I not denying any of that...the parks could all use some TLC...but to make the leap that the fantasyland expansion is "just window dressing"...I'm saying you'll never like a another expansion at WDW ever again if you dismiss that one.
And yes...little mermaid might be a clone, but it's a being cloned in two locations brand new. Some folks here might not believe it, but the fast majority of WDW guest never ever get to DL, and vice versa. (I'm one of them.) While I would prefer that not ALL rides are cloned from both parks, I am perfectly happy that many of the rides are identical. But hey, you can blame that one on Walt, who decided to put a lot of the same rides in Florida as California in order to...*gasp*....keep costs down.
Seriously, I would also argue that if cloning rides in multiple parks worldwide keeps expenses down and allows us have MORE new rides...then clone away, Mickey, clone away.
SP
Just to be clear...i'm not adamantly against cloning on principle. If it works somewhere else...great. But it should be used as a filler while new experiences are developed and built. And since they installed the two clones in 2004-5...exactly 1 new significant attraction has been added....in going on 7 years.
But lets face the facts...the last ten years has seen 2 clones installed, chester and hester thrown up because of the deficiencies in animal kingdom, two "disney" type rides - one a success in Midway Mania, one pretty convincingly a failure in Everest, and the two interactive shows in Crush and Laughfloor...which were not major investments. And they tinkered with Spaceship Earth and screwed up imagination!. And the nemo show...which is far from memorable or impressive.
That's it for 10 years...and i might be a spoiled little brat here...but that isn't good enough for the escalating costs. It really isn't.
If the FLE is done well and provides a top quality product...then i will breath a little sigh of relief. If it ends up looking kinda six flags-esque and is just really an elaborate giftshop filled with Chinese junk....then we are back to the same spot.
The proof will be in the finished product...so i will give credit when it is warranted. If they roll out the first "phases" in the next year or so and its basically dirt pushed around offering inferior food and merch...then houston, we have the same problem...
And just for comparison...Universal Studios has added SIX major attractions since 2000...and IOA has added a little addition about some kinda magic thing
Busch Gardens has installed 5 major new redevelopments and attractions..and they tend to do a good job and put proper planning and funds into their projects
Seaworld has added several new rides and is generally high quality...
Now i'm the LAST person to say that disney needs to respond to the other clowns in town...the last. They are no threat...but when you take 5 minutes to do a little research...you see that in fact they have not provided alot to their customers recently other than DVC units and more giftshops with junkier merchandise. And while they still have the better parks and overall are much larger scale - at some point i would like a dividend to be paid on my annual investment. Is that wrong? I thought the free market rules everything...
