Losing Your Disney Faith

BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
(Only posting this in the Disneyland forum because it's the forum I'm most familiar with, this is not a Disneyland-specific post and can be applied to any park worldwide)

Apologies if this comes off as rambling but I wanted to put some thoughts down and seek out other's reflections on this. The past couple Disney park visits I've had (within the past year or so) I've felt myself "losing my Disney faith." In other words, I feel my interest and sense of novelty in the parks waning.

I do think some of my lessened interest has to do with recent developments at the company, such as the announced removal of Splash as well as continued peeling away of appropriate theme in cases like Pixar Pier and Mission: Breakout, however I don't think this is the primary cause. To put it simply, I've been to these parks a lot. And I've ridden these attractions a lot. I kind of feel like I'm at the point where there's not much left for me to get out of the parks anymore.

I was at Tokyo Disneyland a couple days ago and I was really feeling this burnout. After all these years, I'm so familiar with all of these attractions that I know exactly where every figure is, where every sound effect is coming from, when and where every visual and audio effect will be cued, etc. Whenever I ride an attraction, whether it's PotC, HM, Pinocchio, whatever, I notice that my eyes are everywhere except the actual focal point of each scene. Instead my eyes are all up, down and around the showbuilding trying to find minor details which I hadn't noticed before. While I'm not saying this is a bad way of enjoying attractions (it can in fact be very entertaining), it really made me realize how long I've been doing this, how many times I've ridden all these attractions and how it's just nothing new anymore. Granted new attractions can be one way of breathing some new novelty into a park goer's life, but of course it will wear off eventually.

I now find that I get the most enjoyment out of just being in the park. Taking in the atmosphere, walking around, people watching etc. But I feel like there's natural limits to this too.

Is anybody feeling this same way? Any thoughts? I feel like my days as a hardcore Disney park fan may be nearing an end lately, which is sad but maybe not all-together lamentable.
 
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rk03221

Well-Known Member
My wife and I both used to work at wdw. The first two years of dating we went to the parks alot and eventually it wore on us as we did just about everything. I feel like it’ll be awhile or possibly never until we go back to wdw honestly. We will go to Disneyland from now on when we go. I suggest taking a long break or else it’ll wear on you too much or go other places
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
My interest in Disney (the whole company) has plummeted ever since Iger decided the company should be all about banning original concepts and instead purchasing other companies’ ideas. And regurgitating as much as possible. And stretching the boundaries of exactly how much they can get away with pricing.

In the future, I’d still like to go to DL for family get-togethers. And that’s about it. My remaining interest in the parks is centered around their history, because the current greed-soaked Walt Disney Company (and its constant twisted misuse of the words “dreams” and “magic”) genuinely repulses me.

But if burn-out’s your only issue, then—yeah, just take a couple of years off from Disney. I’ve been getting my theme park interest rekindled by arm-chair Youtube traveling to amazing European parks like Efteling, Toverland, Phantasialand, Europa Park and Puy du Fou. It’s a whole fresh universe of new characters, music and creativity!
 
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networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Perhaps your familiarity breeds contempt. I've been going to Disneyworld since 1972, but I and now my wife and I never go more than 2 or three times a year but specifically for Flower and Garden, Food and Wine (+MNSSHP when it runs) and occasionally either Thanksgiving or Christmas time and we have annual passes.
 

BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Perhaps your familiarity breeds contempt. I've been going to Disneyworld since 1972, but I and now my wife and I never go more than 2 or three times a year but specifically for Flower and Garden, Food and Wine (+MNSSHP when it runs) and occasionally either Thanksgiving or Christmas time and we have annual passes.
Last couple times I've been to Disneyland were specifically for Halloween. Definitely adds a new perspective on the park and worth doing. Unfortunately Tokyo (my home park at the moment) cancelled all holidays for the rest of the year :(
 

cmwade77

Well-Known Member
(Only posting this in the Disneyland forum because it's the forum I'm most familiar with, this is not a Disneyland-specific post and can be applied to any park worldwide)

Apologies if this comes off as rambling but I wanted to put some thoughts down and seek out other's reflections on this. The past couple Disney park visits I've had (within the past year or so) I've felt myself "losing my Disney faith." In other words, I feel my interest and sense of novelty in the parks waning.

I do think some of my lessened interest has to do with recent developments at the company, such as the announced removal of Splash as well as continued peeling away of appropriate theme in cases like Pixar Pier and Mission: Breakout, however I don't think this is the primary cause. To put it simply, I've been to these parks a lot. And I've ridden these attractions a lot. I kind of feel like I'm at the point where there's not much left for me to get out of the parks anymore.

I was at Tokyo Disneyland a couple days ago and I was really feeling this burnout. After all these years, I'm so familiar with all of these attractions that I know exactly where every figure is, where every sound effect is coming from, when and where every visual and audio effect will be cued, etc. Whenever I ride an attraction, whether it's PotC, HM, Pinocchio, whatever, I notice that my eyes are everywhere except the actual focal point of each scene. Instead my eyes are all up, down and around the showbuilding trying to find minor details which I hadn't noticed before. While I'm not saying this is a bad way of enjoying attractions (it can in fact be very entertaining), it really made me realize how long I've been doing this, how many times I've ridden all these attractions and how it's just nothing new anymore. Granted new attractions can be one way of breathing some new novelty into a park goer's life, but of course it will wear off eventually.

I now find that I get the most enjoyment out of just being in the park. Taking in the atmosphere, walking around, people watching etc. But I feel like there's natural limits to this too.

Is anybody feeling this same way? Any thoughts? I feel like my days as a hardcore Disney park fan may be nearing an end lately, which is sad but maybe not all-together lamentable.
Honestly, if they don't bring back enough entertainment, this could very well be the case to me. Entertainment is one area where Disney has excelled in the past and places like Knott's had failed. Well, now Knott's is excelling and Disney has begun to fail at it. And entertainment is something that you can come back to time and time again, because it is different every time and in fact is easy for them to change even and be seasonal as well, which helps. But without this key element, Disney is no different than any other park out there and in fact may not even be up to the standards of others.

BTW, if you are willing to travel and are big on entertainment, try going to Silver Dollar City, incredible entertainment along with some fun rides and a train with a show.
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
I have more fun at Universal.

Last visits to Disney have felt very off.

I hate to say that I'm starting to feel the same way. I find I want to go to Universal more than disney now. But my husband is the opposite of me. He wants to go to disney more than universal. To me, Universal is how disney used to be. You can ride what you want when you want, and we have even done back to back MIB 4 times in a row:) Also you can eat almost anywhere without a 6 month reservation. It just feels more freeing to me at Universal. We'll always love disney, but I feel a shift in loyalties towards Universal now. It feels more like a vacation than a preplanned invasion of the troops, LOL, for a disney vacation.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
My priority for Disneyland started ending I’d say maybe two or three years ago. Now I just don’t care anymore.

When I worked at Disneyland nearly a decade ago (yikes), I was a teenager who had fairly recently graduated high school and started college. I hadn’t had many life experiences and Disney was my life. After I left, about a year later, I found that I missed being able to go whenever I wanted, so I got a pass. It was such a huge priority for me for years.

Now that I’m older, about to hit 30 in two years, my priorities have significantly changed. Disneyland is still enjoyable, but going is not the same for me and to be frank, I’ll most likely never experience the same level of joy I had when I went as a child. I’m not that interested in visiting the other Disney parks around the world or across country. Not saying that I would turn down a trip, but I’m not necessarily interested in planning a trip to see the others. I definitely wouldn’t travel to their respective locations just to visit the theme parks.

I admire Disneyland most for its history, which can never be taken away. For now, I’m happy it’s still there. However, I don’t have to visit it. Disney is partially to blame for that with their decision making over the last few years.

I haven’t renewed my DLR AP and I don’t miss it. I’d rather spend that $1,000+ on traveling around the country or internationally. Alaska has been on my mind lately.
 

Stevek

Well-Known Member
I went to Disneyland probably close to 300 times starting in 2000 through 2015-ish when we started getting APs again...which scarily enough isn't a lot for many APs. I definitely started to feel like I wasn't enjoying my visits any more. Crowds were getting bigger and I had less and less tolerance for standing in lines for something I had ridden 100+ times or having to sit 2 hours ahead of time to see a parade or get that perfect spot for fireworks. It got to the point where my wife no longer wanted to go...visiting felt more like a chore and neither of us were getting the enjoyment we had for many years before. We were basically there and going through the motions vs really enjoying the experience.

I think I've been back 2-3 times in the last 5 years and there are times where I miss the idea of being there vs the reality of actually being there and experiencing the same issues with crowds. We've resigned ourselves to maybe visiting once a year moving forward. I want our visits to feel special and after going 300 times (well over that in my lifetime)...that feeling was definitely gone. I want it to feel like it did when I was younger and visited once a year, driving south on the 5 freeway to see who could spot the Matterhorn first. I may not every be able to capture that feeling but maybe visiting far less will help.

Disneyland is absolutely amazing and will always hold a special place in my life. Unfortunately, it's now treated like folks treated malls in the 80's...a hangout versus a special destination. Life has much more to offer than spending all your free time at Disney and we finally figured that out. Once this pandemic ends, we plan on getting back out there and experiencing more of those non-Disney things.
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
...BTW, if you are willing to travel and are big on entertainment, try going to Silver Dollar City, incredible entertainment along with some fun rides and a train with a show.
Silver Dollar City has become #1 on my want-to-visit U.S. parks list. They seem to have their priorities straight, with charm and creativity right up at the top. And Time Traveler looks wonderful.
 

truecoat

Well-Known Member
Going hundreds of times makes the special into the mundane. I go once a year if I'm lucky so I don't think I'll ever get sick of it. Now that I have grand kids and I'm looking forward to taking them in 2021 if things improve. The oldest is 5 and I think that's a perfect age for a first visit.
 

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Within 5 years Disney has removed my two favorite things- Fantasmic and Splash Mountain.

It's obvious the park's new offerings are geared towards a very different type of Disney fan than myself. I have many friends that love the newer offerings, love Incredicoaster, love the new Fantasmic, love the idea of Frog Mountain.

I want merchandise that's tastefully done and honors Disneyland Park- stuff like the Olszewski line. Disney doesn't make very much of this.

Galaxy's Edge doesn't appeal to me at all. I could happily go the rest of my life and never go back- I'd prefer it even. And it has the first Disneyland Park E ticket to open in my lifetime- what a shame.

I, too, have lost my Disney faith.
 

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
I was fortunate enough to grow up in Southern California, and visit many Theme/Amusement Parks on a regular basis.

So while I have fond memories of Disneyland, I also have found Memories of Sea World, Knott's, Universal, Busch Gardens LA, Belmont Park, Magic Mountain, Castle Park, Santa Monica Pier, Santa's Village and others.

I was raised on the love of Theme/Amusement Parks, and learned how they worked.

So I appreciate Disneyland, and how it was different than other parks. But I can say the same for the other parks I have mentioned.

I have seen them all morph and change, and even close.

I got to know many employees, some in senior positions.

In the 90's, I was approached to provide background to some news stories regarding Disneyland and other theme parks. That morphed into providing photos, then writing articles myself.

So I have been known for being tough on Disneyland and other parks, some would call it Tough Love. And it did cause change. But I have been in a position to do it since I was a teenager. Little did I know at the time that these Theme Park Senior Staff that got to know me were using me as a sounding board, seeing what things they have been thinking about I liked or didn't know. Hindsight is interesting, I thought I was learning from them at the time, only to find out, they were learning from me. I was the kid that got to go to all the parks, thanks to my Dad and all his international guests. (Plus he loved going to them, not so much for my Mom). So who better to ask about other parks compared to theirs.

So I have always had hope (prefer that word compared to faith), of course, you are going to have lows, but then you see some improvement. Things ebb and flow.

Currently, I am scared, and that is because I find myself in a position of power, where my decisions will affect hundreds of thousands living in Anaheim, and even Orange County and beyond. I have made some major decisions, and have some to make in the next few days. Decisions I don't make lightly. I have a wonderful sounding board in my wife, plus others in the groups I work with.

You HAVE to have hope, I was raised with that, and have found it to be very important in the last few years. I have a medical team that has helped me recover from a coma, and they all say how they were impressed in how much I have progressed, and continue to do so.

So yes, things in your life will have lows. Many say the Disney Parks are currently in one. Well, I have faith in Josh D'Amaro, but he is only one person in a large team, and he has to follow orders. But he will fight back when he needs to.

We will get pass COVID-19, yes things will be different when the crisis is over, but life finds a way to move forward.

Heck, let's go back in history, people learn to adapt, change and improve to get pass the natural disaster, or even man made things, like war.

So keep the Hope. Yes, be disappointed, but also look forward and see how things can be better.
 
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Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
Kc0A.gif
 

Anjin

Well-Known Member
My wife and I had annual passes for 4 years in the late nineties and ended up canceling because going so often made it less special. We have since gone few times every year or two since (outside of my midlife crisis annual passes for the family year) and it had made it much more special.
 

1HAPPYGHOSTHOST

Well-Known Member
(Only posting this in the Disneyland forum because it's the forum I'm most familiar with, this is not a Disneyland-specific post and can be applied to any park worldwide)

Apologies if this comes off as rambling but I wanted to put some thoughts down and seek out other's reflections on this. The past couple Disney park visits I've had (within the past year or so) I've felt myself "losing my Disney faith." In other words, I feel my interest and sense of novelty in the parks waning.

I do think some of my lessened interest has to do with recent developments at the company, such as the announced removal of Splash as well as continued peeling away of appropriate theme in cases like Pixar Pier and Mission: Breakout, however I don't think this is the primary cause. To put it simply, I've been to these parks a lot. And I've ridden these attractions a lot. I kind of feel like I'm at the point where there's not much left for me to get out of the parks anymore.

I was at Tokyo Disneyland a couple days ago and I was really feeling this burnout. After all these years, I'm so familiar with all of these attractions that I know exactly where every figure is, where every sound effect is coming from, when and where every visual and audio effect will be cued, etc. Whenever I ride an attraction, whether it's PotC, HM, Pinocchio, whatever, I notice that my eyes are everywhere except the actual focal point of each scene. Instead my eyes are all up, down and around the showbuilding trying to find minor details which I hadn't noticed before. While I'm not saying this is a bad way of enjoying attractions (it can in fact be very entertaining), it really made me realize how long I've been doing this, how many times I've ridden all these attractions and how it's just nothing new anymore. Granted new attractions can be one way of breathing some new novelty into a park goer's life, but of course it will wear off eventually.

I now find that I get the most enjoyment out of just being in the park. Taking in the atmosphere, walking around, people watching etc. But I feel like there's natural limits to this too.

Is anybody feeling this same way? Any thoughts? I feel like my days as a hardcore Disney park fan may be nearing an end lately, which is sad but maybe not all-together lamentable.
My child if you find yourself losing faith then you just need to do 100 Hail Jiminy Crickets.
 

BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
BTW, if you are willing to travel and are big on entertainment, try going to Silver Dollar City, incredible entertainment along with some fun rides and a train with a show.
I actually have been to Silver Dollar City, many years ago. To be honest I don't remember much about it beyond a dark ride in a mine that was kinda cool.
 

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