Okay all you lawyers out there the following are nothing but rumors. Believe in them as you will
.
Instead of a 50th Anniversary for
Disneyland, the current plan is for a worldwide 50 Years of Disney Vacation Magic (working title) celebration with its focus at Walt Disney World. This event will be mostly marketing with little actual done in terms of new attractions or permanent changes.
At Disneyland, the rumored re-imagination of several E-ticket rides has been killed. In its place, the rides will be repainted and cleaned similar to the process that Pirates, the Haunted Mansion and Small World have gone through. Many people consider this move simply restoring the rides to their former state and repairing the massive damage caused by a decade of under funded maintenance. The Carousel was in such sorry shape that the entire structure was scrapped and its being completing rebuilt. Other rumors claim the track at Space Mountain requires so many repairs that it many be cost effective to replace large sections of it. As budget permits, some new effects may be added to attractions such as when WDI added in some discarded World of Motion figures into Disneylands Pirates a couple years ago. The new at Disneyland will actually be a WDWs current MK parade. So instead of celebrating 100th Years of Walt, those same exact snow globes will be celebrating 50 Years of Disney Theme Parks.
Other work at Disneyland will continue, but at the direction of the new office of safety. The fort on Tom Sawyers Island is rumored scheduled for demolition after the first of the year if not sooner. A decade without maintenance has left the wood rotted and serious "safety hazards" like stairs, dirt and caves have been deemed an unacceptable risk after two generations of childern have somehow survived. The Matterhorn has already started some massive surgery to increase the clearance between ride vehicles and the rock work (another sudden discover after forty years) and much of the rock work on Tom Sawyers Island will also be eliminated (rumor is that nothing will move and there will be nothing left to climb on). Theres another rumor that the dirt paths on the island will be replaced with the rubberized padding found on playgrounds. Its possible some sort of attraction may be approved for empty space where the fort had been, but nothing is certain. Oh, and air gates are supposed to be installed on every attraction with a moving vehicle.
There are fewer rumors about what will happen at the WDW celebration. Its likely that any improved effects for the Disneyland attractions will be retrofitted at WDW (such as the mirror effect from the clone of Tower of Terror currently under construction at California Adventure). Its also possible that effects developed for DisneySea may make their way stateside, such as the fireball effect from Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. Personally, I would really like to have the amazing musically score from the Paris version of the Haunted Mansion installed. The Company feels that marketing events such as the 25th Anniversary and the Millennium Celebration work best for WDW. They require almost nothing in terms of capital outlay and they seem to increase attendance. The rumors are that the 50 Years event will follow exactly the same plan.
So WDW will likely see a few replacement parades, several static exhibits and a lot of hype. There will be plenty of merchandise too.
It needs to noted, however, that everyone expects a huge management change very shortly. Many people hope that the current marketing plans will die along with the current régime. There are a lot of very interesting ideas tucked inside drawers all over Glendale and Anaheim waiting for the day when its safe to dream again.
So right now, no one is really sure what will well see on July 17, 2005.
