Disney Just Changed Roger Rabbit… Again! But Why?

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]Friends, have you noticed that Disneyland recently made a handful of smaller changes? And individually, these changes might not seem that big, but when you lump them all together, it does seem rather significant. Just recently, Roger Rabbit opened up after going through not a super long refurbishment.

[00:00:18]This has been an attraction for a while now. Disney has slowly been downgrading.

[00:00:24]And sure enough, when guests would get back on the attraction, they would realize something very ironic. Roger Rabbit's cartoon spin noticeably no longer spins. So, are we also getting a new sign at some point? After all, the idea of Roger Rabbit initially was, "What if we take the teacups and put them on a dark ride vehicle?" In fact, they even did that one night, taking the teacup, putting it on the tracks of Pinocchio and taking it for a spin to see what kind of effect that would create. Turns out it was good enough of effect to base an entire attraction off of it. But now, Roger Rabbit no longer spins. So, my question for you is, how important was the spin? Was that the ride's identity? And if it doesn't spin, is it still a good ride? What made this dark ride different than a lot of the other Disneyland dark rides was the fact that the guests did have some control over how the ride was consumed by them.

[00:01:24]You want to go hard, you can spin hard.

[00:01:26]You want to go low and slow, that's up to you, baby. But fundamentally, the one thing that made this ride super unique is now missing. And so yet again, people find Roger Rabbit slowly evolving into a very different attraction than when it first opened up a year after Toontown.

[00:01:45]So why do you think Disney made this change? And why would they be willing to make this change at the cost of making the ride less of an experience? Do you think it was to make the ride run smoother? Or if you're a regular viewer of this channel, then you know while Roger Rabbit was down, I made a community conversation video where I literally talked about what is the future of Roger Rabbit inside of Toontown? Like, we've seen Disney already slowly work on fading this attraction out. So, is this another step in its gradual, slow removal from Toontown and Disneyland? Because I would guess for people that were nervous about the idea of this ride slowly fading out, this has got to make you a little bit more nervous, right? Like Disney has actively decided to downgrade it. So from an optimistic perspective, it could be actually about preservation and making the ride last longer. But from the opposite perspective, it could be about slowly just letting this one fade out while they're working on a better idea. Why would they decide to do something that would diminish the experience of the attraction? I mean, I want to know what you think. Because if we think about this from Disney's perspective, there has to be a reason why they actively decided to make a ride worse from the theme park fans perspective because they definitely chose operational value over ride experience. So, there has to be a reason, right? What I think we can learn from this though, if it is about reducing maintenance costs, if Disney is trying to bring down the cost or investment of an attraction, that typically won't bode well for that attraction's future, which means maybe they've already got one foot out the door. Because when Disney has a faith in an attraction, they're always willing to go for the long-term investment. So, do what you will with that life math. And while we don't know that answer yet, what we do know is this isn't the only transition that's happening at Disneyland right now, like in the last couple of weeks. Because when rides change, the guest experience change, but also when the rules change, the guest experience changes. Because a rule that is changing, and I want to know what your opinion is, why do you think Disneyland is removing the pin trading area at the edge of Frontier Land? a notable long-standing community tradition that happens inside of the park that seems like it could be clashing with management's goals for how they want Disneyland to operate. Because my question is, do you think that this is really about pin trading or is it about something bigger than that? Do you believe that Disney sees this as a problem with gas flow and control? So, I just had a very very animated conversation with some of the pin folks over there and uh you know, they really love doing this. This is their version of the Disney magic. So, I'm fascinated to see what they come up with next as the fan evolution of something that, you know, it means so much to these people.

[00:04:56]But ignoring how rad some of my buds over there are, I do have to look at this from a operational perspective. And I'm assuming that Disneyland does know that uh when people walk through the front gate of Frontier Land and they see that it's maybe confusing or a little bit hard for out of town folks to quite understand what is happening. I mean I I think it is pretty safe to say that pin trading in Disneyland has evolved from a fun little like side quest for some fans to an absolute subculture that exists inside of the park. And I just love all kinds of subcultures and little weird communities that exist inside of a major community. And one of the things that makes Disneyland not feel like a theme park and like its own little town is the fact that these folks do get together and put together what I lovingly refer to as Disneyland's swap meet. Because it definitely does have big swap meet energy. And maybe that's why management is looking to move it on down the road because the new rule would be sure you can still pin trade inside of the park, but you can only bring in a a small little pin board or a laminate. Like they don't want people bringing in the books full of pens. And they no longer want pen traders taking up like a table or a chair or any sort of space. So you can kind of do it on the go and pin trade as you're cruising through the park. So there's thoughts of like maybe we just start pin trading in some of the busiest lines.

[00:06:32]Like this could get wild. The very last day they're allowed to pin trade is this Monday. And man oh man do I wish I could be here and not on vacation on Monday to see what the last day of pin trading looks like. They're going down with the ship, baby. And I love it. But it is interesting that something that for people can start as a, you know, a cute little side hobby has evolved into a very intense community inside of the park. Like these people are pin traders.

[00:07:01]Like I know that I'm doing my kingpin challenge where I bought one pin and my goal is to trade one pin a thousand times and kind of collect them all. But, you know, I'm just doing that just to be funny and to do something that's fun and a great way to to meet people. They are passionate about pin trading because they are pin traders and I love it. As you and I both know, there's always the bad apple theory that a couple of bad apples do indeed ruin the bunch. And some folks took pin trading to a whole different level where it was like they were running a small business inside of Disneyland. Like bringing in hundreds if not thousands of pens, bringing in lights, taking up space. And I mean, you know, I lovingly referred to it as Disneyland swap meet, but there were some people that were going fullon swap meet inside of the park. And I can assure you, the one thing that Disney management doesn't want is a big flea market right inside of Frontier Land.

[00:08:01]But, you know, that's with everything.

[00:08:03]There are going to be outliers that go beyond the rules, beyond what's acceptable. And so does Disney decide to enforce it with the outliers or do they decide just to get rid of the whole program? Unfortunately, it seems like they're going to go with the pass of lease friction and just get rid of the whole thing because some folks just couldn't keep it within the natural guidelines requested by the park. But what makes this interesting is for some people, this is their version of Disney magic. From Disneyland's perspective, it's creating sort of an illegal market space inside of their park.

[00:08:37]So, you know, it's a definitely an eye of the beholder. I can definitely see it from Disney's perspective, but I definitely know how much fun and joy it brings these folks. And some of these people are super nice friends of mine that I've met through the park. And I absolutely love their passion, admire their dedication, and uh you know, as somebody who just doesn't collect, it's fascinating to me. Like legitimately fascinating. So, when you think about Roger Rabbit and how it's kind of one of the most like out there dark rides, little rough around the edges, and when you think about how Pin Trading might be one of the more rough around the edges communities inside of Disneyland, you start to look at this as is Disneyland trying to clean up its appearance. Are they trying to get rid of guest activity and attractions that no longer stand by what they want the new version of the brand to be? Like this does feel like it could be a little bit of a thematic cleaning of the house on what management wants versus the way that the guests decide to enjoy the park. Because in a micro way, we are looking at guest freedom versus operational control. And hey, it's Disneyland's part to control the way that they feel is best for the majority of the guests. But that's not to say that when they take out certain attractions, remove certain features, or remove certain communities that that's going to align with every guest's expectations of Disneyland. Like, I don't know that there's a right or a wrong end here. I just know that Disney's the one that has the upper hand and then the guest has to either fall in line or fall out of love. Magic Band Plus showed up at Disneyland in 2022.

[00:10:24]Not even 4 years later, it feels like they're already phasing it out here at the Disneyland Resort. This one has got me very confused because is this the first step of a new improved technology finding its way to the resort or is this just complete abandonment on a project that Disney and the guests both invested in? I mean the first part of this equation is we have to ask was the Disney Magic Band Plus ever fully optimized for the Disneyland customer? I personally love it because it's a very fast way to get into the front gate, but there's not a Magic Band Plus entrance only. So, I'm basically just making it faster for the people behind me. And then once you get into the park for the 70th, they did make some fun little interactive moments, but after you do them once, you don't really need to do them again. The bounty hunting in Galaxy's Edge has been a lot of fun. But the main moment that I loved about the Magic Band is when you'd walk through the park and you just get hit with what?

[00:11:32]A little Disney magic. And I'm sad to say that those magic moments now only happen in a couple of very, very specific spaces. The only time I get hit with magic is when I'm right outside of a DVC area. So, wherever there is a upsell, suddenly I find magic. And I don't think that's being a very good friend when you only call them when you need something.

[00:12:00]Because the magic fan at Disneyland wasn't necessarily being used for vacation culture. It was being used more for consumer culture. meaning that the band was supposed to be sort of a way for the local to really like put more magic into their visit. And whenever you watch World of Color with a handful of buds and everybody starts getting the magic on their band, it sounds lame, but it actually is a fun little Disney magical moment. Like you do go, "Oh, I'm getting magic." And it does make something like World of Color feel incredibly more personable because it's actually affecting you personally. You feel it on your wrist, you see the lights, you feel like you're part of the show. And the fact that they made so many different styles, it became a fun little thing to collect. Like, what did your Magic Band Plus say about you and your personality? I mean, mine said what everything about me says.

[00:13:00]solid black.

[00:13:03]Just never could find that character or pattern that I really resonated with.

[00:13:07]Part of the reason why I wear solid black every day is like I'm super picky.

[00:13:11]So, black just checks the box unless it's, you know, something that I made myself.

[00:13:17]But as somebody who comes to the parks a lot and speaks to many guests and has a comment section that gets a fair amount of comments every single day, I do know that one thing a lot of guests hate about the park is the dependence of being on your phone. And I was hoping that the Magic Band Plus would remove some of that phone friction. But did it really do that or did it just create another thing to buy? I mean, for me personally, cruising through the front gate with my Magic Band was absolutely worth the purchase alone. And as long as I can scan in, I will wear this thing just to not have to pull out my phone and load up the very clunky Disneyland app that sometimes can just take so long just to get your ticket to pop up. Like, the fact you can't just do it with a double tap on your phone is kind of wild. But back to the Magic Band. So yes, Magic Band did create a sense of convenience, but at the same time, it also did create a sense of redundancy, and you couldn't come to the park just with your Magic Band and fully do all the things that you need your phone for.

[00:14:29]So, it kind of fell into a weird technology gap where it did a couple of things, but not everything you would need it to do to fully justify its expense and just the hassle of remembering to charge it, put it on, and bring it to the park with you. So, let's circle around. If Disneyland is making all of these changes, what are these changes actually all for? Like what's the root cause of phasing out Magic Band, making the rules where pin trading is next to impossible and taking out the guest control of a beloved attraction?

[00:15:07]Because it definitely feels like Disney is moving away from something, but that would mean that they are indeed moving toward something else. Because one would think a place as complicated as Disneyland that generates the type of fandom that it does that if they get rid of one system.

[00:15:27]Hi. If they get rid of one system, there has to be another one that they're going to replace it with. Because if we stitch these all together, the question becomes, is Disney trying to make the park more accessible to modern guests?

[00:15:41]And again, removing anything that creates friction. Even though normally I talk about how they use friction to charge you more. But over the last handful of years, we have definitely all witnessed classic Disneyland evolving into the new version of it. And it definitely feels like all three of these changes are a small part of the next step of that modern evolution. So friends, what do you think? Is Disneyland just making some small changes or is it slowly evolving into a different kind of park? Because Disney definitely has it figured out to make the theme park feel busy every single day, even when it's not. I'm Bricky.

[00:16:26]Thank you so much for showing up. I appreciate you. I can't wait to see what you have to say in the comment section below.