I can understand why you said that. I've travelled some, and there is no doubt that you see everything in a different light, after you've been exposed to new poeple and places.
It does seem that, on these boards, the people who are most discouraged are those who have been going to WDW for many years and no longer see the quaity that they remember. I did not get their in the 70's or 80's, so I am in no position to judge that. In my case, some of the 'issues' I read about on here are concerns I too have, while others I believe to be trivial and don't bother me in the least. What's interesting to me is which things bother me and which don't. It's not as simple as the 'size' of the issue. For example, the stationary ceiling mounted 'trolley' in the Confectionary Store, bothers me more than the Yeti not working. I feel that the former a simple, kinetic element that could be kept moving for practically no money. 'Little' things like that not working perplex me.
I certainly agree with that ... oh, and the conveyor belt of candy being inop for years certainly is an example of something relatively small that bothers me. It should have been fixed the day it broke. It would have in the 70s or 80s ... it would if it happened at say TDL today.
I wanted to comment, and ask you a few questions about your statement, "WDW is no longer what it once was...".
Sure.
That statement, of course, suggests that WDW has changed, and it is the change that I'd like to address. I believe that, while we can debate the need for change, when it does occur, it can be good, bad or indifferent in peoples' eyes. To illustrate, the change from The Living Seas circa mid 90's to The Seas with Nemo and Friends made the attraction less appealing to me (although I understand the rationale of doing something to try to get people back into that pavillion). I still visit and enjoy it once per trip, but I liked it better in it's previous incarnation. The Haunted Mansion refurb a few years back, on the other hard, made the attraction even more appealing imho. And some changes, like Living with the Land with its switch to pre recorded audio, makes no difference to me.
I would agree with your sentiments from the examples above. Seas went from bold to cartoonish (and much of the pavilion's infrastructure was still left to rot) while Mansion was plussed in show quality elements and making everything old look new again. LWTL is still fine to me, although I liked it more with CMs because they could update their spiels to go with current crops and aso answer questions etc. But removing them didn't destroy the ride.
Here are the things I'd like to ask you...
1. Are there any changes at all within the parks, to attractions, restaurants or shops, that you believe improved them from their original state?
Yes. Absolutely. Many. From recent changes like Star Tours and Mansion (as stated above) and HoP to older improvements like ToT's random drop sequence or California Grill replacing Top of the World (at least before the DDP began ruining it) ... and I love the new tequila bar in Mexico too. Shops ... um ... not really, they have dumbed merchandise to Walmart levels and while some place still have decent variety of non-Disney character crap like DAK and WS that isn't an improvement because they've always been so. There certainly are other examples, but I'm way too tired (was headed offline an hour plus ago and still here) to think of them now.
2. Do you believe that some changes to, or perhaps replacement of, attractions are necessary because those attractions have become stale or get no traffic? (As beloved as Horizons and World of Motion were, could these attractions have remained and attracted new fans-not just we nostalgic old fogies-while other theme parks add new attractions? In other words, regardless of your enjoyment or lack thereof of M:S and TT, do you think the change to newer attractions was, and continues to be, necessary?)
Cheers
I always think you need fresh, relevant product in the parks. However, look how the best most popular attractions are pretty timeless ... people love Peter pan's Flight, which is a 1971 version of a 1955 DL original and not been plussed hardly at all ... people love Mansion and PoC and they're from the late 60s ... Small World too. I think some attractions are timeless with little updating needed. Others can be with some changes. And others simply have a 'use by' date. ...Since you are talking about EPCOT above, I'll state that removing Imagination was akin to removing Small World of Pan from MK. Huge mistake. Timeless attraction that needed a very little work. They destroyed it. Spent $57 million on two lesser versions that are less popular today than Imagination was in the mid-90s right before it closed. Horizons was more iffy, and would have required more of an update, especially the ending, which was always cheesy. But it also unified the whole of Future World. Taking it out was like a dagger to the heart. FW no longer has a cohesive story to tell. And marketing the place as 'Disney's Discovery Park' kinda tells you that. So, no I would never have taken that out ... and certainly not for a $200 million plus centrifuge that tends to make a lot of people sick and is basically a fancy simulator. Terrible use of resources. If you are going to replace something significant, then you have to improve upon what was there. I'll always love WoM more than TT, but I understand the desire to change it. EC had too many long, immersive, slow AA-filled rides. The problem was they basically took all of them out except for SSE (and they had a thrill ride planned for that too, unfortunately, the structure couldn't be retrofitted and they had no choice). FW is a very sore spot with me because they absolutely destroyed its meaning by throwing anything and everything in with no regard to the whole place. And it shows.
No one wants (well, some fanbois do, but they are a little ill) the parks to be museums, but you don't change for change's sake and you don't change unless what you have is better than what was there before. Disney has consistently gotten this wrong since the late 90s.
Hope that helped!
