What’s worse? 1995-2003 or 2017-Current?

[MK-fan]

From 1995-2003, there were many unpopular bonehead decisions and various problems throughout the resort, the guest experience was severely lacking and we all know how bad it got but here is a list:

1. Thunder Mountain Accident
2. Columbia Ship Accident
3. Plaza Pavilion closure
4. Park begins to sell more generic merch
5. Penny Arcade become a store
6. Light Magic!
7. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
8. Cascade Peak is torn down
9. New Tomorrowland
10. One of a Kind shop closes
11. PeopleMover closes
12. Rocket Jets close
13. Circle-Vision closes
14. Mike Fink Keelboat accident
15. Swiss Family Treehouse is rethemed
16. Hideous Club Buzz Stage
17. Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough closes
18. Submarine Voyage closes
19. Starcade begins to close starting with the upper floor
20. Space Mountain is forced to close in 2003 to prevent accidents to yo the extra weight added from the speakers out in years prior
21. Main Street Electrical Parade has it’s “Final Season”
22. Enchanted Tiki Room show length is shortened
23. Aladdin’s Oasis fails as a restaurant and closes
24. Mike Fink Keelboats closure
25. Many Toontown features are taken out
26. Loss of the left side Mary Blair Murals
27. PC Pirates revamp
28. Space Mountain Speed ramp catches fire and is removed
29. Burning Settler’s Cabin no longer catches fire
30. Woody’s Roundup show at the Gilden Horseshoe is a big dud
31. Carnation Gardens closes it’s food offerings
32. Rocket Rods close with no replacement
33. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln renovation with headphones
34. Mickey’s Detective School show
35. Jolly Trolley closure
36. Tom Sawyer Island is neutered and Fort Wilderness closes
37. Radio Disney live Booth in Tomorrowland
38. Disney’s California Adventure
39. Park maintenance is cut
40. Ride rehabs are cut
41. Uti Tiki god falls into disrepair and collapses and never returns
42. X-Games Xperience
43. Teddi Berras Swingin’ Arcade closes

From 2017 to Today, there are not as many closures or accidents for that matter but the guest experience has significantly suffered almost to the point where Disney hardly cares about the guest experience at all, here is a list:

1. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure doesn’t hit the mark
2. Continuing High Prices on passes and tickets
3. Free fastpass ends
4. Theme Park entertainment is cut significantly
5. Reservation System
6. Avengers Campus
7. Madame Leota Store
8. Pixar Pier
9. San Fransokyo
10. Main Street Cinema becomes a store (momentarily)
11. Low moral among Disneyland employees
12. Genie Plus causes long lines for park guests
13. Lightning Lane
14. Splash Mountain closes
15. Mobile ordering
16. Lines to get into the park are insane
17. Guardians Mission Breakout is horrendous looking
18. Hyperion Theater is shuttered
19. Tower of Terror closes
20. Fantasyland Theater is shuttered
21. Paint the Night is hardly every used
22. Magic Happens is hardly ever used
23. High priced exclusive events
24. Galaxy’s Edge lacks life and more roaming characters
25. Fantasmic! Is constantly down
26. Tomorrowland terrace has no more bands and only puts on kids dance shows
27. New Tomorrowland entrance is delayed indefinitely
28. Cable Cars removed
29. Bluesky Cellar becomes DVC
30. Excessive ride breakdowns

I know 95-03 was horrendously worse due to the two deaths that occurred and it could be a one-sided argument because of it.

What would you say is worse?

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

It was really interesting to me how frank The Imagineering Story was about the Pressler era and how they ruthlessly threw Pressler under the bus in it, even though he himself was a featured interview (although the reason they did this was so they could setup Iger as the savior later in the series).

It makes me wonder if things ever improve in the future if the company will openly look back on this era as a mistake.

 

[shambolicdefending]

The Pressler Era was way worse than anything under the Bobs. Not even a comparison in my mind.

 

[Touchdown]

The Iger years have thus far not seen a death of a park guest due to an attraction. Thus my answer is no, it’s not worse.

 

[John park hopper]

Worse now IMO the explosion of DVC and no new themed resorts has made it worse

 

[denyuntilcaught]

Pressler Era was, hands down, way worse.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The Iger years have thus far not seen a death of a park guest due to an attraction. Thus my answer is no, it’s not worse.

Agreed. Also, While there have been cutbacks in landscaping etc. the parks and resorts still look good - the Pressler era got really rough.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

The Pressler era, definitely. His "efforts" damaged Walt's park. The later era's mistakes were mostly money grabs and DCA disasters. DCA means far less to the hardcore Disney fan base than the original Magic Kingdom I would guess.

 

[Disstevefan1]

From 1995-2003, there were many unpopular bonehead decisions and various problems throughout the resort, the guest experience was severely lacking and we all know how bad it got but here is a list:

1. Thunder Mountain Accident
2. Columbia Ship Accident
3. Plaza Pavilion closure
4. Park begins to sell more generic merch
5. Penny Arcade become a store
6. Light Magic!
7. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
8. Cascade Peak is torn down
9. New Tomorrowland
10. One of a Kind shop closes
11. PeopleMover closes
12. Rocket Jets close
13. Circle-Vision closes
14. Mike Fink Keelboat accident
15. Swiss Family Treehouse is rethemed
16. Hideous Club Buzz Stage
17. Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough closes
18. Submarine Voyage closes
19. Starcade begins to close starting with the upper floor
20. Space Mountain is forced to close in 2003 to prevent accidents to yo the extra weight added from the speakers out in years prior
21. Main Street Electrical Parade has it’s “Final Season”
22. Enchanted Tiki Room show length is shortened
23. Aladdin’s Oasis fails as a restaurant and closes
24. Mike Fink Keelboats closure
25. Many Toontown features are taken out
26. Loss of the left side Mary Blair Murals
27. PC Pirates revamp
28. Space Mountain Speed ramp catches fire and is removed
29. Burning Settler’s Cabin no longer catches fire
30. Woody’s Roundup show at the Gilden Horseshoe is a big dud
31. Carnation Gardens closes it’s food offerings
32. Rocket Rods close with no replacement
33. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln renovation with headphones
34. Mickey’s Detective School show
35. Jolly Trolley closure
36. Tom Sawyer Island is neutered and Fort Wilderness closes
37. Radio Disney live Booth in Tomorrowland
38. Disney’s California Adventure
39. Park maintenance is cut
40. Ride rehabs are cut
41. Uti Tiki god falls into disrepair and collapses and never returns
42. X-Games Xperience
43. Teddi Berras Swingin’ Arcade closes

From 2017 to Today, there are not as many closures or accidents for that matter but the guest experience has significantly suffered almost to the point where Disney hardly cares about the guest experience at all, here is a list:

1. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure doesn’t hit the mark
2. Continuing High Prices on passes and tickets
3. Free fastpass ends
4. Theme Park entertainment is cut significantly
5. Reservation System
6. Avengers Campus
7. Madame Leota Store
8. Pixar Pier
9. San Fransokyo
10. Main Street Cinema becomes a store (momentarily)
11. Low moral among Disneyland employees
12. Genie Plus causes long lines for park guests
13. Lightning Lane
14. Splash Mountain closes
15. Mobile ordering
16. Lines to get into the park are insane
17. Guardians Mission Breakout is horrendous looking
18. Hyperion Theater is shuttered
19. Tower of Terror closes
20. Fantasyland Theater is shuttered
21. Paint the Night is hardly every used
22. Magic Happens is hardly ever used
23. High priced exclusive events
24. Galaxy’s Edge lacks life and more roaming characters
25. Fantasmic! Is constantly down
26. Tomorrowland terrace has no more bands and only puts on kids dance shows
27. New Tomorrowland entrance is delayed indefinitely
28. Cable Cars removed
29. Bluesky Cellar becomes DVC
30. Excessive ride breakdowns

I know 95-03 was horrendously worse due to the two deaths that occurred and it could be a one-sided argument because of it.

What would you say is worse?

I can only speak for my family. My family has a better gust experience during 1995-2003

 

[Phroobar]

The Pressler/Harris era was worst simply because no one has died....yet.

 

[Phroobar]

The Eisner era was probably the best since losing Walt. Before that the park was kind of ignored as they tried to find direction. Even that era was not as bad as 1995-now.

 

[Professortango1]

I have to look at in under a few different umbrellas.

Maintenance - We're obviously better now. While we are being plagued with consistent ride closures more often now which speaks to current maintenance woes, we don't have collapsing details nor major accidents occurring on attractions.

Budgets - Better now as well. While we aren't in the Eisner era of support, we do see most newer attractions looking "good enough." They may be more bland and devoid of details, the only updates I can think of that rival TL 98's use of generic Home Depot tech not even disguised is the queue for Mission BO, which is one of the reasons I so despise that ride. But even that has a shiny AA added and enough other stuff to distract from branded lighting bars bolted in plain view.

Creatively - Far worse now. Disney was still planning and building original attractions at that point. Cascade Peak was torn down with the idea of Geyser Mountain rising up in roughly the same area. TL 98 saw the problem of TL being addressed with great ideas, just poor execution. California Adventure was a great concept and had many original attractions planned and a few implemented, just with no financial support to achieve greatness. HMH was mind-blowing as an overlay as I, along with many others, expected something cheap and lazy and instead we got something that you can tell had a lot of effort put into it throughout the entire queue and attraction.

The Pressler era felt like a war between great artists and management. The current era feels like a unified force of drones in lock-step with corporate management. The current is safer, but far less hopeful and inspiring.

 

[DavidDL]

I grew up during the Pressler era so I of course have some nostalgia for the parks at that time. But I'd like to echo the sentiments of others here and across other sites when this discussion gets brought up: the safety of the Guest is far more important than anything else found in the parks.

Better lands, cohesive theming, Guest experience, prices? All of it means absolutely nothing if you are choosing to make decisions relating to maintenance that will cost innocent people their lives.

Sure, I think Disney has gone a little bit crazy with the "playing it EXTRA SAFE" stuff in recent years (Alice outdoor portion, Golden Horseshoe/Casey Jr./Drawbridge railings). I'm sure they could strike a better balance with stuff like that.

But otherwise and as far as I'm aware, not one innocent person has had to die on behalf of a decision Disney made from 2017 onwards. Unless you want to count the alligator attack at WDW around 2016. Though I am unaware of how much of that was Disney's fault.

 

[CaptinEO]

I'd rather visit Disneyland in 2003 than 2025.

The death by a thousand cuts started back then and has only snowballed.

Presser started the current culture of cutbacks but it is much worse now.

Also whoever ran Disney World in the mid 90s to early 2000s also decimated those parks. Epcot has never recovered.

If you compare side by side though of course tragic accidents are the worst thing that can happen and those are inexcusable and unacceptable that they happened.

If current super fans who didnt go to Disneyland in the past were able to visit 2003 Disneyland it would be amazing how much better the standards were for customer service, merchandise, etc (certainly not maintenance though).

 

[CaptinEO]

It was really interesting to me how frank The Imagineering Story was about the Pressler era and how they ruthlessly threw Pressler under the bus in it, even though he himself was a featured interview (although the reason they did this was so they could setup Iger as the savior later in the series).

It makes me wonder if things ever improve in the future if the company will openly look back on this era as a mistake.

This was an amazing series and I was surprised at its honesty, then the last two episodes were basically made to praise Iger to the extent that they intercut him opening Disneyland Shanghai with Walt giving Disneyland's opening speech, insane.

I guarantee you this is the culture over there. You either have to unconditionally praise Iger and his executives or you won't go anywhere. This is why the company has a closed feedback loop.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

This was an amazing series and I was surprised at its honesty, then the last two episodes were basically made to praise Iger to the extent that they intercut him opening Disneyland Shanghai with Walt giving Disneyland's opening speech, insane.

I guarantee you this is the culture over there. You either have to unconditionally praise Iger and his executives or you won't go anywhere. This is why the company has a closed feedback loop.

I'm sure it was a condition for getting the documentary made and released in the first place.

You can be has honest as you like when discussing pre-2005 Disney, but anything to do with the Bobs can be only praise.

And that's how the company is as a whole.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Worse now IMO the explosion of DVC and no new themed resorts has made it worse

I truly cannot imagine any world where DVC and not as many themed resorts is worse than a period in the park's history where guests were getting physically hurt in the parks because of Disney's own negligence