Edited February 2019
In order to create a well themed land, various elements such as color, sound, and architecture must be perfectly balanced to create an experience that draws in visitors. One aspect of themed land design that doesn’t receive enough attention though is movement. In my opinion, movement is one of the most important parts of a land at any theme park. Technically, every area of a theme park has movement, in that there are constantly guests and cast members walking throughout it. This however is not what I mean. When I talk about movement in a themed land, I’m describing the vehicles, waterfalls, and every other moving prop in the background that is within guests’ eyesight. Large movement on this scale adds energy to the land and can even serve as the “weenie” to draw guests in. For some areas, a lack of movement can be appropriate, but there are just as many areas where it would be appropriate and cannot be found. First let’s look at some examples of where movement has been beneficial to themed lands and then some lands could use some more kinetic energy.
0 Comments
When Todd Martens published his article “This is your brain on Disneyland: A Disney addict’s quest to discover why he loves the parks so much” for the LA Times back in July, I was forwarded the article by friends and family. I wonder why? I forgot about the article until a few days ago until a friend of mine shared it on my Facebook timeline, and I read it once more. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the article as it did a great job of encapsulating all the reasons I make my repeated trips to Disneyland. It was one part of the article in particular however that caught my attention and really made me think, and it had to do with my good friend anxiety.
As a part of his research, the author of the article Todd Martens met with Irving Biederman, a professor of psychology at USC. Biederman asked Martens during their discussion ‘“Does your repeated engagement with the Disney experience stem out of anxiety or fear of less safe, less predictable settings?”’ It was this revelation by Mr. Biederman that of all things in Martens’ article really stood out to me. As someone diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and a sometimes forgetful taker of Zoloft every morning, I had never once considered the link between my love of Disneyland and anxiety. But when I think about it, it makes perfect sense. Within the ‘Disney’ fandom, there is a smaller niche group for people who specifically love the Disney Parks. If you look even deeper, you’ll find yet another niche group within the Disney Parks fan group. This group is special; their love for one park in particular is a reflection of who they are as people. At their core, these people are dreamers, futurists, and most importantly they’re optimists. That is why many of them are upset with the direction that their favorite park Epcot is heading in.
As a West Coast millennial, I obviously wasn’t around to see Epcot in the eighties, when it was still known as EPCOT Center. My earliest memories of going to Epcot includes riding Spaceship Earth, eating Italian food in the Italian pavilion, and riding Mission:SPACE over and over- and that’s about it. We rarely ever spent even half the day there. This disconnect from Epcot’s colorful history makes me an outsider to the Epcot sub-sub-fandom Edited February 2019
Some of the biggest news to rattle the Disney fandom this month was the announcement that Disney would be changing the iconic Redhead Bride Auction scene in Pirates of the Caribbean. As I’ve talked to both friends and strangers about the upcoming change, its become quite apparent that it’s going to go down as a very controversial Disney change, comparable to the Tower of Terror closure which nearly started a civil war within the Disney fan community. As for me, I see the issue from both sides. On the one hand, I strongly believe in maintaining Disney Parks history. Pirates of the Caribbean is a fan-favorite, and is usually closely tied with The Haunted Mansion for being the favorite ride of Disney fans. Pirates was also the last ride Walt worked on himself before his death, and so for both fans and Imagineers, it’s a special ride because it has the Walt touch. Changing the bride auction scene has been called a betrayal to Walt, and evidence that overly PC society is ruining a classic piece of entertainment. On the other hand, it is literally a scene of men selling a woman into marriage, a practice that is considered to be barbarian to modern audiences. It also delivers a message to children that selling women is comical. |