Grading Walt Disney World Throughout the Decades

TwilightZone

Well-Known Member
what is this? This makes no sense

I feel the need to defend Bob. He saved DCA by investing 1.2 BILLION in it. Furthermore, he spent 5 BILLION on SDL. They're investing 5 BILLION in WDW. Another BILLION in SWL at DL. And another fortune on DLP. He's spending money. It's not all going to WDW all the time, but he's investing.
Not all the rides under the Iger era are bad either.
Mission Breakout, while poorly themed, is more thrilling than what was there.
Flight of Passage is known as one of the best rides ever made
RSR is amazing
While "wait and see", the attractions coming to star wars land and mickey and minnie's runaway railway sound like they're going to be amazing
Those are the ones I can think of, but I think it shows the point that the Iger era is not just pixar pier levels.
 
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"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
I feel the need to defend Bob. He saved DCA by investing 1.2 BILLION in it. Furthermore, he spent 5 BILLION on SDL. They're investing 5 BILLION in WDW. Another BILLION in SWL at DL. And another fortune on DLP. He's spending money. It's not all going to WDW all the time, but he's investing.

Yes. Iger is investing now. I think the main issue is the lost decade between '99 and '12. Eisner's final years and Iger's first 7. This is in regards to WDW. I think most here can agree - that this was the worst times the Orlando Park faced. This time frame opened the door for Uni (which is not a bad thing - I enjoy Uni too), the Orlando parks and resort in general stagnated, and the overall guest experience was down.

In that entire decade it seems they were focused on being reactive. They did just enough (or at least what they felt was enough). Rides were beginning to wear, animatronics malfunctioned, refurbs didn't have the proper budgets, - Don't get me wrong. Disney was still a great place to visit. But there's no mistaking that it wasn't getting the attention it needed.
 

Willmark

Well-Known Member
Disney used to be held as a standard for a well run ship.

It’s not anymore.

That standard is now Apple. Rightly or wrongly, love them or hate them one thing that Apple has revolutionized is the experience with a customer. Now almost every company looks at what Apple does and this is to say nothing of the supply side of Apple’s operations which is nothing short of astonishing. How do I know this? I worked for Apple for ten years.

How does this apply to Disney? Once Walt left the bean counters took over and what we see in the parks now is because of that. The attention to detail failing would have never happened while Walt was alive.
 

Rumrunner

Well-Known Member
Now that I've had a chance to experience Toy Story Land, it's time to update my "Walt Disney World Historical Grade" chart for 2018.

Using a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 meaning "absolutely fabulous" and 0 meaning "it's a dump and should be closed", I graded Walt Disney World (WDW) for each year since its opening in 1971. Ultimately I decided to grade WDW against itself, using WDW's best years as the Gold Standard.

It's an arbitrary chart based on my opinion of WDW's quality and value over the decades. It's not based on real data. You might very well have a different opinion.

Without further ado, my latest chart:

View attachment 300592


WDW was by no means perfect when it opened in 1971. The Magic Kingdom was a work in progress but still managed to blow the competition out of the water (only Disneyland was better) with an unflinching commitment to making its Guests happy.

Things only got better from there, with classic attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) and Space Mountain (SM) opening in the mid-1970s, River Country in 1976, followed by Big Thunder Mountain (BTM) in 1980.

WDW peaked with the opening of Epcot in 1982. Quality remained outstanding while total ticket price decreased. Previously, admission and attraction tickets were sold separately. Concerned about using that pricing scheme at Epcot, Disney leadership created a combined ticket, discontinuing attraction booklets. I recall many being upset about it but as someone who simply wanted to ride attractions all day long, the new tickets were perfect!

That perfection continued for a few years until Michael Eisner became CEO. One of his earliest actions was to increase ticket prices by double-digits. Those upset with the 1982 ticket change were furious with Eisner's massive increases, which continued from 1984 to 1988.

Attitudes greatly improved with the opening of Disney-MGM Studios and Typhoon Lagoon (TL) in 1989. Disney-MGM Studios got off to a rough start; there simply wasn't much to do. However, by the end of the year with the opening of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Star Tours, Disney-MGM Studios finally felt like a theme park worthy of the Disney name. Typhoon Lagoon was amazing, unlike any other water park in the World. It made the quaint River Country seem amateurish. By 1990, the anger resulting from the price increases had been largely forgotten. With 3 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shopping district, and a nightclub district, WDW finally felt worthy of a week's vacation.

By the early 1990s, the wood was starting to rot beneath the glittering façade. Disney’s Strategic Planning unit began to micromanage theme park decisions. Gone was the uncompromising commitment to excellence, superseded by a cost-benefit-analysis of every aspect of the resort. Year-by-year, quality slipped, replaced by a "good enough" attitude. Many devoted frontline Cast Members remained but senior management was forced out, supplanted by those "sharp-pencil guys" Walt Disney had warned about decades before. Externally, all was well. Internally, Disney’s Old Guard was fading, never to return.

Still, the 1990s experienced many exciting additions. Splash Mountain (SM) opened in 1992. Arguably WDW's best attraction, Tower of Terror (TOT), opened in 1994, followed by Blizzard Beach (BB) in 1995. To the casual Guest, it was a glorious decade.

Perhaps WDW's last gasp of true greatness occurred with the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK) in 1998. It should have been WDW's high-water mark. Instead, DAK opened with too few attractions and struggled with an image problem. (Remember the 2001 "Nahtazu" campaign?) Hardcore Disney fans were disappointed.

The slow decay continued as Eisner was under increasing pressure by Wall Street to improve margin, yet WDW still was an excellent resort, still the best in the World.

The vacation industry took a nosedive after those horrific events of September 11. WDW was not immune. Projects were cancelled, hotels were shuttered, Cast Members were laid off. Operating expenses were slashed and, for many, declining quality became visible for the first time.

After the initial shock, Disney took steps to correct its downturn in business, primarily through deep discounts such as the "Buy Four, Get Three Free" campaign. WDW's affordability improved even as the economy struggled.

WDW experienced another uptick with the introduction of the Magic Your Way (MYW) ticket in 2005 and the opening of Expedition Everest (EE) in 2006. Using an a la cart pricing scheme, the MYW ticket improved WDW's affordability for those seeking an entry-level theme park experience, while EE represented WDW's last great attraction to date.

The late 2000s arguably represent WDW's low point. Even though Strategic Planning had closed shop in 2005, budget cuts continued as corporate Disney increasingly nickel-and-dimed its Guests. Worse, for the first time in its history, capital expenditures were not keeping up with depreciation. The parks were aging yet Disney was deferring basic maintenance. It showed, with each year getting a bit worse than the year before.

Opened in 2012, the New Fantasyland (NFL) represented a change in direction, expanding WDW's most popular land in the World's most popular theme park. Yet ultimately it added only 2 attractions, replacing 2 that had closed. It was a small improvement but with much unrealized potential. NFL could have been so much more. NFL should have been more.

WDW held steady in the years following the opening of NFL. There were several modest improvements yet also more cost cutting and price increases, largely cancelling each other out. The net effect was a WDW no longer in decline, but not yet on the mend.

With the addition of Pandora, 2017 was a step upward. The entire land is well-themed and some consider Flight of Passage to be one of WDW's best attractions. Na'vi River Journey is immersive even if it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. The Satu'li Canteen offers bold (for a theme park) food selections.

Sadly, Toy Story Land (TSL) was not enough to continue this upward trend in 2018.

2018 saw some of WDW's biggest price increases in years. Rack rate for a Standard room at All Star Sports was up 8.0%. The popular 4-day base ticket was up 8.5%. Annual Passholders got nailed with a 9% increase! Plus Disney started double-dipping by (for the first time) charging for hotel parking, something that previously was included in the room price for WDW's first 46 years!

One of my bellwethers is the water parks' Sand Pail. I was disappointed to report a large increase to $13.99 last year. This year, they avoided a price increase and, instead, dropped volume from 36 to 24 oz while still charging the same amount:

View attachment 300593

Added together, 2018 became a horrendous year for those shopping for a (relatively) inexpensive WDW vacation.

Meanwhile, theme park attendance continued to climb, meaning Guests were waiting in longer lines even as they paid more. TSL had to deliver a lot to justify these increases. Sadly, it missed the mark by a wide margin.

In some ways, TSL is exactly what WDW did not need: an overhyped, modestly themed land with 2 low-capacity kiddie attractions in a theme park where multiple high-capacity attractions were permanently closed.

Let's recall how we got here. The Great Movie Ride closed. The Backlot Tour closed. Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground closed. Perhaps worst of all, the crowd pleasing (and mega capacity) Osborne Festival of Dancing Lights is gone. (And, on a personal note, one of my favorites, Starring Rolls closed.) Combined, these nearly returned DHS to its dire state after its May 1989 opening. At that time, many WDW fans were furious with what they (justifiably) felt was a ripoff of a theme park ticket. DHS will improve once Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway open but, for 2018, TSL may have made DHS even worse by attracting crowds that far exceed its two attractions' limited capacity.

Don't get me wrong; TSL is nice. Some dislike it but theming is consistent with the existing Toy Story Mania. Slinky Dog Dash (SDD) is a fun little coaster. Yet Alien Swirling Saucers and Woody's Lunch Box are disappointing. All three are vastly inferior to their counterparts at Pandora.

And throughout my visits this year, I saw sights like this far too often:

View attachment 300594

Higher than normal price increases. Increased crowds. Insufficient added capacity. A new land inferior to last year's Pandora. For these reasons and others, WDW took a step backwards in 2018.
We first went in 1975 and 1976. We went in 1988-89, 1994-1995-2001-2003. We went again in 2014-2016- and June 2018. We have seen the changes. To be honest we did not notice many changes until the visit this year. We did notice more trash on the ground, lights burn out, cast members not as interested in their jobs, trash and food on the tables in eating places, and many other little things that were not prevalent in the past.
It bothered me, my spouse, my kids, but of course not the grandkids. We did not talk about it while at Disney. When he got home it became the general consensus in discussions about our trip that things were different and definitely not better.

We are not sure when or if there will be another trip. We usually return home and start counting the days until our next trip. Sadly we are not doing that this time.
 

Shouldigo12

Well-Known Member
I think how high people's expectations are for WDW is shown best by the fact that a score of 85/100 is considered a huge step down in quality. XD. Don't get me wrong, I agree the prices are spiraling put of control at the parks, and that the crowds are even worse, but an 85 is a pretty good score (que everyone telling me WDW used to be great and never settled for just *gasp* pretty good!)
 

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I think how high people's expectations are for WDW is shown best by the fact that a score of 85/100 is considered a huge step down in quality. XD. Don't get me wrong, I agree the prices are spiraling put of control
It is revealing.

My current score for WDW is 86. The lowest I ever scored it was 85. And this score is relative to WDW's best years, truly a Gold Standard, not to other theme parks.

Yet by some of the reactions, you'd think I called WDW a dump that should be closed immediately.

Just goes to show how defensive some get of any criticism of WDW.
 

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Seriously, OP? Why waste your effort on this? Why not do something you do like?
Since when is a score of 86 representative of something that is disliked?

In school, a score of 86 is an above average grade.

On Rotten Tomatoes, a score of 86 is "fresh".

On Metacritic, it means "generally favorable reviews".

Remember, the grade is not a comparison with other theme parks. It's comparing WDW with its best years.

I suggest you go back and read what I originally posted more carefully, rather than assume (like others) that a score of 86 is negative.
 

Willmark

Well-Known Member
It is revealing.

My current score for WDW is 86. The lowest I ever scored it was 85. And this score is relative to WDW's best years, truly a Gold Standard, not to other theme parks.

Yet by some of the reactions, you'd think I called WDW a dump that should be closed immediately.

Just goes to show how defensive some get of any criticism of WDW.

Seriously, OP? Why waste your effort on this? Why not do something you do like?
Ummm.... you just literally proved his point with a post... right.after.he.made.this.very.point.
 

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
From a statiscal perspective I'm going with a current score in the low 90's. I respect your opinion and your views, but as you referenced in your post, everybody is going to have a different take.

I'd disagree on a few chart points. There is no reference to RC opening in '76 which I think warrants a bigger spike and to a lesser extent Pioneer Hall in '74 (Hoop Dee Doo). Also, Marketplace in '75 would have seen a slight bump) - Disney's trajectory should be upward from opening day through the EPCOT opening (save a slight Fib retracement possibly in '78-'81). You have a flat-line from about '74 to '79.

The drop coinciding to the time frame after the EPCOT opening that you attribute to price increases, IMO, is too pronounced. Yes, prices did increase, but they moved away from ticket books to day and multi- day tickets at this point. So it was more a fundamental change in pricing structure - but yes prices did increase. You have about an 8% drop, I'd go with about 3 to 4%.

Correction starts to happen in '88 with CBR, We shoot up in '89 with MGM studios, Pleasure Island (Adventures Club...because I just needed to throw it in) and continued with the 1990 opening of Yacht Club, Beach Club, Dolphin and Swan. '91 with OKW. The '92 opening of Dixie Landings (now PO) -This takes us back to nearly EPCOT levels. Then we range - from the high to the mid-90's.

We get a slight bounce in '95 with the introduction of Food and Wine and another in '96 with Boardwalk opening. And another slight one in '97 with CSR. Another substantial one in '98 with AK.

Then we drop. Hard. By 2001 we're in free fall (IMO the worst decade of WDW). I'm going about 15% down (which gets me to about 83 - we're pretty much in agreement about the trajectory - but we're just dropping from different levels). From about '99 to '12 nothing good was happening (save maybe Saratoga Springs in '04).

Then Fantasyland gave us a bounce in late '12 and into '13. Announcement of Springs in '13 and it's opening in '15, Frozen in '13/'14 with the M&G and culminating in '16 with FEA, Pandora in '17, TSL in '18 and the yet to come SWL in '19 and Tron and GoG in '20. The SWH, the Gondolas, additions to DS. I think we've crept up into the 90ish range. So I'm at "A-" right now.
I like what you wrote but have a few comments.

It appears to me you give Disney credit for planned additions. I wait until those additions are available to the general public so I can experience them and then grade them based on that experience. Thus, I have not given WDW credit for "the yet to come SWL in '19 and Tron and GoG in '20. The SWH, the Gondolas, additions to DS. I think we've crept up into the 90ish range." Once these open, I think it will be possible for WDW to climb back into the low 90s. Maybe higher if one or more of these are truly outstanding experiences and price increases are reasonable.

The move away from ticket books happened for the opening of Epcot in 1982, not during the huge price increases that occurred in the late 1980s. The late 1980 increases were a money grab by Michael Eisner and Frank Wells.

What you don't seem to take into account (sufficiently IMO) is 'value'. My overall score is based on content, quality, and price. Together, these represent 'value'. Thus, I would score WDW in the low 90s today if they offered (for example) a special "$200 for 4 days" ticket as a "thank you" to Guests. Instead, 2018 saw some of WDW's most aggressive price increases this century. Toy Story Land should have bumped up the score 1 point. However, this year's numerous above typical price increases (plus, to a much less extent, small declines in quality) dropped WDW's score by 2. The net effect was WDW down by 1 point in 2018.
 
Last edited:

Sans Souci

Well-Known Member
Seriously, OP? Why waste your effort on this? Why not do something you do like?

fullsizeoutput_730.jpeg
 

crxbrett

Well-Known Member
We first went in 1975 and 1976. We went in 1988-89, 1994-1995-2001-2003. We went again in 2014-2016- and June 2018. We have seen the changes. To be honest we did not notice many changes until the visit this year. We did notice more trash on the ground, lights burn out, cast members not as interested in their jobs, trash and food on the tables in eating places, and many other little things that were not prevalent in the past.
It bothered me, my spouse, my kids, but of course not the grandkids. We did not talk about it while at Disney. When he got home it became the general consensus in discussions about our trip that things were different and definitely not better.

We are not sure when or if there will be another trip. We usually return home and start counting the days until our next trip. Sadly we are not doing that this time.

This really makes me sad and angered and disappointed. I feel like Disney always strived to do the most they could so that it would never allow a guest to feel like that in the past.

Write Disney services an e-mail and or a hand-written letter detailing what you experienced and your story that you just told us. Seriously, the more they hear about stories like this, the more chance there is for things to maybe change or begin to change. Or at least we can hope it will.

Obviously money, profits and attendance are the biggest things that will make them listen. But the optimist in me still thinks enough letters and complaints may not necessarily always fall on deaf ears and can only do some good.
 

Kram Sacul

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Mission Breakout, while poorly themed, is more thrilling than what was there

Don't you dare. Nothing is as thrilling as being locked into an elevator that looks like a gas chamber, seeing yourself disappear in a mirror and then violently dropped 100 feet. I don't care how many cringy lines of dialogue that smartass raccoon has. Mission: BO has nothing on Tower when it comes to psychological torture. It's a kiddie ride in comparison.
 

TwilightZone

Well-Known Member
Don't you dare. Nothing is as thrilling as being locked into an elevator that looks like a gas chamber, seeing yourself disappear in a mirror and then violently dropped 100 feet. I don't care how many cringy lines of dialogue that smartass raccoon has. Mission: BO has nothing on Tower when it comes to psychological torture. It's a kiddie ride in comparison.
True. I was going for the more drops aspect. That is what makes it more thrilling. Otherwise if it was the same ride but with the GOTG it wouldn't be.
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
Now that I've had a chance to experience Toy Story Land, it's time to update my "Walt Disney World Historical Grade" chart for 2018.

Using a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 meaning "absolutely fabulous" and 0 meaning "it's a dump and should be closed", I graded Walt Disney World (WDW) for each year since its opening in 1971. Ultimately I decided to grade WDW against itself, using WDW's best years as the Gold Standard.

It's an arbitrary chart based on my opinion of WDW's quality and value over the decades. It's not based on real data. You might very well have a different opinion.

Without further ado, my latest chart:

View attachment 300592


WDW was by no means perfect when it opened in 1971. The Magic Kingdom was a work in progress but still managed to blow the competition out of the water (only Disneyland was better) with an unflinching commitment to making its Guests happy.

Things only got better from there, with classic attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) and Space Mountain (SM) opening in the mid-1970s, River Country in 1976, followed by Big Thunder Mountain (BTM) in 1980.

WDW peaked with the opening of Epcot in 1982. Quality remained outstanding while total ticket price decreased. Previously, admission and attraction tickets were sold separately. Concerned about using that pricing scheme at Epcot, Disney leadership created a combined ticket, discontinuing attraction booklets. I recall many being upset about it but as someone who simply wanted to ride attractions all day long, the new tickets were perfect!

That perfection continued for a few years until Michael Eisner became CEO. One of his earliest actions was to increase ticket prices by double-digits. Those upset with the 1982 ticket change were furious with Eisner's massive increases, which continued from 1984 to 1988.

Attitudes greatly improved with the opening of Disney-MGM Studios and Typhoon Lagoon (TL) in 1989. Disney-MGM Studios got off to a rough start; there simply wasn't much to do. However, by the end of the year with the opening of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Star Tours, Disney-MGM Studios finally felt like a theme park worthy of the Disney name. Typhoon Lagoon was amazing, unlike any other water park in the World. It made the quaint River Country seem amateurish. By 1990, the anger resulting from the price increases had been largely forgotten. With 3 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shopping district, and a nightclub district, WDW finally felt worthy of a week's vacation.

By the early 1990s, the wood was starting to rot beneath the glittering façade. Disney’s Strategic Planning unit began to micromanage theme park decisions. Gone was the uncompromising commitment to excellence, superseded by a cost-benefit-analysis of every aspect of the resort. Year-by-year, quality slipped, replaced by a "good enough" attitude. Many devoted frontline Cast Members remained but senior management was forced out, supplanted by those "sharp-pencil guys" Walt Disney had warned about decades before. Externally, all was well. Internally, Disney’s Old Guard was fading, never to return.

Still, the 1990s experienced many exciting additions. Splash Mountain (SM) opened in 1992. Arguably WDW's best attraction, Tower of Terror (TOT), opened in 1994, followed by Blizzard Beach (BB) in 1995. To the casual Guest, it was a glorious decade.

Perhaps WDW's last gasp of true greatness occurred with the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK) in 1998. It should have been WDW's high-water mark. Instead, DAK opened with too few attractions and struggled with an image problem. (Remember the 2001 "Nahtazu" campaign?) Hardcore Disney fans were disappointed.

The slow decay continued as Eisner was under increasing pressure by Wall Street to improve margin, yet WDW still was an excellent resort, still the best in the World.

The vacation industry took a nosedive after those horrific events of September 11. WDW was not immune. Projects were cancelled, hotels were shuttered, Cast Members were laid off. Operating expenses were slashed and, for many, declining quality became visible for the first time.

After the initial shock, Disney took steps to correct its downturn in business, primarily through deep discounts such as the "Buy Four, Get Three Free" campaign. WDW's affordability improved even as the economy struggled.

WDW experienced another uptick with the introduction of the Magic Your Way (MYW) ticket in 2005 and the opening of Expedition Everest (EE) in 2006. Using an a la cart pricing scheme, the MYW ticket improved WDW's affordability for those seeking an entry-level theme park experience, while EE represented WDW's last great attraction to date.

The late 2000s arguably represent WDW's low point. Even though Strategic Planning had closed shop in 2005, budget cuts continued as corporate Disney increasingly nickel-and-dimed its Guests. Worse, for the first time in its history, capital expenditures were not keeping up with depreciation. The parks were aging yet Disney was deferring basic maintenance. It showed, with each year getting a bit worse than the year before.

Opened in 2012, the New Fantasyland (NFL) represented a change in direction, expanding WDW's most popular land in the World's most popular theme park. Yet ultimately it added only 2 attractions, replacing 2 that had closed. It was a small improvement but with much unrealized potential. NFL could have been so much more. NFL should have been more.

WDW held steady in the years following the opening of NFL. There were several modest improvements yet also more cost cutting and price increases, largely cancelling each other out. The net effect was a WDW no longer in decline, but not yet on the mend.

With the addition of Pandora, 2017 was a step upward. The entire land is well-themed and some consider Flight of Passage to be one of WDW's best attractions. Na'vi River Journey is immersive even if it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. The Satu'li Canteen offers bold (for a theme park) food selections.

Sadly, Toy Story Land (TSL) was not enough to continue this upward trend in 2018.

2018 saw some of WDW's biggest price increases in years. Rack rate for a Standard room at All Star Sports was up 8.0%. The popular 4-day base ticket was up 8.5%. Annual Passholders got nailed with a 9% increase! Plus Disney started double-dipping by (for the first time) charging for hotel parking, something that previously was included in the room price for WDW's first 46 years!

One of my bellwethers is the water parks' Sand Pail. I was disappointed to report a large increase to $13.99 last year. This year, they avoided a price increase and, instead, dropped volume from 36 to 24 oz while still charging the same amount:

View attachment 300593

Added together, 2018 became a horrendous year for those shopping for a (relatively) inexpensive WDW vacation.

Meanwhile, theme park attendance continued to climb, meaning Guests were waiting in longer lines even as they paid more. TSL had to deliver a lot to justify these increases. Sadly, it missed the mark by a wide margin.

In some ways, TSL is exactly what WDW did not need: an overhyped, modestly themed land with 2 low-capacity kiddie attractions in a theme park where multiple high-capacity attractions were permanently closed.

Let's recall how we got here. The Great Movie Ride closed. The Backlot Tour closed. Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground closed. Perhaps worst of all, the crowd pleasing (and mega capacity) Osborne Festival of Dancing Lights is gone. (And, on a personal note, one of my favorites, Starring Rolls closed.) Combined, these nearly returned DHS to its dire state after its May 1989 opening. At that time, many WDW fans were furious with what they (justifiably) felt was a ripoff of a theme park ticket. DHS will improve once Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway open but, for 2018, TSL may have made DHS even worse by attracting crowds that far exceed its two attractions' limited capacity.

Don't get me wrong; TSL is nice. Some dislike it but theming is consistent with the existing Toy Story Mania. Slinky Dog Dash (SDD) is a fun little coaster. Yet Alien Swirling Saucers and Woody's Lunch Box are disappointing. All three are vastly inferior to their counterparts at Pandora.

And throughout my visits this year, I saw sights like this far too often:

View attachment 300594

Higher than normal price increases. Increased crowds. Insufficient added capacity. A new land inferior to last year's Pandora. For these reasons and others, WDW took a step backwards in 2018.
Thanks, super! The serious posters all appreciate your graphs and great thought you put in these posts.

For me, the main deciding factor is simply the creative direction of WDW. I could forgive the hem all the rest, although I do compare prices and when I saw this summer that a holiday in WDW costs me the same as three holidays in a glamorous European capital I realise pricing factors in too.

The Epcotalypse of the late 90's, the commercialisation of all of WDW in the first Eisner decade, the toonification (restaurants lost forever to character meals - go away, I'm eating!), the idiotfication, the loss of remarkable sophistication (The Empress Lilly), the loss of a certain innocence. These would make up my chart. Remarkably, it would be quite close to your main line. Although I do think WDW got much worse this decade, rather than remained flat. Also I end up close to 50 out of 100. If that.
 

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