Anyway, sorry for the big wall of text here but I just kinda wanna share my overall intention with most of what I've said about this project because I don't want to be seen as the argumentative one on here all the time and I know there's been times I have been just that lol
Disney fans are a nostalgic group of people. More so than many fan bases are. And as such, I think they have a harder time dealing with and confronting change than a lot of other fanbases do. And that makes sense! The Disney parks are physical, tangible places that we have visited and interacted with. It's natural to have formed such a close connection to things having been present to interact with them.
But the damaging thing this nostalgia does to us is that it exists in spite of the one constant the Disney parks have always offered: it changes constantly.
No generation of Disney fan has ever gotten to keep their Disney. Every single generation of fan has had to watch the parks change. The people who were kids in the 1950s and 1960s fell in love with one version of Disneyland and then when they took their kids in the 80s, they had to walk around and see how much it had changed and think "wow this isn't my Disney anymore." The people who were kids in the 70s and walked around Magic Kingdom came back with their kids in the 90s, saw how much it changed, and thought "wow this isn't my Disney anymore." My generation walked around the parks as kids in the 2000s and I'll one day be going with my kids and younger family and looking around thinking "wow this isn't my Disney anymore."
Every generation has gone through this. But I think a lot of Disney fans that are present on these forums and on social media are having to experience this now for the first time. Sure, they've lost some attractions along the way, but these parks are now actively going through MASSIVE changes.
I don't think for most though they'll try to argue otherwise that their core issue here is that Cars doesn't belong in Frontierland or that RoA is about beauty and calm and placemaking and shouldn't leave, it's that this is a change they're maybe just not ready for yet. It hurts to lose because it makes it impossible to ignore that the Disney they grew up with and have spent most of their life with so far is fading away now.
But, to me anyway, that's what's so special about these parks. Every generation gets a different Disney. For many, 2000s Disney was a far, far, far cry from the one they had always known and they didn't really like it. But I loved and adored it because it was my Disney, and I'll mourn it when big pieces of it begin to disappear. Yes, RoA has spanned multiple generations now, but I again reiterate that at its core, this isn't about the river, it's about knowing you're gonna be saying goodbye to a lot of you've cherished for a long time.
And that's hard. It's super hard. But it can be beautiful if you choose to look at it that way.
Someone else now is getting the chance to discover a different Disney and fall in love with it. It's going to make them very, very happy. Maybe it's losing magic for you, but they're gonna come find it and to them it's going to be the most magical place in the world. They'll one day lose their Disney too, and they'll lash out too. It's a cycle that will never end.
But honestly, I think you can learn to love what Disney's turning into if you let yourself let go of what you'd prefer it to stay. There's something magical still to be found in coming along with the new generation and getting to see Disney through their eyes, allowing them to find their magic. Maybe it isn't your magic, but you can still find enjoyment in seeing a new generation get their dream parks if you allow yourself.
It's never going to feel good if you sit and cross your arms and scream constantly at this new generation that their Disney sucks. It'll only keep you sour, and it'll in the process sour their experience too.
This is a massive change. One of the biggest changes that these parks has undergone in years. It's a lot to take in, and I'm sure once it's really underway, it'll be overwhelming. But I do genuinely implore those of you who've reacted to this so passionately to think about this, and think about how things just can't stay the same forever and how bad it would be if they did. Change has to happen. It just has to. That's what these places are about. Marching forward, finding new horizons, and giving this new generation something of their own.
Disney isn't going to look like it does now forever. It won't look like what form it takes when this 10 year plan is done forever either. When we're all long gone, Disney will once more look different, probably even unrecognizable compared to today. You can choose to find that scary or you can choose to be excited about it. Not everything is going to be a winner for every person, but I think we can all agree that at the end of the day we want the people who're just discovering Disney to come in and find something that they love. That's what is happening here.
Yes, it's cynical business. But the truth is, it always has been. It was behind closed doors and not so naked before, but this has always been a business. Walt talked a lot about creativity and imagination and yes it was there, but he was also running a business. Roy was running a business. Michael Eisner talked the same talk, but he too was running a business. We just didn't see it that way, because we had our Disney whatever that Disney was. Now that some of you don't or are in the process of losing it, it all looks bleak and dark and evil.
Be upset. Let it out. But when the time comes, really try to look at it through the lens of this is going to be someone else's special place, creating a whole new generation of devotee. Maybe that's not for you, but you can let it be for them and not sit there arms folded being a grump to rain on their parade. I'm sure you hated seeing that when it was aimed at your special place.
Sorry for the long winded wall of text, I just think this project in particular is the perfect encapsulation of the ever constant cycle of happiness and sadness that Disney fans put themselves through. It's always been there, and always will be. It's just that a lot of people are having to experience a massive charge to the Next Disney that isn't being done slowly but rather all at once for the first time and they just don't know how to handle it which i can get.
I guess all I gotta say is just...really try to find the magic that's out there in this. Maybe it isn't in the attraction itself for you, maybe its in getting to see the joy it'll bring to others. You can find a lot of joy in someone else's joy if you allow yourself too. The negative feelings you feel are there because you allow them to be and you lean into them. You can be more optimistic and welcoming of the future if only you'd allow yourself to just accept that things change, and nobody gets to keep the Disney they fell in love with forever.
It's a loss we one day will ALL have to experience. But such is the nature of the parks that are always meant to move forward, never stopping.
and that the imagineers find a creative way to navigate around RoA to allow access to the land behind big thunder for expansion.
