Monsters INC at DCA

[Professortango]

Originally Posted by The Mad Hatter

I've read a few reviews of this ride and it seems most think its fairly underwhelming. After riding it a few times myself I have to strongly disagree. My wife and I enjoyed it very much. It had a concrete story, the characters were right on, it had clever effects (I enjoyed the helicopters), and the length was very nice. Compared with the Fantasyland dark rides, I think it's right on par.

I can't be the only one who really enjoyed this ride...what do you all think?

I think the problem is that it IS at par with the Fantasyland attractions. Attractions which are over 25 years old are at par with this new attraction. I rode it with my girlfriend and we thought it was cute, but kinda underdone. We were hoping for real AA's, not manaquins with speakers.

And the ride was too slow. Not only is it meant to be fast paced, but the actual attraction was so slow that we saw scenes resetting themselves before we even left the room. It just seems they weren't too creative in this ride. We went nowhere new, no new areas of Monstropolis, just scenes from the movie.

When I think of decent modern darkride, I think of Roger Rabbit. Yes, the AA's are mostly manaquins as well, but the two ending AA's are awesome. The ride also is incredibly creative. All the locales are original and very well done (I love the Electric Company room) and the que is nice and distracting. It just seems to me that once again Disney cut corners and offered up a passable darkride version of the movie with no que and all money going to an AA Roz that we didn't even stop for. We were in the loading dock before she even finsihed her little joke. I give the attraction a C+ for darkrides.

[TheDude]

I loved Monsters, Inc. Even if you caompair it to Roger (Roger has AA's with no mouth movement) or even Pan (Also has AA's with no mouth movement,) I think it stands it's ground well.

In my opionion, I got what I paid for: Just a C-Ticket. For a C, it is good. It is still creative when compaired to other C tickets. The reason some people dont like it is becuase it is a C. It's just like asking people their opionion of Pan after they ride it. Some like it some think it is retarted and a waste of time to wait for. Same opinions I hear for Monsters.

There are also people who hate Roger and think it is stupid. It's all someones personal opinion and they are intitled to it. I respect people who say they dont like Monster wile listing a valid reason.

[kayoss]

Originally Posted by TheDude

I loved Monsters, Inc. Even if you caompair it to Roger (Roger has AA's with no mouth movement) or even Pan (Also has AA's with no mouth movement,) I think it stands it's ground well.

In my opionion, I got what I paid for: Just a C-Ticket. For a C, it is good. It is still creative when compaired to other C tickets. The reason some people dont like it is becuase it is a C. It's just like asking people their opionion of Pan after they ride it. Some like it some think it is retarted and a waste of time to wait for. Same opinions I hear for Monsters.

There are also people who hate Roger and think it is stupid. It's all someones personal opinion and they are intitled to it. I respect people who say they dont like Monster wile listing a valid reason.

Hate to be a technical bitch, but the definition of an "AA", is a charecter with complex mouth movement synced with audio. Anything else is just an 'animated figure'. Hence, neither Pooh, Peter Pan or Roger Rabbit have true AA's. Neither did Superstar Limo. Monster's Inc., on the other hand does have one true AA, Roz. And she was added to the attraction exclusively, not part of the redo of the old celebrity manniquins that were sprinkled through the old attraction.

[kayoss]

By the way, I maintain the audio animatronics page at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-Animatronic

[daddyb]

I maintain that the ride is underwhelming. When you start making excuses for a ride, saying "it's good enough" and "we got what we paid for" you might as well start limiting your AMUSEMENT park experiences to carnivals and shopping mall rides.

This is DISNEY. Almost NO ONE did what he did when Disneyland opened. Certainly not in the states. Those dark rides weren't considered "good enough" back then. They were considered incredible. At least a good step or two above what anyone else was doing. Then Disney took things another step further IN THE 60's and brought on Audio Animitronics with Tiki Room, Mr. Lincoln and Pirates. Let's not forget the technological advances with Haunted Mansion as well. Then Mr. Disney died and the technological advances stopped for some time. We DID get some interesting Animitronics in Epcot's "Hall Of Presidents" and MGM Studios (Later Disney Studios) "Great Movie Ride"... each of these rides raised the bar for what was expected from a dark ride. Summed up in one word:

Excellence.

Look at what "Pooh" is at Tokyo... then how Disney cheapened it for WDW, then how it was cheapened even more for Disneyland. That technology could have been directly copied from Tokyo for far less money once the techonology was developed. they chose not to. So while folks in Tokyo wait HOURS to ride "Pooh" it's barely used unless the park is extremely busy in Anaheim.

"Monster's Inc" is just Superstar Limo with rubber suits over the existing mannequins (which is really what they are) and some new plywood sets. Even the Helicopter that was mentioned above is left over. It was done on the cheap.

People in general, and kids especially are much more sophisticated today than they were 50 years ago. When a 2 year old can watch their own personal DVD's on the headrest of their Dad's seat in the family SUV while their older brother is playing video games the likes of which would make a child of the 80's head spin... while mom surfs the 'net for a restaurant on her cell phone and Dad is listening to and watching the navigation system directing him to the Grand Californian... well, psychadelic painted plywood cutouts and stiff armed mannequins waving "this way" are almost an insult.

I remain very hopeful that John Lasseter gets his "Carte Blanche" with the HUGE success of "Cars" (referring to a recent Jim Hill article) and we don't see "good enough" rides at the stateside parks for a long, long time to come.

[The Mad Hatter]

Okay so those of you who don't care for it. Tell me exactly what you would have done to make this ride fantastic. What new technology would you throw in to make this attraction as cutting edge as you think it should be. You can't keep leaning on the SSL crutch....I'd bet 75% of the people that ride monsters didn't even know something was there before it.

[TheDude]

I wasn't trying to insult AA's, or say that Disney cheapend this ride. I was merly trying to point out that Monsters, just like other C tickets, have a group of "haters" that can never be pleased. Roger, Pan, Alice, or Monsters... they are all hated by someone somewhere that thinks that they were cheaply made or "just for kids."

What you guys are missing is this: There are people who like this ride. (which is somthing I can't say about pooh.)


You might think they went in on the cheap, and I might even agree with you (I have yet to say my opinion on the cheapness of effects on monsters,) But what you cant disagree with is the fact that people actully like this ride.

If they didn't, it would have a line... just like Pooh.

As for my comment eariler... I liked it. And your right.. I would rather have talking AA's and better effects, but I still enjoyed the ride. Hince "I got what I paid for: Just a C-Ticket. For a C, it is good."

hope that explains my comments better.

[nish221]

Originally Posted by daddyb

I maintain that the ride is underwhelming. When you start making excuses for a ride, saying "it's good enough" and "we got what we paid for" you might as well start limiting your AMUSEMENT park experiences to carnivals and shopping mall rides.

This is DISNEY. Almost NO ONE did what he did when Disneyland opened. Certainly not in the states. Those dark rides weren't considered "good enough" back then. They were considered incredible. At least a good step or two above what anyone else was doing. Then Disney took things another step further IN THE 60's and brought on Audio Animitronics with Tiki Room, Mr. Lincoln and Pirates. Let's not forget the technological advances with Haunted Mansion as well. Then Mr. Disney died and the technological advances stopped for some time. We DID get some interesting Animitronics in Epcot's "Hall Of Presidents" and MGM Studios (Later Disney Studios) "Great Movie Ride"... each of these rides raised the bar for what was expected from a dark ride. Summed up in one word:

Excellence.

. . .

Although this is a very laudable thing, this is actually NOT true for the
dark rides initially in Fantasyland when DL opened (and for some
time there after).

When Disneyland opened (and even until the 70s), many of these rides were
just painted sets with NO Audio Animatronics and few robotic/moving manequins.
(For example Snow White's Scary Adventures).
They were actually not considered to be technically advanced.

It was only the '82 Fantasyland rehab that brought full 3d figures
(not really AA) into Fantasyland. Even today, there actually are
very few real "Lincoln" caliber AAs in the Fantasyland dark rides.
(In fact, right now I can't think of one; maybe the Queen of Hearts in
Alice?)

Obviously, this changed w/ Tiki Rm, HM, PotC, iasw, even America Sings, but that
is actually a later phenomenon.

[The Mad Hatter]

Originally Posted by TheDude

As for my comment eariler... I liked it. And your right.. I would rather have talking AA's and better effects, but I still enjoyed the ride. Hince "I got what I paid for: Just a C-Ticket. For a C, it is good."

Exactly. You know its a c-ticket dark ride when you go on, yet some complain when it doesn't produce e-ticket quality.

And it cannot be called cheap because there is no other monsters ride to compare it to. For Pooh and TOT it can factually be said that they were made cheaper because they lack aspects that their predecessors have.

[daddyb]

Originally Posted by nish221

Although this is a very laudable thing, this is actually NOT true for the
dark rides initially in Fantasyland when DL opened (and for some
time there after).

When Disneyland opened (and even until the 70s), many of these rides were
just painted sets with NO Audio Animatronics and few robotic/moving manequins.
(For example Snow White's Scary Adventures).
They were actually not considered to be technically advanced.

I was not saying that when Disneyland opened that any of those rides had animitronics. I was saying that when Disneyland opened, those plywood sets and limited motion mannequins that we know as Fatnasyland dark rides were considered at least one step better than anything anyone else was doing in the states.... then came the 60 with Pirates, Tiki Room, Lincoln, and even Haunted Mansion... Disney took it to the next level. Then in the 80's it went to another level with "Hall Of Presidents" and "Great Movie Ride" although they were not really a whole step better, just more advanced than "Pirates" animitronics.

I'm putting forth that with the maturity level of kids and families today, and with Disney itself having taken things to several new levels since the rides of 1955, it's underwhelming and disappointing when they revert back to the "mannequin on a stick" techonology of the 50s.

and by the way, I am NOT saying that NO ONE likes this ride. There will always be some who find this ride quite amusing... will it be their favorite ride? I don't think so. Will the lines be as short as Pooh's come next summer? NO. For a couple reasons. First, Pooh is at Disneyland, stuck in a far corner of the park. There are a bunch of other things to do besides "Pooh"... not so at DCA where there's much less to do and the location is pretty convenient to the front of the park to begin with. Secondly, "Pooh" is based on a 40 year old Disney franchise. A very popular 40 year old franchise, mind you, but still when was the last time a "Pooh" anything brought in the kind of money a "Monster's Inc" anything brought in? Monster's Inc was an insanely popular movie very recently. Of course that ride is going to be more popular than Pooh a year from now.

How much more popular? I don't know.


...and yes you CAN call it "cheap" even though there are no other "Monster's" rides to compare it to... There's TECHNOLOGY that could have been used in this ride that has proven succesfull in other rides that Disney chose not to use because they were basically just (I'll say it again) pulling rubber suits (ok, and fur suits) over existing mannequins... rehabbing a failed ride instead of gutting the building and constructing a real one.

[PumpkinKing!]

I will quote what my parents said when they got off the ride... they arent an obsessed Disney fan like myself: "Its cute!"

So there you have it.

[nish221]

Actually, daddyb, I'm not contesting the central premise of your post. Just that
what you wrote made it sound like DL has always had advanced "AA" (and
I'm using that term very loosely here) in their dark rides.

I completely agree that the expectations are much higher now due to what people
have seen and experienced. I also agree that MI's lines probably are going to be
much longer than Pooh this summer.

[The Mad Hatter]

Originally Posted by daddyb

I'm putting forth that with the maturity level of kids and families today, and with Disney itself having taken things to several new levels since the rides of 1955, it's underwhelming and disappointing when they revert back to the "mannequin on a stick" techonology of the 50s.

So what is the next level? Is it interactivity?Randomization? Laser beams? And how do you protect the integrity of the story when these ideas are applied? Because the story is the most important part IMO. And just because you can do something, does it always mean that you should?

[MasterGracey]

Originally Posted by The Mad Hatter

So what is the next level? Is it interactivity?Randomization? Laser beams? And how do you protect the integrity of the story when these ideas are applied? Because the story is the most important part IMO. And just because you can do something, does it always mean that you should?

I think the "next level" he's talking about are full-moving AA figures like the Auctioneer in Pirates, or even the level of movement found in the Tiki Room.

I agree that just cause theres the technology doesn't mean it needs to be used. However, the Imagineers had no reason NOT to use more movement in the Animatronics in the Monsters ride other than their budget restrictions.

Disney has dug itself in a hole - instead of presenting a mix of big E tickets and lower-ticket attractions over the years, they went on an E-ticket binge and now the general public rejects anything that ISN'T an E-Ticket.

[kcnole]

Personally I don't think every ride Disney makes needs to be E-Ticket quality. Even when they opened the park there were still several rides that were just what everyone else was doing such as carousel's, etc... they just themed theirs better. So there is a precedent for doing that.

Personally I love E-Tickets but if the park were only E-Tickets it would lose some of its charm. I love the C-Ticket rides. I'm an Orlando Park visitor so I've never visited this ride but my best comparison for DCA in Florida is MGM. It needs a lot of work, and while one E ticket ride would be nice. I'd much rather it get a couple of C-Ticket rides. It already has several E's.

With all that said, where can I find any pictures of the inside of this ride?