For our Passholders, we’re kicking off a new three-part series where we discover the “Seven Wonders of the Theme Park World.” We’ll take a look at the Seven Ancient Wonders and the Seven Technological Wonders, but we’ve got to start somewhere, so what about the Seven “Natural” Wonders? Below, we’ve counted down the seven most convincing natural features in theme…
“In-Universe Eats”: Must-Try Menus to Eat Like You’re Part of the Story
Welcome back to our Imagineering Originals mini-series curated just for Park Lore Passholders… From original worlds to original souvenirs; original mythologies to original characters, this breezy look into the creativity of Imagineering has been a celebration of the ingenuity and IP Disney has designed in-house!
The last decade has seen an almost unimaginable shift in the scale and scope of theme park additions, prioritizing built-out, in-universe lands over mere E-Ticket rides. But along the way, the most unexpected, exciting (and for Disney and Universal, lucrative) development has been each of those land’s ways of fully placing guests into their stories and worlds through foods, drinks, and snacks – how to eat like an alien, dine like an adventurer, drink like a cartoon character, and more…
These 9 Lands Don’t Just Recreate Worlds Seen on Screen, They EXPAND Them…
From Hogsmeade to Radiator Springs, it’s no surprise to fans of Imagineering that the era of “living the movies” is alive and well. Today, it can sometimes feel that no project can get the greenlight at Disney or Universal unless backed by a tried-and-true blockbuster intellectual property; that everything we see in parks today is directly drawn from the screen.
But pulling places from the screen isn’t always as straightforward as you think… Sometimes, attraction designers need to expand on the worlds we’ve seen in movies by taking a physical place and adding to it for logistical or narrative reasons; other times, they need instead to contract, distilling massive and incalculable worlds into smaller, concrete, “real” places guests can inhabit and connect with. Either way, some of the most spectacular theme parks lands on Earth today take the essence of source materials and expand them with “original worlds” born of the minds of designers! Here are some of our favorites…
Countdown: The 10 Greatest Original Characters Created Just for Disney Parks
It’s no surprise that Disney has perhaps the most valuable collection of characters in history. Ariel, Elsa, Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella, Mr. Toad, Mickey Mouse, Sleeping Beauty… for the last century, Disney has been amassing a catalogue of the definitive versions of beloved characters from across the world. Acquisitions of Pixar, The Muppets, Star Wars, Indiana…
“…Then Something Goes Horribly Wrong”: 13 “Unlucky” Ride Plot Twists We Love
Conflict. For most of us, it’s something we go out of our ways to avoid. Maybe that’s part of why classic attractions from Walt’s time tended to be more atmospheric than aggressive. Back then, guests rocketed through the vastness of space, sailed through exotic jungles, toured through haunted mansions, and soared over Neverland without fear for their own survival – just a few of our favorite rides where nothing goes wrong!
Beginning in the late ‘80s, though, something changed. Emerging technologies yielded the Age of the Simulator – technology capable of changing guests from mere observers to actors – turning Disney and Universal parks into places to “Ride the Movies!” Not surprisingly, the experiences then began to match the movies in an important cinematic set-up that most of us have lived a hundred times over: “…then something goes horribly wrong.”