Mr.Brightside711

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This is looking really nice! 

What an incredible (ha!) park you’ve got here. I was reluctant to leave a review because I didn’t want to take away from the amazing spotlight you’ve made. In that I mean, I am not as big of a fan as many of the others on this. I do really like this park, but I think there are also many flaws that keep me from loving it. 

 

To set my expectations with this, I am a huge Pixar fan. I’ve seen almost every one except maybe Lightyear. Big fan of Incredibles, Monsters, Cars (NOT 2), Toy Story, WallE, Up and many others. I’m also a huge disney fan, and of course a fan of realistic parks in RCT2. The idea for this park IMO is fantastic. You’ve done a great job of including most of the beloved franchises (Wall-E is sorely missed) and it feels very Disney. It’s like the version of Studios in Paris that should have been. Also the map size is crazy big for how jam packed the park is. 160x240 is no joke for the density. You have just done crazy work bringing this map to life. 

 

I’ll do this review first by each land individually and then the park as a whole. 

 

Entrance: Insanely great! This is such a great start to the map. It’s clean, cohesive and clearly artistically celebrates the pixar brand without being overly themed. The statues are a great touch. The plazas are wonderful and the colors really make the ball in the center stand out. I feel the only thing missing was a lamp photo op on the ground within the park entrance, but it’s really a minor thing (especially with one on the sign). This is probably the closest thing to flawless on the map. 10/10

 

Buzz: This area is cute. It is a little chaotic being that the midways have to snake around the coaster. One of the biggest issues here is the midways being so high off the ground. The walls that go down to the floor are probably why this is so striking as an issue. Besides that, the theming is wonderful, especially around the edges. The coaster itself is ok. It starts off pretty good but it loses me with the mid launch. It looks great but the pacing swaps from too fast to too slow and back. I do applaud the ride choice, though. I’m kinda curious how the lifthill works with the roof of the building being lower. It also has very stylish colors and great supports and theming. The flat rides are strong in this area. The buzz statue is also very fun! 7/10

 

ToyStory: This area is the first that is generally based off of real life. I think you captured that well and added a lot of great details that I don’t think I’ve seen from the real lands. The scenery is really top notch here with loads of fun toys laying around. This area also has the sunken trenches for the coaster like Buzz had, but it is not really a negative here, just maybe an odd color/texture choice. The flat rides are all super strong here. Escape is another very area dominating coaster. I love how it weaves around the area. It feels a little intense and fast for what seems like the big family coaster for the park. I think making it bigger and faster than Slinky is IRL is fine, but the last ¼ of the ride is pretty extreme IMO. I’m not sure why you added a 3rd launch. Also there is no transfer track or storage for the coaster. Coaster flaws aside, this land is very good. 8/10

 

Soul: Perhaps the smallest land in the park. I’m hesitant to call it a land as it is mostly a facade. The theming is fantastic but no Jazz Cats reference?! 0/10! Okay no, the “Soul” sign makes up for that. I think it is the best sign in the park. The ride itself is super unique and great to see in the game. My only critique would be the building is a bit big for the size of the ride. As it stands, this area is nearly perfect, but the way you have it against Toy Story, and so openly, makes me sad it didn’t have more space to shine. But for what it is on it’s own, 10/10.

 

Up: This area is a bit rough for me. The theming of the 2 areas are so different, I don’t think it works as a cohesive land. Each on its own is fine but together just throws it all off. I think the jungle area should have just been a different IP and the Up ride should have just been the facade for a studio building with the theater inside, and without any immersive theming around it. I guess more similar to Soul. The theming that is there is accurate, but ugly. Mostly the construction site stuff. The queue itself also seems underbaked. The ride itself is very good, but to me not as special as the one for Soul. The paradise falls area is the better half but also feels underbaked. Maybe not enough detail. Some space would have really helped this area as the plane ride seems to block the view of much of the rapids. It also suffers from being too close to Toy Story. I do like the choices of rides here, but for me this area was lackluster, though. 5/10. 

 

Monsters: Now this area is quite lovely. It is especially nice to see this ahead of the land opening in Florida. The city is just so well made and cohesive. It’s nice and colorful but fits the Monsters Inc art style very well. The park is a really nice touch in the center. Of course the door coaster is the star of the show, but perhaps too much so. The building towers over the rest of the city. I wish it was pushed back a little so it didn’t swallow up all the attention from the city area. Also, I think it could have been a bit shorter in height. But the factory itself is great and accurate. The queue is a big standout with many great scenes. I think this is the best queue in the park and I wish more were at this level. The coaster layout itself is nothing special. It’s mostly downhill helixes with no real standout moments besides the elevator lift. It does what it needs to do, but doesn’t feel based in reality. Where are the MCBRs? This coaster doesn’t use block sections! That is a big issue for me since this is a realism park. However, everything else in the area is great so I’d give this land a 9/10.

 

Incredibles: This area is mostly good! It has a powerful and striking entrance to the land, but I’m not sure being so close to Toy Story works. The small bridges also seem strange, especially since there are zero peeps on the red floor. Some peep scenes would have been nice I think. Inside, the omnidroid is such an epic set piece. That and the ice covering many of the buildings is a huge plus for this land. The theming all around this area is generally lovely. Which makes me wonder why so much of this area got little care. The station is very flat and boring. The queue is insanely short for such an epic ride. I’m happy to see you have a transfer track, but it is pretty awkward with how it would function to store 2 trains, and there is no actual maintenance area. The layout itself is good, but quite fast at the end with a brake run that's too short. Suit Up is a very cool dark ride, with a kinda boring name. The facade is really nice and I like that you have the whole family on the sign. Weirdly again, the queue is super short and super basic. I’m surprised to see that with monsters inc next door. The ride itself is great, with a ton of super detailed and cute scenes. I’m not sure what the ride system is but it is cool. The building again feels quite big for what is inside. Lastly I’d like to point out that the integration of the people mover is really strong here. Overall, this land has tons of potential to be one of the best, but I think both of the queues could really use some love. They are not at the level of the rest of the park. 7/10.

 

Inside Out: This area feels like the hub of the park. It's really cute and neat and feels kind of like an extension of the entrance. I like the choice of not having rides and making it a neutral area. But, technically there is a ride! The people mover entrance is here but you would not know it! You really need a sign for that ride. Also it feels like Radiator springs is part of this area. I think this is another area that could use some more space from nextdoor lands. 9/10

 

Cars: Alright so there is a lot here. It is basically 3 different areas in 1 land. Radiator Springs is the best overall. It's got lovely details throughout and feels similar to the real life version, but not a straight up copy. I really wish it wasn’t squeezed into an alley because it's a shame you can’t view both sides of the street in 1 view. The Lightning coaster is basically another area. The drive in is a great way to bring an existing restaurant into a theme of this park. The coaster would really be special IRL, so it's a shame you tucked it so far back into the land and having basically no good areas for peeps to view it. The coaster looks great. The layout is decent, with the brakes and launch both being way too short. Great to see a good transfer with proper storage, but this coaster can’t run 2 trains! The station is also quite basic, while the storage building is quite nice! Route 66 is the last area. It is really nice to see this as an indoor night time mini-land. The checkered flag wall really ruins that immersion, and I really don’t like that choice. The rest of the theming inside is really good, but lacks any memorable parts for the series. A log flume feels like a weird choice for an IP about cars. But you do have a car ride, it just looks really boring. The outside of that building is cool and fits the theme well, but I’m not sure it really works in relation to all the surroundings. The route 66 sign is also hilariously huge. This land overall is good. But there is such a mismatch of smaller areas that don’t allow it to work for me. I’d cut one of the 3 areas and enhance the other 2. Or just give the whole area more space. Either way, as it is now I’d give it a 8/10.

 

Finding Nemo: This area is weird for me. For one, the outside of the building seems overly themed. You wouldn’t get to enjoy any of that theming from inside the land, but it does look nice. Inside looks like a mix between being in an aquarium and being in the ocean. I prefer the latter. Especially since all the coral and sea theming is done so well. The aquarium parts just look way too modern to fit the “in the ocean” theme. The EAC coaster is nice but again, no brake runs so no block sections! The layout itself has a nice variety of elements, but again a mid layout launch that just doesn’t work at all for me. The queue and exit paths are also so straight and kinda basic. The rest of the theming is really good and Bruce is probably the most flawless sculpture in the park. Lastly, I’d like to say The Drop Off is probably the coolest flat in the park. It is so great thematically and technically. Just a super smart addition. For me, this area is a 7/10.

 

Coco: One of the most impressive lands in the park for sure. The whole land is beautiful and lively. Ha! The Mexico area is nearly flawless, though I can imagine the giant skull wall might ruin the immersion just a bit. Lol. Inside however, there is really just nothing but excellence. Just so many colors and great archy everywhere. The lights and signs and rides. Everything works well together. Small things might be coaster choice. Monsters should have priority for family suspended, and I think you could have gone with something different here. But the layout here is better than the door coaster. You just needed a transfer track. Great work here, though. 10/10.

 

Rats: This area is beautiful too! One of the few outdoor areas where a full 360 would keep you fully immersed. Great job there! The buildings and street are so highly detailed and just A+. The skyline details are also really nice! The ride itself is another well detailed dark ride with fantastic scenes. The ride system and track is just a huge distraction from the great scenes. I think trying to make it trackless and having a very subtle track would have made it much more impressive. The ride system is really my only issue with the area, and may be worth rethinking. 9/10

 

Backstage: Overall very strong. Lots of great details and scenes. The landscape is great. The roads are great. The parking lot is nice. The curvy bit by McQueen is really pretty. I like the transfer area for the people mover. I wish there were some cars that weren't blue vans. But overall, 10/10. 

 

Pixar Pier: This is one of the best areas of the park. Like the entrance, there is success in more generic theming with so many heavily themed unrealistic worlds around the park. It’s a palette cleanser. Which makes me wonder why you felt the need to make the incredicoaster. Surely you could have themed it to something else. I mean, it doesn’t even have theming… just the word Super. The layout is one of the best in the park, but has a transfer track that is totally unfeasible. I honestly wish the layout was longer. The flat rides in this area are gorgeous. They all add a lot of character to the area and standout on their own without being distracting. The buildings are similar to the flats where they are each strong without standing out. Just super strong work here. 

10/10

 

That brings me to the park as a whole. Overall, the quality of the park is excellent. Sure there are a few areas that are not as strong, that is expected. But some smaller areas do need work. One of the biggest flaws of the park is its macro. For starters, having Paris and Buzz as the only 2 options to get anywhere in the park from the entrance is a huge flaw for me. Those areas are too highly themed and tight in space to be the biggest crowd flow areas in the park. Also many lands only have one entrance which is awkward when you have to be in one highly themed land to enter another. There should be more walkways between lands and entrances from neutral themed areas like the entrance, pier, and inside out. 

 

Another issue with the planning is theme bleeding. The more self contained areas like Buzz, Monsters, Paris, and Coco work best. They have very little theming that bleeds into neighboring lands. Then some have too much theming on the outside that is irrelevant to being inside that land like Cars, Incredibles, and Nemo. Those hurt the theming of nearby lands by bleeding into other lands. Finally you have lands that don’t have enough space and separation from others which hurt both sides like Toy Story, Soul and Up. These lands needed more breathing room.

 

Space is obviously a huge thing this park needed. Everything is so dense that it makes mistakes hard to correct. Maybe your vision for the park wasn’t as grand as the end product but I really think you should have considered moving things around as the park grew in scale. There are really a lot of places where it is hard for the viewer to enjoy just one themed land without big parts of another blocking the views. From a Macro POV, the strongest areas are the ones that aren’t cluttered.

 

But I think the biggest mistake made is the placement of Pixar Pier. To me, this is an obvious main street or celestial park. You needed this to be the center of the park. Putting one of the strongest areas, and a much needed neutral one, to one side of the park doesn’t work for me. This and Inside Out are the palette cleansers between themes, and I think they are needed as the viewer and for the peeps. But the location doesn’t allow for that and it is ironically drowned out by nemo. The pier should have gone straight out from the entrance and maybe towards a central lake. Or use Inside Out as a main street towards the water with pixar pier on the other side of the lake stretched out as a connection between each side of the park. 

 

I'd also like to point out many of the rides have issues with realism. Most of them have very low throughput and run only 1 or 2 trains which is insane for a disney park. There is also a lack of block sections and brake runs on many of them. And an issue with transfer tracks and storage. The variety of coaster types also stands out to me in a bad way. I like seeing unique rides built, but it also needs to make sense in respect to being built by Disney. This park would be a queue nightmare IRL. 

 

I guess there may not be a need for such drastic suggestions for this park, but I hope you can consider some of these things when you update it as you plan to. I’m sorry for this coming off so negative, but I really do wish I loved this park as much as others. You are such a fantastic friend, and an incredible builder. This spotlight is very well deserved and I’m glad it has gotten so much praise from the community. For me this park wasn’t a smash hit, but it is undoubtedly a historic release and will be enjoyed by everybody for years. 

Scale seems a bit large, but it is clear what it is.

While no dive coaster has done it, perhaps having the transfer track be after the station might be better. Make the brake run 1 or 2 pieces longer and that will move the station further down and allow the transfer right before the turn into the lifthill. Could be worth exploring.

This is wonderful! If you need a coaster layout I'd love to help out