What was so bad about TL 1998? I found some photos of TL 98 on www.disneyfans.com and in its original incarnation I think it looked good. It had no stand out flaws and seemed to have a continuity that made it work.It seems that it began its weird morph when they added club buzz. I would like opinions from people who were there when TL 98 opened, and get your feedback, why you thought it did not work and why you thought it did.
I would prefer posts from people who acctually saw it in person, but welcome feedback from anyone.
" And we can dream our dreams forever, dream our dreams together, we open our hearts make a wish on a star in the sky..."
Light Magic 1997-1997
Why? They ripped out a bunch of TL attractions and then put back in I believe less than half of what was once there.
The Astro Orbiter, which is the newer reincarnation of Rocket Jets, was moved from the top of the Peoplemover platform to the very front of TL, adding rocks to frame. This not only caused a great amount of congestion (and still does today), but the ride lost the thrill of being up so high. If you want to be close to the ground, go on Dumbo.
The Peoplemover was replaced by Rocket Rods. Now, the initial concept for the ride was great, but due to budget cuts, the ride constantly broke down and eventually broke down into ruin for itself. The goal was to make it the fastest ride in TL, but the suits wouldn't pay for banked turns...so, the vehicles had to slow down as soon as they'd sped up, buring tons of rubber on the tracks and causing the break downs. The line, coinciding, was from what I saw always 70 minutes long...and after I got off the ride, I didn't understand why I had waited in line for so long. So I only went on it once. If it had been funded right, it would have been different...but now it's gone, and the tracks have remained empty for years, killing the feeling of movement throughout TL, making it feel...dead.
The Submarine Voyage said goodbye. When it was closing, there were plans to fix it up...and then were abandoned. It took up until recently for anything to get the go-ahead...again, killing the movement feel, and leaving this giant pool of rot as a waste recepticle for guests.
"Club Buzz"? Eww...people who work there often still call it TL Terrace. I mean, it makes more sense now that there's a Buzz ride right nextstore...but that didn't happen until last year.
And then, to top it all off, TL was painted in the color of vomit. The concept was better-used at Euro Disney...there would have been a volcano and more things going along with the rocks at the front of TL, but again, budget cuts, and everything is disjointed.
The only thing I like that came from TL 98 is the Pizza Port.
In the end, the reason this "refurb" has gotten so many negative reviews is because of budget cuts.
Take me to Neverland...
^excellent, Just Excellent Report!
I hate where the rocket jets are. they block the way into tomorrowland and create a bottleneck. They were much better on top of that structure where the loud annoying sculpture is...other than that it's ok....
Well, I worked at Rocket Rods during the 1998 rennovation. I thought the rennovation was great mostly because it was much needed. The older tommorrow looked really old.
Everyone hates the Astro Orbitor, but it makes the park look nicer and Tommorrowland look more full. Rocket Jets was really "Ghetto" with the elevator. It was also a nightmare for workers with sending the right amount on the elevator and how long the trips were.
Rocket Rods was great. I started to hate it while working it, but I loved the ride when I would go on it as a guest. That really wasn't the actual ride. Once Tommorrowland 98 made some money, they were to really pimp it out, but it just got cut back.
Innoventions isn't good, but that has nothing against the rennovation because it wasn't used as an attraction before.
HISTA was a good installment at the time.
The subs shouldn't have left but they were really expensive to maintain.
Club Buzz wasn't so redundant before astro blasters
5 days a week
What really killed the Rocket ROds wasa the line. The line was long and boring because of the cars. The cars were extremely retarded. 2-2-2-1 or whatever. It would have been great if they banked the turns and extended it so they like test track or indy cars. You need huge capacity these days.
5 days a week
I don't like Redd Rockett;s Pizza Port much. Disney replaced a ride building for a restaurant. Yes, I understand TL needed a new food area. But that could have been put somewhere else. Shoulda made Pizza Port another attraction.
"You're not thinking fourth dimensionally!" -Back to the Future
"With this place, I wanted to give them something real, something that wasn't an illusion, something they could see and touch. An aim devoid of merit."
-Jurassic Park
At the time, I didn't mind the refurb much. But I hadn't been to Disneyland much before it and I was young.
I liked the idea of the Rocket Rods a lot. They were an enjoyable attraction, but the aforementioned queue was always ridiculously long and it used up some valuable real estate. I'd rather have them still in operation than have the track empty all day. By 2006, the lines would have died way down, of course. And WDI (hopefully) would have made the ride a little quieter--after all, those whining noises were cool, but a little overwhelming.
I thought the color scheme was kind of dumb. It works at Disneyland Paris' Discoveryland because that land has always been designed to emulate the future-that-never-happened theme. Tomorrowland just wasn't designed that way, and suddenly imposing that theme in a half-hearted way was just confusing and rather unappealing to the eye.
Innoventions was another cool idea, but the execution was even worse than that of Rocket Rods. Something else should have been implemented there.
Tomorrowland in general bothers me more than the other "serious" lands because it feels more...fake, I guess. (Fantasyland and Toontown aren't among those "serious" lands I'm talking about.) Tomorrowland just has a plasticky, theme-park-ish feel to it that the other lands don't as much. It doesn't help that Tomorrowland has considerably less foliage and faux-natural areas.
I agree about the Rocket Jets- they were very cool on top- they gave the land of tomorrow so much movement and life- it's 'dead' now.
They Took Out The Subs!
hey, we only learn from our mistakes, i think its good this happened cause then they could see their flaws!
True but what were they thinking when they were drawing it up?Originally Posted by FutureImagineer183
So many wrong decsions
I'm back MiceChat
We were there for the grand opening event for TL. It was packed!
We were disappointed with the color scheme as well.
Rocket Rods was fun, but out of the dozen or so times that we rode it (throughout its tenure) we experienced either a break-down or delay on the tracks more than 50% of the time. We had to walk off twice...
Pineapplewhipaddict did a great review. Thanks!
There was a TV special on the grand opening of the new tomorrowland. I don't know if it ever made it to video/dvd.
We have it on video (recorded) someone around the house...
There a lot more wrong with TL '98 if you actually experienced Tomorrowland '67.
This sorta thing was bound to happen at any moment! And luckily it happened in 98! People learn from their mistakes, and now that its happened it wont happen anymore! So be thankful it happened, cause it would've happened a few more years into the future, and it would be chaos! just a thought!
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