Name changes that changed nothing (Walt Disney World)

[Big Disney Fan]

Some years ago, on this blog called Parkeology, which is a rather irreverent look at Walt Disney World, there was a two-part entry of a list of name changes throughout the resort that changed nothing; that is, something changed its name (i.e., attractions, hotels, etc.), but the content remained the same. Presented in this link is the first half of the article: http://www.parkeology.com/2010/08/top-1 ... anged.html

This article was put up shortly after the PeopleMover ride changed its name, again. It started out as the WEDway PeopleMover, then became the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and now it is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. It was given a different name, yet it was still the same ride it always was. According to the article:

This isn't like going from Honey I Shrunk the Audience back to Captain EO. This is just your kid brother insisting that you call him Shazaam for a week, even though he's still the same snot-nosed pest he always was. TTA, PeopleMover, Captain Klactuu's RoboCubeTrain… It doesn't matter. It's a boxcar on magnets, and has been since Nixon was president.

Don't get me wrong, I love the WEDway TTA NRA DorisDay PeopleMover. But Disney has a strange habit of renaming things just for the sake of renaming them.

Thus, I think it would be fun to reflect on that article here and talk about WDW contents' names changed just to change them. Over time, I will add in some of the blog's entries so we can talk about them more in-depth.

Thoughts, comments, concerns?

[RyGuy]

Such as Countdown to Extinction becoming Dinosaur! The Ride?

[carolinakid]

I still don't understand all the fuss over Dixie Landings. Riverside still has an antebellum South/plantation theme. It's a beautiful resort although I've never actually stayed there, just visited.

[Escapay]

I still don't understand all the fuss over Dixie Landings. Riverside still has an antebellum South/plantation theme. It's a beautiful resort although I've never actually stayed there, just visited.

I stayed there once and loved it. Both sides of Port Orleans in general have always been one of my favorite resorts to walk around. The name change never bothered me either, though sometimes I forget and say "Dixie Landings" to a confused guest.

Albert

[Big Disney Fan]

I still don't understand all the fuss over Dixie Landings. Riverside still has an antebellum South/plantation theme. It's a beautiful resort although I've never actually stayed there, just visited.

Interestingly, that's one of the many things that the article refers to, and that resort is not the only one to change names, either. Here's exactly what the article said about it:

RACIST RESORTS
Many people don't know this, but the Polynesian Resort, one of Walt Disney World's original hotels, was once known by a very different name. When the resort opened in 1971, it was called the Polynesian Village Resort. But as you no doubt learned in grade school, people from Polynesia find villages to be very offense (they prefer "towns" or "seaside communities"). So in the 1980s, the "Village" was dropped from the title.

The Resort hotels thought their days of angering people were over, but wouldn't you know it, history repeated itself. In 1992, Disney opened a pair of moderate hotels: Port Orleans and Dixie Landings. One had a classy, welcoming style. The other was based on New Orleans. Both resorts are still there today.

By 2001, the word "Dixie" had taken on some slightly racist overtones in connection with the Old South, and Disney decided to just rename their hotel rather than to try to explain their pure intentions. Dixie Landings became Port Orleans Riverside - sparking outrage among Polynesians, who prefer the term "Waterfront."

Of course, this article was put up long before the word "Village" was reinstated in the Polynesian's name, so I wonder how the Polynesians would react now!

[carolinakid]

That sounds a little tongue in cheek to me. I never learned ANYTHING about Polynesia in grade school that I recall, much less that they find the word "villages" offensive. And especially now that Disney changed the name of the resort back, I think the author's pulling someone's leg...

The Dixie Landings story seems more believable in our current PC, anti-white/Southern atmosphere, but I still think it's stupid.

[Big Disney Fan]

That sounds a little tongue in cheek to me. I never learned ANYTHING about Polynesia in grade school that I recall, much less that they find the word "villages" offensive. And especially now that Disney changed the name of the resort back, I think the author's pulling someone's leg...

Well, like I said, Parkeology, the site where this article came from, is an irreverent look at WDW, so yeah, I imagine that the allusions to Polynesia were likely played for laughs. I don't know the real reason why it was renamed, but this was just all in fun, and I think they were setting up a context.

Such as Countdown to Extinction becoming Dinosaur! The Ride?

That, too, was referenced on the site, and as a top 10 list, it ranked number one! Here's what the article said:

A COLOSSAL FLOP
Maybe you've noticed some trends with some of these renaming decisions. Need to beef up attendance at one of your rides or restaurants? Just slap some popular movie character's name on it, and voila! Instant boost! [Iago and Zazu invading the Enchanted Tiki Room notwithstanding...]

But only once has Disney done the exact opposite, and the more you think about it, the stranger it seems.

I'm sure they thought it would be a great idea at the time. Nobody can predict which movies are going to be flops ahead of time, and the feature film division had certainly invested a lot of money and effort into making a tentpole franchise adventure movie in the summer of 2000. And judging by the box office, you can't really call "Dinosaur" a flop. It still broke the $100 Million mark.

But it quickly faded into obscurity. The movie was visually impressive, but dreadfully boring, and the dreams of hooking generations of kids on Aladar toys and Carnotaurus Halloween costumes never materialized.

Too bad, because Disney had just undergone a major renaming of Animal Kingdom's biggest thrill ride.

The ride opened with the park in 1998, two years before Dinosaur hit theaters. It was the East Coast debut of the wildly successful Enhanced Motion Vehicle (EMV) ride system that had been a runaway hit for Disneyland in the Indiana Jones Adventure. The Animal Kingdom ride was a duplicate of Indy, right down to the track layout. Only with, you know, dinosaurs instead of archaeologists.

Countdown To Extinction, as it was called, never generated the kind of buzz that Indy had. It was hampered by factors outside of its control. For one thing, Animal Kingdom was woefully short on capacity. If the Magic Kingdom was Takeru Kobayashi, Animal Kingdom was Mary-Kate Olsen. It was often empty by lunchtime.

Also, Countdown To Extinction was buried way back in the corner, away from all the live animal attractions. It wasn't looking good for the park's big dinosaur blockbuster. They thought that if they could just ride the coattails of a popular summer movie, Countdown To Extinction (CTX in Disney shorthand) would get the respect it deserved.

So began the transformation to Dinosaur. Signs were swapped out. Aladar replaced the Styracosaurus in the entry fountain. A very brief clip appeared in the pre-show video. And, um, that was it.

Today, they still call it Dinosaur, but it didn't make one lick of difference to the ride's popularity. It was only after Asia and Everest came online that the ride finally started doing some business. By then, everyone had forgotten about the movie. You won't find any movie-related merchandise in the gift shop. In fact, except for the shared names and the fact that they both feature Iguanadons and Carnotauri, you're not likely to notice any similarity between the two of them. One of them has awkward references to a "love monkey." The other one actually delivers Wallace Langham.

So they share the same name. I think they can live with it. Just because you share the same name [with someone named, say, Theodore] doesn't mean you can sing in a squeaky voice or become president.