TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Refurbishments aren’t closures.
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MK Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Gusey
Well-Known Member
Boneyard is September 1st
I mean we know why all of this is closing, because dirt has been moving backstage and its now moving on-stage.
TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
correct, but don't think anything is closing, closing next month. Have Boneyard in September and then Dinosaur in 2026 (probably January) ... think that covers everything that has been announced so far - maybe something new will get announced or hinted at at Destination D23
plutofan15
Well-Known Member
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Not forever, fortunately.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
This guy is here for the last day!!!! Sir Heron is protesting this destruction!
What IPs he from? Maybe he can stay that way
Moth
Well-Known Member
Boy and the Heron. Anime is very popular right now.
mlayton144
Well-Known Member
1220pm - 10 minute wait for Tom Sawyer island and 15 for the river boat according to the app.
Captain Barbossa
Well-Known Member
Had no idea you could pilot the Liberty Belle until a few years ago. Doesn’t seem to be as well advertised when compared to piloting the Mark Twain at DL.I am wondering however who shall be the one to pilot her for the last go around the river during operation.
Has there been some thoughts about who this person should be?
Should be someone ….important.
And they will need this certificate for sure…
Starship824
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
So do we have any idea what's going to happen to the liberty Belle?
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
The bought and paid for Disney Influencer Shills are going to be doing so much heavy lifting and mental gymnastics lauding this change over the next few years that by the time this finally opens they’ll qualify for DAS legitimately.
Oh, that’s not
JohnD
Well-Known Member
He lives in Herondale.
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Nope.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Increasingly little is left of The Magic Kingdom of the 20th century.
Its been a long time in the making, done in increments small enough over the decades that most guests wouldn't notice.
For a park that opened with a disproportionate number of shows and no thrill rides because it was assumed the Floridian audience would skew older, the character and stroller park we know of today is a far cry from that.
Rides like Mr Toad and Snow White were designed to amuse their creators as much as the children of parents who were drawn to the resort for its appeal to everyone. A variety of recreation and concepts, accessible attractions, sophisticated technology and good showmanship. In those days, Disney resorts and attractions were not designed strictly with children in mind or for their merchandising potential. Some of Magic Kingdom's stores operated at a loss knowing they would support the park as a whole in some indirect way. Magic Kingdom was a success because it was far above the competition when it came to quality, and for its cross generational appeal. It wasn't all cartoon characters all the time.
Yes, the park had IP, but in the case of Frontierland what tied Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer, Ichabod Crane, Pecos Bill and later Br'er Rabbit together? All were examples of real American folklore and popular fiction. They may have been the "Disneyfied" version, but they gave a sense of cultural lineage to what Disney was doing, that was then expanded with their own original mythology of Country Bears and Big Thunder Mountain. Cars will never have that. It's self-reference strictly for the sake of name recognition.
Other lands expanded on broader popular concepts outside of Disney's own library. Tiki culture, the space race, genuine nostalgia for the past (back when some people were still alive to remember 1910s America), American history, and more. The power of the park's original lands was that the themes were broad enough to encompass many topics and settings. Think about how varied Adventureland is at touching so many time periods and parts of the globe, all in one area. This gives them appeal beyond what may be the typical Disney movie watching audience, crucial for the park's ability to generate revenue and weather Disney's general popularity with the public (which is always cyclical).
Up until the 90s and the introduction of New Tomorrowland, WDI was proving they were capable of advancing and modernizing the park in a way that displayed creativity, while pushing technology. The early financial woes of Euro Disney caused a ripple effect across all Disney parks that initially started with an effort to wipe out anything that wasn't considered to be pulling its weight financially, and only got worse from there. That's when the old stores and entertainment offerings started to close and one of the park's original E-tickets was shut down in half-secrecy to see if they could get away with it. Then any decision thereafter had to justify itself in ways no other had been scrutinized before. The park languished for years in a limbo of underinvestment and cheap replacements, all while abandoned areas of the park continued to stack up in quantity.
New Fantasyland was the first big investment the park had seen in decades. Another opportunity to bring the park forward into the future and breath new life...and it stopped short at every opportunity to do so, with a disproportionate amount of its acreage devoted to point of sale locations. But at least it was appropriate for Fantasyland.
Tasteful updates to the park have happened in the 21st century. The 2007 "re-haunting" of HM, tech and show updates to HoP, the miraculous return of the original Tiki Room (in some form), the long overdue reopening of the Adventureland Verandah, PhilharMagic, the replacement of the cheap Birthdayland RR station with a proper building etc. If given the opportunity, and a level of trust, WDI can still get it right. It's not just about money. It's about appreciating what's there.
But instead of respecting the park's history and audience, we're getting this. All while rides like Space Mountain and CoP have been begging for a proper refurbishment and genuinely good ideas like the Main Street Theater and Moana expansion of Adventureland get turned down. It's been so frustrating for someone who was such a fan of this park continue to see it get worse because fewer and fewer people care and have such low expectations to begin with.
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They're handing out the Liberty Belle Pilot certificates at the station
Does Disney care about displaced wildlife? Or will Disney have no more egrets?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Lots of butterflies flapping around the island today - turtles in the river. Heron. It’s quite lovely. For now.
GenChi
Well-Known Member
This is far worse then Imagination or any WDW/DL removals that have ever occurred. It's beyond one singular attraction.
With those it's just you either lost a single great ride and/or got a terrible ride. Here you're also losing a central thematic element for a number of lands at your central park that helped elevate its thematic quality and permanently changing the fabric of the park to the new LL park 'vision' execs have.
Even more, they differentiate in the ability for reversal. Imagination could be made a great ride again. Muppetvision can be relocated. All the duds can one day be replaced with solid attractions. The river can never come back. They would never spend to put another river in and not use the land for a high profile attraction if Cars bombed and needs replacing. You can't fix the central thematic issue that will happen with its removal ever. This is it.
Even with Rocket Rods, PM could get revived at DL if a full TL revamp happens. And even as the closest scenario to this having to look at deteriorating PM track affects far less then this river being taken out.
Do feel for those who had to be assigned this. No matter the result the old MK is gone after today.