El Rio del Tiempo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
El Rio de Tiempo (The River of Time) is a dark ride housed within the pyramid-shaped Mexico pavilion, at the Epcot theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ride carries passengers on a slow boat ride through various scenes from Mexico's history. The scenes are filled with audio-animatronic figures set to music, and dressed in authentic time-period clothing.
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[edit] Synopsis
The ride begins on a quiet river under an (artificial) evening sky. It passes a volcano, and continues on to scenes of native inhabitants. Next is a fireworks-filled night sky in modern-day Mexico City, and then views of Mexican beaches. The final scene is a movie of a Mexican shop, where sales people talk directly to the rider, and try to bargain with them.
The ride is often criticized as too bland or too tourist-y for most guests; the mix of serious-seeming history and impressive artificial monuments blend with dolls similar to those in It's a Small World to produce a disagreeable mix for some. It does however hold the distinction of being the only ride at the Walt Disney World Resort that allows the consumption of alcohol while riding. The introduction of frozen margaritas (sold near the entrance to the attraction) enhances the novelty of the ride significantly for drinking-aged guests.
Around spring of 2006, rumors began to spread that Disney is working on upgrading El Rio del Tiempo in time for Epcot's 25th anniversary celebration in 2007. This hypothesized all-new version of the ride will be themed based on the characters from the 1944 Disney film The Three Caballeros, including Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles. Some have pointed out, however, that Jose Carioca is a Brazilian character, which would put Disney in the strange position of having an American, a Mexican, and a Brazilian host the Mexican pavilion.
[edit] Attraction facts
- Grand opening: October 1, 1982 (Opened with EPCOT Center)
- Boat capacity: 16 people
- Ride capacity: 1656 per hour
- Show duration: 8:07
- Ride system: Flume ride - Propulsion Pumps
