IndoorSurvivalist

I've been been in complete disbelief for days now, that Dueling Dragons will no longer exist. When I first went to IoA, it had to have been 2000, and This was no doubt my favorite ride there, it probably still was the last time I went in 2010 (which holy crap I can't believe that was 7 years ago). Obviously I share the same sentiments as everyone else. Inverts were my favorite type of coaster for the longest time, and while DD was not the best invert, it had my favorite element. The second helix into the helix was just awesome. In my earlier visits to IoA, I also remember the re-ride door, which was great for short cutting the unnecessarily long queue line. I remember on my last trip after it turned into Dragon Challenge the re-ride door was no longer available, but you could still see where the sign hung from the ceiling and obviously the actual door was still there. If there was one (affordable) aspect of the ride I could have taken home, it would have been that sign.

Do they have bring a friend days for their season passes? I might get a Cedar Fair pass next year if Knott's also has a good new ride announced. The Six Flags pass has been such a deal for me this year though with the free parking and getting people in for free.

What is the overall scale and length of this one compared to the one at Blizzard Beach? The one at Blizzard Beach is pretty long for this type of slide and is very fun. Never mind I found a video. While this is certainly better than the one that was already there, doesn't seem to compete with the Blizzard Beach one on thrills or length

If they do decide to build it, they should be able to do it in just a few months depending on the complexity of the station buildings. If they went with standard stations, and didn't enclose it in custom buildings it shouldn't really take any longer to install than a B&M style roller coaster. Knowing Disney they will want to do that, but about 6 moths sounds pretty reasonable from start to finish. When they build these things at ski resorts or up mountains in general, they have to make the footers and then they partially assemble the towers and have to fly them up the mountain with a helicopter to install them. I think with this one they could do it with just a normal crane which would make it go a lot faster.

50 MPH? That would be insanely fast for a gondola. Gondolas typically go around 6-8 meters per second, which would be around 13-18 MPH.

I came across this photo a while back (its been sitting on my desktop for a while now) and thougt people here might find it interesting. Its interesting to compare this photo to current satellite images and see what buildings and pathways are still there. Certainly there used to be a lot more grass. One of the things I thought interesting are the white objects along the pathway on the edge of the water. It looks like there was about five of them, and two of them are still there around the butterfly exhibit. The one of the other side of the path seems to have been removed, probably because the train used to pass right along there.

I guess I'm the only one that thinks the exterior concept art looks pretty ugly. You can still clearly see all the characteristics of the current building. It reminds me of the 98 Tomorrowland goldification.

Old Navy. They have a website with pretty much everything they sell on it. There are also a handful of stores in California.

Wow I had no idea that where this was going. It's so close to Montu! I guess this means the old original Montu queue and sign that was over on that side is now gone (looking at old photo on my wall).

Being from California, even I don't really have much interest in visiting Universal Hollywood. I haven't been in over 10 years, and have been to Universal Orlando at least two times since my last USH visit. The only major attractions I've never been on (at either park) is Transformers and Despicable Me. Not including any Tram Tour changes since then. At this point I think visiting USH would just decrease the value of any future visit to Universal Orlando as far as first time experience of attractions. I don't really live nearby to USH, so I would have to travel and take time off from work etc. so visiting USO just seems like a better value.

I'm curious about the aerodynamic effect of having a solid flat surface under the train. Most track designs have space for air to escape under the train, but this obviously doesn't. They could be able to incorporate a ground effect, but since it's already on rails I don't see what the benefit of that would be... Maybe I'm overthinking it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(cars) The gist of what I'm thinking is that I would expect this to cause the train to have more air resistance than the average coaster and run slower.

For weight reasons they probably can't carry more that one piece at a time anyways.

I read that article from LA Times and some of it sounds pretty plausible. If Star Wars land does go in place of Thunder Ranch, I think the majority of it will be outside the train tracks, meaning it would displace what appears to be the horse stable area. This is kinda sad because I think one of the oldest structures, from what I remember, is right in that area. I think it's a house that was moved form somewhere? I don't remember the whole story. Anyways if that is the case, then it looks like they would be able to take out the tree house in Toon Town to make a pathway into Star Wars land from Toon Town, so that you could make a loop through Fantaysland, Toon Town, Star Wars, and Frontierland. Turning Star Tours into the Iron Man ride also seems highly plausible. Though depending on where Star Wars land going in Florida, I could see Star Tours staying there. OK i just saw COASTER FREAK 11 pretty much already posted this, but I think the Star Wars area will stay within the larger box he drew, and not extend into the area on the left or the top.

I don't think the cars will rock. In the animation there was a portion where the cars rocked back and forth, but I think that's just due the the back and forth banking in the track and not the cars themselves swinging. Here is a link to the animation Also I now agree that the parachute tower looks just like some themeing. Sorta funny that they would take a ride concept from another park and turn it into a bit of themeing though, maybe it's just an 'easter egg' type thing in the art. I suppose they have done this type of thing before though. I think Disneyworld will have all the 'family' coaster bases covered after this one. This being the first family coaster with a launch.

I think the layout tayspru came up with is probably pretty accurate. It looks like the parachute drop ride might actually be there as well. I hadn't thought about them moving the TSMM entrance but after looking at the Concept art, you can clearly see the entrance to it in the middle. I would think that would make the current entrance area pretty pointless since the only other thing in that area currently is bathrooms I think. They would probably need that area still for foot traffic, but it would essentially just be a long hallway. I also like the detail on the coaster, how there will be some extra track pieces not part of the ride. That always happened when playing with hot wheels or toy trains and whatever.

The Toy Story area looks massive. Probably taking up a large space in the back of the park where Street of America is all the way back to the Motors show. The roller coaster probably taking up a majority of the space where the Stadium is now. My guess is that Star Wars will go next to Star Tours with the removal of the Backlot Express eating area, and then some of the backstage stuff in that area moved into the back of the park, maybe where tram maintenance and the Canyon are/used to be. Star Tours is likely to be redressed to match whatever the new Star Wars area ends up being. Hard to know what these other attractions are with their basic descriptions but I hope they don't all end up being different types of simulator rides. However it ends up going down, this is a really great and needed change for the Studios.

Also looks like it will have a fairly steep downward spiral, sorta like the section after the lift on the IoA raft ride.

The design of all the World's Fair merchandise is really cool. I really want those orange and green glasses.

I think partially what people are afraid of is they are thinking the ride is going to be like the Little Mermaid ride or something. They can still stay true to what EPCOT is supposed to be and tell the history of Norway and whatever, while at the same time make it a bit more entertaining by having the characters from the film. Sorta like what they did with he Mexico ride, but hopefully way better than that. As someone that went to EPCOT as a kid, the rides and movies n stuff of world showcase just aren't that interesting. So I totally get it.

I agree, I think Norway is my favorite even without the ride based on its looks, Food, and of course the Norwegian girls. Also back to the waterfall thing, that is the most impressive thing about the ride. From the outside the ride looks cooler than in really is (was). Also I never understood how at the best part of the ride, you are actually facing the wrong way! If you're not paying much attention or not sitting in the back of the boat you would not even notice the huge hole in the wall. It would would have been way cooler if you were facing forwards at that part.

I wont miss the ride. It really wasn't that great. If you really want to ride a boat ride with drop go to MK and ride Splash Mountain or Pirates, both WAAAAAY better rides. However, The facade of Maelstrom where the boats looks like they are going to go over the waterfall is one of my strongest (possibly only) memory of my first visit to Disney World when I was 8 or whatever. Not sure why, but that image stuck with me.

In case you didn't know, they recently stared selling Surge on Amazon. I wonder oh much of the track, if any, they will have to replace to accommodate the floorless trains. I imagine the chassis is pretty similar so maybe they wont have to replace the brakes or anything, but I wonder if the station track will have to change or if they drop away floor can be added as it is.

So what was possibly going to be the only large portion of the original ride is now no more.

Nice photos! Whats with the arm guard things on Superman and the green lantern ride? I know the old Superman cars didn't have that, or even shoulder restraints.

It's another pun, they are going to spill re-fried beans on people during the ride.