I believe it! Just surprised Epcot/DHS is done with 50th Guidemaps already.
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The World's Most Magical Celebration - Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
Epcot still had the old ones yesterday, although that was at International Gateway, maybe the front of the park had the new ones?
brb1006
Well-Known Member
Here's a recap of Disney's preparations and execution for the resort's 50th Anniversary and its reception since tommorow is the final day of the anniversary.
For those that weren't around during Disneyland's 60th Anniversary Celebration back in 2015. WDW fans were actually impressed with the amount of offerings, decent merchandise, and how Disneyland's 60th Anniversary was mostly executed surprisingly decent. To the point that Disneyland Paris' 25th Anniversary took some notes from Disneyland's 60th such as going for a similar blue and white anniversary outfits for not only Mickey & Friends. But almost every Disney Character wore special anniversary attire during Paris' Anniversary. After Disneyland's 60th concluded, a lot of WDW fans were hoping Disney might go for something as special as Disneyland's 60th for years until WDW's 50th Anniversary actually teased at D23 2019 by Bob Iger. I remember there was tons of threads and comments talking about their excitement, hopes, and speculations for what Disney was planning for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary for 5 years. Especially since the 50th Anniversary would had been the perfect opportunity on WDW to gain a new electrical parade of its own after the death of Spectromagic. Not another clone or hand-me-down like PTN, MSEP, and Fantillusion (which was moved to Paris since Dreamlight was in development at the time).
Once Bob Chapek became the then-new CEO of Disney in early 2020 alongside COVID only further altering Disney's plans for WDW's 50th Anniversary. All the excitement and optimism for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary Celebration was dead on arrival.
* Disney Enchantment was focused on the most recent animated films by Disney and Pixar (which felt like a commercial for Disney+) and instead of Disney's Classic Films wouldn't make it relevant to WDW until near the end of the 50th Anniversary Celebration.
* Kite Tails was a complete joke of a show with Disneyland and Disney fans online having a field day with the execution.
* Harmonious was hated by longtime WDW and especially Epcot fans for the inclusion of Disney IP and the infamous barges. And was planned as a longtime replacement for Reflections of Earth.
* Gold Statues of Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars Characters found at the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom which were later made interactive with guests who had MagicBand+.
* Two cavalcades that felt like a typical character cavalcade ("Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary Cavalcade" and "Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade")
* And finally, the entire celebration just felt like an average day for WDW with the special ceremony on October 1, 2021 feeling very low-key.
As mentioned in a previous page, one of the few actually good offerings Disney made for WDW's 50th was the 50th Anniversary Tag for Electrical Water Pageant, Beacons of Light across all parks at WDW, and the introduction of Points of Light at Spaceship Earth.
Now if you excuse me, I'm going back to reminiscing about "Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary Celebration" (1996-1997) which had more love and effort put into it's marketing, better merchandise, and decent offerings in and out of the parks.
A TV Broadcast of the Re-dedication Ceremony of Walt Disney World on October 1, 1996 (a huge contrast to the small ceremony from October 1, 2021)
The 25th Anniversary Tag for "Fantasy in the Sky" (which was recorded on the exact day of its anniversary)
We sadly won't be seeing WDW throwing a major anniversary celebration for Walt Disney World (with 100 Years of Magic Celebration serving as a follow up WDW's 25th Anniversary) to this degree again for a long way. Say what you can about Michael Eisner, but the Eisner era of Disney was really dedicated to making guests both old and new actually feel special when it comes to major celebrations and milestones for the company and its theme park division. It's one of the few things I genuinely love and miss from Eisner.
The closest to a modern successor to WDW's 25th Anniversary Celebration was "Disneyland's 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration" at Disneyland Resort. Sure there were a few duds such the disastrous opening day and "World of Color: Celebrate" hardly about Disneyland and focusing more on Disney's Animated Films and Star Wars. But the marketing and commercials were sweet and actually cared about guests old and new.
For those that weren't around during Disneyland's 60th Anniversary Celebration back in 2015. WDW fans were actually impressed with the amount of offerings, decent merchandise, and how Disneyland's 60th Anniversary was mostly executed surprisingly decent. To the point that Disneyland Paris' 25th Anniversary took some notes from Disneyland's 60th such as going for a similar blue and white anniversary outfits for not only Mickey & Friends. But almost every Disney Character wore special anniversary attire during Paris' Anniversary. After Disneyland's 60th concluded, a lot of WDW fans were hoping Disney might go for something as special as Disneyland's 60th for years until WDW's 50th Anniversary actually teased at D23 2019 by Bob Iger. I remember there was tons of threads and comments talking about their excitement, hopes, and speculations for what Disney was planning for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary for 5 years. Especially since the 50th Anniversary would had been the perfect opportunity on WDW to gain a new electrical parade of its own after the death of Spectromagic. Not another clone or hand-me-down like PTN, MSEP, and Fantillusion (which was moved to Paris since Dreamlight was in development at the time).
Once Bob Chapek became the then-new CEO of Disney in early 2020 alongside COVID only further altering Disney's plans for WDW's 50th Anniversary. All the excitement and optimism for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary Celebration was dead on arrival.
* Disney Enchantment was focused on the most recent animated films by Disney and Pixar (which felt like a commercial for Disney+) and instead of Disney's Classic Films wouldn't make it relevant to WDW until near the end of the 50th Anniversary Celebration.
* Kite Tails was a complete joke of a show with Disneyland and Disney fans online having a field day with the execution.
* Harmonious was hated by longtime WDW and especially Epcot fans for the inclusion of Disney IP and the infamous barges. And was planned as a longtime replacement for Reflections of Earth.
* Gold Statues of Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars Characters found at the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom which were later made interactive with guests who had MagicBand+.
* Two cavalcades that felt like a typical character cavalcade ("Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary Cavalcade" and "Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade")
* And finally, the entire celebration just felt like an average day for WDW with the special ceremony on October 1, 2021 feeling very low-key.
As mentioned in a previous page, one of the few actually good offerings Disney made for WDW's 50th was the 50th Anniversary Tag for Electrical Water Pageant, Beacons of Light across all parks at WDW, and the introduction of Points of Light at Spaceship Earth.
Now if you excuse me, I'm going back to reminiscing about "Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary Celebration" (1996-1997) which had more love and effort put into it's marketing, better merchandise, and decent offerings in and out of the parks.
A TV Broadcast of the Re-dedication Ceremony of Walt Disney World on October 1, 1996 (a huge contrast to the small ceremony from October 1, 2021)
The 25th Anniversary Tag for "Fantasy in the Sky" (which was recorded on the exact day of its anniversary)
We sadly won't be seeing WDW throwing a major anniversary celebration for Walt Disney World (with 100 Years of Magic Celebration serving as a follow up WDW's 25th Anniversary) to this degree again for a long way. Say what you can about Michael Eisner, but the Eisner era of Disney was really dedicated to making guests both old and new actually feel special when it comes to major celebrations and milestones for the company and its theme park division. It's one of the few things I genuinely love and miss from Eisner.
The closest to a modern successor to WDW's 25th Anniversary Celebration was "Disneyland's 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration" at Disneyland Resort. Sure there were a few duds such the disastrous opening day and "World of Color: Celebrate" hardly about Disneyland and focusing more on Disney's Animated Films and Star Wars. But the marketing and commercials were sweet and actually cared about guests old and new.
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mm52200
Well-Known Member
50th cavalcade closes after tomorrow so the streets will be a little quieter, the Friendship Faire will continue on with the new song.
gerarar
Premium Member
That's good. I really like the "Where The Magic Feels Like Home" theme song they use in the opening and finale. One of the few highlights the MK got for the 50th imo.
OwlHouseKing97
Active Member
- In the Parks
- No
Before the World's Most Magical "Marketing Gimmick" finally comes to an end tomorrow, I would like to share my thoughts on what I liked about this, and what I didn't like about it
What I liked about WDW's 50th: some of them may be controversial(this was from someone who actually went to Disney during that time)
-The EARidescent outfits for Mickey and his pals
-The Fab 50 statues(even if it was 36 statues of 50 Disney characters, pretty confusing, but the presentation of the statues looked great)
-The Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade(even if it had nothing to do with the 50th and mainly consisted of recycled elements, I think it was the best entertainment offering introduced for this imo, due to the unique selection of characters(although it did cause Merida to be removed from Festival of Fantasy, only had two showings when I went, phased out characters like Marie & understandably, Clarabelle Cow for Raya & Mirabel respectively(I'd take the latter), even if the former was meant to replace Merida or Elena)
-Some of the food and drink offerings & merchandise(I had the Sip-a-Bration with Mickey at Polynesian and grabbed a few 50th pins)
-The Electrical Water Pageant's special 50th add-on(in fact, the experience of watching the show on the boat from the Seven Seas Lagoon(on my way to my resort back from Magic Kingdom) was pure magic)
What I didn't like about WDW's 50th:
-How it couldn't be a big birthday blowout like the 25th or even Disneyland's 50th(for obvious reasons), or even the 100 Years of Magic campaign to celebrate the late Walt Disney's 100th Birthday in 2001
-Most guests couldn't get to see the EARidescent outfits up close(sure, Mickey was sporting his EARidescent in Town Square(Minnie was there for a brief few months), and a few(Goofy, Donald, & Pluto) randomly popped up at resorts, but that was it, the only times you got to see the EARidescent costumes were in the castle opening show(although I enjoyed it when I was in the park, it was corny looking back with the non-articulated heads on Mickey & Minnie(despite having them in the Friendship Fare show, that returned last February) and the additional cavalcade dancers in place of the other characters like Stitch, the Princesses, Aladdin, the Stepsisters, etc.), the Celebration Cavalcade(I know guests loved it, but I'm sorry, it's overrated, it got a little too much attention due to this being a part of a "celebration" & Mickey is the mascot of the company, plus his friends are equally as timeless as the mouse himself, and caused the DAFC to be overshadowed), and on the train station(before the station reopened, which caused the train station greetings to stop(also, the Adventure Friends characters didn't get a chance to do any train station greetings(except on one occurrence on June 5th, 2022)
-The nighttime shows(Disney Enchantment & Harmonious) were misfires, even if the latter had a little bit of effort(despite the godawful barges) and had its fans, the former was a major disappointment and a poor follow-up to Happily Ever After(which thankfully, we're getting back pretty soon)
-The songs introduced for the 50th, The Magic is Calling & You Are the Magic(even if they're alright songs on their own), are kind of repetitive and aren't that emotional or heartwarming, compared to Remember When(the anthem for DL's 50th) or Remember the Magic(the anthem for WDW's 25th)
-Lastly, it just felt like an average day at the theme parks rather than be immersed into the 50th celebration and more like a marketing gimmick for park-goers than something that can be timeless and be remembered forever as much as WDW's 25th or DL's 50th
I'm just glad, we're all moving on from this(like we all did with The Great Movie Ride, the Streets of America, Horizons, The Owl House, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Mickey's Toontown Fair, etc. that either are now defunct or ended for good), and going to the next chapter of WDW's long-storied history, I apologize if there was too much content to write
What I liked about WDW's 50th: some of them may be controversial(this was from someone who actually went to Disney during that time)
-The EARidescent outfits for Mickey and his pals
-The Fab 50 statues(even if it was 36 statues of 50 Disney characters, pretty confusing, but the presentation of the statues looked great)
-The Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade(even if it had nothing to do with the 50th and mainly consisted of recycled elements, I think it was the best entertainment offering introduced for this imo, due to the unique selection of characters(although it did cause Merida to be removed from Festival of Fantasy, only had two showings when I went, phased out characters like Marie & understandably, Clarabelle Cow for Raya & Mirabel respectively(I'd take the latter), even if the former was meant to replace Merida or Elena)
-Some of the food and drink offerings & merchandise(I had the Sip-a-Bration with Mickey at Polynesian and grabbed a few 50th pins)
-The Electrical Water Pageant's special 50th add-on(in fact, the experience of watching the show on the boat from the Seven Seas Lagoon(on my way to my resort back from Magic Kingdom) was pure magic)
What I didn't like about WDW's 50th:
-How it couldn't be a big birthday blowout like the 25th or even Disneyland's 50th(for obvious reasons), or even the 100 Years of Magic campaign to celebrate the late Walt Disney's 100th Birthday in 2001
-Most guests couldn't get to see the EARidescent outfits up close(sure, Mickey was sporting his EARidescent in Town Square(Minnie was there for a brief few months), and a few(Goofy, Donald, & Pluto) randomly popped up at resorts, but that was it, the only times you got to see the EARidescent costumes were in the castle opening show(although I enjoyed it when I was in the park, it was corny looking back with the non-articulated heads on Mickey & Minnie(despite having them in the Friendship Fare show, that returned last February) and the additional cavalcade dancers in place of the other characters like Stitch, the Princesses, Aladdin, the Stepsisters, etc.), the Celebration Cavalcade(I know guests loved it, but I'm sorry, it's overrated, it got a little too much attention due to this being a part of a "celebration" & Mickey is the mascot of the company, plus his friends are equally as timeless as the mouse himself, and caused the DAFC to be overshadowed), and on the train station(before the station reopened, which caused the train station greetings to stop(also, the Adventure Friends characters didn't get a chance to do any train station greetings(except on one occurrence on June 5th, 2022)
-The nighttime shows(Disney Enchantment & Harmonious) were misfires, even if the latter had a little bit of effort(despite the godawful barges) and had its fans, the former was a major disappointment and a poor follow-up to Happily Ever After(which thankfully, we're getting back pretty soon)
-The songs introduced for the 50th, The Magic is Calling & You Are the Magic(even if they're alright songs on their own), are kind of repetitive and aren't that emotional or heartwarming, compared to Remember When(the anthem for DL's 50th) or Remember the Magic(the anthem for WDW's 25th)
-Lastly, it just felt like an average day at the theme parks rather than be immersed into the 50th celebration and more like a marketing gimmick for park-goers than something that can be timeless and be remembered forever as much as WDW's 25th or DL's 50th
I'm just glad, we're all moving on from this(like we all did with The Great Movie Ride, the Streets of America, Horizons, The Owl House, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Mickey's Toontown Fair, etc. that either are now defunct or ended for good), and going to the next chapter of WDW's long-storied history, I apologize if there was too much content to write
Are the Outfits Staying for MMFF??
Are we getting the 2017 Let The Magic Begin back on Sat or an all new one?
wtyy21
Well-Known Member
Wait for April 1, i suspected they will return to regular outfits (unless unpredictable situation happens). It already happens during post-YOMD dream along with Mickey.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
The 100 Years of Magic Celebration was not only hosted at Walt Disney World, but also celebrated WDW's 30th Birthday at the same time.
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Figments Friend
Well-Known Member
Is it over yet….?
(Looks at calendar…)
Aww, one more day to go.
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(Looks at calendar…)
Aww, one more day to go.
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ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
brb1006
Well-Known Member
Since today is the final day for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary Celebration. Here are two tweets that perfectly sums up Disney's preparations for WDW's 50th Anniversary and it's execution and general reactions from longtime WDW fans and visitors.
And in video format (replace Mr. Krabs as Bob Chapek, Krabbyland with WDW's actual offerings for the 50th Anniversary, and the fish children as longtime WDW fans and guests)
Here's a rare behind-the-scenes look at TDO's planning session for WDW's 50th Anniversary. Just replace Spongebob asking Mr. Krabs (modern Disney) about "The True meaning of Summer" with him telling Chapek and modern Disney about how "Meaningless and mundane the entire Anniversary feels compared to the 25th Anniversary".
And in video format (replace Mr. Krabs as Bob Chapek, Krabbyland with WDW's actual offerings for the 50th Anniversary, and the fish children as longtime WDW fans and guests)
Here's a rare behind-the-scenes look at TDO's planning session for WDW's 50th Anniversary. Just replace Spongebob asking Mr. Krabs (modern Disney) about "The True meaning of Summer" with him telling Chapek and modern Disney about how "Meaningless and mundane the entire Anniversary feels compared to the 25th Anniversary".
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BasiltheBatLord
Well-Known Member
I've never really understood all the scathing criticism about the 50th. It happened right in the middle of one of the worst periods in the company's history which they had no real way of avoiding, it was inevitable that it was going to be scaled back from what it was.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
We're aware of that, but Disney could at least done a better job with some of it's anniversary offerings despite being scaled down. Look at Disneyland Paris' 30th Anniversary Celebration for a good example of this. Both Harmonious and Enchantment (prior to adding an updated into and ending near the end of the 50th celebration) has nothing to do with the entire history of Walt Disney World.
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wtyy21
Well-Known Member
I remember there was high expectation regarding WDW's 50th prior to Chapek becoming CEO and particularly COVID, since Disney fans want to make WDW's 50th celebration rather on par with Disneyland's 50th celebration (The Happiest Homecoming on Earth) than DL's 60th. They want an nighttime spectacular more focused on the history of the resort. The fans even want to have a big ceremony for 50th like in 2005 at DL.
Unfortunately, after COVID hit and in aftermath there were many layoffs at Disney, the 50th anniversary plans were scaled down and many attractions or entertainment offerings were to scaled down, postponed, or scrapped (in case of Tron, they'll only officially open on April 4, three days after 50th ended and actually is the Disney100 offering). That's why Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary i regarded as one of worst theme park anniversary celebration in history, not even on par with DLP 30th celebration which was slightly more amazing despite occured during COVID era.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
Even the opening ceremony for WDW's 40th and 45th Anniversary day had much more fanfare.
The 50th Anniversary Ceremony was notably short and was treated as a typical morning show.
Not even a special re-dedication was held that morning and was saved for a different event hosted by both Iger and Chapek that evening for television.
Said re-dedication speech also lacked soul and felt more like a PR Speech. Contrast with Roy E. Disney's speech from October 1, 1996.
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brb1006
Well-Known Member
Don't forget Soul
brb1006
Well-Known Member
You would think Disney's flagship park would had found a better alternative to being on par with 50th even during COVID. But even The Magic Is Calling Anniversary Theme was notably weak compared to "Forever Young", "Remember The Magic" "Share a Dream Come True"' and "Remember When which all had better lyrics and didn't overuse the buzzword "Magic".