Originally Posted By crapshoot <<You know what? Peter Pan Flight is too short. There, I said it.>> Blasphemy! And yes, you are right, yet once again. ;')
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>while Peter Pan runs about 600 through per hour<<< If I remeber correctly, the WDW version has only one row for passengers. Does the DL version have one or two rows like DLP's ride?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 DL's version has one row - one reason it loads so slowly. <You know what? Peter Pan Flight is too short. There, I said it.> Oh, that's almost a given. Always has been. It's still great, though.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Peter Pan would be great to me if it wasn't so doggone short. I guess what I'm getting at is it seems contradictory to rally against SSL while praising rides like Peter Pan and Alice. All things considered, aside from SSL's obvious lack of Disney charm, there really isn't that much difference between it and any of the original Fantasyland dark rides. Putting it another way... it certainly wouldn't be a loss to me if I didn't ride any of them on my upcoming DL visit.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "I guess what I'm getting at is it seems contradictory to rally against SSL while praising rides like Peter Pan and Alice." You're right. It doesn't make sense. It's all subjective and to argue otherwise is silly, in my opnion. I love Peter Pan, although, you're right, it is too short. That's why I'll never wait long to ride it, but I will go out of my way to catch a short line for the ride cause it's one of our favorites to ride as a family. The SSL ride itself was just as good as any Fantasyland ride in terms of bells and whistles and quality. The part where it goes horribly wrong for me is the subject matter. Who wants to go through a dark ride viewing crappy characature AAs of crappy celebrities? Well, I'm sure some people would. Just not me. If a ride is going to be tame, and expect me to care about something while crawling by it at a speed of 10 miles an hour, it better be charming!
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<Putting it another way... it certainly wouldn't be a loss to me if I didn't ride any of them on my upcoming DL visit.>> As much as I gush over Alice, Toad, Pan, Storybook and Casey Jr., I rarely ride any of those more than once a year, maybe. They are like old friends who you run into once in a while.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Well, to each his own. To me, Peter Pan is 2 minutes of magic, the way Norwegian Wood is two minutes of musical bliss (it actually lasts exactly 2 minutes - amazing how much they could fit into that space). Yeah, there are longer songs, but few that "work" every time for me like that. Same with Peter Pan Flight. If I had to rank the "classic" DL dark rides it would go like this: Peter Pan Toad Roger Rabbit Alice Pinocchio Snow White Pooh SSL would have fit between Alice and Pinocchio. As I said, there were things I liked about it. Could have been way better without the C-list celebs and with a quicker pace. But it got caught up in the initial "DCA sucks" mania and got a reputation for being undiluted awfulness. Of course, YMMV. As with all these things, it's ultimately just opinion.
Originally Posted By danyoung >The SSL ride itself was just as good as any Fantasyland ride in terms of bells and whistles and quality. The part where it goes horribly wrong for me is the subject matter. Who wants to go through a dark ride viewing crappy characature AAs of crappy celebrities? < I think this says it very fairly. If it's possible to be totally objective about the FL dark rides, they're pretty cheap - simple vehicles, simple mostly flat sets, simple animations of classic characters. And the technical nature of SSL was way beyond that, with the on-board video and the fully dimensional sets. But of course it's not possible to really be objective about this. Most DL fans have been riding the FL dark rides since they were little kids. Heck, my first ride was back in '63 at the tender age of 6. We all grew up with the movies, and totally identified with Pan or Snow or Toad (or even Pinnochio!). So there's a large component of nostalgia in those rides that was simply lacking in SSL. I still enjoyed it for what it was, but I can see why it never resonated with most long-time DL fans.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Peter Pan is pure Disney magic. But that said, I'd never wait 45 minutes for it. It's something to catch right at the beginning or end of the day. For some reason, riding on the leaves is the best part of "Alice" for me. I can't explain why, but it makes me smile every time (though I haven't experienced it with the dumb safety rails they were forced to add on. Bleh.) SSL wouldn't have aged well, and it was already a bizarre collection of Disney players. But, to me, it was snarky, tongue-in-cheek, C-ticket fun. It was silly from the word go. Any ride that includes Spittin' Image puppetry, a Jackie Chan AND Regis Philbin AA, plus dancing chickens is so wrong it's right. How can that sort of thing make people so insane outraged? LOL Lighten up, people!
Originally Posted By danyoung >For some reason, riding on the leaves is the best part of "Alice" for me. I can't explain why, but it makes me smile every time (though I haven't experienced it with the dumb safety rails they were forced to add on. Bleh.)< My problem wasn't with the rails on my last ride. It was with the addition of what's basically a huge floor. No longer are you twisting over a winding pathway through the air - you're riding on a big flat platform outside. Not nearly as cool as before, and very bad show!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <My problem wasn't with the rails on my last ride. It was with the addition of what's basically a huge floor. No longer are you twisting over a winding pathway through the air - you're riding on a big flat platform outside. Not nearly as cool as before, and very bad show!> Exactly!! I said this in my trip report I think. If they'd just found a way to put rails along the sides of the existing "leaf vine," that would have been a minus, but okay. But the platform ruins the whole vibe of the leaves. Boo. <SSL wouldn't have aged well, and it was already a bizarre collection of Disney players. But, to me, it was snarky, tongue-in-cheek, C-ticket fun. It was silly from the word go. Any ride that includes Spittin' Image puppetry, a Jackie Chan AND Regis Philbin AA, plus dancing chickens is so wrong it's right. How can that sort of thing make people so insane outraged? LOL Lighten up, people!> Exactly!! (Do I say that a lot?) Sums it up very well.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo I'd rank the dark rides: Alice Peter Pan Monsters Inc. Pinocchio Pooh Snow White Toad SSL And to fit them into an overall ranking where, say, Indy or Pirates is a 10 and Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies is a 1: Alice - 6 Peter Pan - 6 Monsters Inc. - 5 Pinocchio - 5 Pooh - 5 Snow White - 5 Toad - 4 SSL - 2 Or how about a ranking based on the most extreme time I'd be willing to wait: Alice - 20 minutes Peter Pan - 20 Monsters Inc. - 15 Pinocchio - 10 Pooh - 10 Snow White - 5 Toad - 5 SSL - 5 I've now officially given this way too much thought.
Originally Posted By tashajilek LOL, i dont dislike Toad i just dont think Toad is nearly as great as people say.
Originally Posted By tashajilek I actually ride Toad the most out of all the FL rides because there is always little wait.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<For some reason, riding on the leaves is the best part of "Alice" for me. I can't explain why, but it makes me smile every time (though I haven't experienced it with the dumb safety rails they were forced to add on. Bleh.)>> Yes... there's something about Alice... The riding on the leaves was the best part for me too... sorry to hear they messed it up. Alice is my favorite DL dark ride. I also really enjoy Pinocchio too... maybe just because it is something I don't get to see at WDW. But part of it has to do with the vaguely sinister and decadent feeling presented by portions of the attraction... especially the Pleasure Island section.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "LOL, i dont dislike Toad i just dont think Toad is nearly as great as people say." Exactly. The train effect is pretty good, and I do like that it's the one place in Disneyland that sends you to hell. But I think it is the one ride that is almost 100% painted flats.
