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*Originally posted by Zebra * I miss bumper cars. I know they still exist but now as a grownup they don’t seem to go as fast or hit as hard. I don’t know if it is because I’m bigger or if the cars are slowed down for insurance reasons.
If you’re ever near Pennsylvania, check out Knoebels Grove located in east central PA, just south of I-80. It’s a classic park where you can pay by the ride as well as by the day. It’s a very unusual park in that there is no admission charge - nonriders can enjoy the park for free. There is also no charge for parking. They also have good and reasonably priced food.
The rides are mostly all the best of their type. The Phoenix roller coaster was resurrected from an old closed park (San Diego, I believe) and although it’s not the highest, steepest, or fastest coaster, the design makes it absolutely one of the most fun coasters ever to ride. The log flume is one of the best flumes anywhere. The haunted house is similarly better than most.
Which brings me to the bumper cars - they seem to be faster and they seem to bump harder than what we are used to these days. You might also enjoy the bumper boats. It may be that the older rides here have been maintained to the same standards as when they were built and have not been watered down to the usual insurance-friendly tame-ness (lame-ness). It’s always a pleasure to go to Knoebels Grove.
Thank you. I was wondering if anyone actually reads my postings?
“Ariel’s Grotto” is actually a reconfigurated performance stage, located to the left of 20KLUTS, behind Dumbo.
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It’s theme is “the future that never was”: basically a more fantastic look at the uture through the eyes of sci-i writers out of the 30s and 40s.
And I believe FedEx has pulled its sponsorship of the ride. Those things are expensive to attach a company name to. GE used to sponsor both “Horizons” and “IllumiNations” (the nightly fireworks show at EPCOT (sorry, a purist will still capitalize the letters). They dropped Horizons in the mid-ninetie, but are still sposoring Illuminations.
I actually miss the music from Horizons. And I too miss the IMAX-sized starfield that would turn into DNA strands and all sorts of fractals. I wanted to stay in that part of the ride, screw the rest of it!
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Gotta agree with you there. At least the dinosaurs are still there, except they added Ellen’s screeching throughout that part of the ride too. What is she doing lately, acting- or comedy-wise?
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Because there are some folks who do enjoy the ride. I find it somewhat ‘comforting’ and reminds me of the old DisneyWorld, before they started messing with a lot of stuff. Except for all the asswipes who use flash in a the darkened rooms, destroying my ability to see anything.
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Nada. Still the essentially same, although the bride in the attic now ‘floats’ in the air. Except for the fact that all the younger folk (Goth teens, especially) complain that “it’s lame, I thought it was supposed to be scary?!”
What do you expect from a park that runs the family-friendly “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary-Halloween-Party” as an ‘antidote’ to Universal Studios month of “Halloween Horror Nights”
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Yup, Dubya is there, although it took some time for them to get him up and running (IIRC, he didn’t like the way he looked). He also speaks, although, I will be honest here, what he says is not too memorable, nothing like the Gettysburg Address. Just a bunch of gobbledygook to me. Then again, I was pretty much exhausted by the time we hit that ride last time, so I may have been the incoherent one.
And speaking of rides that have been effed with, don’t even get me started on the “Tiki Birds”. “Now Under New Management” with Iago (ptoo) and Zazu (from The Lion King). The birdies start with their signature “Tiki Tiki Room” chorus, are rudely interupted by Iago who wants to turn the place more profitable, is warned by Zazu about angering the Tiki goddess, pshaw, Iago pisses her off and is turned into a talking smoldering lump of feathers (yea!), but he’s okay (darn) and everyone joins in singing and the doors open and I get the hell out of there because every song I remember from the original show is now rudely interrupted after about 8 bars, enough to say hey adults remember this song? here’s enough for you to start to sing along but we’re gonna cut the song short, because we had to ‘update’ the ride for your snotty-assed scab-picking whiner who is borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred and wants to do something else but thought that the old “Snow White” ride was to terrifying so we had to change THAT one too to something more innocuous, effectivly a five minute synopsis of a 90 minute movie, but you don’t feel like standing in line for “Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin” (which I concede is a pretty cool ride) but hearing 60 minutes of snare drum rat-tat-tat, a-rat-tat-tat, a-ratta-ratta-ratta-ratta-tat-tat-tat in the queue line ad nauseum is going to send you over the edge while watching all the people with fast passes waltz right by you because the managed to get THEIR fast passes by the time all of them had been distributed five minutes after park opening. So sit back and enjoy the parts of the show you remember.
This one really creeps me out! Seeing old FDR there in his wheelchar…it’slike he’s back from the dead. They ought to spice it up a bit though…how about having Clinton there with Monica…now that would be a civics lesson!
Dude, the Tiki Room hasn’t been closed yet. They keep threatening to close it, but it’s still there, at the entrance to Adventureland, where it’s always been. And it still operates.
Um, actually it was another deathtrap. They had two employees killed on it (crushed by the walls).
Almost all the audioanimatronics from America Sings were transported into Splash Mountain.
The Peoplemover is gone? :eek: When did that happen, and why?
I do remember, vaguely, hearing about tragedy at America Sings…
The older version of America the Beautiful (inside a circular movie theater with nine screens and sounds); the newer version was paler, although there was at one point a country band, including a left-handed violinist, playing the old country standard “Soldier’s Joy”; and, in limited showings, a version from China, including a Chinese steam locomotive.
When they did the major revamp of Tomorrowland, they removed the Peoplemover to put in something (the name of which seriously escapes me at the moment - perhaps Esprix or Euty will remember it) that was essentially a high-speed not quite roller coaster on the same track. However, the nitwits (and yes, although I generally have a great deal of respect for these folks this was clearly not thought through all the way) at Imagineering did not take into account that the track had not been designed to withstand that sort of traffic, and instead of building the cars out of lighter material they built them out of steel, which burned out the brakes at quite a clip - so the attraction kept breaking down. (There’s another wry comment to be made about that, too, but I’ll cry if I say it.) Therefore, they’ve closed it all together, and there’s nothing where either Peoplemover or Circlevision (America the Beautiful) used to be.
Quick rundown on DisneyWorld “missing or changed” attractions:
Magic Kingdom:
WEDWay People Mover - changed to Tomorrowland Transportation Authority (still goes through Space Mountain) DreamFlight - gutted and changed to Buzz Lightyear’s Space ranger Spin TimeKeeper - seasonal only Carousel of Progress - seasonal only Mission to Mars - changed to Alien Encounter Little Ugly Rocketships That Go Around in a Circle and You Had to Take an Elevator to Get to the Front of the Attraction - changed and updated to Astro Orbiter - and you still have to take an elevator to get there.
FantasyLand
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - dead in the water Mister Toad’s Wild Ride gutted and redone as The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh The Adventures of Snow White - updated and less scary - now a retelling of the movie in five minutes (witch-lite) The Lion King - puppet retelling o the movie - gone. Being replaced by a 3D music attraction. TKL itself had replaced an old 70’s 3d movie (kids in bad haircuts, polyester plaid clothing and cheesy synthesizer music). Skyway - closed. Had been on the books to be closed anyway, but just before the announcement, an elderly attractions worker was knocked off the platform and died, speeding up the closing.
Frontierland
The Hall of Presidents - updated every four years or so… The Haunted Mansion - the bride ghost in the attic “floats”. Departing cast members still leave mementos in the attic area (lots of shoes there: we brought in a MagLight one day - there’s some cool sh!t in that place!!!)
Adventureland
Jungle Cruise - jokes and patter have been toned down. Less racist and more PC. Jungle guides no longer shoot at the ‘dangerous’ hippos. Also more and more female jungle guides after all these years. Pirates of the Caribbean - more PC. Pirates now chase wenches for the food they are carrying (uh huh…). Aladdin’s Magic Carpets - added. Dumbo ride complete with the spitting camels from the MGM parade. Tiki Birds - “Under New Management”. See rant above for details.
MGM Studios
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - live show - gone. Pocahontos - moved to Animal Kingdom, rewritten as an environmental-themed show
Animal Kingdom
Countdown to Extinction - renamed Dinosaur since everyone called it that anyway.
EPCOT
World of Energy - now Ellen’s Energy Adventure (I miss the turning blocks and the cool music in the preshow section. Now a lame version of ‘Jeopardy’ with Ellen and ill Nye (who sleepwalks through his part) Horizons - gutted and reopening as Space - really cool building architecture, by the way!!! World of Motion gutted and reworked as TestTrack (still sponsored by GM - probably one of the longest continuous sponsorships at EPCOT, IIIRC). Captain EO with Michael Jackson - sent to California, redone as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Journey into Imagination - gutted reworked, reworked again, and Figment is back, this time without the DreamKeeper. but with Eric Idle. Some Food Related Anamatronic Show Sponsored by Kraft Foods - replaced by Food Rocks! (now sponsored by Nestle). Several of the singing bottles and packages were very recognizable as Kraft products, something Nestle wasn’t too fond of. The Living Seas - conveyor belt ride around the aquarium has been closed.
Possibly, there may be another country or two added to World Showcase in the near future. Possibly Russia or Spain, according to news reports. Personally, I hope they update the movies in France, China and Canada, but according to other reports, the whole park is due for a long-needed face lift. Rumors about an Alpine/Mt.Fuji rollercoaster are still just rumors. At this time.
As for (recent) Universal Studios changes -
King Kong is gone, to be replaced by (possibly, pretty much likely) a high speed roller coaster. Rumors are, it’s themed on “The Mummy”, since Mummy III is due out soon. The Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera is gone, to be replaced by a Jimmy Neutron motion simulator ride. Alfred Hitchcock: the Art of Making Movies is gone, being replaced by a Shrek: 4D attraction.
Why, yes, I really DO have a life. And it’s even outside the parks, too!!!
Perhaps that’s the confusion about the Tiki Room, then, since I automatically assume Disneyland and not DisneyWorld (which are two different places, FCOL).
Nope, signifying she was actually a ghost and not some chick wandering around in the attic in a bridal gown.
The backstory is (according to a couple of cast memebers who work the attraction), she was a bride playing hide-n-seek the morning of her wedding (Victorian brides did weird things, I guess, what with no CNN or CDs to boogie down to), hid in a steamer trunk, accidentally got locked in, and suffocated when no one could find her. Hence, her ghost wanders the attic.
She actually looks a little meaner in this incarnation. :eek:
I miss Rockaways’ Playland at good ol’ Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY. You could spend the day the beach, and then spend the evening on the rides. They had a great old wooden roller coaster there.
Oh yeah…loved the Monsanto ride. I loved how you boarded from a moving platform, stepping into buggies that never stopped moving. I loved the middle section when you saw infinite molecules in an ice crystal lattice, and the end, when you’re inside the atom. The words still ring in my memory: “Dare I go into the nucleus?”
I think they replaced it with “America Sings” or some such tripe.
Um, no, screech, the backstory (and most rides actually do have backstories, even if they don’t translate well in the final attraction) is that she married a sailor who turned out to be a pirate. He killed her in an angry rage, but she came back to haunt him until he killed himself as well. The story can be found here at doombuggies.com.
The Big Bad Wolf (warning, probably loud first-person-view video) at Busch Gardens in VA. It was a suspended coaster that wound through woods and fake German villages. It was especially neat at night because the village houses had lights in them as you flew by.
