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About LinkBacksWhen i saw them building California Screamin' and building a new park. That broke my heart.
When i saw them building California Screamin' and building a new park. That broke my heart.
I totally agree with this.Originally Posted by Disney Wrassler
If anything has broken my heart, it would be this - the ghosttown formerly known as Tomorrowland.
Also: The removal of Peoplemover, Skyway, Swiss Family Treehouse and moving the Rockets down front and center - what a mess.
Also: The removal of The Main Street Electrical Parade....sad times. Not the same in DCA.
To me the whole park needs more life, more spontenaity, more movement. That is what the Mary Blair mosaic did for Tomorrowland, it kept your eyes moving and discovering. So did the people mover and the sky buckets. Now with less attractions to absorb the ever increasing crowds, not even guests are moving very much and when they are it is a sprint to the next ride. Too many people treat DL as another park with rides. I think Mangement does too as evidenced by the continued emphasis on marketing and retail, still, even with Pressler gone. I dunno. You all have said it better than I.
Sig by Poisonedapples!
Honestly I felt like this Sunday. I just felt like I don't need to come back. I've been going to Disneyland ALOT since I got my PAP. I see everybody winning some Dreams stuff and I have yet to win anything. I see people who win multiple stuff the same day. Do the dream cms just look at me and say, "Look at that fat slob. I'm not giving him crap?" That's not the only reason. My wife wanted to sit in the caboose on the train. My wife asked and the CM said he will check if it's available. He told us to sit in the last car and he will let us know. Well he didn't let us know either way, he just had these two teenagers who on the train before us, who happened to be spitting sunflower seeds on the floor of the train sit back there. WTF??!! Then I wanted to go get a name tag since I have to work DTD Portrait stand tomorrow and wont get my official CM badge until next week. I went to the newstand on the way out and asked the CM behind the counter if I could get a name badge. He said that he couldn't because he nor the other girl behind the counter were trained to work the machine but if we come back later that night....... Well, I was beat up, hurt and just plain tired. My wife and I were on the way out. I just wanted to go home. My wife had to use the rest room and I saw a Dream CM pass right by me and awarded a couple some prize. I was standing there by the AP processing center, next to the stand where I couldn't get my nametag, underneath the station that we were skipped over to ride in the caboose, next to a couple who just won a dream prize. I just wanted to walk into the processing center and hand over my AP and say, "Sorry, I'm so done with this place. I miss my old Disneyland. This just doesn't seem like the same place anymore. Thanks for ruining the magic for someone who's family history runs deep in this place." Then I remembered, I met some real cool people here in this group and the only way I get to hang out with them is at the park. So, I guess I'll just work through my Disneyland funk by hanging out with my Micechatter friends and hope something rekindles the magic. Having my dream come true as coming back as an artist to Disney only stoked my Artist fire within me. Not my Disney magic
PirateMunkee
Visit My Horror Designs Store!!!
((((Pirate Munkee))) You broke my heart. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't won anything either and I refuse to be upset about it. Next, time I'm at Disneyland I'll be sure to come by at your stand and say Hi.
It's not the fact that I haven't won anything it's just I don't understand how some people can win multiple prizes on the SAME day why others just get bypassed. The whole randomness just doesn't seem right. They should just have the prizes be randomly chosen as you walk through the turnstiles. As for CM's picking people at random, I just believe that is crap. Where's the fairness in that? I honestly believe that the Dream CMs just have some personal agenda when it comes to who they pick.
The thing that just gets to me is the whole feeling at the park. There doesn't seem to be no more personal attention given to the guests. When a guest who a AP goes to City Hall and complain it seems like blinders come up and the guest is no longer heard. Complaints and Compliments and passed towards a toll free number or web site. It's like Disney doesn't want to hear nor care what the guests really think. The questionnaire CMs at the entrance just say "Oh OK, Have a nice day then." after you answer them that you are an AP when they ask you to answer a few questions.
I honestly felt like I could of just walked out those turnstiles on Sunday and just not come back. It's not all Disney's fault either. It seems like the guests there don't care about others around them as well. I hear Teenagers cuss out loud in front of kids. Kids running a muck while their parents look on not caring, people pushing strollers who bump into the people in front of them and look at them like they are at fault, how Disney allows strollers and wheel chairs parking to clog up walkways already too narrow due to extended queues, how MY company sends it's crappiest face painters to work the stands within the parks, how the portrait stand in NOS (Not my company) can get away with refusing to draw gay couples just because the guy who owns it does all the trading pins and merchandise within the park and was a friend to Walt himself.
I'm just in a serious Disney Funk and hope to come out of it soon.
PirateMunkee
Visit My Horror Designs Store!!!
Disneyland is incapable of breaking my heart. If it closed tomorrow forever, my heart would go on. But the closest it came was when they took out all my favorite attractions in tomorrowland: the Skyway, the Peoplemover, Circlevision, America Sings.
Fight On!Beat the Rainbow Warriors!
Tom Chaney Memorial Debate Lounge Quote of the Week:
Sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems.
I have to say I agree. They have to keep up with the Jones's or they'd lose business. Just like hotels, nobody is going to want to stay in a hotel that hasn't been rennovated. Changes are for the better, not always, but most of the time. Disney is just doing what they need to so they make sure they're still in competition and can beat that competition to keep us coming and keep us excited for what's new. Can't be too exciting if you know exactly what to expect every time you visit. But I do agree on a few levels. I do miss the Peoplemover and the Skyway.
When the previous idiotic management team didn't keep up
with maintenance, then tore out Country Bear Jamboree,
spent $10's of millions of $$$$$'s to repurpose TWO beautifully
furnished Theaters into one single ride thru that doesn't have
even ONE audio animatronic character as sophisticated or
advanced as these charming 30 year old bears!
Yes, TL''98 was another blow, by the same imbecillic administrators.
And then when they thought a built paradise pier with off the shelf
rides, themeing the area to something no better than a county fair,
Disney's Imagineering ~ with a complete lack of any Imagination
PURE CRUD!
Critter Country's a mess ev'r since the Country Bears were kicked out. Ya can't cover pooh with honey and 'spect people ta like it.An Adventurers It's Time to Put the Spotlight Back on Bring Back the REAL Disney GalleryLife for Me! ~ ~ ~ Melvin, Buff, and Max!!! ~~~~ Dump the Dream Suite!Meese-ka Moose-ka Mice-Chatter!
They destroyed Tomorrowland. I used to work as a temp for Disney. The saddest thing I've ever seen was the look on Marty Sklar's face when I asked him about it. He said that "the world of motion" will never be the same. He glad that they greenlighted the Submarine Voyage's return and there are plans to bring back some reincarnation of the PeopleMover, but said that the SkyWay will most likely never come back.
I loved the SkyWay. Not only was it a good place to rest your tired feet, it was a wonderful view of the park that my children will most likely never ever experience.
THAT breaks my heart
Pirates have the most fun
Jack : You need to find yourself a girl, mate! Or perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you already found one and are otherwise incapable of wooing said strumpet. You're not a eunuch, are you? [looks down]
I was 8 the first time I visited Disneyland in 84'. I had been waiting for this trip for years, it was a great 2 day trip I have never forgotten. My parents promised we'd go back soon, unfortunately it never happenedSo 18 years go by I have a kid of my own(2002). Were in San Jose to visit family and someone brings up Disneyland. The next day was one of the most memorable of my life, my 5yo had no idea where he was till we walked in the front gate and saw the mickey flowers. I've been back probably 11 times since then including taking 8 nephews and nieces and my second son on their first trip. maybe the memories of that first trip aren't strong enough or there hasn't been enough change since I first visited, but as soon as I walk in that gate the new fantasy begins.
My wife and I are AP holders and go to DL about once a month. (from SF)
I still get that magical giddy feeling when I pass through the turnstiles for the first time. Disneyland still holds that magic for me overall, it's just that as others have said, there is a definite bit of sad nostalgia when as you walk around the park, you see the shells of things that used to be.
Tommorrowland is the glaring example to me. The Peoplemover track is such a prominent piece of arcitechture in the land, yet it just sits dormant with that rediculous whirly gig thing on top where the Rocket Jets used to be.
I won't even go into the waste of real estate that is "Innoventions". TL used to have this fabulous kinetic energy, with things coming and going, over and under, with great colors and sounds from every direction.
We go there now to ride Space Mountain and Buzz, but that's about it it's just to sad. My wife grew up in Nashville so she doesn't have any memories of the things that shaped my early memories of Disneyland.
My formative DL years were the 70's. I remember riding with my dad on the Motor Boat Cruise and being worried that he was going to crash us into the rocks!
I miss Captain Hook's Pirate Ship, the Mike Fink Keel Boats, ALL of Tommorrowland LOL!. The list goes on.
I show my wife pictures of the things I remember on Yesterland and she can't believe that they got rid of that stuff or that it was really ever there.
Granted things have to change and evolve, and I'm cool with that, it's just when they suck the individual character out of the parks with this "globalization" of all the theme parks. Or the fact that they don't seem to be able to "imagineer" anything original anymore. How many rides do we need based on Pxar films or characters? Don't get me wrong I like the stuff they've done so far, and I can't wait for the return of the subs, but it seems like they use it as a crutch in place of the originality and imagination that created Disneyland in the first place.
It also seems to me, to be a short sighted money grab in alot of cases, cashing in on the latest hot property.
But I guess that's the difference between one man's personal dream and the corporate bottom line.
I'll probably always love Disneyland regardless, I just hope they don't totally lose sight of the original aspects that have made it still endearing some 50 years later.
[quote=Schmoogie;1634575]
But if there are folks who made their first visits to Disneyland 20+ years ago, what do you think of what has gone on lately? Do you find the same magic when you return? Ragrobyn made an interesting point with creating new memories with the kids. I was going there by myself or with friends. Does having children along make it easier to connect to nostalgia? Do you think you would enjoy the park as much if you did not have "the eyes of a child" along to view it through?
My first trip to Disneyland was over 50 years ago. I have a far longer perspective than most. For my birthday last year I went on many of my childhood favorites; Peter Pan, Dumbo, Storybook Canals. Although neither Alice nor Pirates were there on my early trips, I count them among my early favorites. Space Mountain didn't come along until much after. Same with Splash Mountain. Are you sorry that these 'new' rides replaced older ones that I remember? I'm not.
As with any long time friends, Disneyland and I have had some rough times to go along with the good, but I've never doubted that our relationship was solid. I bring a bit of magic with me and have my own "eyes of a child". It is the way I chose to experience the Park. I give out pennies for wishes. I look for the buttons and say 'happy birthday'. I smile.
I enjoy new things such as the Food and Wine Expo. I try to look for things I've never seen before.
And I'm looking forward to being there again soon.
For me, I am not sure if the park itself has broken my heart, but I like thinking about the old park because, like for many of you, it is tied to my childhood. I love going on youtube and finding all sorts of old videos (even pre my time) to remember how it was back then. It is fun to compare how the park has evolved. Though in some ways it hasn't evolved....Tomorrowland. The last time I was at DL was when it was redone (read destroyed). I am curious how it looks now, since it was repainted and not so copper and bronze anymore. I am so curious to see what they will do with the people mover (refuse to say rocket rod) tracks. Will Star Tours get redone with a new video? I can't remember what they put in the old Mission to Mars ride area? Anyone know? What about the circlevision theater across from Star Tours? You are all right, Tomorrowland needs movement again...a sense of what is to come... It appears that there are talks to revive it, but I haven't heard of anything substantial...just rumor. Why is DL dragging its feet? It just seems that people seem to overwelhmingly complain about this land, so what gives? Since I now live in FL, I am getting more used to WDW and like going on some of the rides still there, that are long gone at DL. But I know some of these old rides are going or already gone as well. I agree with a previous poster who commented that all the new rides seemed to be tied to films etc. It would be neat to see a truly unique attraction come to DL. And is it really true that PotC does not play "yo ho" anymore? Someone said that above. If so, than maybe DL has broken my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who miss the old DL...check on youtube.
PS What ever happened to the space back behind big thunder railroad....it was a space they had a huge BBQ for a while...and then maybe something with the Hunchback movie...etc. Do you guys know what I am talking about? Just curious!! Thanks.
Last edited by tofubeast; 05-19-2007 at 08:54 PM.
I never realized how much I loved Disneyland until I got to see it through my children's eyes. I visited quite a bit when I was younger and I do miss the old rides.
But, I get such satifaction showing my kids what used to be where. Star Tours used to be ATIS, Innoventions used to be America Sings during my childhood, etc. I also got to explain how Splash mountain wasn't there as well as toon town. Now even my daughter is seeing this in effect. She misses CBJ while riding Winnie. Heck, she knows Monsters Inc was Super star limo. It is so invigorating knowing that she'll do the same with my grandchildren and so on.
I got the same from my Dad telling me how the Flying Saucers were and how he would ride his bike from his house and play hide & go seek with his friends all day.
So when you are missing the magic, just go around and soak in the memories and the looks on other kids faces and know they are feeling just how you did back in the old days. And those kids are getting the same magic from Pirates, Haunted Mansion, singing along with Tiki Birds and Small world.
Now that's the real magic. I hope you find your laughin' place.
Chad
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