More Problems

Today Al Lutz of Mice Age filled us all in on the latest out of Anaheim. Enthusiasm for the DCA redo is starting to lose steam. According to Lutz, the Walt Disney Story is being scrapped from the Carthay Circle Theater plans. Apparently the red line trolley is turning out to be more expensive and so the budget is going to this instead. Wrong move Disney.
First of all, I guess TDA made the decision to pull the plug because they weren't convinced that the Walt Disney Story would pull in anybody, especially since the park already has too many films. While I sort of agree with this, I think that it's a mistake to completely abandon the concept altogether. Why? Well, isn't the point of the whole new entrance to be a tribute to Walt's journey to California? How is this going to be apparent without the centerpiece attraction? The only thing that kept skeptical Disney fans from having faith in the new DCA plans was the tribute to Walt at the front of the park.
My solution would be to scrap the red line instead, or rather find a different system to run the ride. I guess the electric power lines are what's expensive, so why not only make it look like they are running on the lines? The Jolly Trolley in Toontown didn't use power lines. Just use the same system.
Better yet, they could remove the whole concept altogether. If there's one consistency over the years, it's that Disney has problems with their transportation attractions. Guests will either complain when they find out there's nothing to the ride, or they'll complain because of the line. The same thing happened at Disney's Animal Kingdom with the River Boats, at the Magic Kingdom with the Swan Boats, at Epcot with the Double Decker Buses, and at Disneyland with the Jolly Trolley. The low capacity will lead to long lines on moderate days, and the thing won't run at all on busy days. If Disney used the low capacity as a reason to remove the Skyway, why would they build this? Why not do what they did at Disney's Hollywood Studios and have the Red Line as a prop instead of any actual attraction?
Above everything else, what I don't get is why the imagineers have so many problems spending money on ride systems. All lackluster attractions can be blamed on their complicated ride systems. Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland cost 30 million, and I'm willing to bet most of that was spent on the ridiculous moving beehives since plywood doesn't cost that much. The subs cost 100+ million. Since not much else in the ride can be shown for that much money, most likely the underwater electric rails for the Subs were incredibly expensive. Now apparently they're spending crap loads of money on the Radiator Springs Racers just so the cars can change lanes. Why not forget about an effect most people won't even get and spend it on more props and scenery?
Disney Imagineers are at their best when they spend money wisely- spending it on simple yet effective systems and set pieces. They have more to show for Soarin' than they do for Mission Space, more to show for Buzz Lightyear than Finding Nemo. I'll dare even say they got more out of the 600 million they spent on DCA to begin with than what we'll end up with in 2012 for twice that amount. Too many times now the show has been compromised when the funding runs dry. It's not the company's fault in this case, it's knowing where to put the money.