Just a few quick thoughts before I don my Easter bonnet and head out (to egg the homes of Disney execs, of course):
--No, the Tiki Room will not be replaced by Mystic Manor. It is not coming to WDW (for the 8,765th time) whether at MK or DAK or at the new DVC. It is HKDL's Haunted Mansion, whether you, individually, believe it is different enough to make it not duplicative. I don't know what will replace it as there are multiple 'plans' floating. I do believe this attraction isn't long for existence, despite the fact I'd still call this 'rumor' right now;
-- No, they don't care about how popular you, individually, may feel this attraction is within the fan community. They sell far more Horizons and Journey into Imagination merchandise with those attractions ripped out than they did before. In other words, fanbois will buy even more Tiki stuff if the attraction goes extinct;
-- Whether you, individually, care or not really isn't important to Disney or anyone else but the people who care about your opinions. I have said this for years about the soon-to-be-gone Speedway and very-likely-not-long for existence TSI. Just because YOU don't like an attraction or see value in it doesn't mean there isn't any. I haven't been on the Speedway since last century. I have no plans to change that. But the attraction is timeless. It's always been largely a ride for kids ... kids who long for the freedom of the road and the automobile. That hasn't changed at all. And unlike a lot of stuff added for young kids over the last 15 years, this attraction could, can and is enjoyed by older people as well. A family attraction. Imagine that.
-- Within a decade, the MK is very likely to be near unrecognizable to someone who visited in 1977 or 1987 and hasn't been back since. It already has lost all those little shops, quiet pathways and nooks, gardens, entertainment that isn't foamhead based, trees etc.
-- WDW and the MK were built with the so-called 'blessing of size' and that is what is infuriating about the last 20 years of add an attraction/lose an attraction. Expansion is needed, but expansion isn't replacing or repurposing existing attractions, facilities or Guest areas. New, new, new (hey, Dr. Blondie, are we still calling it new?) Fantasyland is all you need to know about this. You don't add capacity by shifting it whether by replacing an attraction with another (even a more popular one), just like you don't add it by FP+/NGE subterfuge .... that's all a shell game.
-- IP is basically leading the charge when it comes to new parks product. You can view this as a positive, but I absolutely don't. The MK ... the EPCOT ... these parks are morphing from theme parks to IP/franchise parks. There is a difference. A very large one. But you simply won't see attractions added that can't be tied to hot Disney props.
Anyway, just some thoughts ... Happy Easter to y'all.
