Worst Era of Disneyland

[Miru]

Well, we discussed the best year/era of Disneyland history, now we can discuss the worst eras!

My vote is for 2017-onwards, as we got a slew of controversial and needless alterations and closures, most notoriously Pixar Pier. Add on top of that a fair few underwhelming E-Ticket experiences, the Peoplemover tracks and Starcade being unused, and then the COVID closure. The controversial changes ain’t stopping anytime soon, either (see the HUGE alterations to rides like Splash Mountain and Snow White). Cast member service quality also declined during this era.
While I consider 2012-2016 a golden era for the resort, it too had warning signs of the darkness to come; the closure of MV3D in favor of previews, Starcade not being replaced after closure, and various features being removed from Disneyland Hotel and not being replaced.
A dishonorable mention to the Pressler era; closing many classic attractions (Peoplemover, CBJ, Subs, etc) and opening DCA 1.0. As bad as that was, at least many of these changes were undone later, and we also got Downtown Disney.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

While I see some things you mentioned, I believe around the time Space was falling apart & 2 deaths in the parks due to a lack of maintenance being the wort time for the parks. Losing 2 lives in an accident was tragic enough but the energy brought about during those accidents was horrible as well. Cuts in maintenance means they were willing to make cuts in other places & overall the resort was just a money collector with less quality. I also feel like nothing epic happened in the resorts after IJA. DCA & a few others parks/projects built at the same time were very cheap too. WDW was practically stagnant in all parks for decades until Harry Potter lit a fire under them. Worst Disney management era for both coasts & all of Disney period.

As much a Pixar Pier sucks, I still enjoy it as it really didn't take away from anything that was already there as Paradise Pier was already lackluster. The People Mover & Starcade are decades-old grievances, so I wouldn't even tie them to 2017-onwards. They actually utilized the upstairs of Starcade for Space's queue, so things have gotten better. I honestly feel like the parks have never looked better today as everything is just always shiny & new most days. I loved what they did with Project Stardust too, especially in Adventureland where I now have TWO places to sit & enjoy the ambiance as compared to the zero that existed before. The attractions they've put out today are debatable though but Cars & ROTR are already more than what DLR has done since Indy.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Now. Next question.

 

[Little Green Men]

1996-2003 sounds pretty rough.

 

[J4546]

the covid era sucks obv because parks in Ca are closed but we still are getting alot of new stuff in CA and DL so I wouldnt consider this eras growth in the parks bad, just the fact covid has the parks closed for a year really really sucks. But in the current 4 year bubble (+/- 2 years) we got a new star wars land, avengers campus, mmrr, project stardust, massive refurb of Snow White and Haunted Mansion among others. So all in all its been a pretty productive couple of years.

 

[KIGhostGuy]

The past few years have been bad in terms of additions, but Pressler and Harriss actually killed guests during their tenure.

 

[Miru]

the covid era sucks obv because parks in Ca are closed but we still are getting alot of new stuff in CA and DL so I wouldnt consider this eras growth in the parks bad, just the fact covid has the parks closed for a year really really sucks. But in the current 4 year bubble (+/- 2 years) we got a new star wars land, avengers campus, mmrr, project stardust, massive refurb of Snow White and Haunted Mansion among others. So all in all its been a pretty productive couple of years.

The Snow White refurb and to a lesser extent Avengers Campus are seen as negatives by many users here; AC doesn’t have much to do with California other than Ant Man and his restaurant, while the Snow White revamp seems toothless compared to the original. GE’s initial opening was pathetic, with only one ride that was unspectacular.

The past few years have been bad in terms of additions, but Pressler and Harriss actually killed guests during their tenure.

...yeah, and there were quite a few deaths in the era shortly after Walt’s death, such as Deborah Gail Stone.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Don't forget Galaxy's Hind End, an enormous disaster. I wouldn't be surprised if the refurb of HM took out all the best stuff and replaced it with screens. "It was time for us to really reimagine it and put myself in every scene." - Kim Irvine

 

[Miru]

Don't forget Galaxy's Hind End, an enormous disaster. I wouldn't be surprised if the refurb of HM took out all the best stuff and replaced it with screens. "It was time for us to really reimagine it and put myself in every scene." - Kim Irvine

Is it worse than Superstar Limo, though? ROTR has AAs on-ride rather than just in the queue.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Superstar Limo was a gaudy niche dark ride in the corner of DCA that wasn't trying to be anything more. So, yes, Galaxy's Edge is comparatively worse.

 

[Miru]

Superstar Limo was a gaudy niche dark ride in the corner of DCA that wasn't trying to be anything more. So, yes, Galaxy's Edge is comparatively worse.

I’m sorry, but this Defunctland episode says otherwise;

 

[el_super]

...yeah, and there were quite a few deaths in the era shortly after Walt’s death, such as Deborah Gail Stone.

I wanted to actually suggest that the period from about 71 thru 84 was probably far worse for Disneyland than people realized. With Walt gone, and Walt Disney World opening, there was a lot of bad feelings around Disneyland of being replaced or being second rate has beens. Cast Member morale suffered greatly, and as the decade wore on, deaths like Deborah Stone's and Mel Yorba had an impact on changing the perception of Disneyland. By the time that Michael Eisner came in, the Cast Members were striking, something I don't think we've seen since.

From a guest perspective, there wasn't a whole lot going on at Disneyland, for a very long time. Bear Country never played as well in Southern California as it had in Florida, and was basically a hand me down attraction. Mr. Lincoln was replaced for the first of it's many times. Space Mountain's opening was a highlight to be sure, but Big Thunder's opening would be at the expense of the long lasting Mine Train. Again, it wouldn't really be until Eisner came in that attraction development would take off again. Maybe the opening of New Fantasyland in 83 was really the turning point though.

 

[Miru]

It’s safe to say what’s been happening at WDW since 2020 has blown the current era of ODL out of the water in terms of suckage, aside from WEB SLINGERS being an atrocity. I’m starting to agree maybe the Pressler tenure is equally bad to 2017-onwards, & I think we might receive a break from the badness starting next year.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

It’s safe to say what’s been happening at WDW since 2020 has blown the current era of ODL out of the water in terms of suckage, aside from WEB SLINGERS being an atrocity. I’m starting to agree maybe the Pressler tenure is equally bad to 2017-onwards, & I think we might receive a break from the badness starting next year.

What??? A better fitting SWGE, Pan dora, Tron in tomorrowland, Rat, Cosmic rewind all beat the pixar and big hero 6 and avengers overlays

 

[Miru]

What??? A better fitting SWGE, Pan dora, Tron in tomorrowland, Rat, Cosmic rewind all beat the pixar and big hero 6 and avengers overlays

Those were clones or prior to 2020, bar CR.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Eh, I'd still say the era where the maintenance was so bad that it literally severely injured or killed people is worse than the period where they merely made a lot of dumb decisions in rapid succession.

Call me crazy.

 

[Phroobar]

Eh, I'd still say the era where the maintenance was so bad that it literally severely injured or killed people is worse than the period where they merely made a lot of dumb decisions in rapid succession.

Call me crazy.

Don't worry that era is fast returning. Someone will get injured or killed in the next five years due to maintenance cuts. Best of all Disney can't be sued because you subscribed to Disney+.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Don't worry that era is fast returning. Someone will get injured or killed in the next five years due to maintenance cuts. Best of all Disney can't be sued because you subscribed to Disney+.

Is it actually returning, or are people just extremely pessimistic about the state of modern Disney? There's certainly no shortage of people/fans/"fans" willing to take outrageous leaps in logic based on the most minor of events.
,
Not to say there's no reason to be pessimistic, mind. But let's not pretend that there aren't huge numbers of Disney fans on this site and others that are extremely focused on myopic grievances that fail to take into account the bigger picture, thus overexaggerating the flaws of the current era and dismissing other eras that were just as bad or worse in the process.

 

[Phroobar]

Is it actually returning, or are people just extremely pessimistic about the state of modern Disney? There's certainly no shortage of people/fans/"fans" willing to take outrageous leaps in logic based on the most minor of events.
,
Not to say there's no reason to be pessimistic, mind. But let's not pretend that there aren't huge numbers of Disney fans on this sites and others extremely focused on myopic grievances that fail to take into account the bigger picture, thus overexaggerating the flaws of the current era and dismissing other eras that were just as bad or worse in the process.

It just feels very similar.

 

[MK-fan]

Well Disney was all about getting rid of rides and not replacing them with anything during the later half of Eisner’s reign both at Disneyland and Disneyworld. At least these days, every ride that faces the ax gets replaced with something, maybe not as good as what it replaced but it’s something.