Why do you believe WDW has gone downhill?

[eliza61nyc]

Yes but you’re 37. That’s really not that young. No offense but I think it would be more of a rarity for teen or 20 something to be familiar with those movies. My teens have seen movies from the 70’s on, but I don’t think there willing to go back much farther then that.

lol, no. you mean all twenty some things aren't listening to the Boogie woogie bugel boy from company B.

So most of the 20 some things I know are pretty routine, no the college students aren't flocking to see Humprey Bogart and sorry I have a hard time believing that anyone of them would know who the original Jane was.

Heck I've been on the ride a number of times when the adults had a hard time remembering what Jimmy Cagney movie that scene was from. Black Panther? yes, Burt Lancaster from here to eternity? not so much. John Wayne??? gimme a break. Heck, I'm darn near 60 and didn't watch those awful Tarzan movies. my kids did like the original Aliens.

now I do think the Great movie ride would have been easy to update but as it was?? It needed to be put out to pasture.

 

[SukaVayne33]

Call me The Weird One but I was born in 1981 and experienced the beginnings of Nintendo, personal household computers, and the internet and I absolutely LOVE the Twilight Zone. In fact, I'll watch the marathon every New Year when I'm able. While I love Harry Potter (the books are SO MUCH better than the movies!!) and would marry Thor if given the chance, I would still chose Rod Serling's Twilight Zone any day of the week. I don't think it's always fair to group "todays crowd" into one group. I had seen all of those old, classic movies that were highlighted in the Great Movie Ride. I know who all the actors and actresses are from the classic silver screen. I'm the young curmudgeon that complains about them just giving out stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to a bunch of non talented actors that will be forgotten in 10 years or less. And actually many of my close friends at the time much preferred Elvis, Bill Haley, and Fats Domino over the popular at the time Nsync and Backstreet Boys. A friend and I would sit in her car before class in HS and sing and car dance to Jailhouse Rock before starting our day LOL.

I agree with you some. I don't think it is going down hill, I am thinking it is maybe teetering back & forth. I think some of the magic is gone especially when I was younger and the characters would just be walking around, & not stand in line and meet them. The magic o'f walking around and here come Mickey, Goofy and Donald our random was "A MAGICAL MOMENT". There are some weird guest now that can ruin your day, sometimes it looks awful trash all over, stuff looking like it needs work, standing in line forever, and some CM'S that are just rude but also some that go above and beyond. I love going to the parks when I can, & sometimes I just go grab some food watch a show, and sit and people watch. Somedays I should record these people would be a nice reality show for sure. Like I said I think its just teetering, especially since "THE SUITS", only think they care about is $$$$$. I get it, and where work I am in a high position, but I am more into the guest having fun and enjoyable vacation.
Enough of my 2 cent rambling. Maybe when the new head honcho comes in to play it will fix some issues. Who votes or picks the new CEO, I think they should let the CM's & AP holders pick or vote for them, Then do a Disney Town meeting once a month, to disuss stuff with us AP's we go to the parks more than some guest. I know I do, but I am also live in Orlando

 

[BrerJon]

I was familiar with those movies at 15 and I know 15 year-olds now who are also familiar. But again, outliers.

Most of the movies in The Great Movie Ride I only learned about from riding The Great Movie Ride, but not having seen them didn't lessen the attraction in any way. It did a great job of getting the point across so you got the vibe for what, say, The Public Enemy was like, even if you'd never heard of it before.

 

[Miss Bella]

lol, no. you mean all twenty some things aren't listening to the Boogie woogie bugel boy from company B.

So most of the 20 some things I know are pretty routine, no the college students aren't flocking to see Humprey Bogart and sorry I have a hard time believing that anyone of them would know who the original Jane was.

Heck I've been on the ride a number of times when the adults had a hard time remembering what Jimmy Cagney movie that scene was from. Black Panther? yes, Burt Lancaster from here to eternity? not so much. John Wayne??? gimme a break. Heck, I'm darn near 60 and didn't watch those awful Tarzan movies. my kids did like the original Aliens.

now I do think the Great movie ride would have been easy to update but as it was?? It needed to be put out to pasture.

My 14 teen year liked this ride even though he hadn't seen any of the movies. He's not a movie watcher other then Marvel, Jurassic park and Star Wars, but for some reason he liked it. Maybe it was because we always seem to go to WDW when it's hot and humid and it was a great ride to cool off and kill time to your next fast pass. I'm excited to see the replacement.

 

[eliza61nyc]

My 14 teen year liked this ride even though he hadn't seen any of the movies. He's not a movie watcher other then Marvel, Jurassic park and Star Wars, but for some reason he liked it. Maybe it was because we always seem to go to WDW when it's hot and humid and it was a great ride to cool off and kill time to your next fast pass. I'm excited to see the replacement.

exactly, not that that's a bad thing. lol most folks went on there to cool off or to sit down. it was a way to kill time. not a good ride.

 

[LeighM]

Yes but you’re 37. That’s really not that young. No offense but I think it would be more of a rarity for teen or 20 something to be familiar with those movies. My teens have seen movies from the 70’s on, but I don’t think there willing to go back much farther then that.

lol, no. you mean all twenty some things aren't listening to the Boogie woogie bugel boy from company B.

So most of the 20 some things I know are pretty routine, no the college students aren't flocking to see Humprey Bogart and sorry I have a hard time believing that anyone of them would know who the original Jane was.

Heck I've been on the ride a number of times when the adults had a hard time remembering what Jimmy Cagney movie that scene was from. Black Panther? yes, Burt Lancaster from here to eternity? not so much. John Wayne??? gimme a break. Heck, I'm darn near 60 and didn't watch those awful Tarzan movies. my kids did like the original Aliens.

now I do think the Great movie ride would have been easy to update but as it was?? It needed to be put out to pasture.

But I WAS once a 16 year old listening to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy LOL. I knew all the words to it by the time I was 16. And Johnny Mercer was one of my favorites. A lot of my friends in high school knew who a lot of those people were. My point being that I still wasn't a kid in the 40s when that behavior was common. I was a teen in the 90s. Just like some teens today still prefer oldies and the classic movies as well as current day selections - because I know some that do. All I'm saying, is it's not always correct to lump all people from a generation into one size fits all. That's just not true. They may be outliers but they're still out there

 

[xdan0920]

exactly, not that that's a bad thing. lol most folks went on there to cool off or to sit down. it was a way to kill time. not a good ride.

 

[eliza61nyc]

But I WAS once a 16 year old listening to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy LOL. I knew all the words to it by the time I was 16. And Johnny Mercer was one of my favorites. A lot of my friends in high school knew who a lot of those people were. My point being that I still wasn't a kid in the 40s when that behavior was common. I was a teen in the 90s. Just like some teens today still prefer oldies and the classic movies as well as current day selections - because I know some that do. All I'm saying, is it's not always correct to lump all people from a generation into one size fits all. That's just not true. They may be outliers but they're still out there

Very true and that does bring up a good point though, if you are a business who do you try and design for? The majority or the outliers. Someone said that it would have cost Disney to pay for the rights to a lot of those clips. Would it have been worth it for a small %?

 

[Miss Bella]

But I WAS once a 16 year old listening to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy LOL. I knew all the words to it by the time I was 16. And Johnny Mercer was one of my favorites. A lot of my friends in high school knew who a lot of those people were. My point being that I still wasn't a kid in the 40s when that behavior was common. I was a teen in the 90s. Just like some teens today still prefer oldies and the classic movies as well as current day selections - because I know some that do. All I'm saying, is it's not always correct to lump all people from a generation into one size fits all. That's just not true. They may be outliers but they're still out there

True but business's in order to be profitable have to appeal to the masses. In Disney's case they need to appeal to kids.

 

[LeighM]

Very true and that does bring up a good point though, if you are a business who do you try and design for? The majority or the outliers. Someone said that it would have cost Disney to pay for the rights to a lot of those clips. Would it have been worth it for a small %?

I definitely think they have to appeal to the masses but it's a gamble on their part how and what they market. I always thought the Great Movie ride was boring - mainly because I DID know those movies, I wasn't learning anything new, and I never had the desire to ride through Mary Poppins or Wizard of Oz to begin with. And the gunslinger scene was boring after going to the old theme park Ghost Town in the Sky as a kid. But Toy Story is a new land based on a movie franchise that began in 1995 - my generation. Today's children know the movies because of the love their parents have for the movie and who want to share it with their own children. So Disney locks in the adult fans as well as the children. It's multi generational. They are betting that Marvel has the same staying power as the Star Wars franchise and will be relevant for many generations, which I think it does. That's why I had concerns about basing a land on Avatar. I love the land because I remember when the movie was first released (I didn't like the movie but loved the scenery) but I don't know if subsequent movies will have the same popularity after all this time has passed. I think it makes more sense for Disney to focus on the franchises that have proven themselves instead of just focusing millions of dollars on what might be a limited fad. Not every Disney movie reaches the status of the Little Mermaid, BatB, Lion King, Toy Story (all movies that were released when I was a child). For those movies, like Inside Out, it makes sense to have meet and greets that are easily replaced instead of a land or ride.

 

[Piebald]

After visiting TDR, it seems like a combination of our culture playing a huge part and the general greed of a corporation. Do I still enjoy Disney? Sure. Do they still create some groundbreaking forms of entertainment whether attractions or films? Sure. Are things different as they were years ago? Absolutely. WDW seems to be going downhill a bit more in comparison to the other resorts. DL faithful may complain about their own changes but DL still seems more part of the community than WDW has ever been. The rest of the resorts are unique and TDR makes them all seem very subpar.

 

[macefamily]

My issue with Disney is that I think they oversell tickets to the special events like Not So Scary and Mickey's Very Merry. I'm going to sound like an old man saying, "I remember back in the day," but I remember when those special events were special. There was more room in the parks and wait times were cut down. Now it seems like it gets more crowded for the special events than the actual day time hours. Disney is charging a premium price for those event tickets. Seems to me like they're trying to pack the people in now. There's obviously a ticket limit for these events because they sell out sometimes, but has that ceiling changed in comparison to past years ?

 

[TrojanUSC]

My issue with Disney is that I think they oversell tickets to the special events like Not So Scary and Mickey's Very Merry. I'm going to sound like an old man saying, "I remember back in the day," but I remember when those special events were special. There was more room in the parks and wait times were cut down. Now it seems like it gets more crowded for the special events than the actual day time hours. Disney is charging a premium price for those event tickets. Seems to me like they're trying to pack the people in now. There's obviously a ticket limit for these events because they sell out sometimes, but has that ceiling changed in comparison to past years ?

I watched an old Travel Channel special the other day and they said MVMCP happens only 8x/year, so to get your tickets right away. Now, it's nearly triple that.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I watched an old Travel Channel special the other day and they said MVMCP happens only 8x/year, so to get your tickets right away. Now, it's nearly triple that.

I think this is a true case of killed by your own popularity. From what I heard (on other disney sites so lol, not claiming it's gospel) there were many whiny guest when they could not get tickets. Case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't)

 

[TrojanUSC]

I think this is a true case of killed by your own popularity. From what I heard (on other disney sites so lol, not claiming it's gospel) there were many whiny guest when they could not get tickets. Case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't)

Definitely part of it, but it also devalues the price of a 1 day ticket to the Magic Kingdom exponentially during November/December with the park only essentially open 2/3 of the day.

 

[PB Watermelon]

True but business's in order to be profitable have to appeal to the masses. In Disney's case they need to appeal to kids.

They appeal to parents -- kids don't have jobs, so they don't have any money. Walt late in his life said his most important target demographic was the moms out there, because if you get her, then you got the kids, the dad, and sometimes even the grandparents.

 

[larryz]

Agreed. Joe Rodhe is a creative hero of mine. He is eclectic, full of heart, deliciously off-beat, and one of the greatest storytellers around (just read his Instagram posts!). He is the last risk-taking Imagineer as far as I'm concerned.

It's easy to be a risk taker when you're retirement eligible, your stock options are fully vested, and your 401K has gone up 500% over the last 20 years.

 

[wdwmagic]

My issue with Disney is that I think they oversell tickets to the special events like Not So Scary and Mickey's Very Merry. I'm going to sound like an old man saying, "I remember back in the day," but I remember when those special events were special. There was more room in the parks and wait times were cut down. Now it seems like it gets more crowded for the special events than the actual day time hours. Disney is charging a premium price for those event tickets. Seems to me like they're trying to pack the people in now. There's obviously a ticket limit for these events because they sell out sometimes, but has that ceiling changed in comparison to past years ?

Yes there is no question that the attendance at both of those events has risen.

 

[Centeral]

It's easy to be a risk taker when you're retirement eligible, your stock options are fully vested, and your 401K has gone up 500% over the last 20 years.

Despite, the lack of any substantial chance of that happening: it would definitely be very interesting to see Disney go through some tough financial trouble like: a "super super hostile takeover", bankrupcy on main street's door step or a super financial fail like Euro Disney times a lot, I dunn'o. But, the point being that their benchmark of American culture would be grappling and they'd have to get into the dirt to dig themselves out, imagination, creativity & 'innoventions' at the company would really be interesting......

 

[Centeral]

It's easy to be a risk taker when you're retirement eligible, your stock options are fully vested, and your 401K has gone up 500% over the last 20 years.

Despite, the lack of any substantial chance of that happening: it would definitely be very interesting to see Disney go through some tough financial trouble like: a "super super hostile takeover", bankrupcy on main street's door step or a super financial fail like Euro Disney times a lot, I dunn'o. But, the point being that their benchmark of American culture would be grappling and they'd have to get into the dirt to dig themselves out, imagination, creativity & 'innoventions' at the company would really be interesting......