Changes I Wish I Could Make to Magic Kingdom

Everybody has their own opinions on what would make the perfect park for them. In the Disney Parks community, there is constant discourse on everything from which attractions should come back and which ones should be replaced to what type of music should play in the background or what type of coffee should be sold. If I was magically CEO for a day, here are some of the changes I would make to Magic Kingdom park.

1. Scrap that disastrous paint job and restore the castle to its silver and sky blue glory. Add more (temporary) sparkles for the 50th anniversary.

2. Upgrade the monorails and monorail tracks. Before the park closures, it seemed like a high number of breakdowns were being reported.

3. Put in more seating options on the ferry. I know that having people stand makes it possible to cram more people onto the ferry, but it also makes riding it almost unbearable. And courtesy always comes before efficiency!

4. Change up the menu at Tony’s. I personally love it but it seems food critics don’t. I wouldn’t do anything drastic – maybe just change some recipes around and try to offer more authentic Italian foods. 

5. Add a nighttime parade. I never cared for the Main Street Electrical Parade but

nighttime entertainment is missing something. Since the 50th is coming up, they could plan out a parade celebrating Magic Kingdom. Although a full-blown parade might not be plausible due to a lack of budget, I'm sure things can be scraped together. Some combination of the character cavalcade and other floats they have in storage (like the candy one) could do just fine.

6. Merchandising would be land-specific. Recently all gift shops are starting to blend merchandise from all parks – you’ll find Epcot stuff at Magic Kingdom and Studios stuff at Animal Kingdom.  Things need to be park and land specific to keep with theming, The exception is the Emporium, which will have a little bit from everywhere in Magic Kingdom. 

7. More seating available on Main Street. This will be difficult as to not obstruct the flow of traffic. But more benches in the train station or perhaps stretching out from Casey’s Corner to Adventureland and from the Plaza out to the Tommorrowland Terrace. 

8. Open the Pirates League again. 

9. Add some sort of callback to the Rainbow Caverns to pad out Frontierland. Perhaps a dark ride to draw smaller kids to the back of the park. 

10. Change up the meet and greets at Princess Fairytale Hall. This is how the attraction was originally operating. But recently you can only see Cinderella and Elena on one side, and Rapunzel and Tiana on the other side. Merida has her own meet and greet location in Fairytale Garden. Ariel meets in her grotto by her ride. Jasmine can be seen with Aladdin in Adventureland. Belle interacts with guests in Enchanted Tales with Belle, and can also be spotted at Epcot. On occasion Aurora and Snow White will appear on Main Street. The other Princesses - Mulan and Anna and Elsa are all at Epcot. Pocahontas is at DAK and Moana currently doesn't have a permanent location.

Tiana should meet with Naveen in Liberty Square under the gabezo. Cinderella and Rapunzel should both stay at Fairytale Hall. Mulan and Moana should join them. I may be biased in my love for Mulan - but the fact is her meet and greet line at the China Pavilion is always overflowing. She is more popular than Disney big wigs know. Fairtyale Hall should be set up to where Rapunzel and Mulan are on one side and Cinderella and Moana are on the other. Aurora and Snow White can switch out with any of the Princesses if need be.

11. Switch out Joffree’s Coffee with something less horrible. Perhaps Caribou or another American-made coffee.

12. Create an expanded breakfast menu for Gaston’s (5 dozen egg omelet [not really 5 dozen eggs], cinnamon rolls, French toast, baked apples, vegan bacon, ect.) Before the park closures, many touring plans pointed out how there were not many quick-service breakfast options in the park. And one of the only options - Sleepy Hollow - was always backed up. Adding more options at Gaston's would help alleviate this.

13. Re-vamp Tommorowland. This is something most everyone agrees on - diehard Disney fan or average vacationer. I think Tron will be a much-needed addition. I have two visions for Tomorrowland - one more space-themed and one more green-themed. Either way, Stitch's Great Escape needs to replaced with a fresh attraction and Autopia should either be updated with environment-friendly cars or scraped and replaced all together.

14. Have an actual robot Wall-E roll around Tomorrowland

15. Have a permanent Stitch meet and greet in Tomorrowland

16. This one might be my most extreme suggestion: Halloween parties don’t start until after Labor Day. Add 3 more dates in September and 2 more in October to make up for it. Annual Passholders are barred from parties the week of Halloween. This will free up capacity for average vacationers. Tickets are discounted if purchased so many days in advanced ( a ticket bought the day of will be more expensive than one bought 4 months out). This will entice the public to plan ahead.

Okay, hear me out. I know why Disney has Halloween Parties in August. It's to entice the summer vacationers to spend more money on an extra ticket. But personally, I think it's ridiculous to offer fall festivities in the middle of summer. It ruins the novelty of it.

A huge complaint over the past five years has been just how crowded the Halloween parties have gotten. Meet and greets for special characters are hours long. There have been reports of lines just to buy snacks being 30 minutes long. And there have been reports of several rides not having reduced wait times as promised. Disney has been selling way too many tickets to make the whole thing worth it. The company is clearly making more money by upcharging and selling more and more tickets each year, but the quality of what they're offering has gone down. It sucks, but the reality is with a capacity cap is not everyone is going to snag a ticket before they sell out.

To make up for that, the week of Halloween should have select special meet and greets available all day, such as Jack and Sally, and the villains out. This would be similar to how during the week of Christmas, they run the parade during the day when normally it only runs during the Christmas Party at night. It gives more people the chance to partake in the fun.

17. Bring back Celebrate the Magic. Sure, it probably doesn't hold up if it's shown right before Happily Ever After. But dang it, I miss that show!