Daily DisEnchanted

In 1990, Disney CEO Michael Eisner unveiled an ambitious “Disney Decade” initiative including new parks, hotels and attractions worldwide. The original plan reportedly called for 26 resorts and 21,000 rooms by 1995. The plan included Disney’s America, a new theme park in Haymarket, VA; WestCOT, a proposed version of EPCOT in California; Fort Wilderness Junction, a WDW resort themed to the Old West; Disney’s Asian Resort, a Thai-themed deluxe resort; Disney’s Venetian Resort; Port Disney and DisneySea, a massive ocean-themed resort (and precursor to Tokyo DisneySea) in Long Beach; Disney’s Mediterranean Resort at WDW; Tomorrowland 2055, an overhaul of the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland featuring attractions Plectu’s Fantastic Intergalactic Revue and Alien Encounter, and new EPCOT World Showcase Pavilions for Russia, Switzerland, and Equatorial Africa; The Hyperion Hotel at DHS, a 1930s Hollywood-style resort; an EPCOT makeover; and a Persian Resort at WDW. Huge losses at Euro Disney and a downturn in the economy killed most of these projects.

Allow me to reply respectfully: If I'm reading your OP correctly, I take it the opinion might be that Disneyland fans might be more receptive to change than WDW fans? Disneyland fans, historically (going back to at least the 90's), have been a bit more vocal about changes to the parks than WDW fans (with the exception of an entire attraction being removed or reimagined [such as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride], which doesn't happen at DL often). Disneyland's PoTC in the 90s and IASW characters immediately come to my mind when considering this point. However, when examining the response to certain changes at Walt Disney World, it's important to consider that in the last decade alone, WDW fans have lost the following: -Significant portions of DHS -Malestrom -Innoventions -Illuminations: Reflections of Earth -Stitch's Great Escape -Ellen's Energy Adventure -Great Movie Ride -Splash Mountain -Country Bear Jamboree -MuppetVision 3D -It's Tough to be a Bug -Rock 'n' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith -Significant portions of DAK -Dinosaur -Carousel of Progress -Frontierland's Shootin' Arcade -Fort Langhorn -Liberty Belle -ALL of the Rivers of America And that's not even a comprehensive list. Some of those removals might have their advocates or detractors for any number of reasons but each and every person who had visited WDW in the last 50 years likely had a connection with at least one of those attractions, something they connected with and intimately associated with the quintessential 'vacation kingdom experience.' One of those attractions might have even been the reason why they went in the first place or connected with it in a way that made them loyal fans. Now, they are gone forever. If there is hesitation surrounding the rumor of losing yet another classic attraction (which just so happens to be one of the most iconic coasters in the world) perhaps stemming from one of these latest closures, reimaginings, or updates.... I can't exactly blame them. If Space Mountain was going down and maybe that list is even half as long, maybe the reception would be different... But WDW has suffered so many losses recently with few being for the better (although that is indeed subjective). Given that, the response we're seeing was inevitable, if not warranted. Concerning Disneyland, replacing a static figure that already perfectly captured Walt’s original narrative intent with an already out-of-date gimmick is a change that many, even inside the very company doing it, reportedly advocated against. Shoehorning a self-admitted technical demonstration into a location that shatters the attraction's established atmosphere and tone, with the hope of generating "clicky" social media traffic, is unlikely what Walt would have wanted for the last attraction he ever worked on. That's not plussing and that's not additive; that's subtractive.

The Fantasmic! fountain pit stage left, despite being filled for some time now, still has its cofferdam in place. It looks like the center pit may be drained next:

A look at the former Jamba Juice at Downtown Disney:

It is July, and there are still baby ducks to be found at Disneyland:

Moana bombing is great for cinema. I never, ever root for films to fail but this is the lone exception. These Disney live action remakes need to die and it’s a very hopeful sign that audiences are finally saying “no”.