Great Movie Ride... Film broke

[GrumpyFan]

Another web-site is reporting that the final film for GMR broke on Tuesday and is un-repairable. Apparently, there was not a backup, and they are now using a 1999 version until a replacement is shipped from California!?!? Can anyone confirm?

I find a couple of things odd about this. 1) Why didn't they have a backup in Florida? 2) And this goes for more than just this ride, why haven't they converted to digital? Some of the ride films are looking pretty shabby, especially the ones at Epcot.

[JPL]

They have started conversion to digital in some cases. All the film loops in the HM are now digital. As for some of the olther films like the circlevision films in Epcot I don't think it would cost effective to replace all the current projectors with 9 digital projectors per theater as well as converting the film to digital medium. For the Great Movie ride I also think they may want to keep the classic film look to the projections which using a digital projector just may not work very well. As for a backup in Florida they just updated some of the clips in the film so they probably only have an older copy for their backup.

[bjlaac]

We were at Soarin last October when they were having alot of problems with their projectors. We also noted the film was getting a used look.

We ask the CM why it was'nt digital, considering it was a new ride and were told it was too expensive to put in a digital system

[GrumpyFan]

We were at Soarin last October when they were having alot of problems with their projectors. We also noted the film was getting a used look.

We ask the CM why it was'nt digital, considering it was a new ride and were told it was too expensive to put in a digital system

I think I knew that it wasn't digital, but still it's quite surprising considering the caliber of ride that it is. You would think Disney would spend the money on these attractions and go digital to give it a higher quality. As a "techie" it's really irritating to me to see the flicker and light issues from the reel projectors as well as the sync issues that's encountered sometimes on the circlevision films.

[JPL]

I'm sure as the digital projection systems become more common place and cheaper to install Disney will begin converting the attractions over to them. It really has to be cost effective and the bean counters will want to see a return on the investment. Unfortunately udgrades like this rarely show up on a profit sheet to justify the cost.

[Vedderthanyou]

I was just on the GMR yesterday (saturday) and the movie featured a scene from Pearl Harbor, which came out in 2001. So either the report that the film broke was bogus, or they already got the backup from California or they had a backup in Florida.

Brad

[JPL]

I would guess they overnighted the film or even had a courier smae day hop on a plane & fly it down directly

[mcjaco]

I'd put my money on it more than likely being bogus.

[PirateLover]

The story isn't bogus. The old version was only played for 2 days before the replacement arrived.