Please consider that during WDW's "Golden Era", taking into account new theme parks, WDW averaged more than one new attraction per year. For "typical" WDW vacationers, who might separate WDW trips by a few years, they could expect
noticeable additions between trips. In WDW's "Golden Era", WDW grew.
Today, we don't get additions, we get replacements:
- 2003 Mission: Space replaces Horizons
- 2004 Stiches Great Escape replaces Alien Encounter
- 2005 Soarin' replaces Food Rocks
- 2006 Finding Nemo replaces Tarzan Rocks
- 2006 Expedition Everest is
added
- 2007 Nemo & Friends replaces the Living Seas
- 2007 Monsters Inc Laugh Floor replaces The Timekeeper
- 2007 Wonders of Life pavilion
closes
- 2008 Toy Story Mania replaces Who Wants to be a Millionaire
- 2008 Pleasure Island
closes
- 2009 American Idol Experience replaces Doug Live!
- 2011 Disney Junior replaces Playhouse Disney
- 2012 Sounds Dangerous
closes
- 2012 Journey of the Little Mermaid replaces Show White
- 2014 Seven Dwarfs Mine Train replaces 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Taken as a whole, WDW is "smaller" today than it was 10 years ago. (Sorry but I don't consider maintenance and upgrades of existing attractions such as TT or ST2 to be additions. Keeping the product "fresh" and in good working order is simply the cost of doing business.)
Don't get me wrong, in general I think replacements are good. They keep the parks current. The recent obsession with replacements would be understandable if the theme parks were bursting at the seams but, as many have noted, there is plenty of space available in Epcot, DHS, and DAK.
On my WDW trips, I enjoy talking with other vacationers to pick their brain; to get people's impressions of WDW. I do the same when people I know return from WDW vacations. Disney's senior management should do the same. Walk around the park, not wearing a Disney badge, and start casual conversations with people. Instead, they rely on endless streams of targeted surveys, treating customers like numbers instead of like people.
Based on what I've heard from the people that I've spoken with, the biggest complaint seems to be prices. As I've posted here:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/which-wdw-ticket-would-you-choose.857245/
And here:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/which-wdw-ticket-would-you-choose.857245/#post-5246806
The real cost of WDW has at least tripled since the good old days. More than ever, TDO seems to be accelerating what it costs people to visit WDW.
I'd guess the second biggest complaint from "typical" WDW guests are long lines. Replacing attractions doesn't
alleviate lines since capacity doesn't significantly change. Furthermore, spending $1.5B to control who gets access to existing "experiences" doesn't help WDW's guests; it helps TDO's bottom line.
The third biggest complaint from "typical" WDW guests are the incomplete theme parks called Epcot, DHS, and DAK. Why are people now, more than ever, splitting their vacations and heading up I-4 to "The Boy Who Won't Be Named"? Sure, it's a great addition but, in the end,
they’re "done" with WDW after 2 days at Epcot, DHS, and DAK. They're spending big bucks and are chasing after super headliners. Epcot, DHS, and DAK simply don't have enough to keep them entertained for more than a couple of days. If it wasn't for MK, I suspect they'd be abandoning WDW in droves.
WDW needs to stabilize its price-point. WDW needs to add capacity. WDW needs to make Epcot, DHS, and DAK as appealing as MK. TDO needs to do these things for its customers and stop thinking only about itself.
