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[Kristof]

The Earthquake scene from that Tram Tour is also featured at Universal Orlando.  It's basicaly Catastrophe Canyon, but better!  You're in the subway when an earthquake hits the station.  Then some gaspipes explode and a whole bunch of water floods the station.

[Anthony]

The Earthquake set/attraction does look amazing, and it's not even very modern at all!  What I really like about the Hollywood tram tour is the amount of different things there are to see, and all the different sets you drive through.  It's so much more of a real, lengthy backlot tour rather than just a drive through a couple of slightly boring props.

They're quite lucky in Hollywood that they have a really nice landscape to wind the tram tour around, but I'd still like to see DLRP take some of the ideas of their tour and bring them to Paris.  The Studio Tram Tour should be the biggest, most expansive attraction in the park - the key feature, the one thing you *have* to ride.  But once 2008 rolls around, it'll be perhaps the 4th or even 5th must-ride attraction in the park, after ToT, RNRC, Turtle Twister and CinéMagique.

What I hate the most about our tram tour is how little it changes.  In the park itself, we've had things like new props added, new meet 'n' greets, etc. etc., but the tour has stayed almost exactly the same since 2002.  They've only changed the costumes bit in all that time!  It's not hard to add a few movie props to the boneyards, is it?  I don't think any of us expects a miracle here, but we still need *something* to add a bit of interest back into that ride...

[rant over]  

[flor]

the castle of the snowwitch of narnia should be a nice addition to ride through :d

[Kristof]

Yes Baloo, you're right.  And it doesn't have to be that expensive to add or replace stuff?  The just keep on taking stuff away which gets destroyed due to the weather (cars, dinosaurs and a few of the statues have already been taken away).  

There's also something else that bothers me.  Why don't they display props from movies which people have actually seen?  Dinotopia, Reign of Fire and 102 Dalmations weren't really boxoffice breaking movies...

At Disney-MGM studios, there was a different problem.  They hardly had props.  There was Walt's plane, Demolition Herbie and a few props from smaller movies.  But in the queue line, there were a lot of props from Pearl Harbor, POTC, ...

[Kristof]

the castle of the snowwitch of narnia should be a nice addition to ride through :d

Yes!  Although I love Dinotopia, they could easily rebuild that temple into something Narnia!  

[flor]

and that's a movie a lot of people should have seen :d

[flor]

Or perhaps to promote the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 2 movie, they could use some props out of this!
Some aztec gold, treasures,...

[Maarten]

Maybe the abandoned Journey to the Center of the Earth idea for the Backlot Tram Tour at the Disney-MGM Studios would be nice. There are just 2 problems... 1. EuroDisney S.C.A. doesn't have enough money... 2. The film was a flop in the mid 90s... :wink:

[Kristof]

2. The film was a flop in the mid 90s... :wink:

I wonder why...  :lol:  :lol:

Synopsis: Jules Verne's landmark novel gains a fantastic new life in a tropical Hawaiian setting when a young, strong-willed English nanny accidentally joins two vacationing brothers exploring a cave on a deserted stretch of beach. Shortly after they enter, a volcanic eruption rocks the cave, opening a crack which turns out to be an ancient path downward. Short of water, food and daylight, the explorers use their sense of humor to keep their spirits up as they uncover an array of incredible and often dangerous discoveries. But nothing can prepare them for the ultimate discovery - the real city of Atlantis. Often idealized as paradise, the mythic civilization turns out to be anything but.



PS. it was 1989

[Anthony]

Yes Baloo, you're right. And it doesn't have to be that expensive to add or replace stuff? The just keep on taking stuff away which gets destroyed due to the weather (cars, dinosaurs and a few of the statues have already been taken away).

There's also something else that bothers me. Why don't they display props from movies which people have actually seen? Dinotopia, Reign of Fire and 102 Dalmations weren't really boxoffice breaking movies...

Yeah, the movies they chose to feature back in 2002 really weren't very smart choices.  Luckily, i personally think the Reign of Fire set is a success just because it's so well crafted and the fire effect is fun, but the Dinotopia set *has* to go soon.  It's surely the world's dullest movie set!  It's just a wall, and a door!

They should have a good, long look through the back-catalogue of Buena Vista films and pick out some that will still be classics in 10/20 years time.  They should also build some fairly generic street sets, which will not only make the tour interesting, but might just make the studios into a real studio, if companies use the sets for filming...

Unfortunately, I bet we won't actually see any kind of investment in the Tram Tour until build those long-rumoured street sets.  This is just a prediction, but I'd guess that when they build the sets they'll build some for the tram to drive through, and change the route around completely when they're forced to move the station.  So that means 2008 or later...

 

[Kristof]

They should have gone for the original concept for the Tram Tour.

Here's a piece of concept art from http://www.disneytheque.com.  I hope I'll find a higher resolution photo of it someday...



So here's my guess what we were supposed to get.  I'm also interested in what other people think!

1. Loading station
2. Costume department
3. Catastrophe Canyon ?
4. Jungle themed set (George of the Jungle?)
5. More jungle, looks like some kind of a temple?
6. Vehicles?
7 Gardens
8. Stunt show tie-in
9. Streetsets

[Anthony]

The final attraction actually is quite a lot like that concept, except that instead of the Jungle we got Dinotopia, and instead of the Temple thing we got.. err.. Pearl Harbor planes?

Those two scenes they didn't use, however, would have really made the tram tour a million times better.  It would have been nice to have film sets based around a lush jungle or an abandoned temple, instead of a few props or the boring Dinotopia set.

I'd love them to extend the tram tour to partly use the road that runs along the back of the forest.  It could leave the normal route at Catastrophe Canyon - instead of doubling back on itself, you just continue along the edge of the forest, and join back up with the tour over by the station or Reign of Fire...

I think i'm/we're getting into Imagineering again now!  Maybe a Dream STT topic is needed?  :wink:

[Kristof]

OK, here I go (sorry for any typo's, I'm too excited  :lol: )

I know these are just rumours, but imagine if they were true      

Source: Disneytheque / DCP: Grandmath

What happens after Toon Studios and ToT?
There's some evidence that a huge improvement and expansion of the WDS park is coming our way.

Appearently there's a map (god knows where they found that) showing the expansion of the WDS park, proposed during the restructuring of Eurodisney's debts.  The map shows Soarin', a new hub, a larger Tram Tour, but also Tower of Terror at the end of a boulevard.  Now we already know that the boulevard did not happened, but does this mean that the complete plan has been dropped?

About those proposed extensions:
WDS would get "Soarin' over the world" which is being filmed right now to replace the California version at Epcot within 2 years.

The Studio Tram Tour would get a new station and will receive more scenes and decorations.  For example a complete section devoted to Pearl Harbor.

And last, Backlot European Street Sets would be added too.

Another proof that something major is happening is the launch of a special cel within EDLI, completely devoted to Walt Disney Studios.

And one more interesting thing.  A project is being studied for a month now by EDLI called "Placemaking" (anyone?)
2006/2007 will be devoted to Animation Courtyard
2007/2008 in Production Courtyard
2008/2009 new and the redesign of Studio Tram Tour.

Disneytheque concludes that WDS has a beautiful future awaiting and in the end it wil turn out far better than Disney-MGM Studios.  

[Anthony]

... ... ...   Wow.

As much as WDS doesn't need any show/cinema style attractions, Soarin' would be a very cool addition, and it's not exactly the most expensive either, which is good.  The building is HUGE though... maybe too huge?  Oh well, it's a rumour, and I quite like it!  They could add some theme elements in relating to Miramax's "The Aviator"!

A "placemaking" project like the one at DCA would be brilliant too, but I'm not sure about "European" street sets though... people might prefer to see American ones.  I guess they're just trying to make it different to the American parks, which is good.  I hope "Pearl Harbor" sets are replaced by a more recent and more popular film too... Narnia?  I can see it happening, I really can!

And I have to agree with those rumours - our WDS will, one day, be far better than MGM!  We just... err.. need a bit of money!  :lol:  The WDS basis and theme has much more room for expansion though.  It's a much more exciting, more wide-ranging theme, that actually allows them to incorperate anything from MGM along with a host of other crazy things like Toon Studios, that would never work over there...

[flor]

if it comes: they should fit it in a 'chinese theatre' style building like on the first concept art of MGM europe