News Round Up 2018

[MommaBerd]

Puts puny little Kali River Rapids (the most disappointing ride at WDW, IMO) to shame! Definitely need to wear a bathing suit or clothes that dry quickly!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Puts puny little Kali River Rapids (the most disappointing ride at WDW, IMO) to shame! Definitely need to wear a bathing suit or clothes that dry quickly!

That drop is awesome.

I feel like while Universal's Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges is similar to Kali River Rapids it seems to get people soaked on a higher percentage (that's just my opinion). But SeaWorlds? That looks like they had the rapids stronger and that drop? What a cool way of doing it (rock wall).

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Oh come on guys, your better than this.

Clearly the name should be Bibbidi Bobbidi Brew.

And you better add the Kungaloosh they serve at Tiffins to the menu.

Also found they now serve it at the drink stand near Everest

 

[TheMaxRebo]

News

Disney Springs parking garages getting new technology

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/disney-springs-garages-will-get-new-parking-technology-system/

Interesting that they are ready to switch to a new vendor already. The existing one definitely isn’t perfect (sometimes there are cars in sports it marks as open) but must be more than that to spend all this money

 

[BigRed98]

By the looks of this video, this looks like a really fun rapids ride. Good theming, a really unique and cool lift system, and it looks thrilling. I'm very impressed by this!

 

[BigRed98]

Puts puny little Kali River Rapids (the most disappointing ride at WDW, IMO) to shame! Definitely need to wear a bathing suit or clothes that dry quickly!

I really like the theming of Kali River Rapids but it's very tame compared to the looks of Infinity Falls. Kali also feels much shorter than Infinity Falls but I'm not sure if that's true.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I really like the theming of Kali River Rapids but it's very tame compared to the looks of Infinity Falls. Kali also feels much shorter than Infinity Falls but I'm not sure if that's true.

I've honestly never gotten Kali... the most anti-climactic ride I've been on, outside of one of the Potter rides in Universal Hollywood. Nothing much happens, and then I'm soaked to the bone. Fun. :-/

 

[BigRed98]

I've honestly never gotten Kali... the most anti-climactic ride I've been on, outside of one of the Potter rides in Universal Hollywood. Nothing much happens, and then I'm soaked to the bone. Fun. :-/

The ride is about illegal logging that's destroying animal habitats and harming nature. I can understand that the message can be lost if not paying close attention.

 

[umichigan10]

Photo Update

Hong Kong castle update

http://blogmickey.com/2018/09/photo...uty-castle-transformation-summer-2018-update/

This project fascinated me. Basically them admitting they didn’t fully flesh out that park upon inception and trying to make their icon more appealing

 

[OKW Lover]

This project fascinated me. Basically them admitting they didn’t fully flesh out that park upon inception and trying to make their icon more appealing

Possibly. Or, they had just decided to copy the Disneyland castle without thinking about the impact of the mountains behind the castle. I know I was a bit disappointed when I say that castle. Its not as big an issue at DL because there really isn't a lot of background stuff to affect the forced perspective. In Hong Kong, the mountains are pretty close and they just dwarf the castle.

 

[bbmassey]

The ride is about illegal logging that's destroying animal habitats and harming nature. I can understand that the message can be lost if not paying close attention.

That is a large part of the problem in my mind. The ride is far to "preachy" for it's lack of excitement. There is no big buildup, no suspense, and it trolls along compared to many other rides of similar type. It is one of the biggest letdowns in any park in my mind. I would love to see a drastic reimagining of the ride. Tone down the message a tad and wrench up the excitement.

 

[Sweettears]

I think that if they ever were to do a reimagining of the ride they would basically have to tear the whole thing down and start from scratch. If true I highly doubt that will happen.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This project fascinated me. Basically them admitting they didn’t fully flesh out that park upon inception and trying to make their icon more appealing

Possibly. Or, they had just decided to copy the Disneyland castle without thinking about the impact of the mountains behind the castle. I know I was a bit disappointed when I say that castle. Its not as big an issue at DL because there really isn't a lot of background stuff to affect the forced perspective. In Hong Kong, the mountains are pretty close and they just dwarf the castle.

The park is a pretty similar copy to the original Disneyland (obviously some differences and then they added the minilands)

I think part of the issue also is now with Shanghai they are feeling a bit left out and that hurt attendance (which already wasn’t great) ... and they are just feeling a bit of Castle envy to it and want to bring more attention to the park

I actually liked how the castle looked against the mountains - almost made it more “realistic” to me that it was set in a spot of nature like a real castle

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

The ride is about illegal logging that's destroying animal habitats and harming nature. I can understand that the message can be lost if not paying close attention.

Message or not, I find the ride to be entirely anti-climactic and not worth waiting for -- for me. My husband loves it because he gets soaked in million-degree weather in August. To each his own!

 

[AurumPunzel]

That is a large part of the problem in my mind. The ride is far to "preachy" for it's lack of excitement. There is no big buildup, no suspense, and it trolls along compared to many other rides of similar type. It is one of the biggest letdowns in any park in my mind. I would love to see a drastic reimagining of the ride. Tone down the message a tad and wrench up the excitement.

Seconded. Apart from the palm oil trade and pockets of deforestation problems in developing countries, logging is no longer as huge a problem as it was back when the 'treehugger' generation of environmentalists campaigned heavily against deforestation, particularly to make single-use paper products. Thanks to woodland conservation, responsible forestry schemes and eco-labels, not to mention recycling, many woodland in the West is now preserved for generations to come.

 

[Sweettears]

It’s been awhile since I paid attention to the story but I thought the story was in reference to the illegal harvesting of hardwoods in Asia.

 

[skier_pete]

That is a large part of the problem in my mind. The ride is far to "preachy" for it's lack of excitement. There is no big buildup, no suspense, and it trolls along compared to many other rides of similar type. It is one of the biggest letdowns in any park in my mind. I would love to see a drastic reimagining of the ride. Tone down the message a tad and wrench up the excitement.

While I agree that Kali is a big letdown. (One single moment of excitement - the drop - and a whole lot of not much else. I don't think the problem is the theme, it's the lack of excitement around it. They should have made it so the loggers cause your raft to divert from the path, and then you go through a bunch of rapids FIRST, before you go over the drop, not just the drop. Unfortunately two things prevent them from "fixing" this ride. (1) The extreme expense of re-routing a flume ride - would not be unlike saying "let's reroute a roller coaster" only even harder and (2) the ride ALWAYS has a line, so there's just as much motivation for Disney to make changes as there is for them to fix the Yeti. (And seeing as how the Yeti fix is ten times simpler and has been sitting on the back burner for 10+ years...that means none.)

 

[Farro]

So I'm in the minority, but I always loved Kali. It's gorgeous to look at, love the sound effects and I've never gotten wetter on a ride. Soaked to the bone.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So I'm in the minority, but I always loved Kali. It's gorgeous to look at, love the sound effects and I've never gotten wetter on a ride. Soaked to the bone.

I like Kali's theming better than Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges honestly and it's more all the incorporation they've done with the landscape the overall theme,etc but I prefer the actual ride more on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges than Kali.

I actually looked into it more and most seem to agree that Universal's ride gets you wetter- TP says: "The rapids are rougher and more interesting, and the ride longer, than Animal Kingdom’s similar Kali River Rapids. And unlike Disney's rapids, which occasionally let lucky riders off with just a misting, it's impossible to experience the Bilge-Rat Barges without getting soaked."

One thing I do like is that for if a person loves to go on water rides there are 3 of them in IOA right by each other.

 

[disneygirlsng]

I like Kali's theming better than Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges honestly and it's more all the incorporation they've done with the landscape the overall theme,etc but I prefer the actual ride more on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges than Kali.

I actually looked into it more and most seem to agree that Universal's ride gets you wetter- TP says: "The rapids are rougher and more interesting, and the ride longer, than Animal Kingdom’s similar Kali River Rapids. And unlike Disney's rapids, which occasionally let lucky riders off with just a misting, it's impossible to experience the Bilge-Rat Barges without getting soaked."

One thing I do like is that for if a person loves to go on water rides there are 3 of them in IOA right by each other.

I agree. I feel like with Kali it's more hit or miss. Some people do get drenched, but I've walked off that ride at times with just a few drops. With Popeye there's really no way of getting around every single person being completely soaked. Then of course as you said, I can then go get even more soaked on Dudley Do Right and Jurassic Park right after. Somehow it increases the worth of getting wet when there are 3 great rides to get wet on opposed to just one lol.