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Snappy Serape (continued) The original ride ended with a mural map of Mexico, with items scattered about, as if for sale.
The new ride also ends with a map of the country, but it's been redone.
Does it look familiar? It's as seen in the Three Caballeros movie.
And our heroes make an appearance to wish us farewell.
Via overhead speakers, they bid us adieu in a loop of different messages. One of them contains a joke: Donald squeaks out "hasta la vista" in his customary voice, and Jose and Panchito ask each other "what did he say?" Having the Spanish-speaking characters not understand Donald's Spanish the way most of us don't understand his English is a nice touch indeed. Looking back now at the attraction as a whole, I'd have to say that the designers did a pretty good job of capturing the tone of the movie Three Caballeros, which I watched today after going on the ride. Hmm, could this be just more vaunted Disney synergy, designed to get me to buy the DVD? One noticeable difference from the old movie: Jose has an ever-present cigar in the movie, and there is no sign of that cigar whatsoever in the ride. No surprise there, given today's society and its taboos. The new ride does one thing the old ride avowedly did not do: tell a story. There was no narrative through-line for El Rio Del Tiempo; it was merely a collection of sights in Mexico, and the ride didn't even really move us through time and history very much. The reworked ride is chock full of story from beginning to end. The story and the manic characterizations lend a feeling of "fun" to the whole endeavor, something that was lacking the stale travel and tourism type videos that used to be present. In fact, the new ride makes the country in question seem vibrant, alive, and a good place to party—it arguably does a better job at "selling" the country as a good place to visit. Just think back to the simple comparison of the cliff divers. In the old video, they jump in headfirst: stodgy and staid. In the new video, one diver does a flip on the way to the water: fun and risk-taking. Which one sounds more like a good place for a vacation? That bit of video works like a microcosm of how the new ride "sells" the country better. I'm going to get lots of emails on this if I don't address it directly: does the new ride include that song from the old one, which wormed its way into your brain and didn't let go? (la la la la... friendly Mexico). Answer: no, it does not. You'll hear the theme song from Three Caballeros at the concert, but that's it.
So: does it work? Is it funny? Does it entertain? Does it engage? It most certainly engages—the boredom problem on this ride is a thing of the past. That said, my ears perked up when I heard the woman behind me on my third ride realize, just before Jose and Panchito find Donald again, that she thinks "this part is new." Indeed, the storyline as I've laid it out here only came to me on the second ride-through, and after giving it much thought. It might make more sense if the queue were instead plastered with numerous signs announcing tonight's concert (and fewer signs about the characters). The concert reminders would help us realize what the urgency is all about. As much as I have problems with the theming and realization of the show at Rock 'n Roller Coaster, at least the setup is perfectly easy to follow, and no one misunderstands where we are going or why. That is probably not going to be the case with this ride. There will be people exiting who didn't realize why Donald needed to be found. But to even have a story at all, in my book, is still better than the previous iteration of this attraction. And that redeems the ride from its faults a little bit. What faults do I mean? The primary one is a familiar argument by now: Epcot is continuing to drift further from its mission of "edutainment" and drift further toward homogenized Disney escapism via cartoon characters. I can see that complaint immediately. El Rio Del Tiempo was a part of the unique vision of World Showcase: we are one big planet but we have regional differences, and isn't it wonderful to celebrate them? Gran Fiesta Tour not only eschews dwelling on those cultural differences, it actively turns our attention away from them. Don't look over here, the ride seems to be saying by constantly giving us a cartoon character moving rapidly across the screen, but look at THIS instead.
While I agree that cartoonization of Magic Kingdom parks is a problem outside of Fantasyland, and I also agree that EPCOT Center's original vision was unique, exciting, and should be brought back, I have to admit that the Nemo ride and now Gran Fiesta Tour are harmless bits of sugar to consume. It could have been worse. Look at how the first refurbishment of the Imagination pavilion turned out, the character-free Journey Into Your Imagination. This turkey of an attraction overlay lasted less than two years, and was transformed into a variant that included Figment and his constant interruptions. Having no story and no narrative was deadly for the first attempt at a makeover. Bringing back a character into it has certainly helped as well, so I find it hard to be completely anti-cartoon, even at Epcot. Yes, I prefer the EPCOT I first witnessed in the 1980s, but if we have to have modernization, we could do worse than we fared with this Mexico ride. There are, in fact, worse transgressions of the Epcot brand going on at the park right this second. The Flower and Garden festival kicked off this weekend, and with horror I realized that the pirate ship topiary at the front is now accompanied by a new audio loop playing very loudly throughout the whole plaza area.
Yep, you guessed it, pirate music. I heard several songs from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and the Yo-Ho song from the POTC ride, too. And then I heard several songs from Peter Pan, including non-pirate ones like Following the Leader. This steams me up for several reasons. First, Peter Pan is NOT a pirate movie! That's just rank opportunism, cashing in on the market enthusiasm for the current Johnny Depp pirate movies. In fact, I rate this "piling on" by Epcot, via the entrance music loop, to be roughly equivalent to the decision in 2001 to run the popular show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" five nights a week. Lately, it seems Disney is determined to take everything popular and really really REALLY overplay it (High School Musical also leaps to mind). They should be very cautious about doing this. Who Wants to be a Millionaire was making a mint for the company, but they killed that golden goose by getting greedy, and people lost all interest. Such a scenario seems likely for pirates too. Besides, people do not come to Disney parks looking for pirates everywhere. They make seek pirates at the Magic Kingdom, but not at Epcot. Seen in this light, the three caballeros have a far less intrusive presence. At least people will not do a double-take when seeing classic Disney animated characters in the rides. But Johnny Depp music at Epcot? Marketing Peter Pan as a pirate movie? That's insanity. Give me Donald, Jose, and Panchito any day.
One final caveat: I hope I didn't build up the ride too much. I worry that setting your expectations too high will lead to disappointment. The rehab didn't change major sets (except that inhuman carousel), only videos. And while it's a cute addition, it's nothing to get worked up about. I rank it above merely "harmless"; I think the ride is actually good. But I want to paint a realistic portrayal, and realistic does not mean overly glowing. Let's Discuss! Click on this link to discuss this article on MiceChat! Give Kids the World Thanks yet again for all the contributions to Give Kids the World.
I'm delighted to report that several readers are sending in their own prizes: Previously, I said that we can use the help of other Disney webmasters, authors, columnists, and bloggers to make this a combined effort of the entire Disney Online Community. And I put a link to this "fundraising Widget" for people to put on their Disney Fan Community website or blog and help us spread the word: http://www.firstgiving.com/rss/GetFundraisingBadge.asp?eventgivinggroupid=207263 To make it even easier for webmasters to add this to their sites, I've come up with some wording you could use to introduce the whole project. Here's some language you can use wholesale, or adjust as desired:
Please everyone, if you haven't donated yet, consider doing so. We're doing really well, but we must continue to spread the word. Together, we make a difference. My Newest Book: (2007 Edition) An indispensable reference tool for vacationers in Orlando, this book brings you all the menus and individual prices from restaurants around Walt Disney World, including parks, hotels, and even Downtown Disney. Updated several times within each year, The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World lists complete menus from every eatery and provides actual dollar amounts, not just approximations. Best of all, handy indexes for each park make it simple to find the food items you're looking for at a quick glance. There's even a guide (and index) for restaurants near the Walt Disney World, should you wish to venture off-property. Everything you'd ever want to know about the dining experience at Disney World is here, making it not only an ideal tool for planning your trip, but a perfect companion when visiting the parks.
The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World offers more than just complete menus and prices for all restaurants at Walt Disney World. Every aspect of the dining experience is covered here: available discounts, purchasing the Dining Plan, when and how to make reservations, and even character dining. Each restaurant in Walt Disney World has a page dedicated to it, so it's a snap to browse through the entire theme park's offerings all at once. With this book in hand, you won't need to cross the whole park to find out just which food items are offered, or exactly how much each of them costs. Save time, save money, and get exactly the food you want instead of settling for a second or third choice simply to get back to riding attractions. Visitors with special needs or cravings will find the indexes especially helpful. Got a finicky eater in your family? Enduring food cravings yourself? Trying to steer clear of some food items due to allergies or preferences? The indexes make it all easy. In addition to offering the ultimate resource for searching food items, the indexes for each park also serve to generate ideas. Hungry but not sure what you'd like to eat? Just browse through the alphabetical index and scan the listings until something looks good. If you're still unsure, consult the recommendations for each theme park, covering such topics as "best value," "best fine dining," and "best escape from the weather outside." Or browse through the book while waiting in lines for attractions, and brush up on your restaurant trivia, included whenever there is space on the page. The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World has it all. What better way to plan your vacation and expenses in advance? What tool could be more useful to bring along in the parks? As I wrote it, my thoughts flooded with all the situations where having such a book would be invaluable:
I know what you're thinking. Won't this thing be out of date before it even arrives back from the printer? Surprisingly, no. Almost all of the prices at Disney World update just once a year, in early October. I spent most of the past year creating a book with prices I knew would be outdated, and then have been scrambling since October to recheck the prices (and menu items too, when those changed). The result is the 2007 edition, current as of this printing. But things do change even during the year, and I plan to print multiple times each year in small quantities so as to keep the book up to date. That said, the book is 100% current at the moment, and it's at 274 pages, including menu prices, with those supremely helpful indexes, and even trivia.
It's been brought to my attention (thanks John!) that people would benefit from knowing what to expect in my new menu book. So I've put the entire Magic Kingdom chapter online as a PDF. In addition to the menu listings and trivia, be sure to scroll to the end, when you can browse the index for the park. You'll see what a useful tool this book will be when visiting Walt Disney World! Kevin's Other Books One of Kevin's more recent books is called 101 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World. There are lots of Disney guide books in the world, but where are the books detailing interesting stories behind odd theming choices, hidden tributes, or the weird references to names or numbers scattered around that probably mean something specific but aren't explained? This book fills that void and was created to be accessible for every level of Disney fan. Newcomers to Disneyana will be bowled over by the volume of detail, the rich layers of self-reference, and the abundance of insider tributes. Readers accustomed to such stories about Walt Disney World will find a useful resource that not only catalogs such occurrences in one spot, but goes far beyond the usual, and brings a wealth of new stories and anecdotes to the table. The individual 101 Things referenced by the title are all items you can actually point to at the parks, so that the book provides a kind of walking tour of the parks (in guided tour format, rather than "question-and-answer" format) that yields a glimpse of the deeper history percolating below the surface. Moreover, each of the 101 "interesting facts" comes with an explanation as well as an embellishment that goes in related, but different, directions. These embellishments are practically interesting new facts all by themselves, so what you get is closer to 202 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World. Read more about it here.
Kevin is also the author of two books about Disneyland. Follow the links above to buy 101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland, a volume that details the insider tributes and homages at Disneyland, and Magic Quizdom, a trivia book dedicated only to questions (with long informative answers!) about Disneyland. To view a description and sample of Magic Quizdom, click here.
© 2007 Kevin Yee |
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