Welcome to the Parkscope Unprofessional Podcast Hour, your #1 Yusuf Islam and folk podcast! In this week's episode, we discuss Disneyland canceling annual passes and the future of that program before doing a deep dive into Las Vegas' lost history of themed entertainment. We discuss how Vegas ended up in the position it found itself in the 80s, the Mirage, free entertainment, lost attractions, closed parks, where things went wrong, and more.
Disneyland and Disney Hollywood Studios' newest expansion, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (SW:GE), has led to a lot of divisive opinions. None is more divisive than the argument of why it has, at it's best, turned out to simply draw crowds close to numbers of people who came last year before the expansion was completed. Most of these discussions ultimately revolve around the fact that Rise of the Resistance, arguably Disney's most complex attraction ever constructed, will not be open for months. No Rise, no armies of humanity demanding entry.
Beyond the fact that this is not provable now given that it is a hypothesis about the future, that this is usually agreed upon doesn't necessarily mean that everyone agrees upon what that means about what presently exists at Galaxy's Edge. The land itself is completed minus Rise: it is done, and by all accounts, it looks great. You can go and see it and "fly" the Millennium Falcon, eat at Oga's Cantina, buy a Blue Milk, build a light saber, and make things beep with your phone. For those who purely want to "experience Star Wars", there really aren't any barriers beyond the expense of a one day ticket, which if we are being very frank here, anyone actively in this exorbitantly expensive hobby should have the capacity to afford.
As Galaxy's Edge has opened to guests in Florida however, there are concerns which have arisen from guests demanding the utmost in "immersion". Many revenue centers (restaurants, shops) don't feature any form of air conditioning, given that they are open air markets, so fans were frequently seen propped up in corners during the summer months. Seating is at a premium in the land, which has led Operations to go to the store and buy stock patio furniture to give people a place to sit down and eat. Much rumoured live entertainment and character interactions in the land did not appear, with Bob Chapek being blamed as some sort of villainous accountant. If the intent is absolute pitch perfect world building, these things obviously are a detriment to it as functional as they may be. This question of functionality is in fact a fundamental question about the parks themselves: What is the function of a theme park? This seems an almost ridiculously basic question, but it is rarely asked and merely accepted to be inferred as self evident. There is in fact a significant divide in this.
SW:GE is generally accepted to have been influenced by the construction of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands Of Adventure, which was the first US example of what one might term "hyperreal". Rather than produce a theme park space that was a pastiche of known entities in a safe-for-children-and-mass-tourists manner (like how Adventureland is basically every place brown people live smashed together), these new hyperreal places intend to build fully-formed worlds for people to explore and interact with. Whether that is Avatar's "interactive" sperm cannon plant, Potter's wands, or the Play Disney App in Star Wars, these places put you in your own individual role playing game (full cooperation optional) to be part of the land. That then is the point of theme parks, isn't it? To put us in foreign worlds where we get to "escape" and become someone else; to transform ourselves into junk traders and wizards and, uhhh, intergalactic tourists. Or is it?
That is perhaps what some people would like theme parks to be. The media portals we use boost the negative signals because negatives attract attention, and advertisers crave content that gets attention, creating a sort of death spiral in which no matter who you are, we are in constant global peril from some sort of existential threat. Many people are exhausted of constant worry; worry about global climate change, billionaire rapists, financial ruin due to medical bills, armed conflict, mass shooters, fentanyl, immigration, loss of individual freedoms. No matter what side of the political fence you are on, there is someone, somewhere who wants to radicalize you (and subsequently sell you media, dietary supplements, and possibly donate to a political campaign or ten) even if you are the sort of individual who has well paying work and can easily afford a luxury hobby such as "attend theme parks". These worlds are then a potential escape for you, a thoroughly psychologically taxed and beaten individual. It should be no surprise then that on Twitter, Facebook, and the like there are many, many people who relate to these parks as a form of therapy. Walt did intend for his park to be an escape from every day life. That is true. So did Walter Knott. So did literally everyone who built traditional amusement parks or zoological gardens.
And this is where the problem with this thinking lies: "immersion" is not simply a thing that exists in the confines of Disney theme parks. Modern and postmodern art has played with the interactivity of art and the public for much of the 20th century, and in the 21st century this has been taken to bold new places by the likes of Meow Wolf and teamLab, as well as theater troupes and museums. There are many places in the US with spaces reserved purely for renaissance festivals (not unlike fairgrounds, which of course they mimic the European precursor to), and Evermore Park was constructed to more impressively/permanently fulfill these role playing fantasies. Cedar Point constructed Forbidden Frontier for 2019 following the success of the Ghost Town Alive summer "game" in Knott's Berry Farm. Immersive theater has been used by the Smithsonian; Orlando has had a fairly authentic and expensive representation of ancient Israel in the Holy Land Experience for many, many years. The Ark Encounter in Kentucky? It's built to the cubit based on the descriptions in the Bible and filled with animatronics to make you know just what Noah was doing. Can't immerse more than that.
So clearly, if world construction and relocating to that fantasy is the demand, then these things must be doing strong business. Ark Encounter? Attendance there is sluggish and it would probably have shuttered inside of 5 years if not for state tax breaks. Holy Land Experience - which has never had a ride - failed financially and had to be bought out and operated by a religious TV station. Evermore is operating at a whopping three nights a week. Cedar Point announced they're going to bring back a family boat ride that just so happens to encircle where Forbidden Frontier is....on an island. That means the bridges to the island have to go. Turns out immersive themed experiences at "big iron rides" parks - no matter how well done - aren't appealing to people who don't like "big iron rides" parks since it's still a "big iron rides" park. Art installations like Otherworld in Columbus. OH or THE EXPERIENCE in Tulsa, OK are expanding, but the cost for entry in that space is dramatically lower than that of a theme park world (or theme park sized entity). And more importantly: these art installations are not theme parks.
What separates immersive art experiences from a "theme park" is that a "theme park," very specifically by the language we use, refers to themed amusement facilities. Amusement facilities have shows, rides, dancing, swimming, and so on. Theme Parks have existed for decades with people flocking to them to experience things: Country Bear Jamboree, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, just to name a few of these. Things happen around them and occasionally to them, but never do they make things truly happen. The idea of immersive world building as the future of theme parks changes this dramatically. The impact of the art is maximized by interaction with it, then the art must be encouraged to be interacted with. For those who've seen the parks as that kind of escape - a space for reinvention of themselves - this is a dream come true.
But what about everyone else? What about the people who just want to go on a ride? What about kids? Children will have the least ability to accumulate points in Galaxy's Edge compared to childless adults who use it as an after work escape, and the younger they are, the less likely that they will be turned on by a series of games and missions with such stringent rules. In creating a rich mythology for visitors, Disney imagineers have left nothing to the imagination of the guests. There is not intended to be much in terms of individual interpretation. The scenes mean what they mean; they communicate with brute force intensity. It sees the lack of narrative in Pirates of the Caribbean not as an asset, but a liability. Star Wars as a intellectual property shows this conflict in the parks as well. As bound to canon as Galaxy's Edge is, many early reviews and anecdotal evidence suggest Smuggler's Run doesn't on average receive as high of marks from guests Star Tours (a ride that plays liberally with canon).
If the functionality of theme parks is to merely to entertain rather than "immerse" in a realistic world, this wouldn't be surprising. Star Tours introduces us to old favorites and worlds we've always wanted to explore, in addition to huge battle sequences. It's been updated fairly recently and has reasonably good animation and animatronic figures aboard the craft (Smuggler's Run has one animatronic in a pre-show, and he's from a cartoon series that averaged about 3 million viewers). It hits the right notes of nostalgia (a huge part of Disney's success in general) while also providing variation in experience to draw guests back. Star Tours offers no buttons to mash and no points to get, but still manages to have an average wait not far from a half hour even after the construction of Galaxy's Edge.
Function subsequently has led to changes in form elsewhere in Disney World's Galaxy's Edge. Recently, news that menu boards would see the names of food items changed to reflect what they actually were instead of "in character" names; Fried Endorian Tip-Yip became Fried Chicken. Guests apparently had been confused by the names and cast members were complaining the refusal of paying customers to play along with the conceit of being on another planet (a planet, it should be noted, where Coca Cola and paper receipts saying the park name are apparently Star Wars canon) when attempting to spend huge amounts of money on food for their family. To an outsider, the notion that customers would be forced to change their behavior in this way is hilarious, but is largely accepted as a given by those deep in the bubble of hyperimmersion. Cast members have increasingly moved away from calling water fountains as "hydrators" and restrooms as "refreshers" given that those words mean nothing in the context of actual reality when people need to drink water.
This isn't to say that Galaxy's Edge is a total failure: while domestic park attendance dropped in spite of this massive investment, there have been increases in per capita spending related to the new restaurants and retail shops inside. And of course there's the small issue of Rise Of The Resistance not being open. Without it operating, it feels like that period of time this section is opened is more or less a control for the real experiment of "Worlds or rides?"
For all the hand wringing to the contrary, theme parks are just a subgenre of amusement park. Without the function - the rides, in this case - there's no need to see what the section has until they've arrived. If you disagree, ask yourself this: would hundreds of thousands of guests refuse to book travel to Disney if Rise of The Resistance was open but it was Oga's Cantina that was behind in development? How about if it was Droid Depot that was delayed 9 months? Do you really think if they pushed out the roving bots and doubled the number of costumed characters that it would lead to monster lines and record attendance more than if it was the 20+ minute, multi-system, multi-sensory E-ticket ride to end all E-tickets? Be honest with not just yourself but what you know about other people.
I've learned there's always someone who has the contrarian position. I once had someone on Twitter tell me they traveled to stay at Disney moderate resorts for a week and never go to the parks. To be entirely honest, that claim was mind blowing. Doesn't mean I think they're a bad person or anything (they are probably very nice people who I would bet are shy as hell in real life), but I reserve the right to question some people's life choices and what it says about the relationship they have with the rest of society. I also know that going to Disney World for a week and not going to parks because "pools" and "Disney Springs" is not standard procedure for most people who are hardened Disney fans, much less regular, normal people. There would absolutely be one or two people who would wait out Droid Depot out of 20 million. But that's what you're looking at. Theme parks can't be geared to that one or two: it has to be to the 20 million, and maybe the way guests have reacted (or not reacted) to Galaxy's Edge is the path back to that.
Parkscope YouTube is back! This week, we have FOURTEEN Travel Channel specials awaiting release, and we're going to do something a little different. Every night, for seven nights starting Sunday 8/25, we will be Premiering our videos on YouTube at 8 pm and 9 pm, Eastern Time! Join us as we revel in the latest batch of early-2000s travel special goodness! If you miss the theme park specials of 2001/2002, you will have an EPIC amount of fun over the next week, at a time when cable TV is really boring and unfulfilling! It's a win/win for you! Every night we will reveal the next night's two video releases, so check back every day here to Parkscope.net!
"A man-made mountain that erupts on cue. Strange and exotic lands. Ancient civilizations brought back to life. You're looking at the most ambitious theme park in the world: DisneySea, Tokyo. The best-kept secret in the Far East. Until now. In a world exclusive, Travel Channel's cameras are the first to be given full access to Disney's first water-based theme park. It's a front-row ticket to a multi-billion dollar adventure. It's a journey across continents and across time. We'll travel across seas, and beneath them too. It all takes place in one mega-theme park. And on this journey, nothing is as it seems!"
"Technical Wizards. Creative Masterminds. The Walt Disney Company's ultimate secret weapon. They are the artistic geniuses behind every Disney theme park experience, ride, and attraction. They're called Imagineers, and they might just have one of the best jobs in the world. We'll go inside their wonderful world of insidious elevators (Tower of Terror), realistic robotic figures (Hall of Presidents), and spectacular splashes (Splash Mountain). And, find out how they design and create the amazing rides and mind-boggling attractions that delight, thrill, and terrify the entire world. We've gone straight to the secret vault of Disney's Imagineers and uncovered footage that has never been seen before. Watch now, because we're revealing the unknown secrets behind Disney's biggest and best attractions: going inside the top-secret world of the master magicians who bring them to life. They're Disney's Imagineers!"
Parkscope YouTube is back! This week, we have FOURTEEN Travel Channel specials awaiting release, and we're going to do something a little different. Every night, for seven nights starting Sunday 8/25, we will be Premiering our videos on YouTube at 8 pm and 9 pm, Eastern Time! Join us as we revel in the latest batch of early-2000s travel special goodness! If you miss the theme park specials of 2001/2002, you will have an EPIC amount of fun over the next week, at a time when cable TV is really boring and unfulfilling! It's a win/win for you! Every night we will reveal the next night's two video releases, so check back every day here to Parkscope.net!
"Disneyland, California. The world's first modern theme park. The only Disney park that Walt Disney ever saw completed. Launched in 1955, it set the standard for theme parks, and that trend has continued to this very day. Over the years, Disneyland has had its share of changes, improvements, and growth spurts, to become what it is today: a complete vacation resort. From a Magic Kingdom, to three resort hotels, a vibrant nightlife and entertainment district, and a whole new kind of theme park: Disney's California Adventure. But how did it all come to pass? What is the story behind one of the great man-made marvels of the 20th century? Now, for the first time ever, we go back in time, and behind the scenes, to uncover the mysteries and the legends of a most extraordinary land: Disneyland."
"Fantasy. Adventure. The Mouse. Walt Disney World. Like no other place on earth, it's where people check reality at the door. Escape is the name of the game because Disney invented what everyone calls "theme parks." We go inside their fantasy world, and uncover the incredible story behind what makes Walt Disney World tick. Watch as we reveal the secrets to their success, and explore the makings of their colossal parks, thrill rides, and attractions. Forget everything you thought you knew. We're going behind the scenes, and we've got exclusive footage that has never been seen before. Join us, as we uncover the hidden world that is this Orlando-based empire, and reveal some of Disney's best-kept secrets, in Walt Disney World Resort: Behind the Scenes."
Parkscope YouTube is back! This week, we have FOURTEEN Travel Channel specials awaiting release, and we're going to do something a little different. Every night, for seven nights starting Sunday 8/25, we will be Premiering our videos on YouTube at 8 pm and 9 pm, Eastern Time! Join us as we revel in the latest batch of early-2000s travel special goodness! If you miss the theme park specials of 2001/2002, you will have an EPIC amount of fun over the next week, at a time when cable TV is really boring and unfulfilling! It's a win/win for you! Every night we will reveal the next night's two video releases, so check back every day here to Parkscope.net!
"Take one part carnival, two parts sunshine, and a whole lot of water, and stir. That's the recipe for a great boardwalk, and this show is a guide to find the very best. From the classic style of Coney Island, to the west coast pleasures of Venice Beach and Santa Monica, we'll sample the southern charms of Myrtle Beach, grab a bite in Ocean City, and visit the home of Miss America in Atlantic City. The fun starts now and you've got a front row seat to America's favorite Boardwalks!"
"California: this land of dazzling sun is literally bursting at the seams with non-stop outdoor fun, including some of the world's most spectacular theme parks. It's also the king of the roller coaster hill, with more roller coasters than any other state in the USA. How did one of America's biggest states also become the thrill ride leader? Why are California's theme parks famous around the globe? And what gives them that special cutting edge? What's the real story behind these screaming metal dynamos that overwhelm us with pleasure, and terror, all at once? It's Coasters of the West: Terrifying Thrills!"
Impromptu episode this week with Joe, Alex, and In The Loop's Andrew Hyde (@onlinehyde) to discuss some news, talk about Steel Curtain opening at Kennywood, and Disneyland's summer 2019 attendance issues.
That’s
right folks, this week you get a double-dose of YouTube magic! And if you call
in the next 5 minutes, you’ll get 100% more videos absolutely free! So what are
you waiting for? Don’t miss out on a chance of a lifetime!
In
actuality, the DVC Sales video was short enough that we felt two videos were
warranted this week. Enter one of our all-time favorites to the rescue, Disney
Sing-Along #7, that’s right, Disneyland Fun! Nostalgia romp month continues!
Some highlights
from our two videos this week:
·Member Berries Moments: Member when Old Key
West used to be The DVC Resort? Member when DVC pretended that “the magic
starts with flexibility?” (Oh wait they still pretend that? Nevermind) Member
Top of the World (footage within!)? Member when Disney used to pretend that transportation
from Old Key West was “convenient?” (Oh wait they still pretend that? Bloody
hell)
·Goofy singing songs from Snow White never
ceases to amuse
·Member the old park strollers? I think they
took some of the queue chains and steel posts and fashioned them into a serviceable
model
·Is it clever or coincidental that Disney set
the music for the Park Open Morning Mini Marathon to Step In Time?
·Member Roger Rabbit? Wait, member Roger Rabbit
again? Now he’s…wait…there he is again…member ROGER RABBIT WAS FREAKING
EVERYWHERE BUY OUR MERCHANDISE
·Note THE definitive version of Makin’ Memories. An all-time classic
·I think everyone who was young in the
early-1990s will recall the nightmares forever of the Grim Grinnin’ Ghosts segment. The foggy Mansion. The spooky tree people.
The menacing Disney villains. The Witch, Captain Hook, Big Bad Wolf, Maleficent…and
Donald with a white sheet over his head. I’m not making that up
Line up at the curb
Come on everyone
Hear the excitement
The fun has just begun!
As your Disney friends
Come dancing down the street
This sure is a show
That can’t be beat
For music and color
And laughter it brings
Toes’ll be tapping
When everybody sings
You’ll hear shouts of joy
As all your troubles fade
At the wonderful
Disneyland Parade!
And of
course the beautiful rendition of “When You Wish…” at the end, transposing a moment
of heaven that every child wished they had in 1990. Could anything be more
celestial?
A
Day at the Happiest Place on Earth is a very special item for me. This video
was released in 1993, when I was 7 years old. Our family visited Disneyland
that year, and I was just old enough to ride everything and have the absolute
time of my life. On the way out, of course, we bought this video tape, which
acted as a “This year at Disneyland” type of video souvenir. Of course, back in
the day, Disney would make different videos with original content, whereas now
they practically either copy what they did last year or simply leave the same
version on the shelf for five years. But make no mistake, these videos were
heaven on earth before the YouTube generation. This was LITERALLY the only
place to get ride-through coverage of attractions in video form, save your own
personal home movies. So every time we see a ride-through of Pirates or even
Snow White, we giddied with excitement! This video particularly stood out
because Fantasmic! was not yet a year old, and it was mind-blowing to everyone
in all the right ways. Getting home to watch the video, we were astonished and
delighted to see the extended video coverage of Fantasmic! at the end of the
presentation, which helped us relive our joy and wonder from our trip. I adored
this video and practically wore it out. I was surprised to find it in such good
condition when I finally digitized it a few weeks ago.
Rather
than write several paragraphs on each of these vacation planning early-1990s
videos (I practically said most of what I had to say in our last installment),
I’ll go over the highlights of the video:
·It always makes me smile when Mickey knows
everyone’s name, including Cast Members. As a symbolic entity he always shared certain
similarities with Santa Clause, and in this case I always felt him as the
omni-benevolent overseer of Walt’s theme parks. He can walk the park and know
everything that’s going on and he knows everyone’s name instinctively. And he’s
not above self-deprecation! Notice how he laughs at himself when he tells the
CMs there’s five minutes until park open but realizes he only has four digits
on his hand!
·Quite a bit of this video is a nostalgia romp
(check out the original DL parking marquee), but an underrated aspect of this
is the fact that we get to see all the old Costumes! I think the old parking
costumes are my favorite. Would you like fries with that?
·It makes me smile whenever we hear Jack Wagner’s
soothing tones. He makes all the park announcements throughout this video,
including park close. Most unexpected: he makes the opening safety announcement
for Fantasmic!
·For whatever reason, the voiceovers for the attraction
characters in the video are just horrific. The replacement voices for Disney
direct-to-video sequels are better. That sounds NOTHING like Jose! Paging Dan
Castellaneta!
·Is Goofy guilty of copyright infringement for
literally stealing all the skipper’s jokes on his ride through the jungle? I’d
get sued for that. But his mosquito veil is hilarious and causes him to hit the
little kid in front of him with his binoculars multiple times.
·This video has a lot of strange examples of
characters riding certain attractions that don’t really make sense
thematically. Roger Rabbit on Big Thunder Mountain? I guess? Pluto on Space
Mountain? Maybe? Chip and Dale on Mansion? Did they get lost coming from
Toontown? At least Smee and Hook on Pirates of the Caribbean makes sense. Hook
even complements them on such a “splendid job of pillage and plunder.”
·The Splash Mountain segment has the most hilarious
example of anti-continuity in the whole show. First Brer Bear is the only
character in the log, with 4 Guests sitting in front of him. Then Brer Fox
suddenly pops in when they go into the main show building. Then they both
disappear. Then they come back seated in different positions. Then Brer Rabbit
appears in the boat going down Chick-A-Pin, and the Guests have all vanished! Then
Brer Bear and Brer Fox get off the ride and curse that “next time we’ll get
that Brer Rabbit.” He was sitting in your log! How incompetent of a cartoon
villain do you have to be?! And then for some reason Mickey’s standing at the
exit and forces them into the Country Bear Playhouse! What is going on?
·Yes, the SKYWAY’s here too and gets some great
photo coverage from many parts of its ride path! And it’s the old super-technicolor
Small World!
·A good tour of the Fantasyland Classics (sans
Toad, how dare they), but what the hell background music is being played
through the Pinocchio and Snow White segments? That music has absolutely
nothing to do with the source material? Why aren’t they just playing the
original music content? IT’S DISNEY’S MUSIC! Am I missing something?
·We get a very cool tour of the new Toontown
and a peak into every attraction (except for Roger Rabbit, which possibly hadn’t
opened yet), including the fully-working Jolly Trolley!
·That Matterhorn ride is good but has some hilarious
fake screams. Like Rollercoaster Tycoon-level bad. But seriously, that ghostly
fingerprint of Harold as we ride past is LEGIT.
·The old Tomorrowland tour is great, but like
the last video I wish it was longer in hindsight. We do get to see the old
Autopia, the old Subs, PeopleMover, Star Jets, the old Space Mountain Speedramp
entrance, and the old TLT, complete with character dancing! And Launchpad
McQuack!
·In the Space Mountain footage, WHAT ON EARTH
IS THAT LIFT HILL? It’s 100 times better than the pre-1998 lift hill we had.
Why didn’t they just do THAT?!
·Remember those “Mickey in the weeds” t-shirts
from the 90s that were as ubiquitous as the “thinking Mickey” cups? Me too.
·MSEP gets some good footage here, but again,
WHAT IS THIS MYSTERY MUSIC? This is not the music of the parade! And
furthermore, what the h is Prince John dancing to? That’s not Disney
appropriate!
·The extended Fantasmic! coverage is the
E-Ticket of this video. They practically go through the entire show, albeit in
a cliff-notes version. But seriously, in the days before YouTube, this was
absolute heaven. You could WATCH FANTASMIC! IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME.
WHENEVER YOU WANTED! WOW!
·Remember to order your Day at Disneyland by
calling this now-long-out-of-service number! Operators were standing by but
they’ve been abducted by Doc Ock and the Sinister Syndicate. Due to the recent
unpleasantness caused by Doc Ock and his gang of villains, we will be closed
until further notice, or at least until Spider-Man can make our city safe
again.
Was
Euro Disney the most significant Disney Parks historical development post-1971?
It
very well could be. When looking at the history of Disney Attractions following
the creation of the Vacation Kingdom, could one find any other momentous
occasion that meant so much to the future of the theme park industry?
We
all know the story of what happened. An original budget of $1 billion quickly
ballooned into $4 billion. Disney had placed the resort right next to Paris,
which is practically ground zero for Europe’s entire transportation network,
and expected (or so some of their consultants said) to get as many as 30
million visitors by the time the second Disney MGM-Studios park would be built
next door.
The
exact reasons why the resort failed initially are far too complex for this
piece. But the resulting fallout would be almost the equivalent of an asteroid
impact within theme park circles.
Disney
had always been the bellwether for the theme park industry since Disneyland
opened in 1955. At its best, Disney has the financial and creative resources
necessary to move the ball downfield in the themed entertainment industry. It’s
no accident that the theme park industry seems to stagnate at the same time
that Disney’s fortitude diminishes.
Look
at the creative boom that happened within the parks industry during Disney’s
golden years of the 1960s and 1970s (with the opening of Walt Disney World in
Florida). To be fair, the Disneyland imitators of Freedomland and Pleasure
Island and Magic Mountain (the one in Colorado, NOT the one in California) all
went bust in the 1950s. But they all learned a very important lesson: don’t try
to be Disneyland. Only Disney can be Disneyland.
After
the failure of these initial parks came the big breakthrough: Angus Wynne’s Six
Flags concept. Here was a pleasant family park concept (or at least it was back
then) that did not provide themed areas per se, but did provide clean,
well-kept, wholesome entertainment for the whole family. And at a fraction of
the cost of a Disneyland presentation.
And
so the race was on. Practically every major amusement park concept we know of
today follows this model, and came to fruition in the 1960s and 1970s. The Six
Flags concept. The Marriott parks in Illinois and California. The Kings parks.
Carowinds. Busch Gardens. SeaWorld. Magic Mountain (the California one).
Astroworld. Marineland. Worlds of Fun. And the old parks all learned these
lessons and made themselves better. Cedar Point. Knotts. Kennywood. Hershey. Holiday
World. And all of this booming success was predicated on Disney’s popularity
and innovation. It’s true.
Let’s
even put aside the fact that Six Flags and their ilk were built trying to catch
the Disney conceptual wave that amusement parks could be fun, clean, friendly
places again. In the 1950s, Walt had a small company called Arrow Dynamics
manufacture and build the ride mechanisms for his attractions, from the
Fantasyland dark rides to the Mad Tea Party and many others. Arrow had become
quite adept at manufacturing these (very new) mechanical ride concepts, to the
point where they were the ones Walt called on when he wanted to create a new
kind of roller coaster to dive in and around his new Matterhorn mountain. And
so, Arrow created the first tubular steel roller coaster.
As
many of you know, the steel roller coaster is now the rock that amusement parks
build their churches on. One would be hard-pressed to find an amusement park of
any stripe without one today. And after Arrow success with the Matterhorn (and
later Space Mountain), they proliferated the steel coaster concept across the
amusement park landscape. First it was the form of the family-friendly mine
train coaster concept, which the Six Flags of the world were happy to utilize
in their family park concept. But later, Arrow would revolutionize the industry
again by creating the Corkscrew for Knotts Berry Farm, the first steel coaster
with inversions, in 1975 (the same year as Space Mountain opened). Amusement
parks again rode the dual waves of the steel coaster boom and the popularity of
the new Walt Disney World Resort.
A
similar boom happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While one could
certainly argue that the soon to be booming economy would have much to do with
the “coaster wars” and innovation wheelhouse that would commence, it’s also of
note that this came at a time when Disney began a second golden age of
innovation for its theme parks. As Disney began to build bigger and better
parks and attractions, other parks felt emboldened to loosen the purse strings
as well.
Look
at all of the 3-D movies that spread into the theme park world after the
success of Magic Journeys and Captain EO. Or the umpteen billion simulators after
Star Tours. Universal Studios and MGM Grand opened new studio-themed parks
after Disney opened theirs. The world of water parks was changed forever with
the opening of Typhoon Lagoon, as was the world of themed hotels after the Swan
& Dolphin and Grand Floridian made their debuts (it should be noted, 3 years
and 1 year, respectively, before The Mirage opened in Las Vegas and began that
revival). The expansions of Disneyland and Walt Disney World led to new
expansions at Club Med, Las Vegas, Branson Missouri, and Universal Orlando.
Then
Euro Disney happened. And everything began to…slowly…stagnate again. Budgets
began to be cut, little by little, every subsequent year for Disney, until by
2001/2002 they would hit the literal bottom-basement of Disney’s California
Adventure, Dino-Rama, and Disney Studios Paris. And it seemed that, every year,
other parks also began to give up. It was like a themed entertainment ice age. After
a $1 billion-plus expansion at Universal Orlando (which should be pointed out
was approved in 1993), the jolly merry-go-round of Universal ownership decided
to hang it up for about a decade. Las Vegas slowly demolished its themed rides.
All the amusement parks seemed to ditch the simulators and dark rides and went
right back to steel coasters (though some very creative ones). Amusement park
owners seemed more interested on installing Fastpass systems and meal deals.
There’s
a controversial new theory (work with me here) in archeology that suggests that
a 1,200 year “instant ice age” in humanity’s past was caused by a comet impact.
Our climate history shows that, after thousands of years of gradual warming,
the earth was plunged very suddenly back into the teeth of the ice age
approximately 12,800 years ago. This began a period of intense cold called the
Younger Dryas that lasted for 1,200 years. This weather event literally
happened out of nowhere. New evidence suggests that a piece of an enormous
comet (or even several pieces) smashed into the earth and kicked up so much
dust and loess that the sun was blocked for years and caused a reverse
greenhouse effect, basically plunging humanity back into the ice age after it
had almost escaped. This comet is sometimes called the “Clovis Comet” because
it seems to have been the cause of the extinction of the proto-Native American
people called the Clovis culture.
Hot
take: Euro Disney is the Clovis Comet of the current ice age in the theme park
industry.
And
it always seemed like it. Even in this featured show, Inside Disneyland Paris, there seems to be an air of awakening from
a very long winter. Because realistically, Disneyland Paris was in a deep,
biting winter for years and years.
One
thing that always fascinated me about Inside
Disneyland Paris was that it was the first Disney-specific special to ever
air on a Discovery Channel, TLC, or Travel Channel-style show. This always made
me wonder. Though Disney attractions would be featured in specials like Funhouse, only through Buena Vista video
and the Disney Channel could one find Disney-specific documentaries, such as
with the Walt Disney World: Inside Out specials. Amusement parks like Cedar
Point and Magic Mountain were featured multiple times. Universal was featured
all the damn time (to our great consternation). But Disney never entered the
fray. Until this show.
We
were all giddy about this show, because it was the first Disney effort on the
Travel Channel. We awaited with great anticipation. And it makes total sense
now, looking back, that Disneyland Paris would be featured first. We can expect
that Disney didn’t allow Travel Channel to make these kinds of documentaries
for a variety of reasons, be it the hesitation of letting a third party into
Disney’s backstage areas or the idea that Disney “doesn’t need” someone else’s
help to advertise its own products. But Disneyland Paris needed all the help it
could get.
And
so we see Disney’s freshman effort at letting the Travel Channel world into the
backstage magic. And the final product is good, but not spectacular. We see a
lot of what we expect from park specials: the peak inside the food warehouse, the
construction of HISTA, the landscaping, etc. Some better highlights include the
challenge of swiveling Indy’s mine cars backward, the behind the scenes at
parade rehearsals, and the insiders look at the Space Mountain launch area.
Lowlights include every shot of Jay Rasulo.
My
personal favorite highlights are the extensive interviews with Tom K. Morris about the conception of
Fantasyland and the magnificent Sleeping Beauty Castle, as well as the sequence
at the end that reveals the behind the scenes of the Cheyenne’s wild west
dinner show (complete with real buffalo!)
So
enjoy Disney’s first Travel Channel effort. We promise there will be many, many
more to come ;)
Is this the most momentous
film in Disney history? Hard to argue. After all, where would Disney be today
had Roy not decided to build Walt Disney World? Certainly no one else of the
Disney regime, even Eisner and Wells, would have built it to the specifications
they inherited in 1984. Certainly there would be no EPCOT Center. And certainly
the Magic Kingdom would be at the intersection of 192, as the operators wanted,
instead of in the northwest corner of the property, as Walt wanted. Would
Disney be as successful, or as large, as it is today without Cinderella Castle
and Space Mountain?
“But wait,” you say, “certainly
the Disneyland announcement was just as crucial to the success of the Disney
Company?” I agree completely, but the EPCOT film gave a special element to Disney’s future that the
Disneyland announcement did not have: the unbuilt dream of EPCOT. It would have
been like Disneyland only opening Adventureland and Frontierland, and never
building out the rest. The tantalizing unfinished EPCOT project fired a million
imaginations, and forever included a dark cloud over any future Disney
development. “Sure it’s good, but it’s not EPCOT.”
Even to this day, ill-informed tour guides and fan sites regurgitate the
corporatized, sugar-coated version of the inception of the Epcot theme park:
that Walt had intended to make EPCOT a city, but that this city “turned into” a
World’s Fair-like theme park. As hardcore Disney fans know, that is complete
bull. The secret, of course, is in the name. The Imagineers called the theme
park “EPCOT Center,” not “EPCOT.” It was not supposed to be a city. The theme
park was supposed to be the center of the
city. The city, of course, being the entirety of Walt Disney World. Even in
1982, Imagineers were still hoping against hope that at some point, Disney
corporate might actually decide to build out the city. They even started to do
just that. After all, the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village was designed to be
a shopping village for the city. The
Disney Villas across the lake were designed to be model homes for the city. But alas, it never came to
pass.
Though certainly Walt made
the EPCOT film to announce to the world his plans for the Florida Project and
what wonderful things were in store for the next great Disney kingdom, the film
also had two other goals: 1. Provide a “thesis” video for Walt to present to
Florida legislators to convince them to allow Walt to have unprecedented
regulatory power over his new land, and 2. Recruit possible corporate partners
to invest and participate in the EPCOT project. The film worked so well that
Disney received these grants even after his death. The Florida legislators did
indeed grant Disney unprecedented regulatory powers via the Reedy Creek
Improvement District. And years later, American and International corporate
sponsors lined up around the block to be included in EPCOT Center. And it was
all because of Walt’s presentation.
Walt was in full
presentation mode in this pitch. Having practiced his delivery so many times on
the Disneyland TV show (and after his
very awkward first
attempt to sell the opening of Disneyland), Walt had every Disney nuance
and storytelling skill on display to announce his latest and greatest dream. He
included a historical build-up (as he loved to do in most of his Disneyland educational shows like “Magic
Highway USA,” and “Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom) featuring the exciting
happenings at Disneyland, then goes into a full speech about the Florida
Project, and then includes a full animated demonstration from 13:10 to 24:18.
These educational animated presentations, of course, had been perfected by Disney
over the preceding 11+ years of the television show’s history (and even longer
including the educational films Disney made for the military during WWII).
These animations were simple and necessary to sell the concept to the public.
And boy, did he sell it. Throughout
his time on screen, he gushes about the Florida project. “There is enough land
here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.” And keep in mind
folks, his entire speech was done without a script or a teleprompter. His
countless Disneyland TV appearances
had made him an excellent public speaker. And in this film, he speaks directly
from the heart.
We all know this was Walt’s last filmed
appearance. Only his closest friends and relatives knew how much pain he was
in. When the cameras stopped rolling, he coughed incessantly and he had pain
all over his body. But you’d never know it from looking at him here. This is
our last time capsule of Walt Disney, with a twinkle in his eye and an endless
passion about how he was going to change the world for the better. And I can
think of no better lasting memory for the man himself.
It
boggles the mind today how fast Disneyland was created. From its initial
announcement on The Disneyland Story,
it took a mere eleven months for Walt to turn pictures into a full theme park.
Today, we’re so used to projects taking years and years and years and years (hey everyone, Guardians of the Galaxy will be
coming “at some point!” Isn’t that exciting), the fact that Disneyland went
from “it’s coming!” to “open” in less than a year is not even fathomable. The
DCA expansion took six years. Avatar took six years. Even tiny little DCA
itself took four. The Fantasyland expansion (which is two rides and some
buildings) took four. But the entirety of Disneyland? Less than one year.
There
are much better authors than I who have regaled tales of Disneyland’s
construction to the masses, so I won’t do to repeat them hear. I would
recommend you read them, though. Walt’s irascibility is in full form, as he is
100% involved in the process and obsessed over every detail. He sketched the
final layout of Tom Sawyer Island, consistently pushed landscape guru Bill
Evans to relocate taller and taller trees, insisted that the wagons for the
pack mule ride be upholstered with the finest leather, and refused to build an
administration building. You can pick up any copy of a Disneyland history book
or Walt Disney biography to read all about them (my personal favorites being Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob
Thomas and How to Be Like Walt by Pat
Williams).
Today’s
YouTube Tuesday video is a time-lapse (and in color!) film compilation of the
construction of Disneyland from various cameras stationed in each of Disneyland’s
major lands. It is featured as an Easter Egg in the Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic DVD collection (as part of
Wave Seven of the Walt Disney Treasures tin set). The footage is narrated by
Tony Baxter (representing WDI), Ed Hobbleman and Walter Magnuson (representing
the Disney Studio Inventory Group).
This
was quite a find by Disney, as Tony explains in the narration. The footage,
believe it or not, was found in a can inside a Pennsylvania salt mine. Yeah. It
was a film canister with the word “Disneyland” scribbled on the front, and
someone found it and returned it to Disney. While I usually don’t believe in
UFOs or ghosts or time travelers, this is some serious X-Files material. How
does something like that even happen? Did they also find Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa
down there?
The
material is presented in three parts: first, an opening section where we get to
see Walt walking the property. Second is the time-lapse footage, one segment
for each land. And finally, there is some video of Walt, Harper Goff and
company overseeing the construction of the Jungle Cruise. Walt was famous for
preserving his and his team’s thought processes (he hired stenographers to take
detailed notes in every story meeting during the creation of the animated
movies, and saved as many original sketches in the archives as he could), and
here he realized that the construction of Disneyland would one day be something
to study and reference back to. So, he set up numerous cameras and observation
towers around the property to film the construction footage in time-lapse as it
was happening. What we see here is an American historical landmark in all
stages of construction. It’s like going back in time and seeing the building of
the cathedral of Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower.
The
video does a good job of speaking for itself, however I’ve included a few
ancillary thoughts of the footage:
00:05
Amazing (when you watch it in slo-mo) that the roads around Disneyland still
exist in the familiar east-west box pattern. Though we can’t tell which streets
are featured here, the North/South Walnut, Harbor, and West and the East/West
Katella and Ball are surely included in this whirlwind footage.
00:25
It’s so incredible and fortunate today that we have most of this video in color
footage. We can see what Walt wore to work in glorious color! Gotta love that
red-checkered shirt and white hat. And his cigar isn’t edited out. The
narrators discuss the infamous “Walt reel” found in the recovered footage.
01:20
Some rare footage of Roy in color as well.
02:00
Don’t know if this makeshift observation tower was mentioned in any historical
books or records. But it just goes to show how efficient the Disneyland
planners were. They built an observation deck not only for themselves, but for
Walt so he could point out the layout of certain areas and whether he thought
they were headed in the right direction. Remember, as Tony describes the actual
construction of Disneyland was done in only 7 months! As this is with notorious
perfectionist Walt Disney at the helm! Amazing. And it’s followed by incredible
360-degree view of the Disneyland site!
03:10
starts the time-lapse footage, starting with Main Street. A few notes here:
1.Note how the Jungle Cruise foliage had already
been planted by the time vertical construction on Main Street started, in order
to get the best of a Spring “growth” season
2.Because of the less strict building and
construction regulations compared to today, vertical construction on Main
Street was completed in only four months! Tony Baxter relates how it took a
full five years to build Euro Disney.
3.Tony mentions the split-second appearance of
the infamous Town Square Gazebo, which Walt wanted to place in Town Square near
the flagpole. However, once it was placed the team realized it blocked Guests’
view of the castle. So, the gazebo was moved to the Magnolia Park section of
Frontierland, which is where New Orleans Square is now. As Tony reminds us,
this again speaks to the practicality of Walt Disney’s creative design sense.
If it didn’t work, it was out, no questions asked, no matter how much
operational headache it causes.
4.The Phantom Boats again prove to be the most
unreliable mechanics imaginable. Even right before opening, the boats had still
not made it to the lagoon!
5.Tony explains that fiberglass was not used too
much upon opening, though Disney became obsessed with it afterwards. This was
because, in 1955, fiberglass was still a “miracle material” and thus expensive
to acquire. So only a few elements of the park were featured in all their
fiberglass glory.
6.It’s just funny that Storybookland started out
as a literal mud ditch with views of weeds and grass called Canal Boats of the
World. The plants, you see, were from around the world. That’ll be a “B”
Ticket, please.
7.32:45 This is how guests are going to be
greeted at my house one day.
8.34:50 An absolutely amazing overlook view of
the Jungle Cruise before the foliage fully grew in. As Tony mentions, this is
probably the only time you’ll ever see such a clear overlook of the full ride
layout.
The
footage itself is, of course, incredible. The video presented here is a full 37
minutes of the literally hundreds of hours of material (Tony says he sat
through 400 hours. And you thought a Hobbit/Lord of the Rings marathon was
bad!). This is Disneyland construction footage in full color. Time-lapse for
each land. With color footage of Walt, Roy, Davy Crockett and Joe Fowler
walking around. It is truly a fine treasure for the Disney history hunter.
