Josh Hendy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,294
I'd like to nail down some of the important elements of a great theme park ride or show. Here are my lists of "good" and "bad" elements.
Elements that I consider "good":
MOTION ... exhilarating, scary, but not neck-breaking or nauseating. All of the Disney mountains are in this category (including Everest). Peter Pan, E.T. and Haunted Mansion are better than other dark rides because the motion is in 3D, not just roaming from room to room on a flat floor like Pooh and Cat in the Hat.
MUSIC ... stirring music resembling a well-composed movie soundtrack (Spaceship Earth, Illuminations) or really warm, appealing or fun pop songs (Festival of the Lion King, Philharmagic)
THEMING ... must be thorough and immersive, from the facade to the queue to the attraction to the exit area and gift shop/food outlets.
LENGTH OF EXPERIENCE ... the longer the better. Space Mountain duration is the minimum acceptable.
LIGHTING ... evocative and natural-looking. It might use spotlights, LEDs, fiber optics and digital projectors but it shouldn't LOOK like those things.
DRAMA ... meaning a good story, suspense, surprise, comedy. Everything that Carousel of Progress is not, in other words!
Elements that I consider "bad":
MOTION ... neck-breaking, nauseating and headache-inducing. Rock'n'Roller coaster for some, most looping coasters, and Revenge of the Mummy at one point is a whip-lasher. A special category of badness exists for the Stitch presentation which has no motion at all.
MUSIC ... hokey-dokey, dumdy-dumdy music. This is of course subject to personal taste. I love Zipadee-doo-dah but dislike Carousel of Progress.
NOISE ... the worst offenders are Dinosaur, and lots of attractions and shows at Universal
VIDEO SCREENS ... after the initial ride, I steadily lose interest in attractions that are mostly or even partly based on video/movie presentations. This includes practically any 3D movie, Midway Mania, Amazing Spiderman, plus 2D video based rides like The Simpsons, and Mexico. I've said it before and I'll say it again ... we all have great video and gaming systems at home! I make exceptions for Philharmagic because of the great music and Soarin' because of the smooth, exhilarating feeling of flight. I also dislike video games/presentations in queues ... except for the superb life-like videos and talking paintings in the Hogwarts queue.
To summarize:
You have to be generous with the amount of space and steel that you allocate to an attraction. You have to pay a lot for a really good composer or songwriter. And story writers, dialog and joke writers. You can't make up for a lack of space, steel, motion, music or storytelling with a throwaway video clip or with "explosions" and sudden, jerky movements.
Elements that I consider "good":
MOTION ... exhilarating, scary, but not neck-breaking or nauseating. All of the Disney mountains are in this category (including Everest). Peter Pan, E.T. and Haunted Mansion are better than other dark rides because the motion is in 3D, not just roaming from room to room on a flat floor like Pooh and Cat in the Hat.
MUSIC ... stirring music resembling a well-composed movie soundtrack (Spaceship Earth, Illuminations) or really warm, appealing or fun pop songs (Festival of the Lion King, Philharmagic)
THEMING ... must be thorough and immersive, from the facade to the queue to the attraction to the exit area and gift shop/food outlets.
LENGTH OF EXPERIENCE ... the longer the better. Space Mountain duration is the minimum acceptable.
LIGHTING ... evocative and natural-looking. It might use spotlights, LEDs, fiber optics and digital projectors but it shouldn't LOOK like those things.
DRAMA ... meaning a good story, suspense, surprise, comedy. Everything that Carousel of Progress is not, in other words!
Elements that I consider "bad":
MOTION ... neck-breaking, nauseating and headache-inducing. Rock'n'Roller coaster for some, most looping coasters, and Revenge of the Mummy at one point is a whip-lasher. A special category of badness exists for the Stitch presentation which has no motion at all.
MUSIC ... hokey-dokey, dumdy-dumdy music. This is of course subject to personal taste. I love Zipadee-doo-dah but dislike Carousel of Progress.
NOISE ... the worst offenders are Dinosaur, and lots of attractions and shows at Universal
VIDEO SCREENS ... after the initial ride, I steadily lose interest in attractions that are mostly or even partly based on video/movie presentations. This includes practically any 3D movie, Midway Mania, Amazing Spiderman, plus 2D video based rides like The Simpsons, and Mexico. I've said it before and I'll say it again ... we all have great video and gaming systems at home! I make exceptions for Philharmagic because of the great music and Soarin' because of the smooth, exhilarating feeling of flight. I also dislike video games/presentations in queues ... except for the superb life-like videos and talking paintings in the Hogwarts queue.
To summarize:
You have to be generous with the amount of space and steel that you allocate to an attraction. You have to pay a lot for a really good composer or songwriter. And story writers, dialog and joke writers. You can't make up for a lack of space, steel, motion, music or storytelling with a throwaway video clip or with "explosions" and sudden, jerky movements.
