Mary Poppins Attraction - UK Pavilion

[UniversalRBLX]

Who are these Imagineers that keep coming up with this recent streak of such bad ideas that get greenlit & built, or get greenlit then cancelled.?..Harmonious barges, AK night shows, Poppins tea cups, Star Wars hotel/experience, SpiderMan at DCA, Play Pavilion, Kite lagoon shows. Surely, there's some people that don't belong in, or understand, the business.

I can't really blame the Imagineers when they are being directed to solely focus on IP projects that are rushed and/or mandated by the top.

Rivers of Light was an odd failure on Imagineering's part since they were relying on the driverless barges to be the "wow" factor. Same for Harmonious. Sometimes technology isn't the reason why we visit the parks (Universal can learn from this too lol).


We probably would have a Poppins flat by now had the Imagineers not tried to be too creative with it. There was zero need to do all the fancy expensive stuff they were planning on.

 

[Nick]

I can't really blame the Imagineers when they are being directed to solely focus on IP projects that are rushed and/or mandated by the top.

Rivers of Light was an odd failure on Imagineering's part since they were relying on the driverless barges to be the "wow" factor. Same for Harmonious. Sometimes technology isn't the reason why we visit the parks (Universal can learn from this too lol).


We probably would have a Poppins flat by now had the Imagineers not tried to be too creative with it. There was zero need to do all the fancy expensive stuff they were planning on.

Rivers Of Light was originally supposed to be a nighttime light parade. They were probably directed to create a nighttime show to coincide with the opening of Pandora and that Parade ended up in the water

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Rivers Of Light was originally supposed to be a nighttime light parade. They were probably directed to create a nighttime show to coincide with the opening of Pandora and that Parade ended up in the water

Yeah, that's why I can't blame them entirely. Sometimes corporate executives are not the best people to provide feedback. Universal learned the hard way with F&F.

 

[belloq87]

Of course, I also argue that adding a boat ride targeting 5-6 minutes and nice capacity in Germany would be nice. No IP on that one but just find some German folklore for the Black Forest or other areas.

If only they had designed something just like this once...

Who are these Imagineers that keep coming up with this recent streak of such bad ideas that get greenlit & built, or get greenlit then cancelled.?..Harmonious barges, AK night shows, Poppins tea cups, Star Wars hotel/experience, SpiderMan at DCA, Play Pavilion, Kite lagoon shows. Surely, there's some people that don't belong in, or understand, the business.

While I would agree that there have been too many underwhelming attraction concepts of late, we can't underestimate the kind of mandates imposed on them from above on projects like those, though.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, that's why I can't blame them entirely. Sometimes corporate executives are not the best people to provide feedback. Universal learned the hard way with F&F.

But to your point that we probably would've had a Poppins flat had they not got cute, you're totally right. I'm not exactly sure why imagineering loves these "experiences" so much. If corporate approves $100M for you to spend on a Poppins attraction in the UK Pavilion spend that money wisely. Don't do all of these pre show things that eat up most of the budget. Spend it on an actual Poppins ride, not just Tea Cups that are themed after Poppins. A C-ticket style attraction that probably has fairly low capacity like an old school fantasyland dark ride would probably work. Maybe you just make the ride a decent size so you can always be running a decent amount of RVs at once.

If only they had designed something just like this once...

The queue was even built and is just break rooms and storage now. Unfortunately I doubt anything ever gets built there.

 

[tielo]

I didn't understand the tea cups but then I found out it was based on the 2018 Marry Poppins Returns. I didn't understand why there was a Marry Poppins Returns.
Wtf not base it on a classic but on a poorly received dud. Why not have a nice carousel resembling the carousel in the original movie. Why not learn from your mistakes with Star Wars and go for the classic.
All that said, will we get a Cinderella 3 attraction, and a The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2: The Secret of the Bell show announcement at D23.

 

[grlhowl]

I honestly wouldn't have minded the preshow thing. I love the idea of a classic ride system being given effects that make it a really special experience. But if this happened, it would've gotten outrageous E-ticket-level waits due to the low number of rides in WS and the entire park. I'd be bummed to wait over an hour for teacups or a carousel, even with great effects. If the park had more capacity, this would've been a really fun C or D-ticket

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Rivers Of Light was originally supposed to be a nighttime light parade. They were probably directed to create a nighttime show to coincide with the opening of Pandora and that Parade ended up in the water

Then the project was changed so much and underfunded, it was a mess.

 

[shiekra38]

I actually quite like Spider-Man at DCA, it's fun for what it is and using the single rider line can get you on extremely quick. It's no comparison to the IOA ride obviously. Of course they are two totally separate rides and the DCA ride isn't trying to be like the IOA ride. It's definitely much more TSMM, but in a different way. The ride wouldn't be nearly as criticized if the Avengers E-ticket had opened alongside it.

It's like SWGE. Smuggler's Run was criticized at first because both lands opened without Rise and Smuggler's Run was the only attraction. Once Rise opened, everyone stopped saying anything about Smugglers Run because it fills it's role as the land's side show, not the main attraction that Rise is.

When you look at Avengers Campus, Avengers will be the anchor ride, Mission Breakout will be a solid secondary E-ticket (even though the ride itself has been in the park since 2007), and Web Slingers is the third ride in the land that rounds it out. Had this whole land opened all at once instead of bit by bit starting in 2017 with GotG, then 2021 with Avengers Campus as a whole and now we're in 2023 and construction still hasn't even begun on the Avengers ride. Because the opening of it all has been so spread out, it seems a lot more underwhelming.

For what it's worth though, i'm glad they're taking their time on the Avengers ride though. They know that this ride needs to impress people and that the pressure is on and it's also a ride that isn't only going to DCA, but also to WDSP and to HKDL.

Spiderman DCA was never built to "top" the IOA version. As a matter of fact I doubt it was brought up very much during the design process

However, I do wish it was more practical and like Mario Kart with AR, but that's all hindsight Imagineering lol

I do think this Poppins ride would have suffered a similar fate by everyone expecting the Baxter designed dark ride...but this concept would have certainly filled a need

 

[wutisgood]

I never understood why they cancelled rivers of light. You have a resort starved of things to do. It had no pyro so it could not have been all that much to operate. It at least spread some people from the other parks. The alternative now is nothing,

 

[Nick]

I never understood why they cancelled rivers of light. You have a resort starved of things to do. It had no pyro so it could not have been all that much to operate. It at least spread some people from the other parks. The alternative now is nothing,

It was running on what was essentially a trackless ride system on water. A system that worked very poorly causing many crashes. It was a money pit.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

When I had a Disney source he also believed it was a carousel or a “new concept” carousel lol. This is interesting though. It’s not my $100 million to spend so I don’t care too much, but make the Little Mermaid ride a more interactive and personal experience and it isn’t the worst way to spend money. I’d have to assume they do step in time dance parades too so maybe this included the cost of how many more performers they’ll need in Epcot now.

I’m not championing this idea but it’d be a unique fit in Epcot.

If Disney was regularly investing in attractions at Walt Disney World I’d agree. But they don’t and frequently use weak responses to expensive attractions to cancel projects.

I never understood why they cancelled rivers of light. You have a resort starved of things to do. It had no pyro so it could not have been all that much to operate. It at least spread some people from the other parks. The alternative now is nothing,

RoL never hit, it was basically a soft Harmonious - tech issues and no one liked it.

 

[belloq87]

In hindsight, I appreciate what Rivers of Light was trying to do much more than I did at the time.

Great soundtrack, too.

 

[Nick]

If Disney was regularly investing in attractions at Walt Disney World I’d agree. But they don’t and frequently use weak responses to expensive attractions to cancel projects.



RoL never hit, it was basically a soft Harmonious - tech issues and no one liked it.

Best thing about it was the soundtrack and that they were allowed to do a completely original show in 2016. Unfortunately, the failure of it is, imo, what led to the over correction in Harmonious at Epcot.

 

[wutisgood]

If Disney was regularly investing in attractions at Walt Disney World I’d agree. But they don’t and frequently use weak responses to expensive attractions to cancel projects.



RoL never hit, it was basically a soft Harmonious - tech issues and no one liked it.
[/QUOTE
Still better than nothing. How bad could the maintenance costs be when most of the cost was already sunk making the show?

 

[Tobias]

I never understood why they cancelled rivers of light. You have a resort starved of things to do. It had no pyro so it could not have been all that much to operate. It at least spread some people from the other parks. The alternative now is nothing,

As others have mentioned, RoL closing was pretty simple.

1.) It was a technical and maintenance nightmare.
2.) When it did work, it wasn't bringing in the crowds nor was it doing well in ratings. So much so that they made "Rivers of Light: We are One" in hopes of turning things around, but the revamp was absolutely awful. While the original RoL had its fans, "We are One" was unanimously trashed across the board.

You have a show that was a pain to maintain and operate, it wasn't bringing in crowds and it wasn't doing good in ratings...add in the costs to run it and the show became a Money Pit.

When it comes to Money Pits, especially when it's a show, "Nothing is better than Something". Because "nothing" isn't draining money hand over fist for maintenance & weekly operating costs for a show which wasn't getting enough back to justify it running. Unless you're somehow able to fix the show to really turn things around (which they clearly weren't), you have to end the show, full-stop. If you don't cut off the Money Pit, it's going to add up in the worst ways.

 

[HandsomePete]

What I don't get is how every major insider thought this was a carousel. Perhaps being told wrong info on purpose?

When I had a Disney source he also believed it was a carousel or a “new concept” carousel lol. This is interesting though.

It was 100% a carousel concept when Tom Fitz was over the Epcot revamp. Then Epcot was given to Zach and the drift began.

 

[wutisgood]

As others have mentioned, RoL closing was pretty simple.

1.) It was a technical and maintenance nightmare.
2.) When it did work, it wasn't bringing in the crowds nor was it doing well in ratings. So much so that they made "Rivers of Light: We are One" in hopes of turning things around, but the revamp was absolutely awful. While the original RoL had its fans, "We are One" was unanimously trashed across the board.

You have a show that was a pain to maintain and operate, it wasn't bringing in crowds and it wasn't doing good in ratings...add in the costs to run it and the show became a Money Pit.

When it comes to Money Pits, especially when it's a show, "Nothing is better than Something". Because "nothing" isn't draining money hand over fist for maintenance & weekly operating costs for a show which wasn't getting enough back to justify it running. Unless you're somehow able to fix the show to really turn things around (which they clearly weren't), you have to end the show, full-stop. If you don't cut off the Money Pit, it's going to add up in the worst ways.

Disney could spend millions a year to maintain a show and it would be practically nothing compared to the revenue they bring in. Disney world has the most expensive tickets in the industry. I and other guests pay enough money to not have them cry poor about operating costs. If Disney were to say they were closing the show to focus on new entertainment investment in animal kingdom that would be more acceptable, yet they have not even brought entertainment otherwise back to pre pandemic levels with record revenue. Something is better than nothing because I go to the parks as a GUEST, not an investor. Is Disney paying you for savings from not operating this show? Did they give you a discount?

I do wish they had just kept the original version but either way as a guest staying multiple days it's something to do that I appreciate. There are many other Disney rides that are worse experiences yet they keep running because Disney has so much demand to do anything. I would rather see this 1000 times than go on small world. Disney spends a ton of money to develop a show, raises ticket prices more than enough to cover their insane budgets, and then cancels a show because they don't like the maintenance costs yet still raises prices for the park while not developing a replacement. I feel so sorry for Disney. It must be so hard for them.

 

[Jake S]

Disney could spend millions a year to maintain a show and it would be practically nothing compared to the revenue they bring in. Disney world has the most expensive tickets in the industry. I and other guests pay enough money to not have them cry poor about operating costs. If Disney were to say they were closing the show to focus on new entertainment investment in animal kingdom that would be more acceptable, yet they have not even brought entertainment otherwise back to pre pandemic levels with record revenue. Something is better than nothing because I go to the parks as a GUEST, not an investor. Is Disney paying you for savings from not operating this show? Did they give you a discount?

this is pretty unfair to Tobias, who was only explaining disney's rationale for closing a show in the terms disney is likely to use internally. you're welcome to be unhappy with it; I'm generally unhappy with most business decisions large corporations make, but I don't think anyone is caping for disney here.

I do wish they had just kept the original version but either way as a guest staying multiple days it's something to do that I appreciate. There are many other Disney rides that are worse experiences yet they keep running because Disney has so much demand to do anything. I would rather see this 1000 times than go on small world.

are there actually disney attractions that offer a worse experience than this pretty mediocre show? if there are, small world — even in no-facade form — isn't one of them.

even if you remove cost from the equation, the idea that a bad show is better than no show at all is not the mentality that has made disney parks successful. I agree that they at times fall short of their own standards, but the solution isn't eliminating standards altogether.

 

[erider]

I loved Rivers of Light and really miss it, especially the original version. I didn’t get the feeling it was that unpopular since the theater was filling up frequently. I really wish they are going to use that theater again for something else (not Kitetails) because it’s really wasted capacity now.