MW Mini Driving School - Officially Confirmed

[lolman123]

why is gotham city cafe near superhero store?

[Zanstabar]

The ceilings on a lot of MW rides really annoys me. Is there a reason why almost all of the enclosed rides have a plain black ceiling? Is it for cost-cutting or for security reasons?

[joz]

Cost reasons. The cost of relocating fire fighting equipment to ceiling level is enormous. I agree it is rather lame, but I'd rather they saved the money from that and spent it on other areas.

[BigKev]

To me the pic looks like a Dodge Em' car rink with a pretty wall.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The ceilings on a lot of MW rides really annoys me. Is there a reason why almost all of the enclosed rides have a plain black ceiling? Is it for cost-cutting or for security reasons?

So do a lot of Disney rides. It's far safer to have a plain black ceiling containing all your fire fighting equipment than to cover it over with a facade that runs the risk of completely enveloping riders in the event of a fire.

Does Small World annoy you? (even the one at HKDL is the same)... Does Radiator Springs Racers annoy you? Ariel's Undersea Adventure? Toy Story Midway Mania? Haunted Mansion? Even Splash and Space are all plain black ceilings.

So the reason is - most people aren't looking at the ceiling, so why spend money on it for the few whingers who need to nitpick the ride to shit? Paint it black. If it's black, it's invisible. It doesn't stand out, it doesn't distract you, and it allows the park to spend more money on the parts of the ride that really matter - like the ride system, animatronics, theming, automatic on board fire detection systems with built in auto-reversing thrusters...

[Richard]

To be fair, Disney does conceal their black ceilings through lighting (or lack thereof) much more effectively than our parks to the point where it's not generally noticeable. At Movie World it runs the gamut from really to not so well done. I'm sure if Movie World had ten times the budget like Disney does it might be more seamless, but I know I can live with this pretty minor flaw considering the quality of theming they pull off for the relatively small budgets they work with.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

But thats just it Richard - you're not being fair (but not in the way you think)... I take what you're saying, and you're making allowances for our parks because of the smaller scales and smaller budgets, but Disney AREN'T all seamless, and they too range from really to not so well done. I don't think Movie World are in any way sub-par when it comes to dark-ride roofing...

eg: out of the rides I mentioned above - they do well with Splash, and RSR, (Space isn't hidden so much as it's made a feature), however both small worlds i've been to, Ariel and Midway Mania are clearly visible in the ambient light of the attraction as plain black ceiling tiles, with holes cut in various places for cameras and animatronic control cables. While i'm add it i'll throw in Pirates because several scenes have the same black ceiling tiled roof.

Even worse - on Small World and Ariel - the design of the attraction has moving objects animatronics overhead, and in doing so, force you to look upwards where the ceiling is plain to see. This is different to LTRR or Scooby where the majority of the sight-lines were all at or near eye level.

I don't think there is ANYTHING to complain about the plain black roof in this attraction, especially since it is a curved, seamless ceiling without joints (other than fire and lighting holes), and it is far better than black ceiling tiles.

[rac2703]

Disney has recently addressed the ceiling issue on the Little Mermaid Ride at California Adventure - They now "light" the under the sea room with black lights which only illuminate the figures painted with the black light paint thus the roof is no longer visible at all.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I can't quite imagine how Ariel looks with those changes. i thought the brightly lit and coloured area was perfect for the 'under the sea' tune - it in itself was quite upbeat and bubbly. Blacklight implies fluoro paints have been used on everything, which in my opinion tends to ruin it a bit and make it more of an eerie look.

I'm glad I got to see it lit up.

[rac2703]

Ariel herself still has "standard" lighting, and is the only figure in the room to have it, thus they have obscured her a bit more with seaweeds to confine the lighting to only her, you can see the changes in the videos below.

Before Changes-

After -

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

See, I think thats rather horrible.

There is so much detail in that room and much of it is lost in the darkness now. It was such a brightly lit room with some wonderful characters spaced around the room - now you don't really notice the characters suspended from the roof - and even down to the little details - like the spinning starfish on some of the rocks are barely there anymore.

If it wasn't "under the sea-ish" enough, they could have fixed it with some water effect lighting.

I preferred it lit up. The ride is aimed at children and they aren't going to give a shit about the roof. I am glad they fixed Ariel up though - the old animatronic had a munted face... the new one is a bit nicer - and her hair has been made to look more natural realistic now too.

Edited August 6, 2014 by AlexB

[Flea]

Bit harsh to judge lighting based on a video though don't you think?

[rappa]

Nope, hands down Ariel at DCA looks about a million times better since the re light. It's not a 'black light ride' now, rather a beautiful balance between white light and UV. The whole main room is much darker now and all the figures and their details pop, rather than have that 'we're obviously plastic and not in water' look.

The videos don't read well but I've got no doubt you'd like it in person AlexB. It's well done.

And I have to agree with Richard, no way you really see pirates ceiling, and Splash is really well concealed. Radiator springs is quite well done too in that I hardly found myself looking up at all.

And this new MW ride, may have a black ceiling, but it looks to have lights up in it so I don't think it's going to be hidden unfortunately.

[iwerks]

Shouldn't they be concentrating on the road, anyway?

[rappa]

It's a funny one you know.

Because part of you says you want the attraction to stand up to adult and enthusiast scrutiny, but the other part says that it's about what the target audience thinks. And I recon the kids are gonna love it!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I watched both videos side by side, and made my judgment based off them alone. Because the buggies force you to face a certain way, there is a lot of detail "off to the left" as you enter the room that you don't see until you're near Ariel. With the new lighting it appears to be lost.

I realise it's only a video, but as Rappa just said above - I don't think the target demographic had any issue with how it was lit in the past.

That said - it does appear lit with more than just blacklight and I haven't seen the new version in person... so i'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Looking at the pics (and my knowledge of the show building) aren't the lights suspended below the curved ceiling by chain? It may serve to minimise the visibility. It'd be nice if MW had someone with a bit of flair for theatrical lighting who could go in there and light it up subtly, rather than with glaring warehouse lighting... all about the budget though i'm sure.

I have personally seen Pirates ceiling, but you aren't looking for it. Mansion is the same, although they do use several scrims in the 'very obvious' spots. RSR and Splash is done very well, but nevertheless still visible. It's Small World i'm really pointing at as far as visible ceilings, as each 'country' room is short, so long-distance viewing of everything is rare - it means you are always going to look straight up to see characters and thats where the roof tiles come into focus.

The only point i'm trying to make is that one member stated MW's "plain black ceilings" are "annoying". Since Disney is usually held out to be the pinnacle of dark rides, I was just trying to point out that they don't do it much differently from MW, so either they're terrible too, or MW isn't as bad as made out.

[rac2703]

All this being said I think we may be judging Junior Driving Schools lighting way to early - no one has actually seen the finished product yet, because it doesn't even exist. Who knows if the the lighting in the pictures will be the final result? The ride is still being built so I dare say that the lighting is just the generic lighting for the building during construction, and that the "theatrical" or "show" lighting is yet to be installed. The builders won't build the ride while the ride is lit in show mode will they?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

No - but it's far easier to fly a lighting truss when there's nothing on the ground below it.

[rappa]

Yeah Alex, the video on mermaid is definitely deceiving, you'd like it. Don't agree on the demographic thing there, Disney's demographic is everyone. And there was such negative backlash that imagineering justified going in and changing it at considerable expense. And it's not finished yet.

I give you the point on Small World. The lighting install/ ceiling is rough as guts But for me it's the plastic trough through the building that's even worse.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^some would just call that "true to walt's original design" which would instantly make it the pinnacle of dark-boat-rides.

You'd get away with a bodgie ceiling in the 60's - nobody cared. they all just said 'wow'. I sometimes think we set our expectations too high these days, and look for fault deliberately.

[rac2703]

Don't know if anyone else has seen this, but its the original concept for the Little Mermaid Ride, would have been similar ride system to Peter Pans Flight, I can understand why Disney went with the people eating omnimover instead though.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

I will be heading down to the park tomorrow as well as Dreamworld I will post some new pictures on my new page "Hillbilly45"

[Santa07]

I will be heading down to the park tomorrow as well as Dreamworld I will post some new pictures on my new page "Hillbilly45"

Movieworld? I might be heading down too!

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

Pictures are ready! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=741491609250100&id=741091635956764

[Slick]

Pictures are ready! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=741491609250100&id=741091635956764

I'm sure mods of the forum will want you to post them directly onto here. Might I suggest http://imgur.com?