Disney’s WORST Theme Park Blunders & Mistakes EVER! - Part 2

this episode of yesterworld is sponsored by surf shark alert a service that alerts you of data leaks or breaches to your personal information go to surfshark.dlslash yesterworldalert and use code yes to world alert for 75 off a one year plan plus get three extra months and a vpn subscription for free on a previous episode of yesterworld we took a break from the channel's more traditionally serious topics with a deep dive into five stories of some of disney's less than shining moments of theme park history well a lot of you seem to really enjoy it so i figured it was about time for another entry so here's five more stories of disney's worst theme park blunders and mistakes but remember it's all in good fun [Music] [Music] if you're like me you've always dreamed of visiting tokyo disneysea the disney theme park many describe as a true masterpiece from its innovative attractions unique experiences and immersive theming it's arguably the pinnacle of walt disney imagineering one of its most charming attractions is sinbad storybook voyage a relaxing boat ride featuring highly impressive animatronics and a pretty darn catchy musical score however the attraction originally opened to sinbad 7 voyages and while just as if not more impressive it was also well terrifying at least for children the big secret is sinbad's seven voyages a groundbreaking ride that features more than 160 animatronic characters it began innocently enough and wasn't all that different from how it appears today as visitors sailed past a joyous marketplace however soon you found yourself in a dark ominous cavern with some truly haunting music and a nightmarish chorus [Music] you then came upon a group of treacherous sirens calling out for you to join them on a trip to davey jones locker as you made your way through the treasure chamber you caught a glimpse of a mischievous looking creature peeking through the caverns beyond the next scene showcased a terrifying musical score with a not so jolly green giant attacking sinbad and his crew as they hold on for dear life [Music] a bit later and arguably the most disturbing was the trip through a cavern filled with dozens of screeching black-eyed monkeys as if the imagery wasn't horrific enough the music and high-pitched screams of the soulless monkeys were just as nightmare inducing now let's be honest sinbad 7 voyages was no alien encounter but for a children's ride it was pretty intense evidently the darker scenes led to a lot of complaints from parents and children coming off the ride in tears or visibly distraught was a fairly common occurrence plans were almost immediately set in motion to de-intensify the attraction but with the tragic events of 911 seriously affecting tourism these changes were put on hold it wasn't until 2005 that the ride was finally closed for a lengthy refurbishment which reopened a few months later as the much more child-friendly sinbad storybook voyage the once distressing run-in with the sirens was reimagined with a group of helpful and beautiful mermaids aiding sinbad and his crew the now jolly green giant was no longer spying on the group in the treasure room but a captive who sinbad is in the process of setting free as a token of thanks he plays a charming melody on his whimsical instrument and sings a lovely tune [Music] the monkeys also had a sudden change of heart as the hideous screeching gave way to a catchy jungle beat and most of them were now playing musical instruments or holding on to bananas one of the more curious changes was replacing the somewhat menacing whale to a way too happy one instead adding to the confusion is the fact that monster on pinocchio's daring journey which also appears at tokyo disneyland is arguably far more scary it's a curious situation because while some see the original more intense version as the blunder others feel the drastic overhaul was a mistake removing much of what made the attraction so unique in june of 2012 the bakersfield californian published a number of rather peculiar photos showing what appeared to be a flying dragon of sorts near the kern county shafter airport the photos had been taken by local business owner and before long the dragon-like aircraft was linked to none other than walt disney imagineering it turned out disney rented the airport to run some test flights but swore airport officials to secrecy by having them sign non-disclosure agreements to add even more to the mystery it was discovered that just two years earlier the company had filed a patent application which by all appearances seemed to be schematics for the very same flying dragon the anomaly took the disney theme park community by storm with rumors circulating all over the web as to what exactly this could be for was it tied to animal kingdom's beastly kingdom was the unbuilt land finally becoming a reality or was it part of disney's then recent announcement of an avatar land this was at the time the most credible explanation as many assumed it was to be part of an elaborate parade night show or an attraction based on the film's banshees however another possibility that was thrown into the mix was that it had something to do with the magic kingdom's upcoming new fantasyland expansion [Music] what is that it's flying fast forward to december 3rd 2012 when a real-life dragon was spotted flying over the magic kingdom then a day later an interview with a mysterious and totally unrecognizable disney character hinted of a dragon in new fantasyland of course this was all just part of an elaborate marketing campaign but it also put an end to all the speculation the dragon was for the magic kingdom expansion but exactly how it was to be utilized was still a complete mystery well on december 5th a day before the official grand opening the dragon finally made its appearance during a press event the dragon itself was incredibly impressive as together with the carefully placed lighting which obscured the fan and parachute on top of the realistic movement it truly was a sight to behold heck it even breathed fire but it turns out that's literally all it was a publicity stunt for the new fantasyland expansion even more disappointing was that regular park goers never got to see the dragon for themselves as it was listed as a one night only event restricted to the press executives and special invitees come back come back come back [Music] after almost a year of anticipation this unsurprisingly left many disney theme park fans confused a tad disappointed and even a bit angry upon hearing of this disney confirmed it really was just a one night only appearance but also teased it could make a return it did not now personally i think this was initially intended to be a reoccurring event such as tinkerbell flying over guests before the nightly fireworks but something happened along the way because as it stands it really does seem like an awful lot of effort for something with such little payoff when it comes to disney's theme park shows there were few as magical as the main street electrical parade it first debuted in 1972 as a rather crude and hastily thrown together nighttime event in which minus a few exceptions such as the dragon virtually all of the parade floats were completely flat then in 1977 it was given a three-dimensional makeover and for almost a quarter century it endured as one of the park's most beloved events flash forward to the early 90s as with the monumental success of fantasmic disney began developing yet another nighttime spectacular now the history of this very troubled production is incredibly tedious and visuals of its early evolution are all but non-existent so for an extremely detailed deep dive i highly recommend jim hill media's multi-part blog entry which you can find in the description below however to summarize for our purposes this new parade was known as light keepers and was to be part of the brand new tomorrowland otherwise known as tomorrowland 2055. the parade went through two and a half years of development and planning and was pretty integral to the storyline of the upcoming updated land but then came the newly appointed head of disneyland paul pressler who was hired to cut costs of the disney parks by almost any means necessary disneyland is always evolving as walt had said disneyland will never be complete as long as there's imagination and we've got plenty of it one of his first casualties was the cancellation of the original vision for the new tomorrowland and along with it light keepers so then another year was spent on light keepers too a cheaper and more merchandise friendly version which meant redesigning the alien-like tomorrowland creatures and including iconic disney characters such as tinkerbell and her pixie friends but then this version was cancelled as well and the focus became entirely on the pixies and disneyland characters it was also changed to a street tacular show and was initially called tinkerbell's night magic which was soon renamed as tinkerbell's light magic and eventually simplified to just like magic the basic concept of this version was about a group of pixies who thanks to a mystical cosmic event wind up at disneyland they then proceed to awaken all the sweeping disney characters of the magic kingdom teaching them all about the wonders of their pixie dust or something like that in my own defense even the creative team had a tough time explaining the story these magical pixies uh arrive on this magical night at disneyland uh with a mission uh and they wake up uh all of the classic characters to share this magical moment with them and the magic in the systems is actually pixie dust they kind of show them how that pixie dust works and gets them to understand that there are magical things in the world that you can actually play with and believe in work on this variation officially began in early 1996 and all jokes aside it really did have a ton of potential it would feature state-of-the-art fiber-optic lighting special projection effects a musical score by phantasmic composer bruce healey an impressive dance routine synchronized to the special effects it was even a feature of flying tinkerbell which is why she was so prominently featured on virtually all forms of merchandise and promotional material but more on that later the problem was that once the concept was finally finalized the creative team was given a measly year to year and a half to put the entire show together why because at the last minute disney decided light magic wouldn't just be another nighttime show but a replacement to the main street electrical parade so with its farewell season being announced pretty far in advance all of a sudden light magic had giant shoes to fill and a very short amount of time to do it this led to effects being scrapped essential pre-show elements to explain the story abandoned and simply not enough time to work out all the logistics it didn't help that midway through development disney ceo michael eisner saw a little show called river dance which was a huge fad in the mid 90s so he insisted they revolve the entire show and dance routines around this phenomenon which in a case of horrible timing was already on its way out in pop culture but things would get worse much worse it's certainly become a disneyland classic and they're the lights the parade is over the farewell season has ended and the farewell show is done and now we're going to be looking for our new show next year the main street electrical parade held its final show in november of 1996 and disney immediately began promoting its upcoming replacement as work on the show itself continued behind the scenes in early 1997 construction began on creating a much wider terrace in front of it's a small world this would offer an even better viewing experience for the upcoming light magic which had a stop in fantasyland and then main street usa specifically for fantasyland there was also the construction of three nearby towers for the parade's fiber optic effects over on main street the roofs were raised for their lighting effects which would also utilize the windows and nearby building structures all of this led to the show's budget to balloon 2 as some insiders estimate a whopping 40 to 60 million dollars or 65 to almost 100 million dollars today in spring of 1997 light magic will light your path to all your dreams this wonderful environment of lights fiber optics special effects music pixies and classic disney characters will encourage everyone to dream and to believe that dreams can come true despite being far from finished light magic was scheduled to officially debut on may 23 1997 but disney offered annual pass holders a chance to see the show before anyone else on may 13th in a special private event for an additional 25 they were promised to be the very first disneyland guest to view the brand new parade in all its glory so to say expectations were high is an understatement unfortunately the show was so incredibly behind schedule that upon arriving to the highly anticipated event householders were told what they would be saying wasn't the world premiere of the finished show but quite literally the first dress rehearsal a quote work in progress the show was filled with severe technical problems and for something that was replacing the beloved main street electrical parade this led to a lot of negative reactions after the show city hall was flooded with angry passovers demanding refunds with a line stretching out far into main street things got so out of hand that disney cast members were eventually given the go-ahead to give cash refunds absolutely no questions asked despite this setback for the next week and a half disney worked tirelessly to get the show ready for its official debut to the public and the reaction was well [Music] disneyland makes the night come alive with light magic it will fill you with wonder like nothing you've ever experienced now despite popular belief light magic wasn't seen as the worst disney show of all time and much of its infamy can be traced back to the disastrous passover preview that being said aside from the incredible fiber optic effects and catchy musical score the vast majority were left fairly unimpressed with the show as a whole many found the storyline confusing with the river dance inspired choreography repetitive and a bit underwhelming it didn't help that since the floats never moved once in position unless you were almost dead center in front of the stage it was 14 minutes of an awkward eyeline of the performances and effects the film portion was even more of a problem as aside from the corny live-action segments that drew audible laughter and not in a good way it was virtually impossible to see from anywhere but dead center also remember the tinkerbell flying effect i mentioned earlier well initially this was achieved with a pyrotechnical lighting effect on a wire which flew across the main street usa windows as they lit up like magic but on opening day poor tink fell off her path and crashed into the ground in a fiery ball of pixie dust so the effect was completely abandoned from future shows after its official premiere the reception of light magic never really improved and failed to capture the hearts and imaginations of the average park goer there was also the issue of the pixies who wound up terrifying children when approached to be part of the show so they had their off-putting face masks removed another problem was shoplifting of all things as evidently after the first performance in fantasyland swarms of people tried to leave the park only to get stuck on main street behind the second performance this led to absolutely massive crowds flooding the shops and from what i'm told a surprising amount of theft to fix this the route of the parade was reversed but the change forced disney to quite literally move the floats in broad daylight right in front of visitors waiting for light magic which deflated much of the anticipation well what do you think so far i think it's just delightful the colors the music hey it's disneyland at its best had to be so let's go back to main street usa for more light magic ultimately light magic lasted a meagre four months before going into a supposed two-year retelling phase but as predicted by those on the production it would never return without a new nighttime show disney simply utilized the newly installed lighting system to allow daytime parades to run at night which proved to be a huge success and saved disney a bundle and remember those special effects towers are mentioned in fantasyland well you can still find them today left behind is a reminder of the infamous light magic oh yeah there's also the magnetic stopping points on the ground and on main street you can still see the fiber optic panels okay in hindsight this really should have been its own episode hi musketeers [Music] well today is uh uh right the origins of the mickey mouse club circus can be traced back to the mickey mouse club television show with a weekly segment known as circus day it made its official debut in october of 1955 and would continue for the first two seasons of the show but it turns out walt disney envisioned more than just a televised circus but one that was to be featured within his recently opened theme park disneyland the mickey mouse club circus opened one month after its television counterpart and was actually quite the spectacle each show began on main street usa with a parade that led all the way to a massive tent on the other side of the park here visitors could enjoy all the snacks and delicacies that came with the traditional circus but it was the performances inside the tent that were the real draw which ran a whopping 75 minutes and featured all kinds of death-defying stunts and impressive animal routines now at this point you're probably wondering okay how is this unique and ambitious theme park attraction a mistake or blunder well for one it introduced a host of terrifying clowns that would randomly pop up all over the park but my irrational fear of clowns aside there were also quite a few problems behind the scenes evidently the circus performers were prone to drink gamble use profanity and even walk around um nude which didn't go over too well with walt disney who of course had very high standards for theme park employees there were also a number of concerning incidents for example opening night saw one of the female trapeze artists lose her brazier mid-flight but hey at least she could purchase a new one at the nearby and very short-lived intimate apparel shop there was also the incident of a group of llamas escaping running along the railroad tracks and down through main street another problem came with the predatory animals getting into fights including a particularly gruesome incident when a tiger had its paw chewed off by a panther in front of a live audience however even with all these problems there was an even bigger issue the show just wasn't all that popular and mickey mouse hi mickey unsurprisingly the vast majority of people came to the park to see their favorite disney characters and experience one-of-a-kind attractions and a traditional circus just wasn't on their to-do list in fact despite having the capability of holding nearly 3 000 guests a typical show saw no more than a few hundred in attendance after just two months of opening the combination of the expensive cost and poor turnout resulted in the loss of a staggering 375 thousand dollars or 3.6 million dollars today so the mickey mouse club circus was closed within months of opening and thankfully took those terrifying clowns with it although the big tent did wind up being repurposed for holiday land which did prove to be much more popular with visitors the famed magic kingdom icon cinderella castle has been transformed into a giant anniversary confection with splashes of candy canes red and pink icing and 25 glowing candles to create the world's largest cake okay i know what you're thinking yes mark i already know about the infamous magic kingdom birthday cake castle overlay it's probably one of the most infamous overlays in theme park history as it resulted in countless complaints from visitors who finally got their dream vacation only to have their once in a lifetime photo op taken in front of this well-intentioned monstrosity although i won't lie i'd love to see it make a return one day you're also probably thinking okay but i also know about the toilet paper castle overlay it was a single day event in honor of the opening of stitch's great escape but that didn't stop a load of visitors from complaining once again that their once-in-a-lifetime trip was ruined by this bathroom-centric photo op but disneyland paris castle has a few eyesore makeovers you probably didn't know about mickey just told me that he's made a new european friend and he's here today marsupalami the newest member of the disney family for the park's first anniversary in 1993 the castle received a strawberry shortcake overlay what makes this one even more interesting is that rumor has it it was this castle variation that inspired the infamous magic kingdom birthday castle cake then in 1997 as a way to promote the hunchback of notre dame the castle was given a jester makeover it also just so happened to be the park's fifth anniversary so they figured why not now call me crazy but while many people call these makeovers ugly and mistakes i actually miss a time when the disney company could have a little more fun with their anniversaries so maybe for disneyland paris's 20th they can do something a bit more innovative than placing a giant 20 out front however speaking of a company doing something innovative in the past you've seen me sponsor surf shark the vpn service i currently use to keep my online identity and information away from prying eyes but 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Channel: Yesterworld Entertainment

Views: 646,672

Keywords: Yesterworld, Yesterworld: 5 Stories of Disney’s WORST Theme Park Blunders & Mistakes EVER, disney theme park mistakes, 5 worst disney theme park, disney theme park attraction mistakes, disneyland attraction mistakes, sinbdads seven voyages, Disney flying dragon, disney theme park blunders, yesterworld theme park, disney world theme park mistakes, Disney bad attractions, disney theme park history

Id: Bjm1UGaMNZ0

Length: 22min 50sec (1370 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 01 2021