tigger248 said:
I'm not sure that's necessarily always true. Overall, every one of my disney trips has been wonderful. Occasionally there is a slight bad experience, but all in all the good way beats the bad. Plus, most of the bad that I've encountered have been more due to rude or evil guests, not the cast members. I can only think of 2 cases out of many trips where a cast member actually made me mad. The rest of my trips have been wonderful (and I don't say that just because it's Disney, they truly have been great.) Yes, I think management needs some work and some things need to be changed. Yes, I think the parks aren't in as good of shape as they once were and now need some work. But, most people continue to return because overall the trips are great and magical. I get better service at Disney than what I usually get anywhere else, that's for sure.
You're right that it's not ALWAYS true, and I wasn't trying to imply that it was. Nor was I suggesting that it was true of ALL fans. And based on your post, I certainly wouldn't put you in that category. If you'll indulge me in a few examples, I'll illustrate what I meant...
-If you look in the Disneyland section right now, there is a thread going about churros. Don't get me wrong, I like a good churro just as much as the next person. And I'm not trying to knock the thread. But at the same time, it is quite telling of the state of the parks when churros are something that you relate so strongly to the parks. There's nothing uniquely "Disney" about churros. You can find them at pretty much any theme park. Heck, they even sell them every year at our state fair. I don't personally think of Disney every time I eat a churro and I certainly don't consider them a significant part of the Disney experience. I admit that's my OWN personal perspective, but at the same time, I just kind of find it sad that people are so passionate about churros. It seems to indicate there are fewer things about Disney parks to be passionate about these days. In the old days, I doubt a thread about churros would have come up.
-A couple months ago, I read a post on this site from a guy who had just ridden the Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm. He went on and on about how the ride was such a blatant ripoff of Splash Mountain and how it was "so obvious" that they had stolen so many of the features of this ride from Disney. Well, like most Californians, I knew that the log ride at Knott's pre-dates Splash by over two decades. So although I have never found the two rides all that similar personally, if anyone ripped the other off, it would have been Disney ripping off Knott's. When I pointed it out to this guy (and provided a web site link just in case he didn't believe me), suddenly it was okay for the two rides to be similar. So when he thought the act was committed by Knott's, it was some kind of "crime". But when he found out it was actually Disney committing the act, it was okay.
My first example, to me, is just an indication that Disney doesn't wow us quite as much as they used to. Yet there are some who have to find some sort of "wow" factor in everything, however mundane. The second example illustrates that there seem to be a lot of "fans" who will support something simply because it's Disney. But if that same thing were at a rival theme park, they'd be knocking it. Another example of this, by the way, is Paradise Pier at DCA.
Sorry for the lengthy reply!
