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

[Nmoody1]

Two new nighttime spectaculars- One that nobody really wanted and one that was supposed to be temporary but is going to stick around instead.

Two amazing opening day resorts were refurbished with IPs that nobody wanted

Fresh coat of paint- This is just basic park maintenance, nothing special here.

Points of light- this is neat but not 50 years neat.

Space 220, a restaurant that was supposed to open in 2019 has nothing to do with the 50th.

Creations Shop- another toning down of a store. More of an Epcot 40th thing.

Confectionery- "Basic Refurbishment"

Character costumes- Cool but not a big deal for a milestone as huge as this.

Let's not play down the confectionary basic refurbishment..... we got a sponsor! Just what everyone was hoping for!!! Candy you can get anywhere is now available on Main Street! My 50th dreams came true!

 

[Dan Deesnee]

That's completely ridiculous. No one was prepared for this, and no one could have been. It's unprecedented.

We've had pandemic scares before - and none have ended up like COVID, not even close. To think that Disney should have had a crystal ball for *this* is about as much of an example of "hindsight is 20/20" as you can possibly get.

I work in the financial industry. Everyone I talk to had covid on their radar around the end of 2019 trying to predict what would happen when it hit the states. In January 2020 articles are being written about it's rapid spread.

Disney is one of the largest corporations in the world. They have economist and financial experts to advise them on these matters. This would have been nearly 2 years out from the start of the 50th anniversary. If they didn't run scenarios around January or February of 2020 to try to figure out what to do if the pandemic ended up being as bad as it did then they are not a very well-run company.

Even if somehow they didn't see any of this coming. Nothing changes the fact that they had a minimum of one year during the pandemic to turn the 50th into something special and they have mostly failed at that.

 

[mikejs78]

8 billion people. No shortage.

Are you familiar with the fact that there are travel bans in place right now?.. Most of WDW's standard international workforce can't get into the US.

 

[mikejs78]

I work in the financial industry. Everyone I talk to had covid on their radar around the end of 2019 trying to predict what would happen when it hit the states. In January 2020 articles are being written about it's rapid spread.

Disney is one of the largest corporations in the world. They have economist and financial experts to advise them on these matters. This would have been nearly 2 years out from the start of the 50th anniversary. If they didn't run scenarios around January or February of 2020 to try to figure out what to do if the pandemic ended up being as bad as it did then they are not a very well-run company.

Even if somehow they didn't see any of this coming. Nothing changes the fact that they had a minimum of one year during the pandemic to turn the 50th into something special and they have mostly failed at that.

People were running scenarios but no one ran scenarios on what we ended up with. This is disingenuous.

 

[CntrlFlPete]

They have been

good to hear! Really though, the front of the park looks great, nice job w/ the Train Station and all down main street. Just looked like they were leaving some big things until the last minute or something that (to me) is just cutting it too close to the big day (although that day last for 18 months in a marketing point of view).

 

[monothingie]

Who is to say that even without the pandemic, would the 50th be still disappointing to some?

Other than possibly having two additional E-Tickets (Tron and GOTG) which were not even guaranteed to have been ready for 10/1, what would you expect from Disney other than more earade$cent merch, FU new annual passes, a too big to fail EPCOT show, and some new fireworks?

If you were expecting parades, ride overlays, year round special events, and other guest forward things, the current day Disney is not capable of that.

 

[mikejs78]

Who is to say that even without the pandemic, would the 50th be still disappointing to some?

Other than possibly having two additional E-Tickets (Tron and GOTG) which were not even guaranteed to have been ready for 10/1, what would you expect from Disney other than more earade$cent merch, FU new annual passes, a too big to fail EPCOT show, and some new fireworks?

If you were expecting parades, ride overlays, year round special events, and other guest forward things, the current day Disney is not capable of that.

I mean, apparently much of that was planned before the pandemic. So I think it's a bit disingenuous to say that they aren't capable of that, as it was being planned that way. We have no way of knowing how much would have happened vs been cut if there had been no pandemic. I'm sure some of it would have been, but I am fairly confident we would have gotten more ( a night parade, some attraction plussing) had COVID not happened.

 

[monothingie]

but I am fairly confident we would have gotten more ( a night parade, some attraction plussing) had COVID not happened.

I guess we will just disagree. Under the previous and current regime, Disney has always been about doing the bare minimum. They know they have a captive audience, so there is little incentive to do extra.

When they got rid of MSEP, guests still came in record numbers regardless. Most guests probably don't even remember or know there was an evening parade. So why should Disney alter course now?

 

[castlecake2.0]

good to hear! Really though, the front of the park looks great, nice job w/ the Train Station and all down main street. Just looked like they were leaving some big things until the last minute or something that (to me) is just cutting it too close to the big day (although that day last for 18 months in a marketing point of view).

Definitely cutting it close but third shift has been hustling to get as much done as possible

 

[jrhwdw]

I guess The Magic Is Calling this morning!!!

Look at This!!!!:

 

[HauntedPirate]

That guy is 2 seconds from overdosing on pixie dust at any given time.

 

[vikescaper]

That guy is 2 seconds from overdosing on pixie dust at any given time.

This person forgot the most important thing we got for the celebration….the re-imagined entrance arches.

 

[John park hopper]

And let's not forget we got price increases for all these great upgrades

 

[ToTBellHop]

And let's not forget we got price increases for all these great upgrades

Ice cream at the grocery store tastes the same but costs a lot more than before the pandemic, as well. Grrr.

 

[BigE42984]

View attachment 589369
Am I the only one that thinks this is fantastically ugly for an anniversary special promotional picture? To me it speaks directly to the hurried, schizophrenic, tone deaf approach they have taken to the whole thing.
And once again a special that, although it mentions some historical perspective, emphasizes pop stars, athletes, and performances that seem to have nothing to do with WDW itself. I will give it a chance, but it seems tone-deaf to a 50th anniversary of a place that changed vacations and brought so much real innovation. I know I would rather emphasize interviews with the imagineers and innovators who made WDW.

Par for the course for WDW anniversary specials though. I've been rewatching old anniversary specials, and they're mostly awful. The grand opening special has Julie Andrews, but other than that, it's Glen Campbell wandering around property and Jonathan Winters badgering his wife so much she runs away. The 10th shows a family on vacation at WDW, but any of the sketches could happen anywhere. The 15th is solid, takes place mostly on Main Street with Bea Arthur and Betty White hosting, and promotes the new EPCOT Center. Other than that, it's pop performances, with Charlton Heston doing some patriotic thing. The 20th is the worst. It's just Michael Eisner going to various celebrities asking them to host the special and getting turned down, with some pop performances sprinkled in.

 

[raymusiccity]

But, it's 9 Minutes....Plus the reason some songs and jokes were cut was they were too "sensitive" to this day in age..

Mostly a time issue. 'Blood on the Saddle' isn't exactly a sensitive melody!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Mostly a time issue. 'Blood on the Saddle' isn't exactly a sensitive melody!

From comparing what was removed...most of it was...

• The banter of Melvin, Max, and Buff,
• The tail end of Bear Band Serenade
• Wendel's intro with The Fractured Folk Song
• Zeke's Devilish Mary
• And a minute removed from Bear Tracks Finale

 

[HauntedPirate]

Not to sound like an excuse, but they have made it clear all along that the 50th anniversary celebration would be 18th months long. Not specifically a 1 day event. So what you think it implied and how they have specified it are entirely different.

“… will open in time for the 50th anniversary in 2021” is pretty clear to me. You don’t specify that on an announcement if it’s meant to open sometime between October 1, 2021 and March, 2023.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

Ice cream at the grocery store costs the same but costs a lot more than before the pandemic, as well. Grrr.

Shrinkflation. Pay the same for less.

Although this is something that people rarely bring up in this thread or any other threads complaining about Disney's price hikes. The price of everything has gone up in the past year so. It's inflation. Why would Disney not raise prices too I guess?

The big question I think about often though is will they lower prices when inflation starts to ease? It seems to me that instead they would introduce new (or return old) perks to justify keeping the prices where they are.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Shrinkflation. Pay the same for less.

Although this is something that people rarely bring up in this thread or any other threads complaining about Disney's price hikes. The price of everything has gone up in the past year so. It's inflation. Why would Disney not raise prices too I guess?

The big question I think about often though is will they lower prices when inflation starts to ease? It seems to me that instead they would introduce new (or return old) perks to justify keeping the prices where they are.

Reducing prices is verboten. Offering select discounts and/or perks is the only bullet in their gun if attendance falls off.