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Some of you reading this may remember that over the course of last summer, I was sharing an idea I had for an American version of Tokyo DisneySea, simply called……DisneySea, here on Archive of Our Own.
Ever since doing that idea, I’ve toying with doing other theme park ideas.
And one of those ideas was a refurbishment of Walt Disney World.
Chances are most of you reading this haven’t heard the best things about the park over the last few years.
There’s a couple of reasons for that.
From the increased costs of things, to the RIDICULOUSLY long wait times.
But perhaps the biggest reason for the park’s downfall is because of its new focus on brand synergy.
There’s been a notable increase of rides and attractions based around popular IPs over the last decade of so.
And as a result of this, its lead to the parks making up Walt Disney World to lose their integrity and identity.
A while back, I watched this video by Poseidon Entertainment titled “How Disney Destroyed Education and Culture”.
It was a genuinely insightful watch, as it went over how much learning had factored into the identity of the Disney Parks.
And this was especially prevalent with Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.
Epcot was dedicated to celebrating human achievement, particularly technology, and teaching visitors about the various cultures of our world.
Hollywood Studios was dedicated to teaching visitors about the world of film-making and celebrating the medium that was film.
And Animal Kingdom was dedicated to honoring the animals of our world, the animals of the past, and the animals of legend.
But over the course of the 21st century, many of the attractions that perfectly tied into the themes of the parks would be shut down and replaced with rides that not only tied into a notable IP, but also didn’t really emphasize the themes of the parks.
I think this discussion really came into play around 2023, when it was announced that DinoLand U.S.A, the area in Animal Kingdom dedicated to the animals of the past, would replaced with a South American themed-land.
On one hand, having a South American themed land does fit with the animal theming.
But on the other hand, it came at the price of the land that represented one of the three core fundamentals of the park.
This is made even worse with the fact that two of the highlights of this land would be an attraction based on Indiana Jones and an attraction based on Encanto.
I think out of all the parks, the one that definitely had it’s identity scrubbed the most would be Epcot, specifically with The World Showcase.
Literally most of the attractions there are IP based.
And while Magic Kingdom is definitely the least tainted of the parks, it’s still not exactly seen in the best light.
In addition to the reasons I stated earlier, along with the food there being really mediocre, there’s also the fact that it has less attractions when compared to the original Disneyland.
Plus, when it comes to the rides both parks share, the ones over in The Magic Kingdom are generally seen as inferior.
And with that being said, I’m officially planning on doing a Walt Disney World refurbishment series, where I share my ideas on how these parks could be updated to both be the best they can be and bring back their original soul and integrity.
And start this off, we’ll be looking at the very first park: The Magic Kingdom!
In honor of the 70th anniversary of Disneyland!
Which I known seems strange, but I think Disneyland is fine the way it is.
Plus, The Magic Kingdom was created to be the East Coast equivalent of Disneyland.
First off, let's get these out of the way.
-The prices will be reduced to be more reasonable
-The wait times will also be decreased to be more reasonable
-The food will actually be good
For this refurbishment, there will be some changes made to the themed lands of the parks.
This refurbishment will also see the addition of two new lands.
Those being Toontown and Marvel's Superhero City.