JohnD
Well-Known Member
Nope.
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MK Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
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.
breakin2
Well-Known Member
Possibly regrets.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Kid: “bye Tom Sawyer”
Dad: “well this is just the fort that we are leaving now”
Kid: “ok… bye fort”
It’s a really lovely day to be on the island - so many people saying goodbye in such a lovely way. Sad that we care more about the parks then the people who run them :-/
Dad: “well this is just the fort that we are leaving now”
Kid: “ok… bye fort”
It’s a really lovely day to be on the island - so many people saying goodbye in such a lovely way. Sad that we care more about the parks then the people who run them :-/
Charlie The Chatbox Ghost
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about this. The rivers and island have existed for 54 years and there's likely an entire ecosystem that's developed. There's gators and snakes in the water, all sorts of birds around the island, squirrels and bugs and tons of critters. You don't see anything other than ducks anywhere else in the park, all the wildlife is centralized in Frontierland. When they tear it all down, so many animals are going to be displaced. Where will they go? Will Disney make any effort to avoid killing any animals, or will they just cut down trees and if any animals get killed then "oh well"? Will the new build have any sort of natural landscape for animals to make home in, or any effort put in to prevent them from getting run over by the cars?
There's a million reasons to not get rid of the island but this is definitely a good one. It's going to be so weird not seeing all the birds around Liberty Square and Frontierland, and I only hope there's no negative impact on the animal populations.
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
I feel the same way and concern, alligators though they do all they can to keep them out so not really there, usually,,,,but everything else yes Id like to know what they are going to do here. Will it just be bulldozing and destroy and "oh well" all the living species there go with it? ....I hope there is some relocate plan in place for some of this rotten project. And say goodbye to all the original tall trees and cypress. Congrats Disney on your inept management (Vahle, D'Amaro, and all the rest) destroying the park for good.
I wonder who the last social media shill will be there to force their way in the last ride to claim they’re last?
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Probably the horse-drawn trolleys on Main Street.
- Horses are expensive to house and feed
- Maintenance of the trolley cars
- Removing and paving over the track will make the road less hazardous to wheelchairs and strollers.
- “nobody even rides that anyway”
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Do they ever let people ride them over here? They were just running for the dapper dans today. With so many managers surrounding them you couldn’t even get a good photo.
flynnibus
Premium Member
In case you haven't noticed... there is still a giant swamp and forrest around the whole place.
Charlie The Chatbox Ghost
Well-Known Member
Losing the trees sucks too, those trees are all 50ish years old, getting fully mature trees like that is difficult afaik, so I'm hoping they save some of them for Cars.
Charlie The Chatbox Ghost
Well-Known Member
I mean I guess? Displacing animals is still something that can affect ecosystems. Remove a huge habitat for animals that has existed for decades, and those populations are going to have to go somewhere.
If you took 50 fish from one pond and put them into another nearby pond that already has 100 fish, it's going to upset the balance for a bit until it's corrected.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
How many guests are going to try to stowaway on TSI tonight??
Inquiring minds want to know…
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Is that your general feeling about this change? I would think you would be against it.
flynnibus
Premium Member
You mean like when they built the place?
Or like everyone crying to expand instead of replacing the ROA?
Or how about when they built that road right around the place they are building now?
What is the common theme here? That everything disrupts the habitat and they have means in play to manage it... before, and now. The RoA is not a natural habitat.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
Do you guys have any favorite details on the island, boat, or river route?
Mine is the fossils in the walls of the tunnels, and the gold in the walls in the part that's supposed to look like a mine shaft.
Mine is the fossils in the walls of the tunnels, and the gold in the walls in the part that's supposed to look like a mine shaft.