I'm a big Disney Parks fan - WDW mainly. I haven't noticed anything downhill really... except the MyDisneyExperience has way too many issues. I was surprised they already rolled it out with these issues. Exciting idea, but needs way more tweaks.
Brace yourselves, people. This is the big one. You all had to know it would happen eventually.
I DESPISE NEXTGEN.
This project cost, and I am not exaggerating, about
$1.5 billion. Yes, you read that correctly: "billion." Billion with a "B." Do you know what a reasonable company can do with $1.5 billion? A lot. No fewer than seven Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter. A less frugal company can get five Fantasyland expansions. Alternatively, the company could build roughly 1/3 of a 2001-era Tokyo DisneySea, or opt to contruct roughly two 2001-era California Adventures. They sacrificed any of these options for something that even I could build at a small scale. RFID: I have that in my pocket; it's called NFC. FastPass+: I can think of exactly one case when making a website that only put information in databases was a big deal, and that was only a big deal because it didn't work. Interactive queues: the worst idea ever; tourists break everything they touch, so the second rule of building theme parks is to never ask tourists to touch anything.
Gah, I just can't. NextGen has some good ideas, I suppose. At least
a good idea (RFID can do some neat things). Still, unless I'm missing something, this company has no concept of how to spend effectively.
To the person who mentioned the rides not breaking down at WDW due to lack of effects clearly has not seen how often Toy Story Midway Mania breaks
Toy Story Mania is a weird case. If anything breaks on that ride, there is no way that they can leave it open. Here are the things that can break on TSMM:
-The vehicles/track system (the ride is un-usable and even un-safe)
-Exit gates (apparently this happens, and it's un-safe)
-Screens (the entire content of the ride)