News Disney's own survey is a list of Walt Disney World's 50-anniversary shortcomings

[Animaniac93-98]

I wonder if they have complete rights to all the music to be able to assemble and sell it. I would think it is wholly owned but as you say it seems like easy money to put it out on digital. Discs are dead

The music loops they play in the park are a mix of original and licensed music, but doing something like "A Musical History of Disneyland" for EPCOT Center should be possible without any additional negotiation as Disney owns all that park specific recording (beyond Captain EO).

 

[JoeCamel]

The music loops they play in the park are a mix of original and licensed music, but doing something like "A Musical History of Disneyland" for EPCOT Center should be possible without any additional negotiation as Disney owns all that park specific recording (beyond Captain EO).

I was thinking they may have hired an orchestra for some of it and if a famous one they had to sweeten the deal by giving up the right to sell it. I have no idea, It's Sunday night and I'm just noodling

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The music loops they play in the park are a mix of original and licensed music, but doing something like "A Musical History of Disneyland" for EPCOT Center should be possible without any additional negotiation as Disney owns all that park specific recording (beyond Captain EO).

I would imagine those artists and publishers would amenable to something like an official Spotify playlist at least.

 

[Ayla]

I remember the second disc was a mini-CD, probably the first I’d ever seen. Seems like the only time a portion of Alien Encounter’s score was released, too.

Speaking of park CDs, when Disneyland’s 50th occurred, there was a massive box set of park music assembled by Randy Thornton. The biggest thing that stands out to me with WDW’s 50th is the lack of any similar labor of love — music, book, anything. And this is the company division that used to be the leader in packaging and selling nostalgia. Talk about a business that’s lost its way…

There is a book. My Mom ordered it from Shop Disney during our trip because it was out of stock across property. I have not seen it, yet.

Get a New Disney World Coffee Table Book (or Two!) for the 50th Anniversary

Order a copy of the new Disney World coffee table book to commemorate 50 years of the Most Magical Place on Earth.

www.wdw-magazine.com

 

[TalkingHead]

There is a book. My Mom ordered it from Shop Disney during our trip because it was out of stock across property. I have not seen it, yet.

Get a New Disney World Coffee Table Book (or Two!) for the 50th Anniversary

Order a copy of the new Disney World coffee table book to commemorate 50 years of the Most Magical Place on Earth.

www.wdw-magazine.com

Thanks for that heads up! I’d be curious how it compares to something like The Nickel Tour. But good to see a substantial book was published for the anniversary.

 

[CaptinEO]

I remember the second disc was a mini-CD, probably the first I’d ever seen. Seems like the only time a portion of Alien Encounter’s score was released, too.

Speaking of park CDs, when Disneyland’s 50th occurred, there was a massive box set of park music assembled by Randy Thornton. The biggest thing that stands out to me with WDW’s 50th is the lack of any similar labor of love — music, book, anything. And this is the company division that used to be the leader in packaging and selling nostalgia. Talk about a business that’s lost its way…

For the 60th we also got Disneyland The Legacy Collection 3 CD set, but that 50th box set always looked amazing (and it has always been expensive secondhand).

Heck I don't even know the last time Disney did a soundtrack album for their US parks.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

There is a book. My Mom ordered it from Shop Disney during our trip because it was out of stock across property. I have not seen it, yet.

Get a New Disney World Coffee Table Book (or Two!) for the 50th Anniversary

Order a copy of the new Disney World coffee table book to commemorate 50 years of the Most Magical Place on Earth.

www.wdw-magazine.com

I had this preordered months before the kickoff of the anniversary and they canceled my preorder in November and I haven’t seen the book anywhere

 

[Magenta Panther]

To make me happy, they only needed to update classic rides like Peter Pan, Big Thunder, People Mover, Spaceship Earth, Space Mountain, the Land, and Everest.

How difficult would it have been to add projections to Big Thunder, a couple show scenes to People Mover, reinstate the descending scenes of Spaceship Earth, fix the Yeti, and update the Land’s show scenes.

Just provide the fan-service the fans long for. That’s what a 50th anniversary should be about.

I'd like this one billion times if I could.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I had this preordered months before the kickoff of the anniversary and they canceled my preorder in November and I haven’t seen the book anywhere

The same thing happened to me - I was finally able to get it off Amazon Prime this past week. Was delivered in one day.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

"Someday" was an absolutely disastrous choice for the finale, particularly given the creative choices made in the rest of the show. It turned what would have otherwise been an inoffensive, albeit uninspiring, clip show and turned it into a transparent exercise in political pandering.

Um what?

 

[AdventureHasAName]

I was living around the corner from Disneyland when its 50th Anniversary was going on and I still can't believe how great it was (in light of how the company has been run ever since). That year, like most locals, I was in the park every chance I got. The three things that immediately come to mind as to why it was perfect are (1) Remember Dreams Come True fireworks was the best show the company ever put together ... and it celebrated the park, (2) the gold ride vehicle photo-ops were inspired, and (3) the park was the cleanest and best maintained Disney park since EPCOT Center in the mid-to-late 1980s. They also brought back the Main Street Electrical Parade and had it running in DCA that year. The park was open early and open late and, as I remember it, the fireworks appeared every night.

Everything about that year at Disneyland demonstrated that the people running the celebration loved that park.

 

[Ayla]

I had this preordered months before the kickoff of the anniversary and they canceled my preorder in November and I haven’t seen the book anywhere

She has received it.

 

[drizgirl]

I had this preordered months before the kickoff of the anniversary and they canceled my preorder in November and I haven’t seen the book anywhere

My son bought it on Amazon for me for Mother’s Day. It’s laying on my coffee table right now.

 

[Ayla]

Here's the book. It is quite substantial in size and weight. It's 303 pages, not including the index and bibliography.

 

[Lil Copter Cap]

Um what?

Yeeaaahh, I agree with your confusion.

"Someday" is probably one of the only few songs that fit with the idea of being an optimistic collective, as opposed to the sprinkling of one-off character-driven "I Want" songs (which actually speaks more to the isolation of an individual rather than the group and "we are one" theme that Harmonious strives to provide)

But, regardless, the entire show is a mess...I could forgive the barges if the show itself was impactful. Disney Live Entertainment has been missing the mark in recent years and it's not because people hate live entertainment...no one wants to see poorly constructed kites fly about in Florida heat or be bombarded with 'You are the magic' 100 times over.

This is a larger conversation, but the 50th celebration has been an overall miss due to a lack of heart. And with nostalgia marketing being so prevalent these days...they could've even phoned in the celebration with nostalgia-focused offerings.

Woof.

 

[yensid1967]

I bet that if it were Disneyland's 50th Celebration Disney would have gone all out like they did for its 6oth Diamond Anniversary! I have said it before, Disneyland seems to get all the money and attention to details when it comes to anything new or a celebration! DL got Paint the Night Parade, while WDW had NO NIGHTTIME Parade and still doesn't!
Disney had the greatest opportunity to make WDW's 50th a BIG ATTRACTION to draw in big crowds, but they failed!

 

[danv3]

I'm just confused. If I am the magic, how is the magic calling, and whose call am I answering?

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Can confirm that the top answer here is accurate to real GSAT survey data. They cannot get out of their own way as IP selections in shows, etc. are not cost related.

 

[brb1006]

I was living around the corner from Disneyland when its 50th Anniversary was going on and I still can't believe how great it was (in light of how the company has been run ever since). That year, like most locals, I was in the park every chance I got. The three things that immediately come to mind as to why it was perfect are (1) Remember Dreams Come True fireworks was the best show the company ever put together ... and it celebrated the park, (2) the gold ride vehicle photo-ops were inspired, and (3) the park was the cleanest and best maintained Disney park since EPCOT Center in the mid-to-late 1980s. They also brought back the Main Street Electrical Parade and had it running in DCA that year. The park was open early and open late and, as I remember it, the fireworks appeared every night.

Everything about that year at Disneyland demonstrated that the people running the celebration loved that park.

Don't forget Disneyland's Parade of Dreams, which is currently the last time Disney did a daytime anniversary parade that grand (not counting Tokyo Disneyland's Happiness is Here Parade).

 

[Kingoglow]

I felt like the failure lies is in the lack of anything legacy (other than LTO mech to sell). As someone who has been going to Disney World since '85, a fireworks show like Wishes, with references to Pinocchio and Cinderella, speaks to me more than the current nighttime show that uses Frozen and Moana.

I am not asking for Wishes to come back (alright, I admit that I would love that) but the 50th lacked touch points with any of the legacy content and it doesn't focus on the history at all. Outside of the 18-month 50th celebration, WDW already focuses on the newer IPs, so it would have felt real good to have highlighted the early IPs for this anniversary.

I guess I would say that they didn't look back over the last 50 years to highlight the journey. Instead they just chose to continue focusing on the next upcoming movie.