Magic Kingdom (General Discussion)

[DrStarlander]

I know with certainty that these things were on the chopping block - along with Country Bears - as far back as 2015

Are you saying the removal of RoA, TSI, and LB was widely expected within the fan community? I didn't get that impression from the reaction this past year. Very knowledgeable people seemed surprised and have filled many hours of video content about it. Including Imagineers. I haven't heard a lot of "But we all knew this was coming of course...."

So my comment about what kind of reaction I would have gotten if I proposed that on the forum in 2018 wasn't me saying Disney didn't have plans to do this going back a decade or whatever. Who knows what's discussed inside Disney or what info some have heard about. That wasn't my point.

 

[Tbad556]

Are you saying the removal of RoA, TSI, and LB was widely expected within the fan community? I didn't get that impression from the reaction this past year. Very knowledgeable people seemed surprised and have filled many hours of video content about it. Including Imagineers. I haven't heard a lot of "But we all knew this was coming of course...."

So my comment about what kind of reaction I would have gotten if I proposed that on the forum in 2018 wasn't me saying Disney didn't have plans to do this going back a decade or whatever. Who knows what's discussed inside Disney or what info some have heard about. That wasn't my point.

There were rumors on IU all the way back in 2012. TSI rumors from WDWMagic back in 2017. Additional discussion in 2017 about how ROA and TSI have been rumored to be in danger for years. Additional discussion in 2024. Etc. While it's a bummer of a loss (and I think that's where that reaction came from), I agree that it wasn't a crazy surprise.

 

[BigHouseFootball]

There’s some major cases of hindsight bias going on here.

 

[TheGentTrent]

To be clear: I don't think Disney is afraid of killing sacred cows ... but I would be stunned to see them close an actual-factual popular attraction that, again, has incredible throughput. Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Belle were nowhere near as popular as Jungle Cruise is.

Does it have such great throughput? I don’t know if Lightning Lanes are getting handed out like Halloween candy here, but it seems like the wait times for Jungle Cruise get out of control very quickly. That standby line absolutely crawls most of the day.

I do agree with the larger point though that Jungle Cruise is so deeply ingrained with the Disney Parks experience that I don’t see it leaving anytime soon. It’s got its own Little Golden Book for crying out loud. I can’t say the same about the other two attractions.

 

[Jake S]

Does it have such great throughput?

I have it on good authority that the theoretical capacity of the Disneyland Jungle Cruise is around 2,200 guests an hour. Now, how often it actually hits anywhere close to that I have no clue. But I'd think its capacity is at least very good!

 

[fryoj]

After seeing how the Disney crowd flips out when they close minor things, the meltdowns over closing one of the original cornerstone rides would be biblical.

 

[DrStarlander]

There were rumors on IU all the way back in 2012. TSI rumors from WDWMagic back in 2017. Additional discussion in 2017 about how ROA and TSI have been rumored to be in danger for years. Additional discussion in 2024. Etc. While it's a bummer of a loss (and I think that's where that reaction came from), I agree that it wasn't a crazy surprise.

The two links from 2017 (the second link "additional discussion") are the same day, July 31, 2017, right? It's the same discussion about whether the Rivers of America being shortened at Disneyland for SWGE portends a similar fate at MK.)

The last link is from October 2024, after D23 and the "morning after" release showing what was happening to RoA/TSI...so not relevant to what was expected by fans before the announcement.

If the fan community widely expected the removal of RoA, TSI, and LB, I don't feel these particular links show it. Though Brayden previewed the possibilities a few months before D23, I think his video after the D23 announcement captured the general sentiment: