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Walt Disney World Epcot Discussion Thread

p. 118 - EPCOT Destination D23 news roundup!

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They did a drone show at the PNE last summer (2017) in Vancouver. It was pretty good, although a few times,

it looked like the little drones were lost where they were, in the sky, lol. And they did nothing big, like in the test

that WDW did.

 

I'm sure Disney has tweeked the drones to the point they will fly, even bigger and better, in more complex configurations.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm just sad they wouldn't be using the same music. Reflections of Earth is pretty much my favorite piece of music, period.

 

Anyway, I'm thinking of going to EPCOT for New Year's Eve. Does anyone have any tips or ideas regarding what to do?

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  • 5 weeks later...

I saw pictures of the new Guardians of the Galaxy coaster and saw it was being built by Vekoma. This led me to the question of why does Disney like to use Vekoma for coasters. I think Intamin or maybe S&S would've been a better choice for Rock n' Roller Coaster. Even Seven Darfs Mine Train was built by Vekoma. The only ride I don't argue with is Expedition Everest because they did a fabulous job on that ride. I also looked up who built big thunder mountain and saw that a company named dynamic structures built it, but they seem to not build coasters, does anyone know why Disney chose them.

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I'm just sad they wouldn't be using the same music. Reflections of Earth is pretty much my favorite piece of music, period.

 

Anyway, I'm thinking of going to EPCOT for New Year's Eve. Does anyone have any tips or ideas regarding what to do?

 

Just seeing this post, but I attended New Year's Eve at Epcot last year, so if I can offer some advice.

 

#1. It's the busiest day of the year, so go in expecting that! Test Track through fastpass around 9PM last year was a 30 minute wait for us, and it was 240!!! Minutes posted for Standby. We asked the cast member at merge what the ratio was for guests and she said 1 (single) person from standby per vehicle-design room. Spaceship Earth standby was over 2 hours with all queue completely full. Any rides you want to do you will have to have fastpass for. Also there are huge waits for food parkwide (Electric Umbrella queue was snaking outside near mousegears), and some of the bathrooms as well. I think we ate in Japan which wasn't too bad of a line.

 

However, I've never had more fun at Epcot. They set up a Silent Disco in the plaza behind Spaceship Earth's exit and you could choose between two different DJs. In China, there was literally a fire-breathing dragon above the crowd, playing modern EDM. In Italy they had a phenomenal house DJ who I think was on-set for at least 6 hours. The park was also well-managed, they had cast members arm-to-arm around the entire world showcase who were directing traffic flow in two lanes, and there was tape marking the areas you could stand in for fireworks. We got our spot about 45 minutes before midnight and had a good view from Mexico pavillion area, I'd plan 15 minutes earlier next time. For the midnight fireworks they play normal Illuminations (which they ALSO played at like 8PM I think), followed by a much more interesting NYE segment with a gigantic finale. They also opened up backstage areas to walk from the world showcase to the front areas, such as from Canada to the Land pavillion which were open the whole day. They give out noisemakers (and fun hats) also which were really annoying at first, but quieted down as people got bored of them.

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I saw pictures of the new Guardians of the Galaxy coaster and saw it was being built by Vekoma. This led me to the question of why does Disney like to use Vekoma for coasters. I think Intamin or maybe S&S would've been a better choice for Rock n' Roller Coaster. Even Seven Darfs Mine Train was built by Vekoma. The only ride I don't argue with is Expedition Everest because they did a fabulous job on that ride. I also looked up who built big thunder mountain and saw that a company named dynamic structures built it, but they seem to not build coasters, does anyone know why Disney chose them.

 

Disney is much more "hands on" in the development of rides. Essentially a manufacturer has to agree to being a subcontractor to Disney instead of running a whole project as they normally would. Disney and Vekoma obviously have a very good working relationship where both parties benefit, so why mess with a good thing?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Might as well add this to the discussion thread as well as the IAAPA thread. Today at IAAPA Bob Chapek announced some new details about the Guardians Roller Coaster. From this short video we can take away the following:

 

- Vekoma is working on the ride.

- The ride vehicle design was announced.

- The ride vehicles will turn (doesn't sound like it will spin freely.)

- The coaster will launch at some point.

- It's not a flying coaster.

 

Here's the video and some images of the coaster cars:

 

1361184516_ridevehicle1.thumb.jpg.2f9c4eb2f7cd6f659554c8a71856f666.jpg

1037112798_ridevehicle2.thumb.jpg.e72458f47dfffcb75ff67f764562a7e2.jpg

Edited by robbalvey
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Might as well add this to the discussion thread as well as the IAAPA thread. Today at IAAPA Bob Chapek announced some new details about the Guardians Roller Coaster. From this short video we can take away the following:

 

- Vekoma is working on the ride.

- The ride vehicle design was announced.

- The ride vehicles will turn (doesn't sound like it will spin freely.)

- The coaster will launch at some point.

- It's not a flying coaster.

 

Here's the video and some images of the coaster cars:

 

 

Has Disney ever done such an inside baseball announcement before? I was shocked to hear the ride system manufacturer name dropped and then actual test footage shown. I know it's a trade event but still I don't recall ever seeing anything like this before. Love the transparency.

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Has Disney ever done such an inside baseball announcement before? I was shocked to hear the ride system manufacturer name dropped and then actual test footage shown. I know it's a trade event but still I don't recall ever seeing anything like this before. Love the transparency.

No. Not at all. This is a new positioning for them. I remember when we were doing our press construction tours of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train they would not talk at all about Vekoma's involvement. Now I have no idea if maybe because this was at an "industry" event that may have something to do with it, but I have never heard them mention ride manufacturers before. And they also talked about the Skyliner developer, too! So it wasn't just Vekoma.

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It is definitely interesting to see Vekoma more openly being acknowledged as the supplier for these Disney attractions... They've updated their website to officially claim some notable Disney projects as those they've worked on: https://www.vekoma.com/custom-designed-coasters.

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I think Vekoma's partnership with Disney has helped them to improve their rides overall. They're not just that company that makes Boomerangs and SLCs anymore. It's been fun to watch (and ride).

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I think Vekoma's partnership with Disney has helped them to improve their rides overall. They're not just that company that makes Boomerangs and SLCs anymore. It's been fun to watch (and ride).

 

100% Agree!! Tron, Everest, Dwarves, Vekoma & Disney come up with amazing concepts when they work together. I used to wish that Disney would work with other coaster manufacturers, but they've proved me wrong each and every time they open up a new ride together. I was BLOWN AWAY by Tron and I can't wait for this!

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Wow that looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. I was initially thinking controlled sideways turning just to point you at show scenes, ala Gringotts at UO, but the idea of pointing you backwards and forwards is really intriguing. Perhaps an enemy ship is tailing you so you're turned around backwards to face it, only to be zipped back around forward to see that you're flying right towards a meteor or something. Sounds like an incredibly immersive, 360 degree experience.

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