Some good points being made. Good conversation. Here's my brief history of the Disney theme park universe and why I think things are changing the way they are without my opinion. This is a big picture outlook, not an attempt by me to convince you that Horizons was the best dark ride ever built because it was the best dark ride ever built.
DL and its clones are the most popular theme parks on the planet. Full stop. Disney has tried other types of parks. They all make money. They are all a draw. But, for each the other theme parks, surverys, attendance numbers, etc. have never indicated that satisfaction and popularity were the same as DL and its clones.
Disney, over the years has built a four theme park complex in Florida. Each of the other parks has its fans. Each has its detractors. The same is true of MK of course, but the first group is bigger and the second group is smaller. They want the other 3 parks to be equal in popularity, or at least closer, but the question remains, how do you get there?
We've joked about it before (by we, I mostly mean me), but Disney knows it can't go the MK II, MK III, MK IV route in Florida. The popularity of the 3 lesser parks would suffer and the resort as a whole, due to redundancy. Thus, they're clearly trying to attract more people to each of the other parks with different strategies which amount to different ways to get some of that MK feel in the other parks in a calculated way designed to not completely agitate fans of the 3 other draws.
In the case of DAK, the strategy was straightforward. Build a beautiful land and add a couple of rides to a park that didn't have many rides. Base the land on an IP that the suits think is more popular than it is since ticket sales mean everything when you float above popular culture, occasionally dipping your ladle in to sample some of the likes and dislikes of the masses. Nonetheless, the popularity of the land is assured due to its quality. Further, the overall thematic integrity of the park will never be fully compromised since its pretty friggin' simple and people like animals.
With DHS, they're re-doing the whole thing. The golden age of Hollywood, the Hollywood that was and never will be, is going the way of the proverbial dodo. The thought process is that this can be done because surveys have shown that number of people who like that aspect are fewer than the number who just like RnR and ToT and don't care about the broader setting. So, stuff based on a movie...we're good to go. Just have an overall more adult oriented attraction lineup in a different setting than MK, and you're probably A-OK. (full disclosure: I still can't get my head wrapped around the fact the thesis statement ride of the park is going away...of course, the thesis is now a 4 page double spaced middle school paper that itself will soon be so covered with white out that it will be unreadable).
EPCOT....oh my. This one is hard. The people who love the place, really love it. Or loved it, really used to love it. It is so big...certainly, a few things for a broader audience can be stuck in there. What can we get rid of or change....surveys show this is the hardest one of all. It seems like a lot has to change for the broader appeal, but the park has the biggest niche following and if you alienate that niche, attendance may be OK, but things like in park spending really suffer. Maybe if food and wine is 8 months long we'll have time to think about it. A few cartoon rides set in WS countries and a few out of place but mildly thrilling things in FW...characters, more characters....there is always a sub-group of folk who want more Disney in EPCOT. Of course, EPCOT itself is Disney, but I digress. (Full disclosure: As some of you know, I fall into the category of really used to love it, but now I don't care if I go there when in the greater central Florida region. However, when I do go there I do manage to enjoy myself and not be a complete downer. Ask
@Monty )
Another thing in the current climate is that the use of intellectual property tied into a movie (don't forget, World of Motion is IP) has gained ascendancy. Its not because its hard to come up with entertaining ideas for rides without a movie tie in (if you meet me in RL, I'll bet you I could come up with 5 ideas in 5 minutes for almost any concept that you throw out there), but because they've decided attractions need this. I'm not saying that rides and attractions based on movies are bad. I do think that the requirement may be bad....
So, where does this leave us? Well for one, it was pointed out to me the other day that you might as well throw out all the old imagineering books. I'm not sure if they're making all the right moves. But, they may be. WDW is still a big, grand place which is one of many things I've always liked about it. How do I feel about it? I dunno. In my case, I think the true test will be what happens after all the kids are out of the house.
