Re: "Minusing"

**20K** · 10-03-2010, 08:37 PM

Agreed. The quality of the writing and the level of analysis alone make it worth following. I also can not recommend Mike Lee's fantastic Widen Your World site highly enough if you are serious about accurate, no-strings WDW history. His warped sense of humour and background as a former Mansion butler, Jungle skipper and 20K helmsman make it all the more fun.

**MartianCrab** · 10-03-2010, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by 20K

I also can not recommend Mike Lee's fantastic Widen Your World site highly enough if you are serious about accurate, no-strings WDW history.

I am also a big fan of WYW. I just wish he'd update a little more frequently.

**20K** · 10-03-2010, 08:45 PM

Yes, I'm in the same boat with you. I understand the real world has to come first of course, and the new Facebook page and the YouTube channel are a decent release for the WYW addiction, but I would really love to see the site come back to life sooner.

**JNota0005DakMC** · 10-05-2010, 12:10 AM

visited the sites... pretty good... i like the quality...

**Veritas** · 10-13-2010, 07:55 AM

I know there area myriad of really big thngns Disney bean counters have done that have minused the WDW experience (20K, the Pleasure Island redo, closing down Adventuruers club etc, all done because of costs, but there are a bunch of very small "quality of life" things they have let slip that still irk me.

1. Remember when you passed throughthe "entry gate" at Star Tours and mist came out? As if you were being quarantined sprayed before your interplanetary trip?

2. The kinetiscopes that don't work anymore along main street USA you used to drop a coin in an turn the handle I recall that all of them sued to work. not sure any do now

3. Talking water fountains and trash cans, do any of them still work?

3.

**JNota0005DakMC** · 10-13-2010, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Veritas

3. Talking water fountains and trash cans, do any of them still work?

I saw the talking trash can in Tomorrowland back in August... and one still is out and about at Rafiki's planet watch at AK if anyone ever goes there anymore...

**supernova** · 10-13-2010, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by JNota0005DakMC

I saw the talking trash can in Tomorrowland back in August... and one still is out and about at Rafiki's planet watch at AK if anyone ever goes there anymore...

At this point, I don't think the train even wants to go over there.

**JNota0005DakMC** · 10-13-2010, 11:31 PM

it doesnt... and neither do the operators... they are hoping everyone stays away.... cause they hate the trip... and they hate being there for that matter...

**MartianCrab** · 02-08-2011, 10:00 PM

The Adventureland Veranda is a blatant example of minusing.
The red text is a quote from Mike Lee's very excellent Widen your World website:

The Veranda presents one of the earlier Magic Kingdom case studies in wth / are you serious? By closing up shop a few months ahead of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and proceeding to sit empty (save for those occasional special events and a couple peak season stints) for the next sixteen years and counting, this one-time oasis of South Seas languor served as a nice poke in the eye to park visitors who missed both its atmospheric charm and its great menu items. Everyone working in the park at that time knew that the Veranda was closed as means of reducing labor costs - other high-capacity restaurants in the park could take up the slack for a fraction of the staffing demands necessary to keep a completely separate location running on a full schedule. But at what price to the park's environment? It's a constant reminder of how a WDW that once infused every possible corner with places to relax and discover unexpected details had set out in the mid-1990s to unceremoniously dismantle as many of those wonderful hideaways as possible**.

To read the whole article, use the link below.

Widen Your World - The Adventureland Veranda

**JNota0005DakMC** · 02-09-2011, 09:11 AM

i never actually got to see the veranda... my first WDW trip preceded the closing of 20k by a few months... and we didnt know about the veranda then... so i really only had one shot to see it... and i missed it...

**20K** · 02-09-2011, 10:39 AM

WYW strikes again!

The thing is, you can nail down the motivation for these closures almost to the day, with Bob Mathieson and Bill Sullivan being forced out of Operations to make way for the new breed of MBA-holding exec. who didn't understand the first thing of the business they found themselves in. What happens? Within three months we lose 20,000 Leagues, the D.C. Canoes and of course the Adventureland Verenda. A little later on, the soul of Main Street - the fact that it consists of individual, intricate shops - is bulldozed into that amalgamated, wandering corridor of plushes, pins and gaudy t-shirts.

I think I'll have to offer Lee a Paypal bribe to finish off his 20K page though...

**HauntedGabe** · 02-09-2011, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by MartianCrab

The Adventureland Veranda is a blatant example of minusing.
The red text is a quote from Mike Lee's very excellent Widen your World website:

The Veranda presents one of the earlier Magic Kingdom case studies in wth / are you serious? By closing up shop a few months ahead of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and proceeding to sit empty (save for those occasional special events and a couple peak season stints) for the next sixteen years and counting, this one-time oasis of South Seas languor served as a nice poke in the eye to park visitors who missed both its atmospheric charm and its great menu items. Everyone working in the park at that time knew that the Veranda was closed as means of reducing labor costs - other high-capacity restaurants in the park could take up the slack for a fraction of the staffing demands necessary to keep a completely separate location running on a full schedule. But at what price to the park's environment? It's a constant reminder of how a WDW that once infused every possible corner with places to relax and discover unexpected details had set out in the mid-1990s to unceremoniously dismantle as many of those wonderful hideaways as possible**.

To read the whole article, use the link below.

Widen Your World - The Adventureland Veranda

That whole inner cove is seriously neglected. It could be rehabbed and be a fun little spot. A marketing Minus I'd say. I have vague memories of being in the Veranda when my son was small, we often looked for shade for the little guy then. While it was open when my DD came about I'm thinking it wasn't open during our fall visits.

**HauntedGabe** · 02-09-2011, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by 20K

A little later on, the soul of Main Street - the fact that it consists of individual, intricate shops - is bulldozed into that amalgamated, wandering corridor of plushes, pins and gaudy t-shirts.

For that reason we generally just march through Main Street now. Even the Barber Shop got shoved in another corner, loosing its charm of being on a little road, back in time.

**HauntedGabe** · 02-09-2011, 01:07 PM

I miss the charm of River Country. For $14 dollars we would spend the day with our little guy. It was not modern but it was good family time and a good break from the park hype with small kids. As much as I enjoy the mega water parks at Disney now, it isn't the same.

**20K** · 02-09-2011, 01:29 PM

The only positive is that the AV is still physically *there*. There's certainly more hope for it to be pressed into service on a regular basis than for, say, other closures.