Here Are the Most Controversial Recent Disney Changes

In a way, Walt Disney pinned generations of Imagineers in a corner.

The visionary who kickstarted the theme park phenomenon had one request of his successors.

According to Uncle Walt, Disney theme parks will never be completed “as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

Due to this expectation, park planners must walk a precarious tightrope.

We expect Disney to honor its past while ensuring its future.

Sometimes, management makes some hard choices that prove less than popular.

Here are the most controversial recent Disney theme park changes.

Closing Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

On the one hand, this decision shouldn’t seem the least bit controversial.

The purpose of a business is to make money. Disney executives have flatly stated that the so-called Star Wars Hotel never did.

While we may never learn specifics of Disney’s financial woes, we’re acutely aware of the implication.

Disney charged more than $1,000 a night per guest to stay at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser…and still couldn’t turn a profit!

For this reason, closing the hotel seems like a no-brainer…but it’s not to some loyal fans.

On October 4^th, fans of the Star Wars Hotel will attend the first ever Halcy-Con.

Yes, that’s a convention specifically dedicated to Galactic Starcruiser and its loyalists.

For some hotel guests, this experience wasn’t merely a hotel stay but rather a way of life.

Some fans loved their visits so much that they cannot let it go.

 

If all of them had been independently wealthy enough to afford paying $365,000 annually at Galactic Starcruiser, maybe it’d still be open!

Frankly, a fan convention sounds like a much better value.

Converting Splash Mountain

We’ve talked about this change ad nauseam, but the debate won’t end anytime soon.

In January 2023, Magic Kingdom permanently closed Splash Mountain, thereby ending 34 years of entertainment.

Soon, we’ll ride the replacement for the first time, and MickeyBlog is undeniably excited about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Still, the sights and sounds of Splash Mountain will linger in our memories for many years to come.

In truth, I will always miss How Do You Do and some of the sight gags on the old ride.

Despite this fact, I’m squarely on the “Splash Mountain had to go” bandwagon, and I’m excited for what comes next.

I will not claim that mine is the majority opinion, though. People have thrown Molotov cocktails over less.

Ending The Great Movie Ride

The recurring theme with many of these changes is that it’s easy to see Disney’s side of the argument.

In the case of The Great Movie Ride, that space near the middle of the park must siphon everyone off the streets.

Otherwise, the ride building isn’t doing its job. And we all know that The Great Movie Ride had lost some popularity.

Disney loyalists – and I’m a proud one – bristled at the thought of management closing this ride.

Honestly, I will always resent the fact that Disney chose not to relocate it or put its replacement elsewhere.

For Disney officials, the decision probably wasn’t even hard, at least not once they excluded the attraction’s history from the conversation.

The Great Movie Ride had grown long in the tooth, something that Mickey and Minnie Mouse have never done.

Park planners correctly determined that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway would attract many more guests than its predecessor.

So, Disney sacrificed The Great Movie Ride so that Runaway Railway could exist.

If you’re a student and ever trying to demonstrate the best examples of opportunity cost, here’s your textbook example.

We paid a high price for the world’s first Mickey Mouse ride.

Freezing Maelstrom

That theme continues with yet another controversial decision, albeit a less inflammatory one.

I recently watched a vlogger admit that they’d never visited EPCOT until five years ago.

As such, the music playing at the park doesn’t do much for them.

This individual didn’t grow up with the EPCOT soundtrack of yesteryear.

One Little Spark will never move them the way it does for old-school fans.

That thought process applies to the former Maelstrom as well.

The public irrefutably voted on the attraction’s quality. They stopped riding it, which is a tell-tale sign of mediocrity.

I bristle at this notion and literally clinched my teeth while writing that, but I cannot argue with facts.

People weren’t riding Maelstrom, which meant too many folks were skipping the Norway pavilion as a whole.

Disney fundamentally changed that park behavior overnight with the introduction of Frozen Ever After. I get it. I really do.

Still, not everyone is as reasonable as me about this stuff.

In fact, I tend to provide Disney with more benefit of the doubt than its loudest, angriest fans.

Many of them continue to vent about the death of Maelstrom, even though it was objectively the correct decision from a business perspective.

Introducing Disney Genie+

Okay, if you weren’t mad before now, I know that your eye just started twitching.

Many of us remember a different time and era in Disney theme park history.

The time was…2020. That was the last year when Walt Disney World and Disneyland offered FastPass for free.

Even then, the writing was already on the wall. Disneyland had introduced MaxPass in 2017.

At some point, both American parks would stop offering digital line queuing services for free.

Frustratingly, the pandemic accelerated the pace of this change.

Walt Disney World didn’t offer FastPass when the park reopened in July 2020.

Once virtual queuing returned, Disney called it by a new name, Disney Genie+.

Obviously, this service wasn’t free, either. In fact, it’s sometimes shockingly expensive.

This controversial change traces back to one person’s desk. It’s a Bob Chapek initiative and one of many, many reasons fans don’t miss him.

Modernizing Pirates of the Caribbean

A heavily politicized movie involving human trafficking came out in theaters last year.

In an odd twist of fate, many people hailing the film for its bravery had previously lamented a long overdue change at Disney.

For many years, Pirates of the Caribbean included a slapstick scene, an auction.

What was being auctioned? People. Yeah, that’s not great.

The slapstick scene was funnier in the 20^th century, but we’ve grown as a people since then.

Park officials acknowledged this reality and deftly switched to a more spirited auction.

Now, a pirate named Redd demonstrates her natural leadership skills and love of her fellow rum runners.

Out of everything listed here, this change is probably the second-most controversial and most clearly necessary.

Turning off the Osborne Lights

When park officials strategized an overhaul of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, they recognized a glaring problem.

For Imagineers to make the changes they needed, they had to reclaim some of the currently occupied land.

Specifically, Disney needed parts of Residential Street and the surrounding area to build Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The problem with this choice was that we lost something special and significant to families.

Disney ended the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in 2015, almost exactly 20 years after its debut.

Fans created such an uproar over this announcement that Disney extended the attraction for several extra days that year.

On January 6^th, 2016, the holiday lights danced for the last time…and I’ve missed them every single holiday since then.

That’s the recurring theme for all these changes. No matter what Disney does, some fans always miss the old ways. What do you think about these recent controversial Disney changes?

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Feature Photo: Disney Fine Art