Best and Worst Attraction inprovements

[BriarRose]

Since our first visit was not until 2001 I don't have a lot of experience in this, but was wondering in your opinion, what is the best improvement of an attraction or space and what is the worst?

For me, the best I have noticed is The Living Seas Nemo makeover.

The worst is the Alien Encounter Stitch makeover.

[WinnipegDisneyFanatic]

From what I've seen, what I'd consider 'the best' right now is the recent Haunted Mansion update.

The worst...Alien Encounter becoming Stitche's Great Escape. That attraction is a tragedy now!

Chris

[sisterdisco]

I was really disappointed with the make over of The Enchanted Tiki Room. I don't dislike the new version, but I just loved the original version.

I think the best makeover I have seen is POTC. I am a huge POTC fan and I just love Captain Jack!!

I also preferred the "now is the time" song at Carousel of Progress vs. "it's a great big beautiful tomorrow".

[devoted93]

At the moment for me, the best is the Haunted Mansion. Just the right amount of new stuff and good old fashioned refurb of the old stuff.

The worst for me is El Rio Del Tiempo, or The Gran Fiesta now. A relaxing boat ride that actually tried to give you a feel for Mexico is just another annoying cartoon.

(note: I still haven't ridden the new Spaceship Earth yet, so once I've seen it in person - only videos online - I might change my worst...)

[Mad About Mickey]

The best improvement has to be replacing If You Had Wings/ Dreamflight/ Take Flight with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.
IMHO replacing the Alien Encounter with Stich was the worst improvement, coming in a close second is Pooh taking up residence in Toad Hall .

[SpecJoe Magic]

The worst for me is El Rio Del Tiempo, or The Gran Fiesta now. A relaxing boat ride that actually tried to give you a feel for Mexico is just another annoying cartoon.

I still can't figure out the reasoning behind that change. The worst part about it is that they removed the catchy tune and replaced it with the Three Caballeros song. It's not that I dislike the Three Caballeros song, but it just doesn't give me the happy feeling that the original song did.

My favorite update by far is the Haunted Mansion refurbishment. I feel that they removed the only weaknesses that the ride had and replaced them with elements that make it an even better ride than before.

My least favorite is the change from Alien Encounter to Stitch's Great Escape. I'm not even going to get started on how that went wrong.

[beksy]

I agree that the worst is El Rio del Tiempo. I loved that ride before but think that the refurb really hurt it. I don't really know which I would consider the best to be. We enjoyed Spaceship Earth and POTC.

[Dopey's Girl]

I love what they did to Pirates and HM. Those were two really well done refurbs. They stayed true to the original attractions, but added so much!

I really, really don't like El Rio/Grand Fiesta. Sure, the old version needed tweaking, maybe cleaning up the film, adding a few new scenes. But now it just makes no sense...I really, really, really don't like it!

[Mousemates]

best-hm (we love the never ending staircase)

worst- Enchanted Tiki Room...they had a great thing and cheapened it with an annoying movie tie in. Went to DL a year or so back, and thoroughly enjoyed the original version.

[Polynesian Dweller]

The best is either HM or POTC and they are close enough I can't choose between them.

There have been a lot of less than great refurbs and Stitch certainly is near the top but nothing reaches the badness of Journey into your Imagination. Of all the refurbs over the years it is the one that was the least imaginative of all and in the Imagination pavillion at that.

[jsdt]

What I disliked most about the change to El rio/Grand Fiesta was they took out the market scene where the person trying to sell you something would follow your boat from one video screen to the next and then to the third. i thought that was very funny and it did remind me of a trip to mexico. My wife and I always enjoyed "guessing" which sales person we would get.

[lockedoutlogic]

I would say that pirates is probably the best.....with honorably mention to the Living Seas.....

the worst is no question Imagination.....we all know that....two disasterous and silly updates to a ride that made the pavilion the worst at EPCOT....after being the best for the first 15years.....

Stitch is terrible....but that was done to reuse hardware....which is a mistake i don't think they'll make again.....

[DisneyOtaku]

My favorite has to be the HM and POTC. I think they did a great job keeping the original feel of the rides while updating it for newer audiences--I was originally worried about the movie tie in with POTC, but it works really well since it's not ALL about Jack.

The worst would have to be Imagination. What did they do to my childhood?!?!?!

And though I don't DISLIKE it, I'm a bit saddened by the new Living Seas. Don't get me wrong, the ride is pretty cool. But there's something missing without the hydrolators and the film. My sister and I still will pause randomly when it starts raining and go "And then....the rains came."

[MatterhornMiss]

I was really disappointed with the make over of The Enchanted Tiki Room.

I totally agree. The first time I visited the tiki room "under new management," I got all excited when Jose and the other birds started in with "In the tiki. . . " only to be cut short by those annoying birds from Aladdin and The Lion King, before the song even had a chance to take off!

I like the refurb for Universe of Energy. I think Ellen is hillarious, and I enjoy Bill Nye the Science Guy. I don't even notice I'm sitting there for 45 minutes.

[MatterhornMiss]

Oh, and I'm actually disappointed in the fact that they added the movie characters to POTC. I liked it much more before Barbosa and Jack showed up. I thought it was pretty funny without any big-name additions.

[SBETigg]

There are things I like and dislike about a lot of the changes on attractions, so it is really hard to choose a favorite and least favorite.

For instance, I really like the new Living Seas ride. It's cute. But it's so short, it feels like they might not have bothered, and I do miss the hydrolators. Also, if anyone remembers the original ride-through at Living Seas, it was so much better. I miss that. So it seems to me that with every change, they gain some, and lose some. The worst thing they could do is to stay static and never risk the changes on attractions showing wear, so I'm all for change in general.

That said, the very worst change of all for me is one that I am surprised no one has mentioned yet: Closing and cementing over the 20,000 Leagues lagoon for Pooh's Playful Spot. What a mistake! I trust it's a temporary fix and there's more to come, but what a loss in the meantime. The lagoon added a whole extra element of magic and fantasy to Fantasyland and I still feel the loss of it.

[JerseyDad]

.....last time in WDW (Nov `08)...the El Rio del Tiempo "revisions" were in place...just waiting for me to take the ride. I passed on the ride, and instead allowed my daughter and her friends (all 11 yrs old at the time) to take the ride while I was awaiting our dinner seating. By the look on my daughter's face upon exiting the ride....and the look alone mind you...I KNEW that I would have been disappointed had I gone for the ride with them!! So...El Rio del Tiempo...gets my vote for "worst improvement". (I did however check out the ride on youtube...and it did confirm that I'd be disappointed)

...my vote for "best improvement" would have to go to The Haunted Mansion.

[bruin1344]

The best is POTC

The worst is stitch

[MickeyandTink]

That said, the very worst change of all for me is one that I am surprised no one has mentioned yet: Closing and cementing over the 20,000 Leagues lagoon for Pooh's Playful Spot. What a mistake! I trust it's a temporary fix and there's more to come, but what a loss in the meantime. The lagoon added a whole extra element of magic and fantasy to Fantasyland and I still feel the loss of it.

20K Leagues was one of my favorites. Althougth I haven't been there since the refurb to it at DL, I think putting Nemo into 20K was a much better move than the Living Seas (although it's not a bad update).

As for best, I kind of like Test Track at the old World of Motion pavillion.

[DisneyFanatic11]

The Best: Haunted Mansion. I'm so glad they updated the attic portion of the ride into something similiar of the Disneyland HM. And not only did they do that, but they got rid of the tacky spiders and did an incredible makeover on that portion. Good job, Imagineers!

The Worst: Definately Pooh's Playful Spot. Even though I was too young to go on 20K, I've been on sites dedicated to the ride and I thought it looked amazing! I really wish it was still around so that I could possibly view it myself instead of watching it through YouTube.