Originally Posted By brotherdave Funny, I remember that Journey Into Imagination had the LONGEST line of the EPCOT Center dark rides next to Spaceship Earth through most of the first decade. It was probably one of the most visited rides mainly due to its "kid friendly" theme (though the 'scary' parts usually freaked out many younger kids!). If I recall correctly, the Unnofficial Guide to EPCOT during this period usually had visitors ride JII just after Listen to the Land/Living With the Land due to longer lines as the afternoon wore on. Sure, the lines dwindled after dinner, but so did most of Future World as people headed for World Showcase. The newer versions of JII never got the crowds like the original did. It was one of the worst decisions Disney ever made when they removed the original completely. From what I remember reading, it was at Kodak's insistance that they redo the attraction. It wasn't a failure, but most of EPCOT by the mid-90s was beginning drop attendance. They rushed new attractions into being as corporate sponsors either forced the issue of updating their attractions or dropped out completely. It almost seemed as if Disney began to panic and hurried up replacement attractions. In doing so, they elmininated the longer rides in favor of shorter ones. Afterall, people can't spend money while they're enjoying attractions, can they??? Less time on the rides, more time spending money...
Originally Posted By trekkeruss FWIW, I thought the beginning of the JII ride was neat, from a engineering "wow" factor; the turntable effect was fantastic. But for me, the rest of the ride was bizzare, stupid, and boring.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>Yeah, cuz WDI knows what they're doing - like with FL Forest - you know, that design that's so close to done that they dob't know where any rides are going despite the fact that they've started ground breaking/construction. Yeah, that group of well organized people.<<< Just because they have not told us anything doesn't mean they are not doing anything, Merf. Look at DCA. Look at Tokyo. Yeah, that great of people CAN do great, organized things...They just need a bit of money. You can blame TDO for that.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>>>>>> People may have called Horizons, World of Motion and Journey into Imagination boring but they were high capacity rides that saw high numbers of guests. Seas with Nemo is very similar - it has minimal waits but is outpacing many attractions for guest counts. No one is calling it an abysmal failure or utterly boring. <<<<<<< I do. A bratty fish fits in FUTURE World how? ;-)
Originally Posted By mousermerf Exlorer - they did tell us. They told us they don't know what they are doing at the D23 event and that all the concept art was created without any solid plans to back it up and that is all just a bunch of pretty pictures with zero substance.
Originally Posted By danyoung >Funny, I remember that Journey Into Imagination had the LONGEST line of the EPCOT Center dark rides next to Spaceship Earth through most of the first decade.< Your memory & mine are differing on this, although it's only fair to mention that my visits were spotty in the 80's. In the 90's I started coming at least twice a year, by which time the crowds had pretty much fallen off. >I thought the beginning of the JII ride was neat, from a engineering "wow" factor; the turntable effect was fantastic. But for me, the rest of the ride was bizzare, stupid, and boring.< Gotta give you a big 'ol ditto here! I will say that I thought that the first couple of scenes after the turntable were pretty cool - but the last few were just kinda 'eh'.
Originally Posted By leobloom Total digression: the machines used to clean the 3D glasses from all the parks are in the Imagination building (actually closer to HISTA). On the wall beside the cleaning machines are some props from the old JII. I recall there are a couple of the words, like "Mystery" or "Terror", that used to appear in the 'literary'(?) section of the ride---the section that had a bunch of words all in black light. Beside the 3D-glasses cleaning machine there's also a sign, I suppose, from the days of Magic Journeys and EO. Figment's on the sign telling people to return their 3D glasses. I liked the old JII, and like a lot of people I think the later versions were weak. But if there was a ever a ride whose theme deserved a randomizing element, it would be JII.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Recycled ideas are tired ideas from people with nostalgic memories of something that they think was good.>> You mean like offering Nightastic where you bring back a 1972 parade for the second time for what will be a multi-year showing? <<Major point: The original Journey Into Imagination ride never had a long line after a couple years. Why? Because it was BORING!>> Oh, my mistake. You are way off on this ... if the original Journey is boring what do you call (crap) like the neutered Snow White or any of the MK dark rides none of which can compare to the charm, scope and immersion of the original Journey? As to lines, you are flat out wrong. I guess the times I stood in th extended outdoor queue near the restrooms that most FW guests don't know/forgot exist were simply crazy abberations on my many visits? Sure ... popularity waned. But if you really worked for WDI-FLA, you'd have been in a position to have access to the attraction counts and know that the current version struggles to come close to pulling in what the original version did in its admittedly less popular later 90s years.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<That's not true - at least the long line part. It saw far more guests then the current version does. People may have called Horizons, World of Motion and Journey into Imagination boring but they were high capacity rides that saw high numbers of guests. Seas with Nemo is very similar - it has minimal waits but is outpacing many attractions for guest counts. No one is calling it an abysmal failure or utterly boring. We are, however, calling the current Journey with a much lower capacity and no traffic a failure. We are calling M:S with a lower capacity and much less traffic and outrageous price tag a borderline failure. Test Track? Soarin? Those are successes, whether someone likes them or not. >> Oh no!!! It's always scary when I have to agree 100% with Merfie. On another subject, did you ever get your 'I AM SO SPECIAL LOOK AT ME 'CAUSE I HAVE A DISNEY PARKS PRIMIER ANNUAL PASS?' If so, please post a bad photo of yourself holding it so everyone can bow down before Zod!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Just because they have not told us anything doesn't mean they are not doing anything, Merf.>> And just because they have not told us anything doesn't mean they are doing anything either ... And please, don't call me Merf or I may have to hurt you. And I know where you're going to be on Friday too! <<Look at DCA. Look at Tokyo. Yeah, that great of people CAN do great, organized things...They just need a bit of money. You can blame TDO for that.>> DCA and Tokyo are NOT WDW ... it is a resort model run totally different since the mid-late 90s. And you can ultimately blame people above TDO ... all the way to Burbank because they ultimately allow Orlando to operate the way it does.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<They told us they don't know what they are doing at the D23 event and that all the concept art was created without any solid plans to back it up and that is all just a bunch of pretty pictures with zero substance. >> Yeah ... but you can be sure they know what's happening on other fronts (like Shanghai!) BTW, did you go to the D23 event and feel special while eating cookies and drooling over Tony Baxter (don't think you're his type)!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Someone sounds like they're stomping their feet like a two-year-old.>> If you wanna play in the sandbox, then you'll have to come up with better material. Old man Pierce can help ... his posting style has improved so much over the years that it brings a tear to my eyes.
Originally Posted By Manfried How about we invent an all new attraction. Dreamfinder meets Lord Sidius.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Old man Pierce can help ... his posting style has improved so much over the years that it brings a tear to my eyes. << Is that because you are rolling around on the floor laughing so hard at the misspelled words, bad gramatical pharses, improper uses of big words that I have no knowledge of their meaning, the run on sentences or the completely idiotic point of view I was trying to make? Is the laughter what brings tears to your eyes? If not, then thank you for the compliment.
Originally Posted By brotherdave >>As to lines, you are flat out wrong. I guess the times I stood in th extended outdoor queue near the restrooms that most FW guests don't know/forgot exist were simply crazy abberations on my many visits?<< Spirit, I remember standing in those lines, too. Not just on my first visit in July of 1983, but also in October of 1992. And that was way before Mickey's Not-So-Scary whatever Party was even thought of yet for Octobers! Disney, with Kodak's insistance, killed the original, wonderous world of Dreamfinder and Figment. I would say that the original JII may have been EPCOT's biggest moneymaker, too, given all the Figment merchandise they sold. No wonder they brought him back for the latest redo. Too bad that this version isn't as memorable or awe-inspiring as the original. (Side note: I'm probably one of the few on these boards who actually likes the current version, but certainly not as much as the original.)
Originally Posted By mousermerf Much of Centorium's original shelf space was dedicated to Figment merchandise. There was actual fear that Figment was outpacing Mickey for popularity for a period.
Originally Posted By PhantomX To be fair Merf. Iger just said that there are currently no plans to bring Dreamfinder back. He mentioned that there were a few ideas earlier this decade but none of them were really that great and he says hes willing to bring it up to Imagineering. You make it sound like Iger said "No we wont be bringing dreamfinder back PERIOD" which isn't what he said at all. Considering the guy asking the question made a fool out of all of the fans with his rant I think the response could have been worse. Alot worse.
Originally Posted By Manfried That's the problem with the fanboy rants. They need to learn to be constructive and not sensational.
