Is WDW's 50th Anniversary a Flop

Disone

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So what do we think of the 50th Anniversary? I sense it is NOT a home run by any scope of the imagination. But is it a flop? If so, can it be saved or will it be saved with Tron and or Guardians opens.

Harm is growning on me, and Rat is fine for what it is, but neither were ever intended to be the marquee attractions for WDW's 50th.

For me this 50th Anniversary Celebration falls into the bucket of, I am glad they did something rather then nothing. Its not a flop, but boy it is underwhelming. Tron will be will okay but will not save it. It is as short as rock in roller coaster. I think it will be too short to match the hype. Also it will dulled a bit by being MK's second roller coaster in the dark, right next to the first one.

Guardians is the wild card here. Can it save WDW's 50th? Will it even open in time, all we know is it's opening in 2022. Is that January of 22 or December 22, did they say? I missed it if so. Also while it will be EPCOTS first roller coaster in the dark, it will be WDW's 4th. I guess roller coasters in the dark are cheaper then Mountains.

Anyway.... those are my thoughts.
 
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Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
I think its average but has potential to build or crescendo to above average toward the end of its run. If Disney were smart they would blame the pandemic and use the last half of the celebration to announce some new stuff. Now they may never do the things they announce but they need some excitement for post celebration.
 

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
So what do we think of the 50th Anniversary? I sense it is NOT a home run by any scope of the imagination. But is it a flop? If so, can it be saved or will it be saved with Tron and or Guardians opens.

Harm is growning on me, and Rat is fine for what it is, but neither were ever intended to be the marquee attractions for WDW's 50th.

For me this 50th Anniversary Celebration falls into the bucket of, I am glad they did something rather then nothing. Its not a flop, but boy it is underwhelming. Tron will be will okay but will not save it. It is as short as rock in roller coaster. I think it will be too short to match the hype. Also it will dulled a bit by being MK's second roller coaster in the dark, right next to the first one.

Guardians is the wild card here. Can it save WDW's 50th? Will it even open in time, all we know is it's opening in 2022. Is that January of 22 or December 22, did they say? I missed it if so. Also while it will be EPCOTS first roller coaster in the dark, it will be WDW's 4th. I guess roller coasters in the dark are cheaper then Mountains.

Anyway.... those are my thoughts.
It's not just you. I know there is a pandemic going on, but they've known about this and have had years--even pre-2020 years, to figure out what they were going to do, and clearly didn't. This whole thing just feels so hugely amateurish.
 

Disone

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Not only is there no night parade back, but the regular daytime parade isn't even back. And you can't get a photo with Earidiscent Mickey.

It's a flop.

It's graded on a curve thanks be to 'rona but yeah it still kinda sucks. Here's hoping the centennial celebration is better.
I am rating it about two stars out of five. If I were to give it a letter grade it would be a d Plus perhaps c minus. I considered adding a poll I really wasn't too sure how to do that. If someone wants to it could be interesting :)
 
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Disone

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It just started and has plenty of time to improve, but the kickoff has been super underwhelming. The only thing I have to compare it to personally is Disneylands 60th, which I thought was great.
I've been to Walt Disney World 15th 20th and 25th anniversaries. After that they stopped until now. I've been to Disneyland's 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, they did not do a 55th, and I definitely enjoyed the 60s.

My favorites were Disneyland's 35th and 50th anniversary celebration.
 

Smooth

Well-Known Member
With Disney, if it is not a homerun it is a flop. If it is underwhelming it is a flop. If it falls into the bucket of I`m glad they did something rather than nothing it is a flop. If it is average it is a flop. No night time parade it is a flop. It is too late to undo the beginning of the 50th anniversary. But hopefully not too late to redeem the anniversary in the coming months. We shall see.
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
I'm sure the pandemic, travel restrictions, and budgetary impacts really changed what Disney originally wanted to do. But honestly, I can't think of anything that Disney could do to wow me over an anniversary. Maybe it's because I don't make a big deal out of my own wedding anniversary except for maybe a nice dinner that day LOL. Dragging out an anniversary for so long doesn't make sense to me. Besides attractions, parades, and fireworks what else can they offer that's different than what's in the parks every normal day? I'll buy a 50th pin bc I do collect those. I'm excited to see the castle decorations and the lights on Spaceship Earth. I really can't think of anything they could do to wow me. But I'm also bitter that Tokyo DisneySea is so far away because every time I see anything about that park, I'm always completely blown away by the level of theming and attention to detail. Even down to the snacks and the snack paper. I'll get there one day (I hope!) to experience it first hand. I just wish Disney could steal some ideas from Tokyo LOL.
 

LittleMerman

Well-Known Member
I get why they scaled back but to be honest it's not super exciting. They have a while to milk it and hopefully they will do some cool stuff in that time but what they've done already is just mediocre. At least some nighttime shows are back.
 

monorail81

Well-Known Member
They aren't going to do anything more than they already are doing. They are drawing crowds now so they don’t NEED to (spend money to) offer more. That’s been their business model for a while now. Sorry. This is the best we’re gonna get for the 50th. It’s only gonna get worse from here when the decorations start falling off the castle and the lights start burning out on SSE.
 
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Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
So what do we think of the 50th Anniversary? I sense it is NOT a home run by any scope of the imagination. But is it a flop? If so, can it be saved or will it be saved with Tron and or Guardians opens.

Harm is growning on me, and Rat is fine for what it is, but neither were ever intended to be the marquee attractions for WDW's 50th.

For me this 50th Anniversary Celebration falls into the bucket of, I am glad they did something rather then nothing. Its not a flop, but boy it is underwhelming. Tron will be will okay but will not save it. It is as short as rock in roller coaster. I think it will be too short to match the hype. Also it will dulled a bit by being MK's second roller coaster in the dark, right next to the first one.

Guardians is the wild card here. Can it save WDW's 50th? Will it even open in time, all we know is it's opening in 2022. Is that January of 22 or December 22, did they say? I missed it if so. Also while it will be EPCOTS first roller coaster in the dark, it will be WDW's 4th. I guess roller coasters in the dark are cheaper then Mountains.

Anyway.... those are my thoughts.
Tron is really nothing like Space Mountain, but you are right, it is short and honestly not too thrilling. Visually it's cool and sitting on the cycles is different,but when you compare it to say Hagrids Motorbike it just is not near that level. But it will be a good family coaster.
As for the 50th, with COVID's impact there was no way this was ever going to be able to be as good as it could be.
 

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
I'm sure the pandemic, travel restrictions, and budgetary impacts really changed what Disney originally wanted to do. But honestly, I can't think of anything that Disney could do to wow me over an anniversary. Maybe it's because I don't make a big deal out of my own wedding anniversary except for maybe a nice dinner that day LOL. Dragging out an anniversary for so long doesn't make sense to me. Besides attractions, parades, and fireworks what else can they offer that's different than what's in the parks every normal day? I'll buy a 50th pin bc I do collect those. I'm excited to see the castle decorations and the lights on Spaceship Earth. I really can't think of anything they could do to wow me. But I'm also bitter that Tokyo DisneySea is so far away because every time I see anything about that park, I'm always completely blown away by the level of theming and attention to detail. Even down to the snacks and the snack paper. I'll get there one day (I hope!) to experience it first hand. I just wish Disney could steal some ideas from Tokyo LOL.
Agreed. I forget what anniversary they were celebrating but I remember they were doing lots of random giveaways to guests some years ago for a celebration. That would be a good way to do this. Maybe include free 50th anniversary pins to hotels guests staying 3 nights or more, random free or discounted snacks or drinks could pop up on the app or at least BOGOs on cupcakes. That sort of thing would go a long way to make people feel it's a special time.
 

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
Tron is really nothing like Space Mountain, but you are right, it is short and honestly not too thrilling. Visually it's cool and sitting on the cycles is different,but when you compare it to say Hagrids Motorbike it just is not near that level. But it will be a good family coaster.
As for the 50th, with COVID's impact there was no way this was ever going to be able to be as good as it could be.
So are you saying it won't be as fun as Hagrid's bikes? Because I guarantee people are going to be comparing them.

And random bits of magic? That's so 2008. ;)
 

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
So are you saying it won't be as fun as Hagrid's bikes? Because I guarantee people are going to be comparing them.

And random bits of magic? That's so 2008. ;)
Having ridden both, I will say that Hagrid's was much more satisfying, I had a grin the whole ride. It is longer ride, I believe faster and just a more interesting theme. The irony here is that I think Tron is more family friendly, as it is not as intense, but I wonder due to all the seating being on the bikes what the height limits will be.
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
We had no great expectations because all the signs pointed to a watered down celebration with a lot of missing elements. Sure its not at the level of what we wanted or even comes close to past memorable events so I'd grade it a C- and not a total fail.
 

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