If you think cloning is a divisive topic in the fields of genetics and biology, you haven’t broached the subject with theme park fans! In fact, what theme park enthusiasts call “cloning” has a long and storied past with Disney Parks, at least dating back to the design of Magic Kingdom. There, many of Disneyland’s classics were merely “copied and pasted,” albeit in entirely new contexts and often with the kinds of minor (and sometimes major) changes dictated by hindsight and budgets.
Today, cloning is a touchy subject because – by and large – Imagineering fans are torn between two extremes. In short, everyone wants “their” resort to keep its coolest rides exclusive, but to get the coolest rides from every other resort! It’s why Disneyland fans bristle at the thought of Cars Land being “soullessly copied” to Florida, but relish in recieving Runaway Railway; why Disney World loyalists would sooner die than see Pandora plopped down in California, but really, really want Indiana Jones Adventure.
Image: Disney
For today’s Imagineers, “cloning” takes many forms. Often, it involves multiple parks sharing research and development costs to set functionally-identical rides down into several resorts at once. Even then, by the way, they may still be presented very differently, attuned to their location in each park. (Look at Toy Story Mania, STAR TOURS, Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, and Little Mermaid dark rides.)
Sometimes, cloning is kicked off when a ride is a surprise hit, spreading one-by-one to other resorts who want a piece of the pie. (See, Big Thunder Mountain, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Soarin’, or Frozen Ever After).
Image: Disney
Adding to the confusion, sometimes rides that are clones aren’t really clones at all (like how almost every Disneyland-style park has a Buzz Lightyear dark ride and a Winnie the Pooh dark ride, but none are actually identical to each other).
And even when attractions are “cloned,” they’re very rarely clones at all (though maybe it’s a little too nuanced to point out how Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was painted entirely differently in Orlando to compensate for Floridian sun.)
In other words, all “cloning” is not equal. But one of the strangest “clone” relationships you’ll find in Disney Parks are clones that most guests – even those who’ve ridden both – would never think are duplicates. Below are six pairs of attractions that are practically identical on the inside but so different on the outside, you may not even notice it. Though these rides technically are (more or less) bolt-for-bolt duplicates of one another, their dressings make these clones disguised in plain sight…
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.
From gliding through the skies to churning beneath the waves; off-roading troop transports to effortless Doom Buggies; spinning SCOOPS to flying benches… we celebrated the most spectacular ride systems ever developed in our special Seven Modern Wonders of the Theme Park World feature…
But in all the decades of innovation that have created new ways to whisk guests away into haunted mansions, ancient temples, comic book cityscapes, and underwater caves, there are still spectacular attractions scattered around Disney and Universal parks using a much simpler mode of transportation: your own two feet.
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.
Disney Parks are big places. In the shadow of Cinderella Castle, Spaceship Earth, Grizzly Peak, or the Tree of Life, it’s only natural that guests might begin to feel small. But some Imagineering experiences around the globe take that to the extreme!
In fact, it may feel that a day at a Disney Park simply isn’t complete without suddenly becoming the size of a toy, rat, or ant at least once. But just how small can you get? Join us as we progressively shrink down through ten miniaturizing Disney Parks attractions that make guests smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Which of these attractions succeed most at transporting guests to an oversized world? We’ll leave that for you to decide… Just let us know your thoughts 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.
For most of Disney Parks history, some of the greatest thrills, most breathtaking attractions, and most memorable E-Ticket anchors have had one thing in common: they’ve been built around a literal mountain range of Disney-designed peaks. From the snowcapped cols of the Himalayas to the sun-baked, sunset-hued cathetrals of the Southwest, these “peaks” of Imagineering are often rides that carry between generations, delighting young and old and – for many – serving as the first major “thrills” of a lifetime.
In this special countdown, we’ll conquer the 12 headlining Disney Parks attractions built around “mountains” to see which peaks truly come out on top. Along the way, count how many of these spectacular summits from around the globe you’ve encountered. Then, be sure to use the comments to share your thoughts on Disney’s decades-long connection to “mountains,” and how these thrills shape the parks we know and love, and are shaped by the ebb and flow of the industry, technology, and storytelling.
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.
How are the two films in each of these pairings connected? Well… they’re not… at least, not on paper.
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.
They’re iconic for a reason. They inspire breathless wonder. They’re orienting navigational centers. They’re feats of engineering. Though they come in all shapes and sizes, park icons all have one thing in common: they come to represent a park’s stories, settings, and style in our hearts and minds. The road to icon status isn’t always easy, as you might have read in our complementary list of Demoted and Demolished Lost Disney Parks icons.
Below, we’ve collected eleven of the most memorable, photogenic, and widely recognized theme park icons on Earth (in order of their introduction). Which have you seen? Which strike the greatest emotional and adventurous chord in you? Tell us in the comments.
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.
At the end of the day, theme parks are in the business of deception. Of course, we don’t mean shoddy business practices and questionable pricing schemes. We mean that, from the earliest days, rides have sought to bamboozle and impress riders with simple tricks. Just using light, sound, and special effects, stories can come to life in awe-inspiring moments that cause guests to say, “How’d they do that?!”
Here, we’ve collected 10 of the most confounding special effects we could think of from today’s big rides. We’re sure there are others, but we’re just too speechless right now to think of them. For a few of these special effects, we’re able to give you a little insight into how they work. For others, we’re just not sure.
Either way, we’ve linked each entry to a YouTube video fast-forwarded to the special effect’s starring moment, as well as any behind-the-scenes videos we could uncover that explain the effect. It should go without saying that major spoilers lay beyond, in the videos and in the entries. If you’d rather not know, don’t read a word farther. Still with us? Okay. Read on and tell us which of these secrets left you speechless and which were easy enough to know in your first ride-through.
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!
1. The Disappearing Idol
Attraction: Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea What Guests See: Video How It Works: Video
New Years Eve, 1899. The boisterous Harrison Hightower III – proprietor of New York’s fabled Hightower Hotel – is throwing his annual New Years Eve gala to celebrate the scores of ancient artifacts he’s “collected” (read: stolen) over the course of the year. His newest find is the supposedly-cursed African idol, Shiriki Utundu. Mr. Hightower, though, is not afraid of the idol’s legend. To prove it, he puts his cigar out on Shiriki’s head before retiring to his penthouse. Suffice it to say, the elevator never made it to the thirteenth story…
Now, it’s the 1920s. New York is roaring, but the Hightower Hotel still sits, windows smashed and abandoned, overlooking the city’s harbor. To save the historic hotel from the wrecking ball, the New York Preservation Society is running tours of the so-called “Tower of Terror,” including a look into Hightower’s Hotel, where Shiriki still stands on an elegant marble column over his desk.
This, of course, is the pre-show for Tokyo DisneySea’s one-of-a-kind Modern Marvel: Tower of Terror, replacing the Twilight Zone-tinged “library” scene in the other two Towers worldwide… but something here is different. After a stained glass window comes to life and tells the tale, Shiriki awakens. As eerie music-box music plays, his eyes scan the crowd. Shiriki cackles and the lights dim, leaving only its Cheshire Cat-like smile as the rest of its body turns to stars. In a micro-second, the lights come up and Shiriki is gone, ready to meet you farther into the hotel.
HOW IT WORKS – Tap to expand
How It Works: The surprising effect is surprisingly simple. As you might imagine, the Shiriki Utundu statue disappears by sinking down into the pedestal. What’s impressive here is the mix of light, sound, and projection that makes the disappearance silent, seamless, and spooky. In person, it’s sincerely a stunning event that feels inexplicable.
2. The 40-Story Freefall
Image: Universal / Marvel
Attraction: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Universal’s Islands of Adventure) What Guests See: Video
That dastardly Doc Ock and his Sinister Syndicate are at it again. This time, they’ve stolen the Statue of Liberty thanks to a glowing green Antigravity Cannon. When you stumble (loudly) into their secret warehouse, the villains race off to stop you from escaping with their secrets. As Doc Ock fires, he levitates Lady Liberty’s giant glowing head directly over you as you narrowly escape. But not for long. The ride’s exciting conclusion sees the good Doctor hit his target, as your helpless SCOOP begins to rise up through the skyscrapers with Spider-Man webbing helplessly after.
Ultimately, what goes up must come down, and after a ringside floating seat to Spidey’s showdown, the Antigravity Cannon reverses. The SCOOP slams against a rooftops and ricochets, falling precariously to the earth below as riders scream and grab for the safety restraint. Of course, a last-minute web catches you as you hurtle down and plops you back onto the road for a congratulatory finale.
Image: Universal / Marvel
HOW IT WORKS
How It Works: Despite appearances, the big, 400 foot finale fall in Universal’s starring anchor attraction and Modern Marvel: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man only moves guests a few inches. The convincing trick of the “simulated freefall” might be common now thanks to its re-use on Transformers, Reign of Kong, Escape from Gringotts, the Lost Legend: Curse of DarKastle, and Ratatouille: The Adventure, but Spider-Man was the first, and its signature finale still genuinely wows audiences for its precision effectiveness.
The sophisticated process begins with the levitation, wherein air, dropping physical set pieces, and precise, subtle “weightless” motion simultation combine with screens to produce a surprisingly effective feeling of rising. Sideways sets lead to a wrap-around two-story screen that envelopes the SCOOP, leaving riders completely captive to the illusion as perfectly programmed motion, wind, and and leaning, swinging, slamming vehicle base give the sincere impression of a weightless fall. All it takes are a few physical effects and your mind fills in the rest!
3. The Vortex
Attraction: Poseidon’s Fury (Universal’s Islands of Adventure) What Guests See: The Vortex Opens
Image: Universal
What begins as a leisurely tour of an archaeological discovery goes horribly wrong when an evil high priest awakens from his cursed slumber, trapping guests in an ancient sacrificial chamber to the Dark Ones. The only way to escape is to find Poseidon’s Trident – the lost relic of the great god of the seas that will grant passage deeper into the temple; to the heart of the ocean. With Trident in hand, an ancient goddess opened the long-sealed connection to the seas: “Open up your oceans, swing wide the door! Let the waters rush and the oceans roar! For now is the time, with fortune unplanned, your Trident comes home – returned to your hand.”
As music crescendoes and the ancient stone tumblers of a circular portal lock into place, a door rolls aside, revealing the Vortex – a 40-foot-long tunnel formed by a tidal wave overtaking it, creating a continuous passage of water swirling infinitely around guests. The incredible, awe-inspiring effect is at the heart of the Declassified Disaster: Poseidon’s Fury, and as our in-depth look into the attraction reveals, it’s the reason Poseidon’s Fury exists at all.
HOW IT WORKS
How It Works: Poseidon’s Fury – and especially its iconic Vortex – was one piece of the pie that gave Islands of Adventure its “most technologically advanced theme park on Earth” moniker when the park opened in 1999. However, the effect was years in development by special effects company Technifex before its debut.
The effect is achieved by blasting water at 100 miles per hour (the speed needed for it to adhere to the tunnel’s wide diameter) as guests step along a bridge through the center. You can touch the water, but it’ll blast your hand right back out. The effect is totally stunning and the attraction’s absolute highlight.
“Ancient.” You know what that means: curses, booby traps, and angry gods. We’re counting down our lists of the Wonders of the Theme Park World. If you missed our collection of the Seven “Natural” Wonders take a step back and see the incredible mountains, trees, and valleys all built by… well… we’ll call it “nature.” Then step ahead to the Seven Technological Wonders of theme parks today!
Today, we’ve got a countdown of the Seven “Ancient” Wonders of the Theme Park World. Luckily, theme parks have sprung up around these temples, citadels, and tombs, giving us the chance to see what thousands of years of history have led to. In the comments, let us know which of these Wonders you’ve seen first hand, and which ones are the most magnificent up close and personal?
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.
Whether or not you lend any credence to astrology – the practice of divining information about human matters from the patterns and movements of celestial objects – there’s one compelling connection none of us can deny: Twelve Disney Parks. Twelve signs of the Zodiac. With that idea in mind, I reached out to my longtime friend (and personal Dr. Facilier) with a penchant for the supernatural. A self-described mystic, craft artist, and witch, Desdemona Lotte also happens to be a lifelong friend and personal Dr. Facilier.
So it made sense for me to sit down with Desi for a really-for-real lesson on Astrology 101, determined to rise above “What kind of noodle are you based on your Zodiac sign” Buzzfeed quizzes to decide which Disney theme park best complements each of the twelve signs.
Much to our surprise, pairing parks with the stars worked out pretty effortlessly! Somehow, each Disney Park’s “personality” seemed to slot intuitively into a corresponding sign… (Keep in mind, direct from Ethan, that the signs we typically associate with ourselves are our “sun signs” – technically, they show us not who we are, but who we are on the way to becoming…)
Is this clear complementary relationship a product of divine intervention? We’ll let you decide… But trust us when we say that – whether you “believe” or not – looking at the parks through this lens may change the way you see their personalities, quirks, and relationships to one another…
Conflict. For most of us, it’s something we go out of our ways to avoid. Maybe that’s part of why classic attractions from Walt’s time tended to be more atmospheric than aggressive. Back then, guests rocketed through the vastness of space, sailed through exotic jungles, toured through haunted mansions, and soared over Neverland without fear for their own survival – just a few of our favorite rides where nothing goes wrong!
Beginning in the late ‘80s, though, something changed. Emerging technologies yielded the Age of the Simulator – technology capable of changing guests from mere observers to actors – turning Disney and Universal parks into places to “Ride the Movies!” Not surprisingly, the experiences then began to match the movies in an important cinematic set-up that most of us have lived a hundred times over: “…then something goes horribly wrong.”
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.
