-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News New Haunted Mansion Grounds Expansion, Retail Shop Coming to Disneyland Resort in 2024
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
I'm neutral on the Jungle Cruise changes. I don't hate them, but we could have done with something that didn't already exist on the ride in some form.
But in general with these changes, I really am getting irritated with the position new WDI has...put me in? Not sure of a better way to phrase it.
I can see where many of the concerns are coming from in regards to the attraction updates as of late. Really I can. To the point where in most cases, I can understand why changes are being made (still not sure there was ever any real threat of anyone being forced into a pirate wedding auction, but whatever).
But the replacements, more often than not, seem to be entirely divorced from their context and without a tenth of the impact of the scenes they replaced. It's like they purposely find the one person who's been on Iconic Attraction X the least and say, "Great, now you're the perfect one to come up with the replacement." Which is extra frustrating because Marc Davis, Claude Coats, and Tony Baxter are among the true masters of the theme park medium, so it would be a tall order for anyone to make a replacement that comes off so well.
I know there are Imagineers out there who can still design quality attractions and show scenes, but invariably they aren't the ones put on these assignments. Perhaps they self-select out of the prospect because they know it'll be a tall order to live up to. So we get Johnny Snotrockets Imagineer 7, giving it the ol' college try and failing miserably in the process most every time. It's exhausting.
But in general with these changes, I really am getting irritated with the position new WDI has...put me in? Not sure of a better way to phrase it.
I can see where many of the concerns are coming from in regards to the attraction updates as of late. Really I can. To the point where in most cases, I can understand why changes are being made (still not sure there was ever any real threat of anyone being forced into a pirate wedding auction, but whatever).
But the replacements, more often than not, seem to be entirely divorced from their context and without a tenth of the impact of the scenes they replaced. It's like they purposely find the one person who's been on Iconic Attraction X the least and say, "Great, now you're the perfect one to come up with the replacement." Which is extra frustrating because Marc Davis, Claude Coats, and Tony Baxter are among the true masters of the theme park medium, so it would be a tall order for anyone to make a replacement that comes off so well.
I know there are Imagineers out there who can still design quality attractions and show scenes, but invariably they aren't the ones put on these assignments. Perhaps they self-select out of the prospect because they know it'll be a tall order to live up to. So we get Johnny Snotrockets Imagineer 7, giving it the ol' college try and failing miserably in the process most every time. It's exhausting.
Last edited:
This is a very reasonable and sensible suggestion. Which is why it's not the one they're going with.
There were many proposals for the auction scene in Pirates that wouldn't have required the original dialogue to be replaced, rather taking out of context. And the final change, sadly, didn't take this route.
It seems that when they do changes like this they like to go full-on scorched earth, and don't even allow the new versions to remotely resemble the old one.
Sneakman
Well-Known Member
Do you have any specifics?
Plenty. Although my favorite one came up on a recent thread about these new Mansion changes. I'd add that you would also change the auction to something different, just take the Auctioneer's lines out of context, and still have the other pirates disrupt it with something unrelated.
Sneakman
Well-Known Member
This does sound like a fun idea! Shame it didn’t happen. Potc really is the abe Lincoln’s hatchet of Disney rides. I don’t think there is any more changes coming for the ride unless movie related tbh. As for HM, yeah the hanging man is gone. Let’s just hope they somehow do a good job
Rich T
Well-Known Member
I’ve been going to DL for 65 years. 55 of those I remember well enough to confidently state that, while the park has never, ever been perfect, every phase had its strengths and created an incredible balance of artistry and showbiz commercialism that created the huge fanbase… up until the period where EuroDisney’s grand opening sputtered and the budget cuts began. Ever since, IMO, the U.S. park experience has been sliding downward with the once-amazing art/business equation thrown out of balance.
There have been highlights for the U.S. parks, such as the opening of DCA 2.0., but overall the EXPERIENCE of visiting a Disney park is currently, IMO, the worst it has ever been, especially regarding value.
Hard to believe, but up until that year things started sliding, Disneyland and WDW were known for their incredible value… for the experience of leaving the park at day’s end exhausted but feeling like you’d gotten triple your money’s worth. I’d actually feel respect for the company that had done more than it had to, spent money on amazing details and bonus features, gone the extra mile, and asked in return an affordable, reasonable price that never left one feeling overcharged for any of it. No obvious manipulation, no upcharge schemes, no pay-to-win, no hoop-jumping.
I still admire much of the work still done for the parks, but my respect for the company is long gone.
Last edited:
Rich T
Well-Known Member
Regarding the stretching room, I don’t mind them removing Hanging Guy… as long as they replace it with something SCARIER.
On a side note… On my visit to MK on July 1st. the HM line was moving super fast. Unfortunately, it was because they were not using the Stretching Room. Most of the guests around me looked confused and disappointed as we were hustled right on through. I was certainly disappointed.
I cannot wait for Epic Universe and its Monsters ride that, hopefully, is not timid about providing some genuinely fun scares.
On a side note… On my visit to MK on July 1st. the HM line was moving super fast. Unfortunately, it was because they were not using the Stretching Room. Most of the guests around me looked confused and disappointed as we were hustled right on through. I was certainly disappointed.
I cannot wait for Epic Universe and its Monsters ride that, hopefully, is not timid about providing some genuinely fun scares.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
So if the hanging corpse is to be removed should we expect the pictures with Constance’s husbands heads vanishing to be removed as well or is murdering/ decapitating people ok? Or maybe they’ll wait until the next renovation to remove those references. Looking forward to the 2035 refurb where Disney replaces the malnourished dog in the graveyard due to pressure from PETA.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Constance is creatively taking down the patriarchy one person at a time, so no, those won’t be changed.
Model3 McQueen
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I demand the voice of the ghost host be replaced by Cardi B. His narration is insensitive and offensive, do you hear me Disney!? I’m starting a petition.
Sneakman
Well-Known Member
“Maybe it’ll be a cool effect if it is physical or physical combined with screens!”
Stage One: Denial
zipadee999
Well-Known Member
I’m sure you have much stronger feelings as you’ve been visiting the parks longer than I have, but it’s a very sad that we had to go from excitedly awaiting new additions to dreading them because of the company’s ability to screw things up. I’m at the point now where I actively dread announcements from Disney because I can be 99% sure that they will involve lessening or ruining the previous experience in some way.
Of course there are exceptions, but it seems like Disney is the most out of touch with its consumer it has ever been. It seems like every new decision being made is the exact opposite of what people actually want. People have been clamoring for the DL Peoplemover to return and for a Figment overhaul for years, but Disney continues to ignore those pleas in favor of tinkering with classics in ways nobody has asked for and in ways which detract from their previous experiences.
I’m convinced that it’s a battle of egos at this point. Disney knows that people will still ride Pirates, Mansion, Jungle Cruise and others no matter what. However, when Disney tinkers with the ride, they selfishly believe that people will credit Iger and Charita Carter with what they are seeing rather than Walt and Marc Davis. My theory is that they tinker just to throw their hat in the ring and attempt to take a piece of what came before as their own.
Rich T
Well-Known Member
I don’t know what their motives are (I honestly hope most of what’s going wrong at least started out with some kind of good intentions), or how they got into this situation where so much, for many of us, keeps missing the mark and why they seem to now ignore the company’s century-old tradition of great storytelling, or why they seem so timid about so much… And why the parks are being run the way they are.
All I can go by is what I see and hear right in front of me, and all I know is…
I am so happy Epic Universe is coming, because at least that one park appears, for now, to be offering a truckload of new things I actually want to see and do.
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
Wasn't it mentioned here that WDI teams have lately been churning these projects out to justify their existence to accounting as they wait for the next big assignment to be handed to them from on high?
Sneakman
Well-Known Member
What, wdi has been having to fight for its existence?
Sneakman
Well-Known Member
Sucks, but i get it 100%. Wish it didn’t have to come at expense of mansion
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
All sorts of stuff gets mentioned. Walt Disney Imagineering doesn’t get to just come up with projects, and that includes small projects.