Walt Disney World is the most visited theme park destination in the world, and had made incredibly smart choices to become the world-famous location it is today. But that does not mean every decision and change to the parks has been the right choice.
Today I am taking you through five stupid decisions made by Walt Disney World over the years.
5. Destroying Spectromagic
The Magic Kingdom has only had two nighttime electrical parades over the years, the Main Street Electrical Parade, and Spectromagic. One of the biggest mistakes in Disney history was Disney destroying Spectromagic.
Disney accidentally ended up destroying Spectromagic by leaving it unprotected from the elements of Florida weather while the Disneyland version of the Main Street Electrical Parade did a limited run at the Magic Kingdom. This left the parade unusable and Walt Disney World without any night parade once Disneyland got the Main Street Electrical Parade back. This was a mistake in every sense of the word, and its impacts are still being felt today.
4. Closing Pleasure Island
Pleasure Island was a popular nightclub and bar district in what was then known as Downtown Disney and is now known as Disney Springs. It featured such classic locations as the Adventurers Club and was very popular with the young adult Disney fans crowd. Despite never falling from popularity, Disney choose to remove the area to make Downtown Disney more family-friendly.
This ended up being an unpopular decision that those who experienced the area still complain about today. On top of that, much of what Disney Springs is today is merely a natural evolution of what Pleasure Island was original, meaning they ended up rebuilding many similar offerings to what they destroyed.
3. Quickly Building Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney MGM Studios) was built very quickly, reportedly with the intention to open before the similarly themed Orlando Universal park. This led to it being the smallest park is Walt Disney World, and featuring the least rides. It did initially have a very extensive phase two planned, but as with phase two of most Disney Parks most of it never ended up happening.
This left us with a park that does not have enough walkable space, leading to constant crowding problems. Also, despite decades of development, it still does not have enough rides, leading to insanely long lines for the few attractions that are in the park.
2. No Pirates of the Caribbean
When the Magic Kingdom was being built, Disney decided not to build their classic Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in the park due to the proximity of the park to the real Caribbean, with a western-themed spiritual successor to the ride being planned for a few years after the park opened. This led to immediate complaints from guests at the park, who wanted to experience what was then considered to be one of the best Disney rides in the world.
Disney decided to quickly put together a version of Pirates of the Caribbean to be built in the Magic Kingdom to solve this problem. This version is by far the worst version of the ride in the world, with a short run time compared to other versions and less impressive show scenes due to the smaller and shorter ride experience.
If the ride had been intended for the park in the first place, and not merely rushed in, then the Magic Kingdom would not have the worst version of one of Disney's best rides.
1. Not Getting The Rights To Harry Potter
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter forever changed the world of theme parks when it first opened, suddenly placing Universal on near equal if not even standing with Disney in being able to create world-class attractions. But this should not have been allowed to happen, as Disney was offered the rights to Harry Potter first.
J K Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter book series, had very strict demands for the realism she wanted in a Harry Potter theme park land. Disney was not wanting to meet these demands, instead planning less themed standalone rides instead of a full land or themed experience like she wanted.
This then led to Universal getting the rights to Harry Potter and meeting every demand with their Hogsmeade land. Disney allowed their major competitor to get one of the most popular children's series of all time in their parks when they could have had it instead.
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