Originally Posted By kennect With a thread below asking what you would do to update the ride I found myself asking this question... What animatronics on this ride did they really nail in terms of true likeness to the character they are trying to portray...Some to me seem pretty good where as others to me don't seem to look like anything close to real thing... For me the best of the lot is the Wicked Witch from Oz...I am trying to think which is the one I think is the worst and I am having a hard coming up with that one....Ripley in the Alien segment to me looks nothing like Ms. Weaver...Or at least not to me... Any comments as to which is the best or worst in your mind?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I think the worst are the first ones you see. The Busby Berkley musical girls standing on that layer cake doing absolutely nothing.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Jimmy Cagney looks pretty good. I think some of the effectiveness has to do with lighting. The darker the scene, the better. Looks good - Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, John Wayne, Ingrid Bergman, Burt Lahr, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, The Munchkins Not so good -- Buzby Berkeley Girls, Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Sigourney Weaver, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Maureen O'Sullivan I've mentioned before that overall, The Great Movie Ride doesn't knock it out of the park the way Pirates and Mansion do. There's something about taking these movie characters and turning them into AA figures causes me to just scratch my head. What are we looking at? Actors on the set of a movie? Characters that have stepped off the movie screen? I find the whole concept sort of confusing.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom This attraction use to be so good, now I believe its suffered from years of neglect. Its so sad actually. I can outdated animatronics but can they please turn back on some of the special effects. This ride/ attraction just isn't the same without the fire in the western scene, etc. Please restore The Great Movie Ride!
Originally Posted By kennect Tom, There really is no excuse for such...Either maintain the ride or bulldoze it...Don't sit on the fence doing nothing...But apparently that is the way things go in Florida...As I said before I am sure today's management there probably does wish it was never built but I am sure when it opened everyone was thrilled with it...Go figure...But hey, now that the big hat covers it up who cares? What a crock...I would like to see Disney take the approach of "if we can't maintain it then we won't build it"....But they already have so much they really don't maintain it wouldn't make much difference...Everything seems to be short term in their thinking without any long term plans in mind...I can see everyone from Aerosmith being dead in twenty years and yet that same old theme will be trying to rock you out there at the Studio Park....
Originally Posted By kennect Jim, I really do need to take a closer look...For me the main characters from the Wizard of Oz just don't even get close to what they look like from the film...Know of any photo's online I could check out?
Originally Posted By Tristan I don't think that Disney has the rights to the actors and actress's likenesses. Just the characters. So that's why the AAs don't look like Harrison Ford or Judy Garland. Legally they can't. It's pretty much the same idea with action figures and the like.
Originally Posted By kennect Tristan, I understand what you are saying but have to say this...What is a character's likeness if it doesn't look like the character created in a certain film? Take Judy Garland presented at the end of the ride...Is it Judy or Dorothy Gale from the film? Apparently Disney had all legal rights to use these films and characters in the ride so why can't they look like the real thing? I personally feel that Disney got really lazy on some of these characters when they were originally doing them...
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad >>>This ride/ attraction just isn't the same without the fire in the western scene, etc.<<< ......................................................................................................................I didn't even know there was supposed to be a fire in that scene. When will they understand that the magic is in the details?
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad The witch is very good. Especially her movements and the disappearing act. I also like the munchkins in this scene. Aren't the women on the cake supposed to move? They have never moved when we were there. Without movement they are just a bunch of dressed up dummies.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA The Busby Berkeley ladies on 'the cake' have never moved individually -- although when the movie ride first opened, each 'layers' of the cake where the groups of ladies are standing would spin -- opposite of the other. Sort of a nod to those musicals. And bubbles were floating down. Still kind of a weird way to start the Great Movie Ride. And don't get me started on the title of the attraction. (Remember when Disney didn't have 'rides' they had 'attractions'? -- the original title was 'Great Moments at the Movies' - much better in my opinion.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I still think that GMR is one of the biggest jokes of an attraction there ever was. When I rode it for the first time, as we were pulling back into the station, I was quite literally laughing at how bad it was, expecting my fellow passengers to be doing the same. But most people didn't have the same reaction I had. I'm glad to read that at least I'm not out on a limb by myself on this one, as I know other people feel the same way. But there are others that really like it. Go figure.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey I'm over the Great Movie Ride. I'll go if someone else wants to go, but the ride is so dated that it's a 20 minute snoozefest for me. It needs to be updated in the worst way.
Originally Posted By kennect How long has the fire effect been gone? I am assuming that the gangster portion still has the car bit operating as it originally did... Carolina, As far as the witch vanishing...Disney has always done a pretty good job with type of effect....What I call the "quick change"....One of the original Magic Kingdom effects I liked was in the Mickey Mouse Reveiw...Does anyone remember the Cinderella piece? Different than the witch in the Oz segment but still that kind of quick happening type of thing...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 My last 2 times thru the gangster car never exited the alley -- very disappointing
Originally Posted By sjhym33 "I don't think that Disney has the rights to the actors and actress's likenesses. Just the characters. So that's why the AAs don't look like Harrison Ford or Judy Garland. Legally they can't. It's pretty much the same idea with action figures and the like." In fact most of the character were approved by either the performer or their estate before the attraction opened. Lorna and Joey Luft came one day and Liza on another (they were fueding at the time). John Wayne's family came and a couple of days later sent some of his stuff to be used on the figure. James Cagney's maid and butler (they were left his estate) came and asked for changes in his hair style. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke came on seperate days. Sigourney Weaver brought her whole family. Interestingly enough, Clint Eastwoods figure was covered during the construction and some of the staff previews because Frank Wells had given the go ahead to build the figure and said he would get the clearance(they were good friends). When Imagineering hadn't gotten clearance by those previews the figure was covered with a black trash bag. Whenever a celebrity or estate rep came, Imagineering had to clean up the area, have all lighting running and have most of the ride path clear so that they could walk or sometimes ride the attraction.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 "And don't get me started on the title of the attraction. (Remember when Disney didn't have 'rides' they had 'attractions'? -- the original title was 'Great Moments at the Movies' - much better in my opinion." Actually the ride was supposed to be called Great Moments at the Movies presented by Sears. When the ride first opened the whole Busby Berkeley part was much better with the spinning tiers of girls and the water fountain effects working. Of course the water destroyed the gears for the spinning tiers and the thing didnt work half the time.
Originally Posted By kennect Presented by Sears? I know they have had umpteem sponsors over the years but there is something about Sears that just doesn't sound right to me... I had forgotten this...There was a fountain effect, was there not, in the opening scene of the ride???? I can't believe that with all of Disney's imaginering talent they couldn't come up with a way to make this work...I rode it numerous times when it did..Then rode it more times when it didn't... While the attraction is dated and rather stale you have to give them credit for the original idea of it...A ride through the history of films...When was the last time the ending film segment was updated? An attraction like this is going to need attention from time to time to keep it current and no company should take on or create such if they are not interested in making sure that it is updated on an ongoing basis...As time passes the number of great films increase...Disney should be the one company that would be the one that would make sure an attraction such as this is updated on a regular basis...Instead, they build a big hat in front of it...
Originally Posted By sjhym33 The Sears deal was to include Disney clothes and other things to be sold at the stores. As late as one month before opening Disney and Sears were in negotiations for sponsorship. Of course in the end it all fell thru.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "There was a fountain effect, was there not, in the opening scene of the ride???? I can't believe that with all of Disney's imaginering talent they couldn't come up with a way to make this work." Well, they couldn't figure out how to get the ice machine in the roof of Indiana Jones Adventure in DL to work right (they got one of galvanized steel instead of stainless, and it rusted after just a few months), so why would GMR be any different? It seems like WDI has since learned their lessons on rust and just avoided any water effects at all costs (which led to some pretty neat effects in the Floody Place in Pooh, IMO). "When was the last time the ending film segment was updated?" I believe it has some clips from the first Narnia movie. That did come out a few years back, but it's not horribly out of date. With most of the films that have come out since then, I can't really think of any (that aren't sequels to ones that are presumably already included) that really even deserve to be in the montage.
