What is Disneys biggest FAIL!?

[GeorgeG]

I think the current Disney is very much riding in the reputation of the old Disney that made everything so special. I suspect the new Disney might be the beginning of the end for them if they get their heads back into fresh air and make it right. Sooner or later people will grow tired of spending a ton of money on cheap thrills, cheap merchandise, and bad food. By then, all the old devotees will have given up.

 

[undertheradar]

DVC and too many onsite hotel rooms. Far too many people for too little activities.

 

[eliza61]

What is Duffy

LOL. Duffy is disney's answer to "build a bear". he is supposed to be Mickey's stuff bear.

evidently he is very popular at Tokyo Disney.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/entertainment/duffy-the-disney-bear/

I've got nothing against stuffed bears but with all the kazillion characters, why a duffy?

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

I totally agree.

I also hate the generic merchandise everywhere. I was at Hollywood Studios yesterday. The Villains shop has no villain merchandise except Nightmare. Nothing. Most of the shop is just generic stuff found everywhere else. The back is Jack Skellington. I have nothing against Jack Skellington, but he is not the only Disney villain. Sad. Even the Christmas store at DTD is stocked with tons of non-Christmas merchandise found in every other store at DTD. Bad deal.

Is Jack even technically a villain?

We (my husband and I) hate the free dining. Hands down. It makes it next to impossible to get a reservation anywhere anymore. Maybe the credit card fee with open up some reservations now for locals.

I wish something could have been done to save Wonders of Life, but that whole pavillion outdated itself the day it opened. It was truly the 80's in one location.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

LOL. Duffy is disney's answer to "build a bear". he is supposed to be Mickey's stuff bear.

evidently he is very popular at Tokyo Disney.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/entertainment/duffy-the-disney-bear/

I've got nothing against stuffed bears but with all the kazillion characters, why a duffy?

I *THINK* Duffy is everywhere now due to his crazy popularity in Japan. The ORIGINAL Disney Bear (before he was even named Duffy) in the early 2000's gets a pretty penny on eBay (seriously, I had three of them and each sold for $450, $800 and $975 respectively). I think Disney wanted to cash in on that popularity.

 

[wendy46001]

So hard to pick just one….basically all the EPCOT changes, they managed to suck the education out of the park and replaced it with mindless junk. Free Dining...ugh...as a local i can say this was nail in the coffin for park/hotel food, and dont get me started on what they did to Main Street

 

[minniecarousel]

I knew someone would mention Disney's California Adventure in SoCal. It wasn't very good in the beginning, but it's coming into its' own very nicely now. It has Toy Story, "Soarin', Tower of Terror, Bug's Life, Muppets 3D, a themed children's ride area. They've recently added an Ariel ride, and adding the-soon-to-be-completed Carsland. I'm a fan.

Disneyland is such a classic, but I miss things like the Carousel of Progress (what's in that building now is something I don't even visit - Innovations.) And I wish they'd kept Country Bear Jamboree - they would even change it seasonally to a Christmas and a summer version.

Going to WDW is such a big deal - starting with the long flight from the West Coast. It's always so crowded. And I agree with "free dining" - don't people know that it's really not "free"? Just crowds the Parks even more.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

I think the current Disney is very much riding in the reputation of the old Disney that made everything so special. I suspect the new Disney might be the beginning of the end for them if they get their heads back into fresh air and make it right. Sooner or later people will grow tired of spending a ton of money on cheap thrills, cheap merchandise, and bad food. By then, all the old devotees will have given up.

Couldn't disagree more. If there were more old Disney we wouldn't be chatting about bad food and cheap merchandise.
It's the people that have just discovered Disney or people that know no other vacation destination that encourage all the crap that now stocks shelves and dinner plates.

 

[Victoria3]

Where to start..

Dumbing down of the food
Same generic merchandise
Getting rid of the Adventurers Club
Cutting of entertainment in general

And the biggest fail. Getting rid of Block Party Bash. Thanks Disney for dumbing down entertainment again.

 

[wendy46001]

Oh and another thing I wanted to add...

Where are the holiday decorations?????

 

[Stepmother]

WDW's biggest fail is that they haven't managed to put together a decent themed ride in HS with the Narnia franchise or Star Trek. They could do a lot more with the Star Wars franchise - how about a cantina?

 

[EverestSherpa]

What about the newer Marvel titles? I know IOA gets to keep their existing Marvel rides, but couldn't Disney do attractions with the films they haven't touched? That would be a nice jolt for DHS if they could.

Unfortunately they can't even do that. It's not an ideal situation, but Disney wasn't purchasing the property for theme park attractions, it's for the extensive library Marvel has. Marvel merchandise has already infiltrated the parks and Disney Stores across the country and they've made a couple of games, as well as movies in development (one notable exception is the upcoming "Spider-Man" flick which is actually Sony's property -- another strange exemption since they started filming before a certain time frame).

 

[EverestSherpa]

WDW's biggest fail is that they haven't managed to put together a decent themed ride in HS with the Narnia franchise or Star Trek. They could do a lot more with the Star Wars franchise - how about a cantina?

Keep in mind George Lucas still owns 100% of the licensing rights. It's up to him to allow Disney to expand. So let's say the built a counter-service restaurant, "The Cantina" we'll call it, Lucas will ask for X amount per year. To Disney, it's not worth it. Why open up a dining option where you'll have to pay to license it out every year when it won't attract any new guests. "Star Tours", on the other hand, attracts guests, guests that wouldn't come without that attraction (think Star Wars Weekend). I'm not sure there are too many Star Wars fans out there that are saying, "Star Tours may be cool, but if only they ALSO had a Star Wars quick-service restaurant, then I would go!".

I'm not saying I disagree with you, I would absolutely LOVE an expansion in Star Wars, the new attraction is amazing! A Star Wars Character Meal would be very cool, they could do a lot with it.

 

[Dee & Greg]

The cancellation of Tapestry of Nations/Tapestry of Dreams

Loved that parade!

Also agree that I don't see as many street performers in Epcot that I used to

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

The cancellation of Tapestry of Nations/Tapestry of Dreams

Loved that parade!

Also agree that I don't see as many street performers in Epcot that I used to

Loved that parade!!!!!

 

[frndshpcptn]

Replacing the Alien Encounter with Stitch's Great Escape in MK!

I agree with this!!

 

[OhMari]

Letting River Country go. With today's Engineering, they could of tiled and sealed around the Water Park, so Bay Lake wouldn't flow into the water system. This water park was one of the first water parks in the world and it just lays there now rotting away.

Counter Service food-blah, same in every counter resturant in WDW, with the exception of Earl of Sandwhich and Wolf Gang Pucks.

 

[4 mickey]

As quite alot of you said merchandise ..remember my 1st trip I found the nicest bathrobe ( kind of velour mickey heads ) that made for a nice souvenier had to throw it away ( had it for quite a few years ) ..nightgowns ..merchandise is really lacking ...if I want to buy a mickey t shirt who as nothing on it I might as well buy it at my local wal mart for merly 9$ ...I don t mind paying but it as to be for quality ..and for something that remembers me my trip ( wdw written on it ) ..
also as a previous poster said where did all the nice christmas decorations went ??? used to be lot's of choices in the DD xmas store we used to come back with quite a few each trip ..now a days the store and the merchandise seems smaller ...
come on disney merchandise is putting good money in your pockets get back the nice merchandise

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

Very sad when Discovery Island closed...s0 peaceful and a great escape.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I said this on another simmilar link. Disney reminds me so much of the company in "I Know it When I See It"

The company Punctuation Inc. developed different punctuation marks, and then couldn't understand why people started using other companies puntuations. They didn't listen to the what the people were telling them thinking they knew what those people wanted. I swear when I read it Disney never entered my mind but now from what I remember it really reminds me of them now. Truelly a great underated book.