This morning I decided that I wanted to go to Epcot to get some photos of the different food booths at the Food and Wine Festival. We were there early, so I wandered over toward Norway just to hang out and wait for the ropes to drop to get into the back of the park. The park was pretty empty, there were no crowds anywhere at that point….. except towards Maelstrom. The ride wasn’t open yet, the curtain across the doorway was down, but people were still standing around that area, and we had about 45 minutes to go before it even opened. All this for Malestrom? Yep. That got me to thinking about how Disney really creates nostalgia for so many guests, and a lot of them don’t want to let that go.
As you know, Maelstrom is closing forever on October 5th, 2014. We have a little over a week to go before Maelstrom takes it’s last ride, and a Frozen attraction starts being built in it’s place. The debates have been pretty heated over this whole idea, but one thing seems to remain…. a lot Disney die-hards don’t like change. Well, most of them don’t anyway. This to me was also proven this morning by all the folks waiting around to ride Maelstrom, probably for some, for the last time ever. How sad is that? Change is hard, and I have no doubt that Disney will do something fabulous with the new attraction, it’s just a little sad that such a beloved area will be no more.
I was feeling a little blue while looking around. I took some photos of the entire outside, including the waterfall and the area above where you can usually see the boats when they slide backwards. It really is a nice looking design for the outside of a ride. I took some video too, just so I’d have it to remember. I didn’t get in line to ride Maelstrom today, because I’m waiting until the closing day, just to be one of the last to ride it before it’s gone. It may sound a little silly, but I wanted to wait, just to be able to say I was there when it closes. That for me will be part of the nostalgia and something I won’t forget. But, to those waiting around to ride Maelstrom one more time this morning…. I commend you, and totally get where you’re coming from. Maelstrom will be missed by so many! It will be interesting to see what Disney comes up with next. Stay tuned!
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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