What was the most disappointing attraction closing?

[skuttle]

Definitely the Hunchback show at MGM. I was never a *big* Hunchback fan, but that was THE best show at WDW...even better than Festival of the Lion King, IMO. I miss that show SO much!

 

[eeyore0062]

i was a super-big fan of the orginal MGM set up mainly bc i was always involved and on stage as a lil kid. was it called superstar television??? where wdw guests were green-screened into famous tv moments. i was the kid that hit the homerun and my line was "Gee howard all i really did was close my eyes and swing" that was then proceeded by the "booty dance" i really miss the old backlot tour. when u saw the MMC set(and yes i saw justin timberlake and britney spears) and the honey i shrunk the kids bee. my brother and i were picked to ride the bee, my all time fave disney moment. i also miss the dick tracy show and then the kids version that took place in that lil kid store at mgm. instead of tess truheart i think i was bess? my poor family had to put up with me ALWAYS wanting to be picked and our vacation revolved around how many times can we get wendy on stage, but that was part of the magic back then. i'm now 23 and my goal this year is to get picked for the indy show! i really hope MGM brings back more of that particpation magic.

I completely agree with you. Disney MGM has lost some of that "Hollywood" charm it used to have. Superstar Television, the original Backstage and Backlot Tours, the Animation Tour, Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical.... gone, or at least rendered virtually unrecognizable. And although I have nothing against Sorcerer Mickey's hat, it just messed up the entire fascade of the Chinese Theatre... it is SUCH a beautiful building and such an icon of old Hollywood. Wish they could have put the hat elsewhere, like somehow closer to "Fantasmic". To me, that is where it belongs.

 

[disneyworldgirl]

Oh, the good old days. I'm surprised only one person mentioned the old Tiki Birds! The old one was so classic! The new one isn't bad, I just wish that they sang more of the old song. Maybe finish the show with them all singing it one last time.

I also noticed someone say they could open a park with all the closed attractions. That's not a bad thought...this wouldn't be a bad park:

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Skyway
Horizons
World of Motion
The Original Journey Into Your Imagination
If You Had Wings
Alien Encounter
Captain EO
Mickey Mouse Revue
The Lion King Show
The Hunchback of Notre Dame Show
Tapestry of Nations Parade
The Original Tiki Room
Mike Fink Keel Boats (Nobody Mentioned)

Maybe we should all come together and say we would like the next park to be "Our Old Favorites" Park!

I'll second that motion! I don't know how much influence we could have on WDW park management or Disney's Board of Directors, but we could try. If anyone here is seriously interested in bringing these rides back in a new land of their own, maybe we could we could try an email/letter-writing campaign. What do you think?

 

[Uncleromulus]

A nice thought--but probably not even in the realm of posibility.
The real struggle will be to keep them from closing even MORE of these sorts of things---.
Disney seems to be in a "louder, faster, higher" mode and nothing is going to change that anytime soon.

 

[disneyworldgirl]

You're probably right about the new land-- I doubt if the current Powers That Be would agree to it. But it never hurts to let them know how we feel about some of the changes that have been made. Maybe we could just concentrate on 2 or 3 of the attractions that got the most votes here (I'm sure WDW could manage to squeeze them in somewhere).

It just really irks me to see so many of those much-loved classics taken out in favor of, as you called them, the "louder, faster, higher" type rides. And who knows? If they get enough complaints, we may see an old favorite or two returned (it wouldn't be the first time Disney lovers forced some changes in park operation or company management). Even if we don't manage to bring back any of our faves, maybe management would give it a second thought before they replaced anymore classic attractions.

 

[pwcarlson]

Oh all those that I loved and now have lost! Our memories of them will keep them alive in our hearts.

To me the ones I missed the most -

1. World of Motion
2. Horizons
3. First Journey into Imagination
4. Tapestry of Dreams
5. Electrical Light parade - the original

WDW doesn't seem quite right with out these there. Wish they would make a park of Unlove rides and attractions. Show them we really do love them.

 

[hauntedmansion79]

You know, an attraction nobody named was "Take Flight", which was the ride that was put in the "If You Had Wings" building after that ride closed. It was quite similar but had a more cartoony, fun feel to it. I liked the ride so much I used to loop through and go twice in a row. There was never a wait for it.

On a lighter note, instead of feeling doomed that all of our favorite rides are disappearing. Let me recall the great rides you can still go on while in WDW...

It's a Small World
The Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Peter Pan's Flight
Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Country Bears Jamobree
Splash Mountain
Tom Sawyers Island
Carossel of Progress (the most important)
The TTA
Jungle Cruise
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
Spaceship Earth
The American Adventure
The Great Movie Ride

I am just naming some of the classic rides that still have that Disney "touch". They're still there, and still out-number the new-style rides in the Magic Kingdom. I think the Magic Kingdom is safe from ever losing it's biggest hitters.

 

[ncbyrne]

Skyway and If You Had Wings are at the top of the MK list, but what I miss the most is Tapestry of Nations (moreso than Dreams).

 

[Dreamflight]

For me:

1) Dreamflight (no surprise there)
2) The Land Pavilion as it was for years - I'm just thankful I knew it was closing and was able to say a fitting and very heartfelt goodbye
3) Horizons
4) Kitchen Kabaret
5) GM: World of Motion
6) Original Tiki Room
7) Main Street Electrical Parade (though I also do love the current Spectromagic)
8) First Journey into Imagination with Figment and Dreamfinder

And I'm not happy about Carousel of Progress and Timekeeper being seasonal...I don't like where that's headed. I hope those and many others that were directly touched by Walt or inspired by Walt's visions continue to stay for a long, long time

 

[hauntedmansion79]

Kitchen Kabaret.....good call! Food Rocks is good too, but Kitchen Kabaret, that's a childhood memory that runs deep...real deep!

 

[Dreamflight]

Yeah, i loved Kitchen Kabaret, it was one of the highlights of my childhood too. "Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit" became a common saying of my family and still remains so. (The broccoli with the sunglasses is the epitome of "cool" if you ask me!). And I always loved the ham and egg routine and can still recite their "hungry fox boldly walked into the henhouse door" routine

If you happen to listen to the Live365 Disney stations, sometimes they play the whole Kitchen Kabaret routine! I caught it twice in the last week!

Food Rocks was fun as well and I am sorry that is gone. It was nice and it was kind of a reminder of Kitchen Kabaret.

And great point in your prior post about the "Disney touch," I know what you mean and hope that the touch never leaves the parks, it provides the "theme" of the theme park and is the heart of Disney to me

 

[DONALD38]

20,000 Leagues is missed. I'm just surprised with all the $$$ they put into Alien to Stitch that they just couldn't of made adjustments for 20,000 Leagues and added nemo or something.

 

[mitros]

Where did Take Flight fit in the mix? I know there was If You Had Wings, followed by If You Could Fly, which was followed by Delta Dream Flight. Mmmm.... now that I think about it, wasn't Delta Dream Flight changed to Take Flight when Delta was no longer the "official" airline of WDW? I guess that was just before Buzz Lightyear. Am I right on that?

 

[maxaroni]

I stand all alone... missing If You Had Wings. Especially the rush of wind in your face at the end.

Probably one of the most boring rides ever - but I still remember the song and pine for it.

You aren't alone....

 

[maxaroni]

carosel of progress is one attraction I hope they never close , not always open but a nice relaxing ride , I first saw it at the NY words fair

I saw it at the NY Worlds Fair as well and just love seeing it again and again

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

Horizons and World of Motion.

 

[maxaroni]

other than the 2 that I previously mentioned...If you had Wings and CoP there aren't many. I had been to MK in '81 and no other parks were there. So, when we went in 2001 & 2002, what I saw was it...don't know about many of them that eveyrone is mentioning

 

[maxaroni]

Well, it's not officially closed, but my DS is really bummed that Body Wars is NEVER OPEN anymore.

(But secretly, I'm kinda glad! )

when it came for our 2002 trip, I couldn't ride it...made me feel sick. Besides the fact I now have 2 herniated discs in my neck

 

[maxaroni]

The sky way ride scared me to death when I was a kid.....go figure.

I never really like those as I was totally frightened as a young kid on one...it was at the Jersey Shore (want to say Atlantic City) and it went out over the ocean. I cried and since then am not a fan

 

[swtnikki]

Disney attractions that I miss:
- DreamFlight
- The old Journey w/Figment
- World of Motion
- The old Tiki Room show
- The old Universe of Energy *the one w/out Ellen*
- Captain Eo
- Horizons
..plus many more that I can't think of at the moment