What deserved the axe to create Star Tours?

[ModHatter]

Even though I think there are more choices with merit, the OTHER poll has prompted me to create this one.

The choices are based on attractions with showbuildings that have closed since ATIS' final adventure. And voters can make more than one choice.

Tomorrowland Stage (closed 1986)
America Sings (closed 1988)
Mission to Mars (closed 1992)
CircleVision (closed 1997 to make room for the Rocket Rods queue)

In addition, there is a choice for ATIS of course.
There is an option for developing a backstage area or Other unlisted area.
And there is an option to not build Star Tours at all.

[Tom Chaney]

Voted for Tomorrowland Stage. I liked all the other stuff.

[Ghostbuster626]

Atis...a total waste of space. It was practically asking to be replaced.

[ModHatter]

Atis...a total waste of space. It was practically asking to be replaced.

Well, having not voted yet, I just want to interject... weren't there other rides asking to be replaced?

America Sings, a short-lived replacement of a short-lived ride, closed shortly after ATIS, and asked for replacement for 10 years. (And what replaced it? Innoventions. :botox: )

Mission to Mars, another show that replaced a show, was about rockets, which were basically put out to pasture four years before ATIS closed in 85.

Just a little food for thought on this multiple-choice poll...

[SilentBob66]

America Sings did need to be replaced, but having seen Carousel of Progress at WDW back in '94, I thought it still stood the test of time well (plus the script was updated toward the end to include more modern technologies). I think it should stay at Disneyland 1. as a testament to Walt's ideas of progress, and 2. it can always be updated and adjusted to reflect the times.

As I mentioned here in this other thread, thematically Star Tours should have gone into the Mission to Mars spot, since, like Mission to Mars and Flight to the Moon, it's a "space travel" attraction, although the options of putting it where the Tomorrowland Stage were and/or putting it in a different part of the land (underground possibly, or even building a new show building, possibly in the Space Mountain or even Autopia areas) were valid options as well.

The problems with Disney bringing in the works of other Hollywood filmmakers (although it can be argued that Lucas is not exactly a "Hollywood" filmmaker per se) are that it implies that the Disney Imagineering team is not creative enough to work out a viable show themselves. I mean, Walt never asked Jack Warner to bring Bugs and Daffy to Fantasyland, even though it might have boosted attendance figures. Those were some OTHER studio's creation, not his.

[ModHatter]

Well, I'm a little surprised to see so few votes for America Sings. I do love the Carousel Theater, but considering what has happened to that space throughout the last 17 years, and the small audiences that stumble into CoP in WDW during the times it's even open, I'd say the attraction has lost its place in Tomorrowland. Doesn't mean the concept had to die, of course. The upstairs could have provided a Star Tours queue that led guests unknowingly out to a showbuilding somewhere backstage.

[Kevie]

Half the reason for lowered Carousel of Progress attendance at WDW is not because it has lost its place, but because it is never advertised and barely open.

[ModHatter]

Half the reason for lowered Carousel of Progress attendance at WDW is not because it has lost its place, but because it is never advertised and barely open.

Chicken or the egg... Having been there recently, I'd say it's never advertised because it's barely open, and it's barely open because it is essentially a 40 year old attraction that has had consistently low attendance for years.