Tokyo Disneyland Resort

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Well that was, disappointing. Im watching the Be Our Guest scene in amazement via my computer screen, and felt they immediately nailed it. Then I feel the entire ride fell off track. The 2nd scene is far too long with nothing going on really. The first and end scenes they clearly knew what they were doing and wanted, and it felt like nobody put much thought into anything at all in between.

Now, the tech looks COOL, and the AAs seem to me to be top notch, so this certainly isn't bad, but the same way I feel with M&M is there with these trackless dark rides where 5 vehicles or so are all together, they need a lot of space to work with that which leads to a lot of emptiness. In person with the ride vechiles dancing around I bet this is better but I'm shocked my reaction here really is, eh. Freaking stellar first and final scenes, but everything else in between is pretty tough.

 

[Jamesh22]

Question is... would any of you want to ride it a second time?

That's the sign of a great attraction and for me this is a once and done, and I say that as a huge BATB fan.

I think sometimes they get so caught up in the super expensive new tech, that they forget to come up with decent pacing and a great attraction.
I'll give Disney 1 hit and 2 strike outs for their recent 3 trackless rides. ROTR being the stand out winner and the other 2 just being bland.

 

[Legacy]

I’d argue even the finale runs too long. There’s no real progression within it.

Be Our Guest works. Something There is absolutely dreck. The transformation works well. And the finale is... well... it’s better than Something There. I feel like letting our RVs dance on their own a but, then pausing to reveal Belle and Adam dancing (like you’re part of Adam’s court), would have been much better.

If they could have gotten their platform dancing around with though. That would have been bonkers.

 

[Magic Feather]

I’d argue even the finale runs too long. There’s no real progression within it.

Be Our Guest works. Something There is absolutely dreck. The transformation works well. And the finale is... well... it’s better than Something There. I feel like letting our RVs dance on their own a but, then pausing to reveal Belle and Adam dancing (like you’re part of Adam’s court), would have been much better.

If they could have gotten their platform dancing around with though. That would have been bonkers.

I haven’t totally been able to nail down the ride mechanics, but I think out of the six, they move between Something There and the Ballroom in packs of 3, meaning that half of the group gets extra time in ST, and the other half gets extra time in the ballroom.

I think the widely circulated POV was from the “first to leave ST” group, which is why the Ballroom dragged, while there was a cascade that caused it to stall in ST, also making that scene look longer.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I’d argue even the finale runs too long. There’s no real progression within it.

Be Our Guest works. Something There is absolutely dreck. The transformation works well. And the finale is... well... it’s better than Something There. I feel like letting our RVs dance on their own a but, then pausing to reveal Belle and Adam dancing (like you’re part of Adam’s court), would have been much better.

If they could have gotten their platform dancing around with though. That would have been bonkers.

Something there kills all momentum. Real tough scene. Be Our Guest was everything I could have ever hoped for, they just nailed that and I think the final scene too. It’s a tad long but that’s a common theme on this ride it seems and that’s the least offensive one.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Question is... would any of you want to ride it a second time?

That's the sign of a great attraction and for me this is a once and done, and I say that as a huge BATB fan.

I think sometimes they get so caught up in the super expensive new tech, that they forget to come up with decent pacing and a great attraction.
I'll give Disney 1 hit and 2 strike outs for their recent 3 trackless rides. ROTR being the stand out winner and the other 2 just being bland.

I've gotta say , I think pacing is probably the biggest issue with most entertainment nowadays

 

[Trumen882]

I know it's not perfect, but I think this is the best ride they have produced in ages. The score is wonderful and each room builds very nicely. You could never have key changes, final choruses etc with any other ride system. I think the whole thing is just musically so well done. Very impressed with the videos and would be ecstatic if they built this in florida or Disneyland. Felt like pure magic

 

[Michael S]

Question is... would any of you want to ride it a second time?

I probably would ride it a second time.:: but would I REALLY want to? I don’t think it would be devastating if it’s once and done. It sort of reminds me of what Tony Baxter used to say, and something that may be missing from current theme park designs. He would always say he doesn’t design for the first, or second ride. He designs for the twentieth ride. What is so special about the ride that you want to go on it 20 times. I can say every attraction he had his hands in I have and wanted to ride them 20+ times. I can’t say that about this attraction.

 

[Mad Dog]

I probably would ride it a second time.:: but would I REALLY want to? I don’t think it would be devastating if it’s once and done. It sort of reminds me of what Tony Baxter used to say, and something that may be missing from current theme park designs. He would always say he doesn’t design for the first, or second ride. He designs for the twentieth ride. What is so special about the ride that you want to go on it 20 times. I can say every attraction he had his hands in I have and wanted to ride them 20+ times. I can’t say that about this attraction.

A BIG Yes to Baxter's concept. Whenever I do a review on a new attraction, I keep that in mind. I almost always ride a new attraction multiple times before I do a full review. There's often a significant difference in how I feel about an attraction
after multiple rides, compared to my first and second rides, for a number of reasons. Some attractions are better, some are not as good with repeat rides since they lack that important re rideability factor. But I also want to feel the pure ride, POV's aren't always good indicators...... In regards to Beauty, I'll probably never experience the actual ride, thus just a few 'observations' from watching the POV were in order.

 

[Tristan]

To the question of re-rideability with these trackless rides I think they're not "rides" but "experiences" I haven't been on Rise but once you go on it five times isn't bothersome to go through three preshows? Same thing with BaTB it looks more like something people on vacation go on once on their trip. These trackless rides look so tedious to make a good ride around. Like c'mon to even go up or down you need a whole elevator, compare that to any other ride where it's just a slope.

 

[Jerroddragon]

To the question of re-rideability with these trackless rides I think they're not "rides" but "experiences" I haven't been on Rise but once you go on it five times isn't bothersome to go through three preshows? Same thing with BaTB it looks more like something people on vacation go on once on their trip. These trackless rides look so tedious to make a good ride around. Like c'mon to even go up or down you need a whole elevator, compare that to any other ride where it's just a slope.

HM has the only pre show that doesn't bore or bother me...its basically perfect. The rest I find meh after a few times.

 

[Michael S]

HM has the only pre show that doesn't bore or bother me...its basically perfect. The rest I find meh after a few times.

I would argue it’s the simplicity of the preshow, and how it sets the stage rather than steals the spotlight.

How does everybody feel about these new forms of preshows like ROTR and BATB? I haven’t experienced any of these elaborate pre shows in person, but idk I grew up with the basic video screen preshow at Disney and universal and that never bothered me. However I felt you could almost tune those out after one ride (BTTF, Star Tours, Indiana Jones etc.) with these large theatrical preshows it seems hard to not pay attention to the action, so I don’t see how after 50 rides you’re still excited to spend five to fifteen minutes to get on a ride you like, and are required to experience the attraction in its fullest.

Now, don’t misunderstand this. I think this is really a game changer for the industry. It does allow for more long form story telling. The only kind of preshow comparable to these I’ve experienced is Forbidden Journey, only once, and the set up was nearly as good as the ride. I’m not knocking the concept. However it seems to drive home the recent (80s to present) philosophy of rides needing to tell a linear story which isn’t necessarily the best way to go about something you experience first hand. Rise seems to be better at putting you in the story, and making you the star even in the queue. BATB seems like a cool way to watch an AA show ‍

 

[Mad Dog]

I never get tired of the really good queues & preshows, like FJ, Gringotts, etc. I've always considered them as the "Total Experience" (building facade, queue/preshow,ride). But a weak pre show in a weak queue sometimes does get monotonous.

 

[shiekra38]

I feel the first two scenes exist just to pad the ride time

It's the theme park equivalent of making a player retread the same level in a video game

Also, I'm not so sure the 'dancing' thing that trackless rides can do is as exciting as Disney thinks it is.

 

[Mad Dog]

I feel the first two scenes exist just to pad the ride time

It's the theme park equivalent of making a player retread the same level in a video game

Also, I'm not so sure the 'dancing' thing that trackless rides can do is as exciting as Disney thinks it is.

Yea, the dancing can probably get old if it's on more than one ride.

 

[Legacy]

To the question of re-rideability with these trackless rides I think they're not "rides" but "experiences" I haven't been on Rise but once you go on it five times isn't bothersome to go through three preshows? Same thing with BaTB it looks more like something people on vacation go on once on their trip. These trackless rides look so tedious to make a good ride around. Like c'mon to even go up or down you need a whole elevator, compare that to any other ride where it's just a slope.

Mystic Manor pulls it off pretty well.

 

[Magic Feather]

Mystic Manor pulls it off pretty well.

Mystic pulls it off very well, and never resorts to the cars dancing (and Hunny Hunt doesn’t either for the record, in the Heffalump room the cars just crisscross the room for one vignette to another).

It knows that the big strength of the tech is the ability to have the cars pull up together in the same space to see a scene, then be able to shift to fill any space (whether it’s a straight line, a U, a circle, etc.) all while being able to take slightly different paths for that to happen.

Cars dancing is fun for a flat ride (see Luigi) or a one off scene (see Runaway Railway), but when you do it for three scenes in a row at 1-2 minutes a piece, it gets a little tiring. Especially when the RV’s are obnoxiously sized and in packs of six, meaning that the spaces have to be obnoxiously huge to accommodate them.

 

[shiekra38]

Mystic pulls it off very well, and never resorts to the cars dancing (and Hunny Hunt doesn’t either for the record, in the Heffalump room the cars just crisscross the room for one vignette to another).

It knows that the big strength of the tech is the ability to have the cars pull up together in the same space to see a scene, then be able to shift to fill any space (whether it’s a straight line, a U, a circle, etc.) all while being able to take slightly different paths for that to happen.

Cars dancing is fun for a flat ride (see Luigi) or a one off scene (see Runaway Railway), but when you do it for three scenes in a row at 1-2 minutes a piece, it gets a little tiring. Especially when the RV’s are obnoxiously sized and in packs of six, meaning that the spaces have to be obnoxiously huge to accommodate them.

It's like some guy in a meeting is like "what if the cars all danced around"

It's a way to pad the ride time, design one "big" scene and spend less on individual scenes, and take up a smaller footprint (in theory)

Mystic Manor, Symbolica, and Rise are the best examples of good trackless implementation IMO

 

[SkiBum]

It's like some guy in a meeting is like "what if the cars all danced around"

It's a way to pad the ride time, design one "big" scene and spend less on individual scenes, and take up a smaller footprint (in theory)

Mystic Manor, Symbolica, and Rise are the best examples of good trackless implementation IMO

Maybe they think that the dancing sequences are what truly define the trackless rides? A different perspective could have been to use the trackless to focus on different things going on within the scene. Plus, if it is moving slowly, it won't feel like a dance. It will feel mostly like a slow-moving ride with subtle changes in direction.

 

[shiekra38]

Maybe they think that the dancing sequences are what truly define the trackless rides? A different perspective could have been to use the trackless to focus on different things going on within the scene. Plus, if it is moving slowly, it won't feel like a dance. It will feel mostly like a slow-moving ride with subtle changes in direction.

I think that's exactly what they think...like mini flat ride sections if you will

My issue is, particularly on this ride, there is not enough happening or changing to be interesting in the scenes where they 'dance'

It's just floating around until the next scene opens

Which leads to terrible pacing