Saturday, September 17, 2011

Ranting and Raving: "Minusing"



While on my most recent vacation to the most magical place on earth, a new thought entered my head. For all of the "plussing" that the Walt Disney Company does in the parks, there is some minusing as well. "Plussing" was a term that Walt Disney created when referring to adding on to an attraction to make it better. Us in the social media world have begun to use the term "minusing" to describe what it means to change an attraction for worse; not better. I have found through the years that for all the good that has been done, they have done some questionable things. Below are a few I noticed on this past trip

Instance 1:

Splash Mountain: On this past trip I noticed quite a few things different that were there last year when I went around the same time:
     1. There were lap bars-  We posted about this in the past so I was prepared. No problem here
     2. The Roadrunner with no friends was gone. Seems he was not replaced but just removed. This
         bothered me actually. It was pretty funny.
     3. In the "Laughing Place" there was no more shooting streams of water or raising turtles. This was
         quite disappointing.
     4. In the riverboat scene a few roosters and chickens were "dead". They didn't move and actually
         they appeared dead. Traumatizing for children I'm sure.

Instance 2:

TTA Peoplemover: I noticed only that the upkeep for the Progress City model is lacking. There is no movement, and it just seems as though they just dim the lights.

Instance 3:

Innoventions: I know they are in the process of updating this, but the world of walls just didn't do it for me. I was a bit upset by this one.

Instance 4:

Test Track: I know they are refurbishing this in a few months, but the pre-show film was not even on. The room was just an extension of the queue. I found this a bit disturbing actually.

These were just a few of the glaring ones for me, but I know there were others. I do not want to sound as though I am knocking Disney all over the place here, but I think it is a little upsetting when things like this happen. I know not every guest will be happy all of the time, but when negative changes happen I feel as though it needs to be mentioned. Disney does many great things, but like all giant companies, they are not immune to missteps. This I fear is a few missteps in the parks division. Overall it was still a magical experience, but these few things did put a chink in the armor so to speak. Just do not let me get started on Universal. Oh I feel another rant coming on.
   

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