By pretty much any metric you choose, Walt Disney World is an extraordinarily successful business entity. Not only does it make a tremendous amount of money and provide ample opportunity for brand synergy with its parent company, but it also gives its guests fond memories and enjoyable experiences they will relive and recall for the rest of their lives.
But, even Babe Ruth struck out every once in a while and, so too has Walt Disney World made its fair share of mistakes over its history. No one is perfect, least of all a multi-billion dollar company, and so it would make sense that not every single idea forged in the kingdom of the Mouse was a winner. Some, in fact, were outright dreadful.
Let’s take a look at a few of those memorable blunders in hopes that maybe we can learn something from their mistakes. After all, those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, right?
1. Failing to quickly capitalize on the success of The Little Mermaid
As ubiquitous as Ariel and her film, The Little Mermaid, are at the Disney parks nowadays, it’s surprising to learn that this ubiquity was not always the case. In fact, in the immediate aftermath of the film’s release, Ariel was largely nowhere to be found at Walt Disney World.
You see, the Walt Disney Company, while proud of The Little Mermaid, wasn’t quite expecting it to be the smash hit that it would ultimately become. Walt Disney Animation had lost some of its luster over the years, and while 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a box office success, no one in the company thought it portended a new Golden Age for the studio. They were wrong, as it turns out – really, really, really wrong.
In its initial release, the film grossed over $80 million. Since then, it has gone on to make well over $200 million just at the box office.
And yet, despite all that extra dough, a ride based on the film wasn’t opened at Walt Disney World until … 2012. Yes, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has had the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show in place since 1992, however, that attraction is merely an abridged stage show. The film didn’t get a fully-formed ride until more than 20 years after it made its debut. That’s an awfully long lag time for trying to capitalize on a hot property.
And, lest you think Disney learned its lesson, think again. The exact same thing happened with 2013’s unexpected smash hit, Frozen, which is only now getting its own attraction at WDW – one that will likely not open until 2016 at the earliest. Sure, that’s better than a 20 year delay, but if you think you’re sick of hearing “Let It Go” now, imagine how you’ll feel after another year of YouTube covers.
2. The ill-fated Journey into YOUR Imagination
For reasons that have never been made entirely clear, in 1998, the Walt Disney Company decided that the quirky and charming Journey into Imagination had to be refurbished. Some have theorized its sponsor, Kodak, was itching to see a more modern presentation. Others thought the sincere and heartfelt attraction was simply too emotionally honest for the glib and snarky ’90s, and the company wanted something that might speak to the new disaffected generation. We may never know.
Here’s what we do know: the attraction that ultimately replaced Journey into Imagination, entitled Journey into YOUR Imagination, was an absolutely horrendous mess of a ride.
It was so bad that, upon riding the finished product, then-CEO Michael Eisner immediately ordered it closed for yet another extensive rehab. By that time, the charm and creativity of the original ride had been destroyed, and all that was left to do was bandage up what remained. The attraction that exists now, Journey into Imagination with Figment, exists on a strange border between the two – not quite as jovial and celebratory as the original, but not quite as biting as its replacement. And that, ultimately, is the biggest failure an attraction can succumb to – it’s neither bad nor good, it’s just boring.
What makes it a blunder is not necessarily that Disney’s new attraction was boring, but rather, that they turned a classic ride into something utterly forgettable, and they did so for no real reason at all.
3. The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
Let’s take a second and talk about how ill-conceived this iteration of Walt Disney’s famed Enchanted Tiki Room actually was, because it’s kind of unbelievable.
The original version at Disneyland opened in 1963 and was an immediate hit. Polynesian culture was particularly popular in the 1960s, and the flair with which it was presented in the famous attraction made it instantly iconic – so much so that the Walt Disney World version of the show was an Opening Day attraction in 1971.
Then, in 1998, someone at the Walt Disney Company decided to redo the attraction, adding in Iago and Zazu, two feathered companions from the classic Disney films Aladdin and The Lion King. The show’s story featured Iago and Zazu purchasing the Enchanted Tiki Room, with Iago ridiculing the classic show’s entire premise, repeatedly.
To replace or refurbish a beloved Disney attraction is tough and inherently controversial among Disney fans, but including mockery of the original attraction in its refurbished state was particularly short-sighted and bizarrely antagonistic.
Clearly, the ghost of Walt Disney felt the same way.
On January 12, 2011, the attraction caught fire and, allegedly, the only animatronic destroyed beyond repair was … Iago.
And so, rather than replacing him, Disney restored the attraction to its original glory, removing the snarky, shrill bird for good. Replacing the attraction in the first place was a blunder, but bringing the original back was the right call – even if it took some encouragement from a higher power.
4. The mismanagement of the Downtown Disney/Disney Springs Parking Garage
If you were to make a list of every single experience at Walt Disney World – everything from riding Splash Mountain to standing and admiring the topiaries at Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival – you’d have a list with hundreds of thousands of entries. And yet, of those hundreds of thousands of experiences, finding a parking space at Disney Springs would probably be dead last.
Seriously – if you had to choose between parking at Disney Springs and waiting in line at the DMV, it’d actually be kind of a tough decision. Sure, at the end of the long wait for Disney Springs, you could get some shopping done, but if you go to the DMV, you get to leave with a souvenir photo.
My point is this: for all their money, power and experience, Disney somehow bungled the building of a parking garage. Even now, with one of the two planned garages open, it still takes, at the very least, 20 minutes to fight through traffic and find a space. And remember: the treat at the end of that ordeal is the opportunity to spend even more money on food and souvenirs.
5. The rollout of MyMagic+
Image: Disney
Disney fans are rather passionate. For us, every part of a trip is part of the experience – everything from making hotel reservations to riding rides to listening to the wake-up calls telling you to get out of bed in the morning. All of it matters and, over time, all of it really does start to feel like home.
And so, when that process changes, Disney fans often get riled up. Combine that with a poorly built piece of technology, and you’ve got something of a powder keg.
That powder keg was well and truly lit when Disney launched MyMagic+.
Now, to be clear, I don’t think MyMagic+ is a blunder. In fact, I think in 10 years, we’ll see just how forward thinking and influential it was. That said, Disney’s launching of it was atrocious, and called into question the competence of the company in certain core areas – specifically, information technology.
As guests were starting to use MyMagic+, it quickly became clear that the infrastructure Disney built for it wasn’t going to hold up. The MyDisneyExperience app regularly crashed in its infancy (and, even today, it’s hardly stable), there were countless issues with FastPass+ reservations (some lacked any confirmation, some were unredeemable at the gate), and even the attendants at the turnstiles were having issues lining up the RFID chips in the MagicBands with the RFID readers at the new front gates.
Over time, many of those issues have been sorted out, but you really only get one first impression, and with Disney fans, that first impression can last a lifetime. The budgetary figures for MyMagic+ are in the billions at this point, and its hard to think that amount of money could ever be spent on something without it crossing into blunder territory at some point.
Building theme park attractions and infrastructure is an inherently risky enterprise – some things fail, some succeed. But, at the end of the day, it’s important that a company not be afraid to take those risks, even if they fail.
So, yes, Walt Disney World has made some pretty silly missteps over the years – but while we’d love every new offering at WDW to be perfect, here’s hoping they aren’t afraid to make a few more missteps in search of that next great experience.
