The most expensive rides that were destroyed/replaced

[matt9112]

Snowflakes and Helicopters! Their little snowflakes were scared in spite of the fact that there were a gazillion signs warning that it might not be suitable for young children. Complaints and more complaints were received and eventually Disney got tired of dealing with it, figured Stitch qualified as an alien and the rest is history. For those of you that think running a theme park that everyone likes is easy.

Should have just slapped a 44 Inch sign on it

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Should have just slapped a 44 Inch sign on it

That would've been a solution.

But Disney actively wanted to introduce an IP franchise. Especially Stitch, who was expected to be the next big thing. (Like Roger Rabbit before him...)
It is more than just customer complaints that closed AE. The kiddiefication, stupidfication and cartoonification of the MK went hand in hand, a process which continues to this very day.

 

[FettFan]

I didn't realize George Lucas was involved with that project.

George Lucas was the guy who suggested Eisner dumb it down from the original "Nostromo" concept. We wound up with Phil Hartman as the voice of SIR.

And that was about all he actually contributed to it. Skywalker Sound worked with Disney Imagineering for the binaural audio....but other than "owning the company", Lucas had no hand in it.
It's like giving credit to Bill Gates for Halo.

 

[ctxak98]

Just curious but does anyone know the cost of Dinosaur!? I am thinking due to all the AA dinos it probably cost a lot???

 

[FettFan]

That would've been a solution.

But Disney actively wanted to introduce an IP franchise. Especially Stitch, who was expected to be the next big thing. (Like Roger Rabbit before him...)
It is more than just customer complaints that closed AE. The kiddiefication, stupidfication and cartoonification of the MK went hand in hand, a process which continues to this very day.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....if they just put Stitch in there, the attraction would have still been bearable. Say if X-S decided to try again, but with more security (ala the giant robot guns) and a promise that "things will be better THIS time!"

But no...in their haste to create a kid-friendly attraction, they removed X-S and wrote a story that made NO DAMN SENSE WHATSOEVER.

1. Why would an interstellar prison look for humans to be "volunteer guards", when they have GUARD ROBOTS?

2. Why, if this prison was built on Earth...would the technicians HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT EARTH? "Eeee-Arth?" Are we not supposed to be on Earth anymore when we step in the building? THAT MAKES NO SENSE. TOMORROWLAND IS NOT AN ALIEN PLANET.

3. If they don't know about Earth, how does Stitch know who Cinderella is?

4. WHY IS CINDERELLA A REAL PERSON IN THIS ATTRACTION?

5. Why would you "guard the naughty until they become nice"? THAT IS NOT HOW A PRISON WORKS. PRISON GUARDS ARE NOT BABY SITTERS!

6. Why are Stitch and his friends animated on the screen, but "real" in the real world...and yet when he gets teleported to the castle, he is an animated form on the REAL castle? Shouldn't the castle be animated too?

7. Skippy got arrested and sent to PRISON for JAYWALKING? Okay..."Donut Guy" was sent to prison for breaking into a bakery an going hog wild. Breaking, entering, and theft are serious felony offenses, so that makes sense.
BUT JAYWALKING? What the hell kind of totalitarian galactic third reich is this?!

 

[Goofyernmost]

That would've been a solution.

But Disney actively wanted to introduce an IP franchise. Especially Stitch, who was expected to be the next big thing. (Like Roger Rabbit before him...)
It is more than just customer complaints that closed AE. The kiddiefication, stupidfication and cartoonification of the MK went hand in hand, a process which continues to this very day.

Just out of curiosity when what MK not cartoonified? Were Snow White, Pinocchio, Pooh and Mr. Toad before him, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse and group all real life characters. It's always been that way...Stitch was not even a stretch. There are many others. Why all this concern about it now. Disneyland was built around cartoons and make-believe child like stories.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Just out of curiosity when what MK not cartoonified? Were Snow White, Pinocchio, Pooh and Mr. Toad before him, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse and group all real life characters. It's always been that way...Stitch was not even a stretch. There are many others. Why all this concern about it now. Disneyland was built around cartoons and make-believe child like stories.

The castle parks have always featured cartoons. Chip 'n Dale on MS and all that. But the only cartoon lands were Fantasyland.

Tomorrowland was about space, future transport, world travel (and some peculiar vintage DL attractions about paint, chemicals, future living, to get sponsors in). Frontierland about cowboys and indians. Adventureland, Liberty Square and New Orleans were populated by pirates, humanoid ghosts, dead presidents.

Only after the mid-90's were the castle parks cartoonified. For example, the Treehouse was turned into Tarzan's treehouse. The Three Mile Long bar was renamed after a cartoon character, Pecos Bill, with his cartoon mug over the entrance, where up until the late nineties, human gangsters were shot of the roof by human sherrifs. Mission to the Moon via several steps ended up as Stitch. Originally, it looked like a NASA control room there. A cartoon spinner was dumped into Adventureland. But AL always was populated by real people! Even if statues can sing and the animals behave oddly. The steamtrain at MS and steamship at the Rivers of America transport people, through human places.
A visit to a castle park is not you being Bob Hoskins following Roger Rabbit into the world of cartoons.

The MK's are not cartoon parks! They are environments themed to human places, that provide adult entertainment. Well stuff for the young at heart. Cartoons belong in Fantasyland and Toontown.

 

[FettFan]

The castle parks have always featured cartoons. Chip 'n Dale on MS and all that. But the only cartoon lands were Fantasyland.

Tomorrowland was about space, future transport, world travel (and some peculiar vintage DL attractions about paint, chemicals, future living, to get sponsors in). Frontierland about cowboys and indians. Adventureland, Liberty Square and New Orleans were populated by pirates, humanoid ghosts, dead presidents.

Only after the mid-90's were the castle parks cartoonified. For example, the Treehouse was turned into Tarzan's treehouse. The Three Mile Long bar was renamed after a cartoon character, Pecos Bill, with his cartoon mug over the entrance, where up until the late nineties, human gangsters were shot of the roof by human sherrifs. Mission to the Moon via several steps ended up as Stitch. Originally, it looked like a NASA control room there. A cartoon spinner was dumped into Adventureland. But AL always was populated by real people! Even if statues can sing and the animals behave oddly. The steamtrain at MS and steamship at the Rivers of America transport people, through human places.
A visit to a castle park is not you being Bob Hoskins following Roger Rabbit into the world of cartoons.

The MK's are not cartoon parks! They are environments themed to human places, that provide adult entertainment. Well stuff for the young at heart. Cartoons belong in Fantasyland and Toontown.

And even then, the "cartoonified" Fantasyland wasn't dumbed down. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride actually sent you to HELL.

Featuring rather Figment-looking demons...

 

[Gabe1]

$100 mil for Mermaid? Goodness that's a bigger waste than Universal's $110 million Jurassic Park River Adventure. I'm guessing most of it went to rock work?

lololololol

 

[The Empress Lilly]

And even then, the "cartoonified" Fantasyland wasn't dumbed down. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride actually sent you to HELL.

Featuring rather Figment-looking demons...

Great point!

Let's add a scary Snow White. And a humanoid 20k. And no cartoon character villages (Rapunzel, Belle, Ariel), but a town inhabited by humans.

I am quite convinced that this is why New Fantasyland falls emotionally flat. It's not the lack of rides. No, Walt understood that people are people. If they visit a human space, they are transported. They are participants. Whereas if they visit a cartoon environment, then the human is a mere guest, will always remain an outsider, a spectator. He visits a place rather than be transported to within it. It is not emotionally satisfying, and so feel flat.


The dragons do look like Figment's evil twins!

 

[Thrill]

I'm guessing that had Horizons been built today, it would have cost a lot more than even $141 million. The Little Mermaid ride supposedly cost around $100 million to build (don't know how accurate or close that really is), and with the exception of 2-3 of the animatronic figures being pretty impressive, it's nowhere close to being on the same level as Horizons or any of the other major Future World E Tickets. Disney has become a horribly bloated and wasteful company when it comes to building things at their parks, their current rides burn WAY more money than is necessary considering the end result.

I'll believe $60 million for Horizons 30 years ago.

But yeah, Disney is bloated. If they rebuilt Horizons, World of Motion, and Imagination, I'd be incredibly shocked to see them do it for less than $600 million. Carsland was almost that much. That's all area theming, but the rides themselves would be so, so expensive for today's Disney to build.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The castle parks have always featured cartoons. Chip 'n Dale on MS and all that. But the only cartoon lands were Fantasyland.

Tomorrowland was about space, future transport, world travel (and some peculiar vintage DL attractions about paint, chemicals, future living, to get sponsors in). Frontierland about cowboys and indians. Adventureland, Liberty Square and New Orleans were populated by pirates, humanoid ghosts, dead presidents.

Only after the mid-90's were the castle parks cartoonified. For example, the Treehouse was turned into Tarzan's treehouse. The Three Mile Long bar was renamed after a cartoon character, Pecos Bill, with his cartoon mug over the entrance, where up until the late nineties, human gangsters were shot of the roof by human sherrifs. Mission to the Moon via several steps ended up as Stitch. Originally, it looked like a NASA control room there. A cartoon spinner was dumped into Adventureland. But AL always was populated by real people! Even if statues can sing and the animals behave oddly. The steamtrain at MS and steamship at the Rivers of America transport people, through human places.
A visit to a castle park is not you being Bob Hoskins following Roger Rabbit into the world of cartoons.

The MK's are not cartoon parks! They are environments themed to human places, that provide adult entertainment. Well stuff for the young at heart. Cartoons belong in Fantasyland and Toontown.

I guess I see your point, but, to be honest, I'm an adult, 65 years old, and still love cartoons. I don't even seem to be conscience of their presence to an unacceptable degree. I mean it is Disney. If it wasn't for cartoons Disney parks would not even exist. I can't think of anything that fits more naturally in a Disney Fantasy park in any of the lands.

Anyway, to each his own, but, as an old adult, I have absolutely no problem with enjoying something in MK that has a cartoon connection. Epcot, well, a little different. For example I have no problem with their inclusion in Seas, but, in the Mexican Pavilion...totally unnecessary regardless of age.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Sorry, got to laugh at all the, " I wish AE, Horizons, World of Motion, etc, should still be there", responses because when I rode AE and Horizons on their last days, there were no one in those attractions. AE was completely dead, no one was waiting for those doors to open. Same with Horizons but not as bad.

Give Disney credit, they closed them down with good reason, no matter how much they cost to be made, they cost more to keep open without people turning the turnstiles.

Good riddance.

Jimmy Thick- Stitch is a better attraction, believe it or not.