You may want to take a few steps back for this one folks, because I'm about to explode.
I am a Disney child, I was raised on Disney and would travel to the parks at least once a year during my childhood. I still count myself a fan of Disney, but that doesn't change the fact that I am most disappointed with their decisions as of late.
Disney used to be the big theme park in Florida, the ultimate family destination in the world. In the 90's they kept churning out hit attractions like Splash Mountain, Test Track, and The Extra-Terrorestrial Alien Encounter (an underrated classic that was ripped from this world way ahead of its time). They even opened two brand new theme parks: Disney's MGM Studios (Now Disney's Hollywood Studios), and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Heck, the Disney Hotels like Disney All Star resorts and Port Orleans were top notch destinations as well. Yes, in the 90's life was good if you were a Disney kid. Now, let's fast forward to the present day where things have taken a surprising turn for the worse. With the sub-par re-do of Test Track (Let's get rid of that cool story, throw our guests into Tron, and while we're at it let's make everything BLUE.....cuz blue is a cool color, right?), the continuously malfunctioning Yeti on Expedition Everest (which was touted as the most advanced state of the art Audio-Animatronic at the time), The highly hyped New Fantasyland (which suffered from a slashed budget, and a new family roller-coaster that took around four years to build. In the lands defense, the area is indeed very visually pleasing). It seems that Disney's new motto is :The less we have to spend, the better.
As sad as it is to say, I can completely understand Disney's new brand of non-logic. Even with Universal continuing to pummel Disney into the ground with USO's new found quality, Disney hasn't even attempted to fight back. The reasoning would seem to be: "Why should we have to spend any money? We're Disney, people are always going to come back to us because we have the power of nostalgia on our sides." It saddens me that Disney seems more than content to sit on their laurels and laugh at us fans. It is true that currently Disney is working on creating an Avatarland (Avatar, a property that has already grown stale) in Animal Kingdom, and while the concept art looks amazing I can't help but feel that the land will suffer from the same slashed budget that New Fantasyland did (just look at Beast's castle's concept art compared to what we actually got...so disappointing. There is a reason that the restaurant inside went from taking place inside his castle, to instead just being inspired by the film).
Anyways, Disney seems very big to jump into big fads and milk them cows for all their worth. Disney's newest and fattest cow is a little film called Frozen. Originally, I had counted myself as one of the film's fans but now with how over-saturated it has become in our culture (the amount of times Let It Go has been played on the radio is just ridiculous), I have done a complete 180. I don't really care for the film anymore, just the mention of it makes me feel a bit queasy. Disney, naturally, has jumped on the Frozen bandwagon. They quickly introduced a Frozen character meet and greet (the wait times for Anna and Elsa would stay consistently at well over 300 minutes), then a Frozen Summer Fun at Hollywood Studios (consisting of an indoor Frozen play area, a sing-along show, and even a special fireworks show. The Frozen Summer Fun has now been extended through September 28), and now....Frozen: THE RIDE (formerly known as Maelstrom).
That's right, Disney has made the BOLD (and DUMB) decision to replace one of their classic attractions with a Frozen ride. Details about the ride are scarce, the press release states: "The new attraction, which replaces Maelstrom, will take guests to Arendelle and immerse them in many of their favorite moments and music from the film." From that brief description, many fans have speculated that the new Frozen ride will be nothing more than a quick (and permanent) overlay of Maelstrom, meaning that the ride's layout and track will be exactly the same, except the cool scenes inside will be replaced with lame scenes from Frozen. I'm not expecting much to be spent on the ride (especially since it's supposed to be open sometime early 2016). Along with this, Disney has also announced that it is adding Frozen characters into their Christmas festivities including Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (where Elsa will ice over Cinderella's castle every night) and Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade.
EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. World Showcase was built to educate people about (and promote business for) other countries around the world including Mexico, Norway, Morocco, England, China, Germany, Italy, The US, Japan, France, and Canada. So, tell me: How exactly does a Frozen ride promote travel to Norway? The short and simple answer is: It doesn't. This is just Disney carelessly cashing in on the latest fad. Eventually Frozen's popularity will dim, and then we will be left with a lame ride where a cool ride used to stand. Maybe Disney will surprise everyone for a change and churn out a really cool, brand new experience for guests to enjoy.....but I can't help but be a bit skeptical. With the current state of things over at "The Happiest Place on Earth", can you really blame me?
Maelstrom's last day of operation will be October 5, 2014 so if you want to go say your goodbyes, the sooner the better.
Till then, consider yourself BUGGED!
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