Written by Robert Niles
Published: May 5, 2004 at 12:47 PM
The Walt Disney Company announced its plans for a worldwide celebration of its flagship park Disneyland's 50th anniversary today in Anaheim. In a sunbaked ceremony at the foot of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Disney theme parks chief Jay Rasulo said all 10 of the company's theme parks would celebrate Disneyland's birthday by importing attractions from other Disney parks.
“In honor of the park that started it all, every Disney resort will join in creating great memories for our guests with this unprecedented global celebration,” Rasulo said.
 An artist's rendition of the Sleeping Beauty's Castle treatment for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary Celebration. © 2004 Disney. All Rights Reserved. |
Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida will get:
 Michael Eisner, Mickey, Art Linkletter and Disney cast members at the announcement. |
Finally, Disney will redecorate the exterior of Sleeping Beauty's Castle with tapestries, banners and crowns. No company official could confirm if the castle's walkthrough attraction would reopen as part of the celebration. The walkthrough closed in September, 2001 and has not reopened.
The Disney Cruise Line will also participate in the celebration, sending the Disney Magic to the Port of Los Angeles for 12 seven-day cruises, beginning on May 28, 2005. The Magic will sail from L.A. to the Mexican ports of Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. No company officials were able to respond to questions about future cruises from Los Angeles, or if the Disney Cruise Line would establish a permanent presence in Southern California.
Academy Award-winning actress Julie Andrews will serve as the honorary ambassador for the Disneyland 50th Anniversary. Both Andrews and original Disneyland host Art Linkletter participated in the celebration kickoff, reminiscing about visiting the park for their first times with Walt Disney.
...and DisneyLand:
DISNEYLAND: Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters
CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Seems a bit lopsided, don't you think?
Tokyo DisneyLand? A new coaster announced, but they really don't need it cuz their parks kick ass already.
DisneyLand Paris? DIDDLY-DICK. No wonder their budget is going into the toilet. You have to spend money to make money, gentlemen...
Still, Main Street is looking better than it has in years, and the pruning on the hub has helped better reveal the castle again. (Though I certainly missed the shade as I melted under the cloudless sky this morning.) If Disney could gets its flagship park back in shape again for the 50th, I'd be happy.
Of course, it is never a good sign when a company says "hey, we're getting back up to where we were 10 years ago!"
"Disneyland: We've Stopped Sucking!" is hardly the catch-phrase the company was hoping for. But it appears to be where they are at today. It's a start, I guess.
Disney's rarely, if ever, launched major attractions in conjunction with park birthdays. In fact, it's often tried to space them between anniversaries, as not to blow all its promotional opportunities in one year.
Birthdays, and that's what anniversaries have been called in the past, have traditionally been about parties... and gifts. Who remembers the prize machine at Disneyland's 35th Birthday? Or the giveaways for Disney World's 15th?
The expectation for new E-tickets started when Al Lutz reported that some Disney Imagineers wanted to celebrate the 50th by upgrading Disneyland's E-tickets to best version available in from among the other Disney theme parks. Cost doomed that plan, but from it came fans' desire to see new E-tickets for the 50th. (And, I'm guessing, came the company's idea to "cross-pollinate" by importing relatively inexpensive shows and attractions from park to park.)
Frankly, I don't care if the company debuts an E-ticket for the 50th. I'm more concerned that the company's stalled in bringing major new attraction concepts and technologies into its parks, anniversary or not, favoring instead the "Attack of the Clones."
Give me a kick-rear giveaway for the 50th instead: Disney cruises, tickets to ESPN sporting events, cars, Disney gear and theme park trips. How about every day someone from each resort gets a week's vacation to the Disney resort of his choice anywhere in the world? How many people would *that* promotion draw in?
By the way, not mentioned during the ceremony, but buried in the press packet handed out later, lies confirmation that Tokyo DisneySea will debut its clone of Tower of Terror on the American Waterfront in 2006. Coupled with the Lost River Delta attraction, and TDS is getting *two* thrill rides for DL's birthday. Gotta love Oriental Land's deep pockets.
Anyone wanna take a guess which Disney resort *I'd* pick if I won my dream giveaway? ;-)
That said, I have to agree that an E-Ticket doesn't necessarily need to debut during an Anniversary year. Just look at how well the Millenium Celebration did at Epcot, and what did they get? A temporary pavilion, a new parade and a new nighttime show. And people got all excited.
Problem is, Disneyland has spent so many years trying to get people excited over new parades and nighttime shows that people sure aren't going to get excited over new ones.
I was actually excited about new stuff like the projections on the castle and the holographic image of Walt. Not major, but different than ANOTHER parade and ANOTHER fireworks show. What I would have done is open an E-Ticket this year and use the celebration to extend its hype. ToT will benefit from this, but what Disney ride will? Dumb.
Let's look at this from a larger perspective, not just nuts and bolts Eisner business 101.
This is Disneyland, THE theme Park that started an empire, and was the pattern for every themepark afterwards. And, Disney is a company that didn't just create a few memorable cartoon characters but rather introduced a world wide audience to a slice of American culture by almost single handedly inventing a world product, long before the concept even existed in marketing circles.
One would certainly think Eisner and Co. would do Walt proud , and make a bold move on the 50th year of such an Iconic institution.
You would think they'd take it upon themselves to take the oppritunity presented and show the Theme Park Business that Disney is once again a innovator in the art of crafting attractions, not just cloning parks.
Look at the Lagoon sitting there for how many years now? Think of what could have been done there with the technology available. A Singular attraction, not seen anywhere else. Or the Vast unused land in and around the park? Its certainly not making money sitting unused.
Why not make the Original Disneyland Unique as it once was? Why this rush since Walt died to make every park the same?
Instead of making each park unique worth travelling the world to experiance, we now get boring homogeny, and a feeling of Been there, Done that, wrote the book. I wonder if there will be a second 50 years?
By the way, funny how Eisner didn't mention her role in Shrek 2 when he introduced her, either?
The 1965 10th Anniversary "Tencennial" was among the most exciting years in Disneyland history.
The 10th Anniversary year gave us "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln", as well as exciting announcements of upcoming projects to include It's a Small World, Primeval World, and New Orleans Square (including Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion).
It was a time of great anticipation of "coming attractions"... rather than the routine press announcements we witnessed this week.
Where's the beef?
Even Michael Eisner's introduction of Julie Andrews was dismal. How do you botch up the presentation of a Disney icon who is "practically perfect in every way?" Just give Eisner a shot at it.
The ride will take its visual look (though not its story) from Disney's Emperor's New Groove, an Imagineering VP told the magazine. In addition, the ride's theme will turn on a group of explorers who screwed up reconstructing a sacred altar by putting a god's head on backward, resulting in (everyone together now) things going terribly wrong!
I. DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS
1. Replace "Star Tours" with "Stargate: The ride- A Journey Through Time"
2. Replace "Hunchback" with "Independence Day Special Effects."
3. Replace "Millionaire" with "Extreme Makeover"
4. Replace "Animation" with "Mickey Mouse and The Superhero World Of Saban."
II.EPCOT
1. "Harry Potter" psychological thrill ride for United Kingdom. (It can be a little like "Revenge Of The Mummy")
III.ANIMAL KINGDOM, DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
1. "Ice Age Tobaggan Ride"
2. Replace "Millionaire" with "Bachelor"
3.Replace "Muppet Vision" with "Spy Kids" ride
4. Replace "Limo" woith "Toons Go To Hollywood"
5. Instead of Rock N Roller Coaster clone, a coaster where Jack Black and Will Ferell are the stars.
That said, I kinda doubt Disney would be the company to do this deal.
That said, even Tokyo DisneySea, which got all the money in the world, didn't open with very many excitingly original attractions. So maybe a new perspective from an outsider is a possibility. Just look how much Steven Spielberg has helped Universal.
Tomorrowland:
Space Mountain: Completely revise Space Mountain with the same ride system used in the Rock n Rollercoaster at MGM. I hope they don't clone the Aerosmith ride but the rollercoaster is one of the best I've been on.
PeopleMover or RocketRods: Return them in time for the Tron rerelease as Lightcycles. You wouldn't even have to redesign the vehicles. Add some sweet Tron visuals and projections in the tunnels and that ride would rock. I don't get it, they had problems with the cars so they just scrapped the whole thing?
Star Tours: Please replace this boring attraction! Atleast update the ride so that the movie varies each time you go on it. Star Tours my ass. How about adding trips to the planets on the posters in the lobby? How about choosing which planet you want to go to by queing up in the appropriate line?
Submarine Voyage: Leave Nemo in Fantasyland! This ride could be updated with more action. A little more theatrics and thrill. Get rid of the dumb fish held in place by wires and the boring story line. Add a nice soundtrack with a better soundsystem in the subs.
Adventureland:
Tarzan's Treehouse. Restore the treehouse to Swiss Family Treehouse. Remake the movie with an updated cast. Tarzan sucks and this attraction is an original that should have been preserved. Talk about remembering the history of the park.
Indiana Jones is sweet. It's a keeper.
The Jungle Cruise is also cool.
Tiki Room could use some freshening and the animatronics could be better.
New Orleans Square
Pirates of the Carribean: Please don't mix the movie and the ride, that's all I ask.
Haunted Mansion: Boy did they blow it with that crappy Eddie Murphy movie. Mixing the mansion with Nightmare is a cool idea for the holidays. I would like to see a permanent Nightmare before X-Mas attraction but I think it belongs over in Fantasyland.
Critter Country:
Bring back the Bears! Did we have to lose the Country Bears to get Pooh? I like the ride but bring back the Bears! I even enjoyed the lobby with all of the games and the Bear Chair.
Same with the Mile Long Bar and mini-arcade. If it doesn't fit here, move it to Frontierland.
Fantasyland:
The Castle. The Castle needs the dragon. Paris Disneyland has the dragon! Bring it to California! Improve the walk through with a more exciting story with Animatronics climaxing with the dragon that is soo scary, you're afraid to walk by it to get out of the attraction.
Captain Hooks Galley and Skull Rock! I would like to see this area return. It could be a combination play area and dining area. Explore the ship and adjoining Lost Kids play area.
These are just a few ideas. I could go on a rant but I am out of time.
Any thoughts on these ideas?
There are countless cookie cutter AMUSEMENT PARKS around the world where anybody can get onto a roller-coaster and drop their stomach, and there are even some good theme parks (like Busch Gardens Williamsburg) that offer plenty of rides and thrills. Disneyland, Disney World, etc...those places aren't about thrills, they're about magic and Disney.
It's a hard medium to operate in, too, guys. I mean, Disney is an integral part of most Americans' childhoods', and the attractions at the parks have to tap into that nostalgia by representing a past that sits seperately and squarely and shinningly apart from the rest of the world and culture...at the same time, like any other theme park, they are pressed to invent new concepts, when, sadly, their feature animation department (the source of almost all Disney lore and luster) is floundering.
Also, as far as the company replicating the rides in all of their theme parks, as opposed to taking a more individualized route: doesn't that make sense? You have to realize that while some of us may be interested in the diea of traveling the world over to experience all that Disney has to offer...most of the world's population is not. The people of Japan want to go to Cinderella Castle, sail with the Pirates of the Carribean, and blast-off from Space Mountain, and the vast majority of them would by no means spend the THOUSANDS upon thousands of dollars to make the trip to Florida and do it. The Disneyland parks around the world are designed to bring Disney to people's doorsteps, not to plot a course from fanatical Disney travelers on a road of discovery.
I'm not clearing Eisner's name (I'm a SaveDisney advocate and all of that), but as for the themeparks? They could be better, but I do try and consider that it's extremely hard to introduce new ideas to places that most people visit SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of experiencing the fabled old favorites.
*That* is why Disney's theme parks have fallen so far in the past decade. Now, even fans concede that Disney cannot deliver fresh experiences and excitement. Believe me, Walt and the crew he trained wanted people to feel excitement when they walked into Disneyland.
An anniversary need not result in a slew of new attractions. Indeed, one could argue that the company ought to spread out its promotional "juice" by introducing new attractions in years *without* anniversary celebrations. But given that Disneyland has ignored its customers and failed to open any major new attractions in the park for almost *10 years*, it is time for something fresh. And exciting. Anniversary or no.
Disney is a tourist destination. They're not so much looking for repeat visitors I think as they are "magical vcation" guests who are on a once in a lifetime excursion. In that respect, I think Disney's sagging themepark business is directly tied to their sagging animations department.
Same attractions, same parks...and if Disney puts out another Aladdin or Lion King (figureatively...not those crappy "additional adventures of _______" sequels), I think park attendance skyrockets.
I agree that new attractions are important, for returning guests and repeat business...but I think it's just an after effect to the real problem.
No one is interested in Disney right now, and it's because of their crappy features department.
ps. I love DisneySea in Tokyo. About 80% new stuff, all of it awesome! (even in Japanese)
WOW!!!!!
I'm might just shrink down into a sigularity and become the black hole of disappointment I'm so underwhelmed.
The company that Invented the modern Theme park, and THIS is the best they can come up with? Where is the NEW E-Ticket? What about the Lagoon? What about an Expansion? WHat about bringing in the cool crap from DisneySea? What About? What About???
Somebody call a Preist!Eisner and Co. are the Anti-Walt! Maybe an exorcism is in order? Dear God and all that is Holy, when will We get NEW GOOD STUFF?!?!?!?!