The 10 Top Things from Other Disney Parks Missing at Walt Disney World

Now that we've look at what yours truly considers overrated and underrated at the Walt Disney World Resort, let's take the next step — and look at what is missing.

In dreaming up a to-do list for Disney World, we are limited only by our collective imagination... and the Walt Disney Company's budget. Given the increasingly troubled prospects for ESPN, Disney's former cash cow, that second limitation likely will keep the parks from adding much beyond what's been announced already anytime soon.

But it costs nothing to dream. (Well, at least not on Theme Park Insider. YMMV at WDW.) Still, in offering my wish list for the resort, I will consider Disney's ESPN money woes and limit my items to things that already exist at another Disney theme park somewhere in the world. Now, I'm not just listing my top 10 favorite non-WDW Disney attractions. Instead, I've tried to give some thought to providing a list of things — from big rides to small details — from other Disney parks that would enhance the experience of visiting the Walt Disney World Resort.

10. Main Street Cinema

Let's start with something that need to come back to Disney World. Disneyland continues to show classic black-and-white Mickey Mouse shorts on its Main Street USA, but Disney World replaced its Magic Kingdom Cinema with a shop in 1998. Yet, as Walt was so fond of saying, "it all started with a mouse," so it would seem appropriate the company should again devote a tiny space on Main Street to show visitors the films that launched the Disney empire.

9. Animation Academy

One of Disney's under-appreciated gems closed with the rest of the Animation pavilion in Disney's Hollywood Studios last year and the DisneyQuest version is on the chopping block along with the rest of that facility. Animation Academy lets visitors follow along with a Disney animator, learning how to draw a Disney character on their own. And they get to keep their drawing as a free souvenir to take home. It's a lovely, interactive attraction that continues to win fans in California, Paris, and Hong Kong. Orlando always should have an Animation Academy, too.

8. A "Little Red Wagon" Main Street Corn Dog Cart

"Corn Dog Nuggets" at Casey's just aren't the same as ordering a hand-dipped, full-sized corn dog outside on Main Street, like you can do at Disneyland. Consider this the original food truck. Surely it wouldn't cost WDW too much to bring one to the Magic Kingdom. I'll betcha that fans would love it as much as they do in Anaheim.

7. Railroad Dioramas

Yeah, I know that Disney has dinosaurs in the Energy pavilion at Epcot. But I have yet to meet a Disney World fan visiting Disneyland for the first time who didn't wish that the Magic Kingdom's railroad included something like the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas. Disney copied the animatronic displays for Tokyo Disneyland and likely could do up something even more impressive for Walt Disney World. If Disney can slap Frozen into every freakin' space on property, it can put an extra set of dinos into the Magic Kingdom, too.

6. The Blue Bayou

When I worked at Pirates in the Magic Kingdom, I lost count of the number of times that guests asked me how to get to the Blue Bayou. Why not just give people what they so obviously want and build them another high-priced table-service restaurant at which to spend their money (or double Disney dining credits)? Yes, the recent addition of the Skipper Canteen might have reduced the demand for another TS restaurant in Adventureland, but I'll bet that guests would still fill the Bayou, if they could.

5. Flavored popcorn

Disclaimer: My visit to Tokyo Disney made me a curry popcorn junkie, and I'm hurting for a fix. So keep that in mind as I make my umpteenth pitch for Disney to bring Tokyo's flavored popcorn varieties to America. Of course, this happening probably would lead to Fastpass+ queues for popcorn stands throughout the WDW parks, so I guess I should be careful what I wish for.

4. Holiday overlays

Tokyo Disneyland has shown what the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay would look like on the Orlando version of the Haunted Mansion, so that's no obstacle to making this happen. And surely the Christmas version of the Country Bear Show remains stored somewhere in the back rooms of the Magic Kingdom utilidors. If WDW managers are concerned that holiday visitors would be upset to miss the "regular" versions of these attractions, why not instead consider that an opportunity to upsell those visitors to a bounceback trip? Disney does this all the time with much flimsier excuses.

3. Sindbad's Storybook Voyage

As far as I am concerned, Disney can never have enough musical animatronic indoor high-capacity boat rides. And with its delightful theme song and classic narrative, Tokyo DisneySea's Sindbad ride would make for a far more welcome (by me, at least) addition to Epcot's World Showcase than a Frozen overlay on Maelstrom.

2. Mystic Manor

Disney World needs a next-generation trackless ride, and Mystic Manor is Disney's best. Where to put it is the big question, but if Disney wants to turn its most critical fans into a bunch of adoring, drooling groupies, the announcement that it would be adding Mystic Manor somewhere in Walt Disney World likely would do just that.

1. A new Epcot entry plaza

Okay, a complete entry plaza that can be plugged immediately in front of Epcot doesn't exist already at any other Disney theme park. But plenty of elements that could be included in a new plaza do exist elsewhere in the Disney parks. Let's acknowledge that the Leave a Legacy Mausoleum is a depressing eyesore that needed to go long ago. Disney knows how Buena Vista Street helped enliven California Adventure and should do the same for Epcot by creating a new entry plaza that celebrates the spirit of discovery that the park was designed to honor. There's plenty to borrow from Tokyo DisneySea, including Fortress Explorations, Port Discovery and the Mediterranean Harbor that Disney could fuse to begin the needed process of transforming Epcot's Future World into a more welcoming visual environment.

If you've visited some of the Disney parks outside of Orlando, what would you like to see Disney bring from them into Walt Disney World?

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