Originally Posted By dshyates From Kevin Yee: "For some weeks now, rumors have swirled about a possible end to the Rivers of America and to Tom Sawyer Island. It sounds like sacrilege, but this is prime territory if you think about it, and a lot of land… and it’s not very highly used by visitors right now. If you took all of that out, you’d have a ton of space to work with. One rumor suggests a family raft ride (like Kali River Rapids) possibly themed to a frontier (Pocahontas?) design. If this happens, the Liberty Belle would be permanently docked, and the island might not be a destination unto itself (most of it would probably be demolished or repurposed). Nothing is announced, or in fact greenlit and funded, but that’s the rumor." <a href="http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky011012a.htm" target="_blank">http://miceage.micechat.com/ke...012a.htm</a> So, what do you guys think?
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Bummer if true. Disney should keep these...I don't know the word...tactile experiences. My kids are just getting to the age where I could take them both over there and they could have fun together without me having to worry too much. If they are going to take it out then I suggest they should come up with something a little more unique than a family raft ride.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper It's been talked about for a long, long time. In fact, this concept was passed over for the Fantasyland Expansion (a case of the lesser of two evils, IMO). I don't think it'll happen. Too much would have to go into it, and there are already other viable expansion plots in the park.
Originally Posted By finallygoing I hope this isn't true..one of the reasons this is my favorite part of MK is because it is underused and to me it is a santuary from the hordes of crowds at the park. We have been going to the parks since my two, now teenaged, boys were small. They still insist on going back to the island every trip because of the great memories they have of it. Like most of us, I can go on an amusement ride anywhere in the country. I have a river rapid ride less than an hour away from my home. My family doesn't traval almost 2 thousands miles every winter to go on amusement park rides...we go through all the trouble and expense for unique experiences. Disney needs to remember this when they plan something new.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Just a rumor that if someone like myself suggested everyone would be laughing. But when it comes from a known entity in the "Disney fan" community, everyone pauses. 1) The investment would best be spent elsewhere. The Disney company has always championed the MK at the expense of WDW's other parks. At this point the MK is the last of it's parks in WDW the Disney Company needs to be thinking about improving. Every other park at WDW with the exception of the MK is it bad need of rides/ attractions and are experiencing declining park attendance numbers. OK, so maybe you can argue the attendance numbers aren't as bad as should be expected during a recession. But, Disney has to offer constant bargains and deals, free room stays, free meal plans to keep the rooms at WDW and it's parks full. It is triage in the other parks at this point. And there is a direct correlation between new additional rides/ attractions and increased park attendance numbers. Attendance numbers in the MK are not lacking. Therefore Disney would be getting more bang for their buck adding rides/ attractions to it's other Florida parks with declining numbers rather than the MK. All of these parks have huge tracks of real estate ready to be developed, and planned to ultimately be developed that have been left abandoned in some cases for decades. 2) There is plenty of preexisting vacant real estate both inside and outside the tracks and empty building in the MK that tearing something down isn't necessary for future expansions. Disney is already in the process of a major investment in the New Fantasyland reclaimation project. We waited 20 years for the Disney Company to do something with the vacant land formerly used by 20K. Any discussion about draining the River's of America and bulldozing Tom Sawyer Island is in my opinion a bit presumptuous. Walt did a great job in mixing both land and water features in his park. The MK already lost one water feature in 20K. An act that forever changed the atmosphere of Fantasyland. Removing the largest water feature in the MK, although would provide a lot of addition land, would give the MK a "parking lot" feel especially when on a flat Florida landscape. At that point it would be more like a grandiose Six Flags. You can also use the same arguement for taking out any water feature in any park. Why not take out the river that goes around the castle? Why not remove the Jungle Cruise? The MK isn't hurting for land. There is still plenty of available space for additional rides/ attraction both inside the tracks and outside the tracks without even considering removing the River's of America or bulldozing Tom Sawyer Island. Not to mention the MK's already vacant and unused buildings. And quite frankly why not bring back the skyway. It requires little real estate since it travels about the park and would restore some badly needed additional mode of mobility between the stroller congested Liberty Square corner of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. 3)WDW parks prevailing theme of developement has been that in order for something to be added, something else needs to be removed. I find it oddly ironic that for a company who's founder ultimately purchased a property the size of manhattan so they would never run out of land. The prevailing theme of expansion in any of it's parks is to remove a ride or feature in order to add something new. Horizons didn't need to be torn down in order for Mission Space to be built. World of Motion didn't need to be town down for Test Track to be built. There has been plenty of land around the preexisting pavallions in EPCOT for additional rides/ attractions. 4) It is very frustrating when as a fan of WDW you can see what badly needs to be developed, but Disney management takes a different course of action. So Disney builds a new sitdown restaurant in the Beast's castle and more shops all as part of the New Fantasyland reclaimation project. Meanwhile, other sitdown restaurants in the MK; Aunt Polly's on Tom Sawyer Island, Adventureland Veranda, Diamond Horseshoe in Frontierland and Noodle Station in Tomorrowland all remain closed and unused. I guess Disney management has never considered that instead of building new restaurants and shops perhaps opening some of it's closed restaurants in more optimal areas would make more sense. And Disney's adoring fans buy this hook, line and sinker. "Wow, we are going to be a new sitdown restaurant and some new shops". Never mind the five empty sitdown restaurants and shops you just passed to walk from Main Street to Beast's Castle. How many empty sitdown restaurants and shops is it going to take for most people to understand that perhaps viable, popular rides/ attractions and features in the various Disney parks need not be removed for something "new". I'm posing that question at Disney fans as at this point I firmly believe that the WDW management team is clueless. <rolls eyes>
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<I'm posing that question at Disney fans as at this point I firmly believe that the WDW management team is clueless.>> Some are clueless. Some don't care. Some do. Doesn't really matter as long as the place is setup like a feudal kingdom.
Originally Posted By Mickeyfan1 I've heard they want the property for another Vacation Club within the Park! (Sorry just couldn't resist! I know, I'm very bad...just move on
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Yes the guest exit survey revealed guests want another DVC closer to the MK or a Princess buffet/meetngreet.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<I've heard they want the property for another Vacation Club within the Park!>> You laugh now. There are plans for an Epcot WS DVC in the park.
Originally Posted By PotNoodle FFS, if I want to go on a raft ride, I will go to my local Sux Flags. It's like they are hell bent on making WDW less unique and more downmarket. If you scout around other boards, you will see that people are actually excited about this, should this come to fruition.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper ^^^I don't mind the raft ride idea. If done well I think they are great rides(Pop-eye at IoA, Grizzly at DCA, Jurassic Park at Singapore Uni). What bothers me is putting one on TSI, which would not only destroy a very interesting and quaint part of the park, but also permanently dock the riverboat. <<...connected to the monorail perhaps?>> Doubtful.
Originally Posted By PotNoodle I like TSI, too. It's really unique spot and I hope they don't do this. We always go there and ride the Liberty Belle, too.
Originally Posted By leobloom No raft ride. You already have a water ride in Frontierland. Some of us don't like being drenched with theme park chemical water. Western River Expedition (ha, right?) would be an acceptable replacement, but not a Pocahantas (ha, right?) raft ride.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper ^^^It wouldn't be Pocahontas. No movies are attached to this project.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom TSI would be more popular if they had a functioning sitdown restaurant, improved the bathrooms so that there was just one stall in the mensroom, actually showed the bathrooms on a map and perhaps instead of "plusing" ( Disney's term not mine ) rides that don't need it like Haunted Mansion or Pooh actually devoted some tender loving care to TSI instead of ignoring it. Sounds to me like perhaps someone in the Disney management team needs to champion the neglected TSI instead of building unnecessary features that are not going to draw a soul to the MK, like the proposed wall separating Fantasyland from the New Fantasyland reclaimation project. Features like TSI actually draw people to the park, walls don't. And lets suppose we are going to entertain the thought of removing River of America and TSI, to build what? More unnecessary, redundant sitdown restaunts and shops when half a dozen already lay permanently closed in the MK? Perhaps more Princess meet and greets? Can anyone in the Disney fan realm or perhaps the Disney management team tell us what future rides/ attractions we can expect from WDI's magic 8 ball? If we are talking a Lord of the Rings land, I'm all for it, bulldoze away!
