Originally Posted By pitapan16 I tend to agree, I generally don't like getting wet at all on rides, a slight mist or very small water drops at most. Anywho, I think Grizzly has always been beautiful in any respect. It's just been one of those things that you go, man this is really good, BUT, it could be GREAT! Thats where the "animals" come in, some more dramatic eye-catching visuals, even If small, eye-catching.
Originally Posted By oc_dean I love all these responses what to wear. It's hysterical! Even if I felt like going through all that rigmarole ... and dress in something skimpy... You know .. Disney does have dress codes ... and I would pushing for some CM giving me a hard time.. and even boot me out. But if I ever decide to stay at the Grand Californian for a night or two .... I'll take you up on your advice Constance.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance I do! I can't help it. I can sense it's bothering some people, but I just can't seem to resist making side comments. Something in my genetic makeup whispering to make a comment totally unrelated to anything that is being said at the moment. I think it's because while I love reading about Disney and discussing Disney things, I also come here to kind of "make friends" and have fun. So, my side comments are usually an attempt at that. I realize I tend to pick on you a bit Hans, lol. I hope I don't offend you or bother you. I never say anything to do that. Just to try and make you laugh and have fun. You're just one of my favorite LPers!
Originally Posted By oc_dean OH .. and Hans .. that's exactly right. "taking up a notch". Splash Mountain is the perfect example. There have been log rides around for decades. Then Disney took that up a serious notch .. and gave a log ride some serious "show building" scenes. The same should have been applied for GRR. As I mentioned .. there's that semi-opened area at the first gate .. for GRR mini drop #1. Where they could "Matterhorn1978" it .. close up more .. and install some "show" scenes. Doesn't even have to be AAs. It could be sets with movable props on hydraulics. There's tons of stuff they could do.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance Hans! How dare you respond to my heartfelt post in that manner!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "The same should have been applied for GRR." I think it's been pointed out at least 100 times now since 2001 that GRR IS designed well beyond the average theme park river raft ride and carefully themed with a substantial Disney back story to support the attraction's storyline. Just because it doesn't have some elaborate cave with sets and scenes doesn't mean that it isn't "Disney". I do agree with Jim though that a few thematic surprises (I love the possum gag in Big Thunder) along the way would be nice.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >> GRR IS designed well beyond the average theme park river raft ride and carefully themed with a substantial Disney back story to support the attraction's storyline. << The story line is weak. As representative in the ride itself. A bore! You should know better than anyone else ... what makes Disney so special .. and why you keep coming back to this site every day ... is the quintessential Disney theme park experience .. are attractions that are "hyper-reality" experiences. So "hyped" it dazzles the senses .. and makes people want to come back over, and over again. A true "Disney-esque" ride experience .. is something unlike anyone else would expect, that can't be found anywhere else. In 1956 .. a train in Frontierland took you through some "expected" scenery one would find in Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, etc .. but to be taken into Rainbow Caverns .. well that was one of those very unique "show" type experiences that truly set that train excursion really a part from anything else that was around .. up to that time. While GRR is contained within some really nice landscaping ... the essential ride is really no more special or unique than Magic Mountain's, Knott's, or Sea Worlds raft rides.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "You know .. Disney does have dress codes ... and I would pushing for some CM giving me a hard time.. and even boot me out." I've been to the park on several Batsdays, and I can say that from my experience, the CM's don't seem to care about the dresscodes. From a lady wearing a ballgown similar to Belle's (though all black), to a fleet of guys in tuxes and tophats and bowlers (looking suspiciously like HM CM's, but better dressed), to a guy wandering around Frontierland wearing a gas mask. I doubt anything you wear will be all that out of the ordinary for them : )
Originally Posted By Dabob2 One of the reasons I like GRR is that who gets soaked and who stays mostly dry is truly random. Getting soaked 3 times in a row is like tossing heads three times in a row - it happens. I've been the opposite - I think I've been on 5 times, and stayed nearly dry 4 of those times. However, I dislike getting soaked to the bone too, so I've worn my Disney poncho when I've ridden. Four times I've really not needed it, but the fifth time... IT was covered with water, but the rest of me was not (except a bit below the knee). So Dean - serious suggestion - try riding it with the ubiquitous Disney poncho. When not using it, it folds up pretty nicely and will fit in a jacket pocket, or if it's warm weather, in a souvenir bag (or possibly a female group-member's handbag if she's willing). You can even fashion your own poncho out of a hefty bag, and throw away when finished.
Originally Posted By mousermerf UGH!!! Near-sightedness of this discussion is driving me batty. IOA opened Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges in 1999. It had everything we think a Disney ride should be (animatronics included) and since the general public was poorly informed of IOA, it's treated like it doesn't exist. Disney knows it exists though. Why? Because its won the themed entertainment association's award for best raft ride every year since it opened. It beat Kali River Rapids, it beat Grizzly, and it's beat everything else since then too. That makes the Mouse shamed in the raft-ride department. But then we get to discussions online and people pretend it doesn't exist - and worse, othertimes we have people saying that Popeye was missing a sense of thrill compared to Grizzly because it gets you wet instead of being a chance-occurrence. It's all quite silly. If you want to see a good raft ride to Disney standards, look no further then IOA. It proves it's not impossible and that Disney dropped he ball, severely. There is a giant animatronic octopus with glowing eyes and a boat wash that sprays bubbles and foam on you when the effects are all turned on (depending on temp/season). <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOBCmXkllac" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...CmXkllac</a> Poor ride does not get its due because Disney fanbois choose to ignore it.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <But then we get to discussions online and people pretend it doesn't exist - and worse, othertimes we have people saying that Popeye was missing a sense of thrill compared to Grizzly because it gets you wet instead of being a chance-occurrence. It's all quite silly. > That's not silly at all. It's a major flaw with that ride that EVERYONE gets soaked EVERY time. There's no suspense. No mystery. You're going to get soaked. Period. Otherwise, I do like the ride. It's well themed, and it's fun. (And since we've had discussions on it on LP since before you got here, it's not being "ignored" any more than other non-Disney rides, that often don't get mentioned on this Disney board). But half the fun of a well-designed raft ride is wondering who in the raft is going to get zonked and who isn't. If you know (and with Popeye you do) that you're GOING to get soaked, every single time, all that fun disappears. You still have a good ride, but that design flaw (and yes, it's a flaw) is far more egregious than leaving out some AA animals on GRR (which, yes, is also a flaw).
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Thanks for providing that link to Popeye's Bilge Ride. To all those who have been telling me that adding theme-ing and AA animals to the shore -- what do you say to this attraction? It's amazing! The flume walls are themed, there are show scenes, and look what people are doing -- they're craning their necks to get a better look at all the various things going on. That's what I'm talking about???
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <You sound ridiculous.> You really don't do well with being disagreed with. Grow up, huh?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <But half the fun of a well-designed raft ride is wondering who in the raft is going to get zonked and who isn't.> Yeah, not for me. People getting wet is certainly something that happens, but it's no more 'the point' of a river raft ride than whether someone gets wet on the first drop in 'Pirates of the Caribbean.'
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Well, actually that's kind of my point, in a roundabout way Jim. Getting wet ISN'T supposed to be the point. Wondering IF you will or not is part of the raft ride experience, though. If you know beyond doubt that you WILL get soaked, all that is taken away. Without that design flaw, I'd prefer Popeye to GRR. With it, I can't. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I'm going to step off of Popeye with soggy shoes, soggy underwear, soggy everything. YMMV, of course.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Here's Popeye's ride story.. Through the queue it's obvious you're being mis-directed by Bluto to his boat rental instead of Popeye's. He replaced the signs, the "nice" well taken care-of parts queue are fake and you get directed down dark and slummy looking corridors, with the occasional "beware of swindlers" and "beware of rapids in XX area" sort of signs. You get on the boat and are still headed in the "right" path, generally calm waters, until Bluto blows up the part of the river at the fork to send you to his money-making boat wash. That's where Popeye is all like "I'll save you!" and of course Olive Oil is along for the ride too. You slosh through the tight s-bends right after the sabotage and crash past the wrecked boat - a sign you're going the wrong way in the dangerous rapids. You make it to slightly calmer water going past "Me Ship the Olive" which is Popeye's boat and a giant kid's play area with multiple levels. It's hard to tell in the videos, but it's on the actual lagoon of IOA and the wooden planks of the boat are blue - it's that scene. Bluto intervenes (and the kids on the boat shoot you with water cannons) and you dive into a dark cavern - where a giant octopus resides. There Popeye is held by the octopus and sweet Pea is climbing precariously across his tentacles. Popeye is trying to get the spinach held in the octopuses hand. You emerge from the cave, more rapids, more boat wrecks, you get to the Boat Wash. This is the big big scene in the ride. Bluto operates the boat wash, which is actually a large lift hill. His operations console is over the arch in the base and thee he is in AA form controlling the contraption. You go up the lift past swirling brushes, spinning rigs of mops, bursting pipes, gushing water, bubbles floating in the air and blasts of foam drenching your boat. At the top, Sweet Pea dangles precariously from above holding the Spinash that Popeye was struggling to get from the octopus. "Me spinach!" And your barge is released in the massive swirling vortex of the flume and insted of just sliding-down like DCA or AK, you slosh side to side bouncing down a very steep grade with tons of water. You crash at the bottom into more rapids, come around the corner, and Popeye has his spinach and is ejecting Bluto from the premises. Another turn, there's Popeye wringing-out Olive Oil who spits a stream of water onto the boat. And look, there's the dock - end of well themed ride.
