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animagusurreal
01-31-2005, 08:43 PM
Hello,


Your friendly aspiring Disney attraction reviewer here, with a couple sample reviews of "Tower of Terror" and "The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh". Comments are appriciated :)


Thanks,
Brent




"A Ride of *Some* Gravity..."
DCA's "Tower of Terror" Drops Expectations, But Still Thrills


by Brent M. Parker




WDW's "Tower of Terror" already towered amongst the world's great thrill rides when Disney's California Adventure broke ground on their remake - and, like most remakes, DCA's versions sits squarely in the original's shadow. Perhaps wanting it to match the rest of the park, Disney cut a few corners, but the bare essentials of a headliner are still there - an iconic structure, a distinct thrill, and a fastpass station.

Knowing only the legend of the Florida version, I was expecting a full-scale show ride, like "The Haunted Mansion", only with drops to boot. "Terror", as it turns out, is much more spare in its theming. However, its hotel setting does have some atmosphere. The neglected grandeur of a bygone era, including classy, creepy portraits, gives way to an ominously rumbling boiler room (that would have been all the more ominous if it weren't glowing with neon paint and black light.)

For me, the most disappointing aspect of the whole experience was the scene-setting video. The manipulation of Rod Serling's image is decent, but the black-and-white look of the "film" is far from authentic, (Indiana Jones' newsreels are far more convincing,) and, overall, it just doesn't feel like an real episode of the series. As a result, the concept of actually being in a Twilight Zone episode suffers a little.

The ride vehicle is ostensibly a service elevator, the regular guest elevator having been destroyed by a disasterous lightening strike many years earlier. On your way up, you experience 3 very cool Haunted-Mansion-style effects, heart-pounding suspense building with each opening of the doors. And then, the meat and potatoes of the ride - the drops. "Terror" takes Splash Moutain's concept of alternately lulling and thrilling the rider, randomizes it a la Indiana Jones, and compresses it into about 2 minutes. The resulting effect toys with both gravity and the rider's mind. The rising out of your seat effect is somewhat reminiscent of Six Flags Magic Mountain's "Superman: The Escape", though occuring more often with less intensity. That's about all there is to say, really - if "California Screamin'" is a whole meal of thrills, "Tower of Terror" is a few rich, concentrated bites.

There is one last big surprise, though - just as you expect to experience the drop to end all drops or for the car to slide into some final, spectatular effects room, Serling's voice-over chimes in, and it's all over. And while what happens next is rather frightening, it's hardly a twist ending - you look around and suddenly find yourself in a gift shop!

The ride did leave me quivering pleasantly in my sneakers, and was a pleasurable attraction experience, though I felt no urge to commemerate it with a $17.00 photograph.

And speaking of which, one last tip - it might be more convincing to ride the ride at night, when the flash of the obligatory camera before the first drop might double for the lightening of the ride's storyline.


----------------------


"Oh, Pooh...
Latest Disneyland Attraction is No Honey of a Ride, But Sweet Enough"

by Brent M. Parker


Disneyland's first new attraction in 8 years (excepting the swiftly shut down Rocket Rods) arrived with little of the usual Disney fanfare - it didn't even rate a major T.V. promotion. That's probably because Critter Country's "The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh" feels like less like a than a spectacle in its own right than something for Splash Mountain fastpass holders to do while they wait. This seems curious considering that the bear of very little brain has managed to maintain a very large, multi-generational fanbase. And while this ride has more to offer dragged-along parents than the stuff of DCA's "Flik's Fun Fair", it isn't quite worthy of the Pooh legacy - or the removal of "The Country Bear Jamboree", which the ride replaced.

Pooh is, if nothing else, the park's most lighthearted "dark ride" (ride that utilizes black light.) It won't send you to a witch's castle, or a weasel gang's lair, or to Hell, as some other dark rides have been known to do. The word that best sums up the whole experience is "cute." Even the heffalump and woozle "nightmare" sequence feels something like "It's a Small World" goes funhouse.

Most of the characters and scenery, (particularly the globs of hunny,) have a pleasant, plastic-cartoony look reminiscent of Toontown.

Disney attempts to cover up their lack of investment in this attraction by leaning heavily on Pooh's storybook origins - it has the feel of a ride-through illustration. Pooh, Tigger and company are not represented by Disney's trademark audio-animatronic figures, with their complex movements, including lip-synched dialogue. Instead, we get limited-motion figures whose speech is part of the piped-in narration. This ploy is especially transparent since Pooh's splashy neighbor has more animatronics than any other attraction in the park.


Not that Pooh is without any razzle-dazzle - there are a couple of fine effects tossed in, though they seem only a sample of what the ride could have been.

While lacking the interactive spin of Toontown's "Roger Rabbit" dark ride, the beehive-shaped vehicles add a little to the flat-tracked journey with some gentle, "Jolly Trolley"-like rocking. It's particularly effective as you "float" through The Floody Place. Unfortunately, the vehicles don't bounce when you're invited to "follow the bouncin' Tigger!"

The ride generally has short wait times and abundant fastpass. We didn't wait more than 15 minutes. Of course, this is essentially a case of "you get what you wait for," but considering how long lines can be for "Roger Rabbit" or the Fantasyland dark rides, it's a pretty good bargain.

And now I'd like to close with a few inches of blank page (a.k.a. a few moments of silence) for the dearly departed Country Bears.













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calguy77
01-31-2005, 08:51 PM
have you ever been on the WDW TOT?

animagusurreal
01-31-2005, 09:09 PM
Knowing only the legend of the Florida version

No, sadly I've never been to Disney World :crying:


But I hope to someday :D

calguy77
01-31-2005, 09:19 PM
WDW's "Tower of Terror" already towered amongst the world's great thrill rides when Disney's California Adventure broke ground on their remake - and, like most remakes, DCA's versions sits squarely in the original's shadow. Perhaps wanting it to match the rest of the park, Disney cut a few corners, but the bare essentials of a headliner are still there - an iconic structure, a distinct thrill, and a fastpass station.


Then how can you make comments like this? You have no comparision

DisneyDustin22
01-31-2005, 11:08 PM
Then how can you make comments like this? You have no comparision

I agree, if you are trying to compare two attractions and have only actually experienced one of them, then you have nothing to compare. All you are basing the comparison off of is other people's reviews of the rides. I realize you "disclaimer'd" yourself when you said, "...knowing only of the legend of WDW's version..." But that still leaves no ground for comparison. Esepcially if you have never been to the park to begin with. I respect you for your review and it was well done. Yet, for the average reader, I am sure they want to see both the pro's and con's of both in a comparison. Thank you for your post.

spacemountain85
01-31-2005, 11:45 PM
a weasel gang's lair

I'm feeling really stupid right now because I can't figure out what ride you're referencing here. Can somebody fill me in? :confused:

disney jones
01-31-2005, 11:57 PM
I'm feeling really stupid right now because I can't figure out what ride you're referencing here. Can somebody fill me in? :confused:
weasels = Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin

Tigertail777
02-01-2005, 12:14 AM
He is referencing Mr Toads Wild Ride (or possibly roger rabbit)

And, you guys are unfair about saying he cant compare if he hasnt been to the actual ride. People in journalism do exactly what he did all the time; base opinions on research and nothing else. While it may not be as good as a first hand experience, research can be almost as good if done correctly. If you honestly think the news people you see on tv every night personally experience every story they cover, you are sadly mistaken its all a LOT of research. Once you look up, even a bunch of people's opinions on a subject, if you start to see a common thread running through all of those opinions, thats a good springboard to know that it isnt JUST a single person's opinion, and becomes a majority opinion.

In researching for my fanzine on theme parks, I have discovered details about rides that people who have ridden the same ride dozens of times never noticed. I did an issue on Haunted Mansion Holiday, I have never ridden it myself, never seen it in person, but I know it pretty much inside and out now due to research. Its best to go to the source however for your research if possible, which I try to do as much as I can. For instance; I interviewed the ride show designer (the name escapes me at the moment) and Corey Burton. There are details I now know about I am dying to see; like did you know the snowflake projection in the graveyard, not only has some nightmare themed shapes (like fish heads and spider webs), but they are also animated? They actually do little repeat animation loops like the spider wiggles on its web etc

In some instances the only tool you CAN use is research; I want to someday to a issue on the old coney island dark rides from the turn of the century since they really are the first real themed dark rides, but unless I can find a time machine or borrow one (anyone??? :D ) the only thing I can do is research.

So dont be too hard on the poor guy it sounds like he did some research at least. ;)

Vegitabeta
02-01-2005, 02:06 AM
So, to be honest...nobody knows what anyone is talking about...

animagusurreal
02-01-2005, 02:23 AM
Wow, I had no idea my little reviews would touch off such an interesting debate on the state of journalism :) Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

I may do a rewrite on that first paragraph. What I meant to convey was that all I ever hear anyone say about WDW's ToT is that it was the greatest Disney ride ever (I'm sure everyone doesn't feel that way, but I've seen a lot of it), and that DCA's, while good, didn't live up to that. Plus, I wanted to use my "towering" pun ;)

Yes, Disney Jones and Tigertail, it was Roger Rabbit I was referencing, though come to think of it, Mr. Toad has the weasels, too.

Oh, and I swear that I've ridden all the other rides that I reference in the reviews :D


Brent
(animagusurreal)

3894
02-01-2005, 04:48 AM
Writer to writer, a couple of suggestions (maybe worth what you paid for 'em = nothing):
Lose all the "I"/ "me"/"my" stuff. Sometimes, it's redundant.
Example:
For me, The most disappointing aspect of the whole experience was the scene-setting video.
Other times, it excludes the reader. Your job is to make the reader feel that ride, baby.
Think about how to make your style more inclusive in a sentence like this:
The ride did leave me quivering pleasantly in my sneakers, and was a pleasurable attraction experience, though I felt no urge to commemerate it with a $17.00 photograph.
It's good to compare the two versions of ToT. If you haven't been on the WDW version, find someone who has and quote. Problem solved, pun saved.

Here's to a bright future as a Disney ride reviewer, animagusurreal!