3. “There are just too many non-Disney stores in Disney parks!

If you wanted to grab a cup of coffee on at Disneyland when it first opened in 1955, this is where you would have wanted to go:

Yes, that’s a Maxwell House coffee shop. On Main Street USA. There was also an intimate apparel store operated by Hollywood-Maxwell featuring a character named The Wizard of Bras. Those are real things that existed in Disneyland – approved by Walt himself.

When a company like Starbucks or Sunglass Hut makes an appearance at a Disney park, it’s met with unparalleled derision – often suggesting, perhaps, this is an affront to the ways of old. In fact, the opposite is true. Disney has always invited outside companies to sell their wares inside their gates. In fact, the World Showcase at Epcot is basically just a bigger version of that idea – but no one has too much of a problem with that.

Yes, we’d all love to see more Disney merchandise in the parks – particularly if it were a bit more unique than a year-specific t-shirt, but it’s unrealistic to assume the company feels that way. And, beyond unrealistic, it’s just a tiny bit unfair considering Disney has long operated in this way.

4. “They keep integrating these lame characters into the parks!”

Image: Disney

I, like many people, loathe Stitch’s Great Escape. To me, it seemed like a half-hearted and hasty attempt to shoehorn a newly beloved character a place in the Disney parks. But, for Disney, the character integration doesn’t stop there – there are countless meet and greets, Mickey and Friends being added to It’s a Small World, Jack Sparrow showing up at Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. If there’s a popular character, Disney will do its best to leverage that character with its attractions. At best, it seems like fan service and, at worst, calculated synergy.

But, while complaining about how present Disney characters are at Disney parks, it’s important to take a step back. Integrating characters into the parks is literally why Disneyland and Walt Disney World are successful.

Think about it – how many people are going to Walt Disney World and expect to meet Mickey Mouse? Or Ariel? Or Anna and Elsa? Or Buzz Lightyear?

Could you imagine visiting Disneyland without riding Peter Pan’s Flight? Or Splash Mountain?

Yes, some of Disney’s best attractions don’t feature a single one of their popular characters, but that doesn’t mean Disney has never in the past attempted to feature them. They may go overboard when attempting to add characters like Anna and Elsa to the parks, but experience has proven them right time and time again – the characters are as much a part of the Disney experience as things that weren’t first born on the silver screen. That’s been true since Disneyland opened in 1955, and it remains true today. So, while sometimes it does feel like Disney is forcing characters on us, it’s often worked out well for us all in the past.

The point of all of this is not that we’re wrong for complaining about these things. Overly corporate ride experiences probably aren’t a good thing, nor are the removal of beloved attractions from the parks. However, when we complain about these things, it’s important to remember that we aren’t appealing to the memory of the parks from the past, but rather, an ideal that these parks should be striving toward. Disney has always operated this way – the only thing that’s new is that we now have a way to connect together and share with them, en masse, just how we feel about these things.

But, that said: Starbucks? Really? Come on, Disney.