Subsonic Radio

Does anyone remember that moving water sculpture in the middle of the river at AK. It was from back in the Radio Disney Cruise days. I can't remember what kind of animals were in the scultpture, but I always thought it was really cool and I've been searching the web for a picture of it. Does anyone have any pics of it?

I don't recall the sculpture. Best I remeber was the dragon caves that the flames shot out of.

off-topic - I am now the first official Sr. Imagineer

I found an older map of AK that shows where it was (circled). I think the reason they got rid of it is because there wasn't much to see looking down the river back then, but now Everest is a major "wienie" in that area.

pic:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g101/ ... ture-1.jpg

I barely remember something there - at that point I hadn't discovered the really cool seating area for the Flame Tree BBQ so had no reason to really go back there until after they were gone.

Somewhat related topic - what about those boats that dated from the same time? Personally they would be neat to have back - even just as a way to put your feet up for 15 minutes as you cruise the river, maybe pipe in some music from the different lands, see the tropical plants, etc.

I kinda miss the ride myself. Even though it was Radio Disney teeny-bopper stuff, it was still a nice, relaxing ride that was the only thing in the park that featured the fictional animal part of the sign (the dragon's cave)

Man, I never even rode it - I think it was gone after the first year wasn't it? Didn't even realise it had the dragon cave, etc. Any photos?

I'll see if I can find one. I know I took at least 1 of the fire, if not a couple of them.

I know the ride was there in July of 1999. I think it was gone when I next went in August of 2001. so it disappeared somewhere in there. If anyone can find some time frames of when it was open. I think it was just called the "Radio Disney River Cruise"...

Edit:
Found 1 pic of the fire, as well as a pic of a "spring" I forgot was there. as you'll see in the pic, the spring is in the shape of a dragon (or maybe a croc/aligator) head. The flames in the fire pic would shoot out every few seconds (2 - 3 times per minute). I remember it being Very hot even though we were well back from it.

The Radio Disney Cruise was like AK's version of MK's swan boats, both were nice relaxing rides and both were short-lived. It went by all sorts of cool things too, such as the dragon caves, the geysers and the sculpture which sprayed water within a few feet of the boat as it went by. I also read somewhere that there was an animatronic "aladar" as the boats went by Dinoland, but I don't remember remember seeing that. It was a very well-put together ride even if it was only for crowd control .

The line was incredibly long for a trip to nowhere. If the park had a different design, it could have been both a ride and transportation, but it didn't take you anywhere you couldn't walk to in a very short time.

It was a nice, pleasant ride however.

I went to the park shortly after the park opened. I didn't ride the boats that first year, the line was long and I didn't see the appeal of the attraction. At least for the wait that is. They they retooled it and I really didn't see the need to ride it.

From the beginning it seemed like a last minute attraction that didn't feel fully thought out.

Shame since its in a primary location that surrounds the parks iconic feature.

Rich

rdeacon wrote:From the beginning it seemed like a last minute attraction that didn't feel fully thought out.

That was my feeling. There was very little to do when the AK opened, and it felt like they just looked around and said "What about some boats in that water?".

They could have done something really cool, like a Jungle Cruise with real animals, integrated into the design of the park that also added motion to the park to make it feel more alive.

Captain Schnemo wrote:

rdeacon wrote:From the beginning it seemed like a last minute attraction that didn't feel fully thought out.

That was my feeling. There was very little to do when the AK opened, and it felt like they just looked around and said "What about some boats in that water?".

They could have done something really cool, like a Jungle Cruise with real animals, integrated into the design of the park that also added motion to the park to make it feel more alive.

I couldn't agree more. We rode these the first summer they were open, and it was by far the lamest ride I had ever ridden at WDW. It definitely felt like an afterthought. Part of our vacation video from that year has an excerpt from that ride, and it's almost painful to see. Even the castmembers on the boat seemed to be fumbling throught their "script". I remember getting off of the boat and saying what a colossal waste of time it had been.

Ok, so I was going through old home videos from the 90s and I found a video of most of the boat ride and I posted it on youtube if anyone was interested. The fountain/sculpture/thing that i was talking about is about three-fourths of the way through and then again at the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkVFF5Y4Q7U

when I was watching the little YouTube video Cheshire posted it seems to be like a very VERY bland Jungle Cruise. They should have kept the ride, but deffinatly done more with it. As a poster said earlier, maybe add real-life animals to the attraction and maybe have some more interactive events that go along with the ride. Maybe add in the whole "Burning down the jungle" scene from the Kali River Rapids.

Wow just watched the video. Did they actually consider that at ride? Sitting in a boat listening to Eye of the Tiger?

There is no script, and nothing to really look at. Not sure what the imagineers where thinking there. Maybe it was bonehead in management, that came up with it.

Now I am glad I didn't waste my time, and see why Disney kill it.

Rich