No " ah ha " moment! Disney turn Joe Rhode & the Imagineers loose with free creative reign

Andy Clark

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Let me start by saying that we normally go to WDW 1 to 3 times a year with the occasional Disney cruise thrown in the mix as well. I'm 40 yrs old and have been doing this since a child. Every trip there is always that one defining moment, a dusting of " pixie dust " if ya will. We always try to do something different or that we haven't tried as of the present time. This trip I tried Whispering Canyon, Happily Ever After Fireworks & a few booths at the Flower & Garden festival.
I got the all you can eat BBQ at Whispering Canyon. The food & service was excellent! But I was a little disappointed in the whole " crazy " type atmosphere it was supposed to have. I think it was due to the time frame we were there being about 1pm. IDK
I had made a deal with my 10 yr old daughter where she was going at least try a few items from the booths at F&G in EPCOT. She chose the candid strawberries from China & frushi from Japan. Both were excellent but the strawberries were by far the best!
Happily Ever After...... where to begin. It's normally our tradition to watch Wishes in MK on our first & final nights of the trip. The first night we arrived just about 10 minutes before they started so we decided not to watch them. We wanted to have a nice viewing area to really be able to experience them & the show. Our second go at watching them we got there early, got the front & center spot at the main street depot & bought our popcorn, Starbucks etc for the big show. I'm sorry but the show just didn't do anything for me. It seemed like the relied on technology to much & tried to fit every film Disney has made into the projections. I went back and watched the show online hoping to here the narrative better but still no dice.
Housekeeping seemed to be lacking as well in one of the resorts we stayed at. I noticed several times that they hadn't dusted. Now.... we always keep our rooms fairly tidy & picked up so it wasn't like there was stuff in the way to prevent vacuuming or dusting.
Flight of passage is by far the best ride at WDW at the present time. It's like Joe Rhode & his team took the soaring affects to a whole different dimension! The Navi river boat ride had stunning affects & the best animatronic ever, but in the end it's not a must do for me.
It seems to me that lately WDW has relied to much on its name sake & has gotten away from the more personalized experience & traded it in for corporate / commercialized ideas for the masses.
I always tell my children when the mention other theme parks that we are a Disney family..... well I found it oddly strange that the biggest highlight was Pandora / Avatar which is not Disney but merely a merger. I miss the " All Disney " experience & " Ah Ha " moments that used to be in the parks. I feel like there's enough true Disney material to cover without Star Wars & Avatar or the like. Come on.... turn Joe Rhode & the imagineers loose for the love of all things magical!
 
Avatar has always been such an odd choice, but don't forget that Star Wars and Indiana Jones used to be in the same boat, licensed IP. Now, of course, they are obviously part of the Disney IP, but the idea behind bringing in something from outside of Disney's original creation is nothing new. But I still hear where you're coming from. A lot of recent rumors though have more Disney IP coming in the form of new attractions and experiences, in addition to it's Marvel and Star Wars offerings, so hopefully in 5 years there will be a nice mixture of both populating the parks. I feel like WDW is on the precipice of it's next great phase as it heads into it's 50th anniversary. I'm sure if you hang in there they won't disappoint!
 
Yeah I wasn't a fan of the Star Wars merger either. I think they are focused on trying to " keep up with the jones "
I hope they keep Star Wars, marvel & the like in Hollywood studios. I personally feel like jedi's & cat woman have no place in the MK.
Disney has so much material that's actually " Disney " that they could do things with without having to use outside trademarks.
I actually just watched the projection show on hogwart's castle for the first time. And I'm planning on doing universal for a few days on our next trip.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top