Why Disneyland Sucks

This thread is devoted to all the ridiculously crappy stuff Disney Management has done to Disneyland. (This is all in recent years, not even the things they've done since 1955!)

Like -

Taking away the Skyway, which used to go right through the Matterhorn! It was so cool!

Darkening the hallway on the Pinocchio ride where evil cigar store Injuns offer you smokes. You can hardly see them now.

Taking away almost all the stores that used to sell cool non-Disney items. Every store in every land sells almost the exact same thing now; candy and t-shirts. The same candy, the same t-shirts.

Disabling the Rocket Rods. Maybe they were a lousy ride to begin with, but they were better than nothing up on that track.

The whole back end of Toontown has been gutted of fun. They used to have a big slide coming out of the Chip N' Dale Treehouse.

I got lots more.

Hey Cammo, I wasn't sure which one you'd want to go with this thread...

I almost broke my leg on that Chip n Dale slide. My shoe got stuck on the side of the slide as I was going down and my leg got bent up next to me in all sorts of funny angles. Lots of not child friendly stuff was flying out of my mouth at that moment. They rushed me out of public view as soon as possible and would not even give me a ice pack. Within 6 months the slide closed so I have the feeling I was not the only one with issues there.

On 2007-11-28 17:13, Heath wrote:
Hey Cammo, I wasn't sure which one you'd want to go with this thread...

That is exactly what I was thinking.

Umm, Cam? How about Pirates? I don't think I can bring my self... I mean I just can't...I..no...please...don't say it...:cry:

Is the Swiss Family Treehouse still there? I think it was next to Pirates.

We don't have to wear a Mae West to ride the Jungle cruise, do we? Or 2000 Leagues. I remember the way Leagues smelled. Mmmm, mildewy. The good way. :blush:

http://www.greyhoundog.org

[ Edited by: Mr. NoNaMe 2007-11-28 22:33 ]

Four words. Adventure Through Inner Space. It was my favorite ride of all time. Still haven't gotten over that one. And it just adds insult to injury that Star Wars is not even Disney, hence Star Tours should not exist within the Magic Kingdom. Man, I can really hold a grudge.

I am a huge fan of yesterland.com, because there is a fairly good amount of information on the past glory that was Disneyland.

From a personal perspective, my happiest memories were of Disneyland pre-1983.

I had my traditions and rituals I engaged in while there, like:

I always rode the train first, and last. Waiting at the end of the platform and trying to see the first lights of the train coming out of the diorama tunnel gave me a huge boner. Now of course, anyone just sitting and watching gets you extra disney security scrutiny, and you end up feeling like a criminal. Anyway, moving on..

Next was breakfast at the hills brother's coffehouse, which was right on main street next to the the employee entrance to tomorrowland. There was one oval shaped room in the back that was done in the style of the blue bayou restaraunt in that it had a fake night-sky cieling with stars. I peeked in there recently, and they have that room as a storeroom. Some times we ate at the carnation breakfast place. As Cammo said, there were many shops on main street that had non-disney products for sale. A look at Yesterland will give you a complete list. We always went to the sunkist lemonade store on the way out. The magic/joke store had the cool fake barf patty I used to enjoy so much, and there was not a whiff of any of those accursed buzz lightyear toys anywhere to be found.

Lunch was at the blue bayou restaraunt, because back then you did not have to book a table 6-8 months in advance. We also ate frequently at the pirate ship, and had killer tuna sandwhiches. But really, all the hamburgers in the park had that classic "early big mac" taste. They were delicious. Not the rain forest cafe texturized carboard with the unmelted cheese they have now.

The lands: What can I say? Tomorrowland was a googie/futurist dream come true. Rides such as inner space, the subs, america sings (and before that GE house of the future-with the huge cityscape diorama you saw when exiting), the peoplemover were some of the kitchy-ist awesome rides ever made. Especially the peoplemover. You got an almost "backstage" view of things when the track carried you through the upper levels of the buildings. Circle vision 3D. Again, I got a boner when they came to the colonial williamsburg, V.A. scene and you heard the fifes and drums, and again when you started hearing steel guitar and the film showed you flying over the canefields of Oahu. That first experience gave me a taste of wanting to go to Hawaii for real. The views of the great lakes were also wonderful.

Now, tomorrowland lies fallow. Painted a depressing NEGATIVE copper-brown, instead of the hopeful, positive atomic -age white it used to be. All the best rides gone. The only good thing is that Rocket rod pizza port is now the best food in the park. That's a sad testimony right there.

Fantasyland. You could walk through the castle. It had awesome dioramas from the sleeping beauty story. I think similar items are now in one of the windows on the right as you leave main street and are leaving the park. But anyway, you could walk through the castle, rather then being pushed and jostled by the huge picture taking, moving day care facilities/lazy parents that now can be found dominating the castle area.
They also had the swiss skyway terminal, which was located next to casey jones, and is now unused and obscured by trees. I am sure it is destined to become a trading card buying area soon. The storybook land boat ride was always open, not just during peak tourist/surrogate day care times as it is now. And the motorboat cruise was a great way to see more of Disney's wild areas. The cartopia and autopia were TWO differen tracks, and all the cars were painted only in primary and secondary colors. There was not the hour-long wait there is now, because you had TWO similar rides.

Adventureland: They had the tahitian terrace restaraunt. What more needs to be said.

Frontierland. Except for the big thunder mountain railroad, there is nothing there anymore. You used to be able to buy wooden and steel musket rifle copies and fake civil war swords. Now they are plastic. The frito lay restaraunt had great tasting fake mexican food. Cafe zoccala, the replacement has food that is consistently terrible and overly pretentious (and expensive). Before big thunder mountain railroad, there was the mine train through the wilderness ride. Simply awesome. Way better then the calico mine ride at Knotts. The rainbow caverns were awesome, and I even have a CD that contains the background music, which was a ghostly and magical choir singing some wordless exotica music full of chromatic chords and would have fit in on any star trek episode. Some of the original small scale buildings are now visible on the ridge above the line of big thunder railroad.

New orlean's square. The haunted mansion was never shut down for three weeks and then converted into something decidely un-scary for the entire fall and winter season, (thus doubling, even tripling the line wait time.) It also was not politically correct, as back then no one sued Disney. Therefore they could really dim the lights and make the place look creepy, without worrying about some jackass falling down. Even the doombuggy loading area was creepy. The attic: The screaming ghoul heads scared the piss out of me, as did the bride with the glowing heart. Nowadays, with all the exit signs visible, and the ulitarian office -style carpeting, my own workplace scares me more. Of course, I am 43 not 10, but you get the point.

Disneyland has changed, and not for the better. Somethings they have done right, but most wrong.

IMFO

(In my f-ing opinion)

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2007-11-28 18:40 ]

On 2007-11-28 18:04, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Four words. Adventure Through Inner Space. It was my favorite ride of all time. Still haven't gotten over that one. And it just adds insult to injury that Star Wars is not even Disney, hence Star Tours should not exist within the Magic Kingdom. Man, I can really hold a grudge.

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/dvd_puchase.htm

I bouught this, and on the big screen TV and with the volume up, and all the lights off.......

On 2007-11-28 18:32, lucas vigor wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:04, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Four words. Adventure Through Inner Space. It was my favorite ride of all time. Still haven't gotten over that one. And it just adds insult to injury that Star Wars is not even Disney, hence Star Tours should not exist within the Magic Kingdom. Man, I can really hold a grudge.

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/dvd_puchase.htm

I bouught this, and on the big screen TV and with the volume up, and all the lights off.......

AND THERE! IS THE NUCLIOUS OF THE MOLICULE! (BUCKET SPINS AROUND & SHOWS YOU THE BIG RED LIGHT BALL)

On 2007-11-28 20:31, Hiphipahula wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:32, lucas vigor wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:04, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Four words. Adventure Through Inner Space. It was my favorite ride of all time. Still haven't gotten over that one. And it just adds insult to injury that Star Wars is not even Disney, hence Star Tours should not exist within the Magic Kingdom. Man, I can really hold a grudge.

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/dvd_puchase.htm

I bouught this, and on the big screen TV and with the volume up, and all the lights off.......

AND THERE! IS THE NUCLIOUS OF THE MOLICULE! (BUCKET SPINS AROUND & SHOWS YOU THE BIG RED LIGHT BALL)

That's when we would all scream. We also would scream when we would see the eye looking at us through the microscope.

I have the dvd of that Virtual Ride Through and I still scream at those points.

Sigh.....I really miss the Skyway, even though my cousin Eddie used to make it rock and scare me.
And I hate how they took out little things in order to make it more PC.

On 2007-11-28 20:41, Hakalugi wrote:

On 2007-11-28 20:31, Hiphipahula wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:32, lucas vigor wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:04, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Four words. Adventure Through Inner Space. It was my favorite ride of all time. Still haven't gotten over that one. And it just adds insult to injury that Star Wars is not even Disney, hence Star Tours should not exist within the Magic Kingdom. Man, I can really hold a grudge.

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/dvd_puchase.htm

I bouught this, and on the big screen TV and with the volume up, and all the lights off.......

AND THERE! IS THE NUCLIOUS OF THE MOLICULE! (BUCKET SPINS AROUND & SHOWS YOU THE BIG RED LIGHT BALL)

That's when we would all scream. We also would scream when we would see the eye looking at us through the microscope.

I have the dvd of that Virtual Ride Through and I still scream at those points.

LOL OOPS! we said something nice & fun... hope this didn't RUIN the whiners thread lol :D

P.S. I think I might miss the carousel of progress more... I have to ponder it longer. I don't miss the mules..

Have you ever been chose to take the survey right inside the gates of Ca. Adventure? It's great, they send it to you via e-mail & takes bout 40 min. to answer properly. Multi choice questions but each asks to explain your reason. It's very cool & those of you who are only negative & bitch ALL the time would really enjoy this survey :D

Wow, Hiphiphula and Matt Reese are really on a mission here. A mission to prove me wrong? Since I am not one of the Kool Kids around here, I don't actually care.

Not trying to prove you wrong...just giving a different view(okay maybe trying to a little). Also, I think you're cool but remember the source.
Cheers.

On 2007-11-28 20:41, Hakalugi wrote:

On 2007-11-28 20:31, Hiphipahula wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:32, lucas vigor wrote:

On 2007-11-28 18:04, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Four words. Adventure Through Inner Space. It was my favorite ride of all time. Still haven't gotten over that one. And it just adds insult to injury that Star Wars is not even Disney, hence Star Tours should not exist within the Magic Kingdom. Man, I can really hold a grudge.

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/dvd_puchase.htm

I bouught this, and on the big screen TV and with the volume up, and all the lights off.......

AND THERE! IS THE NUCLIOUS OF THE MOLICULE! (BUCKET SPINS AROUND & SHOWS YOU THE BIG RED LIGHT BALL)

That's when we would all scream. We also would scream when we would see the eye looking at us through the microscope.

I have the dvd of that Virtual Ride Through and I still scream at those points.

I was realy pissed when they closed ATIS!
It was the best make out ride in the park.

DLand is still a fun place to go.

But Luke Vigorwalker & I aren't grouching, we're MAD. We're mad because we obviously LOVE Disneyland, and don't enjoy seeing it dismantled day by day to make way for cheaper, less interesting attractions.

The gardeners and tech maintenance guys are mad too. Their departments have been cut back drastically.

In 2005 I talked to an early morning gardener just leaving the park, and asked him why they had cut down all the ornamental pears that surrounded the Walt statue in the central hub. These exquisite trees were the result of decades of careful hand-pruning to create enormous (in effect) bonsai plants. In spring they'd turn into snowball trees, popping out into beautiful white blossoms. They were like Japanese cherry blossoms, but stark white. The staff were so proud of them, all growing resplendant around Walt.

The gardener guy knew I loved those trees as much as he did, and said that a year before the marketing department had been taking photos of the castle and the bottom was slightly obscured by the trees. Rather than build a temporary raised camera platform, they had requested them all cut down for the 50th anniversary party.

Management went along with it and cut them all down. The problem was, the executives hadn't realized that they'd have to plant NEW trees in the same places. (Something had to go there.) So they planted new trees, all with of course straight trunks, young trees that grow really fast and STRAIGHT UP. A year later, they were back to where they had been, but worse. Nobody had consulted the tree guys. The solution was to have a camera guy simply place a platform between the trees and take some test shots. The marketing guys pretended that they liked them to avoid the blame.

Meanwhile the new trees will take literally dozens of years to prune correctly, all on tipsy ladders, to keep them from growing straight up and obscuring even more of the castle.

But that's nothing. The Rocket Rods fiasco was the thing that almost shut down the whole park.

According to a report at Jim Hill Media, George Lucas and Disney execs will be meeting to not only go over the progress of "Star Tours 2" (the Star Tours rehab project that's been taking years to approve) but to talk about the possibility of turning the the Tomorrowland 2010 project into a Star Wars themed project.

If it goes through, and there's no reason to think it won't, this means Tomorrowland would be Star Wars Land two years from now.

On 2007-11-29 17:33, Cammo wrote:
According to a report at Jim Hill Media, George Lucas and Disney execs will be meeting to not only go over the progress of "Star Tours 2" (the Star Tours rehab project that's been taking years to approve) but to talk about the possibility of turning the the Tomorrowland 2010 project into a Star Wars themed project.

If it goes through, and there's no reason to think it won't, this means Tomorrowland would be Star Wars Land two years from now.

Yeechh!! But, as much as I hate the idea, it will probably be an improvement over the current dismal state.

On 2007-11-29 12:19, Cammo wrote:
DLand is still a fun place to go.

But Luke Vigorwalker & I aren't grouching, we're MAD. We're mad because we obviously LOVE Disneyland, and don't enjoy seeing it dismantled day by day to make way for cheaper, less interesting attractions.

You are exactly right! Because I used to be absolutely passionate about Disneyland. When I was a kid, I would literally not be able to sleep the night before. I would be dancing on the front lawn in anticipation of heading there, while my parents and little sister moved excrutiatingly slow.

But once there, I was in a different world. Because I never liked rollercoasters, I had time to sit around the various lands and find special quiet places were I could really take in the scenery and get into the details while my friends or family went on the fast rides. I still do that when I go. I have certain cool places that next time you are there, just might find me.
Outside Haunted Mansion on the other side of the fast pass center by the train tunnel. On the sidepath behind Fowler's landing watching the splash mountain boats. The last table in between the matterhorn and ariel's grotto. A table just outside and under the old peoplemover/rocket ride gantry near the buzz lightyear stage. The old swamp across from thunder mountain railroad, (where you can see the tunnel from what used to be the mine train ride.)

When I was a kid there were other places like that, but a lot are gone now, or you look damn strange hanging out there.

Cammo, you seem to understand me. I think you see what I mean and don't take my criticism of Disneyland as anything other then a letter to a lost love. What bothers me is being painted as "negative" or being a "whiner". Do people who believe that, really find nothing to be sad about in this world of change? Because I do! I get sad when a classic Tiki bar plays hip hop instead of matching exotica music. Or when Jimmy Buffet is just as well loved as Martin Denny. I get sad when Disney makes a lot of misteps that seem more oriented to profit then actual fun. Does this mean I find nothing good in Disneyland anymore? Of course not. At night, with all the colorful lights and if you are peaking on microdot, it is a great place!

microdot? WHOAA! How about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Is it still there?

The Rocket Rods were removed because after they replaced the People Mover the State of California came in and told Disneyland that they couldn't, under California state law, have any moving vehicle that allowed a passenger to reach out and touch a wall. While the People Mover was the People Mover, it was grandfathered, but once they replaced it, no more grandfathering.

This is the same reason that the new Finding Nemo submarine ride is using the same old submarines and track. If they replaced any of those apparatuses (sp? apparati?) they would have to rebuild everything from scratch to be compliant with ADA and CDA regs.

They have done plenty to screw up the parks on their own too. Eisner was a poison pill for the parks. A really good resource for tracking what's going on with Imagineering is ReImagineering, and for general park stuff, there's always MiceAge.

I usually keep a bit of a finger on the pulse of what's going on since my wife and I are Premium AP holders and we want to know if the money is going to continue to be worth it.

Personally, I think that DL has done a lot of horrible things to their park in the past 30 years, but there are enough good things still there to keep it just out of utter suckdome. :wink:

Thanks for checking in, Dood.

Yo, Luke! Remind me to tell you about California Adventures sometime, Rolly Crump told me all about how it was developed in the first place. (I can't post it here on TC.)

Rocket Rods was the most expensive theme park ride EVER designed. An Imagineer I'm related to on my wife's side told us the ride was so badly programmed on the computer-control side that it crashed an average of 5 times a day, and the whole thing had to be cold-rebooted each time, strangely just like in Jurassic Park.

But the reason they shut it down was simple, so simple the designers never caught it; the ride simply had NO emergency exit. It was up on an elevated track. If anything unforseen happened, there was no way of exiting it. There was no solution to the problem.

That ride got almost the entire Imagineering staff fired.

And what happened to Honest Abe Lincoln on Mainstreet?

On 2007-11-29 18:25, Hakalugi wrote:

On 2007-11-29 17:33, Cammo wrote:
According to a report at Jim Hill Media, George Lucas and Disney execs will be meeting to not only go over the progress of "Star Tours 2" (the Star Tours rehab project that's been taking years to approve) but to talk about the possibility of turning the the Tomorrowland 2010 project into a Star Wars themed project.

If it goes through, and there's no reason to think it won't, this means Tomorrowland would be Star Wars Land two years from now.

Yeechh!! But, as much as I hate the idea, it will probably be an improvement over the current dismal state.

NO! I hate the idea! No offence but what does Star wars have to do with Disney... yep so Lucas is brilliant, I would be happy if they took Star Tours out. I love the Indy ride but honestly same story there. A Disney cop out, if the day truly comes where DISNEY has no imagination left... I probably will have no want to go there & I'm sure many might feel the same. The younger generation however might disagree with me they as a mass don't care I think. Kind of like the 21-35 year old age group doesn't care that Trader Vic's BH isn't really tiki. It's cool & hip & chic, we may be the last of a dieing breed.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is gone.
I had a chance to buy a buggy but what am I gonna do with a huge fiberglass jalopy?
Here you go...
http://virtual-toad.com/
Laffo

And
http://www.spacestation77.com/
and my favorite,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPjtMjr2i_c&feature=related

and the last...
http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/5732/hm3dindx.htm
Keep forgetting I have these.
Laffo

On 2007-11-29 23:58, Hiphipahula wrote:

On 2007-11-29 18:25, Hakalugi wrote:

On 2007-11-29 17:33, Cammo wrote:
According to a report at Jim Hill Media, George Lucas and Disney execs will be meeting to not only go over the progress of "Star Tours 2" (the Star Tours rehab project that's been taking years to approve) but to talk about the possibility of turning the the Tomorrowland 2010 project into a Star Wars themed project.

If it goes through, and there's no reason to think it won't, this means Tomorrowland would be Star Wars Land two years from now.

Yeechh!! But, as much as I hate the idea, it will probably be an improvement over the current dismal state.

NO! I hate the idea! No offence but what does Star wars have to do with Disney... yep so Lucas is brilliant, I would be happy if they took Star Tours out. I love the Indy ride but honestly same story there. A Disney cop out, if the day truly comes where DISNEY has no imagination left... I probably will have no want to go there & I'm sure many might feel the same. The younger generation however might disagree with me they as a mass don't care I think. Kind of like the 21-35 year old age group doesn't care that Trader Vic's BH isn't really tiki. It's cool & hip & chic, we may be the last of a dieing breed.

As above, I said I hate the idea too.

Anyway, you said "...what does Star wars have to do with Disney"

There is definitely a pattern here. When Disney's film Snow White first premiered, people said "What do the Brothers Grimm have to do with Disney?... Doesn't Disney have any imagination left?".

I Lied.
http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index.html
Laffo

On 2007-11-30 00:13, Uncle Laffo wrote:
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is gone.
I had a chance to buy a buggy but what am I gonna do with a huge fiberglass jalopy?
Here you go...
http://virtual-toad.com/
Laffo

Gone?? I was on it 4 days ago lol.. Tiki-Kate & I broke down in it, I assure you, it's still there

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=26393&forum=17&start=0

On 2007-11-30 00:32, Hiphipahula wrote:

On 2007-11-30 00:13, Uncle Laffo wrote:
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is gone.
I had a chance to buy a buggy but what am I gonna do with a huge fiberglass jalopy?
Here you go...
http://virtual-toad.com/
Laffo

Gone?? I was on it 4 days ago lol.. Tiki-Kate & I broke down in it, I assure you, it's still there

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=26393&forum=17&start=0

Uncle Laffo is confusing Disney World with Disneyland

The entire bottom floor of Innoventions was just sold to Microsoft Corporation.

I ain’t even scratched the surface, and keep in mind that these are all recent things they’ve done, none of these even predate 1997, and many have happened in the last few years. Some they’re planning as you read this.

And – these were all true the last time I visited, but may be different or even worse now.

The main sign reading “DISNEYLAND, The Happiest Place on Earth” has been taken down. This used to be a huge banner sign at the car park entry, literally the signature sign of the whole park. It’s been replaced by what looks like big peeled oranges. (Symbolizing ‘this is the place we skin you?’) They did this right before the 50th anniversary celebrations, then bizarrely brought out a lot of 50th merchandise that incorporated that sign. I don’t know if they have ANY sign anywhere in the park system that declares it as the Happiest Place anymore. Apparently it’s just not important.

They no longer serve turkey dinners in the Plaza Inn at Thanksgiving & Christmas. This was the best food in the park – healthy and delicious. They used to vary the menu seasonally, but it’s always the same food now, every day; Pot Roast. Try Pot Roast on a hot August night. Yikes!

The Settlers’s Cabin doesn’t burn anymore. It burned for 50 years, then they turned off the propane. This was one of the best reasons to go on the canoes – to see the cabin up close – you could feel the flames and the canoe guides always paddled slow around there and joked it up.

Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, one of the best and oddly the fastest serving restaurant in Disneyland history, is closed. The weird part is, the whole operation is still there, they just won’t open it up unless you rent the space. At Big Thunder BBQ you could order ribs and chicken from a cookhouse wagon, get your food right away still smoking from the grill, and sit around a campfire at night at communal picnic tables, meeting and talking with other guests. Billy Hill and the boys would come around most nights and play wild bluegrass music, and tell jokes! It was amazing, fun, and so relaxing. So close it.

The Country Bear Jambouree is gone, seemingly in a fit of rage after the Country Bear movie bombed. People think it ‘made way’ for the Pooh ride, but they could have put the ride a leetle bit to the left without disturbing the bears.

The Disney Gallery was established to sell original Imagineer art. They no longer sell originals; it’s an upscale gift shop now.

They're not allowed to shoot the hippos in Adventureland. Now take my advice, if you ever get charged by a full sized hippo on say the Nile you had better getthe biggest guns that are sitting in the boat and shoot right between the eyes. Get EVERYBODY in the boat to shoot too.

The Indiana Jones ride interior has been gutted of fire and water. Nobody seems to notice that there aren’t many special effects anymore in the (formerly spectacular) main hall where the car goes over the bridge; the huge skull to the left used to gush a waterfall of red lava, etc. They run the car through this section faster now so you don’t have time to look around much.

You can’t go to the Blue Bayou without reservations anymore. For people with an internet connection, foreknowledge of the situation and the ability to plan 6 months in advance, this isn’t a problem. Nobody else can get in.

The Admiral Fowler Inn was designed to sell yummy seafood snacks. I think it sells french fries now.

The entry to Frontierland has been PC’ed. There is no Indian Village Encampment at the front. Inside, there is no sign of precautions against the Indians; the left door used to have a big stone weight over it for quick closure, but it’s been removed, etc. All the Frontierland stores used to sell western merchandise; you could buy a pretty nice jacket there, or a book on Indian tribes. They sell t-shirts now. I actually asked a shop lady if they sold any western items anymore, and she looked at me like I was painted purple. (I wasn’t.)

No Circlerama. Again, the Circlerama hasn’t been taken down, they just won’t open it.

The three sided sign beside the Tomorrowland train station hasn’t worked for years. (It animates.)

The Tomorrowland Monorail sign hasn’t worked for years. (It animates.)

Your and mine favorite ride, the Matterhorn. Get ready. They’re playing around with making the Matterhorn sleds two sets of three seated in-line cars, like log flume rides. That means your girlfriend won’t be able to sit on your lap. Now, I’m not kidding here, the whole reason for going on the Matterhorn is to get your girlfriend to sit on your lap and get tossed around for a few minutes. 36% of Californian marriages have been started this way. It’s important. Really important that they DON’T DO THIS. Moreover, the Matterhorn is one ride that pretty small kids can go on with their parents and actually sit on their laps. Log flume seating simply means very small kids can not go on the ride anymore. They aim to do away with this, for the worst of reasons; to increase efficiency.

They painted Tomorrowland rusty brown. The intent seems to have been to make Tomorrowland look old.

At the same time, they re-planted all of Tomorrowland with edible food. (Did you notice?) All the shrubs, the small plantings, the decorative details, are all edible food because in the future “all plants will have to be edible to support the population explosion”. Tomorrowland plants used to be the weirdest things they could find; succulents, rain forest vines, bizarre palms, to give the impression of other worlds. Now its pepper plants (very hard to maintain), there as food, but they won’t let you eat them of course.

The big wet spinning ball in front of Space Mountain used to have spray-water fountains all around it. They took those out; too much fun.

The Astro-Orbiter. As one of the ‘updates’ to Tomorrowland, they brought the rockets down off the raised gantry they used to sit on and planted them 60 feet lower. Now they barely go higher than the lamp poles. The rockets used to be one of the most exciting, awesome rides in the park. They’re now just like the Dumbo ride. Whose brilliant idea was it to raise the rockets up high in the first place, by simply sitting them on top of the elevators that take you up? Walt’s.

Almost all the benches have been removed from Disneyland. The only ones remaining are to watch the parades from. The rest, ones you could sit on and look at a map or eat an ice cream cone on, are gone. I think the only ambient benches remaining in the whole park are in front of Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland.

California Adventure is so bad it actually has an unintentional slum area, the alley that's the only passage to the Tower of Terror. Trash regularly collects there, whirled in by air eddies formed by the huge undecorated warehouse-sized buildings that face the alley.

…

Booze in Disneyland? GOD forbid!
The main reason I go to California Adventure now.

On 2007-11-30 22:12, Cammo wrote:
these were all true the last time I visited, but may be different or even worse now.

***= MY LITTLE INPUT

The main sign reading “DISNEYLAND, The Happiest Place on Earth” has been taken down. This used to be a huge banner sign at the car park entry, literally the signature sign of the whole park. It’s been replaced by what looks like big peeled oranges. (Symbolizing ‘this is the place we skin you?’) They did this right before the 50th anniversary celebrations, then bizarrely brought out a lot of 50th merchandise that incorporated that sign. I don’t know if they have ANY sign anywhere in the park system that declares it as the Happiest Place anymore. Apparently it’s just not important.

***AND AS FAR AS I KNOW, JOHN STAMOS STILL OWNS IT.

They no longer serve turkey dinners in the Plaza Inn at Thanksgiving & Christmas. This was the best food in the park – healthy and delicious. They used to vary the menu seasonally, but it’s always the same food now, every day; Pot Roast. Try Pot Roast on a hot August night. Yikes!

*** I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT I JUST KNOW THEY AT LEAST RE-OPENED IT AFTER ONLY USING IT FOR THE BIRTHDAY PARTY EVENT. AND IT'S FILTY! CREEPY DIRTY AND THE SHAME IS IT HAS ONE OF THE MOST ORIGNAL 1955 LOOKS IN THE PARK. FILTHY I TELL YA!

The Settlers’s Cabin doesn’t burn anymore. It burned for 50 years, then they turned off the propane. This was one of the best reasons to go on the canoes – to see the cabin up close – you could feel the flames and the canoe guides always paddled slow around there and joked it up.

***SAFTY FIRST ?

The Disney Gallery was established to sell original Imagineer art. They no longer sell originals; it’s an upscale gift shop now.

***OH HELL, NOW THEY ARE MAKING IT INTO AN APT. WHERE THIS UP COMING YEAR YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN A NIGHT THERE(SURE) AND THEN I SUPPOSE IT WILL TURN INTO ANOTHER MAGICAL EVENT THAT ONLY RICH FOREIGNERS WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD

They're not allowed to shoot the hippos in Adventureland. Now take my advice, if you ever get charged by a full sized hippo on say the Nile you had better getthe biggest guns that are sitting in the boat and shoot right between the eyes. Get EVERYBODY in the boat to shoot too.

***THEY DO ONCE AGAIN SHOOT BLANKS AT THE HIPPO'S 11/25/07

The Indiana Jones ride interior has been gutted of fire and water. Nobody seems to notice that there aren’t many special effects anymore in the (formerly spectacular) main hall where the car goes over the bridge; the huge skull to the left used to gush a waterfall of red lava, etc. They run the car through this section faster now so you don’t have time to look around much.

*** I READ A FEW YEARS BACK THAT DISNEY SPENT MORE ON BUILDING THE INDY RIDE THAN THEY DID FOR THE COMPLETE "OVER-HAUL" OF TOMARROWLAND

You can’t go to the Blue Bayou without reservations anymore. For people with an internet connection, foreknowledge of the situation and the ability to plan 6 months in advance, this isn’t a problem. Nobody else can get in.

*** YES YOU CAN, I HAVE DONE IT ON OCCATION & HAVE CALLED AHEAD HOURS BEFORE & CAUGHT A RES. THERE IS HOPE, MANY PEOPLE CANCEL OR DON'T SHOW UP. THIS IS ALL PROBIBLY BECAUSE THEY SEE THE CHEAPIST THING ON THE DINNER MENU IS $26.00. KEEPS THE RIFF- RAFF DOWN I GUESS :D

The Admiral Fowler Inn was designed to sell yummy seafood snacks. I think it sells french fries now.

*** I DON'T KNOW BOUT THAT BUT,! THERE IS A F'IN MCDONALDS IN DISNEYLAND! WHO NEEDS THIS!!!!! WHO, WHO

The entry to Frontierland has been PC’ed. There is no Indian Village Encampment at the front. Inside, there is no sign of precautions against the Indians; the left door used to have a big stone weight over it for quick closure, but it’s been removed, etc. All the Frontierland stores used to sell western merchandise; you could buy a pretty nice jacket there, or a book on Indian tribes. They sell t-shirts now. I actually asked a shop lady if they sold any western items anymore, and she looked at me like I was painted purple. (I wasn’t.)

***AGAIN SAFTY FIRST ALONG WITH POLITICAL CORRECTNESS DAMN IT! & I'M PART AMERICAN INDIAN
No Circlerama. Again, the Circlerama hasn’t been taken down, they just won’t open it.

***NO MARY BLAIR MURALS, STAR SHIT INSTEAD & THEY HAVE THE MURALS INTACT TOO, LET’S SEE THEM!

Your and mine favorite ride, the Matterhorn. Get ready. They’re playing around with making the Matterhorn sleds two sets of three seated in-line cars, like log flume rides. That means your girlfriend won’t be able to sit on your lap. Now, I’m not kidding here, the whole reason for going on the Matterhorn is to get your girlfriend to sit on your lap and get tossed around for a few minutes. 36% of Californian marriages have been started this way. It’s important. Really important that they DON’T DO THIS. Moreover, the Matterhorn is one ride that pretty small kids can go on with their parents and actually sit on their laps. Log flume seating simply means very small kids can not go on the ride anymore. They aim to do away with this, for the worst of reasons; to increase efficiency.

***LOL LEANING BACK TO SEE WHAT YA FELT WAS JUST AS FUN :wink:

They painted Tomorrowland rusty brown. The intent seems to have been to make Tomorrowland look old.

*** AGAIN I READ A FEW YEARS BACK THAT DISNEY SPENT MORE ON BUILDING THE INDY RIDE THAN THEY DID FOR THE COMPLETE "OVER-HAUL" OF TOMARROWLAND

At the same time, they re-planted all of Tomorrowland with edible food. (Did you notice?) All the shrubs, the small plantings, the decorative details, are all edible food because in the future “all plants will have to be edible to support the population explosion”. Tomorrowland plants used to be the weirdest things they could find; succulents, rain forest vines, bizarre palms, to give the impression of other worlds. Now its pepper plants (very hard to maintain), there as food, but they won’t let you eat them of course.

***ALL THIS OF COURSE BECAUSE MID-WESTERNERS & FOREIGNERS LOVE CITRUS TREES

The Astro-Orbiter. As one of the ‘updates’ to Tomorrowland, they brought the rockets down off the raised gantry they used to sit on and planted them 60 feet lower. Now they barely go higher than the lamp poles. The rockets used to be one of the most exciting, awesome rides in the park. They’re now just like the Dumbo ride. Whose brilliant idea was it to raise the rockets up high in the first place, by simply sitting them on top of the elevators that take you up? Walt’s.

*** THE BIGGEST F-UP EVER! EVER! WHO THOUGHT OF THIS! WHAT DUMB ASSHOLE DID THIS!

Almost all the benches have been removed from Disneyland. The only ones remaining are to watch the parades from. The rest, ones you could sit on and look at a map or eat an ice cream cone on, are gone. I think the only ambient benches remaining in the whole park are in front of Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland.

***IT’S CLEAR THEY DISCOURGE ANYONE REASTING UP BESIDES, KEEP IT MOVING (MICK WILL LIKE THIS) WE HAVE TO MAKE ROOM FOR SCOOTERS CARRYING NON HANDICAP PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO WALK.

*** IT BOTHERS ME THAT THEY FEEL THE NEED TO CHANGE PRE RECORDED ORIG. RIDE SOUNDTRACKS BECAUSE SOMEONE? RIDE OPERATER? HIGHER-UPS? WHO? IS TIRED OF HEARING IT? I DON'T KNOW ,,, AT LEAST NOW, PETER PAN TAKES OFF & YOU HEAR "HERE WE GO" EVERY COUPLE TIMES A SHIP LEAVES THE DECK. THE OTHER TIMES IT SAYS "OFF TO NEVERLAND!" LEAVE IT ALONE! IT WASN'T BROKEN!! FIRE THESE KNUCKLE HEADS PLEASE!

*** FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

[ Edited by: Hiphipahula 2007-12-01 02:13 ]

More.

You can't go up into Sleeping Beauty Castle anymore. The doors at the inside base of the castle were entry doors. You could enter at the bottom, climb steps up, and they'd have these cool little 3D dioramas of the story of Sleeping Beauty. It was really great for little kids.

They took this away not too long ago: we used to take our kid there. And it's all still inside, they just won't open the door. Why close it? Why not just have a warning sign on the door about how many steps are involved? Or make the stairs bigger? It was a narrow stairway because it was designed that way for kids. (Kids are small.) Who designed it? Walt.

The Blue Bayou - yes you can get in but it's difficult. Why make it difficult? Why not increase the hours of the operation or speed up the food delivery or just go back to a sign-up system that's convenient to guests at the park that day?

Keep in mind that Walt had to fight EVERYONE for these rides & restaurants. Nobody thought the Treehouse was a good idea; even his Imagineers. The Plaza Inn was Walt's idea - he wanted good food in a clean setting.

Everyone thought the Haunted Mansion wouldn't work; it was thought to be too scary. Pirates took too long to go through. Making Presidents into robots was sacrilidge. But time and time again Walt had to put his foot down, and tell people to SHUT UP and DO IT. Every single minute of the day Walt was working for the public, not the engineers and the lawyers. The lawyers told him over and over that you couldn't build the Treehouse because people would fall out of it.

Walt built it anyway, cause he wanted the biggest treehouse in the world.

Cammo, you and Hipahula are very much on the money with these comments. I am glad you see the truth of things.

I repeat, the entire bottom floor of Innoventions was just sold to Microsoft Corporation.

There can be only one reason for Microsoft to go after a youth audience; their X-Box.

The plan for Tomorrowland is to be Star Wars and video games.

Has anybody noticed that Star Wars takes place in the past?

"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."

I remember they used to have similar inventions you could interact with outside of circlevision. The ones in innoventions are unplayable! The only cool thing is the sample of house of the futures kitchen. The wallpaper is awesome. Like the shower curtains in Al-ii's bathroom.

Edited to remove stupidity.

[ Edited by: Heath 2007-12-08 15:31 ]

Heath pal, the whole point of this thread is to criticize Disneyland. That's why it's called 'Why Disneyland Sucks'.

We're trying to stay on topic.

Keep in mind these aren't tiny little quibbles over personal favorite parts of the park; they involve massive changes to their largest, most popular rides, lands and restaurants. Gutting the inside of Indiana Jones yet charging MORE each year is a big deal, and people should complain.

Why not?

Why aren't you folks on Walt's side?

I will never understand people like "Heath".

Correct me if I am wrong here: Wasn't it a massive outcry on internet forums like Mouse planet that saved the Enchanted Tiki Room?

They WERE going to tear that one down too, and didn't because there was a huge backlash from dedicated fans.

I am hoping the same thing happens with these threads.

Heath, would you like the Tiki room tore down, and a lilo and stitch ride put there instead?

Becuase that's what will happen if voices like yours are the only one's heard.

How dare me confuse the two. I only live on the East Coast. For us it is Disneyland, even though it's World. It's like every soda being a Coke. Actually the changes to the park here have been more drastic.
Laffo

I’ve got some harsh news for y’all, and rather than sugar-coat it I’ll just say it right out.

Disney Theme Park Managers are not supernatural geniuses who fly through the air at night visiting little children’s dreams to learn what they’d really like to see at the Parks.

They are people just like you and me. They zip their pants in the front. They have bad hair days. They drink coffee and worry about their families. They make mistakes.

Most of the awful stuff done to all the theme parks happened during the 1994-2002 years, known to Disney employees as the Pressler Era. These were the years Paul Pressler was either in charge of rides or chairman of all theme park operations; in other words, he had Walt’s job.

Now you have to be fair to Paul. It’s an almost impossible job. Looking after one theme park is enough to have you hooting at midnight from the local belfry. Paul presided over the opening of a second major park, a hotel, a shopping center and the retooling of countless other attractions. Even if it was just the law of averages working against him, he had to make mistakes.

But Paul seems to have gone way out of his way to do things the wrong way every single time. You can’t blame him; he came up through the ranks from Disney Store management. It was like putting a Target sales clerk in charge of the oldest art gallery in Paris. Then giving him 2.5 billion dollars to play with.

If you’d like to learn more about Mr. Pressler, check out this thorough and illuminating posting on Mouse Planet:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/more/mm020930.htm

In it, each ride closed/modified/commenced and redecorated is listed, and the final total is an eye-popping negative two for the years 1995-2002.

This means in Disneyland there are two rides less now than when Pressler started.

Edited to remove head from ass.

[ Edited by: Heath 2007-12-08 15:33 ]

Actually Heath,
Lucas and Cammo are presenting an lucid, intelligent, methodical, point by point argument on how they think Disneyland can be improved. They love Disney. Whining is what you (and people like you) do when they offer useless advice, like, stop going to Disneyland. I have three questions for you buddy.

1. Do you object to Lucas and Cammo having an opinion, or posting it?

2. How is their criticizing Disney different from you criticizing them?

3.Why read or comment on it?

You're a troll
Mahalo
Al

Point taken.

Removal successful.

[ Edited by: Heath 2007-12-08 15:36 ]