For the most part, the Walt Disney Company gets things right. They’ve been so good at giving guests and fans things that they didn’t even know they wanted — from themed resort hotels to moving films to TV shows about bounty hunters.
But, on occasion, Disney kind of screws up.
I don’t mean that they sometimes make mistakes — of course they do. No one is perfect. They’ve made flops at the box office and rides that stink up the theme parks. Disney is, like everyone, fallible.
What I’m referring to here are the missed opportunities — things that Disney has done that are fine, but which could have been so much better had they changed one or two things about them. Maybe it’s the location, or the focus, or even the architecture — but a couple small changes could transform these areas of Walt Disney World into true gems.
Here are just a few:
The Transportation and Ticket Center
Image: Theme Park Tourist
Walt Disney was amazed and fascinated by the industrial realities of 20th century America. He loved telling stories, yes, but he also loved understanding how the real world worked — and showing that to viewers and fans at home. He was deeply interested in science and engineering, and his civic design obsession was the genesis of what would become Walt Disney World.
Attractions like the monorail and the PeopleMover were created not just as fun diversions, but rather, as proof-of-concept for a new kind of public transportation. The hub-and-spoke layout of Disneyland wasn’t just an efficient way to move guests through a theme park — it was also Walt’s statement about city planning and how it should work.
All of this, to me, lays bare just how disappointing the Transportation and Ticket Center is at Walt Disney World. It serves an important role — the receiving point of guests traveling by car or hired coach to the Magic Kingdom. They’ve given a choice — monorail or ferry — as for which route they wish to take to the heart of the Disney empire. The name “Transportation and Ticket Center” calls to mind the grand Beaux Arts train stations of the late 19th century, or the grand steel and glass architecture of the world’s most famous airports.
The Transportation and Ticket Center should be a place of adventure, but it is at best, a glorified bus stop. There is no real retail or restaurant space to explore. There are no genuine transportation connections throughout Walt Disney World. There is no, in the parlance of Walt Disney Imagineering, “show.” The TTC is designed simply for efficiency, and it is fairly successful at that. But it could be so much more — a celebration of transportation and its importance in society, or a demonstration of how important transit hubs are in our daily life.
Instead, it’s an afterthought.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Image: harshlight, Flickr (license)
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is, arguably, the most beautiful resort the Walt Disney Company has ever built. The lobby is a grand celebration of African art and architecture, with a soaring atrium and stunning vistas. The rooms are well-appointed and deeply comfortable, with some having views of Disney’s African savanna that have to be seen to be believed. The food at restaurants like Jiko, Boma, and Sanaa is world class, and the service is outstanding.
So, why then is Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge regularly among the cheapest Deluxe Resort options on Walt Disney World property? The answer is in that old real estate maxim:
Location, location, location.
Every other Deluxe Resort on property has at least one of Disney’s parks accessible by a transportation method other than a bus. Even Disney’s Wilderness Lodge — Animal Kingdom Lodge’s closest comparison — offer ferry service not just to the Magic Kingdom, but also to the other resorts on the Seven Seas Lagoon monorail loop. The Animal Kingdom Lodge, despite its name, isn’t close enough to Disney’s Animal Kingdom to get there by any means other than the bus.
How on earth did that happen? Was there some mothballed plan to build a special railroad line to the resort, similar to the train that takes guests to Rafiki’s Planet Watch? Was there a longer-term plan to build a spur of the Disney Skyliner there? Who knows?
The Animal Kingdom Lodge’s isolation is certainly an odd element of the resort. Yes, it likely influenced the decisions to give it such incredible dining and entertainment options — but still, it’s really a shame.
Disney Springs
Image: Jared Lee, Flickr (license)
It’s hard to argue that Disney Springs is anything other than an overwhelming success. Back when the area was still Downtown Disney, it had become a stale, flabby mess — full of vacant husks of former dance clubs and restaurants. It was desperately in need of a reimagination.
Disney did just that — turning it into the shopping and dining community known as Disney Springs, complete with a classic Disney backstory and some fun themed bars and restaurants. They built an entirely new section of stores on what used to be a massive parking lot, themed to a mixed-use esplanade. There are faux residences above those stores, adding a bit of ambiance to the area.
So, what could be the missed opportunity? Disney Springs is great, right? Well, I have just one question:
Why are those residences fake!?
It’s understandable that Disney wouldn’t want to get into the apartment business, but why didn’t the company build a hotel over the stores at Disney Springs? It’s not scared of putting lodging nearby, as Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort can attest. It’s not afraid of having hotel rooms over an entertainment zone, as Disney’s Boardwalk Inn shows. Why did Disney Springs not get the same treatment?
Yes, it might be loud staying right in the heart of such a bustling part of Walt Disney World. But for some, that’s a feature rather than a bug. Imagine being able to enjoy the parks all day, Disney Springs all night, and then walk from Jock Lindsey’s or The Edison right back to your hotel. This is an advertised amenity of the Disney Springs area hotels — it’s surprising Disney has let them have all the fun.
Wonders of Life
Image: Jennifer Lynn, Flickr (license)
When Epcot opened in 1982, it didn’t quite look like the Epcot we know today. One now-famous pavilion didn’t open until 1987 — Wonders of Life.
Wonders of Life was, during peak edutainment Epcot, a must-see attraction. Beneath its large dome were attractions designed to thrill guests, entertain them, and help them learn all about the human body and how it functions. Some attractions, like Body Wars, shows how science might function in the future. Others, like The Making of Me, showed how reproduction actually works. Still more, like Coach’s Corner or the famed fitness bikes, were designed to help guests understand how healthy living and eating contribute to overall happiness.
Wonders of Life’s bright county fair theme aged it fairly quickly, and the tech that made it seem cutting edge in 1987 rapidly grew obsolete as the personal computing age started to mature. As a result, Disney shuttered the pavilion officially in 2007, but it had long been a husk of its former self.
Sadly, Wonders of Life was fairly ahead of its time. It’s midway of linked video bikes presaged popular modern technologies like Peloton. Its virtual sports coaching showed how modern platforms like YouTube use video and digital instruction to teach athletes how to grow. Health and fitness are, today, multi-billion dollar industries with huge cultural cachet and importance. Fitness studios are more popular than ever. Healthy eating isn’t just a fad anymore. Wellness products and consulting have become a career for a handful of Instagram influencers and celebrities.
Wonders of Life’s missed opportunity was, sadly, that it came along about 10 years too early. Now, the building itself has been gutted and replaced by the Play! pavilion. That’s a shame, because if there’s one element of 1980s Epcot that has only grown in relevance, it’s a commitment to health and fitness.
Discovery Island
Image: aloha75, Flickr (license)
It’s insane to think about now, but for roughly a decade, Disney would put guests onto a boat, ferry them across Bay Lake, and strand them on an island to explore and meet wildlife.
That island, called Discovery Island, largely became redundant when Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened — guests didn’t need two places to meet wild animals. So, Disney closed Discovery Island in 1999 and, rather famously, allowed it to rot away.
But here’s the thing: Disney owns a private island in the middle of a lake — all of which, they have total control over. Why has this area remained closed for 20 years? Why has nothing been done with it?
There have long been rumors of rethemes — from a Myst-video-game adaptation to an imagining of the island from the hit TV show Lost. But why haven’t they come to fruition? Escape rooms are still fairly popular — why didn’t Disney capitalize on that burgeoning industry with a highly-themed escape scenario on Discovery Island? Why haven’t they crafted some sort of immersive up-charge experience on the island?
Discovery Island remains a relatively undeveloped piece of Disney property with a unique history and ideal geography. It’s bizarre that it’s remained empty for 20 years. It’s time to change that.
