Day 652: Attractions of the Past

This particular blog post kind of goes with a number of other ones, but it's actually inspired by THIS article from Mental Floss that I happened across the other day. With Malestrom and the Backlot Express and who knows what else closing, it does give us a chance to go back and reflect on some of the Disney attractions of the past, in this case 11 Wonderful Former Disney Rides from Disneyland And Walt Disney World.

I can't say I remember most of these since 1. I wasn't alive for most of them and 2. Most of them are at Disneyland, and I've only been there once. Actually, there are only two attractions on the entire list that I could even possibly remember, although I don't remember any of them (aside from some faint memories of Journey Into Imagination).

It's it odd though, that there can be so many Disney attractions completely lost in the history books? If you look at how many attractions are open at even just Walt Disney World today, there's more than you can see and do in any one day, or eight or nine for our matter in January. When things close though, you have this strange sense of wonder at what will come next, especially when they include little hints of things within the new attraction. Take Mission SPACE for instance, where there are little hints to Horizons all over the place, and one of my brother's favorite things about the redesigned Test Track is probably the garbage cans with the old World of Motion Epcot symbol.

There are a lot of old attractions I do remember though, and I talked about a few of them in my Malestrom blog post (That was, ironically enough, also written this evening on October 19). I think the most vintage of them would have to be the Skyway though. I think that's one of the things I really love about Disneyland though. I feel like there's a real sense of the old Disney there, between the Matterhorn and the Autopia and everything else. That's not something we have at Disney World, and I find that to be really sad. I love looking back at the past attractions, and I really wish we would do it more often.

What was your favorite lost attraction?

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 19).

Day 643: Goodbye Maelstrom

We've reached the end of yet another classic attraction, and I'm honestly sad to see it go. Not as much because I was a huge Malestrom fan (I wasn't, and I won't pretend I was), as much as I am just a fan of Epcot altogether. It's actually caused a lot of mixed feelings for me, since I'm not sure really how I do feel opposed to how I should feel. It's a big bunch of confusing, much like how people saw the attraction itself for the entirety of it's World Showcase run.

I'm definitely a fan of the Disney of the past though, as most of me memories as a kid come from attractions that are no longer there, things that have long since disappeared from the parks. I remember Horizons, I remember Wonders of Life, I remember the old Living Seas, I remember the old Spaceship Earth, and I remember the Millennium Celebration and everything that came with it. And that's just in Epcot. My favorite park is a far cry from what it was when I was a kid, and even further from what it was when it opened in 1982, but I guess that's just a part of the overall idea. Things keep evolving, we keep moving forward, and that's what makes Epcot, and Disney, what it is. It's one of the things I love so much about it.

But still, I can't help but be sad. There were a lot of people out there who really, truly, loved Malestrom. As I said, I wasn't one of those people, but the closing of this particular attraction, for some odd reason, really made me stop and think. Malestrom wasn't my favorite attraction, but for many it was, and I can certainly relate to that. We can all relate to that. I'm lucky. Extremely lucky. Spaceship Earth is relatively safe from ever disappearing completely. Yeah, it changes from time to time, but I doubt the overall basis of the attraction will ever leave, and I'm pretty darn sure it's never going to be closed down and replaced with an attraction featuring the newest animated hit. That would be ridiculous.

What if it was though? How in the world would I react if they announced that Spaceship Earth would be closing in a month? I'm not going to Disney for another three, so if it closed now there would be absolutely no way for me to ever experience it again. That's a tough realization to deal with. Or Illuminations? That show has been such a key part of me life, down to every last second of it, and I couldn't imagine, I can't imagine, what I would do if it closed with little to no warning. I do know, however, that I wouldn't be able to handle it. Not at all. I would break.

So to those out there that are dealing with the loss of Malestrom, I may not completely understand, but at the same time, yeah I do understand. I just can't imagine what it's like to be going through the loss of your favorite attraction. These things become such key elements of our lives that when we try to imagine a life without them it becomes impossible. For now let's all imagine a world where we can all ride our favorite attractions forever.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 19).

Day 631: 1450

I literally blog about this all the time, but I really feel it's important to mention it just one more time (although knowing me, this will probably come up again). If you don't know yet that the printing press was invented in 1450, then you obviously haven't been reading my blog for very long, nor have you been on Spaceship Earth. I talked almost a month ago about "Spaceship Timeline," which was basically a blog post on how when I'm sitting in classes I have to think about the year and whether or not the printing press had been invented yet. But this is getting kind of crazy, and this goes perfectly with the hot topic of #SaveMalestrom.

When I first began Everyday Disney 630 some days ago (gosh), I was grateful for the schedule I had at the time. Because I had two study halls each morning (senior release technically, but I spent them in the Business lab with the wonderful Mrs. Grassel), I had plenty of time on my hands to go through Disney news in addition to catching up on any homework or doing work for FBLA or band. I loved those two hours, and honestly I think it was a combination of that time and this blog that really refueled my love for Disney. That being said, I can't be more thankful for that time.

But at SNC, time is a little off. Classes don't meet everyday, meaning my schedule for every day of the week is completely different from the one before it, and while I have general routines (like eating lunch with Jessica and/or Allie at 11 everyday except Wednesday, or watching OUAT on Sunday nights in our dorm room), it's difficult to find a solid time to sit and go through blogs as I used to. Honestly, it's difficult to find a concrete time to sit down and write blog posts much less do anything else. Of course, I manage somehow, mostly with a perpetual post-it note on my to-do list that says "5 Blog Posts: - Today's - 4 Others (makeups)," constantly reminding me that I have a blog to work on.

Anyway, back to the point. This morning I had the chance to go through some of those blogs, heading all the way back into last week to try and catch up on some of the things I missed, and you can bet that since the announcement about Malestrom, it's a hot topic among the Disney bloggers. Of course, I've talked about it myself, but I want to address one issue I didn't really discuss previous to this post concerning the Frozen take-over.

There's a lot of reasons as to why Malestrom is leaving, making for the perfect combination of "Attraction-Closing-Ability." Disney is constantly changing, so after a period of time you really begin to understand why things come and go. For Malestrom, it's a popularity contest. Norway has gone without funding for a while, Malestrom needed upkeep, Frozen is insanely popular right now, everyone loves the music and the location will bring more people to Epcot.

I still fully stand by my comment I've made previously, that Frozen does NOT belong in Epcot. A popular "reason" as to why Frozen is COMING to Epcot, however, is the idea that a Princess attraction will increase the interest for children. Sure, Epcot isn't necessarily the most interesting for kids, I'll give it that, but that doesn't mean it isn't for kids. Over the past few years Disney has been, and to use a Disnerd term here, dumbing down the various attractions. Kitchen Kabaret/Food Rocks was replaced by Soarin'; Test Track was replaced with a different version of Test Track that is honestly great, but doesn't really teach you much about test vehicles as the previous version did; The Living Seas got some new life with Nemo and it's getting better, it really is, but the original Living Seas was still more informative; One word: Dreamfinder; The Wonders of Life pavilion closed completely; Ellen's Energy Adventure...I'll be surprised to see if that lives to see the new Frozen attraction. In general, this trend continues, and that's not even all the attractions in the park.

But obviously Disney has been doing something right all these years without Dumbing things down, right? If I can sit in my classes and use Spaceship Earth as a reference point for history, specifically within my music and English classes, then why in the world do we need Frozen in Malestrom? I would bet you a million dollars I learned more about Norway from the current pavilion that kids will from "Frozen."

We don't need things to be all about the characters and movies and songs. We need Epcot to be the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow that it once was. That's what we want.

Have a magical day!

Day 621: The Cold Always Bothered Me Anyway

I love Frozen...I do. I really, really do. It's a great film and I know every word to every song and watch it probably at least once every other month. Plus it's coming to OUAT, which is reason enough for me to be a bit obsessed with it at the moment. But if there's one thing I want, it's for FROZEN TO GET OUT OF EPCOT.

Malestrom hasn't been super popular in years, and I fear it's gotten even less popular since Fastpass Plus appeared. That doesn't mean that I don't love the attraction though. No, it's not my favorite by any means, but it's as much a part of Epcot as anything else and I just need it to stay the way it is. 

Maybe this means I'm not good with change, and to be 100% honest that's probably pretty darn true, but can't Frozen just stay somewhere else? Like Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom. It doesn't belong in Epcot. I mean, remember back when Anna and Elsa were meeting in Norway and things were crazy? It was absolutely awful and there was a huge line and it just took away from the entire pavilion. 

Or possibly this is stemming off the fact that they're getting rid of the various music groups around World Showcase and replacing them with who knows what. Maybe it's because Magic Kingdom has gone through how many years of renovations and it's always something new and nothing is ever completely done. It could be the extremely short notice of closing, meaning that most of us will never ever ride Malestrom one more time, and I can't be more thankful that I videoed it on a recent trip so I at least have something. 

And maybe, just maybe, it's because Frozen is taking over the world. 

As I said not even a couple of minutes ago, I love Frozen, but I just don't feel like Epcot is the place for it. I'm all for celebrating the places that inspired these films, I really am, and I think it will bring a lot of new interest to Norway, but won't it cause a bottleneck around World Showcase? It's going to bring Epcot attendance up and offer a brand new popular attraction, which is also great, but is also a bit of an issue because there AREN'T a lot of attractions and what happens when the line for a new Frozen attraction has a four hour line and people are disappointed about that? Bad things. That's what. 

In general though, I think it's because Disney really has to step it up for me this time. I was severely disappointed with Ariel when it opened first in Disneyland and then was brought to WDW. It was missing something and focused just a little too much on the songs. I'm terrified the same thing is going to happen to Frozen. Are they going to focus too much on Let It Go and not enough on the relationship between the sisters? That's what this is going to boil down to, if they can pull a new Princess ride off, especially someplace where a Princess Attraction has no place being. 

Are you happy about Malestrom? Ready for more Frozen? Or should they just "Let it go?" 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 14).

Day 610: The Viking Lady

It's not just Disney Deja Vu that brings complete Disney randomness to mind. As you already well know, often times little hints of Disney just sort of pop up in my classes here at SNC, and this semester seems to be no different. As a matter of fact, I believe I've thought of Disney in class more this semester than the previous two, although Fairy Tales definitely puts up a fight. However, that was more of Disney movie thinking process, and this is most certainly stuck in the parks.

In the matter of about one sentence, my music theory class connected Haunted Mansion, Vikings and a discussion we had had in my British Literature Course about Pirates, because yes, all these things are related. And as a bonus, Epcot. 

For starters: Music Theory. We have a history class once a week where we learn about the history of music and how it came from the simple chants of the earliest days to the music we hear today, whether that be Jazz, Orchestras or on the radio. Today we happened to be discussing Opera, and the age-old question, of course, came up: "What's up with the Viking Hats?"

As far as Opera itself goes, there's actually a very easy explanation for this. The Fat Lady with a Viking Hat is NOT what opera actually is, as it actually only has to do with one composer: Wagner. As far as the rest of the operas in the world go, the Viking Lady isn't exactly the most common character. 

But of course, my mind went on a bit of a run once the Opera singer idea came up, because as far as Disney is concerned, there IS a viking singer somewhere on property...multiple properties actually. Know where?

Here's a hint: 

Know it now? Of course the Haunted Mansion has an Opera singer, although her Viking Helmet seems to be a bit different from those we generally think of, no horns involved. But wait! There's a reason for this too, and for the answer to that we're going to have to take a detour to my English class.

My British Literature course features some of the oldest English Literature that has been found, and it's translated so that we can make some kind of sense of it. I honestly don't even remember how we got on the topic, but sometime last week we were discussing Vikings, and how for the most part, Vikings were basically Pirates, or at least were the equivalent to the groups we were talking about. 

And with all this talk about Vikings (and Pirates), I decided to do some research. 

Turns out, Vikings never actually had horns on their helmets. That's purely a misconception. So that Fat Viking Lady that sings Opera isn't even really a Viking Lady, hence the reason her helmet looks different in the Haunted Mansion (or maybe it's just because she's a ghost and the wings are a humorous addition). Either way, I read up on Vikings, not a lot, but enough to get a sense of what we were talking about and couldn't help but think of Norway and Malestrom. I'm one of those people that generally sits and watches the film unless it isn't running, and I'll be super sad to see the entire attraction go if Frozen does indeed take over (and now's when the next blog post will get really confusing because all I'll do is talk about how much I love Frozen). 

But either way, I guess you could say that within that one question about Viking Hats in Opera, I associated Music to the Haunted Mansion to Pirates to Malestrom to Frozen. Now that certainly doesn't happen every day. 

Have a magical day!