The Experience: Creating London and Neverland

The Trick: Disney Artistry at its Finest

Image: Disney

Imagineers also had other options to improve the experience while enhancing the connection to the story. Due to the extra land available at Walt Disney World, Peter Pan’s Flight spreads out across a larger space. That provides Disney with the ability to include extra set pieces. The larger scale in combination with the employment of Audio-Animatronic figures brings the realm of Neverland to life in a better way than the attraction’s original Disneyland counterpart. To perfect the ride experience, however, they had to re-imagine the journey.

The vessel you board for Peter Pan’s Flight sweeps you into the room of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling. The idea behind the bedroom is that you as Peter Pan are carrying the Darling children off on a grand adventure. Your destination? Neverland!

Imagineers clearly loved the endeavor of bringing Neverland to life. Starting in 1955 at Disneyland, cast members have delivered several iterations of the same concept. The one at Walt Disney World is superior due to the aforementioned space. In 1971, Disney realized that they could add additional elements to an already-popular attraction.

At Walt Disney World, the London skyline extends longer and includes greater detail. Gorgeous fluorescent colors sparkle in the darkest of dark rides, causing London landmarks like Big Ben to glimmer as they glow. The real showstopper of the Florida version, however, occurs at Captain Hook’s boat. This vessel is 48-feet-long, large enough to host a duel between Hook and Pan as well as audio-animatronics of all the major characters. And it’s soooo shiny. This part of the Peter Pan’s Flight journey features virtually every color palette imaginable, and the view is so overwhelmingly bright that it almost scorches your eyes. The final touch that differentiates the Magic Kingdom version is a celebration of the victorious Peter Pan with his beloved Darling children. The attraction encapsulates the joyous exuberance of Peter Pan the Disney movie in barely two minutes of ride-time.

The Experience: An Interactive Line Queue

The Trick: Major Technological Advances

Image: Disney

In 2015, Peter Pan’s Flight added something that fundamentally changed the aggravation of the ride queue experience. Prior to then, people found themselves standing in the world’s most boring line for one of Walt Disney’s World slowest attractions with regards to guest turnover. In the wake of the MyMagic+ FastPass changes, would-be Peter Pan’s Flight riders generally experienced a wait-time of at least 45 minutes and occasionally as long as 90 minutes.

Imagineers wanted to shake things up, so they added an interactive line queue. Now, guests walk through the bedroom of the Darling children. That may not seem exciting, but if you watch this video, you’ll understand how revolutionary the changes are. The queue is now part of the Peter Pan’s Flight experience.

3D images of Peter Pan characters set against fluorescent backdrops populate the exterior of the Darling bedroom while embracing the theme of the actual ride. Once you reach the room itself, magic exists in every nook and corner. Tinkerbell spreads her fairy dust on the children’s trunk, a globe, and a wall calendar among other things. When you reach a certain wall, you can interact with her simply by waving your hands. 

Peter Pan’s Flight as originally envisioned thrusts riders into a world where magic exists and Peter Pan fights off adulthood and a one-armed pirate simultaneously. In 1955 and then again in 1971, Disney employees recreated the world as best they could. In 2015, they expanded the range of Peter Pan’s powers by introducing a line queue that is quite possibly the most impressive thing Disney Imagineers have created in the 2000s. It’s that special. Best of all, it reinforces the underlying theme of the J.M. Barrie story: childhood never truly fades away, sometimes you simply need to sprinkle a bit of pixie dust!