KBrylczyk Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 ^ The butthurt is strong with that guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Apparently the head of the Wanda group thinks Shanghai Disney is destined for failure calling it a "lone tiger" that's no match for "a pack of wolves" (referring to their own parks), which is like saying Six Flags/Cedar Fair would be a problem for the U.S Disney parks. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-perplexed-by-wanda-chairmans-898330 Yeah, I mean I get how that might sound ridiculous but China is a a completely different market, especially mainland China from what I understand. I didn't realize how big of a company Wanda group is until I checked out their webpage a few minutes ago but they are involved with a ton of different types of business which I'm sure yields them significant advantages in that market, regardless of how good or bad their parks are. I'm not saying he's right and the Disney Shanghai was a mistake destined for failure but it will be interesting to see how the property performs over the next couple of years. I mean Hong Kong Disneyland hasn't exactly been setting attendance records every year or anything, so we'll see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Oh I just spent a whole day at the new Wanda park in Nanchang and I'm telling all of you, while Wanda did a great job purchasing the craziest GCI ever, they can NEVER compare with Disney. Not 10 years, not 25 years, not 50 years. No matter how many Intamin's they buy, no matter how many Dynamic Attractions theaters they buy, no matter how many RMC's they buy, no matter how many movie companies they buy. They don't understand one thing, money is important, but if they want to really be a world class group that can confront Disney, they need a soul. The CEO knows nothing about the industry and he's being cocky because he's the richest person in China. Him saying that could be a very clever marketing scheme because Wanda just got started in the theme park business. Him being an asshole to Disney will make the whole country know Wanda is building amusement parks all over the place and that will help with the attendance greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDG Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Roaring Rapids is now open as well... but it looks like the dragon still needs some work: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Kind of surprised they opened it with the dragon sitting there with it's internals hangin out like that. Also, this reminds me of how much Kali River Rapids sucks..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Wow, that was quite underwhelming. I was really hoping this would be something a bit more than just a slightly longer Kali River Rapids with a cool looking animatronic (which is clearly not even finished yet.) This would appear to be a "one and done" for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonoma15 Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Even though that alligator thing is probably not even finished yet, I just thought this was funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiex Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 The alligator is a lot smaller than the concept art suggested it would be, but then again concept art rarely reflects reality. Weird that they're choosing to open the ride with such an obviously unfinished animatronic though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Wow, that was quite underwhelming. I was really hoping this would be something a bit more than just a slightly longer Kali River Rapids with a cool looking animatronic (which is clearly not even finished yet.) This would appear to be a "one and done" for me. Yeah, it looks like they put a dragon statue in DCA's Grizzly River Run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Wow, that was quite underwhelming. I was really hoping this would be something a bit more than just a slightly longer Kali River Rapids with a cool looking animatronic (which is clearly not even finished yet.) This would appear to be a "one and done" for me. Yeah, it looks like they put a dragon statue in DCA's Grizzly River Run. It sure looks like an exact copy of Grizzly River Run, just with different rocks and a broken animatronic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Wow, that was quite underwhelming. I was really hoping this would be something a bit more than just a slightly longer Kali River Rapids with a cool looking animatronic (which is clearly not even finished yet.) This would appear to be a "one and done" for me. Yeah, it looks like they put a dragon statue in DCA's Grizzly River Run. It sure looks like an exact copy of Grizzly River Run, just with different rocks and a broken animatronic. Is the layout an exact copy? I've only been on Grizzly River Run once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 ^ After watching POVs of both, they're not exact but they're pretty darn close. Seems the only differences are the channel before the final drop on Grizzly wraps around to the right while Shanghai wraps to the left. Also Grizzly's straight rapid sections have been replaced to be more zig-zaggy in Shanghai, if that makes sense. Grizzly tends to be big turn, long straight, big turn, long straight, drop, etc. Shanghai keeps jogging left and right the entire time. Edit - The finale is hilariously exact, though. Final drop then long left turn around smoking geysers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 If the layout's an "exact copy" of Grizzly Rapids, and/or is "slow as the Kali Rapids" at Animal Kingdom, what's the big deal? More than 3/4+ of these locals have probably never been to DCA (or any other Disney park, I bet), so this will be very exciting for them, if you listened to the screams of the riders in that video. More screaming than I've heard on a lot of other rapids rides overseas. My 7 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COASTER FREAK 11 Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Its the same ride sequence, but they are not cloned layouts. The google satellite images show the differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 If the layout's an "exact copy" of Grizzly Rapids, and/or is "slow as the Kali Rapids" at Animal Kingdom,what's the big deal? More than 3/4+ of these locals have probably never been to DCA (or any other Disney park, I bet), so this will be very exciting for them, if you listened to the screams of the riders in that video. More screaming than I've heard on a lot of other rapids rides overseas. I wasn't asking because I cared what the Chinese locals think I was asking because it may help me make a decision if I even bother to go on it or not when I visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 ^ Okay, cool. I just got the feeling this thing was being dissed without anybody having been on it, yet. My mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 ^ Okay, cool. I just got the feeling this thing was being dissed without anybody having been on it, yet. My mistake. Oh, it's most certainly being dissed. But I think we have all been on enough Rapids rides, especially two others that are nearly identical, to pass at least a preliminary judgement. I mean, I've been on both Grizzly and Kali *ONE* time each in all my visits to those parks. This doesn't look like will appeal to my any more than those rides did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 ^ Okay, cool. I just got the feeling this thing was being dissed without anybody having been on it, yet. My mistake. Oh, it's most certainly being dissed. But I think we have all been on enough Rapids rides, especially two others that are nearly identical, to pass at least a preliminary judgement. I mean, I've been on both Grizzly and Kali *ONE* time each in all my visits to those parks. This doesn't look like will appeal to my any more than those rides did. I want to like Rapids rides. I do. The truth is I like basically Bluto's and most all of the others I've ever been on (and they're myriad) leave me wanting. There's nothing in this video that suggests to me that my world view on rapids rides would change after this. And really, this was a ride that the wild and crazy Disnerds were putting their hopes and dreams into for this park along with Tron Coaster (lolololol) and the new Pirates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmeister Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Why is it that there seems to be only a few "good" rapids rides in the world? The only two that I've been on where I've been truly interested in re-rides are Popeye at IOA and Grand Canyon Rapids which was at the long-defunct MGM Grand Adventures Park in Vegas. Most others are just kind of ho hum for me to be honest. River Quest at Phantasialand looks interesting though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Why is it that there seems to be only a few "good" rapids rides in the world? The only two that I've been on where I've been truly interested in re-rides are Popeye at IOA and Grand Canyon Rapids which was at the long-defunct MGM Grand Adventures Park in Vegas. Most others are just kind of ho hum for me to be honest. River Quest at Phantasialand looks interesting though. My working theory: Rafts are a bad way to see theming, and usually theming doesn't do well with water, so if you do have a lot of theming, it can't be that wet. Bluto's has a lot *and* is super crazy wet, so as a result, you get the raft ride you always wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmeister Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Why is it that there seems to be only a few "good" rapids rides in the world? The only two that I've been on where I've been truly interested in re-rides are Popeye at IOA and Grand Canyon Rapids which was at the long-defunct MGM Grand Adventures Park in Vegas. Most others are just kind of ho hum for me to be honest. River Quest at Phantasialand looks interesting though. My working theory: Rafts are a bad way to see theming, and usually theming doesn't do well with water, so if you do have a lot of theming, it can't be that wet. Bluto's has a lot *and* is super crazy wet, so as a result, you get the raft ride you always wanted. I feel the same way. Also, one of my thoughts whenever I've boarded one of these rides is how cool it would be to have a raft ride where the riders face outwardly. You would see so much more! If I recall correctly the old rapids ride at Hunt's Pier (later Dinosaur Beach) in Wildwood had outward facing boats. I'm sure the reason we don't see more of these boats are that with the usual rapids ride restraints, it would probably be easier to get out with outwards facing seating. Obviously you could have more substantial restraints but that would increase loading times which wouldn't be great considering that so many of these rides are boarded on a moving turntable. Then, remembering the accident at SFOT on their rapids in the 90s, stronger restraints could be seen as a safety hazard in certain situations. Of course more and more water rides seem to be including some kind of restraint so this point doesn't seem to be as much of a factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awclark Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 I've always found most rapids rides to be a "ride it once" type attraction. Although to be completely honest, at most parks, the rapids ride is something I skip nearly every time. I mean when basically all of them have similar layouts and have either Congo, Raging, Roaring, or Thunder in its ride name, I don't think I'm missing out on much, but that's just my opinion. As for Disney rapids rides when I rode them, both Kali and Grizzly just sort of meander about with a minor splash-splash here and there and this looks no different, which is a bit disappointing. I thought this one would be way longer because from construction pictures it looked liked there were some rather large show buildings behind the mountain facade, but I guess I was wrong because from the looks of it, it just looks like Grizzly with an animatronic added to it. Basically when it comes down to it, the only rapids rides I've walked away completely wow'ed from and would totally ride nearly every visit are River Quest at Phatasialand and Popeye's at IOA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingRCT3 Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 If I recall correctly the old rapids ride at Hunt's Pier (later Dinosaur Beach) in Wildwood had outward facing boats. You do recall correctly. I didn't know this was a thing. The major drawback seems to be the capacity, tho. With 4 persons/boat... - I personally enjoy raft rides. It's always a good laugh, each time is different (it's like a russian roulette: who'll get soaked?) and it's very family friendly - or you can even met new people. A hidden gem would be the one at Parque Warner! Many many water jets coming right at you, and the ending throws you around like crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 I've ridden River Quest and absolutely loved it! All in a free-standing (somewhat) structure too, which was something to see and ride through. Worth repeating. Great ride. The other I really want to ride, is Popeye/Bluto at IOA. And the Dudley Doright flume too. They both look awesome in their theming and atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 The other I really want to ride, is Popeye/Bluto at IOA. And the Dudley Doright flume too. They both look awesome in their theming and atmosphere. And they both go way beyond "an acceptable level of wetness." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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