You're gonna need some Fastpasses this week...
California Screamin’ (Good Idea) – by Kimberly Keller
California Screamin’ is one of the fastest rides out of all the Disney properties and at over six thousand feet, it’s the longest looping coaster in the entire world. And no, smarty pants, I’m not advocating for a creepy Thomas the Tank Engine-esque Play Set where the coaster sprouts eyes and we all go for a joyride into a magical land where Mr. Cali Screamin’ learns the importance of friendship, I just want a kickass vehicle Power Disc out of this awesome ride.
The main focus here is the linear induction motor. This is the nifty little device that causes the coaster to blast off from zero to 55mph in four seconds flat, launching you, and your lunch, up 120 feet in an instant. Most coasters rely on old fashioned lift chains that drag the coaster train up a hill with agonizing slowness, but not California Screamin’, and this is key to its Disney Infinity success.
All the vehicles in the game so far are pretty uniform: they get you where you need to go, but with no distinct style other than their appearance. Why not go for something withll a little more oomph? How about 55mph of oomph? With the California Screamin’ Ppower Ddisc, players could blast away from enemies in an instant with short bursts of speed. It’d almost be like a power up ability paired with a vehicle, and hey, there’s room, how about letting multiple characters ride the coaster at the same time? Almost like a tricked out getaway car, players can swing in right in the nick of time and load up others in need, or just run over enemies with their magnificent speed.
Blast off!!
Bringing in the ride’s trademark rockin’ music could be a fun bonus whenever you initiate its super speed, not to mention including the ride’s intro spiel when you hop in. Fun fact: that’s the legen-wait-for-it-dary Neil Patrick Harris telling you to keep your head back and face forward because this ride is blasting off in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!
I actually think the best thing about this Ppower Ddisc is the challenge it would bring with it. It’s not just a simple ride for your character, but a weapon/vehicle to master and strategize with. With bursts of speed comes loss of control as your reaction time allowance gets shorter. You need to learn to control your awesome power if you want to be able to turn and navigate during the rush instead of just zooming forward in a straight line all the time. Suped-up Power Discs like this could bring whole new skills to master in the Toy Box, keeping the game fresh and interesting.
The Time Rover (Bad Idea) - by Becky Hollada
The Time Rover comes from the only reason anyone over the age of six goes to DinoLand, U.S.A. in Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Dinosaur. In this ride, guests get to travel back in time to the age of the dinosaurs thanks to “new technology” that makes every physicist ever want to scream. There’s some shenanigans that ensue and what starts as a friendly tour turns into a nightmare complete with meteors and a giant Carnotaurus that wants to pick its teeth with your bones. But somehow, your trusty Time Rover makes it intact and delivers you back to the present without a scratch.
Now the Time Rover looks pretty darn cool, like a jeep-limo hybrid that is built for some rough terrain while comfortably seating several rows of passengers. Like the California Screamin’, this vehicle would be awesome for piling in characters without a problem, and after handling the late Cretaceous period no problem, you know that there is not a single bit of terrain that could slow this thing down.
Roads? Where we're going we don't--oh no wait, we definitely need roads.
And of course, what would a Time Rover be without an added feature to temporarily control time? Unfortunately nothing except a big jeep that attracts carnivorous dinos, which is where this vehicle falls flat as a potential Power Disc to represent the Disney theme parks. Time manipulation would be a huge headache for a game that features real time multiplayer. A time stop would certainly be possible in game since it works on the same principles as seeing other people’s characters occupy the same space, but I can see it quickly topping the list of biggest jerk moves in video games, next to camping at a spawn point in FPS. And a time reversal? No chance. It would be impossible to make something like that work in real time, multiplayer game play, and if a Power Disc can’t be used in every setting of the game, it simply can’t be used at all.
So without its ability to travel through time, the Time Rover doesn’t have much to offer. It’s just a car, and a car with poorly timed traction issues at that, and that just doesn’t cut it in a world with vehicles that have more personality at the very least, if not cooler abilities as well. Unlike some of our other bad ideas, the Time Rover may not be a total lost cause with some brilliant ingenuity. Sadly for Dinosaur fans though, this little guy probably isn’t one of the top picks for theme park inspired Power Discs, so it won’t likely ever get the attention it needs to pull it off.
Altered images courtesy of Kimberly Keller.
