I find this amusing. There are many threads asking about attractions/other areas that were closed even before covid and what will happen to them.
With this announcement, Disney has said that they are permanently closed and they have no current plans to replace them. Thus the diehard fans have "closure"
For Stitch, no big surprise.
For Primeval Twirl a disappointment. I liked it because it was a "mouse" type roller coaster and I do not mean a Mickey Mouse type roller coaster. It is a type of roller coaster. Much like a wooden roller coaster is different than a steel roller coaster vs a looping coaster. Each has their fans and detractors they are just different.
My guess in regards to Primeval Twirl that it was reaching the end of its useful/safe life. Disney decided that since there are known safety issues and they have no current plans for a replacement, they made it known that the ride will be permanently closed.
Can't address Rivers of Life other than it sounds like it wasn't a "to-do" type of thing and if Disney's Animal Kingdom will be not be staying open into the evening hours for the next few months (at least). Announce that it is permanently closed to level set guess expectations.
So, agree mostly with the quoted area...
However, I wonder if Disney isn't now taking advantage of a "crisis" time to finally admit they made mistakes in key areas and use this as a time to eliminate those very costly fixing things .
Bear with me, maybe this is toooooo deep thought but....
1) splash - it is a hugely popular ride, but there has been a few areas that constantly break down and were pretty large costs to maintain. While the ride itself will be basically the same( my belief here ) with the move to the new theme, they could also take this chance to repair or replace some of those very expensive characters that gave them fits.
2) Primeval whirl - this was a stop gap move and supposedly a short term area for Disney at AK. I personally feel this was a must for them, it had numerous mechanical issues, and part were scarce to address them.
3) RoL - never did get this to the full designed show, and constantly had issues - getting rid of this will reduce costs - pretty simple driver there
4) Epcot spine and festival area - This to me was a win/win for Disney. I have no idea of why they ever thought people would want or enjoy the multi-level table building in the spine area. Yes, to have a garden spot to sit and enjoy the new night time show makes some sense, and another air conditioned area to sit and have drinks could be appealing. But to totally change the area and add that eyesore was a huge miss, and got a lot of ridicule. My hope is they move to the more "garden area" idea that was once in view, so folks still have some beautiful areas and more seating areas. Use the money saved to really do Mary Poppins idea, and maybe throw in Coco(these are me, not insider leaks).
I also think once the smoke clears, there will be more revisions as well, popular and unpopular to again address key rides that are a pain to maintain - Country Bears, Space Mountain and such
