These are the Most Controversial Changes at Walt Disney World
An English monk once said:
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Do you know who agrees with that sentiment the most? Disney park planners.
These kind and dedicated professionals spend their entire careers trying to make near-perfect theme parks that much better.
This job is thankless and terrible for their self-esteem. Anytime they make a hard call, someone inevitably complains.
Here are nine of the most controversial changes in the history of Walt Disney World.
Anna and Elsa End the Maelstrom
Several of the controversies we’ll discuss involve the end of a former attraction or experience.
Obviously, Disney fans grow attached to their favorites and never want them to change.
Photo: Reddit
However, Disney operates under one central tenet. It must obey Walt Disney’s wish that the parks continually improve.
Imagineers refer to this process as “plussing” parks and experiences.
Photo: Disney
Sadly, in many instances, something must die so that something else may live.
At EPCOT’s Norway pavilion, the something in question was Maelstrom, an imaginative attraction that celebrated Norse mythology.
Sadly, the attraction turned into something of a hidden gem rather than one with long lines.
Photo: Disney
So, Disney officials closed the ride in favor of something fictional.
The World Showcase has historically celebrated world cultures, but Disney made an exception here. It created an attraction based on the fictional realm of Arendelle.
Frozen Ever After is objectively the superior ride, but Maelstrom fans will never forget what they’ve lost.
Disney “Plusses” the Figment Ride
Along those lines, not all plussing works as expected.
For example, as the millennium approached, park officials decided to update Journey into Imagination.
Everyone expected a modernized version of the story to charm a new generation of children.
Alas, the new Journey into Your Imagination dropped Figment and Dreamfinder, the recognizable characters from the original.
Photo: Attractions Magazine
Guests openly revolted at this decision, and the lackluster quality of the attraction didn’t help any.
After two years (and one week), the second version of the ride closed.
Photo: Disney
In 2002, the current Journey into Imagination with Figment debuted. It’s definitely better than the second one, but is it as good as the original? No.
Even Disney makes mistakes.
Disney Requires Theme Park Reservations
Speaking of which, Walt Disney World officials didn’t have much choice in July 2020.
If Disney wanted to reopen its theme parks, it needed to monitor headcount.
Otherwise, the parks would have violated the requisite social distancing mandates in place at the time.
So, Disney introduced theme park reservations to accurately forecast attendance on a given day.
Still, guests, especially annual passholders, resented the thought of needing a theme park reservation to enter a theme park where they already owned admission tickets.
Fans grew more frustrated as the pandemic diminished in scope. Disney left theme park reservations in place.
Thankfully, they’re mostly going away in 2024, and NOBODY will miss them.
The Great Movie Ride Reaches the End Credits
(Scott Miller, photographer)
From the earliest days of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it hosted one E-ticket attraction beloved by all.
The Great Movie Ride provided so much entertainment to so many of us at a time when the park itself was…light on rides.
As fans, we were understandably attached to this particular attraction.
That’s why we were incredulous when Disney announced the closure of The Great Movie Ride.
Now we know that the replacement, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, is superior in every way. But we couldn’t possibly have known that then!
FastPass Switches to Disney Genie+
There’s no sugarcoating this one.
More than 20 years ago, Disney invented the FastPass, a form of digital queuing that empowered guests in a new way.
Credit: Disney
We could skip the duration of long lines at the parks. With a FastPass, we could enter the shorter line, thereby saving you plenty of time.
Remarkably, Disney offered this groundbreaking service free with admission.
Photo: Disney
For many years afterward, the theme park industry evolved.
Other companies offered their own versions of FastPass…and they charged for theirs.
Photo: Yesterland
Disney officials recognized a lucrative financial opportunity and had already implemented a paid version of FastPass in international parks.
Once the pandemic arrived, Disney escalated the timeline and replaced the free FastPass service with the paid Disney Genie+.
Photo: Disney/The Street
Many swears were uttered as the cost of a daily park visit increased for some.
The ones who didn’t pay for the service lamented the longer amount of time they spent standing in line.
Among the changes listed here, this one directly impacted park guests the most.
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride Closes
Okay, this one is admittedly my thing, as I’m fanatical about Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
This attraction proved memorable to me as a child, and I frequently grouse about the fact that Magic Kingdom closed its version.
Photo: Disneyland
That’s not unusual behavior for Disney. Park planners generally feel more loyalty to the original version of attractions than the duplicates.
Sure, something like The Great Movie Ride or Maelstrom happens from time to time, but many of Disneyland’s 1955 rides remain.
The Magic Kingdom versions of them aren’t untouchable, though. We learned this truth the hard way with Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
Disney reclaimed this space to introduce a child-friendly attraction in its place, one where the protagonist wasn’t sentenced to eternal damnation.
Image: Disney
Now, Magic Kingdom hosts The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh instead.
While I quite like that ride, I think we’ll all agree it doesn’t possess the same edge as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
This change happened in 1998/1999, and I’m still salty about it.
The Dancing Lights Stop Twinkling
Photo: People
Similarly, I’m one of many fans who lament the absence of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.
After Jennings Osborne lost a famous court battle in the early 1990s, Disney contacted him about a new plan.
Photo: deseret.com
Osborne had famously decorated his house with (literally) millions of Christmas lights.
Disney offered to host a new attraction with these lights. In 1995, the Osborne family’s lights danced at Hollywood Studios for the first time.
Photo: D23
They remained an annual park tradition for more than 20 years.
Then, Disney reclaimed the space to improve Hollywood Studios.
Photo: TheFloridaProject.com
While the park has added Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in this space, many fans lament the absence of these lights each holiday season.
I write about the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights each year, and countless fans chime to express how much they miss the experience.
Pirates of the Caribbean Ditches the Auction
(Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
Some controversies are frankly a bit silly.
For example, Disney took a hard look at Pirates of the Caribbean and recognized that some of the scenes had grown dated.
So, Imagineers gained the rare opportunity to replace some of the characters and scenes.
Disney makes changes like this seemingly every year. For whatever reason, this one bugged some people, though.
Oddly, the focus of their outrage was the removal of an auction scene.
Yes, I’m talking about the one where men sold women for money. What’s that called, class? Slavery.
I’ll never claim to understand this one, but a small but vocal subsection of Disney fans loudly complained that Imagineers plussed Pirates of the Caribbean.
The new version of the attraction champions the character of Redd, a redheaded female pirate with a love for liquor and hanging out with the boys.
This change adds a spark to what was an outdated scene. We should all be grateful to Disney for the update, but some aren’t.
Splash Mountain Closes in Favor of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Similarly, many of the same critics have lamented Disney’s acknowledgment of an awkward matter.
One of the company’s greatest rides, Splash Mountain, utilizes characters from a film Disney has buried in its vault.
Disney decided to do so because the movie in question, well, let’s just say that some of the characters haven’t stood the test of time.
Unlike the Pirates of the Caribbean protest, this outrage at least makes some sense.
Photo: OC Register/Joshua Sudock
Ignoring the subject matter, Splash Mountain was basically a perfect ride. And the music and humor on the attraction were terrific as well.
Still, Disney absolutely needed to cut ties with this film. So, we’re getting a change akin to Frozen Ever After.
Disney will re-theme an existing ride with a marvelous infrastructure by connecting it to an exceptional recent animated title.
In this case, Splash Mountain will transition into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is a theme park attraction sequel to The Princess and the Frog.
Photo: Disney
The change will be a net positive, but some fans will lament the loss of Splash Mountain indefinitely, just as I have with Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
As Disney fans, we get attached! That’s why any significant change proves so controversial.
Photo: MickeyBlog
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
Feature Photoimagineeringdisney.com
