Breaking Points

[CaptinEO]

"It's more Chapek than Walt now"

-Obi Wan Kenobi

The parks were on a slooow decline for an incredibly long time. The rate of change increased as did the intensity of it. They are not adding to Disneyland but destroying it.

The parks are more Iger, Chapek, and Irvine now, and less Walt Disney. Chapek's ideas are as hollow as the plastic he once sold. Irvine's art direction turns everything into a bad overly saturated cheap cartoon.

Josh D Amarro is following the same marching orders that continue to destroy the parks. Don't care if he's a nice guy or not, he is part of this rapid destruction.

When Chapek is gone he will appoint someone with the same mindset he and the company have. Disneyland is on its deathbed.

One last word, Disneyland fans are fans because they liked the experiences that they have in the park and want to go back and repeat them. They aren't fans because they blindly love all change made to the park.

The reason people oppose change is because you are changing what they loved and enjoyed and expect them to still be a fan. Makes no sense. How can I be a fan of something if it keeps getting overwritten? Or are Disneyland "fans" supposed to just love all decisions and new property pushing from Disney corporate?

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

The numerous eye rolling changes to POTC and now the Jungle Cruise. Constance in HM. Mutilating ToT for Mission: Dumpster Dive. Pixar Paintjob. Don’t even have to mention the Splash Mountain fiasco or the obnoxious changes to appeal to mentally ill groups.

Everything else is small potatoes.

Pixar Paintjob. Love that one. Gonna borrow it

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

If we can't have this at Disneyland, it's really not a park worth going to anymore.

That's exactly what we need. That's Disneyland.

 

[shambolicdefending]

I'm probably less critical of modern Disney than most here. I think it's mostly because I have young kids, and I see that many of the changes that bother the "grownups" are absolutely captivating to them.

In their eyes, the parks are still every bit as amazing as they used to be to me. Maybe more so.

This whole pay-per-FP idea is a hard, hard, HARD "no way!" for me, though. If there is a breaking point for me, that's it. I'm inclined to think that Anaheim realizes how unpopular it would be here, and they'll never really do it. But maybe I'm naive...

 

[castleparker]

I'm probably less critical of modern Disney than most here. I think it's mostly because I have young kids, and I see that many of the changes that bother the "grownups" are absolutely captivating to them.

I find this fascinating. Just like the Star Wars prequels I had brought up a while back, It seems that the younger generation will begin to revere this stuff. And I'd be willing to bet they would defend it with the same vigor as well.

 

[BuzzedPotatoHead89]

I had gone on the jungle cruise yesterday and while it was not an improvement, the changes didn’t ruin the ride for me. GotG is a lateral move to me. Pixar pier is gross but was never a pinnacle Imagineering accomplishment.

Premiere Pass combined with the new standby queue which could have the ability to cost as much as an additional day ticket just to ride the rides I’d want on a crowded day.

In fact after using the last day on my multi-day ticket yesterday I feel good for at least awhile. Maybe til the holidays. Summer is just too hot, and operations were too lackluster.

 

[mickEblu]

Seriously though why is the Big Blue fence behind Dumbo still there? They could cover it up overnight if they wanted to.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Seriously though why is the Big Blue fence behind Dumbo still there? They could cover it up overnight if they wanted to.

The fence that replaced the hedge wall? It's a shame they haven't didn't plant a new wall at the start of the rona so we'd have a nice one by the time the park reopened.

Which does remind me- the landscaping around the park looks incredible right now.

 

[mickEblu]

The fence that replaced the hedge wall? It's a shame they haven't didn't plant a new wall at the start of the rona so we'd have a nice one by the time the park reopened.

Which does remind me- the landscaping around the park looks incredible right now.

Yes that’s the one. They re bro interested in hiding it for whatever reason and it’s baffling. Such an easy fix. Makes me wonder if there is some reason they haven’t.

Yeah the landscaping was looking great when I went too. At least they haven’t cut back on that. No pun intended.

 

[Rich T]

I find this fascinating. Just like the Star Wars prequels I had brought up a while back, It seems that the younger generation will begin to revere this stuff. And I'd be willing to bet they would defend it with the same vigor as well.

The difference is, though, Disneyland used to be a bargain. Nearly everyone could easily afford a day at DL and come away feeling they’d gotten more than their money’s worth and look forward to returning.

I think the percentage of guests leaving thinking “Never again” and feeling fleeced by a fast-talking, hypocritical corporation is going to skyrocket. There are more non-Disney entertainment options than ever now, and the newer generations of consumers are pretty good at smelling a skunk—even a skunk with mouse ears and a plastic smile.

If Disney continues along the greed trail, ever offering less for more, I think they’ve got a Yertle-the-Turtle-sized fall coming.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

The difference is, though, Disneyland used to be a bargain. Nearly everyine could easily afford a day at DL and come away feeling they’d gotten more than their money’s worth and look forward to returning.

I think the percentage of guests leaving thinking “Never again” and feeling fleeced by a fast-talking, hypocritical corporation is going to skyrocket. There are more non-Disney entertainment options than ever now, and the newer generations of consumers are pretty good at smelling a skunk—even a skunk with mouse ears and a plastic smile.

If Disney continues along the greed trail, ever offering less for more, I think they’ve got a Yertle-the-Turtle-sized fall coming.

Not Yertle!!

 

[Rich T]

Seriously though why is the Big Blue fence behind Dumbo still there? They could cover it up overnight if they wanted to.

Universal built Velocicoaster in less time than it’s taking Disney to plant a hedge.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I said this in another thread, but for me I now have the attitude of "enjoy it while you can".

I hate several of the changes they've made to the parks (not just Disneyland), but I still love a number of things that are still there and now I'm invested in experiencing those things before management has another brain fart and gets rid of them too.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

I said this in another thread, but for me I now have the attitude of "enjoy it while you can".

I hate several of the changes they've made to the parks (not just Disneyland), but I still love a number of things that are still there and now I'm invested in experiencing those things before management has another brain fart and gets rid of them too.

what non Disney park changes do you hate?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

what non Disney park changes do you hate?

I meant the other Disney parks besides the ones in California.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

I meant the other Disney parks besides the ones in California.

Oh ok. I thought you meant like Knott's or something

 

[John park hopper]

For me it might just be death by a thousand paper cuts and not just necessarily one thing they can do. I’ll make a short list off the top of my head …

- TOT removed for GOTG
- Pixar Pier
- Avengers Campus
- Splash removed for PatF
- Project Stardust
- Rivers of America reroute
- New Big Thunder Trail
- Galaxies Edge
- Fantasmic 2.0
- Mickey’s Mix Magic
- Horrid POTC auction scene
- “Inclusion” changes in general like removing “ladies and gentlemen…”
- The mobile phone onslaught
- The TL neglect while billions of dollars are spent around the resort
(Although I’m ok waiting until Chapek is gone)
- Rumored premier pass/ standby pass coming

I’m sure I’m missing a few. Now I’ll acknowledge that some of what I listed was necessary to an extent like Project Stardust. Of course not everything on this list is completely bad. If something made this list it’s because it was better before or what was replaced felt more like Disneyland/ a Disney park. Or it’s on the list because of the potential for the IP or real estate lost and not meeting the high expectations.

Now all they have to do is ruin NOS’s intimacy by connecting it to a new land to the West for Disney Forward, kill off Splash, try and ultimately fail to fix TL, get rid of the lagoon, Autopia and all the trees for a Frozen ride and restaurant and lastly remove the “waste of space” that is Storybookland and the destruction of DL will be complete. Oh yeah for good measure they should include as many future HM movie tie ins into the ride as possible. And who knows with the “ladies and gentlemen” non sense maybe Mickey Avenue taking over Main Street isn’t that far fetched.

My Breaking point I think is now. Between the cancel culture stuff and the fact that they feel they have carte blanch to do whatever they want because of the pandemic it’s been a $hitty year.

Not to mention there is no new project to keep my interest at all. We had GE construction to follow and that was a let down. Then AC and that was a letdown. Don’t get me started on GOTG and Pixar Pier. MMRR we already know what its going to be since it opened at WDW first. Every blog, every rumor every bit of news is bad news these days. Just over it. I don’t think I’ll be buying a membership. I’m paying for 3 people, soon to be 4 and it just doesn’t feel like it’s worth it right now. This company is legitimately making me angry right now and I feel like they ve drifted so far from Walts Disneyland and the place that I fell in love with.

Can't agree with you more---- add Alien Encounter and Backlot to your list

 

[mlayton144]

Interesting debate, while I hate most of these changes too I have this voice in my head that keeps telling me it’s not Disney that’s changing as much as society and Disney is just trying to appeal to the newer crowd . Every generation mourns the loss of their childhood places and shows contempt for the new generation, is that what we are seeing here ?

 

[KyboRen]

First time poster, but I wanted to add a slightly different opinion to this thread.

I mean, yeah, I agree that the auction scene redo in Pirates was sloppy and better before—I wish that change never happened. I’m sad about Splash Mountain (mostly because of the incredible music we are losing!), but I do feel like the retheme could work well. I just wish we were getting an addition instead of a replacement. For me, Splash Mountain and its soundtrack IS the Disneyland feeling, so that one hurts me personally. But I hope the retheme is well done if it must be done at all. I will say, I already like the ride less following that flume redo that happened a couple years ago. Now there’s no way to avoid getting utterly soaked, and that’s too bad.

But when it comes to changes to Small World or the seasonal Haunted Mansion Holiday, or the Tower of Terror retheme, I do think Disney has done a great job. I’m optimistic about Jungle Cruise, but I don’t really care one way or the other about those changes.

Our Tower of Terror was very sad compared to the version at Hollywood Studios, and Guardians is one of the favorite rides of guests these days. Ultimately, California Adventure has always sucked IMO, and I don’t ever truly love my time in that park. I don’t think Pixar ruined the pier, for example, but I don’t feel like it made the area better either. Incredicoaster wasn’t an improvement, it just was a light redecoration that did nothing. The amount of money they spent is hilarious when you consider how little was improved (I think the previous carousel was better than the weird Jesse-themed one). The whole area just feels trashy, especially compared to Cars Land and Avengers Campus, which might be mostly concrete, but at least doesn’t look like vomit. Speaking of which, I went in wanting to hate the new spider-man ride, because I’d heard about the Toy Story comparisons, and Midway Mania is one of those rides my kids always want to go on, and it’s just a video game that hasn’t aged well, and wasn’t very well done from a technology standpoint when it first came out, so they could demolish that ride and replace it with nothing and the only thing I’d be sad about is that it reduces capacity. But I found spider-man to be done SO much better. The technology works well, and the frantic, Star Tours like vibe made it a fun first ride through. I probably will like it less with age, but oh well.

I also loved the Snow White refresh. A wonderful blend of old and new, and the ride is more satisfying now, with most of the nostalgia preserved. I can’t believe how much they did with such little space.

I hated my first time in Galaxy’s Edge (the usual complaints—weird timeline restrictions, lots of space that feels more like an outdoor shopping mall, little music, etc.), but I fell in love with it once I spent some quality time there. The rotating show elements (Rey, Vi, Chewbacca, Kylo, etc.) need some more improvement—stuff like the shows they have going on in Avengers land. Stuff like the blasters and lightsaber battles in that show from the press events. But the land only seems to be improving—things like the Creature Stall scavenger hunt for younglings are great, the food and drinks are fun, even the interactive DisneyPlay elements—while I don’t use them much—are fun when a spaceship will interact after you “hack” it. I remember the first time Kylo Ren’s shuttle went bezerk after I hacked it. Such a large prop to interact with me! I do think the aliens and droids will happen with time, but who knows.

And Rise of the Resistance, of course, is incredible. Everything has functioned perfectly my four times on the ride, though, so I have no opinion on what it’s like when it’s not at the top of its game.

Now, that said, Josh D’Amaro is obviously a disaster waiting to strike. He’s every bit as much about the nickels and dimes as Bob Chapek is (just look at the guy’s resume—of COURSE he was Chapek’s first choice). Never understood the excitement surrounding his promotion, and I know nothing about the current Disneyland president. I’m very worried about the idea of Premier Access coming to the DLR. I already hate what FastPass and MaxPass have done to the parks, but at this point I’m *hoping* for MaxPass to return, because the alternative is so horrible.

I’m also worried about what the new “membership” program will look like with Josh in charge. He seems to really be advocating for the shareholders with these changes, so that’s unfortunate.

I think with him at the helm, the DisneylandForward project will end up adding a lot of hotels and not much else. Would really love to be wrong, but I doubt it.

Not a fan of his at all.

 

[Parteecia]

I've had an annual pass since they first became a thing, usually the top one. A friend and I developed a Thursday habit, meeting after work and continuing after we retired.

The changes never really bothered us. We might complain or make fun but it wasn't a big deal. For us it was always a safe happy micro-vacation where we could vent, go on whatever rides had reasonable lines, eat a nice dinner and more often than not, experience some Disney magic. Thank you, Cast Members.

Our last visit was the Thursday before the shutdown. Since then, reading trip reports about how much effort a visit is becoming and the likely pass/membership changes may be the final straws, especially if they institute premier access. We'd been like the proverbial frog in heating water, accepting the steep price increases and reduced benefits without thinking about it. The enforced break broke the spell.

One of our habits was watching the Hillbillies. She hasn't gotten a Knott's pass yet but I've been enjoying them. I will miss the College band but as of now I don't see going back.