Sneak Peek – Special Features Archives - Page 3 of 4

November 11, 2022January 24, 2023

Lights, Camera, Action!: A Blue Sky, Armchair Imagineered Redesign of Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park

What is Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and what should it be?

That question has hung over decades of Disney Imagineers like a dark cloud. It makes sense… after all, you have to remember that when Walt Disney World’s third gate (then called the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park) opened in 1989, its purpose was twofold: externally, to whisk guests away into the real, behind-the-scenes filmmaking of Walt Disney Pictures, and internally, to scare competitors at Universal Studios out of their plans to build a version of their world famous Studio Tour in Orlando. Long story short: neither endeavor was successful.

As a result, Disney spent decades laboring over the park, stuffing it with one-off E-Tickets to draw in guests. The park’s “studio backlot” theme was a scapegoat of sorts, allowing designers to abandon the standards they’d set at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT and instead mash piecemeal IPs into beige studio soundstages, focusing on promotion over permanence. Even by the early 2000s, the park’s “studio” style had soured. In an era defined by immersive, timeless projects like Islands of Adventure and Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios looked like a cop-out.

In the mid-2010s, Disney began polling guests on potential new names for the park, at last signaling that it might turn away from its “backlot” origins… “Disney Cinemagine Kingdom.” “Disney XL Park.” “Disney Beyond Park.” “Disney Kaleidoscope Park.” None stuck. That’s probably because – especially with immersive, cinematic lands like Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge topping the bill – it was obvious that Disney’s Hollywood Studios wasn’t a Hollywood Studio… but… what was it?

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November 3, 2022November 3, 2022

MEOW WOLF: A Glimpse Into the Colorful, Creative, and Cosmic Future of Themed Entertainment Design

“Meow Wolf.” If you said it out loud a decade ago, you would probably have gotten a lot of concerned looks from family and friends.

But today, this artist collective based in Santa Fe, New Mexico has become a well-known creator in the themed entertainment design space with three permanent art installations spread across the American West. Meow Wolf’s three explorable installations – The House of Eternal Return, OmegaMart, and Convergence Station – are totally immersive, explorable environments; potential puzzles with discoverable backstories and vast lore; trippy, artistic, home-grown, artist-led, locally-sourced, completely-original universes designed for visitors to get lost, climb, slide, dance, relax, feel, and try something new.

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October 12, 2022May 8, 2024

Universal Alignment: The Build-Up To Universal’s New Epic Theme Park… And Why Disney Doesn’t Seem Too Worried

It’s been decades since either Disney or Universal opened a new theme park on American soil… and in those decades, game-changing innovations in ride systems, guest-facing technology, and industry best-practices have changed by leaps and bounds.

Now, just over the horizon, those decades of innovation and imagination appear ready to coalesce on the first from-scractch major U.S. park born after the Wizarding World reset the rules of themed design. Universal’s Epic Universe looks to be a best-of, portfolio-defining park maked by immersive, blockbuster themed lands and cutting edge E-Tickets based on some of the world’s highest-earning franchises.

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September 22, 2022May 2, 2024

California Dreamin’: An Armchair-Imagineered, Master-Planned Build-Out of Disney California Adventure Park

“Armchair Imagineering.” For Disney Parks fans, it’s a skill that’s learned early, and practiced often. Almost inescapably, theme park aficianados can’t help but to imagine what could be; what should be; what we would do if we were given creative control of a theme park we love and an unlimited budget to make it happen.

And once in a while, we finally decide to put our ideas down and make them real. That’s exactly what lead to this project: my armchair-Imagineered, fully-matured, Blue Sky version of California Adventure. (It’s not the only “Blue Sky Build-Out” I’ve created! You can check out my reimagined version of Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Twitter, and my from-scratch plans for a whole new Disney Park – Fantastic Worlds – here on Park Lore.)

I should say before I even begin that no one “armchair Imagineers” better than S.W. Wilson, whose blog – Ideal Build-Out – contains work that is not only jaw-droppingly, stomach-churningly enviable, but almost inconcievably professional. Be sure to bookmark that blog, and follow @buildoutideal on Twitter for incredible park concepts.

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July 27, 2022May 8, 2024

FANTASTIC WORLDS: A Land-by-Land Tour of Park Lore’s Blue Sky, Built-Out, Armchair Imagineered Disney Park

You know that park that lives entirely in your head? The one you’ve dreamed of and daydreamed and doodled to perfection? The one you’ve “armchair Imagineered” to such detail, you feel as if it could be a real place? After many, many years of sketching it and rearranging its pieces and adding and subtracting, I decided it was time to write mine down.

Welcome to Disney Fantastic Worlds – my first from-scratch theme park both in real life (where I started doodling the basics of this park a decade ago) and for Park Lore.

Let me say now that this feature will doubtlessly be the longest I’ve ever written for Park Lore. Together, we’ll travel from land-to-land, uncovering the Pitch, Inspiration & Concept, and Experience of each of this imaginary park’s nine lands. I may not be able to make this place as real in your mind as it is in mine, but I really intend to try! If you’d rather skim through the big stuff, you can read a Twitter-condensed version here. But if you’re interested in hearing some of my inspiration and reasoning and behind-the-scenes thinking about how this park came together, settle in!

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June 2, 2022July 25, 2024

Secrets of the Resistance: Inside the Imagineering Tricks That Bring Disney’s Greatest Modern Dark Ride to Life

There’s never been an attraction anywhere on Earth quite like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – nothing as massively scaled; nothing as committed to immersion; nothing as filled with inexplicable, impossible, and ingenious Imagineering moments. More than an E-Ticket, this next-generation experience is one-of-a-kind… and yet, it’s made possible entirely by the Imagineering landmarks that have come before.

Today, we’ll set off into Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to explore nine of this ride’s most surprising moments and inexplicable surprises. So be warned: if you haven’t experienced this 21st century masterpiece – or if you don’t want its jaw-dropping effects spoiled by learning their inner workings – maybe instead make your way to another in-depth feature.

For those who are ready to set off from Batuu and take on the might of the First Order, hold on tight. To uncover the Secrets of the Resistance, we’ll walk through the Rise experience from beginning to end, describe how its greatest tricks work, and explore the Imagineering “ingredients” – the prototypes and precedents – that add up to make this once-in-a-lifetime ride possible.

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May 19, 2022May 30, 2024

ONE & ONLY: Illustrating the Ride Layouts of Disney Imagineering’s One-of-a-Kind “Bucket List” Landmarks

In case this is your first visit to Park Lore, let me catch you up! For over a decade, I’ve been writing, assembling, and adding to an all-in-one-place collection of the stories behind the rides we love. From closed, classic Lost Legends to never-built Possibilitylands; the lessons learned from Declassified Disasters to the wonders that await inside Modern Marvels, this interconnected, in-depth collection is all about seeing the parks we love differently – all supported by Members instead of ads and clickbait!

Earlier this year, I launched a new initiative to “paint the picture” of theme park attractions… literally. So far, I’ve hand-illustrated about 100 ride layouts representing attractions across six countries! My first batch – THEN & NOW – explored how attraction designers re-use the same physical spaces to develop entirely unique experiences; then, the HERE & THERE collection saw how the same ride can be “translated” differently to new parks, new spaces, and even new cultures.

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April 12, 2022June 18, 2024

HERE & THERE: Illustrating and Comparing Disney Theme Parks’ Ride Layouts From Around the Globe

By now you might’ve noticed that Park Lore is all about seeing theme parks differently. In over a hundred in-depth stories, we’ve covered the tales of Lost Legends, Modern Marvels, Declassified Disasters, and never-built Possibilitylands from across the world and industry. In other words, I love an 8,000 word deep dive into the making of an Imagineering classic… but sometimes the best way to understand an attraction is to see how it all fits together.

Earlier this year, I published THEN & NOW – a collection of 50 hand-illustrated ride layouts to compare the before-and-after of Disney and Universal’s most legendary closed attractions and their modern-day replacements. You made my year by sharing those layouts, asking to use them in your own projects, and even becoming supporting Members at Park Lore for $2 a month or more to help sustain this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity theme park storytelling project.

Because of the support of Park Lore Members, I’m able to introduce my next batch of ride layouts that I hope can “paint the picture” of another subset of Disney Parks attractions – the ones shared between HERE & THERE. The sets of rides below reveal just how much rides can evolve as they travel around the world, adapting to new spaces, new parks, new budgets, and even new cultures.

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March 17, 2022June 4, 2024

THEN & NOW: Illustrating the Before-and-After Ride Layouts of Theme Parks’ Lost Legends and Closed Classics

If you’ve spent much time around here, you know that for a decade, I’ve been trying to “paint the picture” of attractions – how they came to be, what they’re like to experience, and how they evolve. Our interconnected, inclusive collections of ride histories include the stories of closed, classic Lost Legends, cutting-edge Modern Marvels, cringe-worthy Declassified Disasters, and never-built Possibilitylands – each of which (I hope!) helps spark memories and preserve these rides for future generations of fans.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then hopefully my next major project here at Park Lore makes sparking those memories a whole lot easier to do! I couldn’t be more excited to launch a new, growing, comprehensive, and interconnected portfolio of hand-drawn ride layouts representing attractions from around the globe! With over 100 layouts across three collections, I’m hopeful that these floor plans become a useful tool for all of us when it comes to telling the stories of the rides, parks, and industry we love.

(I’ve made the full, HD versions available on Park Lore’s Flickr with a CC BY-ND Creative Commons license so they can be shared and distributed.)

First up, THEN & NOW – a series of hand-drawn ride layouts dedicated to exploring how the same physical space can house vastly different experiences… Be warned that this series highlights closed, fan-favorite rides and their (sometimes inferior) replacements, so have your tissues ready. But if you can bear to use the slider in each pair to explore these spaces, you may be surprised the context it adds to both the before and after…

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November 12, 2021June 23, 2024

Disney+ Parks: Thoughts on the Increasingly Interchangeable Identities and Diminishing Themes of the Disney Parks

theme [theem], n., a unifying idea; the deeper meaning; the thing that a story is about.

Once upon what feels like a very long time ago, each of Walt Disney World’s four theme parks was imbued with its own theme; a concise identity; a clear vision of what, exactly, it was about. Make no mistake, when Imagineers discuss “theme,” they don’t mean decoration, or props, or intellectual property; they mean an underlying, unifying idea; even a message. Theme with a capital-T, if you will.

Consider the Theme underlying each of Disney’s parks at the time of its opening. Magic Kingdom was fantasy made real; EPCOT was reality made fantastic; The Disney-MGM Studios was about the romance and reality of Hollywood; Animal Kingdom, an embodiment of the supreme and untradeable value of nature. In the design and development of each park, each had an identity – one distinct from the others and wholly its own – that not only informed the attractions and environments within, but set a bar for, protected against, and served as stalwart gatekeeper to would-be interlopers.

It’s clear today that Walt Disney World’s four theme parks are four very different places built at four different times and with four different visions. (Few would stand in EPCOT believing they were in Animal Kingdom.) But beyond the decoration, are they really about four different things? Does each sum up to have something uniquely big – or for that matter, anything at all – to say? Or have Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars created an era of interchangeable “Disney+ Parks” differentiated only by their decoration?

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