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that Screamin’s relatively shady umbrella-esque line covers have been replaced
by white columns that, while aesthetically interesting and in the midcentury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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