Hi, I'm new to this board (which I find really fascinating), and this thread is particularly interesting.
At first I was wondering about all this Car # business, but now that I think I have figured it out, sadly I find myself in Car #3.
In an earlier post, thedscoop was wondering about the differences between the Car #1 vs. Car #3 folks since they are so similar in many ways. As a newcomer, I certainly don't have pretend to have an answer, but possibly a little bit of light. Many (most) of the posters on this board view matters from a totally WDW centric point of view, while others seem to have more of a Disneyland background and focus. It may be that those with more of a DL focus also tend to be likely to be in Car #3. This seems reasonable to me, as it is hard for me to believe that anyone who loves Disney could walk down Main Street at DL and make the right turn at the hub into Tomorrowland and still be in Car #1. The magic has clearly faded significantly at DL, and from the changes occuring at WDW it could appear that the cancer has begun to spread to WDW as well.
All is not doom and gloom, and there is still plenty of Magic to go around. But it is the current trend that breaks my heart, and it is in the heart where the Magic lives.
I've read with interest the attempts to quantify the Magic which appeared earlier on this thread. All of this missed a very important point- well, at least its important to me. To a long-term repeat visitor to WDW (and DL), I have found it amazing that over the years Disney have continually added to the Magic and have always seemed to top themselves. Every time I go, there await new marvels. In fact, to me a big part of the Magic has been the fact that there is always a lot of new Magic each time I go (which is relatively often).
In the last few years the increase of Magic has stopped, and some Car #1 riders even admit the Magic has declined a smidgen. To me at least, a decline in Magic is a huge blow to my total feeling of Magic. Yes, I know that Disney is somewhat a victim of their own success in this regard. If I felt that they were trying at least, I might be able to overlook the decrease. But the change in philosophy that many of you allude to is so clear that it makes the decline impossible to ignore.
Finally, I think that demonizing Eisner (or even Pressler, who probably deserves most of the blame at least in the case of DL) is not productive. Similarly, deifying Walt will accomplish nothing at this late date. Fixing the problems does not require slavishingly studying Walt's life and asking what would he do. What is required is deciding to make the commitment that "I will try to make a little Magic today", and then following the pathway that then opens up.
At first I was wondering about all this Car # business, but now that I think I have figured it out, sadly I find myself in Car #3.
In an earlier post, thedscoop was wondering about the differences between the Car #1 vs. Car #3 folks since they are so similar in many ways. As a newcomer, I certainly don't have pretend to have an answer, but possibly a little bit of light. Many (most) of the posters on this board view matters from a totally WDW centric point of view, while others seem to have more of a Disneyland background and focus. It may be that those with more of a DL focus also tend to be likely to be in Car #3. This seems reasonable to me, as it is hard for me to believe that anyone who loves Disney could walk down Main Street at DL and make the right turn at the hub into Tomorrowland and still be in Car #1. The magic has clearly faded significantly at DL, and from the changes occuring at WDW it could appear that the cancer has begun to spread to WDW as well.
All is not doom and gloom, and there is still plenty of Magic to go around. But it is the current trend that breaks my heart, and it is in the heart where the Magic lives.
I've read with interest the attempts to quantify the Magic which appeared earlier on this thread. All of this missed a very important point- well, at least its important to me. To a long-term repeat visitor to WDW (and DL), I have found it amazing that over the years Disney have continually added to the Magic and have always seemed to top themselves. Every time I go, there await new marvels. In fact, to me a big part of the Magic has been the fact that there is always a lot of new Magic each time I go (which is relatively often).
In the last few years the increase of Magic has stopped, and some Car #1 riders even admit the Magic has declined a smidgen. To me at least, a decline in Magic is a huge blow to my total feeling of Magic. Yes, I know that Disney is somewhat a victim of their own success in this regard. If I felt that they were trying at least, I might be able to overlook the decrease. But the change in philosophy that many of you allude to is so clear that it makes the decline impossible to ignore.
Finally, I think that demonizing Eisner (or even Pressler, who probably deserves most of the blame at least in the case of DL) is not productive. Similarly, deifying Walt will accomplish nothing at this late date. Fixing the problems does not require slavishingly studying Walt's life and asking what would he do. What is required is deciding to make the commitment that "I will try to make a little Magic today", and then following the pathway that then opens up.