Worst Move in Parks History

[Tim Lohr]

WDI seems to think in terms of what I call "Disneyland Mentality" which is "cram as many rides as you can into that tiny park" but every themed hotel at Walt Disney World is about creating a kind of nostalgic ambiance for you to sit in and enjoy, and it's like they don't seem to get that the WDW guests want that at the parks as well

 

[Brer Panther]

Does Bob Iger becoming CEO count as the worst move in parks history? Since he's become CEO, he's been actively destroying the parks.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Too many to pick…all of these are terrible

I’d say the worst result is figment…but they didn’t intend on sabotaging it…unlike many of the others

 

[joanna71985]

Closing GMR. That ride should have never closed

 

[KDM31091]

Harmonious was mind bogglingly bad to me, like I can't believe it was approved. I'm not even talking about the show. Just the hideous permanent infrastructure that destroyed the vista from so many angles. Glad it's gone.

But, ROA removal is the worst thing they have ever done to date. Figment, yes, it's a shell of what it used to be, but it's still there (at least, most of it).

Great Movie Ride also stings because it was so integral to the park's message and theme, but I do enjoy MMRR, and although it is IP, using the classic characters is far less offensive to me.

 

[Robbiem]

Hard choices - I could vote for all of them but my three with reasons are:

1 Figment. Journey into Imagination was a near perfect ride and should have been upgraded but left intact. Making the change for the sake of change was symbolic of the era, if the ride had lived longer it would have been seen much a classic ride as the castle park classics like pirates or small world. It set the standard for future downgrades

2 Universe of Energy- This was a hard choice but I went with this as it really shows the company abandoning epcot as a concept. Space was a misfire but it was an epcot idea, guardians is just a ride put these because, it shows Disney no longer care about the theme in theme parks they are just dumps for whatever the company is pushing

3 Rivers of America Just crass, removing a key part of the Magic Kingdom as envisaged by Walt shows nothing is sacred before the IP dollar. There is no room for anything now that can’t turn a dollar, the park as a place with quiet places to relax is on borrowed time

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Enough said....

 

[wdwfan4ver]

For WDW, this is a tough one.

I am going to say there are 4 options out of the running. The four options out of the running of Worst move in Parks History is replacing Horizons with Mission Space, replacing Universe of Energy with Guardians, mistake of the lake, and replacing The Great Movie Ride with Runaway Railway,

Mistake of the Lake isn't as bad as what is going to happen to Rivers of America. The reason is Mistake of the Lake was only short lived although it was a eyesore and Rivers of America gone is a permanent thing.

Horizons was a great attraction, but Mission: Space wasn't a bad attraction except for motion sickness. Guardians from a theming standpoint doesn't belong in Epcot, but its a good ride and also Universe of Energy was a dated attraction. Runaway Rail's problem is replacing a classic attraction, but its better than the replacement of Splash Mountain.

 

[OrlandoRising]

Disneyland Paris is a beautiful and succesful park though, it’s a mistake that been corrected, same is true of DCA, it’s gone downhill a bit since the 2.0 correction but is still considered a successful park for the most part.

Corrected mistakes are still mistakes, though. The other options here didn't cost Disney billions to correct like EuroDisney and DCA 1.0 did.

EuroDisney would get my vote, considering how it resulted in so many other projects being cut or scaled back. Heck, you wouldn't have the terrible and cheap DCA 1.0 if it weren't for EuroDisney.

 

[STITCHGEFAN]

I don't think most of these were/are mistakes, certainly not the worst ever. Figment I can get behind, and no more Splash is a travesty.

Personally, the retirement and demolition of Spectromagic would be up there for me.

 

[FutureCEO]

Disney should pull a move like Starbucks did this morning.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I checked a few. To me, a lot is about what we got to replace what was destroyed.

Now that I think of it, please add the destruction of Future World in EPCOT!!!

I presume this is only for WDW?

Perhaps add that to the title

If not, the worst move in my opinion AT THE MOMENT, was Rocket rods. Rocket Rods failed AND they destroyed the people mover track such that it couldn't even be reverted back to the people mover or used for anything else.

But for MK, depending on how the Cars thing comes out, if Cars fails and the fact they needed to destroy (at least) three things to put in Cars; Rivers of America, Tom Sayer Island, Liberty Square Riverboat, THIS WILL be the KING of mistakes.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Disney should pull a move like Starbucks did this morning.

Remove Iger and replace with Eisner

 

[Moth]

Figment followed by GMR.

 

[KDM31091]

Corrected mistakes are still mistakes, though. The other options here didn't cost Disney billions to correct like EuroDisney and DCA 1.0 did.

EuroDisney would get my vote, considering how it resulted in so many other projects being cut or scaled back. Heck, you wouldn't have the terrible and cheap DCA 1.0 if it weren't for EuroDisney.

I think people just didn't "get" DCA 1.0, but at least it was devoid of any IP. Was it wonderful, no. But it was at least original ideas

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Need to add MuppetVision in here too.

 

[adimond]

Just think what a HUGE Pixar ride you could build if you paved over the World Showcase lagoon.

 

[ppete1975]

For all parks removing people mover in disneyland, and destroying a mary blair mural.

Id also add losing 20k leagues and the lagoon, and the original WOM replaced by test track.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

This new one is it for me. I might have been able to get behind changes to the river and island, and the new ride looks interesting, but Cars has NOTHING to do with the frontier!

Privately what is happening is a quiet desecration of Frontierland at WDW. Frontierland is the land that doesn't have the IPs as much, and they don't like that. They don't really get the reason behind Frontierland, it is supposed to be a blast from the past, that's the point.

 

[Brer Panther]

and the original WOM replaced by test track.

At least Test Track is a great ride too. In this case, I think the mistake was having it be a replacement - surely there was room for both.

They don't really get the reason behind Frontierland

Iger and his cronies really don't get the reason behind ANYTHING built before he took over the company, do they?