I love old Disney. Well, the 2-D animated Disney classics that more or less ended around the late '90s. I also enjoy some of their classic television and live-action film works.
I've been to Disneyland a zillion times (because of living in So.Cal). I had annual passes when I was little. I absolutely ABHOR the refurbishments they've been doing the last few years with removing, completely retheming (Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse! Submarines!) or altering classic rides/lands with stuff that I don't see lasting (I hate Pixar). Leave classic stuff alone and go build new stuff somewhere else. The Indiana Jones ride was the last new ride that was done correctly.
I'm still hoping they just combine Disneyland and the California Adventure Park into the same park (just add more lands to Disneyland). It would cure Disneyland's overcrowding problem and the non-attendance problem over at the California Adventure Park in one fell swoop. Make them one park and lower the price.
Honestly, the only thing in the last decade worthy of the Disney name has been the PotC movies, which were more Bruckheimer/Depp than Disney. That was a happy accident of Disney not getting their grubby mitts on the project creatively and it actually fitting the genuine gritty darkness of the antique ride that was made when Disney was more interested in family entertainment than just super dumbed-down, lowest-common-denominator children's/tweens' entertainment.
The straight-to-DVD productions and Disney Channel tween market material (do all their stars need to become horrid recording artists) is killing the company. I still vividly remember when geeky, off-kilter Fi was replaced with a blonde tween pop-star on So Weird (one of the last shows worth a damn). Even the Halloweentown series (the first two actually weren't half-bad) got a tween pink and sparkly pop-princess makeover.
The Disney Channel used to have Vault Disney for adults and they used to run Hocus Pocus ad nauseum at Halloween. Now they do neither (Hocus Pocus has moved to ABC Family). That was one of the few decent things they had left. I enjoyed seeing Walt Presents, behind-the-scenes tours of the Disney theme parks and rides, archival behind-the-scenes material on the animated features, the '50s Mickey Mouse Club, Zorro, etc... I loved Vault Disney and the imagineering segments.
Don't even get me started on the release of Song of the South. LMAO. Shamelessly plugging that movie is one of my hobbies. That and talking about the sad story of Bobby Driscoll (not one of Walt's shining moments).
As for Disney films, my favorites are:
1) Peter Pan
2) The Little Mermaid
3) Sleeping Beauty
4) Pinocchio
5) Aladdin
Unfortunately, I don't have high expectations for what their newly reinstated animation department might produce. I'm in fear of the dumbed down animation that is self-aware and wants to parody itself (à la Enchanted). I want more Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio-level maturity in their classic storytelling. And PLEASE no more tie-in soundtracks by popular or in-house Disney artists. It's time to get cozy to the sounds of Tin Pan Alley or Ashman/Menken again.
The blocky or rounded animation styles of the new era need to be squashed for the revitalized company. The old films had a maturity that the new company doesn't seem to understand. I also want straight-forward fantasy films based on classic literature and fairy tales that aren't about pleasing demographics or self-parodying the company as if they must apologize for making fairy tales. Let the literature and fairy tales create the story like they used to without modernity completely taking over (The Little Mermaid/Aladdin is about as far as they should be allowed to go with self-awareness or modernist retellings).