take the recording! The last time I went on this ride (Nov. 2005) we had a very CREEPY CM that stared at me the whole time. The dark areas were the worst! My family even watched him doing it. It was a bit alarming!

 

[Syrreal]

The last time I rode in (back in May) we had a guy who has a great future as a game show announcer or host. His inflections were just hilarious. I was waiting for my fabulous parting gifts at the end of the ride.

 

[ArnyVee]

I will miss the human tour guide. That's part of the allure of this ride. Not sure that it's going to be the same without the guide. Oh well, we'll see in late October when we go.

 

[Bliss22]

I am in favor of the recording. Most of the CM's loose their motivation to keep there voice tone fresh, but when they are on their 20th tour of the day it turns into monitone bla bla bla. Like the previous reply the recording will be great all the time. Just my two cents.

 

[Syrreal]

I wante dto add that in May already 1/2 the ride was an audio track. I think they were already slowly trying to get it done

 

[pamrob]

We were there last week and you could see the boats 'rehearsing'.

 

[JenniferAtl]

Yes, part of it was already recorded earlier in the year. It was easier to understand than the guide.

Is is just me, or are all of the guides at LWTL, shall I say - geriatric?

 

[Syrreal]

It's not all of them...but a good amount. Our game show host dude looked liek he was in his 20s

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yup, as of 9/20 a.m., they were all prerecorded spiels. However, they were still having trouble with their audio that morning, so right after I rode it, they closed the ride. I don't know how long it was down, since I never saw it reopened.

 

[KarenAylwood]

On Saturday the 16th it was closed, then open when we went on Monday the 18th. We also took the Behind the Seeds tour on that day, and it went well and the ride was going the whole time. The last time we rode it was on the 21st and it was still running smoothly.

The recording isn't that bad and the layout of the crops has been changed since the last time I rode it (not sure how long- a year and a half?). If you had never seen it when the CM rode with you, you wouldn't miss it- but it will never be up to what it used to be.

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I was there the day before it closed to be refurbished and didn't get to go on it because it was too crowded and the fast passes were gone. I have been on it a couple of time before. I won't miss the CM tour guides. Our guide on the Jungle Cruise last time barely spoke english and was not enthusiastic at all! It was the worst Jungle Cruise ride ever and it ruined the fun for everyone there in the boat.

 

[safetymom]

I rode the new version the other day. I like it. There is plenty of narration and I think they tell you more than they did before. I miss the CM but this was an improvement. Before you had some CM's you couldn't understand or didn't say a lot.

 

[Schmeck]

safetymom, how did the guests on the boats behave? Were there any incidents of guests trying to grab stuff as the boats went by some of the plants? That would be my only concern about the boats not having guides, that some bozo would try to get out of the boat and pick a lemon or banana...

 

[safetymom]

No problems with the guests. The fruit is back far enough and the boat moves so I hope no one tries it. I do think they have CM's around watching.