What WDW Has Done Right In Last 10 Years?

[Chef Mickey]

I think Disney has made a solid effort in expansion of Magic Kingdom.

The content isn't perfect, but I enjoy 7DMT, Be Our Guest, Little Mermaid, and most of all, the additional SPACE.

In a dark decade for new Disney attractions at our other parks, MK has at least increased capacity with a much needed Fantasyland expansion. It also has gained 7DMT, which although not perfect, was at least somewhat ambitious and a new "project." At least it wasn't a wet bandaid fix like, *Ahem* Frozen takes over Maelstrom.

Of course, we wouldn't have needed it so badly if the other parks had some more crowd eaters and fewer unused pavilions (*cough* EPCOT *cough*) or DYING attractions.

So the additional space at MK was needed and welcomed for me. That's definitely a "good" move in the last 10 years. What's been your favorite?

 

[Nick Wilde]

This is continuing with NFL, but I just have to say BOG restaurant is the best part of NFL IMO. The theming of it is amazing, and the CM's there were very helpful. One of them, named Ed, helped me find all of the HM's, even though that was the grand opening date, he already knew all of them. I had a great experience there and would love to go back.

 

[sshindel]

I think that New Fantasyland was really what that park needed, so with all the extra thematic elements that the expansion added (including the Tangled area), I think that probably wins out. In my heart, I want to say bringing back the original (edited) version of the Tiki Room, but I know that is just one of my favorite little things.

Other things though I think were well done and well needed would be the Castle Projection Show and the new Festival of Fantasy parade, both really well done, great additions to the MK experience.

While most people don't like them, the work they've done on interactive (and in Dumbo's case, reinvention of) queues has really been great for the parkgoing experience.

Outside of Magic Kingdom though, it becomes harder and harder to find positive plussed experiences.

 

[Launchpad McQuack]

My list would be fairly long...

All of the Fantasyland expansion, including the Tangled restrooms. I think it's all very well done, especially Be Our Guest. So this entry is actually several entries.

The addition of Soarin' (I know it came from an earlier DL attraction, but I'll count it).

Toy Story Midway Mania

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor (wrong park, but I love it)

Expedition Everest

Test Track redo

Celebrate the Magic

I'm sure I'm missing other stuff.

 

[mergatroid]

I think the new Test Track was a good reworking of an attraction, was impressed with that. I also think TOT is now better with the random drop sequence though that may well have happened longer back than 10 years ago? Also the Haunted Mansion improved with the new staircase scene, the revamped attic scene and the new special effects in the mirror scene at the end. Whilst it does nothing for me personally, I do believe the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow to pirates has been a plus for many judging by the comments from passengers when they see him. Also I liked the addition of the extra water slides at TL though I do think the positioning and signage of them isn't great as many don't seem to know they're hidden away there (though that could be a blessing)

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think this is an interesting question because of what's happening in the parks right now. Prior to New Fantasyland WDW didn't do much (other than survive 9/11 and the economy crashing) but it looks like 2010-2025 might be a building boom.

Starting with MK New Fantasyland was the biggest single expansion in MK's history.

At AK the last major addition was Expedition Everest in 2006 but just in the last year they opened the new Lion King theater, fixed the tree of life to remove the nets, started construction for Pandora, started construction on a night time show, and have started improvements all over the park.

The last major addition to HS was TSMM in 2008 but all rumors and recent park changes point towards major additions coming in the next several years.

Unfortunately Epcot hasn't received much love and aside from Frozen in Norway nothing else looks to be coming anytime soon. Hopefully they have plans that just haven't leaked yet because it really needs help.

 

[durangojim]

I think this is an interesting question because of what's happening in the parks right now. Prior to New Fantasyland WDW didn't do much (other than survive 9/11 and the economy crashing) but it looks like 2010-2025 might be a building boom.

Starting with MK New Fantasyland was the biggest single expansion in MK's history.

At AK the last major addition was Expedition Everest in 2006 but just in the last year they opened the new Lion King theater, fixed the tree of life to remove the nets, started construction for Pandora, started construction on a night time show, and have started improvements all over the park.

The last major addition to HS was TSMM in 2008 but all rumors and recent park changes point towards major additions coming in the next several years.

Unfortunately Epcot hasn't received much love and aside from Frozen in Norway nothing else looks to be coming anytime soon. Hopefully they have plans that just haven't leaked yet because it really needs help.

I think a new Soarin' video will be happening in 2016

 

[Launchpad McQuack]

I know I already gave a list, but I will say one thing that I really enjoyed on my last trip (which I know is unpopular here)... Magic Bands and MyMagic+/FP+/My Disney Experience. I was a fan of the whole thing. I know that makes me an outsider on WDW Magic. I will include being able to link Memory Maker with ride photos/videos in this category, as well.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I know I already gave a list, but I will say one thing that I really enjoyed on my last trip (which I know is unpopular here)... Magic Bands and MyMagic+/FP+/My Disney Experience. I was a fan of the whole thing. I know that makes me an outsider on WDW Magic. I will include being able to link Memory Maker with ride photos/videos in this category, as well.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I would rank Magic Bands/MyMagic+/FP+ as one of Disney's biggest failures in the last 10 years. I don't really "hate" the concept or what it does, but I think this "project" went too long, too over budget, and has kind of "meh" benefits for the guest. I believe this project stunted the growth of other areas both financially and from a time perspective because they were so focused on fixing the issues and getting it right.

With an incredible cost (Over $1b), I feel that money and time could have been used better on park expansion, updates, maintenance, new lands, etc. Sure, they could have done them concurrently, but Disney seems to struggle with keeping things on time and on budget.

 

[Chef Mickey]

My list would be fairly long...

All of the Fantasyland expansion, including the Tangled restrooms. I think it's all very well done, especially Be Our Guest. So this entry is actually several entries.

The addition of Soarin' (I know it came from an earlier DL attraction, but I'll count it).

Toy Story Midway Mania

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor (wrong park, but I love it)

Expedition Everest

Test Track redo

Celebrate the Magic

I'm sure I'm missing other stuff.

I agree one many of your mentions, but am I the only one that thinks Test Track 2.0 was a complete failure and super lazy? I actually prefer the "theme" of the old one versus the dark neon overlay seemingly done as a bandaid fix to push Chevrolet. I hate the design your own car concept which essentially does nothing for the ride experience. The attraction is too much about the queue and is a let down for me once you actually ride.

Admittedly, I am totally against interactive queues for the most part and this attraction seems to go completely overboard with an overly complex and essentially meaningless interactive queue.

 

[ArtificialArtist]

*tries to think positive*

well, in the past 10 years.. hm, in my opinion Soarin' was a good addition although a localized version from the start would have been better fitting into the Land pavilion, i would go as far and add another "simulated experience" into the pavilion, add a new Kitchen Cabaret and the pavilion should do fine.

Getting ahead of myself, i'll switch to listing the things i thought were good ideas or things done right:

- Soarin'
- F&W Festival (cool idea, same as F&G, both need some tweaking)
- Toy Story Midway Mania
- the return of Alien Encounter (whoops, my imagination is playing tricks on me ^^ )
- the new paintjob for "innoventions" (it's bad but it's still better than the ochre-yellow)
(+For Epcot this is a plus, right? right??)
- the New Fantasyland rehab

With most other stuff i'm not sure whether it was built less than ten years ago.. :/

 

[A W Reezy]

They've existed.

What can I say? I'm easy to please.

 

[Jahona]

I'm kind of with Launchpad on this one. I felt that the entire Magic band system with MyMagic + was a great experience. I liked using the band for everything over using the old key to the world card. The website and integration worked great for me and my party. Budget doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and R&D isn't cheap.

Soarin is a great experience and I'm glad they brought it to WDW.
New Fantasy Land is a nice refresh to Magic Kingdom and fits nicely into the theme. I felt they could have done a bit more with it but I enjoyed my time there.
Expedition Everest is probably my favorite coaster at WDW.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I agree one many of your mentions, but am I the only one that thinks Test Track 2.0 was a complete failure and super lazy? I actually prefer the "theme" of the old one versus the dark neon overlay seemingly done as a bandaid fix to push Chevrolet. I hate the design your own car concept which essentially does nothing for the ride experience. The attraction is too much about the queue and is a let down for me once you actually ride.

Admittedly, I am totally against interactive queues for the most part and this attraction seems to go completely overboard with an overly complex and essentially meaningless interactive queue.

You are not the only one thinks Test Track 2.0 was complete failure and Super lazy. I think the ride is more complicated now that it was in terms and I blame the wait times on the design of the vehicle. The design part to me was a failure based on the fact the highest overall ratings I seen a design when I was there actually was monster truck type design. The problem with that is Chevrolet doesn't sell monster trucks to normal customers and that shows designs isn't realistic to what Chevrolet actually is selling.

The rest of the ride is a tron rip off and I recalled the attraction redo being around 70 to 100 million dollars and that didn't give me good hope for the Frozen attraction replacing Maelstrom.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I would rank Magic Bands/MyMagic+/FP+ as one of Disney's biggest failures in the last 10 years.

I agree with you. The fact it suppose to costs Disney 1 billion dollars, but is now up to 2 to 2.8 billion dollars. The other problem I have is Guests are not the only people that were frustrated with MyMagic+/FP+. My party talked to cast members down there and a lot of them hate the Magic Bands/MyMagic+/FP+ because of the complains of the guests and they actually have problems making the system work. The Security people at the hotels had problems making their scanner work matter of fact.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Soarin'
Toy Story Midway Mania
Star Tours: The Adventure Continues
Expedition Everest
Celebrate the Magic

 

[Chef Mickey]

I'm kind of with Launchpad on this one. I felt that the entire Magic band system with MyMagic + was a great experience. I liked using the band for everything over using the old key to the world card. The website and integration worked great for me and my party. Budget doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and R&D isn't cheap.

Soarin is a great experience and I'm glad they brought it to WDW.
New Fantasy Land is a nice refresh to Magic Kingdom and fits nicely into the theme. I felt they could have done a bit more with it but I enjoyed my time there.
Expedition Everest is probably my favorite coaster at WDW.

My issue with My Magic+ is that I don't believe it was designed with the guest in mind first. The benefits Disney pushes to us are ancillary benefits that are second to their overall goal of control and guest predictability. Disney wants you to plan everything and know what you're doing so they can staff, plan, and sell you more crap.

 

[DaBears81]

Starting a MK, I think New Fantasyland is great overall in theming and and attractions even if the attractions aren't my favorite. Also I'd at the Festival of Fantasy parade and the Celebrate the Magic show in the castle.

At Epcot, I really like the reimagining of Test Track lots of fun designing cars and competing with friends and family who had the better car. Also enjoy the food options added to Flower and Garden that makes it like a mini F&W. Also the opening of Via Napoli in Italy, some of if not the best pizza in central Florida. Karramelle Kuche opening in Germany as well. The Also of course Soarin opening.

Hollywood Studios, sadly I think just Toy Story and Tower of Terror adding the random drops.

Animal Kingdom, Everest of course. Also moving Lion King to Africa is awesome! I think is should've been there from the open.

Resort wide, I like the magic bands and my magic+. I haven't had any issues with it so far so I'm happy with it.

I wouldn't call it a dark decade, but it's been slow. However things are changing and I'm confident it'll be for the good.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I think the new Test Track was a good reworking of an attraction, was impressed with that. I also think TOT is now better with the random drop sequence though that may well have happened longer back than 10 years ago? Also the Haunted Mansion improved with the new staircase scene, the revamped attic scene and the new special effects in the mirror scene at the end. Whilst it does nothing for me personally, I do believe the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow to pirates has been a plus for many judging by the comments from passengers when they see him. Also I liked the addition of the extra water slides at TL though I do think the positioning and signage of them isn't great as many don't seem to know they're hidden away there (though that could be a blessing)

Jack Sparrow in Pirates is a good example of adding a movie element with class...not too much. Of course I'd prefer the original Pirates forever, but I do see the appeal for a tie in and it wasn't overdone. Most of our familiar pirate friends still have their roles with slightly different dialogue, but the overall theme remains the same.

 

[R W B]

Ill say one thing they've done right, taken my money! Lol