Category: Extras

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Rides of the Renassaince: The Surprising Shortage of E-Tickets from Disney’s ’90s Classics

Nostalgia is a force more powerful than gravity. If you ask just about anyone on Earth, movies, music, television shows, video games – and yes, Disney Parks – used to be so much better. At this point, it’s really no surprise that each generation is practically repulsed by the media of the next; that our rosy hindsight leaves us sad and sorry for those who grow up without knowing the pop culture milestones that meant so much to us. Basically, everyone on Earth thinks the stories of their own childhood are just objectively the best.

Image: Disney

Millennials, though, are probably right. After all, in the 1990s, Walt Disney Animation did the unthinkable: it returned animation to the zeitgeist. After decades of declining returns and meh-movies that threatened to literally bankrupt Walt Disney Productions, 1989’s The Little Mermaid was not just a return to form, but a return to formula. Not since Sleeping Beauty thirty years earlier had Disney tapped so beautifully into a timeless, romantic, artistic retelling of a fairytale. And Ariel was only the start…

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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COUNTDOWN: The “Worst” Rides of the Century (So Far)

If you’ve already scoured Park Lore’s Extra Features collection, you may have stumbled on our list of the Best Rides of the Century (So Far) – a just-for-fun, totally-opinionated countdown of Imagineering’s greatest achievements of the millennium. But… not every ride can be a classic. If you’ve read any entries in our in-depth Declassified Disaster series, you know full well that the story of Disney Parks is one filled with collosal failures, unbelievable flops, and attractions that just turn out to be bad decisions born of a specific time, mindset, or leadership.

More often than not, the difference between a ride fans love and one they loathe is just what a ride replaced, what was lost from sketch to reality, or – worst of all – how it doesn’t live up to fans’ expectations. And frankly, there’s just something interesting about things going wrong… It’s interesting when an attraction fails to find the audience Disney’s designers had hoped… and often, how they own up to the mistake by updating, changing, replacing, or outright closing projects that don’t find their footing.

Today, we’ve collected seven of the “worst” Disney attractions of the century (so far) to share our thoughts on why these projects just didn’t land. Now, granted, this list is – by necessity – merely an opinion piece! And it’s so important to remember that each was worked on by highly-skilled artists, designers, and writers whose work we don’t discount… More to the point, whatever your least favorite ride might be, millions upon millions of people love it, care about it, and have spectacular memories on it. So take our opinions for a grain of salt, and share your own 21st century disaster condenters in the comments below or when you share this feature with friends and family!

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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COUNTDOWN: The “Best” Rides of the Century (So Far)

The story of theme parks in the 21st century is about to be a weird one… We may only be 20% of the way through the first century of the 2000s, but we’ve already lived through some of the wildest swings of the pendulum in themed entertainment design ever. Theme parks began in a lowly position as the tail end of Eisner’s budget-conscious ’90s and early 2000s lead to an era of underbuilt, abandoned, and low-budget plans, made all the worse by the 2001 obliteration of tourism in the wake of September 11th and, further, the financial crisis of 2008. Budgets were slashed. Theme parks cancelled. Projects downsized. 

Arguably, that trend was reversed only by the opening of the Wizarding World in 2009, propelling Universal (and by extension, Disney) into the modern age of “living lands,” big-budget investment, per-capita spending records, and theme parks as corporate revenue-generators… Who would’ve foreseen an era where E-Tickets weren’t enough? Where competitors battled over blockbuster IPs? Where guests would queue for hours not for rides, but for food and shops? Where Disney and Universal would drop a billion dollars on a single land? Of course, this golden age of investment is itself coming to an unceremonious end thanks to the catastrophic fallout of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the results of which will no doubt be felt in the parks for decades. 

Image: Disney

So now, today, we find ourselves in an unusual position: half celebrational, half mournful, 2020 seems like a good time to look back at what may have represented the height of Imagineering; the pinnacle of theme park spending; the biggest $200 million E-Tickets we’ll see for a while. So today, let’s take a look at some of the best to come out of Disney (and Universal) Parks so far in the 21st century – that is, opening in the year 2000 or later. (So no, Indiana Jones Adventure, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror won’t be on this list… though you can read up on each in our Modern Marvels collection!)

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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10 Most Incredible Projection-Mapped Moments in Disney Rides (With Videos to Prove It)

For more than six years, Disney’s designers have been assembling an industry-leading toolbox of storytelling tricks. From Audio Animatronics to cutting edge ride systems, Disney doesn’t just lead the industry… sometimes, it is the industry. But in the last few decades, fans have seen one particular tool rise to the forefront in Disney Parks: projection mapping. 

While we certainly could make a list of the most incredible scene-based effects in Disney Parks, projection mapping is not just “screens!” In fact, it’s quite a lot more. When Imagineers use projection mapping techniques and technologies, they create media to project onto physical sets and built or natural environments. In that way, projection mapping isn’t about merely projecting media, but about using projected media to expand, deepen, enrich, or enhance a world.

Image: Disney

To that end, our list will be packed with in-ride moments where projection mapping adds life, energy, and “magic” to Disney Parks rides! Sometimes subtle, sometimes explosive, projection mapping is a major tool in Imagineers’ toolbox today, and with each subsequent use, designers seem to refine its roles. These are just some of our favorites… where else have you seen projection mapping enhance your favorite Disney attractions?

Be warned! Projection-based moments that serve as jaw-dropping finales, showstopping scenes, and epic encounters are on this list, so if you’d rather avoid spoilers for rides (up to and including Disney’s newest), you may have to skip an entry or two!

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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From Tourist to Trainee: 6 Iconic, Archetypal “Roles” You’ve Stepped Into in Disney & Universal Parks

Whether you’ve rocketed through the boundless cosmos on Space Mountain, been an adventurer uncovering the mysteries of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, trekked through the lantern-lit forests of Grizzly Peak, or explored the snow-capped village of Hogsmeade, you’ve been a part of one of the most essential cornerstones of themed entertainment design: story.

When you spend a day at a Disney or Universal Park, you truly do “leave today” and step into new worlds, new adventures… and new roles. From archaeologists to time-travelers, students to tourists, reporters to escape artists, a day at the parks is truly a day on-stage, trying on an assortment of once-in-a-lifetime roles.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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12 Iconic (Both Nostalgic and Nauseating) Smells at Disney and Universal Theme Parks

How can you visit a Disney or Universal park without a ticket? It’s not as impossible as you think. It’s been suggested that smell is more closely connected to memory than any other sense. Don’t believe us? Take a read through our absolutely unforgettable theme park scents (good and bad!) and just imagine… it’s almost like you can smell them right here, right now…! Which have we missed? Add your favorite Disney and Universal park smells in the comments below!

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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8 Luxurious Hotels Where You Can Sleep “INSIDE” Your Favorite Theme Parks

Let’s face it: spending the night inside your favorite theme park is probably one of the coolest ideas on Earth. Problem is that there are precious few legal ways to do it. But all is not lost. Sensing guest’s deep connection and love for their parks, some resorts have gone out of their way to create premium, outstanding hotel and resort accomodations that are completely and totally immersed into the stories and settings of their parks, and featuring exclusive entrances just for hotel guests.

Below, we’ve selected eight of the best examples of awesome hotels placed right inside your favorite adventures. All of the experiences below are pretty high-tier. Some are so exclusive, there’s practically no amount of money or time on a wait list that can promise you a stay. As for the rest, they may take some saving up, but it’s a lot more comfortable (and legal) than camping out in the bushes hoping to go undiscovered all night long. Have you had the chances to stay in any of these deluxe accomodations? Which would you most like to experience?

Do you love armchair Imagineering, in-depth storytelling, and seeing the theme parks we love differently? Park Lore is an ad-free, quality-over-quantity, one-person project centered on building a world-class collection of the interconnected stories of theme park attractions, design projects, and industry explorations.

This feature is one that’s usually locked in our Member Vault, where Park Lore patrons can find hand-drawn art, armchair Imagineering walkthroughs, and other in-depth Special Features, as well as quick-read, just-for-fun Extra Features. Thanks to supporting Members, this feature is temporarily unlocked as a preview!

But if you value my mission to provide clickbait-free, ad-free deep dives and new ways to see the parks, consider becoming a supporting Member of Park Lore for as little as $2 / month. That support is what keeps this unique themed entertainment storytelling project open, ad-free, and available to all. Thank you!

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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6 Tried-and-True, Tell-Tale Signs of a “Bad” Attraction Story… And Exceptions to Every Rule

For many Disney Parks fans, the only thing more interesting than a great ride is a bad one. In fact, our Declassified Disasters series exists to dive deep into the not-so-successful attractions, lands, and parks that have existed across Disney and Universal’s properties.

But what makes a bad attraction? What fundamental features tend to handicap a story? And for all of us at-home, “armchair Imagineers,” how do we know what mistakes to avoid? Today, we’ll offer our takeaway of tell-tale signs of a bad attraction story – foundational flaws that tend to signal that the ride isn’t going to be a masterpiece. It’s not that attractions can’t rise above these narrative hurdles (and in fact, we’ll offer exceptions for each), but when you imagine a ride that just didn’t live up to its promises, chances are that one of these giveaway goofs was involved. 

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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ROYAL RANKING: The Definitive Castle Countdown of All Six Disney Parks Palaces

Disney Castles are some of the most iconic architectural structures on Earth. Standing among the Eiffel Tower, the State of Liberty, the Taj Mahal, and the Sydney Opera House, they can be identified by silhouette by young and old alike. Every single one of Disney’s resorts on Earth contains a castle as its icon… but not all of these princess palaces are made equal…

In Disney’s long-running quest to reinvent, repurpose, revolutionize, and reimagine the icons of their parks, some Disney castles rise to the top while others fall behind. Reimaginings, new color schemes, and overlays have affected them all, but on our quest to compare Disney’s castles, we’ve got to make some hard decisions about which of these palaces are truly the most beautiful.

Take a look at our countdown from ugliest to most beautiful and let us know: which Disney castles could use a rebuild, a repaint, or a redesign? Which are timelessly beautiful?

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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“A Tram By Any Other Name:” 7 Studio-Tour-Scenes-Turned-Standalone-Stars

Lights, camera, action! In the modern history of Disney and Universal Parks, one thing is often said: good ideas never die. In fact, sometimes, ideas grow, evolve, and are reproduced across the country. Such is the case with the sixty-year tradition of taking pieces of Universal’s fabled Studio Tour in Hollywood and transforming them into full, standalone attractions in Florida.

In fact, some of the world’s most well-loved classics actually began in very different forms before being recreated on the East Coast in expanded, up-sized, and big-budget variations. If you didn’t already know it, you probably wouldn’t have realized from riding that these legendary attractions got their start in very different forms… So let’s examine three groups of attractions to see where this cross-country strategy has paid off… and where it hasn’t.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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