"Minusing"

[elvistelth]

Many Disney fans are familiar with the term "plussing". For those who are unfamiliar with plussing I will quote a definition from my copy of The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom

"Plussing: A word derived from Walt's penchant for always trying to make an idea better. Imagineers are always trying to plus their work, even after it's "finished".

That sounds good to me and it was a part of the Magic Kingdom I enjoyed as a child. As the years have passed though, I've noticed the opposite to be true. Things I liked and appreciated started to disappear. The barker birds in front of POTC and the Tiki Room have disappeared. There used to be cannons that fired outside POTC and flaming torches in front of the Tiki Room. I'm not saying everything is worse; the Haunted Mansion is better now, then when I was a kid, but sadly, many things are not. I call those subtractions, (the opposite of plussing) "minusing". It seems to be a trend that the management of Disney parks has embraced. So my question is this:

What minusing have you noticed? Is there a ride that was better years ago? Have you noticed a certain feature or embellishment that is no longer there? If so, here is your chance to tell us about it.

[Dizisit]

I tend to agree.
In that same Field Guide there is also a green box on page 45 about the Show Quality Standards program within WDI.
What is up with that?
Do they need someone, like, say myself , to come down there and get things rollin' in the right direction, again...?!!!
'Cause I happen to be avalable AND MORE than willing to take it on!

[elvistelth]

In that same Field Guide there is also a green box on page 45 about the Show Quality Standards program within WDI.

Yes. It's the same book. I wish they'd go back to their roots and stress quality to the degree they used to.

[WDW4Ever]

Great topic, Elvis.

I must say that I do agree with you, but i must put in a caveat that the reason I say this is because my experiences between my last two trips was 10 years apart.

The magic was certainly still there, but I picked up on the things that I never noticed when I was 8. Just little things like noticing emergency exit signs on attractions for instance.

[TTAfanatic]

I'd say the new audio on the TTA could be considered minusing, as well as the conveyer belt on the way out of Space Mountain. They just seemed to dumb it down with the tourism stuff, but on the plussing side, the HD TV's are nice.

[pranker51502]

Space Mountain to me. It's still my favorite ride but...

You gained little darkness, you lost looking at the ride from the line, AND from TTA. The games in line are to where you can barely hear the themed music. The ride is the same amount of roughness to me, and it still breaks down all the time. So all you really gained is a little darkness, while you lost all the other things. Not worth it in my eyes.

I just enjoyed the hype of waiting in line with the music, and seeing the ride from the line. Maybe a two way mirror or something? But it feels almost claustrophobic now, and I'm not even claustrophobic. It's almost to light in all of the queue. Just doesn't feel "spacey" haha.

[elvistelth]

I think Space Mt. in it's first iteration was a masterpiece. I loved everything about it, down to "Nipper" in his flying saucer at the beginning of the queue. The "future living" home was cool too. I know things have to change when sponsors do (RCA to Fed EX) but the Fed Ex version was really stupid. The new stuff is OK, but not really for my generation; I can stand in a line for 30 minutes without needing to play a video game. The stuff at the end of the ride is re-themed (recycled) Fed Ex junk. I'd love to see Disney clear out all of that garbage and put in something mind-blowing but I guess that's too much to ask in this economy. The People Mover which was always one of my favorites is now soulless after the last rehab. My faith in Disney mgt. countinues to be shaken with each rehab they do. It seems at least for now we should be happy they just mess things up a little because on many occasions they've shown they are capable of completely screwing things up.

[HauntedGabe]

Trees. They are disappearing everywhere. I lifted this one from member
BigBrian-NC on a different thread.

'

Now if you look up Main Street to the Castle, concrete.

More: Castle Trees

[WDW4Ever]

Is it possible that they got rid of the trees to get rid of a visual intrusion of the wienie?

[elvistelth]

I read that the trees were removed because they ruined sightlines but I preferred when they used to be there.

[NC_WDW_Daddy]

Haunted Gabe, I agree... I had forgotten about the trees.

[HauntedGabe]

There is a link to the Castle Trees thread from a while back that Jenn started. All sorts of rumors as to why. But landscaping is disappearing here and there and I hate the Urban City feel without the trees.

If the trees really were interfering they could have just replaced them with smaller ones and not ripped up that entire area and just paved over everything. Sad.

link Castle Trees

[tdf192]

Great thread elvistelth!!

It is purely a subjective thing though.

Journey into Imagination is a minus for me, but the current version is better than the previous one but definitely not as good as the original dreamfinder version. So although it has been plussed over all it has taken a small minus

[Flrancho]

I was going to say Journey into Imagination too, from the original version with Dreamfinder.

[elvistelth]

If the trees really were interfering they could have just replaced them with smaller ones and not ripped up that entire area and just paved over everything. Sad.

I agree. Geez, I'd even settle for fake but realistic oak trees...they would never grow so there would be no problems. Disney has shown they are capable of pulling this off (Swiss Family, AK Tree of Life) it's just laziness or cheapness that kept it from happening.