Category: Magic Kingdom

We are proud to present our first piece in a weekly segment from Sparky LD entitled behind the scenes. Sparky LD has worked for a long time at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland and is happy to provide us with some insight into our favorite place on earth. Feel free to discuss today’s article on the forums.

The Degrading Condition of Magic Kingdom

By: Sparky LD

The Magic Kingdom over the years has come to a degree of disrepair. Things have not been maintained, painted, and replaced.

The Magic Kingdom has many things that have not yet been fixed or repaired, or don’t get repaired right away. For instance, the second Stitches Great Escape Theatre was closed for 3 months after the AA blew a hydraulic line and spewed fluid all over guests.  The AA was not fixed right away and the theatre was closed.  The line became very long and the “per guest per hour” ratio dropped a lot. As of right now I have heard rumors of lighting and screen issues in Monsters Inc Laugh Floor Comedy Club,  which I was told they have been going on since about 3 weeks after it opened.  Now, me being in the entertainment business would think that a lighting issue would be pretty big, seeing how many of the shows, rides and attractions depend on theatrical lighting.  The screen issue is horrible because the shows main focus is the screen.

Now let’s move on to the castle.  This issue is horrible.  Ever wonder why the strobes on the castle stage look brighter than on the castle, and why the ones on the castle don’t seem to be all on.  Well is simple.  The ones on the stage are newer and the plastic covers aren’t faded and nasty.  The ones on the castle are faded and not all are working.  They haven’t been replaced due to budget size, and the thought that a few out don’t really make the overall effect look bad.  I for one can tell where the ones that don’t work are. One other major issue over the years was the degrading condition of Haunted Mansion. At least now they are fixing that problem. I mean for years it was slowly decaying into disrepair.  Effects were breaking down, lighting wasn’t all working, and the Doombuggies had horrible squeaking when they would turn.  This most likely was due to the fact that the omnimover device was old.  Thank the lord for this extensive refurbishment currently going on. Another major issue is parades.  I for one think that the units in the day parade should be blown up.  They were fine of the 100 Years of Magic Celebration. But using them over and over is really bad. The Finale Castle unit in “Disney Dreams Come True Parade” has been used for 25 plus years.  Of course over the years it has gotten updated on the outside. SpectroMagic has also lost its luster.  Burnt out bulbs, the NO₂ on the Mickey unit not working, the wings on Chernabog not opening, and the fiber optic Tinkerbelle on the second finale unit not working. A few times the second Fantasia unit has been missing; reports say the spinning hippo on top would spin to fast causing the driver to lose control of the unit.  And the rumor of the villains unit being attached to the back of the Chernabog unit never happened due to budget costs.  Also, some of the lighting on the costumes have not been performing properly.

So over the years Magic Kingdom has been going into disrepair, loosing that magical quality it once had. The Walt Disney Company is a well admired company and should do its best to keep its standards high.

My sources have once again provided an interesting rumor that I haven’t heard anywhere else. It appears Walt Disney World is not only interested in refurbishing their older attractions, but actually in improving a newer one. These changes may be a way off, but in the near future there is going to be a meeting between some employees from Animation and Imagineering on possibly adding new effects to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction at the Magic Kingdom. It appears WDW management is attempting to try to keep up with Tokyo Disneyland’s Pooh’s Hunney Hunt, but don’t expect any changes that big. There is no more information than that right now, but i expect to have some details on this and a few other projects shortly.