WDW first got the desire to have a 'Soaring' type ride even before California Adventure swung up its gates. Over the last couple of years there have been many plans some of them great about how to bring the system to WDW in a truly Disney way. And I've posted many of those ideas here.
But there are other forces beside the genuine enjoyment of the guests at work. Every time a concept for 'Soaring' has appeared, it's been discarded solely on the basis of economics. That is the current driving factor behind 'Soaring over The Land (of California)'. It is a decision being made purely on a short term economic and marketing basis that, in the long run and in my opinion, it will hurt WDW more than it will help it.
No one on this board knows what the final outcome will be because no one in Disney knows what the outcome will be. Many rumors turn out to be false because the company changed its mind, not because the "rumor" was incorrect from the start.
Personally I expect (but have no evidence this will actually happen) that the entire "gifts from
Disneyland" concept will vanish about the fourth week into ABC's new season. Given the choice between having the lights out go two days a week at Animal Kingdom because of low attendance or having the lights go off at ABC because of low ratings, I feel the company would much rather order up another season of 'Celebrity Mole' than build 'Fliks Fun Fair'.
As for the company not being dumb enough to use the California film in Florida this is the same group that spent $600 million to build a California themed park when 70% of their customer base is
from California. It makes you wonder about their ability to understand the key concepts of the business they've chose to run.
As for Epcot overall the core concept behind the park is that real world can be just as imaginative, exciting, and interesting as the fantasy world presented in the Magic Kingdom. We can learn as much from other culture as we can learn from fairy tales; the future is the ultimate playground for the imagination (more so because there we can make fantasy a reality). Yes doing that is a hard thing to do. For the most part Disney was able to pull that off twenty years ago.
But today, they've simply stopped trying. Instead of sparking an interest in the future, we get a modest thrill ride about how the cars of today wont kill you (much). Instead of exploring the awesome wonders beyond human comprehension to be found in space we get to revisit the contents of our stomach. And instead of expanding the cultures of the world represented, we would have ended up with another European wine shop.
I don't look to Disney to be simply better than the other guy and I don't look to them as a supplier of pins for a collection. I looked to them as one of the few companies that "got it" and that was both willing and able to create something truly magical (without the registration mark). Until that happens again, I will give up those standards and settle for what they decide to offer.
And I will gladly call myself both "disgruntled" and "ex-" because I feel they left me much more than I left them.
P.S. There are plenty of fans very vocal about how much they love California Adventure. The problem is there aren't enough "fans" to keep Disney alive as a company.
. Who know's if they can continue at the top o' the box office for much longer, but it is nice to see.
