Attraction effects Disney installed but doesn't use ( w/pics if possible )

[DJ Disney Kid]

I always hear that Disney has effects that they installed into their attractions, but for one reason or another, they don't use them.

If you know of any, please post and if you have a picture of the effect, definitely post it!

Heres a couple I've heard of:

1. Mist off the top of Expedition Everest. I read that they stopped using it soon after the attraction opened due to it rusting the parts quicker or that it was effecting sensors on the ride.

2. Jeep attack in Kilimanjaro Safaris. I've read that near the end when your chasing the poachers, there was a rail with a jeep on it that would race behind the trees you could see. It was supposed to add to the effect of actually seeing the poachers try to get away. The only reason I ever saw for why its not used anymore is because it just didn't work too often. On my last trip I did notice a rail behind some trees, but no jeep.

I don't have any pics unfortunately, but hopefully someone does! Any others you guys know about?

 

[Robo]

The Busby Berkeley scene in the Great Movie Ride (first scene in the attraction) was designed (and briefly used) much more elaborately when the ride first opened.

The "tiers of bathing beauties" rotated and water rained down from above.

It was a maintenance nightmare and has been discontinued.

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

Oh and how about this one. Its a house in Frontierland that you can see if you take the Liberty Belle Riverboat. It used to be on fire constantly ( but never actually burned obviously ), but supposedly it was too costly too keep up, so now its just a charred house. Here you can see the flames of what once was:

 

[bradk]

well, speaking of KJS... the original version had a storyline which involved seeing big red as a victim of the poachers and included a very large and not quite so animated big red. i believe she was in there for the soft opening but removed for the opening.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

FYI: The mist effect at EE came back a few weeks ago. They're using a new process now that shouldn't have the problems of the old system.

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

Really? Anyone photos of this mist?

 

[Chad&Janet]

I love the idea of this thread. Hopefully more will post with some good info/pics. Unfortunately I'm not one of them!

 

[DanMedix]

I don't remember seeing this mist.....and we rode EE yesterday!

 

[Brian_WDW74]

The new mist effect isn't quite the same as the old one. New misters were installed over the overhang between the broken trestle and the track switch. The new mist rolls down the overhang and hits the cars as they're going up the trestle. So it's not seen from the outside like the original mist effect was.

Perhaps this doesn't really fit the topic of this thread, since it's not an effect that is no longer used.

 

[LilGMom]

The Busby Berkeley scene in the Great Movie Ride (first scene in the attraction) was designed (and briefly used) much more elaborately when the ride first opened.

The "tiers of bathing beauties" rotated and water rained down from above.

It was a maintenance nightmare and has been discontinued.

I remember both of those effects and the building that was on fire in the GMR. Also remember the house on fire in Frontierland. On KJS I also remember the mother elephant, the jeep taking off into the woods and live CMs playing the parts of rescuers and they would hold back the truck's canvas flaps to reveal Baby Red.

 

[88Keys]

In Pooh's Playful Spot, there used to be some submarines going around showing you some of the sea monsters that AA Milne had Winnie the Pooh encounter.

 

[88Keys]

Seriously, though, there used to be doves at the end of Beauty and the Beast that were released. Sigh.

 

[sweetp267]

How about this one? This is also at the GMR. The first few years that MGM was open, your cars would split into two parts with your own tour guide. The first two would go through the gangster scene where your car was hijacked by the gangster. The last two cars would stay behind and have that experience. The first two would pass through to the wild west scene where the bank was being robbed and that robber would hijack the car. You can see the fire damage to the bank in the corner around the windows are all scorched because someone shoots or blows up the bank and it catches fire. I remember it very well because the heat from the fire was intense.

Maybe they stopped it because of the heat or they only do it when the crowds get really huge.

If anyone out there knows the reason why they stopped the bank robbery part and/or if anyone out there remembers it like me please be sure to answer.

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

On Dinosaur (Countdown to Extinction...as it will always be for me), the teradactyl is actually supposed to fly towards you... It worked for about a month when the ride first opened then was locked down because there were too many issues with it, so you see it there, as you go under it, but it does not actually fly towards you!



Yes sweetp267 I remember the two scenes at GMR... I hadn't realized that they weren't doing both, the last few times I rode they only loaded the back cars, the front ones went empty, so I just assumed that the gangster was all they had staffed as it was a CM that hijaked the car!

 

[littleelvis]

This is the coolest thread in a long time!

 

[ChrisAlli]

Isn't there a wave machine at the Poly in the lagoon that was never used? I thought it was installed with thoughts of surfing. I know I read that somewhere.

 

[goofy370]

We were just there 9/26-10/2. Both parts of the GMR were open. We got to go on the cowboy option. My family loved it and were surprised that there were two different sides. I haven't seen it in years. It was so cool.

 

[mrFDNY]

FYI: The mist effect at EE came back a few weeks ago. They're using a new process now that shouldn't have the problems of the old system.

How about this one? This is also at the GMR. The first few years that MGM was open, your cars would split into two parts with your own tour guide. The first two would go through the gangster scene where your car was hijacked by the gangster. The last two cars would stay behind and have that experience. The first two would pass through to the wild west scene where the bank was being robbed and that robber would hijack the car. You can see the fire damage to the bank in the corner around the windows are all scorched because someone shoots or blows up the bank and it catches fire. I remember it very well because the heat from the fire was intense.

Maybe they stopped it because of the heat or they only do it when the crowds get really huge.

If anyone out there knows the reason why they stopped the bank robbery part and/or if anyone out there remembers it like me please be sure to answer.

Hi all,
Just back 3 weeks ago and i can confirm mist was on and working all 4x we rode E.E.

Also we rode the great movie ride and half the times we were in the gangster scene and the other half in the bank robbery scene.

Not sure how true this is, but i read here a while back that when test track first opened, in the part in the dark tunnel when you almost hit the big truck that fake sparks used to come out from the bumper of the truck by the drivers side of the test track vechile, making it look like you just side swiped it and made it by inches. Not sure how true this is and why it does not happen or work anymore. Maybe someone else will remember it and confirm it and know why it does not work anymore.

 

[shafke]

On BTMRR, when going up the 3rd lift with the rock fall/earthquake. There used to be a couple of boulders that would fall from above and look like they were going to fall on the train. Now you just have the ones that move on the side.

I think on the GMR they only use the Western scene when it is busy. The last few times I have gone they have only been loading the back half of the ride.

I think in the Energy at Epcot there used to be a hi tech movie screen that got sacrificed to the budget gods (too costly to maintain) when they redid it to Ellen.

 

[Shorty82]

2. Jeep attack in Kilimanjaro Safaris. I've read that near the end when your chasing the poachers, there was a rail with a jeep on it that would race behind the trees you could see. It was supposed to add to the effect of actually seeing the poachers try to get away. The only reason I ever saw for why its not used anymore is because it just didn't work too often. On my last trip I did notice a rail behind some trees, but no jeep.

The jeep attack isn't used due to malfunctions that the engineers cannot seem to be able to fix. Something with the sensors that are supposed to trigger the effect not working right. One of the times I rode it on my last trip there were the gun shots and the sound of the jeep but the jeep didn't race by the other times nothing happened there.

Isn't there a wave machine at the Poly in the lagoon that was never used? I thought it was installed with thoughts of surfing. I know I read that somewhere.

Yes, there is a wave machine offshore of the Poly. Running it caused a LOT of erosion of the beach so they shut it down permantly and have just let it rust out there.

Another effect that isn't used often isn't really an effect so much. It is the Sword in the Stone by Cinderella's Golden Carrousel. There used to be a show with Merlin where kids would be called up to try to pull the sword from the stone. A luck kid would and would win a prize. I understand that every so often the sword can be pulled and sometimes the lucky person wins a prize.