My Mom took me to Disneyland!!!
Yes, she did take me when I was a kid, but what I mean is she also just took me to Disneyland not too long ago. My family did, more or less (thanks guys). One would hope at 42 years of age I would be able to afford to pay my own way, but the reality is it’s not something I’ve been able to afford to do the past little while.
Gee have I missed out on a lot.
IMO the changes to Pirates of the Caribbean absolutely stink. They took a classic ride and turned it into a cheaply (poorly) produced self-promotional ad for the movies.
It’s sad. The movies were based on a classic ride and capitalized on most of the best elements contained therein. Now the ride is like a bad xerox copy of itself…with a poorly strung together series of references to Jack Sparrow.
The magic is gone. The broader vision is gone. Those elements that made it expansive in scope and universally appealing have been stripped away.
I understand people expect to see some sort of references to Disney characters within the park, but do you have to beat me over the head with Jack Sparrow all the way through the ride?
It’s a Small World also now has characters from more recent movies hidden among all the cultural animatrons, which is cute and slightly more tolerable and even understandable…plus the color schemes are updated and less ’70′s-esque, which is both cool and sad in a way that there’s hints of a bygone era now long gone…I would give the same critique, though.
The core of the scope of those rides was more expansive and universally appealing before, opening up realms of possibilities that could capture the imaginations of anyone coming to the park…not just avid Disney fans. (and I am an avid Disney fan…although I guess I am more of a “classic” Disney fan).
Some of the new rides are high-tech and fun and cool…but dang. It’s like they fixed some things that weren’t broken and the end result was…
“disaster” (this, incidentally relates to a whole ‘nother post I’d like to do about being one of the last people on the planet to discover HappySlip, NigaHiga and KevJumba…but that will have to wait, as much as I have been entertained by their youtube productions).
It’s a different world we live in and maybe I am out of touch with what the average park-goer really wants to see, but I find myself a little less inclined to return…well…except that I still would like to work as a a “Jungle Cruise” Captain <sigh> good thing I am Buddhist. Maybe next lifetime!?
More soon. ish.