Monday, December 3, 2018

Not as bad as Mission Breakout, but still missing the mark: an Incredicoaster review (repost from Tumblr)

Note: This was originally posted to the Tumblr version of this blog on August 25th, 2018.  In light of Tumblr's potential upcoming purge of content, I am reposting it here for preservation.


Well, I finally got to try out Incredicoaster, the other “”””new”””” thrill ride DCA’s gotten, and thought I’d write out some opinions and observations.  I know I’m probably late to this, but hey, I was busy and my pass was blocked out.  I decided to break the review into sections to better organize it.
1. The Track 4/5
It’s still the same California Screamin’ track, so that’s all good!  I would give it 5/5, except the track is in surprisingly rough shape!  There were rusted looking spots and places where the paint had clearly long worn off, and the ride experience was generally rough, especially the loop.  I thought the track would feel better than ever due to it coming back from the long conversion refurb, but it was rougher than the last time I’d ridden it as Screamin’ (which was right before its closure for Incredicoaster conversion).
2. The Queue Area 2/5
To be fair, Screamin’ had a terrible unthemed queue too.  Incredicoaster sadly doesn’t really change that, aside from some artwork of the Incredibles and panels with descriptions of the characters.  What is worse, though, is that Screamin’s relatively shady umbrella-esque line covers have been replaced by white columns that, while aesthetically interesting and in the midcentury modern style, provide less shade than the old covers.  What the area always needed was more shade for the hot concrete queue, and the changes didn’t help.
3. The Soundtrack 1/5
This is probably the worst thing about the Incredicoaster.  Playing the Incredibles soundtrack over the coaster experience would probably be pretty good.  Instead, the music is mostly drowned out by constant voiceover lines from the Incredibles as they frantically search for Jack Jack in the tunnels.  The tunnel scenes are pretty self explanatory even at the high roller coaster speeds, so the voiceover feels really redundant.  Furthermore, at least on the train I rode, the volume on the voices was REALLY LOUD, so it was less “roller coaster with a plot” and more “super family screams in your ears as you ride a roller coaster”.  It’s not fun having a family, even a super one, scream in your ears for the entirety of a ride.
4. The Plot 2/5
A themed roller coaster doesn’t need much plot to work.  Rock n Roller Coaster does a great job with just “you’re going to a 1990s Aerosmith concert”.  Incredicoaster bites off more than necessary by having TWO plots.  The first, shown on screens in the upper queue area, is that the city is honoring the Incredibles by renaming a classic roller coaster after them.  Violet thinks they “deserve better than a re-theme”.  Yes, Disney gave the ride a meta-narrative about how disappointed THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES are with the ride.  Somehow, the admission that Disney knows it did a sub-par job just makes the ride seem worse, rather than being funny.  It’s especially unnecessary given that the main plot of the ride, the one on the coaster itself, is entirely independent of the “award/disappointment” plot!
The plot of the coaster, as explained by brief scenes at the beginning of the ride, in the tunnels, and at the end of the ride, is that Jack Jack’s powers are going crazy again and the family is trying to catch him before he can wreak any more havoc.  It’s not a bad plot, maybe just the right amount to be told in its limited run time, although it’s probably more suited for a family friendly dark ride than a big looping coaster.  What makes this plot insufferable, however, is how Disney tried to use voiceover to fill in the time between the scenes; see “soundtrack” above.
Not really a category, but an important observation anyways:
What is the intended audience of this ride?  The Incredibles theme and kid-focused plot makes it seem like its focus is on a younger audience, but this is still the track of California Screamin’–a big, fast, looping coaster with one of the highest rider height requirements, initially aimed at older kids, teens, and up.  It’s not that kids can’t enjoy big thrill rides (I was one of those kids that rode every thrill ride the second I met the requirements), but the fact that the ride safety requirements exclude a significant percentage of the theme’s target audience makes it a weird fit.
Overall: 2.25/5
The most positive thing I can say about it is that the track is unchanged, and the track was generally the appeal of the coaster anyways (if your headphones could somehow drown out the shouting voiceover, you’d just need an mp3 of Screamin’s soundtrack to “convert” it back).  However, the unpleasant soundtrack, lack of effort in the queue, and the fact that the Incrediblesreally did deserve better than a quick re-theme make for an overall poor effort from Disney.  The fact that it’s so relatively easy to have the “classic” Screamin’ experience makes this a less offensive change than the Tower-Breakout conversion, but the fact that there’s two poorly done re-themes in a row marks an unfortunate trend in current Disney parks.

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