What Causes Theme Park Expansion Mistakes?
The Walt Disney Company hasn’t built an American theme park in a while.
For this reason, younger fans may not be aware of a frustrating, recurring part of Disney theme park lore.
When Disney constructs new themed lands and (especially) new theme parks, history repeats itself.
We’ve witnessed this behavior at Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disney California Adventure, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and so forth.
Similarly, last-minute changes negatively impacted Avengers Campus, Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and many more.
Even Disney, the global leader in theme park design, isn’t impervious to mistakes.
So, as we await news of upcoming additions, let’s brush up on our Disney history. Here’s what causes theme park mistakes.
Budget Cuts
Here’s the one that dooms theme park projects the most, and it’s not an issue specific to Disney.
In truth, the entire industry is littered with examples of attractions that went horribly awry due to budget cuts.
Sometimes, one small change here or there can be the difference between a thrill ride for the ages and…a safety hazard.
Without bumming you out, several amusement parks have suffered high-profile incidents leading to personal harm.
Many of them stemmed from production cuts involving safety measures.
Thankfully, we don’t ever need to worry about that with Disney. Its budget cuts cause a different kind of expansion mistake.
Specifically, we never receive promised attractions and experiences.
Historically, Disney would delay those parts of the projects until a second phase of construction.
Then, in several instances, that second phase never occurred.
Fans of Disney’s Animal Kingdom often recite the most recognizable instance, the lack of Beastly Kingdom.
Signs of the attractions from that themed land remain embedded in the park’s walls today, but we’re never getting Beastly Kingdom.
At Disney California Adventure (DCA), budget cuts wiped out the entire park, at least in its early days.
Disney officials promised an unrivaled theme park worthy of being Disneyland Park’s twin.
When DCA opened, the response was tepid that Disney spent the body of a decade begging fans to visit both parks.
Since they share the same entrance area, it’s shocking in hindsight to study the attendance data.
For example, in 2008, seven years after DCA opened, it claimed 5.57 million guests compared to Disneyland’s…14.72 million.
Customers can tell when park developers cut corners, and they vote with their wallets.
Lackluster Ideas
None of us would expect this criticism to apply to Disney, but…Superstar Limo existed. Rocket Rods existed.
To this day, Jumpin’ Jellyfish remains, and it’s the type of ride that would cause you to fail the level on Theme Park Tycoon.
Sometimes, Disney moves forward with an idea that isn’t fully formed or simply isn’t that exciting.
Listing every example wouldn’t make me popular with Disney fans, but I’ll risk it all by throwing out a couple of examples.
The current version of Figment is better than the previous one, but neither of them can touch the original Journey into Imagination.
EPCOT officials wanted to do something special for the millennium, and they wound up breaking something beautiful.
Similarly, Magic Kingdom once did the same thing to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, which suffered one of the worst re-themes ever.
Those are new takes on existing rides, but we’ve had others that were entirely new…and decidedly un-Disney.
When’s the last time you heard someone say, “I really miss Primeval Whirl…”? The answer is literally never, right?
Disney’s just as capable of making mistakes as anybody else in the theme park industry.
Thankfully, their screening process is better at weeding out most of the bad ideas.
Thankfully, among all the concerns I’m listing today, I worry the least about this one of the three most frequent expansion mistakes.
Imagineers have spent the entirety of the past four years fantasizing about the time when they had the greenlight to build again.
Virtually every project completed over the past four years was already underway before the pandemic.
So, we’ve given some of the most creative minds the industry has ever known five years to plan what’s next.
If lackluster ideas are a problem, the entire industry’s in trouble.
Time Constraints
As I type this, Disney could announce the opening date for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at any moment.
Frankly, I’ve awaited the date for several weeks now, but I’m also glad Disney has taken its time.
This behavior alone may indicate that modern park planners have learned from past mistakes.
Folks, you may not want to hear this, but there’s really no need for Disney to tell us an opening date until the attraction is ready.
Sure, we’d appreciate the courtesy of an update in case it impacts our decision to visit the parks.
That’s our desire as customers, though. From Disney’s perspective, the parks are gonna operate near capacity no matter what.
From a financial perspective, there’s no incentive to say either way.
More importantly, once Disney states a date, it’ll absorb a social media beating if the project runs late.
So, the instant Disney reveals an opening date, it starts an unneeded countdown clock, applying pressure to all Cast Members.
What often happens is that people make mistakes, most of which are minor and fixable.
Sometimes, someone is in such a rush to make a deadline that they mess up huge.
For example, are you familiar with the math error threatening the structural integrity of Expedition Everest?
A person involved with building the Yeti Audio-Animatronic miscalculated.
Now, should Disney try to move the Yeti, well, it’s hyperbole to say the whole mountain could come down…but it wouldn’t be great.
These are the avoidable mistakes when Disney provides project managers with enough time to complete their assignments.
When you rush something, you roll the dice so that nobody will make a Yeti-esque mistake.
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