News Happy 50th Birthday to Walt Disney World!

[truecoat]

It should be noted, that this is now the only show they do in this big custom-built arena. There's no night water shows, no water parade or stunt show.

It's just the 10 minute long KiteTails for the 50th Celebration at Animal Kingdom.

Six five times per day.

I went to the last show on Saturday Oct 2nd and was turned away. We're sorry, the last show was cancelled due to "weather". Yes, that's the excuse they told us on why the show was cancelled. It was sunny and 88 degrees out. About a half hour later, I over hear someone saying a Kite was stuck in a tree. Who would have thought a kite would get stuck in a tree?

 

[truecoat]

The kites are getting a lot of buzz but if you want my biggest complaint from Animal Kingdom, it's the destruction of the Festival of the Lion King. It was butchered down to 20? minutes. All the stunt work is gone and some of the songs too. The birds dance on stage but no flying which is kinda awkward. The monkeys are gone also. It's a shell of what it used to be and very disappointing. I wouldn't go again until they restore the show.

 

[truecoat]

I hadn't been to Epcot for 10 years so here's my impressions. I went on Oct 1st hoping I wasn't making a mistake due to crowds.

Every ride was a walk-on except Frozen and the Rat.

As everyone knows, old Epcot is gone and things like Ratatouille, Beauty and the Beast sing along, Frozen and 3 Amigo Mexicana (one of the worst) drive that point home. They still show Impressions de France....starting at 8:30 pm.

They also have a big problem with stores and pavilions empty or just closed until 1pm. In the old days, people might mill about future world for awhile and then filter on back to the countries. This is no longer the case with Frozen and now Ratatouille. My boarding group was 22. We went on Soarin a couple times since it was a walk on and by the time we got out, we were called to the Rat. France is packed with people because of the ride but after that, you start circling the World Showcase and some things are empty or closed. The Japanese store didn't open until 1pm. Morocco has nothing but empty space to look around, it looks authentic but there's nothing there. It's like Epcot is going out of business.

The Skyliner is barely visible in the parks and a non factor in ruining the view.

Harmonious looks really good but it says nothing about Epcot. Brave? That's Irish, throw that in there, use some green fireworks. And what's with the octopus arms, I don't get it. It looks like a mechanical octopus. Epcot of the past is gone, Epcot of the future in full force, IP inclusion even if you have to force it in there.

Free photo pass for the 50th! Let's not send a notification on the app for 5 hours so they pass by a bunch of photo pass opportunities.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself and was at the park from open to close. Rode almost every ride at least once and scored a last minute reservation to San Angel Inn which came at just the right time. It's just obvious that the Epcot of old is gone and the Epcot of the future will be way different.

 

[TP2000]

Well.... shoot. @truecoat thank you for the updates from out there in the field!

A few days ago I honestly did have a few moments of researching "Are there non-stop flights from San Diego to Orlando?" (Answer: Yes, Alaska Airlines of all things has one per day!) with a thought to just go out there for 2 days or so to see KiteTails and buy a 50th coffee mug or something. Maybe hit up a steakhouse at Disney Springs? But as my interest in WDW has waned considerably over the years, it's really only been Epcot and the memories I have of that park that keep me interested, plus morbid curiosity about Magic Kingdom Park.

All of the latest news I've read hasn't helped. I realize that Covid threw their original 50th plans into the garbage dumpster and obviously slashed budgets on what they had left, but the current state of Epcot in '21 is probably the icing on that cake.

Oh, well. I've got some international travel planned for '22, after '20-'21 cancelled all my plans. It might be best to let WDW settle for a bit. Maybe this Josh guy all the ladies scream about can turn some stuff around? I wonder what his thoughts are on KiteTails?

 

[TP2000]

The kites are getting a lot of buzz but if you want my biggest complaint from Animal Kingdom, it's the destruction of the Festival of the Lion King. It was butchered down to 20? minutes. All the stunt work is gone and some of the songs too. The birds dance on stage but no flying which is kinda awkward. The monkeys are gone also. It's a shell of what it used to be and very disappointing. I wouldn't go again until they restore the show.

What really surprised me was when I realized a few days ago that this KiteTails show is really all they've got for DAK "Spectaculars!". There's no parade, no night show, and their daytime show is... well, it's KiteTails.

They have a Finding Nemo stage show, right? And now a stripped down Chapek version of Lion King?

Because I have absolutely no emotional attachment to blue aliens, and the park already seemed like a beautifully landscaped zoo with some less-impressive clones of Disneyland rides, Animal Kingdom is an easy park for me to skip. A day and a half at Epcot, a day at Magic Kingdom, and I'm happy as a clam.

But this 50th Celebration isn't doing much for me at all. And if I flew out there for KiteTails and it was closed because of "weather" or "Baloo landed on the snack bar and ripped a seam" I would be very angry.

Can you imagine me as the crazy Karen in Guest Relations ranting at the $15 an hour counter girl "I flew 3,000 miles just to see how awful KiteTails was and you cancelled it!"

 

[Bullseye1967]

What really surprised me was when I realized a few days ago that this KiteTails show is really all they've got for DAK "Spectaculars!". There's no parade, no night show, and their daytime show is... well, it's KiteTails.

They have a Finding Nemo stage show, right? And now a stripped down Chapek version of Lion King?

Because I have absolutely no emotional attachment to blue aliens, and the park already seemed like a beautifully landscaped zoo with some less-impressive clones of Disneyland rides, Animal Kingdom is an easy park for me to skip. A day and a half at Epcot, a day at Magic Kingdom, and I'm happy as a clam.

But this 50th Celebration isn't doing much for me at all. And if I flew out there for KiteTails and it was closed because of "weather" or "Baloo landed on the snack bar and ripped a seam" I would be very angry.

Can you imagine me as the crazy Karen in Guest Relations ranting at the $15 an hour counter girl "I flew 3,000 miles just to see how awful KiteTails was and you cancelled it!"

Finding Nemo is gone since the shutdown and it will be months before it returns in a new format.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

What really surprised me was when I realized a few days ago that this KiteTails show is really all they've got for DAK "Spectaculars!". There's no parade, no night show, and their daytime show is... well, it's KiteTails.

They have a Finding Nemo stage show, right? And now a stripped down Chapek version of Lion King?

Because I have absolutely no emotional attachment to blue aliens, and the park already seemed like a beautifully landscaped zoo with some less-impressive clones of Disneyland rides, Animal Kingdom is an easy park for me to skip. A day and a half at Epcot, a day at Magic Kingdom, and I'm happy as a clam.

But this 50th Celebration isn't doing much for me at all. And if I flew out there for KiteTails and it was closed because of "weather" or "Baloo landed on the snack bar and ripped a seam" I would be very angry.

Can you imagine me as the crazy Karen in Guest Relations ranting at the $15 an hour counter girl "I flew 3,000 miles just to see how awful KiteTails was and you cancelled it!"

Everest and Safari are top notch. You don’t need any attachments to Avatar to like Flight of Passage. If you ever dreamed of flying (like a bird) it’s probably the closest feeling anyone can get to it. Nomad Lounge has great food and cocktails and it’s pretty easy to get in as well.

ETA: They do have Pandora at night and the tree of life projection shows which may sound basic but they’re truly stunning and worth seeing

 

[PiratesMansion]

Is that the Magic Kingdom Park fireworks?

The show aimed at nostalgia that only older visitors would get was Epcot Forever, which ran between the end of Illuninations and the start of Harmonius. It brought back all the old songs and music from the original Epcot pavilions, only to end with "A Whole New World." General consensus was that no one liked that show either, even most of the people who it was tailored towards.

Magic Kingdom SHOULD HAVE done a variation on RDCT (hell, TDL did that for its 35th!), but no, someone decided what they needed was a HUGE downgrade from Happily Ever After instead. That's modern WDW/WDI for you.

What really surprised me was when I realized a few days ago that this KiteTails show is really all they've got for DAK "Spectaculars!". There's no parade, no night show, and their daytime show is... well, it's KiteTails.

Nemo is allegedly coming back in modified form. They really should trash it, it's wretched, but because there's so little decent entertainment at WDW, there are a disproportionate number of people who love it and think it was the bees knees. It's really sad.

Animal Kingdom lost their parade in 2014.

DAK had a big nighttime push around the opening of Pandora. The nighttime ambiance of that land was supposed to be a big draw, as was the nighttime version of the Safari, there were animated projections on the Tree of Life (Tree of Life Awakenings), and their first ever nighttime show, Rivers of Light.

Alas...
1. The nighttime ambiance of Pandora isn't as cool as it needs to be in order to work as a long term draw. So people came that first summer and then it seems to have fizzled out.
2. No one liked Rivers of Light. They won't do fireworks because of the animals, which I get. And to their credit they tried to do a non-IP show. But it just...existed. It wasn't awful but it didn't really have any momentum or anything compelling that happened during the show (starting to feel like a running theme with all these new "spectaculars"). I have vague fond memories, but mostly because the ROL dining package allowed me to come out financially on my glorious meal from Tiffin's vs. if I would have bought the same meal out of pocket (Tiffin's is the fancy restaurant they built on the way to Avatar. Great restaurant, but again, success seems like it's never fully panned out and in this case I'm not sure why). So now they built this show infrastructure that, until KiteTails, was just sitting there out in the open.
3. The night safari didn't work that well either. It was dark but with a weird "horizon" effect made from hidden LED screens. Some animals were more active at night, but mostly it was just hard to see. We did it because my friend wanted to, and we both agreed it was pretty much a waste.
4. Tree of Life Awakenings was genuinely cool and easily the best of their nighttime offerings. It was among Disney's best uses of projection mapping ever. But to my understanding, it has also ended after the bigger ticket items failed to make a lasting impression.

I'm going to MK next week. It probably doesn't actually deserve a visit in its current state, but against my better judgment I couldn't resist going during the month of the anniversary. Ah well, at least since the fireworks are terrible I have more time to ride the classics!

 

[Bullseye1967]

The show aimed at nostalgia that only older visitors would get was Epcot Forever, which ran between the end of Illuninations and the start of Harmonius. It brought back all the old songs and music from the original Epcot pavilions, only to end with "A Whole New World." General consensus was that no one liked that show either, even most of the people who it was tailored towards.

Magic Kingdom SHOULD HAVE done a variation on RDCT (hell, TDL did that for its 35th!), but no, someone decided what they needed was a HUGE downgrade from Happily Ever After instead. That's modern WDW/WDI for you.

Nemo is allegedly coming back in modified form. They really should trash it, it's wretched, but because there's so little decent entertainment at WDW, there are a disproportionate number of people who love it and think it was the bees knees. It's really sad.

Animal Kingdom lost their parade in 2014.

DAK had a big nighttime push around the opening of Pandora. The nighttime ambiance of that land was supposed to be a big draw, as was the nighttime version of the Safari, there were animated projections on the Tree of Life (Tree of Life Awakenings), and their first ever nighttime show, Rivers of Light.

Alas...
1. The nighttime ambiance of Pandora isn't as cool as it needs to be in order to work as a long term draw. So people came that first summer and then it seems to have fizzled out.
2. No one liked Rivers of Light. They won't do fireworks because of the animals, which I get. And to their credit they tried to do a non-IP show. But it just...existed. It wasn't awful but it didn't really have any momentum or anything compelling that happened during the show (starting to feel like a running theme with all these new "spectaculars"). I have vague fond memories, but mostly because the ROL dining package allowed me to come out financially on my glorious meal from Tiffin's vs. if I would have bought the same meal out of pocket (Tiffin's is the fancy restaurant they built on the way to Avatar. Great restaurant, but again, success seems like it's never fully panned out and in this case I'm not sure why). So now they built this show infrastructure that, until KiteTails, was just sitting there out in the open.
3. The night safari didn't work that well either. It was dark but with a weird "horizon" effect made from hidden LED screens. Some animals were more active at night, but mostly it was just hard to see. We did it because my friend wanted to, and we both agreed it was pretty much a waste.
4. Tree of Life Awakenings was genuinely cool and easily the best of their nighttime offerings. It was among Disney's best uses of projection mapping ever. But to my understanding, it has also ended after the bigger ticket items failed to make a lasting impression.

I'm going to MK next week. It probably doesn't actually deserve a visit in its current state, but against my better judgment I couldn't resist going during the month of the anniversary. Ah well, at least since the fireworks are terrible I have more time to ride the classics!

I disagree with you on a couple points. I think Pandora at night is amazing! Also I think DE is definitely a downgrade from HEA, but I wouldn't call it terrible. Harmonious is terrible.

 

[DrAlice]

I haven't visited WDW since 2008, and a lot has changed, but I really enjoyed Animal Kingdom. It's a beautiful park and wonderfully-designed zoo. Everest and Safari are fun. I also enjoyed the Nemo show. Now, if you were expecting Alladin, it wasn't that. Nonetheless, it was a fun, short show in an air conditioned building with fun puppets. I liked it. I liked it a lot better than the Beauty & the Beast show at Hollywood Studios. This was also a long time ago, so maybe it lost something over the years.

 

[truecoat]

I haven't visited WDW since 2008, and a lot has changed, but I really enjoyed Animal Kingdom. It's a beautiful park and wonderfully-designed zoo. Everest and Safari are fun. I also enjoyed the Nemo show. Now, if you were expecting Alladin, it wasn't that. Nonetheless, it was a fun, short show in an air conditioned building with fun puppets. I liked it. I liked it a lot better than the Beauty & the Beast show at Hollywood Studios. This was also a long time ago, so maybe it lost something over the years.

The Nemo show is being retooled so it is not open at this time. The Lion King show has been ruined.

 

[truecoat]

Just a couple thoughts on Animal Kingdom. I visited on Oct 2nd and it had only been 2 years since my last visit unlike Epcot. AK is a wonderful park with a nice combination of Animal exhibits and other attractions. Lines were very low with FOP being around 20-30 minutes.

As I've said couple times, Festival of the Lion King is bad in it's current form.

Finally saw the bird show and it's spectacular. It no longer has the UP characters, just a couple trainers. If you can sit in the middle, it's worth it as birds fly right over your head.

Dinosaur's animatronics are working fine but it still needs a refurb. The lighting is bad and most of the effects are too dim.

It's Tough to be a Bug needs some work also. Fliks mouth barely moves and the seat effects are hit or miss in our row. Still fun to hear kids crying after the spiders drop down. My kids were on the floor back in 2000 on our first visit. Scared and crying in what I thought was a kids show. Ah, the memories.

What more to say about the kites except they cancelled the show I was going to see due to weather kite stuck in a tree.

This park is easily a half day to 3/4 day park. We arrived a good hour after opening and could have left around 5pm. Everyone ends up in Pandora later in the day as there's not much else to do. The funny thing is, Pandora is really crowded with people but the lines were still short. Very few were riding and the rest were just lounging around. Sitting in the restaurant or on rocks and benches almost like they were wasting time.

Anyway, I had a great time enjoying the attractions at Animal Kingdom but 3 or 4 more rides would make this a better park.

 

[DrAlice]

It's Tough to be a Bug needs some work also. Fliks mouth barely moves and the seat effects are hit or miss in our row. Still fun to hear kids crying after the spiders drop down. My kids were on the floor back in 2000 on our first visit. Scared and crying in what I thought was a kids show. Ah, the memories.

We took my daughter to that show at DCA when she was about 5 or 6. We didn't make it to the spider section. She was so terrified of Hopper that we had to take her crying loudly out the side door. She still says, "I will NEVER go in there again!!" No problem, it no longer exists in CA. (Truth in advertising: I always closed my eyes during the spider section, so I totally understand those kids. )

The idea of AK being a "half-day park" really has to do with expectation of what the park is. I can spend a full day at the San Diego Zoo and still not see everything I planned to see. Ditto for AK. I enjoy sitting and watching animals for a bit of time. When you add in some fun rides, AK is easily a full-day park. But if zoos aren't your thing, then you're right.

IMO, Dinoland USA needs to be scrapped entirely. I can't imagine it has gotten any better in the 13 years since I was there last. The best thing over there is Dinosaur. And on a good day, it is at best a sad, 2nd rate version of Indy.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

I find some of the pessimism on the WDW side of the forums kind of extreme. It's fine to be unhappy with how some of the new additions are being executed, but I see people claiming that WDW is being ignored or that Disney is being lazy with it while it's right in the middle of the biggest investment in that resort that I've ever seen in my lifetime. The 50th obviously got scaled back cause of Corona, possibly severely cut back, but they're clearly trying to make a real effort to celebrate it and expand the parks, even if the results are not what people here are liking.

But anyway, happy anniversary to the second greatest Disney resort in the world. I haven't been in a long, long time but am planning to go next year sometime during the 50th.

The issue is mostly that "the biggest investment in that resort" is only happening as a necessity after years of stagnation. That's why people passionate about WDW are upset. These additions should have happened years ago, and many of them are questionable at best from a long-term standpoint. Many of us are also upset that our 50th anniversary celebration feels hollow and corporate, and has very little to do with the incredibly rich history of the resort it's celebrating.

Just my two cents as a primary WDW-dweller.

 

[truecoat]

We took my daughter to that show at DCA when she was about 5 or 6. We didn't make it to the spider section. She was so terrified of Hopper that we had to take her crying loudly out the side door. She still says, "I will NEVER go in there again!!" No problem, it no longer exists in CA. (Truth in advertising: I always closed my eyes during the spider section, so I totally understand those kids. )

The idea of AK being a "half-day park" really has to do with expectation of what the park is. I can spend a full day at the San Diego Zoo and still not see everything I planned to see. Ditto for AK. I enjoy sitting and watching animals for a bit of time. When you add in some fun rides, AK is easily a full-day park. But if zoos aren't your thing, then you're right.

IMO, Dinoland USA needs to be scrapped entirely. I can't imagine it has gotten any better in the 13 years since I was there last. The best thing over there is Dinosaur. And on a good day, it is at best a sad, 2nd rate version of Indy.

We rode Avatar boat ride twice, Flight of Passage 3 times, Kilimanjaro Safari twice, It's tough to be a bug, Dinosaur, EE, FOTLK, Bird show, gorilla trail, tiger trail and tried to watch the kite eating tree. We could have left between 5 and 6pm. We didn't want to get wet so no raft ride. The train stops running around 4-5 so we didn't go to the Conservation Station.

 

[DrAlice]

We rode Avatar boat ride twice, Flight of Passage 3 times, Kilimanjaro Safari twice, It's tough to be a bug, Dinosaur, EE, FOTLK, Bird show, gorilla trail, tiger trail and tried to watch the kite eating tree. We could have left between 5 and 6pm. We didn't want to get wet so no raft ride. The train stops running around 4-5 so we didn't go to the Conservation Station.

I went before Avatar land existed... still spent a day and a half out of my 6 days at AK. But I'm a weirdo. Case in point: if you add up the ride time, I probably spent at least half a day riding the People Mover at MK.

 

[Californian Elitist]

What do they do if there are guests in the bleachers where they crash the kites? Or is that section always closes off to guests?

 

[TP2000]

What do they do if there are guests in the bleachers where they crash the kites? Or is that section always closes off to guests?

It's apparently a purposely closed section of bleachers. And they've covered the metal bleachers in padding and removed handrails and sharp edges around the area to help the landings go smoother.

They actually thought this through and are doing it all on purpose! And when you realize that, it only makes KiteTails even more fabulous.

Everything about KiteTails is on purpose and was approved by TDO executives!

 

[TP2000]

The issue is mostly that "the biggest investment in that resort" is only happening as a necessity after years of stagnation. That's why people passionate about WDW are upset. These additions should have happened years ago, and many of them are questionable at best from a long-term standpoint. Many of us are also upset that our 50th anniversary celebration feels hollow and corporate, and has very little to do with the history of the resort it's celebrating.

Just my two cents as a primary WDW-dweller.

Thank you, that is a great summary. I've only spent a few minutes in the last few months over on the WDW side, but now it's making more sense. The whole October 1st date literally snuck up on me.

If this was the type of offerings and the type of messaging they had given us for Disneyland's 50th back in '05, we'd all be furious! So it's understandable the frustration and disappointment. Even anger.

WDW's 50th really is a cheaped-out shell of a celebration. Part of the lack of physical offerings is understandable because of the Covid crisis a year ago, and I can cut TDO some slack there.

But the vapid messaging and fake corporate emotion behind the celebration itself is insulting and infuriating to any WDW fan. There's where the disappointment and anger comes in.

WDW's 50th is a party hosted by Bob Chapek. And who would want to go to one of his parties?!?

 

[Californian Elitist]

It's apparently a purposely closed section of bleachers. And they've covered the metal bleachers in padding and removed handrails and sharp edges around the area to help the landings go smoother.

They actually thought this through and are doing it all on purpose! And when you realize that, it only makes KiteTails even more fabulous.

Everything about KiteTails is on purpose and was approved by TDO executives!

I’m now actually dying to see this show in person.

Maybe Disney did this on purpose for publicity. Because it’s working.