Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 At the risk of stating the obvious, been told I'm good at that, the problem with DCA isn't what it is, but rather what it isn't.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 But since you decided to bring this into a Discussion Format .... Casey Jr., Story Book, and the dark rides cater to 2-7 year olds AND adults .. and any Disney park that can accomplish things that can cater to BOTH .. will always win with me." Totally agree. Casey Jr Train/storyBook and the rest of the dark rides in Fantasyland cater to one and ALL. Those are the kind I love.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 I do enjoy Heimlich at night time for the atmosphere of the place, even though it's sub-par to pretty much everything in Fantasyland.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt I think Heimlich often gets a bad rap. Yes, it could be longer or more elaborate. Yes, the parks should strive to create more attractions that appeal to everyone. Nevertheless, I don't really see how Heimlich is any different than Dumbo.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 Nevertheless, I don't really see how Heimlich is any different than Dumbo." Yeah Dumbo is simple when you look at it on its own mechanical basics. So is Heimlich, both are attractive.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I don't know if you've noticed, but Dumbo also tends to have a bit of a bad rap as well. The excruciatingly slow line paired with an amusing, but hardly Disney's best, attraction make many people just laugh at it. Dumbo also does not take up as much land as Hemilich's and you can tell exactly what happens from the queue. Heimlich's looks more like a traditional dark ride from the queue, but not so much like that on the actual attraction.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>I think Heimlich often gets a bad rap.<< Of course it's going to get a bad rap. It does a "figure 8" ... and it's over! What is it? About 90 seconds. I think Casey is about 3 or more. The only rides that should be less than 3 minutes are spinners.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt ^^^According to whom? BTW, how long is the Matterhorn Bobsled run?
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>^^^According to whom?<< According to anyone who finds very short rides pointless. Other amusement parks go for short rides. Disney, on the other hand, has proven the rides that immerse the human mind long enough .. are the rides that become memorable experiences that get ridden over and over ... in repeat visits.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>BTW, how long is the Matterhorn Bobsled run?<< That one is a bit on the short side .... I always wished it ran just one more minute. But then they would have had to have built a bigger mountain though. If Matterhorn is ever recreated at any of Disney's other theme parks worldwide ... I hope they make some improvements .. and not just a mere copy.
Originally Posted By karlg As someone once said, "a two year old can have more fun banging on pots and pans than going to a theme park." The fact that it is "good" because the lines are short is possibly telling of the success. It’s so good because nobody goes there. Personally, I don't like Toontown other than for the atmosphere and Roger Rabbit. And Flick's Fun Fair is terrible (there is a local indoor kiddy place in an old supermarket that has the same rides). I don't like them because they are precisely what Disneyland was not suppose to be, namely a place for parents to sit and watch their kids play on cheap rides while they have nothing to do. They are bad on many levels, not only for their lack of appeal to a wide age range but for terrible attraction design. They lack imagination in terms of artistry and they are terrible in terms of execution, particularly in terms of capacity. Look at Gadget's Go Coaster as a classic example of terrible design execution. The ride itself is Ok, but it lasts like 20 seconds and frankly it might be a bit too intense for were it is located. They only have 1 coaster and it comes to a complete stop to load/unload. The train spends more time in the station than it does moving. With two trains they could have loaded and unloaded while the other train is going and roughly double the capacity. Also there is no magic in the whole ride. Legoland’s dragon coaster was a 100X better implementation of a tame theme park coaster (the rest of the park had a lot of problems, but the dragon coaster they outdid Disney). They have multiple zones so they can have many more riders, they have a bit of a tame ride at first with some scenes, followed by a nice mild coaster. Hemlick’s choo choo is classic example of imagineeringless. Make it a bigger with more to see and some big tunnels (heck Walt made sure the tunnel in his back yard railroad had and S curve in it so you couldn’t see through the tunnel), get several trains going at once to give it even a little bit of capacity, and them maybe you have a Disney class family attraction. The rest of FFF is one lame cheapo ride after another. I took my 13 year old to DCA and while he would go on everything at DL, he found ToT and Screaming too intense for him. He didn’t think much of Soaring (did not want to go on it again). He didn’t want to go on about ½ the things at DCA and the ONLY attraction he asked to go on more than once was Grizzly River Rapids (and then only during the daylight). Gad, a Disney park with only 1 attraction that had any repeatability for him.
Originally Posted By 9oldmen >>That one is a bit on the short side .... I always wished it ran just one more minute. But then they would have had to have built a bigger mountain though.<< ...or reduce the speed.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "According to anyone who finds very short rides pointless." Oh, I thought you were going to give me some reference where Walt Disney or some theme park authority stated that amusement park rides should be a certain length. Therefore, it is just your opinion. Nothing wrong with that, it is just the way you stated it that confused me. In general, I agree with you, however, I do think the appropriate length depends on the ride. I certainly wouldn't expect a kiddy ride like Dumbo or Heimlich or intense thrill rides like Mission Space or Tower of Terror to be much more than a couple of minutes. To be honest it has probably been a good 20 years since I have ridden Dumbo, and I have never been on Heimlich. Why? Well, partially because they are so short, but mostly because they do not appeal to me. I would expect that this is true for most adults who visit DLR without kids in tow.
Originally Posted By oc_dean ^^^^ You expressed my exact same sentiment ... It does depend on the ride. Like Tea Cups, and any spinner ... going in circles can get me sickly after just a couple minutes. Probably one of the reasons those rides are kept short. And I too have never been on Heimlich's .. and don't ever do Dumbo .. heck, I've never done Astro Orbitor since it was placed ground level in 1998.
Originally Posted By barboy "My 2 year old just asked to go to DCA" Don't worry too much over this because your child will likely grow out of it someday.
