Telling the story of Disney and Universal’s theme parks isn’t easy. Some of these are parks have lifetimes now measured in decades, generations, or human lifespans. Like people, their stories are full of growth, change, “phases,” mistakes, reversals, triumphs – and often, core pieces of their identities that tend to stick around for their whole lives even as they change and arrange around them.
Over the years, I’ve tried to create unusual new “lenses” to see these parks – from the “personalities” told by their pathways to their ride count relationships; diagrams of how their ride lineups compare to unexpected timelines; leaps into “armchair Imagineered” futures, to hand-illustrated layouts of their rides. Each only captures a small piece of the real story of how these parks evolve over their lifetimes. Today, I want to introduce another.
I call these diagrams LANDLINES – timelines of the lands that have come and gone from each of these parks. My hope is that these “zoomed out” views of the spaces inside of these parks will provide yet another lens to tell their stories; ways for even us diehard fans to somehow see the parks a little differently. I hope you enjoy.
This in-depth article is just one entry in Park Lore’s one-of-a-kind Special Features collection, where we explore the threads that connect between rides, parks, and pop culture! From Imagineering’s secret Society of Explorers and Adventurers, to the history of Chuck E. Cheese; from Disney and Universal’s AVENGERS: “Custody War” to the two-part tale of animation’s rebirth in the generation-defining ’90s Disney Renaissance!
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