Is the magic really gone?

[fillerup]

An interesting discussion of course, and one that is probably as old as Disneyland itself.

I worked at WDW in the middle 70's - met my wife there who had was opening crew in '71 (then later opening crew at the Studio). 1 park, 3 hotels, 1 campground, and a few townhouses for the corporate sponsors.

Back then, only 3 years past opening, CMs talked about "cracks in the castle", "the pixie dust is gone", "everything's going downhill fast", and "it's not the way Walt would have watned it".

The more things change.......

Now as a passholder, visiting 10 or more times a month, the Magic lives, for us.

The shortcomings are obvious, and they've been adequately pointed out by others in this thread. There's a lot that needs fixing, and there'll be plenty of people documenting whether the fixes occur.

 

[strobe]

The magic isn't gone by a long shot - sure things have changed over the years (some of them for the worse) but at the end of the day, we always have a great time. I've been to the parks countless times as a kid, and while some of the things that made those memories are gone, new things have taken their place. One of my very best WDW memories was from my honeymoon, and that was just a couple of years ago.

Disney is going to do what Disney does, and while it is easy to get angry about it, that's not going to change anything. I just try to enjoy what's there, and if the old memories are gone, I try to make new ones.

 

[HennieBogan1966]

I don't see where the magic is gone or has really diminished at all.

subject: Don't you feel the magic as soon as you drive onto property?
Talk amongst yourselves.

I'm getting verklempt.

:wave: :kiss: :slurp:

 

[jojoyner55]

Gang -
I read and see discussions like this that we have been having for as long as I have been on this forum. Yes, in recent years there was a decline in maintenance caused by a "corporate mentality", most noticiable to me in our 2002 trip. But, when we went in December of 2003, I think things were much better. And from my two trips last year, I really think they have much improved. I think things are getting better, and that they are making a real effort ahead of the Disneyland 50th celebration. I think somebody caught on to the fact that WDW(and Disneyland) MUST have standards that keep the rest at bay. The magic is there - as a small point: I travelled to Europe 11 times last year, and spent time in hotels judged 4 stars by their standards. Well, they were not as good as the Pop Century, let alone Port Orleans! And where in the entire world except WDW can you find something like the Animal Kingdom Lodge? Maybe we are too harsh - I certainly am not going to carp in 13 days when I am back there again!

 

[tampabrad]

Of course the MAGIC is still there.

The Magic is inside you.

Yes, this site is full of "Negative Nancy's", but it doesn't matter.

Most of the people on this site care more about a slight chip of paint on a speck of some building that you may never see, or the one out of sixtey thousand cast members that didn't smile at the moment they encountered them.

Don't take the negative comments at all. WDW is the greatest place on earth. The Magic is there, and your vacation is what YOU make of it, not what you read on a board.

Go to WDW and have FUN. (I think that is what a lot of people on these boards forgot what WDW is for...FUN)

 

[dixiegirl]

its funny, every now and then you see a thread like this, and it makes you think , to me its all on what you make of it whenyou go to walt disney world.. if you truly believe the magic is gone please people don't go. if you feel this way don't waste your money then. for me the magic never ends , having two little ones from the moment we plan our trip till we plan the next , the magic is nonstop....365 days a year.. yes prices have changed and so have the rides and such, what are ya gonna do? then you have the people who annalize every liitle detail that disney has done wrong... yes i know its disney but come on people its not supposed to be a shrine!!! things do get dirty and also run down. thats why they have rehabs!! but then people complain about that to...what re ya gonna do?! I'm not tring to start anything but just speaking the truth..i know i'm nit the only one who feels this way....but to anwswer no the magic have never gone away!!! and by just asking my oldest who is 4 she also agrees with me!! sorry if i offended anyone~~

 

[HennieBogan1966]

Well Dixie, I agree with you. What I have found out on here is that SOME (not all) will complain no matter WHAT Disney does. And some of those people claim to love Disney. Go figure!!!

 

[Scooter]

Well Dixie, I agree with you. What I have found out on here is that SOME (not all) will complain no matter WHAT Disney does. And some of those people claim to love Disney. Go figure!!!

Well said...and I ALSO find that the people who complain the most, want everyone else to jump on their bandwagon.

I, for one, don't have time to search for the bad things happening in Disney World and complain...

...I'm too busy enjoying all the Magic and having FUN. :animwink:

 

[HennieBogan1966]

Let's jump on the FUN bandwagon, and the "All The Good Things At Disney" Bandwagon.

 

[dixiegirl]

Turkey Legs!!!!!!!!!! Yummmm!!!! Lol!





I Love Walt Disney World!!!!!!!

 

[HennieBogan1966]

Walking onto Main Street just after rope drop!!!

 

[Pluto Parking]

The Food and Fun Center at the Comtempoary!

 

[Figments Friend]

The sheer incredible pleasure and honor of being in the one place in the world that imagination built....a place that over the years has inspired thousands, no, MILLIONS of would be Imagineers, animators, and other creative types.


The inpirational buzz i get when i'm there experiencing one of the last great omni-mover dark rides...and the cherised memories of those that are no longer there that i so adored and still do to this day (JII, WOMotion..more)

The gleefull adreniline rush at knowing that everyday you are there, Magic WILL happen....and it DOES. Even in the smallest ways, it does...from morning character greeting kickoffs to the day, to the park experiences in thru the afternoon, to the awesome spectacle that is Disney Park night shows, to returning back to your room on a Disney shuttle bus full of visitors of all nationalities singing "It's a Small World"...to reaching your hotel room and finding a "towel animal". Then of course, you dream at night of all the new wonders you will experience the next day...and on and on it goes!

This to me, my friends...is what TRUE MAGIC is all about. It's not about how many pins you collected while there, or how many t-shirts you bought, or how many top rated resturants you eat at. The MAGIC is all about the memories you take back home with you...(along with all the pins and shirts and full stomachs! LOL!!)

Yeah, the "Magic" is still there for people like me...and folks like you too reading this i bet.

Next time you visit one of the parks, look around and take a moment to think about what is going on around you...and how those things came to be.

"...It all started with a mouse!"

Hooray for Disney "Magic"!!!

 

[bgraham34]

So many good points here. But the Magic does live inside you as well. I agree greed may have made some changes, but when I am at the Parks I feel and live the magic.

 

[DisneyFanLS]

Magic gone????

I've heard and read MANY others saying that Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and the Disney Company in general is on the skids, and may never recover. Let me just say that my wife and I are HUGE Disney AND Walt Disney World fans and neither of us feel this way AT ALL. I proposed to my wife right in front of Cinderella's castle at WDW, we honeymooned at WDW and have been back EVERY single year since!! So, is the magic over for us??? DEFINITELY NOT!!! I'd say that the "magic" is just as alive now as it EVER was as far as we are concerned!!! In fact, I am a six foot five three hundred pound man and my wife says that EVERY time we walk through the front gates of the Magic Kingdom and begin to walk down main street, she says that my eyes light up and I look around with wonder and amazement just as if I were eight years old again!!!

Now I'll admit that in the last few years, maybe Eisner has made some bad decisions (note of sarcasm)(ESPECIALLY in 86ing Roy) and maybe the company has not done as well as they have in the past but you must admit that entertaining the "younger" generation these days is next to IMPOSSIBLE!!! The youth of this country have changed SO dramatically (maybe "evolved" would be a more proper word)...with video games, computers, cable television, satellite television, it is a MUCH more "informed" younger generation these days.

So....with all this having been said, I say that DEFINITELY NO, the magic is not gone...maybe we just need to know where to look for it???....just a thought.....