My opinion about Walt Disney World has continually degraded since 2020. I had been frustrated with the direction of the company since 2010, and the frustration turned into downright anger in 2020, where one terrible decision created a domino effect for the company. Before we get to that decision, let's quickly talk about Maelstrom and Frozen Ever After. Maelstrom was the name of the popular and cult classic Norway boat ride.
Maelstrom would take guests on a brief thrilling boat ride through the myths of Norway including, prominently, angry trolls. The main feature of the ride was an iconic backwards portion that ended with the back of guest's boats sailing partially outside the building and into view of waiting guests. Maelstrom would close in 2014 to make way for a, let's be honest, cheap overlay themed to Frozen. When Frozen Ever After opened in 2016, guests found that the backwards portion remained intact, but the outdoor opening had been crudely shuttered.
The audio-animatronics featured in the attraction had screen-projection faces, which guests openly rebelled against. EPCOT would replace the screen-projected faces in late 2025 with classic physical faces, everyone thought that Disney had learned their lesson, but we would later be proven wrong. In 2017, Disney made another questionable decision by closing The Great Movie Ride for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad. This attraction I have been able to go on, and while it's nowhere near as good as The great Movie Ride, I still loved it. Now, onto that terrible company altering decision.
In 2020, amidst the George Floyd protests, Disney caved to angry white people and announced the permanent closure of Splash Mountain for Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Walt Disney World stated the official reason for the closure was racist undertones/overtones within Splash Mountain. The only issue with this stated reason for closure is that Splash Mountain did not have any complaints about racism within the attraction for the decades it had been open before then. Having been on the attraction many times during my visits to Walt Disney World, I can attest to this fact myself.
There was nothing racist about Splash Mountain. True, it was adapted from an incredibly racist film called Song of the South, but just because something is adapted from racist source material doesn't mean that the adaptation is automatically racist as well. For example: Splash Mountain removed all traces of the Tar Baby from the ride, thereby erasing one of the most problematic aspects of the movie and the original Brer Rabbit stories. Tiana's was announced to be set after the events of Princess and the Frog.
Walt Disney World later confirmed that the fan favorite villain Dr. Facilier would not make an appearance in the ride. Why? Because Disney didn't want to scare small children. The only problem with this was that the ride still features a 50ft fall. Regardless of Disney removing Dr. Facilier, the ride would still scare youngsters due to it being, you know, A THRILL RIDE!!!
By removing the good doctor, the ride would lose all pacing and tension, the falls no longer making sense within the story that is being told. Now, it's Mama Odie who sends us down the big fall because...reasons. Tiana's would feature some incredible, brand-new Audio-Animatronics but these would prove to be incredibly problematic as they suffer from frequent breakdowns and as of this writing aren't in the best of shape. It's almost like if Disney didn't kow-tow to the angry mob, the attraction would be in much better shape today. Instead, they carelessly tore out one of the iconic, defining attractions of the Disney parks (With Splash closing down in 2023 and Tiana's opening in 2024).
They even went so far as to remove Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah from all park music loops. It's almost like they want to pretend that Splash Mountain never existed. To this day, I still have not been on Tiana's. Disney would also completely update The Country Bear Jamboree in 2024 because of supposedly offensive material in the original show (See: Liver Lips McGraw, Blood on the Saddle, Mama Don't Whoop Lil' Beauford), creating brand new animatronics and turning the Jamboree into a sing-along featuring Country Music versions of classic Disney tunes. I don't take as much offense with this update as I feel it could have turned out so much worse than it did.
As it stands, I have not seen the current version in person, but judging from Youtube videos, it looks like the new Jamboree is enjoyable and watchable. In 2022, Walt Disney World added a much-requested fan-favorite lost ghost to The Haunted Mansion: The Hatbox Ghost would be added, but the placement of the new audio-animatronic would perturb some fans. The Hatbox Ghost was added to the hallway with the floating candelabra. The issue this time was that placing Hatbox here directly contradicts the story and flow of the Mansion.
Traditionally, the first half of The Haunted Mansion features allusions to ghosts, but we don't see any full-bodied specters until madam Leota does her seance. Placing Hatbox in the first act therefore contradicts the established story. I suppose you could argue that Imagineers were following the story of the new Haunted Mansion movie where Hatbox is the villain and is unaffected by Leota's powers. Unfortunately, that film was fairly poorly received (I liked it!), so you could easily claim that choosing to make elements of that film canon was a bad idea. This is another addition I have not seen in person yet, though I'm more ambivalent on this one. From the videos I've seen, I think the figure looks great but agree that his placement wasn't the best.
In 2025, Tom Sawyer Island, The Liberty Belle Riverboat, and The Rivers of America would all permanently close to make way for a new Cars Land complete with two new attractions. While the land is still under construction, I am not happy with how this played out. Cars simply does not fit into Frontierland, no matter how much Disney tries to retroactively change the meaning and theme of Frontierland. Magic Kingdom was built with the Rivers of America in mind, and having a body of water in the park helps to make the surroundings cooler (in temperature). I understand that Tom Sawyer Island and The Liberty Belle were not popular attractions and that the demolition was done in an effort to add capacity to the park, but this was still not a wise move.
By ripping out the Rivers of America, they have fundamentally changed the look and structure of the entire Magic Kingdom park. I know it's a moot point by now, but Walt would not be pleased. Magic Kingdom will never again look like the park I grew up with. I know you could say the same thing about the closure of the 20000 Leagues Under the Sea lagoon, but my point still stands.
2025 had another prominent closure of a beloved attraction: Muppet*Vision 3D. This shuttering hit hard due to this being the last project Jim Henson ever touched before his untimely death. Muppet*Vision 3D and the surrounding Muppet Courtyard were to be demolished for a new Monsters Inc. area that is to feature a hanging door coaster. While the demolition pissed off many fans (myself included), there was a light on the horizon. Disney would close Rock 'n' Roller Coaster in 2025 to make way for a Muppet overlay in 2026.
While some fans were displeased with the final product (The coaster is a poor fit for the Muppets due to its intensity, they scream) and while I haven't ridden it yet, judging from Youtube vids, it looks like the rare W for Walt Disney World in recent years. The re-theming was done with a lot of passion for the Muppets, the new pre-show features a Scooter AA along with limited movement Penguin AAs, and Statler and Waldorf even get a brief cameo at the end of the ride. Some props from Muppet*Vision 3D made it into the queue, load area, and gift shop, such as the old poster of a Muppet-fied Jim Henson. I've always seen Rock 'n' Roller Coaster as a coaster that is meant to act as a steppingstone to the 'Big Boy' coasters like Hulk and Velocicoaster. I also feel the "intensity" perfectly fits the madcap mayhem the Muppets are known for.
In 2025, Walt Disney World re-opened Test Track with a brand new re-theme. I already posted a mini-review for it, but I'll just repeat that it's another rare W for Walt Disney World and is likely the best version of the attraction we've gotten. This year, Walt Disney World unveiled their re-theme of Animation Courtyard. I haven't seen this yet, but just going off the pictures taken, I think it's yet another W for Walt Disney World. The area feels much more open with some fake grass placed here and there.
There are many references to classic Disney animated characters, and figurines of some of these characters are placed about the area, some in easy to see spots and others in more hidden areas. This is one many weren't expecting much out of, and it seems most were pleasantly surprised. It's the rare time where Disney over-delivered. Just recently Walt Disney World closed down the Carousel of Progress for a complete overhaul with brand new scenes and new AAs (including one of Walt Disney himself).
I already spoke my thoughts on this in an earlier post and they remain the same. There are other attractions that are more in need of an update than Carousel was, and I'm very much hurt I never got to say a final farewell. For the final update to discuss, we trek over to Disneyland in Anaheim, California to check out what the Imagineers and corporate did to the original classic: Pirates of the Caribbean. This directly relates back to the projected faces on Frozen Ever After and the placement of the Hatbox Ghost in Haunted Mansion. In the cave scenes, the powers that be removed the skeleton atop a mound of treasure and replaced him with a new AA with a screen-projected face.
This is yet another change I have yet to see in person, but from everything I've seen...it looks (and sounds) BAD. According to Imagineering, this is the same character as before, but now we're getting to see how he became a skeleton. The idea of the pirate being caught in a perpetual loop of greed is a good one (The pirate drops a cursed coin. He comes back to life, looks around, picks up the coin out of greed, which causes him to turn into a skeleton. He flops back over, dropping the coin and breaking the curse. And on and on for eternity). The placement is, however, very poor as it ruins the creepy and foreboding atmosphere of the first act of the ride in the caves/grotto. He should have been placed at the very end of the ride, bringing the whole attraction full circle.
The AA looks very cartoonish and silly, to the point where it distracts more than impresses and the goofy ass noises he makes disrupt the superb ambient noise and score during the first act of the ride. Imagineering touted this figure as "next-generation", even though we've seen this exact tech done to superior effect over at Epic universe in Monsters Unchained. In reality, the new Pirate AA is just a tweak to tech that's already existed for a decade now. It's apparently accomplished using Unreal Engine, which is the same software used for Fortnight. This explains why the new pirate is so goofy, ugly, and distracting.
Corporate and Imagineering were more interested in satisfying their investors and shareholders than they were with keeping long-time fans happy, in the process diluting what is one of the best attractions on Earth (This one addition by no means destroys Pirates of the Caribbean, but it definitely detracts from or dilutes the atmosphere, pacing, and story of the ride. Heck, I'm not even a big fan of the Jack Sparrow and Barbosa AAs added to the POTC attractions back in 2006/2007.). Disney is no longer in the business of finding ways to stand out from the crowd or differentiate itself from its competitors. Remember when Fastpasses were free, for example? In the modern day, Disney is mostly concerned with chasing trends, finding ways to make their rides more kid-friendly and PC, and putting profit ahead of the guest experience. It's become abundantly clear in recently years that Disney could give less of a fuck about their guests and fans, and that is the most disappointing thing of all. The Disney brand used to mean something, now it means just about nothing.
