“Here you leave today and enter the worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.” Since 1955, those words have welcomed guests into Disneyland, and their spirit pervades Disney theme parks across the globe. Filled with artistry, history, and memories, each of them is, in some ways, alive, with its own unique personality.
At Park Lore, I’ve been working on a very, very niche personal art project that I’m excited to finally share: a look at the histories and personalities of the theme parks we love… as told by their pathways. Made possible by the support of Park Lore members, each of the hand-drawn illustrations you’ll find below is part mathematical model, part artistic abstraction; colorful lines that would be meaningless to most, but that can be mapped with memories for some! I sure hope they connect with you and inspire you to see each park’s story in a new light…
By now, we all know the story – in the 2010 wake of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it was clear that the theme park industry had been changed forever. The age of the “Living Land” had arrived, and theme park operators raced to choose, purchase, or license the biggest intellectual properties they could find in (or out of) their home-grown studio catalogs.
As the story goes, seeing guests line up for shops and restaurants in Universal’s Hogsmeade lit a fire under Disney that had not been seen in decades. The first Disney-distributed Marvel film was still a year away; the company’s purchase of Lucasfilm, two years away. So there, sensing a seismic shift to the business, Disney looked around for something – anything! – Potter-sized to bring to its parks. And in 2010, nothing was bigger than Avatar.
Image: 20th Century Studios
The James Cameron film had spent the year breaking every conceivable record. Its box office ultimately topped $2.7 billion – an unthinkable sum even today, when billion-dollar blockbusters are still rare. Avatar had captured the globe. A first wide-release modern 3D film, it was a sensation; a CGI big screen event that few had ever seen on such a scale before. If you didn’t see Avatar, you were out of the loop. And that meant that Disney’s 2011 announcement – that it had acquired the worldwide, global rights to build theme park attractions based on the 20th Century Fox film – was a major win… Right?
The Anti-Avatar Club
Image: 20th Century Studios / Lightstorm
To be clear, there was pretty immediate pushback to Disney’s September 2011 announcement. Though the deal had only been secured days earlier, we already knew the first output: a full, permanent Avatar land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. That, of course, ruffled feathers.
Did a PG-13 sci-fi action film really belong at Disney’s Animal Kingdom? For that matter, how would a fictional alien moon besieged by a human-led military assault for mineral resources seen in the film translate to a theme park at all? Who would want to visit a war-torn Pandora? What made this one-year-old film worthy of a permanent land besides its box office? And why should Disney’s purest and most beautiful theme park be burdened with a land themed to a 20th Century Fox war movie?
Image: 20th Century Studios
It was clear that fans weren’t thrilled about the project that would become Pandora: The World of Avatar. And though it sounds short-sighted in retrospect, anyone who was a fan of the parks in the early 2010s will tell you: we were all on the Anti-Avatar bandwagon. It seemed like the wrong time, place, and property; like this was an unproven IP that didn’t deserve a permanent land. And adding even more complexity to the situation, something unprecedented happened to Avatar: it disappeared.
Seriously, most of the 2010s were filled with online think pieces that basically wondered aloud: Why Doesn’t Anyone Care About The Biggest Film of All Time? Just about everyone had seenAvatar; but no one seemed to remember it. An easy test was to ask a room of friends if they could recall the movie’s plot; quote a single memorable line; even name the main character.
Image: Disney
It seemed true that Disney’s big bet on Avatar had been a dud. Especially if an Avatar area was supposed to be Disney’s answer to Harry Potter, even a few years had revealed that the biggest movie of all time still didn’t stand a chance next to the “boy wizard.” Even as the first concept art and models of the land were revealed in 2013, skepticism remained high.
As Avatar fell further from pop culture memory year after year after year, fans began to cross their fingers that Disney was noticing Avatar‘s lack of staying power. Rumors began to mount that internally, Disney regretted their deal; that James Cameron’s infamous difficulty to work with was wearing on Imagineering; that Disney toured the rights-holders to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings around Animal Kingdom, perhaps as a signal to Cameron that if he didn’t play ball, an IP-infused version of the park’s never-built Beastly Kingdom might indeed rise instead of an Avatar land.
A sequel – initially set for 2014 – didn’t materialize. Even so, Cameron announced that instead of the two follow-up films he’d initially announced, Avatar would now have no less than five sequels. It was almost laughable, starting a whole new round of mockery. In the midst of the world forgetting about Avatar, who cared about an Avatar sequel, much less five of them?! Sure, the first film had made more money than any other – probably on the back of inflated 3D ticket prices and vital, gotta-see-it CGI appeal… but a second film wouldn’t have the same built-in, billion-dollar guarantee, especially if no one cared about or remembered the characters or plot.
Image: Disney / Lightstorm
But after three years of silence, Camp Minnie-Mickey closed… and it seemed inevitable that a still-unnamed Avatar land was coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, like it or not. Though we all know how that went, on the next page, we’ll dissect the worries around Avatar 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and decide if Avatar is over… again.
It wasn’t too long ago that a theme park attraction was lifeless without Audio-Animatronics. In fact, the number and complexity of these robotic animated figures was often proportional to a ride’s budget and success! Put simply: if you wanted to blow audiences away, animatronics figures were the way to do it.
Believe it or not, it was less than 15 years ago that the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter changed the game for theme parks. Since then, a global race to build immersive, plucked-from-the-screen lands has been on, with operators racing to build worlds based on high-earning blockbuster franchises. From Hogsmeade to Batuu, Diagon Alley to Radiator Springs, Super Mario World to Avengers Campus, Pandora to Arendelle, the battle of the “Living Lands” is still in full force.
Now, Disney’s next entry in this expanding collection of cinematic theme park lands is readying for its big debut… but for several reasons, fans are divided on whether or not this one should make the jump back to Walt Disney World… What do you think?
Theme parks are living creatures. Sure, they grow and change and “will never be complete…” But even more, they’re made of complex systems and elements all working together so effortlessly, you may not even realize they’re working at all. Berms act as skin, insulating parks from the sights of the outside world; intuitive layouts are a skeleton, giving the park structure; pathways act as veins and arteries, pulsing guests instead of blood; restrooms are… Well…
Disney Parks really are magical, happy places. But ask any fan and they’ll tell you – they’re far from perfect.
Don’t take it from us – Walt agreed! The idea that “Disneyland will never be complete” or the power of “moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things…” It all comes down to the idea that there are always ways to “plus” the parks we love.
Today, we wanted to highlight the one big way we think Disney could bring each of its six U.S. theme parks to the next level. We’re not saying these “fixes” would be easy, but in terms of the path to improve each park, these feel like must-haves. What do you think? What other big, strategic changes would make your favorite theme park a better place to be?
But there is one place where Disneyland majorly fails: crowds. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Part of what makes Disneyland so wonderful is its “naivete.” Disneyland’s designers were literally inventing the tenets of the modern “theme park” as they went. To this day, you can see that innocence in the park’s paths. It’s why people describe Disneyland as “charming” and “cozy” and “quaint” compared to Magic Kingdom’s master-planned, mathematical precision. But since about 2005, those “adorable” paths have become more like clogged arteries, with infamous, uncomfortable, and downright unsafe pinch points in Tomorrowland, New Orleans Square, and Adventureland.
Ahead of the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disney launched “Project Stardust” – a park-wide capacity initiative meant to ready the mid-century park for the onslaught of modern crowds sure to descend on the new land. Project Stardust saw curbs cut, benches hauled away, and planters paved over in an attempt to widen pathways by even a few square feet. That physical effort (which most recently includes the removal of the Tarzan’s Treehouse entry, above, and a reconfiguring of Tomorrowland’s entrance) is ongoing.
Meanwhile, fans spent the better part of the 2000s begging for a programmatic effort to limit the park’s crowding – calls to get rid of FastPass, institute daily attendance caps, and to outright abolish the California Resort’s million-strong Annual Pass program and its accessible monthly-payment plans were frequent favorites.
Image: Disney
But of course, all three happened in 2021 when the parks re-opened after a 14-month pandemic closure… And at least for a while, it worked! But Disney swiftly swapped out APs, FastPass, and low pandemic demand for Magic Keys, Genie+, and Park Reservations, basically recreating the same experience as old, just with more frustration and money. (Though the Park Reservation system at least sounds like it would exist to do what guests have been asking for for years, the park feels more crowded than ever… Which suggests that Disney is using the Park Reservation system for something, but that thing sure ain’t guest satisfcation, meaning all the frustration of securing a reservation doesn’t result in a better experience once you arrive.)
Look – this isn’t an easy puzzle. Disneyland has an enormous ride capacity, but a relatively small physical capacity. It has massive demand, but ultimately relies on low-yield locals who want to use it as a gathering place or dinner spot. It’s got significant revenue potential, but can’t take its foot entirely off the dock of annual passholders who pay relatively little yet demand unfettered access (and are currently suing to get it). So what can Disneyland do? If you’ve got the answer, tell us. Because so far, even Disney can’t seem to figure it out.
2. California Adventure – More E-Tickets
Image: Disney
Compared to Disney World’s second, third, and fourth gate, Disney California Adventure actually has a relatively large ride count (with twice as many rides as Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom). Of course, a large portion of that comes from the family flat rides in the park’s pier area (a yo-yo swing, a carousel, a parachute tower, a balloon race spinner, a Ferris wheel, and a Golden Zephyr) and the two sizable family rides in Cars Land (Junkyard Jamboree and Rollickin’ Roadsters).
So despite its sizable ride count, California Adventure has about as many E-Tickets as any other non-castle park. A few of those are even significant, one-of-a-kind rides, like Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! and the Modern Marvel: Radiator Springs Racers. But anyone who’s visited the Disneyland Resort with a multi-day ticket knows that even though it’s a very nice park with some very nice lands, California Adventure is still very much in need of more to do… and primarily, more E-Tickets.
Image: Disney
Let’s face it: just as EPCOT will never surpass Magic Kingdom in attendance (or even get close), California Adventure will always play second fiddle to its sister. And like EPCOT, maybe that’s okay! “DCA 2.0” was the first step in turning California Adventure into a fitting counterpart and complement to Disneyland; a younger sister, but a sister nonetheless.
Sure, investment in California Adventure has continued, but in an odd era of “cheap and cheerful” overlays and character-infusions like Mission: BREAKOUT and Pixar Pier, none of which have actually added to the park’s ride count or capacity. Even the new Avengers Campus (whose one new ride technically replaces three in “a bug’s land”; a net loss) has gotten lukewarm reception, and despite its 2021 opening, it would be a stretch to call California Adventure a “full-day park.”
California Adventure needs more to do in general, but it could really use, say, 3 E-Tickets and 2 D-Tickets. That’s why Disneyland fans are absolutely flummoxed trying to figure out why Disney would add Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway to Disneyland – which is already stuffed with more E-Tickets than any other Disney Park! – instead of adding it to California Adventure’s Hollywoodland where it would both make sense and be needed.
Image: Disney / Marvel
Similarly, it’s totally frustrating that the announced-but-unbuilt Avengers “U-Ticket” ride wasn’t the very first thing put back into development post-COVID. (Instead, it’s allegedly been canceled altogether, to be replaced by a much smaller and less ambitious attraction.)
And listen. We get it. Disney has probably spent $3 billion on California Adventure in the last two decades – a more sizable investment, with a clearer plan, in a shorter time frame than any Disney Parks project… not to mention, a scale and scope that EPCOT or Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom or Walt Disney Studios fans could only dream of. But this is a park that’s got so much potential, and at least knowing it was on a path toward a built-out, E-Ticket-rich future would be such a relief. Until then, you’ll have to daydream with us and our plan for what could be…
3. Magic Kingdom – Something Original
Image: Disney
You can discover a lot about a park when you set out to see it in a new way. That’s what led to our Comparing Kingdoms feature, including a unique, hand-drawn, absolutely mesmerizing six-way Venn diagram that compares the ride lineups of all six “Castle Parks” on Earth.
One of the most surprising revelations from that diagram is just how unoriginal Magic Kingdom is. It has only three rides that no other resort can claim. Magic Kingdom’s true, one-of-a-kind exclusives are the Carousel of Progress, the PeopleMover, and Goofy’s Barnstormer. The former two are obviously legends; classics; beloved fan favorites! But if we’re being honest, Magic Kingdom does not have that one-of-a-kind, must-see ride that would draw folks from around the globe. It’s 100% “Disney Classics” without the “edge” or the “experimentation” or the “PG” or the “cutting edge” that other “Castle Parks” offer.
Think about it: Disneyland has Indiana Jones Adventure and Matterhorn and its historic dark rides. Tokyo has Pooh’s Hunny Hunt and the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast and Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek. Paris has Phantom Manor and Space Mountain. Shanghai has Pirates and TRON and Roaring River. Even little Hong Kong has Mystic Manor and Iron Man Experience and Big Grizzly Mountain.
Image: Disney
We get it – Magic Kingdom is Magic Kingdom. It’s the number one most-visited park in the world, and probably will be for a very long time. But in a nutshell, that’s the issue. On one hand, Disney doesn’t feel the need to “plus” Magic Kingdom, because there’s no need to. On the other hand, any capital projects Disney World does greenlight (and certainly, anything Marvel or Star Wars or “PG-13”) are diverted to its other three theme parks which have far, far fewer rides and need the marketing boost more badly. So, you know, it makes sense.
But a walk through our Possibilityland: Magic Kingdom feature will show you just what a multiversal variant of the Magic Kingdom could be, with Fire Mountain or the Western River Expedition or even an R-Rated Alien ride that would give the park a major personality boost and a much-needed defining ride. Same goes for fan daydreams of a Tangled land that would be exclusive to the park. Just something that can only be found there…
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.
If you’ve spent much time around here, you know than 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…
Counting a park’s dark rides isn’t easy, and it isn’t objective. Traditionally, a “dark ride” is a genre of amusement park ride wherein riders travel through indoor, painted or projected, theatrically-lit scenes. But in the 21st century, it’s a lot more complicated than that… So before we can count, we need to establish a definition…
It only takes two words to tear open the multiverse of Imagineering: “What if…?” After all, the archives of WDI are overflowing with concepts that almost came to be. Here at Park Lore, our Possibilityland collection is filled with in-depth stories detailing never-built, could-be classics from the Western River Expedition to the Enchanted Snow Palace;…
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.
