Armchair Imagineering Archives

October 28, 2023December 30, 2023

Reimagining Magic Kingdom: An Armchair-Imagineered Blue Sky Build-Out of Walt Disney World’s Iconic Theme Park

“Armchair Imagineering.” For Disney Parks fans, it’s a skill that’s learned early, and practiced often. Almost inescapably, theme park aficionados can’t help but to imagine what could be; what we think 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.

If you’ve been around Park Lore for long, you might have already stumbled on my hand-illustrated, ideal build-outs of Disney California Adventure, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Universal’s Islands of Adventure. It takes dozens of hours over the course of months to draft out these imaginary redesigns, so it’s probably no surprise that those park build-outs are some of the projects here at Park Lore that I’m most proud of, and reader comments, private emails, and shares on social media regarding them are some of the kindest, most creative, and most thoughtful feedback I ever receive.

So I guess all of that fueled me enough to finally do something I never thought I would: to tackle a “Castle Park.” And not just any Castle Park…

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January 4, 2023October 25, 2023

Islands of Adventure: A Blue Sky, Armchair Imagineered Build-Out of Universal Orlando’s Storied Second Gate

When I started Park Lore, I really hoped that this site would become the place on the Internet to read in-depth but accessible theme park and ride histories; a sort of deep dive library where you could get lost in the interconnected stories of Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, never-built Possibilitylands, and more… I’ve also written hundreds of quick-read Extra Features, and dozens of in-depth Special Features reserved just for those who support this project with Memberships.

Three years and hundreds in-depth stories later, I’m still proud of those evolving stories… but I think I see a bigger picture now. As simple as it may seem, my Park Paths series and my Comparing Kingdoms diagram seemed to make a lot of people happy, and change the way they thought about the parks they know so well. Then, I hand-drew over a hundred detailed ride layouts, trying to create a cohesive, colorful collection that would help “paint the picture” of the parks in a new way.

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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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September 22, 2022February 1, 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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