What's new

Walt Disney World announces permanent closures of 2 attractions and Rivers of Light

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Then again it could be another simulator or dark ride, or maybe nothing at all.
I don't think "nothing at all" is on the table, unless the attractions they're closing cost a preposterous amount of money to run. I can't imagine that being the case for Primeval Whirl, although Rivers of Light might be rather expensive. Special effects (and possibly actors) costs money, after all. No word on Dinosaur closing as of yet, which is probably the most expensive attraction to run in that section of the park, albeit nothing compared to Flight of Passage or Everest. The rides are also still fairly popular, so I imagine there wouldn't be any net savings in keeping the rides running as-is. Removing them to make room for new additions is probably a more safe bet, although simulators and dark rides might be very likely indeed.

The other option that could lead to rides being scrapped without replacement is that something is broken and prohibitively expensive to fix (see the Everest yeti for instance). But I can't imagine repairing Primeval Whirl, which reportedly is broken, would be that expensive. It's a Reverchon in a parking lot; they could call up any park in the UK and get all the replacement parts they need.

However, for Stitch's Great Escape, an outright removal without replacement could actually be possible. It was never a well-thought-out ride, being a hasty reskin of the way too dark Alien Encounter attraction. It's not a very big building either, so it's not a location they could use for much else. And I think it has quite a bit of scope overlap with Monsters, Inc., which is literally next door. The timing is pretty strange, though, as a live action remake of Lilo and Stitch was just announced. Wouldn't that spark renewed interest in the character? Then again, it's reported to be released direct-to-streaming, and live action remakes don't have much staying power. I mean, raise your hand if you remember that they remade Lady and the Tramp a few years back. Alternatively, they could have bigger plans for Stitch somewhere else. Either way, I don't think many tears will be shed over the demise of Stitch's Great Escape.
 

Casio

Mega Poster
The most persistent and for me believable rumour is that DinoLand USA will be turned into South America (to add to Africa and Asia) and Dinosaur will be rethemed to Indiana Jones. As people have said, Beastly Kingdom has essentially been done already with Everest and Pandora.

I think Dinosaur had a fairly lengthy renovation not too long ago, but nothing major was changed, and it's fairly unanimous that Indy is a better attraction.
 

Matthew Fair

Mega Poster
I wonder if a new coaster is on the cards then. Since they now going to shortly have a new spinning coaster at Epcot, I think something different might be on the table. Disney seem to only use a few different coaster concepts, Mine Trains (BTMR, EE, SDMT, BGMR) Shutttle (RC Racer) and enclosed (SM,R'N'R) Tron is properly their most unique coaster up to now. I would love to see a family suspended coaster, with loads of rockwork and terrain, like a family nemesis/black mamba on a Disney budget.

Then again it could be another simulator or dark ride, or maybe nothing at all.
That could help offset the new Jurassic Coaster at Universal
 

tomahawk

Strata Poster
Wakanda Forever.

Axis coaster in the mines from the first film.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

Aaron Smith

Mega Poster
If you don’t mind me asking, how do the Reverchon and Zamperla versions differ, as besides the restraints being slightly different, aren’t they essentially the same?

Also, is Primeval Whirl still going to be SBNO for the foreseeable, or is demolition due to begin soon?
EDIT: Another thing I’ve noticed; there seems to be some inconsistency with regards to the listings of when Primeval Whirl’s last day of operation was. RCDB lists 15th March 2020 (which I think may have been the day the park shut due to COVID), whereas Wikipedia says it hasn’t operated for over a year, having last operated on 17th June 2019. I know it’s not important, but out of interest, has anyone visited Animal Kingdom fairly recently (i.e. end of 2019-start of 2020) know whether it was open when they visited?
I rode Primeval Whirl on December 3rd, 2019.
 

cocoa

Mega Poster
maybe I'm in the minority that thinks a couple sort of cheap-ish average coasters are good for disney parks. sucks up some capacity. I love parks like disneysea or animal kingdom but there just aren't enough rides to suck up queues
 
Top