Matt_Black
Well-Known Member
Same here. I saw a few people a bit tipsy, but I've not seen any mischief or outbursts.
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The worst decision WDW ever made?
- Thread starter okcthunder
- Start date
Same here. I saw a few people a bit tipsy, but I've not seen any mischief or outbursts.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
I think the DDP. It made everything more expensive a la carte and dragged down some of the really good restaurants. Oh and closing Pleasure Island
Eliminating from the budget many of the unique music groups that you used to be able to see throughout the resort....Hollywood Hit Men in Studios, FutureCorps in EPCOT, Tubafours in various places. Thanks goodness they have kept some groups, but there used to be so much more!
Opening the gates to PI, which led to the closing of PI.
Imagination.
Closing the Catwalk Bar above what is now the Playhouse Disney attraction. Such an easy and cheap place to maintain (whenever we were there, it was one employee total working and it used the Brown Derby kitchen and bar supplies) and allow for a great respite from the craziness of the park.
Opening the gates to PI, which led to the closing of PI.
Imagination.
Closing the Catwalk Bar above what is now the Playhouse Disney attraction. Such an easy and cheap place to maintain (whenever we were there, it was one employee total working and it used the Brown Derby kitchen and bar supplies) and allow for a great respite from the craziness of the park.
WDWVolFan
Well-Known Member
This is Disney as a whole. Stop using MGM as a Studio or at least keeping it like one not the mess it is today.
Disney Shib
Well-Known Member
and right when I turned 21 too!
ariel90
Active Member
Worst Decisions...
-closing pleasure island Becuase that will totally help you when you're competing with City Walk in Universal studios. Plus there were a lot of Disney fans looking forward to going there such as myself.
-using canal water to increase water levels in the lakes which made them brown (that's the reason I'm heard).
- stitches great escape because it makes my soul itch
-closing pleasure island Becuase that will totally help you when you're competing with City Walk in Universal studios. Plus there were a lot of Disney fans looking forward to going there such as myself.
-using canal water to increase water levels in the lakes which made them brown (that's the reason I'm heard).
- stitches great escape because it makes my soul itch
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The canals and lakes are all part of the same water management system that make the swamp usable.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Cannot lie....I totally read that as "transvestites".
Kuzcotopia
Well-Known Member
Nextinline
Well-Known Member
It is hard to say that large sweeping decisions were mistakes because obviously Disney has found troves of success since opening WDW, but I think you can make an argument that building EPCOT was WDW's biggest mistake. More specifically, building Epcot without a unified idea of what it was suppose to be. Once Walt's original idea was abandoned it should've been back to the drawing board.
With Epcot, followed by MGM, Disney opened two gates that were ill-conceived to begin with & would be impossible to keep up with the times. MK (which is really Disneyland+) is now a 60 year old idea still going strong. EPCOT & MGM didn't last half that long without major character issues. Because of its timelessness, world showcase is the most successful (& arguably only successful) part of either park.
If you believe any of the above, you might believe that Animal Kingdom can be the second best gate at WDW. It has a fully realized & timeless theme, & is starting to get some serious investments with Harambe (very well done), the new night show, Avatar, etc.
Building Epcot created a timeline that gave us quantity over quality. I would rather have two parks of MK quality than 6 parks of HS quality. So I'll boldly say that building Epcot was WDW worst mistake.
With Epcot, followed by MGM, Disney opened two gates that were ill-conceived to begin with & would be impossible to keep up with the times. MK (which is really Disneyland+) is now a 60 year old idea still going strong. EPCOT & MGM didn't last half that long without major character issues. Because of its timelessness, world showcase is the most successful (& arguably only successful) part of either park.
If you believe any of the above, you might believe that Animal Kingdom can be the second best gate at WDW. It has a fully realized & timeless theme, & is starting to get some serious investments with Harambe (very well done), the new night show, Avatar, etc.
Building Epcot created a timeline that gave us quantity over quality. I would rather have two parks of MK quality than 6 parks of HS quality. So I'll boldly say that building Epcot was WDW worst mistake.
Launchpad McQuack
Well-Known Member
I am going to have to disagree with those saying that Avatar is such a huge mistake. While whether or not the Avatar theme is going to be a long-lasting franchise, that doesn't really matter so much to me. The key is that it is a very imaginative, visually striking, adventurous world. It lends itself well to attractions, and that's what matters in the long run, in my opinion. The theme/IP is only as good as the attractions it inspires.
For example, my wife has never seen a Star Wars movie (and often tells me she has no real desire to because I have been trying to change that), but she LOVES the redone Star Tours. She is really excited about doing it again in September. If Avatar does something similar, it doesn't matter if people are in love with the movie franchise or not.
To further this... how many current WDW guests have even seen Song of the South? Disney tries to keep that film locked away and hidden because of the racial content. However, Splash Mountain is one of the most popular attractions in WDW. When I was a kid, I had no idea what movie it was even based on. It's the attraction that matters, and Splash Mountain is a great attraction.
All this being said... I have no idea if Avatar will pan out, but I hope it does. Why would I pull against it? If it's a massive flop, then not only will it negatively affect my enjoyment of the park, but it will be a waste of space until it is rethemed decades from now.
For example, my wife has never seen a Star Wars movie (and often tells me she has no real desire to because I have been trying to change that), but she LOVES the redone Star Tours. She is really excited about doing it again in September. If Avatar does something similar, it doesn't matter if people are in love with the movie franchise or not.
To further this... how many current WDW guests have even seen Song of the South? Disney tries to keep that film locked away and hidden because of the racial content. However, Splash Mountain is one of the most popular attractions in WDW. When I was a kid, I had no idea what movie it was even based on. It's the attraction that matters, and Splash Mountain is a great attraction.
All this being said... I have no idea if Avatar will pan out, but I hope it does. Why would I pull against it? If it's a massive flop, then not only will it negatively affect my enjoyment of the park, but it will be a waste of space until it is rethemed decades from now.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I'm afraid that I have to disagree on a couple of points there. EPCOT Ctr. had a very unified idea of what was supposed to be. Walt's original idea had absolutely nothing to do with the EPCOT Ctr. that was opened in 1982. Walt's EPCOT was an actual planned city. Not a theme park but a working community. My strong opinion is that it was an awfully good thing that Mr. Disney didn't live long enough to actually make that a reality. It would have killed, bankrupt and destroyed the Disney Company. It was an idea that was so communal that it was against all the stuff that Americans called sacred. The only reason why MK was even part of it was because Walt was made to realize that in order to have financial backing he need to have a reason for people to go to the location. MK would be that tool.
Neither EPCOT or Disney MGM were ill conceived as far as purpose was concerned. However, many things that look good on paper, do not always pan out. With Epcot, Disney misjudged on two counts. One was that many people were not impressed with the Edutainment aspect of the park. Many felt that they were being forced to attend school while on vacation. Second, at the time that both were built technology was moving at a much slower pace then it was by the 90's. Just like Tomorrowland, it didn't take a scientist to realize that it was impossible to guess what was to come in the future. It was moving so fast that even if they could make a guess, by the time they got it into place, it would have been obsolete. Disney/MGM would have been logical on paper. They were a studio, all that had to do was divide up the workload between California and Florida, but, that proved to be expensive and hard to manage... so it was just left to decide it's own destiny.
DAK is a beautiful park, but, it is a dull park. Without EE it could be a rest home. Because of the needed foliage to create the theme, it is air restricted and without a doubt the hottest park in all of WDW. The constant responsibility to maintain the animals in a safe and humane way, is very costly and I really doubt that it pulls it's own weight, profit wise. So if anyone were to ask me I would have to say that the mistake, if there is one, would be in opening DAK. After all these years it still hasn't grown a large enough audience to call it a success. It was a great idea, but unneeded and has drawn millions of dollars away from the other parks basically since it opened. If one doesn't believe it, just think about what would happen, right now if they decided to shut down EE to fix Disco Yeti. It would almost be a ghost town. Everything other then EE is a do once attraction. Do them once and there is no need to repeat.
I_heart_Tigger
Well-Known Member
Going forward with Blahvatar Land at Animal Kingdom before they made an Australian themed section. Hmmm...what would go nice with Asia and Africa and could easily tie in with animals? I know...a stupid movie about blue CGI people! 
Nextinline
Well-Known Member
I admit that some of my post was for shock-factor & I agree that Epcot & MGM began with coherent ideas. I also agree that EPCOT as Walt envisioned could only have been pulled off with him managing it, if it could be successful at all.
With that being said, I think that Disney's success stems from two things; immersion & timelessness. World Showcase offers both of those things. Future World doesn't. Studios may have at one time attempted to offer an immersive environment but now.... hat. AK has the infrastructure in place to be immersive & timeless.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Agreed, but I think it is going to need a lot more then a bunch of tall smurfs to pull that off.
