RIP Maelstrom

[999DoomBuggies]

RIP Maelstrom, you brought us much joy.

I am glad I got to ride you a bunch of times in August. Your premature death due to management not respecting imagineering and nostalgia and instead focusing on the bottom dollar is terribly sad yet understandable. I am sad that your corpse will be covered with a Frozen overlay - essentially the ultimate disrespect to the one ride in World Showcase that is a true tribute to a country. I am sorry that podcasters such Lou Mongello crapped all over your remains (hence why I listen to the disunplugged instead). What you do not understand Maelstrom is in the next decade you will reach the same status as Horizons.

 

[mesaboy2]

I didn't know Horizons was that bad.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

I didn't know Horizons was that bad.

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and to think, i have been plugging your posts outside of this board!

 

[mesaboy2]

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and to think, i have been plugging your posts outside of this board!

Just messing with you, hence the wink.

I think Maelstrom was a middling ride at best, and it's replacement will likely bring more numbers than Maelstrom did at least in the short term. I'll be interested to see what kind of ride will replace it, with 16 months or more to play it could be something different and dare I say, "better".

 

[hakepb]

The OP's name got me thinking, That would be cool if Disney added a Troll in HM (along with other "Dead" rides.

I'm disapointed that Maelstrom is gone. After my trip to DL, I love that their FL has a bunch of older attractions, and suppliments them with newer attractions. Instead of replacing Mr Toad with Pooh, DL kept Mr Toad and still found room for Pooh. There is more than enough space in WDW to add additional rides. It's confusing why they don't want to use that space.

 

[mesaboy2]

The OP's name got me thinking, That would be cool if Disney added a Troll in HM (along with other "Dead" rides.

I'm disapointed that Maelstrom is gone. After my trip to DL, I love that their FL has a bunch of older attractions, and suppliments them with newer attractions. Instead of replacing Mr Toad with Pooh, DL kept Mr Toad and still found room for Pooh. There is more than enough space in WDW to add additional rides. It's confusing why they don't want to use that space.

I agree they should add and not replace attractions, but I'm pretty sure the price tag is higher to do that and it's easy for me to say since it's not my money.

 

[Tonyz]

I'm gonna miss it... glad I got to ride it one more time in September. But I'm looking forward to what comes next.

The Lou comment is a little out of line. He didn't "crap all over" Maelstrom. He gave an honest assessment about the situation. However, I will agree that I was surprised at his underwhelming description of the ride. This is a guy who loves everything about every attraction ever besides Stitch and the current Imagination. I think he's trying to put a positive spin on the situation... he's more of a "glass half full" guy compared to Pete and the DIS who are more honest and critical in their love. I love both podcasts, probably WDW Radio a little more, but I agree with the DIS's assessment of Maelstrom closing more. (And as an aside, I wish Pete had been there for their Maelstrom discussion. I want to hear his opinion.)

Was there a discussion on Lou's comments on the Maelstrom on this board?

 

[999DoomBuggies]

I'm gonna miss it... glad I got to ride it one more time in September. But I'm looking forward to what comes next. The Lou comment is a little out of line. He didn't "crap all over" Maelstrom. He gave an honest assessment about the situation. However, I will agree that I was surprised at his underwhelming description of the ride. This is a guy who loves everything about every attraction ever besides Stitch and the current Imagination. I think he's trying to put a positive spin on the situation... he's more of a "glass half full" guy compared to Pete and the DIS who are more honest and critical in their love. I love both podcasts, probably WDW Radio a little more, but I agree with the DIS's assessment of Maelstrom closing more. (And as an aside, I wish Pete had been there for their Maelstrom discussion. I want to hear his opinion.) Was there a discussion on Lou's comments on the Maelstrom on this board?

Lou claims to bring a positive attitude to all things disney and pointedly states that he is taking a positive attitude approach to the maelstrom/frozen phenomenon yet he went out of his way to put down maelstrom in order to boost the idea of a frozen overlay.

Not sure if there was a discussion of Lou's comments on this board but I do know it was discussed on Facebook. He seems like a cool fella so no big deal. He is entitled to his opinion.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

Just messing with you, hence the wink. I think Maelstrom was a middling ride at best, and it's replacement will likely bring more numbers than Maelstrom did at least in the short term. I'll be interested to see what kind of ride will replace it, with 16 months or more to play it could be something different and dare I say, "better".

My entire life is built around cynicism and sarcasm so I clearly understood. I agree with your assessment I just hate to see another dark ride classic go. Financially this makes sense, but epcot needs more attractions not less. In the end this may not be the most financially sensitive decision. Some negatives are that instead of gaining another epcot attraction disney just swapped. The cost of an overlay will save significant money but keeping both maelstrom and adding a frozen ride would have been a significant shot in the arm for epcot. How much does disney really save by going the overlay route instead of building new?

Can't wait till spaceship earth gets a wall e overlay.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Maelstrom will always have a special place in our hearts from our first trip with our grandchildren. They dubbed it "Little Splash Mountain" and absolutely loved that they could go on it at ages 3 & 4.

It was one of the things they looked forward to in subsequent trips and we paid our respects to it in Sept, actually FP+ing it both days we went to Epcot. It is enshrined in our family vacation history.

Of course, as these children are growing, the attraction to Maelstrom would eventually wane and now they can look forward to the makeover. We were fortunate that it was so popular with them and they were just the right ages to love it so far. I always wished they had done a bit more with the absolutely charming setting at the end of the boat ride. That was my favourite part!

 

[TygerHawks]

Can't wait till spaceship earth gets a wall e overlay.

hmmmmmm.......

 

[mesaboy2]

My entire life is built around cynicism and sarcasm so I clearly understood. I agree with your assessment I just hate to see another dark ride classic go. Financially this makes sense, but epcot needs more attractions not less. In the end this may not be the most financially sensitive decision. Some negatives are that instead of gaining another epcot attraction disney just swapped. The cost of an overlay will save significant money but keeping both maelstrom and adding a frozen ride would have been a significant shot in the arm for epcot. How much does disney really save by going the overlay route instead of building new?

Can't wait till spaceship earth gets a wall e overlay.

 

[Planogirl]

Whatever anyone thought of Maelstrom nowadays, it did fit the theme and it was pretty nice when it first opened. I can't help but wonder what a proper redo would have done for the ride.

I agree, RIP Maelstrom. And Norway.

 

[MickeyMinnie1971]

We are going to ride it one last time this evening. Wasn't a favorite of mine, but still sad to see it go.

 

[CHIPSTER]

Sorry to see Maelstrom go but more sorry to see the movie go. It was uplifting and I watched it every trip while many just walked thru.

 

[Disneylover99]

We are going to ride it one last time this evening.

I wish I was there.

 

[Disneylover99]

Sorry to see Maelstrom go but more sorry to see the movie go. It was uplifting and I watched it every trip while many just walked thru.

I loved the movie too. I could never just walk on through.

 

[GeneralTso]

It was never a favorite of mine, in fact I thought it was kind of depressing.
I think Frozen fits perfectly in Norway and I'm one that likes change, so it's exciting for me. I honor the past and realize it's full of many fond memories. Time to make some new ones.

The Frozen upgrade will thrill many thousands of happy people. I hope they add Anna and Elsa to Akershus!

 

[Planogirl]

It was never a favorite of mine, in fact I thought it was kind of depressing.
I think Frozen fits perfectly in Norway and I'm one that likes change, so it's exciting for me. I honor the past and realize it's full of many fond memories. Time to make some new ones.

The Frozen upgrade will thrill many thousands of happy people. I hope they add Anna and Elsa to Akershus!

And I am truly happy for those of you who like this. But do try to understand that there are actually people who visited Epcot who appreciate the country of Norway. It's sad to some of us that Norway is disappearing.

 

[epcotty]

The bad thing is replacing it with a fake country somewhat based on the previous country. So much for the idea of World Showcase. I was almost going to go again sometime in the past few days to go on it once more but it just didn't work out. At least I've gone on it 3 times in recent history