Worst Recent Disney Park Mistakes

Disney theme parks get a lot right, but nobody’s perfect.

While the company undeniably earns an excessive amount of criticism relative to the joy it brings in the world, the critics are sometimes right.

Here are the worst recent Disney theme park mistakes.

Cutting Parts of Toy Story Land

When Rodeo Roundup BBQ opened, it marked the de facto end of an odd story regarding Toy Story Land.

When Imagineers planned the project during the blue-sky phase, they anticipated a much larger area, one brimming with features.

Among those offerings was a Table Service restaurant, the one that didn’t open until nearly five years after the rest of Toy Story Land.

The explanation is simple but frustrating. During the construction phase of Toy Story Land, Disney found itself short-staffed.

The reinvention of Disney’s Hollywood Studios led to an “all hands on deck” situation with the Imagineers and construction crews.

Eventually, with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge drawing an understandable amount of focus, park planners made some hard choices.

Unfortunately, Disney “delayed” some of its plans for Toy Story Land until a later expansion.

Thus far, Rodeo Roundup BBQ represents the only part of that expansion, and that may be true for many years to come.

Also, Disney cut the funding on some other parts of this project.

Coincidentally or not, fans during the early days of Toy Story Land complained about the lack of shade in the area.

That’s the kind of mistake that’s hard to overlook, especially in Central Florida.

Eliminating Magical Express

Everyone has one Disney mistake that goes beyond the pale. It’s the one that makes us gnash our teeth with frustration.

For me, the elimination of Magical Express represents the low point of Disney over the past five years.

I just cannot get past this one because it was such a perfect system.

Disney licensed Mears Transportation to transport guests to and from the airports.

This amenity was available for free for people staying at official Disney resorts.

So, the only people riding the bus were other Disney fans headed to the Most Magical Place on Earth.

Alas, during the pandemic, Mears proved an unreliable business partner.

Even after the pandemic ended, the previous actions of Mears prevented Disney from willingly agreeing to another contract.

So, Mears offers its own service, which is…fine. I discussed it a few weeks ago, and it delivers solid bang for the buck.

However, you get none of the Disney magic now, as no Disney-related videos play during your ride.

Instead, you’re taking a bus from the airport to a hotel, and that’s not magical in the least.

So, here’s my semi-annual plea to Disney. PLEASE bring back Magical Express!

My Disney vacations simply aren’t the same without it!

Harmonious

I thought about this while watching Behind the Attraction season two on Disney+.

During the Nighttime Presentations episode, Disney officials involved with Harmonious excitedly relay the details.

In particular, they discuss how much people will like the barge.

That’s the funny thing about studying something retroactively rather than how it sounds during the planning phase.

Disney believed that fans would adore Harmonious and celebrate the barge.

In reality, many described that same barge as an eyesore and a blight at World Showcase Lagoon.

Not coincidentally, Harmonious, the planned long-term replacement for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, lasted only 18 months.

Disney’s unbridled optimism often wins the day, as Cast Members believe they can turn anything into a magical experience.

With Harmonious, that ugly barge proved an impossible hurdle to clear.

Promoting Bob Chapek

Too easy? Yeah, probably.

Fair? Absolutely.

Bob Chapek ran the division we now call Disney Experiences so well that he earned a promotion to CEO.

What we’ve since learned is that he was like an animal on a rocket ship.

The vehicle was shooting into orbit with or without him. Being onboard on the rocket ship doesn’t make him an astronaut.

Chapek received credit he probably didn’t deserve and a promotion we all wish he hadn’t gotten.

Rivers of Light

Think of this show as pre-Harmonious.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom added nighttime hours for the first time ever.

As part of this initiative, park planners desired a show that would celebrate the achievement and highlight the park’s beauty.

Sadly, Rivers of Light required about 30 different Google searches for guests to understand any of it.

Later, Disney “solved” the problem by removing the dialogue, which only made the situation worse.

Eventually, Rivers of Light turned into a gorgeous debacle, like a model who trips on the runway…or Titus O’Neal at a battle royale.

Rivers of Light and Harmonious were both the equivalent of that.

Disney has apparently settled on more temporary nighttime presentations rather than permanent ones.

I’ll leave the speculation to you about whether these two failures were part of the cause.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

I know that this one technically isn’t park-specific, but it does share a connection.

Remember that Disney’s Hollywood Studios added a new connection port specifically for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

To protect the illusion of the hotel experience, Disney docked the guests at a place just behind the park.

Star Wars fans simply needed to pay $1,000 per night each for the privilege of using this private park entrance. What a deal, right?

Look, we all know the deal with Galactic Starcruiser by now.

Most people were ready to mock Disney for this one several months before the hotel opened.

I was probably closer to the wrong side of the debate in that I noticed that the dates were all selling out.

Plus, I tend to give Disney the benefit of the doubt on this stuff.

Now that the hotel has closed after just 18 months in operation, we can all giggle about the scale of its failure.

Perhaps the most remarkable part of Disney reporting record-setting park earnings over the past year is that it happened despite this hotel.

Disney wrote down the Star Wars Hotel for several hundred million dollars. It’s a total debacle.

The Tron Ride Carts

I had a friend recently joke that a single ride on Tron Lightcycle / Run forced them to contort in a way usually reserved for Cirque du Soleil performers.

Their comment was that they were never more grateful for a Disney ride to be short.

Now, that is NOT the consensus opinion about the Tron roller coaster, which most fans adore. It’s a phenomenal experience.

However, Disney messed up the ride cart design in a fairly embarrassing way.

Park officials utilized the existing plans from Shanghai Disneyland to transfer this coaster to Magic Kingdom.

What nobody stopped to consider is the cultural size differences between Chinese and American people.

The average Chinese person ranges between five feet one inch and five feet six inches.

Americans range from five feet three and a half inches to five feet nine inches.

Those extra inches matter, and that’s before we factor in weights/waistlines.

The average Chinese person weighs 142 pounds, while Americans hover around 183 pounds.

Now, these numbers vary by source, but a fair guideline is that Americans are 25 percent bigger.

So, Disney ride carts should be…25 percent bigger.

The ones on Tron weren’t at first, and it caused immediate problems. 

Disney has since cycled in new ones but…whoops!

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Feature Photo: Photo: (David Roark, photographer)