- 7 months ago
Not every kingdom lives happily ever after — some Disney ideas bombed spectacularly. Join us as we expose the studio's biggest theme park misfires, from abandoned waterparks and shuttered animal islands to ill-fated dark rides, poorly planned lands and canceled park projects. We break down how things went so wrong, who paid the price, and the expensive lessons learned behind River Country, Discovery Island, DisneyQuest, Superstar Limo, Stitch’s Great Escape, Euro Disney and more.
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00:00What's going on? I just popped through that door and I have no way.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at the most embarrassing, head-scratching,
00:10and in some cases, tragic incidents to plague Disney's theme park division.
00:14They want to move in and destroy real history in order to create a facsimile, something synthetic, plastic.
00:23Number 10, Journey into Your Imagination.
00:26Hello there, I'm the Dream Finder, and my little purple friend here is a figment of my imagination.
00:32Figment, for sure.
00:33Some Disney attractions are based on existing IP, but the best often create their own lore.
00:37Journey into Imagination became an Epcot staple, with Figment the Purple Dragon, the Dream Finder,
00:42and the Sherman Brothers tune, One Little Spark.
00:45You see, we fly through the air in my wonderful dream-catching machine,
00:48gathering sunbeams, rainbows, feathers, anything that sparks the imagination.
00:52After more than 15 years of delighting dreamers, the ride got revamped as Journey into Your Imagination.
00:58In addition to minimizing the presence of Figment and the Sherman Song,
01:02the Dream Finder was replaced with Dr. Nigel Channing, played by an inexplicably unfunny Eric Idle.
01:07So, um, I'm not an actor at all. I'm really a writer who just acts occasionally.
01:12This version was so poorly received that Disney renovated the ride again after just two years.
01:17While Figment and One Little Spark were given more prominent roles,
01:19Channing continued to fill in for the Dream Finder, who has essentially been M.I.A. for 25 years.
01:24I'm a writer. That's what I like to do. I like to think things up, write characters, and get other people to do them.
01:30And that's much more fun.
01:31Number 9. Stitch Vandalizes Cinderella's Castle
01:34Oh, great! He's loose!
01:36His destructive programming is taking effect.
01:39He will be irresistibly drawn to large cities where he will back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe.
01:46No trip to the Magic Kingdom would be complete without a photo in front of Cinderella's castle.
01:51So, you can imagine why many were annoyed when Disney transformed the iconic castle into an 18-story birthday cake for the park's 25th anniversary in 1996.
01:59Can we eat it?
02:00You'll need a giant fork.
02:02Where the cake at least had some taste, the same can't be said about the makeover that Stitch supplied, coinciding with the opening of Stitch's Great Escape.
02:08In 2004, the castle was draped in toilet paper. In case you were wondering who was responsible, look no further than the graffiti reading Stitch's King.
02:16The stunt only lasted for a day, but for visitors who etched out that particular date in their calendar, it wasn't the enchanting photo-op they had dreamed of.
02:24Michael was having a great time, especially when Stitch gave me a souvenir and you can't find him any Disney gift shop.
02:32Number 8. Phantasmic Fire
02:33Phantasmic is among the most magical shows across the Disney parks, culminating in Mickey triumphing over Maleficent in her fire-breathing dragon form.
02:41The mouse's vivid imagination backfired in April 2023, when the 45-foot animatronic dragon became engulfed in flames.
02:48The flame started at its head before covering its entire body. Firefighters arrived moments later.
02:53Guests were evacuated from the Frontierland area, and thankfully, nobody was harmed. However, the incident was a mix of alarming and awkward.
03:01While no guests or firefighters were injured, rescuers say several Disney cast members were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.
03:08It wasn't even the first time something like this happened. As a dragon float caught fire in a 2018 Disney World parade, future Phantasmic performances were put on hold as the cause of the fire was looked into.
03:18Alas, the fire-breathing dragon won't be coming back, which is a climatic letdown.
03:22What? What you thought? Oh! You, you, you, you sneaky old scouters!
03:29Number 7. Superstar Limo
03:31The highly anticipated California adventure got off to a rocky start when it opened in 2001.
03:36That particular period of the company was very much one of physical discipline, a really strong sense that we needed to bring a kind of a developer's mentality to how we do our work here.
03:48Disneyland's sister park saw various changes over the next several years. The first attraction to go was the ill-fated Superstar Limo.
03:55Even before leaving the lot, Superstar Limo ran into a major roadblock. Guests were cast as celebrities attempting to escape the paparazzi in a high-speed chase.
04:03After Princess Diana's fatal car crash in 1997, this premise was understandably scrapped.
04:08And suddenly paparazzi are like, that's a really bad thing. Well, you're almost done. What do you gotta do?
04:13The ride was slowed down, with riders encountering A-listers like Melanie Griffith, Drew Carey, and Cindy Crawford.
04:20Operating less than a year, this opening day attraction was replaced with Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sully to the rescue four years later.
04:27Remnants remained with celebrity animatronics being converted into child detection agents.
04:31None of this ever happened, gentlemen. And I don't want to see any paperwork on this.
04:39Number 6. Rocket Rods
04:41With Tomorrowland starting to feel a little retro, Disneyland sought to bring the futuristic park into the 90s.
04:47The flagship attraction for the 1998 overhaul would be Rocket Rods.
04:50It's one of the new rides that uses high-torque electric motors.
04:54We've got some great new attractions here. We've got Rocket Rods, which is the fastest ride at Disneyland.
04:58This drag race ride sadly came at the expense of the People Mover, which had been a mainstay from 1967 to 1995.
05:05Even if you're a Disneyland regular, chances are you never got to ride Rocket Rods,
05:09because it was constantly breaking down and undergoing lengthy refurbishments.
05:13The tires wore down fast, which would also damage the engine from the wear and tear.
05:18Combined with a temperamental computer system that would shut the ride down at any slight mispositioning of the Rockets,
05:23this meant that the ride was constantly breaking down and out of commission.
05:28Those who did experience Rocket Rods generally argued that it was too speedy to appreciate the sights that the People Mover offered,
05:34yet not fast enough to be a genuine thrill ride.
05:36After sort of operating for just under three years, Rocket Rods closed for good, squandering $25 million.
05:42Unique experience and speed.
05:44Wow.
05:45Exactly.
05:47Number 5. Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser
05:50It cost $400 million to construct, but surely a Star Wars-themed hotel would make that investment back in no time, right?
05:56Yes, Greedo.
05:57As a matter of fact, I was just going to see your boss.
06:00Tell Jabba that I've got his money.
06:02Even if Galactic Star Cruiser opened in a better economy,
06:05$6,000 for four people or $4,800 for two was more than most families could afford,
06:11especially when you include park tickets and travel expenses.
06:13Galactic Star Cruiser exclusively offered 48-hour voyages, built around an immersive experience.
06:18Come on, Dad!
06:20We gotta go save the ship!
06:21No.
06:22We're gonna save the galaxy.
06:24Those who wanted to stay more or fewer nights likely took their money to another hotel.
06:28Plus, if you want to spend the day exploring Disney World,
06:30chances are you want to have the energy for role-playing back at the hotel.
06:34Star Wars is universal, but Galactic Star Cruiser catered to a small demographic,
06:38announcing its closure after just over a year.
06:40Get ready to go from zero to shocked in less than 12 parsecs.
06:44Number 4. Beastly Kingdom
06:46Opening in 1998, Disney's Animal Kingdom was supposed to encompass three categories,
07:04existing animals, extinct animals, and fictional animals.
07:07The park delivered on the promise of real-life animals.
07:09Due to financial issues, though, Disney had to choose between the prehistoric creatures of Dinoland USA
07:14or the dragons and unicorns that would populate Beastly Kingdom.
07:17They went with Dinoland, but Beastly Kingdom remained on the to-do list.
07:20Uh, now, uh, oh, the great Manticore sends you on your adventure with a hero's blessing, and here's some crayons.
07:27Despite prematurely announcing the area and alluding to it in ads,
07:30Beastly Kingdom would cost at least 200 to 300 million dollars, and there wasn't enough in the budget.
07:35While traces of what might have been made it into the park,
07:38Beastly Kingdom was cancelled, with the reserve space being used for Camp Mini Mickey,
07:41and later Pandora, the world of Avatar.
07:43You see all these little vignettes going on around you in the forest, and it just, it just comes to life.
07:49And then, of course, I don't want to spoil it,
07:50but there's something pretty amazing at the end of that river ride that you've never seen anything like in your life.
07:55Number three, Euro Disney.
07:57Nowadays, Disneyland Paris is regarded as one of the company's most impressive parks.
08:02This wasn't the case when it opened as Euro Disney Resort in 1992.
08:05Some French critics have described Euro Disney as a cultural Chernobyl,
08:09a horror of plastic and cardboard and idiotic folklore.
08:13Disney had been contemplating a European park since the 60s.
08:17The project gained traction under Michael Eisner's reign,
08:20but the park's construction would be met with resistance from French critics, labor workers, and locals.
08:25Disney nonetheless expected to open with 60,000 guests, instead netting around 25,000.
08:30Hotel occupancy hovered at 60%.
08:34We made mistakes, thinking that we could match what we charged a guest in France as to what we charged a guest in Florida.
08:44The park's low attendance led to cancellations across the whole theme park division.
08:48After barely a month, nearly a quarter of staffers quit due to reported poor working conditions.
08:52By 1994, Euro Disney was $3 billion in debt, but the park slowly rebounded after Space Mountain arrived the following year.
08:59You have to make the park the crown jewel, and then you can worry about everything else on the outside of the park.
09:05And once that catches up, you put more back into the crown jewel.
09:09Number 2. The Death of Deborah Gale Stone
09:11America Sings may be the most notorious attraction that Disneyland ever built.
09:16This is all due to a fatal design flaw that hostess Deborah Gale Stone experienced on the ninth day of operation.
09:21The attraction utilized a carousel theater that revolved counterclockwise.
09:24At the start and end of the show, human cast members were responsible for getting guests into and out of the tiered seating.
09:32Unfortunately, this feature led to Stone's death.
09:35America Sings only closed for three days to clean up the aftermath, and made modifications to avoid another accident.
09:40An alarm system was installed that would notify operators whenever someone got too close to the dangerous area between walls.
09:47This was later supplemented by breakaway walls, which would give way easily if anything did get trapped between them.
09:55Stone's family received a settlement while America Sings ran for 14 years.
09:59With the attraction feeling out of place in Tomorrowland, many of its animatronics were repurposed for Splash Mountain.
10:03A flume ride through Br'er Rabbit's country that has you singing the songs of the South until suddenly you're dropped off.
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10:26Number 1. Disney's America
10:29In the 90s, Disney planned to invest $650 million into a Virginia-based theme park centered on American history.
10:36Guests could experience a World War II dogfight from dueling roller coasters,
10:41the Lewis and Clark expedition from a river raft,
10:44or the progress of the Industrial Revolution from a mine car.
10:49While there's much throughout history that the U.S. should be proud of,
10:51the country certainly isn't without infamous chapters that the family-friendly Disney might not be well-suited to tackle.
10:56Like me.
10:57Well, when I say uncivilized, what I mean is...
11:01Historians were especially critical of how Disney would address the Civil War and slavery.
11:07Disney nonetheless pushed forward with Civil War Fort as one of the proposed-themed areas.
11:11However, between Euro Disney's disappointment,
11:14Disney President Frank Wells' sudden death, public protests, and looming financial concerns,
11:18Disney canceled the park in 1994.
11:20The company had already purchased 600 acres of land, which was put up for sale the following year.
11:25Since then, Disney's mainly stuck to fantasy.
11:28Had Frank been alive, and had I been healthy, and had we not just bought Capital Cities ABC,
11:32we would have plowed through.
11:35But I just didn't have the stomach.
11:36Which theme park feels sucked out some of the magic for you?
11:39Let us know in the comments.
11:41At least they still have those little motorboats.
11:45No! Not the boat!
11:48Do you agree with our picks?
11:50Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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