Do bugs live in trees? (1998)

The first Pixar attraction added at Disney parks was actually based on the second Pixar feature film…

Though ideas of a double decker carousel or Noah’s ark had been floated (no pun intended), ultimately Imagineers decided that Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom should feature a gargantuan baobab tree as its central icon. In fact, the Tree of Life features more than 130 carved animals throughout its intricate trunk and roots. So when it was determined that the Tree of Life should house an attraction, The Lion King was an obvious choice. Between its “Circle of Life” theme, its billion-dollar box office four years earlier, and the Tree’s harmonious central message, it seemed like a no-brainer.

According to Disney Legend Marty Sklar in his book Dream It! Do It!, Eisner just wasn’t very enthusiastic about the Lion King idea and left a meeting with Imagineers coolly before popping his head back in to ask, “Do bugs live in trees?”

Image: Disney

It had dawned on Eisner to use valuable real estate inside the Tree of Life to cross-pollinate with Disney’s then-upcoming A Bug’s Life Pixar film. In fact, “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” opened alongside Disney’s Animal Kingdom on April 22, 1998 – seven months before A Bug’s Life would be released in theaters! That’s why the 3D special effects show / musical revue is positioned as a prequel to the film, meant to help introduce audiences to Flik and the antagonistic Hopper (who meets a frightful – but not fatal – end at the 3D show's conclusion).

Just three years after the opening of the ambitious and enigmatic Animal Kingdom, Disney opened its next stateside theme park… one of a much different caliber: the subject of the in-depth Declassified Disaster: Disney's California Adventure feature. In 2001, California Adventure infamously featured very few recognizable characters and practically nothing for families with small children. However, it did have a clone of It’s Tough to be a Bug (albeit, in an anthill rather than a tree, placed in the park’s “Bountiful Valley Farm” section).

Image: Disney

Pixar helped fill in the gaps. In the park’s second year, it opened a fifth land called “a bug’s land.” Mostly made of nicely-dressed carnival rides plopped among “giant” props, overgrown grass, clever details, and towering clovers, “a bug’s land” wasn't exactly a Disney Imagineering masterpiece. However, the land did supercharge the park with enough family attractions to help reverse its earliest bad reviews, and – in retrospect – "a bug's land" admittedly had a more consistent scale (and was arguably more fun) than any of the Toy Story Lands to follow. However, California Adventure’s “bugs land” and It’s Tough to be a Bug were squashed in 2018 to make way for the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus (which doesn’t really make sense in the California park, but neither did bugs. Wait… do bugs live in California?)

Shoot ‘em up (1998)

It was not-so-long-ago that Imagineers bristled at the idea of arming guests – children! – with guns and sending them into the belly of an industrial spacecraft to battle aliens (which is why the Lost Legend: Alien Encounter was created instead). But obviously, they got over their fears thanks to Toy Story 2, the inspiration for a new ride at Magic Kingdom.

Image: Disney / Pixar

Debuting a full year before the sequel that would inspire it, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom replaced the park’s Lost Legend: If You Had Wings and its aviation-themed successors. The ride essentially recruits guests to Buzz Lightyear’s intergalactic Star Command police agency, repurposing the former ride’s Omnimover path through aviation history into a day-glo, flat, blacklight, toy-sized outer space.

The reason the ride is “inspired by” Toy Story’s sequel is that it features the notorious Emperor Zurg (a clear play on Darth Vader) as its antagonist, sending us into the farthest reaches of plastic space to retrieve batteries stolen by the bad guy.

Image: Disney / Pixar

Any critical dissection of Space Ranger Spin, of course, reveals it as the first crack in Tomorrowland’s once-authentic veneer; the first piece of its quick descent into being a creative catch-all. At least Buzz feels tangentially related to the future (if “space = future,” which we’re not sure it does) compared to later additions like Lilo and Stitch, Marvel super heroes, and some Pixar picks we'll get to soon...

While fans argue, Imagineers seem to approve. A version of the ride has the rare distinction of being one of the few attractions to have appeared in every Disney “castle” park. It opened at Tokyo Disneyland (2004) and Disneyland Paris (2006) replacing the Lost Legend: The Timekeeper at both resorts...

Image: Disney / Pixar

...In 2005, it mercifully took over the spot that had recently served as the queue for Disneyland’s Declassified Disaster: Rocket Rods (humorously and coincidentally positioning it opposite STAR TOURS, pitting Vader and Zurg as neighbors); and a new version built for Shanghai Disneyland in 2016 graciously removed some of the cartoon plastic glare in favor of looking at least a little more serious.

Hong Kong Disneyland’s version opened alongside the park in 2005, but closed in 2017. Its showbuilding was annexed to the Marvel-themed Stark Expo section being built on the outskirts of Tomorrowland, with the ride redressed as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle.

Talkin’ turtle

Image: Disney / Pixar

Disney and Pixar signed a new contract that would run through 2006, assuring three new feature films (what would become Finding Nemo, Cars, and The Incredibles). Fittingly, in 2003, a small change came to Epcot’s The Living Seas. Turtle Talk with Crush was a quaint “hidden gem” attraction allowing small groups an audience with Crush, the surfing sea turtle from Nemo by way of Disney’s live digital puppeting.

Image: Disney / Pixar

A digital Crush swimming on the other side of a glass window to the Pacific interacts with guests in real time, calling them by name, asking and answering questions about the turtle world, and more. While simple, the attraction was a hit, and was quickly added to Disney’s California Adventure (2004) and later at Tokyo DisneySea (2009).

You have to imagine that – for fans in the early 2000s, It's Tough to be a Bug, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (and its successors), and Turtle Talk with Crush were as controversial as STAR TOURS or Indiana Jones Adventure had been in the decades prior. After all, these new stories being inserted into Disney Parks weren't even Disney stories! Would Woody, Flik, and Nemo replace Snow White, Tom Sawyer, and Mr. Toad? It felt possible... And yet, these "flavor-of-the-week" properties hadn't yet proven their staying power beside big box office reciepts.

Image: Disney / Pixar

But even still, a HUGE change was about to overtake the Disney • Pixar relationship... One that threatened to derail the whole thing. Would you believe we almost saw an age of Warner • Pixar? That's where we're heading next... Read on...