The World's Most Magical Celebration - Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary

[Figments Friend]

I'm sure in the few days leading up to the 1st the official Disney Parks Blog or even the unofficial online sources will 'announce' the special goods being released on 'The Day'.
Fully expect that to happen ....but perhaps this time they will keep a few real surprises up their sleeve.
Just about every major Park Anniversary tie in has done some pre-day of release promotion to create hype from what I recall over the years.
And word spreading about what will be availible moves twice the speed of light via social media platforms these days....even more so now it seems.

Of course there is always the chance some items nobody will know about until day of....or know what they look like visually.
Little surprises to look forward to.
Some examples being perhaps -
(Guesses below based on if they decide to follow similar patterns of past Park Anniversaries )

50th Anniversary day of Guide Map
50th Anniversary day of pinback button
50th Aniversary cupcake ( woo...wouldn't be a Aniversary without one, right?)
50th Anniversary Limited Edition Trading Pin Release
50th Anniversary Sipper Cup
50th Anniversary Limited Edition poster / art print / object de art / etc.


When I was involved in Epcot's 25th Anniversary event that took place , we all knew well in advance what the merch was going to be.
It was announced officially by Disney a week or two before the 'big day'.
When our small group of organizers were escorted into MouseGear that morning before the days' events started, we all already had our 'shopping lists' and knew what we wanted to look for.
Some of the more memorable items were the numbered Limited Edition Figment plush ( dressed as a version of Dreamfinder ), a high end anniversary Epcot watch ( pricey ), 'vintage' Spaceship Earth poster art shirt reproduction ( including a Cast Only version ), and the 25th Anniversary pin series ( including a Passholder version ).

The only things I recall us not knowing about in advance was the special 25th Guide Map and free buttonback pin.
Well, actually..Epcot's VP met us the day before and shared a sneak peek of the cool Guide Map...so we kinda knew a day in advance.
The buttonback pin giveaways were a complete unknown until day-of.

-

 

[HauntedPirate]

I’ll have to post my list of 50th merchandise guesses on Monday, it’s on my work laptop.

I won’t ever spend a penny on the eBay ripoff artists.

More current 50th logo’d merchandise = Fewer dollars out of my pocket. I don’t even get into the retro stuff, for the most part. Reprints/repro’s are an easy pass for me. The only exception I can think of is an SSE 1982 t-shirt, based on this.

 

[mikejs78]

What the 50th should have been:

* Everything they are already doing
* New nighttime shows at DAK, DHS
* New parade at MK
* Parades at Epcot, DHS, and DAK
* An Epcot not completely torn apart
* A new night parade at MK
* PTN at DHS
* All new shows at DHS
* Plussing of numerous classic MK attractions (e.g. explosions for BTM).
* Fantasmic plussing
* A replacement for Stitch
* Lots of entertainment throughout the resort
* Something at each of the resort hotels

I get the pandemic threw a wrench into some things, but the 50th could have been so much more.

 

[Haymarket2008]

What the 50th should have been:

* Everything they are already doing
* New nighttime shows at DAK, DHS
* New parade at MK
* Parades at Epcot, DHS, and DAK

* An Epcot not completely torn apart
* A new night parade at MK
* PTN at DHS
* All new shows at DHS
* Plussing of numerous classic MK attractions (e.g. explosions for BTM).
* Fantastic plussing
* A replacement for Stitch
* Lots of entertainment throughout the resort
* Something at each of the resort hotels

I get the pandemic threw a wrench into some things, but the 50th could have been so much more.

Definitely, but the 50th seems to be on a rolling basis when it comes to new additions. There will be plenty of smaller/medium sized projects popping up in 2022 into 2023.

 

[doctornick]

Definitely, but the 50th seems to be on a rolling basis when it comes to new additions. There will be plenty of smaller/medium sized projects popping up in 2022 into 2023.

I'm hoping that they at least do some plussing of existing rides sometime during the year (beyond the already announced Philharmagic scene addition). Why wouldn't they be adding the explosions to BTM and Hatbox ghost to HM, etc? And refurb PPF while you're at it to improve the show quality.

 

[FigmentForever96]

What the 50th should have been:

* Everything they are already doing
* New nighttime shows at DAK, DHS
* New parade at MK
* Parades at Epcot, DHS, and DAK
* An Epcot not completely torn apart
* A new night parade at MK
* PTN at DHS
* All new shows at DHS
* Plussing of numerous classic MK attractions (e.g. explosions for BTM).
* Fantastic plussing
* A replacement for Stitch
* Lots of entertainment throughout the resort
* Something at each of the resort hotels

I get the pandemic threw a wrench into some things, but the 50th could have been so much more.

Unless they did some sort of river parade (which would probably lead to lackluster viewing options), Animal kingdom should never have a parade again. An absolute nightmare for crowd flow.

 

[UNCgolf]

* Fantastic plussing

I assume this was supposed to be Fantasmic, but it made me chuckle and I like the idea. They need fantastic plussing everywhere!

 

[trainplane3]

While it's difficult to compare the two...being at Cedar Point for the 150th anniversary was something else. I really hope there's a lot more to whatever Disney has planned. Cedar Point was really firing on all cylinders during my time there. They went all in on nostalgia, giveaways, lots of new shows and entertainment, and of course the new parade. In fact, for a place known for coasters...the second day I was there I barely rode any! The park overall was in great shape. Nice touches like the Gemini logos, Corkscrew train repaints, and Magnum receiving it's own station music loop plus final tunnel effects were great to see.

They did what parks should do for anniversaries, nostalgia. Lots of well designed merch featuring many rides from the past. Remind people why they came to the park in the first place. The history signs around the park were an excellent touch. Instead of burying the parks history like Disney seems to like doing (or barely mention it on a limited basis), everything was brought up somewhere. They even dug Dave out of his box, fixed him up, and put him on display in the Gatekeeper gift shop (where the ride he was part of used to be).


Not a Disney quality AA but the point is, they wanted to show him off. They gain nothing from it but it makes fans happy.

There's much more to an anniversary then opening a shiny new coaster (or 2 well behind schedule coasters).

 

[UNCgolf]

There's much more to an anniversary then opening a shiny new coaster (or 2 well behind schedule coasters).

Especially when Disney isn't even a coaster park. They do have Ratatouille as well, but it's a shame they aren't also opening an elaborate new dark ride, which is what Disney is really known for. A completely redone Imagination would have been much better than any of the actual new attractions.

 

[doctornick]

Unless they did some sort of river parade (which would probably lead to lackluster viewing options), Animal kingdom should never have a parade again. An absolute nightmare for crowd flow.

It should have a water based show during the day like Mythica (but with an animal theme).

 

[trainplane3]

Especially when Disney isn't even a coaster park. They do have Ratatouille as well, but it's a shame they aren't also opening an elaborate new dark ride, which is what Disney is really known for. A completely redone Imagination would have been much better than any of the actual new attractions.

I do kinda chuckle at the trackless openings in WDW. First we had RotR, a unique, high tech, one of a kind trackless ride with some neat party tricks. The MMRR, cute, kinda fun trackless, with a weird but kinda interesting style(?) that is in the wrong spot but at least gets people into it's seats. Then we have Rat, again cute but without any really interesting party tricks. It feels like you could have a better ride by making it a old fashioned bus-bar ride.

I really hope the regular park goers aren't expecting Rat to be better then the previous two because that'd be bound to cause disappointment. At least it didn't replace anything.

- RotR
- MMRR
- Rat

 

[LittleBuford]

I do kinda chuckle at the trackless openings in WDW. First we had RotR, a unique, high tech, one of a kind trackless ride with some neat party tricks. The MMRR, cute, kinda fun trackless, with a weird but kinda interesting style(?) that is in the wrong spots but at least gets people into it's seats. Then we have Rat, again cute but without any really interesting party tricks. It feels like you could have a better ride by making it a old fashioned bus-bar ride.

I really hope the regular park goers aren't expecting Rat to be better then the previous two because that'd be bound to cause disappointment. At least it didn't replace anything.

- RotR
- MMRR
- Rat

Having ridden it in Paris, I think people sell Ratatouille short. It's great fun and very well done.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I do kinda chuckle at the trackless openings in WDW. First we had RotR, a unique, high tech, one of a kind trackless ride with some neat party tricks. The MMRR, cute, kinda fun trackless, with a weird but kinda interesting style(?) that is in the wrong spots but at least gets people into it's seats. Then we have Rat, again cute but without any really interesting party tricks. It feels like you could have a better ride by making it a old fashioned bus-bar ride.

I really hope the regular park goers aren't expecting Rat to be better then the previous two because that'd be bound to cause disappointment. At least it didn't replace anything.

- RotR
- MMRR
- Rat

- Mystic Manor
- RotR
- MMRR
- Rat
- Antarctica

 

[UNCgolf]

Having ridden it in Paris, I think people sell Ratatouille short. It's great fun and very well done.

Some of it is just personal preference. Rat is almost entirely screens, and the only heavily screen based rides I really enjoy are Soarin' and Flight of Passage -- and I don't like FoP nearly as much as other people do. Screens just don't work for me on a ride unless they're a supplement, which is why Rat looks mediocre to me.

 

[LittleBuford]

Some of it is just personal preference. Rat is almost entirely screens, and the only heavily screen based rides I really enjoy are Soarin' and Flight of Passage -- and I don't like FoP nearly as much as other people do. Screens just don't work for me on a ride unless they're a supplement, which is why Rat looks mediocre to me.

I'm not sure if you've experienced it in person, but it didn't feel screen-heavy to me. (I too generally don't like screen-centric rides.)

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm not sure if you've experienced it in person, but it didn't feel screen-heavy to me. (I too generally don't like screen-centric rides.)

I haven't been on it in person, but in watching a ride video, it looks like roughly 90% of the ride is just watching something on a screen in front of you. There are at least some physical props scattered throughout, but it looks more screen heavy than any currently existing ride at WDW outside of the aforementioned Soarin' and FoP.

 

[LittleBuford]

I haven't been on it in person, but in watching a ride video, it looks like roughly 90% of the ride is just watching something on a screen in front of you.

It doesn't feel that way, though. It's truly immersive.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I'm not sure if you've experienced it in person, but it didn't feel screen-heavy to me. (I too generally don't like screen-centric rides.)

I feel the same way and am a little surprised so many seem quite down on the ride.

This is one attraction where I think they used the trackless ride system very well in that it feels like you're scuttling from place to place, avoiding the issue of wide open spaces with sets at the extremity of the room. It is kind of simple in its use of screens, but I do think it works.

 

[UNCgolf]

It doesn't feel that way, though. It's truly immersive.

I'd love to be pleasantly surprised whenever I ride it, but based on my experience with other similar rides, I don't think I'll be impressed. Forbidden Journey is widely considered one of the best rides in the world but it didn't do much for me, partially because of the heavy reliance on screens (the ride system is terrible too, which is another major factor).

That doesn't mean I'll hate it -- I could see it being a fine mid-level ride. It's just unlikely that I'll ever consider it something worth riding as anything more than a short wait/walk-on. I'll find out for sure sometime in the next few years, though, and hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[celluloid]

I do kinda chuckle at the trackless openings in WDW. First we had RotR, a unique, high tech, one of a kind trackless ride with some neat party tricks. The MMRR, cute, kinda fun trackless, with a weird but kinda interesting style(?) that is in the wrong spots but at least gets people into it's seats. Then we have Rat, again cute but without any really interesting party tricks. It feels like you could have a better ride by making it a old fashioned bus-bar ride.

I really hope the regular park goers aren't expecting Rat to be better then the previous two because that'd be bound to cause disappointment. At least it didn't replace anything.

- RotR
- MMRR
- Rat

It is EPCOT, they are going with the concept of giving a very hungry person a chicken nugget and calling it a a steak.

We are talking about the park whose most recent major additions were changing films and rethemes for the last ten years. Its only minor benefit like Mickey and Minnie, is it is another gentle no height requirement ride that features some mild excitement.