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Excalibur: A Dragon's Tale

Paul said:
It's a ride I would like to see come back a boat ride around the lake. Jungle Cruise ran for 30 years, now its just dead space. I really feel castle of dreams should be turned back into a ride a put santa somewhere else. Maybe tge zoo.
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Agreed. With all the remaining infrastructure and the Indoor segment still intact, I'd be curious if bringing back an updated version of Excalibur would be viable.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Agreed. With all the remaining infrastructure and the Indoor segment still intact, I'd be curious if bringing back an updated version of Excalibur would be viable.
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It would be nice but the quality of the water currently is just :sick:. Even with some kind of massive filter system I don't think it would really do much considering the mass of the lake.
 
AlfieJW said:
It would be nice but the quality of the water currently is just :sick:. Even with some kind of massive filter system I don't think it would really do much considering the mass of the lake.
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Yeah... Natural water makes for a difficult scenario :( that side is also quite muddy too.

If anything they'd need to make some troughs for it I think sort of like submarine splash

I'm not too sure but I'm sure there's also something about building new rides into natural water pools now (I think ive read it somewhere but I cannot tell you where or what it was)
 
That's only rides that get you wet require clean water now they can still build a scenic boat ride through the lake like Excalibur. Incidentally Storm Force 10 was the last ride built in the country before the new rules came it so there will never be another ride like it going through the lake. I'm not convinced the lake needs filtering it just needs to be a ride which doesn't get you wet
 
This may seem like a dumb question but I’m generally confused. I know the reliability for Excalibur was very poor and that multiple factors went into this. Was it equally bad when it was Jungle cruise or is it more the different type of ride hardware that has reacted with the water ? The two from memory are very similar but I was a very small kid so I don’t really remember if the jungle cruise ride ran just as poor as Excalibur. Am I correct in thinking both used the same site ?
 
Charliie said:
This may seem like a dumb question but I’m generally confused. I know the reliability for Excalibur was very poor and that multiple factors went into this. Was it equally bad when it was Jungle cruise or is it more the different type of ride hardware that has reacted with the water ? The two from memory are very similar but I was a very small kid so I don’t really remember if the jungle cruise ride ran just as poor as Excalibur. Am I correct in thinking both used the same site ?
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I think the jungle cruise used petrol boat motors similar to a speed boat type that were piloted by a driver and it didn't use the same system that Excalibur did, correct me if I am wrong though but yes they were both the same site
 
Elise said:
I'm no engineer or materials expert, but i'm sure that water (ft mud and other underwater stuff) is probably not very good for the ride mechanisms & hardware.
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Unfortunately the designers of Excalibur seem to have been the only people not to take this in to consideration :rolleyes: No longevity in an underwater pulley system.
 
The pulley system wasn’t the problem as the swan boats at Alton Towers used the same system and lasted 16 years that was removed as the popularity in its final years was a walk on.
The Jungle Cruise operated to the end of the 2001 season and Excalibur opened May 2003. It really never worked how it was intended and there was talk it was gonna be turned into a splash battle ride.
The building will never be used again for a ride as the it’s a big money maker for the looping group but can see the scenes been removed when they decide what to do with the pirate cove area. They could even think about filling part of the lake to make a new area.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
The pulley system wasn’t the problem as the swan boats at Alton Towers used the same system and lasted 16 years that was removed as the popularity in its final years was a walk on.
The Jungle Cruise operated to the end of the 2001 season and Excalibur opened May 2003. It really never worked how it was intended and there was talk it was gonna be turned into a splash battle ride.
The building will never be used again for a ride as the it’s a big money maker for the looping group but can see the scenes been removed when they decide what to do with the pirate cove area. They could even think about filling part of the lake to make a new area.
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I'm not saying get rid of the Christmas experience but move it to old Thomas modal building in the zoo where it would be more difficult to build rides due to local houses and then the castle of dreams can be turned back into a ride station
 
Paul said:
I'm not saying get rid of the Christmas experience but move it to old Thomas modal building in the zoo where it would be more difficult to build rides due to local houses and then the castle of dreams can be turned back into a ride station
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I can't see how the exhibition building is anywhere near big enough to house the santa experience. I don't know how many Santa's they have working at once at peak times...3? 4? more?
 
Paul said:
I'm not saying get rid of the Christmas experience but move it to old Thomas modal building in the zoo where it would be more difficult to build rides due to local houses and then the castle of dreams can be turned back into a ride station
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This could work :) a pre existing event space which they could expand on with the usage of things like temporary storage units and false walls etc.

Or even turn the whole area into a bigger building to use as that side of the park is seemingly prepped for development.


But to keep on topic of Excalibur (And keep the magic of the Christmas event & Santa) - I think the removal of castle of dreams is doable due to potential other space on park :)
 
RustyShackleford said:
I can't see how the exhibition building is anywhere near big enough to house the santa experience. I don't know how many Santa's they have working at once at peak times...3? 4? more?
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I like the thought of a new ride in the castle but I agree there is no way I could see the santa experience fitting in there. (sorry for off topic)
 
I'd much rather they keep the castle. It's a great piece of theming, especially with the amount of detail Farmer Studios put into it, but relocating the Santa's grotto experience somewhere else at the back of the park would be nice, and would serve the Trains in Thomas Land a good purpose.
 
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As I didn’t go to the Christmas event to 2019 I’m not sure where the Santa experience was hosted before it went into the castle of dreams for the 2012 season.
 
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