Heartwarming / Defunctland

• Why did Glen Holland, the creator of the fourth park featured in the abandoned Santa Claus theme parks video, open his park? Because he had gone through the Clutch Plague, lost both his parents before he was 18, and had to raise his little sister himself, so he wanted to create a place where children like his sister could get away from the troubles of the real world, even if just for a little while, and that he felt children should have adventures and happiness in their lives. A great change from some of the others on the list, who basically did it to cash in on various fads. While all three of his parks would eventually shut down, two have reopened, and still exist today.
• The ending of "The Failure of Hong Kong Disney": The failing park is shown to be in the process of successfully reinventing itself^note While still posting a net loss, this is primarily due to the expense of expanding and revamping, as revenue has actually increased, and Eisner, having been slowly worn down by his time at Disney, becoming afraid to take risks, and eventually forced out of the company, is shown to have remembered what he had forgotten in his later years at the company, making a speech in 2008 about the importance of taking risks and being creative.
• The ending of the Jim Henson retrospective for DefunctTV, especially when mentioning how Steve Whitmire would take over the role of Kermit the Frog, who Henson famously did. It ends with Kevin's narration of an animation of Kermit and Jim looking at each other with Kermit's signature green color.
  Kevin: Kermit was alive... and so was Jim Henson.
  • The credits of the last episode ending with a Dixieland rendition of "When the Saints", just as the memorial for Henson did.
• The song Disaster Transport by Disaster Dan featuring Kevin Perjurer is a loving tribute to the defunct rollercoaster of the same name from Cedar Point.
• On the episode on Toys 'R' Us Times Square, Kevin concludes that what truly made the store special were the employees that worked there, ending it with a speech from customer service manager Johnny Tamarro on the very last day there. It starts off hilarious, with him snarking that the entire world knows they all just got laid off and listing annoying things about customer service that he won't miss dealing with. Even that carries an element of sweetness, as it comes off as him trying to cheer everyone up, despite the undeniably shitty circumstances (not just losing their jobs, but the closure of a truly spectacular and special location). And then he reflects on what he will miss about this job.
  "I got a list of things I will miss. [pulls out a comically small list] It's just one word! [points to the other employees] You."
• On the Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? retrospective: Greg's shock and delight when his mother makes an appearance as an informant.
  "Can we please have a nice round of applause for the finest informant ever on this show?"
• The final section of Live From the Space Stage: A Halyx Story shows the single-summer act that never broke through due to multiple misfortunes getting rediscovered decades after the fact by music and Disney park fans, all while backed by the rousing "I See The Light". It's a perfect parallel between music and real life.
  • Even during the summer of 1981, fans created their own merchandise for the band when the park wouldn't. The band members express how impressed and touched they were by the support.
• In spite of admitting that the discrepancy is "silly" and "inconsequential", the Fastpass doc comes down hard on the current iteration (the era of Disney Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lanes) for encouraging frequent visitors to game the system and pay extra to ensure maximum ride time per day, while penalizing visitors with more modest itineraries who come for the atmosphere by making them wait longer, just to maximize profit. Kevin even acknowledges that a fair portion of his viewers are those frequent visitors and might not see any problem with the service themselves, but still makes sure to get the point across that the system isn't fair, and it's getting even worse as the years go on.
  • Kevin takes delight in a video where three friends got together to make a parody of "Single Ladies" to be about FastPass owing to how delightfully earnest it is. One of the original performers in the video left a comment on the video revealing that they're a Cast Member whose been through all FastPass stages and not only took time to corroborate Kevin's research (and providing a small correction) but also gave him sincere thanks for enjoying the silly video he made all those years ago.
• For the Garfield's Nightmare episode, which covers a Tunnel of Love-style ride notorious among parkgoers and even local journalists- even as far back as the 1930s- for its nature as a place for, *ahem*, "funny business", Kevin was so intrigued that he put out a call asking people who did you-know-what on the ride or knew those who did to email him and share their stories. In hindsight, even after clarifying that he didn't want exact, gruesome details, he should've seen what was coming, but at the end of the episode he manages to come out the other end with a heartwarming takeaway/reminder: that theme park rides can create some of our strongest memories, including of young love, and reading about how, whether as Garfield's Nightmare or the Old Mill, the ride made an impact on multiple generations of people was actually moving for Kevin. Amidst the many lurid stories are ones of people talking about their first kiss, anxiousness and angst about getting on the ride with their crush, and lost loves. One of the stories came from a gay man that grew up in a small town who found that the ride was one of the first places he was comfortable kissing his boyfriend, and another was of a married couple that got on the ride and suddenly felt as if they were in high school again.
  Kevin: When the messages weren't overly erotic, they were actually beautiful, and a good reminder of why I love talking about these parks. They are memorable and exciting places where it's as much about riding the attractions as it is who you are riding with. And sometimes the most memorable experience one can have is getting a kiss while riding a boat through a dark tunnel, and sometimes, it's getting a kiss while riding a boat in front of a neon Garfield.
• The core message of Disney Channel's Theme: A History Mystery - that art is not defined by what it was made for or how long it took to create, but instead by what people get from it - is incredibly touching, as is Kevin's speech on it.
  Kevin: In the end, the production of the work is only half of the process, and maybe all that matters is that someone, somewhere, got something from whatever you created. And in the case of the Disney Channel mnemonic, that is indisputable. In the minds of thousands if not millions of people, this music evokes feelings and memories often long lost. This sound has the ability to bring back anything from the feel of carpet to the color of walls. It could return one's mind to a happy childhood, or represent a safe reprieve from a difficult one. It could be a symbol of a relationship with a sibling or a parent or a friend. It could even inspire future artists, all from a sound. Any one of us, artist or otherwise, would be fortunate, blessed, even, to be remembered for a single note. So what a monumental achievement it is, to be remembered for four.
  • His tribute to Alex Lasarenko is equally touching. Instead of letting his legacy be solely defined as the man who wrote the Disney Channel theme, he decided to expose the viewers to his other music by using it throughout the video. It's a beautiful tribute to a man who put as much passion into making a four-note mnemonic as he did for his more classical works.
    • The way Alex's friends, family, and associates talk about him is also very sweet. It's clear that Alex was very loved.

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