Walt Disney World followers are a passionate, protecting, and nostalgic bunch. When the corporate makes doubtful selections, we allow them to know. Unsurprisingly, there have been a loads of controversial modifications during the last 50+ years. This checklist rounds up a few of the most polarizing current ones from the final decade-plus.
It needs to be identified that simply because a call is divisive doesn’t imply that it’s unsuitable. Sentimentality can cloud judgment, and goes hand-in-hand with a resistance to alter. Some followers skew in the direction of skepticism and cynicism with regards to present administration, working with a baseline assumption that the whole lot performed up to now was higher.
The converse can be true. Different followers are pro-change and reflexively defensive of each determination Disney makes. They’ll use quotes like “hold shifting ahead” or sentiment concerning the parks not being museums to justify even the most important blunders. After all, neither perspective is appropriate–however that isn’t actually the purpose of this put up. Quite, it’s that it takes two to tango, and selections usually turn into controversial by advantage of the following fan fallout and debate.
We’ve truly taken a special method to creating this checklist, which got here to life by pleased accident. To not get too into the weeds, however I made an unintended click on on the web site backend, and sorted each put up ever by the variety of feedback. I began looking the DTB Archives from the final practically 15 years and through that stroll down reminiscence lane, discovered that a whole lot of the preferred posts have been truly probably the most unpopular selections.
A lot so, the truth is, that that is truly half 1 of two. It seems that that is like Depraved or Avengers Infinity Warfare (or maybe a bizarre mashup of the 2), and easily an excessive amount of for one put up. Positive, I may’ve made powerful selections, however I’ve already consolidated a number of entries and there have been some actual gems–together with controversies I had lengthy forgotten. (This method additionally means this checklist isn’t Walt Disney World’s most controversial modifications from the previous 50 years, however extra just like the final 12-13, which is when this weblog began protecting information.)
Anyway, let’s get on with the checklist of Walt Disney World’s most controversial modifications…
Trip Reimaginings – After I first began reviewing the DTB Archives to make this checklist, it was largely full of trip reimaginings. I shortly realized that: 1) that was its personal separate put up, and; 2) it’s a put up that’s virtually totally totally different from my private checklist of Worst Attraction Replacements at Walt Disney World.
We truly simply skilled the most recent occasion of this final month, with the announcement that the Monstropolis mini-land and Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster was confirmed as changing Muppet Courtyard and MuppetVision 3D and the Muppets taking on Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster and changing Aerosmith. Each of those reimaginings or replacements would be certain an inventory.
The final decade are filled with such controversies. Together with that, just about any modifications at EPCOT make the reduce, to not point out the bombshell that Splash Mountain was being changed by a Princess and the Frog attraction. Years later, there are nonetheless followers who haven’t come to phrases with all/any of these modifications. However that’s one other matter for one more put up!
Outsized Stroller, Smoking & Unfastened Ice Ban – To this present day, the unfastened ice ban at Walt Disney World and Disneyland stays my favourite coverage change. Not as a result of I’m anti-loose (or dry–can’t go away it out) ice…however as a result of I didn’t know this was a widespread problem. This did happen not too lengthy after Frozen Ever After opened, so maybe the brand new trip attracted Kristoff’s fellow ice harvesters and so they have been soliciting in-park?
Significantly although, I can solely envision the Fb teams of unfastened ice fanatics doing who is aware of what to necessitate this ban, after which the fallout in these fan circles. I want I may’ve seen it. Everybody else wished to speak concerning the outsized stroller and smoking bans, however I used to be all about that unfastened ice. Disney doesn’t simply ban issues on a whim or for no purpose, so what occurred to trigger this?! I nonetheless marvel what the entire story there was.
Anyway, ice clearly wasn’t what made this controversial (a minimum of not in mainstream fan circles). It was the smoking and strollers. Individuals have been upset that they might now not use wagons or novelty strollers (there was a cottage business of Cinderella Coaches and Star Wars X-Wings that had popped up), and others have been offended that they might now not mild up within the parks.
This controversy died down fairly shortly. Visitors with outsized strollers downsized, people who smoke tailored to the brand new places exterior the parks, and unfastened ice fanatics…effectively, I’m probably not certain what they did. Maybe there are ice-ficionados on some nook of the Disney web nonetheless yelling: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Digital Queue – Ah, the halcyon days of late 2019 and early 2020. It’s straightforward to overlook due to effectively, you understand, however the interval from December 2019 by means of March 2020 was wild at Walt Disney World. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opened and, fairly frankly, Disney had no clue the right way to deal with its combination of recognition and unreliability.
Rise of the Resistance additionally modified one of many core competencies of this weblog, as we lived a stone’s throw from Disney’s Hollywood Studios then, and have been in that park a minimum of 3-4 days per week doing subject testing. (I additionally joke that the explanation I’ve by no means had COVID is as a result of I received caught in that queue so many occasions and developed tremendous immunity to all the world’s viruses.)
The choice to have a digital queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was, itself, controversial. However past that, the insurance policies and protocol being a shifting goal simply exacerbated the whole lot. Walt Disney World followers crave consistency and predictability–even in eventualities the place they might in any other case be the “winners” over different company. The primary few months of the Star Wars E-Ticket have been something however constant. Modifications have been fixed and complicated.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was a multitude. But when I’m being trustworthy, it was a lovely mess from a researcher’s perspective. The park stored shifting ahead its opening time, and the remainder of the park was delightfully uncrowded at 7 am. I misplaced rely of what number of occasions I rode Slinky Canine Sprint throughout that stretch. To this present day, I’ve most likely nonetheless ridden at dawn greater than any time of day. There have been numerous mornings once I was performed with Disney’s Hollywood Studios and hopped to EPCOT for that park’s rope drop. What a time to be alive.
Resort Parking Charges – Most followers level to the post-closure and phased reopening modifications as a paradigm shift at Walt Disney World. For me, this was the announcement that did it. That wasn’t some distinctive perception, however relatively as a result of, for a lot of company on the time, this irrevocably modified their relationship with Walt Disney World.
The information got here in mid-March 2018, and instantly garnered tons of upon tons of of feedback on this web site–and much past. The fan response to the resort parking charge felt totally different. It was extra emotional than regular. Walt Disney World followers bemoan costs will increase, however are usually snug paying extra for a premium expertise–even then, they have been clearly fed up with being nickel and dimed.
The lodge parking charge struck me as a tipping level for a lot of long-time followers. The grassroots ‘campaigns’ on social media and crowd-sourced evaluation websites mirrored this. Walt Disney World was inundated with a barrage of 1-star opinions on Fb, TripAdvisor, and elsewhere, with most pointing to this charge.
It was a bridge too far for lots of followers, and I puzzled whether or not the income was actually value all the outrage and harm to the model’s fame. Inside just a few days, I penned Is Walt Disney World Eroding Fan Goodwill? It’s an article from 2018, however feels prefer it may’ve been written anytime between July 2020 and right now.
Followers usually speak a giant recreation about being “performed with Disney,” however I do know just a few who truly adopted by means of and both give up visiting or give up staying on-site on account of the parking charge. It did a whole lot of model and goodwill harm. Walt Disney World lastly undid this determination firstly of final yr, reintroducing free resort parking. That information was concurrently stunning (due to the income Disney was giving up) and unsurprising (due to the backlash).
Skyliner – This was a enjoyable one. The Skyliner gondolas have been an ongoing controversy from the time they have been first rumored till they opened and even the months after. To make sure, there have been a whole lot of followers who have been extremely excited for this new transportation community at Walt Disney World.
There have been seemingly as many, or a minimum of a vocal minority that offered as such, who hated the thought and boldly predicted the numerous methods the gondolas would fail. Having been on gondolas in different components of the world, we supplied assurances that they have been, the truth is, a recognized amount and never so new-fangled contraption that will catapult company to their deaths or fail so spectacularly that they’d shut throughout the yr.
Irrespective of how persuasive I used to be (or so I believed), it made no distinction in any way. Time and again, the identical critiques and criticism cropped up. And actually, I ought to’ve simply stored my mouth shut. (A lesson I didn’t be taught, and haven’t realized.) As a result of not solely did it appear to alter zero minds, however then the silly sky buckets collided just a few days after opening, and the critics took their victory lap. Oof.
For the file, I really like the Skyliner now greater than ever. If a gondola cabin is to come back crashing down and act as my “tin coffin” sometime, then so be it, I suppose. Worse methods to exit…like consuming an excessive amount of “meals” from the Italy sales space.
Icon Obstructions – Sarah and I made our first journey to Walt Disney World collectively as adults in 2006. By the next yr, I used to be already in deep. One of many first rumors that received me hooked was the elimination of the EPCOT Wand. Like many curmudgeonly Disney Adults of the period, I hated the EPCOT Wand. When information broke of its demise, I spent days buried in discussion board threads–a few of which exploded to tons of of pages in size.
This weblog didn’t exist then, so clearly the EPCOT Wand elimination was not some of the controversial subjects right here. However just a few brief years later, Walt Disney World introduced the elimination of the Large Sorcerers Hat (recognized not so lovingly because the BAH–I’ll allow you to mull over that acronym and work out what the A stands for…) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Nonetheless a curmudgeonly purist, I used to be overjoyed. Many readers of this weblog agreed, however nearly as many didn’t. Because it turned out, the BAH had been round lengthy sufficient for followers to type sentimentality round it, and as we regularly say, nostalgia is a helluva drug! It most likely wasn’t simply the information individuals took to coronary heart, but in addition my acerbic commentary dancing on the grave of Mickey Mouse’s outsized headwear.
Not one to be taught from my errors and extra curmudgeonly that ever, I expressed related sentiment when the EPCOT Go away a Legacy slab-things have been eliminated. It seems some individuals don’t take kindly to jokes concerning the “Battle of Future World” or the moniker “EPCOT Tombstones.” The Go away a Legacy tiles have since been relocated exterior the park, however we’ll always remember.
Finish of Disney’s Magical Specific – I nonetheless keep in mind the place I used to be when the press launch got here by means of that Walt Disney World was sunsetting Disney’s Magical Specific. Truthfully, I wasn’t completely satisfied at first. A part of me consider–or wished to consider–that it was a negotiating tactic with Mears, or that it was a call that will be undone or one thing, something.
We nonetheless hear from readers holding out hope that Disney’s Magical Specific will return. Perhaps in 2025 or past ocne Epic Universe opens and poses a severe menace to Walt Disney World’s lodge occupancy. Though its religious successor remains to be operated by Mears, it’s simply not the identical. DME made Walt Disney World really feel all-inclusive, like they “took care of you” from the second you stepped off the aircraft till you left to return residence.
Even a few years later, that is nonetheless an ongoing controversy as a result of it’s troublesome to make sense of this determination. It’s gotta be a kind of issues that in some way is smart on a spreadsheet, however is doing incalculable harm in the actual ‘World. I firmly consider the beancounters received this one unsuitable, and its long-term penalties to the corporate will far exceed no matter cash they saved within the brief time period.
Certainly one of Walt Disney World’s best strengths was its bubble, and the corporate voluntarily punctured that. The captive viewers that was considered as advantageous for years is gone–and at a time when Walt Disney World’s #1 competitor retains rising and getting stronger. Retiring DME is the equal of Sabermetrics in baseball. Analytics gone awry, justifying selections that diminish the general high quality of the expertise. It’s the enjoyable being sucked away by individuals who don’t truly love the sport, armed with computer systems which have deemed these selections to be “appropriate” and “good.”
Free FastPass -> Paid Lightning Lanes – Walt Disney World retiring free FastPass and changing it with a paid different continues to be one of many greatest fan complaints we hear. That is destined to be an argument for many years to come back, except the choice is sometime undone, as a result of followers are reminded of this each time they shell out cash for Lightning Lane Multi-Go, which is strikingly much like FastPass+, however paid and arguably worse.
This was controversial on the time not simply because it was a paradigm shift, however for what it represented. It was an encapsulation of so many different frustrations and typified selections of the Chapek period. It didn’t assist that the preliminary alternative, Genie+, was unnecessarily convoluted and half-baked at launch.
With each Disney theme park on the planet now utilizing some kind of paid line-skipping possibility and the upcharge primarily providing free cash with minimal prices to the corporate, it’s going to be exhausting to place the genie again within the bottle. Followers however maintain out hope. If ever there was a time to take the win, it’s when the competitor down the highway is opening a shiny new theme park and Walt Disney World has nothing main to marketplace for just a few years. However extra doubtless, they’ll view that as much more of a purpose not to surrender a income stream.
DAS Overhaul – The largest controversy of 2024 is that Disney has as soon as once more overhauled Incapacity Entry Service (DAS) at each Walt Disney World and Disneyland resulting from abuse, misuse, and proliferation of this system’s use. The modifications to this system have had cascading results on standby traces and Lightning Lanes that we’re nonetheless monitoring some 6 months later.
In line with Walt Disney World, “DAS is meant to accommodate a small proportion of company who, resulting from a developmental incapacity like autism or related, are unable to attend in a traditional queue for an prolonged time period.” This line (or a variation thereof) may be discovered repeatedly all through Walt Disney World’s new DAS assets.
Walt Disney World has publicly said that DAS utilization has tripled since 2019. Unbiased of that, we acquired credible stories that the majority of Lightning Lane utilization is definitely not paid, however relatively, Incapacity Entry Companies. This comes because the prevalence of recognized disabilities, particularly amongst youngsters, has elevated dramatically within the final a number of years.
The different factor that occurred throughout that point, as mentioned above, is the elimination of free FastPass. This new system and every subsequent value enhance thereof created a perverse incentive for dishonest the system. On the identical time, it additionally expanded the viewers for social media “hacks” about the right way to skip the traces free of charge, which completely exploded on TikTok and Fb. This, in flip, created its personal vicious cycle. As this DAS abuse content material proliferated, it grew to become normalized by advantage of its ubiquity.
Park Reservations – Walt Disney World’s announcement that the parks could be reopening in Summer season 2020 was a joyous event that was virtually instantly overshadowed by information concerning the Disney Park Go system for accessing the parks. And actually, our put up saying the latter acquired extra feedback than the previous. (That’s to say nothing of subsequent posts about logistics, the launch day crash, lack of availability, modifications, and so forth–all of which dwarf the reopening information exponentially.)
Whereas many of the COVID period information is lumped collectively within the half two (sorry for the spoiler), the Disney Park Go system is the one piece of stories from that we’re pulling out as a result of it was an inflection level–similar to the lodge parking charge or finish of free FastPass (or DAS overhaul for disabled company).
As excited as followers have been for Walt Disney World to reopen, they have been additionally hit like a ton of bricks by the truth that issues have been by no means going to be the identical. It was already a troublesome time in the actual world, and this information undercut one of many uncommon items of fine information. There was no going again to 2019 at Walt Disney World, and this was the primary announcement that actually drove that residence.
From my perspective, that greater than the rest is why Disney Park Go struck such a chord with followers and was so controversial. It wasn’t simply the reservations system itself, which was annoying. It was what it symbolized–a seismic shift to the Walt Disney World visitor expertise. And although Disney Park Go is lastly lifeless for many company, we nonetheless aren’t totally out of its shadow.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study inns on our Walt Disney World Resorts Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys put up takes a singular take a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s good to know!
Your Ideas
What are probably the most controversial modifications Walt Disney World has constituted of your perspective? Any doubtful selections which were a bridge too far for you? Predictions as to what’ll be included partly 2–protecting in thoughts it’s all from the final ~13 years? (There’s one which I’m assured nobody goes to guess, however then will say “oh yeah, that was one thing.”) Agree or disagree with something that made this checklist–or our assessments? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
