Is the park in better shape than it was years ago?

[Alex E]

Everything seems so much smoother, cleaner, and more fresh than I remember it as a kid going there in the 90's.

They clean the gum off of stuff now, they fixed the cobra in Indy, Splash Mountain is as fresh and new as it was in 1989 since last years' refurb, and I think I remember seeing that owl in the end showing you your picture, working for the first time in what must be like 10 years. Although ironically enough, a dog had a broken neck on the steam boat, which was sort of funny or maybe terminator-style scary, I guess. But that problem was probably fixed by the next day. Even before the refurbishment I think they fixed a bad audio loop in the burrows lament section that always drove me crazy. Imagine that.

I haven't heard an audio animatronic click or hiss in years, and that used to scare me as a kid on splash mountain, or well, any ride at all with animatronics.

Wasn't the old rocket rods/peoplemover track being fixed up this year too?

Everything is in great shape lately. Kudos to the people who are behind this.

[sediment]

Hmm: better than 1996-2002, not as good as 2005, nowhere near 1989.
Nothing concrete about PeopleMover yet. Eyesore.

On Saturday, busiest day I've been to in 15-20 years, there was one monorail running, and a lot of people waiting. After waiting 10 minutes for its return (just missed it), it had some mechanical issue and had to be taken out of service. One!

[Uncle Bob]

I agree with Sed on this, things have improved since the timeline you speak of, but compared to the overall history of the park, many things are still not where they should be and we've lost a lot of attractions that have yet to or will never return.

[Datameister]

The Pressler era is over, though some unfortunate vestiges definitely remain. Luckily, it's a lot easier to keep the park clean and well-maintained than it is to completely revamp attractions or lands ravaged by Presslerism, so cleanliness has returned to the park beautifully. Granted, things aren't quite as nice as they were during 2005...but come on. Honestly, things are looking great. The park is beautiful. There are certainly areas that have fared better in the past (e.g. Tomorrowland ), but as a whole, Disneyland isn't doing too badly right now. (Which means, in other words, that it's pretty freaking amazing. )

[Alex E]

I just looked up Pressler. Man, this explains so much guys! No wonder why the park was practically falling apart in the mid/late 90's.

Wow. I mean at least attendance was good, but still.

See, I barely remember what it was like before this guy, I'm afraid. So I wouldn't really know.


Though, we can all agree this half of this decade has been good to the park. Let's just hope we don't get another negligent corporate machine behind the wheel.

[techskip]

See, I barely remember what it was like before this guy, I'm afraid. So I wouldn't really know.

I hate to slam any one individual, because it takes several to really have an impact. However I will say that Pressler and Harris both let a lot of things slide in the name of the almighty dollar.

[Circarama]

Thank God for the 50th anniversary, otherwise they wouldn't have had the opportunity to fix everything up and find out that if you present guest with a clean, well-maintained themepark they'll come back again and again, and again.
What a concept, huh?

Seems like I've heard about it before... Hmmmm.

Could it have been WALT DISNEY back when he first talked about opening "a family park where parents and children could have fun- together" and his wife said, "But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty." He told her that was just the point — his wouldn't be.

[Datameister]

Could it have been WALT DISNEY back when he first talked about opening "a family park where parents and children could have fun- together" and his wife said, "But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty." He told her that was just the point — his wouldn't be.

Very true. Although, in all fairness, even at the darkest hour of the Presslerreich, Disneyland still stood head-and-shoulders above the kind of seedy parks Walt was talking about. The condition certainly wasn't acceptable, but it's not like they'd sunk all the way to that level.

[Uncle Bob]

Come on Data, you gotta have a little faith, give Pressler and Harris ten more years and I'm sure they could've had it looking like those old amusement parks.

[Datameister]

Come on Data, you gotta have a little faith, give Pressler and Harris ten more years and I'm sure they could've had it looking like those old amusement parks.

Oh, I don't doubt it.

[Lookuss]

Wasn't Disneyland in pretty bad shape when Eisner was in control...?

[Datameister]

Eisner had his ups and downs. Plenty of downs.

[The Disneylander]

Eisner lost his touch when Wells died in that freak helicopter crash.

[BC_DisneyGeek]

Come on Data, you gotta have a little faith, give Pressler and Harris ten more years and I'm sure they could've had it looking like those old amusement parks.

Or they could have wasted a ton of time and money building a mediocre clone of old amusement parks.

Oh, wait...

[MasterGracey]

Hmm: better than 1996-2002, not as good as 2005, nowhere near 1989.
Nothing concrete about PeopleMover yet. Eyesore.

Gotta agree with sediment here.

I think, overall, the park is currently in very nice shape, maintenance and appearance-wise. However, thematically, I'd have to say it's on a slippery slope.