While it’s always fun to imagine what new and exciting attractions might be en route to Walt Disney World, there is a hidden cost to such speculation. That is, very often, Disney must first remove a beloved attraction from its lineup to make way for that exciting new thing.
While the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a charming and lovely ride, it’s hard not to feel it being weighed down by the ghost of the attraction it replaced: the iconic Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Even beloved rides like Soarin’ Around the World exist in the space formerly occupied by classics like Kitchen Kabaret and Food Rocks.
And so, when imagining what the Walt Disney World of the future might look like, we must also ask ourselves this important question: Which attractions are likely to be the next ones to go?
Note: For the purposes of this article, we’ll leave aside attractions likely to receive hefty overhauls, like Spaceship Earth or even Star Tours. Instead, we’ll focus only on attractions that will either be removed entirely or altered beyond recognition.
So what is likely to depart? Let’s take a look:
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Image: drjason, Flickr (license)
There are few attractions that inspire frustration quite like Journey into Imagination, and with a massive redesign of Epcot seemingly en route, it’s hard to imagine this ride surviving the cull.
Despite the ride’s obvious failures, Figment remains a shockingly popular character — particularly considering that the only people who really interacted with a fully fleshed out Figment are now in their 20s, at youngest. It’s likely that Figment won’t disappear entirely, even if Disney removes the attraction. The company understands the appeal of theme park-generated intellectual properties, and almost certainly wouldn’t throw one into the trash.
The ride, on the other hand, has long been destined for the dustbin of Disney history. The timing on an “Inside Out”-themed refurbishment seems odd, but there is a clear indication that Disney film IPs will be a major aspect of the new Epcot vision. And so, it would not be a shock to see this ride replaced soon with something more popular and, ultimately, more widely known.
Tomorrowland Motor Speedway
Image: cdharrison, Flickr (license)
While Disney has never shown an intention to close Tomorrowland Motor Speedway, it has long been thought of as the centerpiece transformation of any Tomorrowland refurbishment. With such a large footprint, it’s a delicious bit of armchair imagineering to picture what attractions and shops could replace the odorous behemoth.
But what is odd is that the attraction has already been altered a handful of times — and with each iteration, its ride time has gotten progressively shorter. When Disney opened Space Mountain, the ride shrank to accommodate it. When the park launched Mickey’s Birthday Land (now Storybook Circus), Tomorrowland Motor Speedway again shrank to make room. Now, with the Tron rollercoaster making its way stateside, the Speedway has closed yet again in anticipation of being “altered” to ensure the new ride can be completed as necessary.
If Disney is committed to maintaining Tomorrowland Motor Speedway as a legitimate attraction, they have an odd way of showing it. The attraction has shrunk by nearly 1/3 in its lifetime so far. Perhaps they don’t intend to close it, really — but instead, they hope to just shrink it out of existence without anyone really noticing at all.
That is, until the build a magnificent new mini land on top of it. I mean, it’s really a lot of space.
Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage
Image: lorenjavier, Flickr (license)
It’s hard to believe, but this exact show has been performed at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, without alterations, for nearly 30 years. Why is that odd? Well, in the time since this show debuted, Disney has not only produced an award-winning Broadway version of this exact story, but it has also shown an ability to craft thrilling and creative new theme park-ready productions like Finding Nemo: the Musical and Festival of the Lion King.
And yet, here we are, with the exact same Beauty and the Beast stage show that existed when the Soviet Union was still around. Why? Why has Disney never updated or replaced this show with something bigger? Why has Disney not taken its charming Disney Cruise Line adaptation and brought a version of it to shore? Why does it seem like time forgot this particular portion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios?
I don’t know. But, what I do know, is that this park is currently undergoing a transformation unlike any that a theme park has ever gone through. While it might seem unlikely for Disney to keep fiddling with the park after opening Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019, I think the opposite makes more sense. With the park finally forging ahead with a new identity, everything that doesn’t fit that identity will stick out even more.
It costs relatively little to change out a stage show. Is it possible that we’ll see something more thematically in line with Disney’s Hollywood Studios mission moving forward? It seems likely.
MuppetVision 3D
Image: frankfranc, Flickr (license)
Relatedly, there’s a pretty strange elephant in the room when it comes to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Well, OK, maybe not an elephant — more like a frog.
Due to the fickle nature of fate, the beloved Star Tours: The Adventures Continue just so happens to be a bit separated from the spot where Disney is building its big Star Wars expansion. This means, strangely, that guests must finish their ride on Star Tours, walk right by MuppetVision 3D, and then enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That’s … weird.
Now, it’s worth noting that MuppetVision 3D is one of the finest shows Disney has ever produced. In addition to being a classic attraction, it’s also a bit of living history as it is one of the last Muppet projects creator Jim Henson personally worked on. That said, it is terribly dated, and even the best comedy grows stale after a while.
It is essentially unfathomable that Disney would allow Star Wars to be split asunder by a 30 year old show. There is clearly a long-term plan in place that we aren’t privy to, and while I doubt it revolves the total removal of the Muppets from Walt Disney World, it seems pretty likely that the MuppetVision theater won’t last much past Disney’s big anniversary in 2021.
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Image: xiquinho, Flickr (license)
Speaking of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary, it’s time for some completely unfounded speculation about the future.
It’s rare for Disney to consider its superfans at any point in the decision making process for their parks: IP comes to Epcot, the Great Movie Ride is replaced, Horizons will never, ever return. Yet, if there’s a time for Disney to throw the community a bone, it’ll happen during the 50th anniversary.
What better way to do that than by removing the only attraction at any Disney park that literally is worse than having no attraction at all. That is, of course, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
It’s kind of hard to fathom now, but before 2001, Adventureland looked completely different. An oasis of serenity mixed with the mysterious charm of an exotic marketplace, Adventureland was a beautiful escape from the fantasty of the rest of the Magic Kingdom. Every sightline tickled the eye with a strange horticultural discovery or a unique architectural quirk. It was easy to walk through and explore, finding your way to a new attraction almost by happenstance — much like you’d discover a cool shop on a crowded city street.
But then, Disney decided to plop an attraction right down into the middle of everything, wrecking sightlines and causing one of the worst bottlenecks anywhere in Walt Disney World.
It would even be slightly defensible if the Magic Kingdom didn’t already have the exact same attraction over in Fantasyland, known better and more famously as Dumbo, the Flying Elephant. Now, almost two decades after the Magic Carpets of Aladdin made its debut, Dumbo has actually managed to clone itself — doubling its capacity.
There has never been a better time to shutter the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Why not celebrate the Magic Kingdom’s 50th anniversary by restoring the original sightlines of one of the park’s great artistic achievements? Why not free up space to move through what will surely be a very crowded theme park for the entire years-long anniversary celebration?
It’s rare that the removal of an attraction, with no replacement, makes so much sense that it seems silly not to do it. Yet, here we are.
