Changes at WDW over the years: Your thoughts

[disneysteve]

I think the segment on changes at WDW over the years was a great idea. As someone who has been visiting since 1978, I've certainly seen all kinds of changes, some good, some not so good, some under Disney's control and many not so much.

I think the biggest change has been the tremendous growth of the resort and the ensuing mass of visitors that now descend on the place annually. When I look back at photos we took at the afternoon parade in 1978, one striking feature is how few people were there. It was a beautiful sunny spring day, a holiday weekend in fact, and there just weren't that many people there.

Of course, part of that change is the expansion from 1 park to 4 parks, 3 hotels to 24 (is that the current number), and everything that has sprung up along with that growth.

In the parks, especially in recent years, there has definitely been a shift toward thrill rides. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love thrill rides. I think Rockin' Rollercoaster and Expedition Everest are fantastic. But on the other hand, the whole Disney mindset used to be for the place to be family friendly where everyone could enjoy the place together. The more attractions they add with height and other restrictions, the less that is true. I realize they need to keep up with the demands of the public though. I think this falls into that nostalgia that Kevin spoke about.

I'll stop here for now but I'm really curious to hear what others have to say on the topic.

 

[alicemouse]

My first trip was in 1990 when I was 8-years-old. We went twice that year and then it was 13 years until I made it back and then another 7 years before we finally became regular visitors. So, the parks changed quite a bit between visits for me. I'm at a point in my life right now where I am very much pro-change--not just at Disney, but in general. I used to fear change, but I have learned to embrace most changes for the new opportunities that they bring.

I would love to do Horizons, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Body Wars, or Snow White's Scary Adventures one more time, but I'm not willing to give up Big Thunder Mountain or Toy Story Mania to get them back. I was kind of bummed about Push leaving and I'll miss the candy lady and the Ziti sisters at EPCOT, but I have more faith in this company than I do in any other corporate entity in the world that at the end of the day, they will make it right.

I've read a lot of posts and heard a lot of comments from people whenever there is a new change announced that "Walt would be rolling over in his grave if he could see what's happened to his parks." I disagree. Walt Disney was a man of vision and courage who was constantly innovating and constantly in search of the next big idea. If anything, I think he would be discouraged that despite all of the technological know-how we have at our fingertips today, it somehow seems to take us longer to implement new ideas than ever before.

I do think that the shift to more complex rides has been an important way to maintain mass appeal. I can remember my cousins going to Disney shortly before we did and actually not liking it at all. We live an hour from Hersheypark and they are all roller coaster freaks. At that time, DHS wasn't even open yet and Space Mountain was probably the only ride that could be classified as a thrill ride. They had no appreciation for theme, but had the park met them halfway, offering some thrills AND some immersive details, they would have been more likely to buy-in. There are still lots of great non-thrill rides in the parks. I don't think that the addition of more slightly more extreme E-ticket attractions diminishes the great family rides throughout the parks. It just serves to broaden the appeal of the parks to include more people. Of course, some days I'd like to see some of the people head on over to Universal...you know, thin the crowd a little bit