Originally Posted By brotherdave I really miss the Mike Fink Keelboats. I love the riverboat, but the Keelboats were the best way to travel ROA. You had a more personal tour (a live tour guide ala the Jungle Cruise) versus a pre-recorded spiel. I always thought, wouldn't it have been great to actually EXPAND the keelboats to follow a the river as usual, then they separate off into a smaller channel where a more adventurous ride along the river could occur, such as friendly encounters with Native Americans and wildlife such as bears, mountain lions, etc, culminating with being attacked by river pirates and bandits, possibly through an indoor building at one point with explosives and special effects. Then, the keelboats would then return to the main river finishing their journey back to Liberty Square/Frontierland. This could have been a cross between the Jungle Cruise and the long planned, never built Western River Expedition. Just imagine the possibilities as only the American frontier could offer! (Sigh! It will never happen...)
Originally Posted By jmuboy If we can't have canoes then why can't we have Keel Boats? At least seasonally? The suggestion of a replica of the USS Constitution is a GREAT idea as well. But after Fantasyland the rest of the MK needs a land by land restoration. Restore the Tiki Room, restore REAL shopping and attractions on Main St, upgrade the RoA, etc.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Agreed, jmuboy. Not everything has to be an 'E-Ticket', but some solid attraction upgrades (that isn't a Dumbo-like spinner or a princess meet and greet) and improvements to the existing infrastructure would be wondrous. My wish list (other than standard upgrades to existing attractions): Adventureland: Enhance the Jungle Cruise like Disneyland's Restore the Tiki Room to its original splendor, even if a new show that captures the spirit of the original were to added and remove Zazu and Iago. Expand Adventureland between JC and Pirates with a new major attraction (Indy? Coaster?) Frontierland/Liberty Square: Return Keelboats and possibly canoes (see above post for expanded and plussed keelboat attraction) Add a sailing ship (U.S.S. Constitution) to the river Geyser mountain E-Ticket, perhaps? Fantasyland: Go ahead with planned expansion, but add the following: Alice in Wonderland dark ride attraction Casey Jr train near new Dumbo land Nix Pixies, add Captain Hook's Pirate Ship & Skull Mountain New Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Tomorrowland: Update Carousel of Progress (not remove) Perhaps add a Flash Gordon-era retro-style state-of-the-art darkride attraction, filled with AA aliens and mindblowing special effects. Could replace Laugh Floor and expand building beyond into backstage executive parking lot to accomodate new attraction. Leave Buzz Lightyear for the kids, but remove Stitch with some new simulated space flight or Alien Encounter attraction. Main Street: Return the Main Street Cinema, Penny Arcade, Magic Shop, and the Walt Disney Story (even moving One Man's Dream here would be ok, too).
Originally Posted By tonyanton That's a great idea for a new "keelboats;" I'm pretty sure their is room behind the Haunted Mansion show building for a decent size river 'detour' show building. I know their was an incident of a keelboat tipping over = why not put them on an outer river track like the larger boats?
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer Agreed on Toad in new FLE. That would fix a ton of things with it. How do all of you feel about Stitch moving to the Tiki Room if SGE is axed, which is possible. Honestly, I prefer him in TL. Aliens fit there... Not in the jungle.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 The RoA are stagnant because TDO sees little to no value in the concept of SHOW. SHILL would be different ... as in timeshares, EMH, DDP and ... yeah, wishes, dreams and magic. They can't get away with that in Anaheim. They tried under Pressler and much more under Cynthia and George (who hopefully has learned a lot since his first stint). The fans have an 'ownership' of DL that doesn't exist in Orlando. It started to a small degree, but by the mid-90s, so many of both the cast and locals had moved on, died or had enough of The Mouse. There may be blue sky plans for the island, but rest assured they will NOT happen. You'll see both a Phase II and a Phase III of the Fantasyland project as well as a major attraction added to Adventureland well before anything is done to the island. If they could close it and let it sit and rot like DI and RC, rest assured, they would. I, myself, haven't been over there in many years now. But with no attention plus closing Aunt Polly's (a great place to dine), I see no reason to ... and, yes, that is what Disney wants. It is how they kill attractions/dining locales/shops.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>>There may be blue sky plans for the island, but rest assured they will NOT happen. You'll see both a Phase II and a Phase III of the Fantasyland project as well as a major attraction added to Adventureland well before anything is done to the island. <<<< Would be nice if they gave it an upgrade that expanded it's capacity and draw... Anything helps.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I heard they were going to concrete the rivers to make a central parking lot for the executives since no complaints were received when they concreted the Tomorrowland Theatre.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>I heard they were going to concrete the rivers to make a central parking lot for the executives since no complaints were received when they concreted the Tomorrowland Theatre.<<< Will they be ripping out trees and adding the concrete? If so, I'll be happy, thrilled, and I will describe the decision as "extra magical" when given a survey by some TDO opp as I exit the GranFlo wearing my D23 pins and clutching my LE Figment Plush There. I went all out. Been trying to do that for a few weeks.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Stitch has no place being in the Tiki Room, just like Iago and Zazu. Adding him to the Tiki Room in TDL was a bad idea, imho. Anyone here seen that? I saw video of it, but don't understand Japanese. It looked much worse than the addition of Iago and Zazu. Leave the characters out of the Tiki Room. I'm not against a new show with some new songs possibly added that fit the Polynesian theme, but keep the characters out.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer ^^ Agreed. Aliens fit much better in SGE, which honestly, isn't THAT BAD. It gets a bad rap, I believe, because it killed off AE.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> It gets a bad rap, I believe, because it killed off AE. << I, for one, love the sensation of having someone burp in my face. It's my second favorite thing next to restrooms and Snow White toilet-paper.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> Will they be ripping out trees and adding the concrete? If so, I'll be happy, thrilled, and I will describe the decision as "extra magical" when given a survey by some TDO opp as I exit the GranFlo wearing my D23 pins and clutching my LE Figment Plush There. I went all out. Been trying to do that for a few weeks. << Nice work, the bit about the D23 pins and LE plush really pushed it over the top. Only things I would've added: being 75 lbs overweight, a fanny pack, and a $30 Winnie the Pooh tattoo.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>> Nice work, the bit about the D23 pins and LE plush really pushed it over the top. Only things I would've added: being 75 lbs overweight, a fanny pack, and a $30 Winnie the Pooh tattoo.<<< I will strive to adopt these measures in the future. (lmao!)
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I wonder something. How come, when one considers the numbers of first time guests, on a daily basis, that go to WDW, people who haven't ridden it might not at least take one look at it? I mean how does anyone know they don't like something until they have seen what it is. Could it be that the usual culprit, Disney themselves, tend to not promote something to the point that there is no real desire to see it? There must be something more than "it doesn't do any loops" that are keeping them away in droves. How do they know ahead of time that it isn't interesting enough to even try? Does anyone know?
Originally Posted By leobloom >> There must be something more than "it doesn't do any loops" that are keeping them away in droves. How do they know ahead of time that it isn't interesting enough to even try? Does anyone know? << Complete guess on my part, but perhaps it's related to the fact that there aren't a lot of other people waiting for it, so first-timers assume it's nothing special. It's also not a FP attraction, which I imagine some first-timers use to gauge what can be skipped and what's not to be missed. And then again riding a paddle boat going around a fake river with limited scenery might not be a top priority for many people who spend one day at MK. Plus it doesn't help that the ride doesn't run at night (which is usually when I find myself in the park--in the restrooms, naturally).
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper << Agreed. Aliens fit much better in SGE, which honestly, isn't THAT BAD. It gets a bad rap, I believe, because it killed off AE.>> No it gets a bad rap because it sucks. Most complained about attraction at the MK.
Originally Posted By Smiling Grump Having been to WDW 6 times, I've never even noticed RoA. I actually had to look at a map to figure out where it was. I think that pretty much says why it's not a popular attraction, no one really notices it. Probably the same reason why Tom Sawyer's Island is so lightly used as well. They're in between 3 of the more popular rides (HH, BTMR, and SM) and most visitors don't have a clear idea what they are so they just pass them by. That being said, we are definitely going to see both the island and the river tour this Christmas along with the Hall of Presidents since they're the only attractions we haven't seen yet at MK. If nothing else, they'll be places to get out of the shoulder to shoulder crowds
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Having been to WDW 6 times, I've never even noticed RoA." *shudders* Somebody at Disney is doing something wrong if this happening out there in Florida on a regular basis.
