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4. IP’s are ruining Disney

Olaf the Snowman on Frozen Ever After
You sit upon the bones of greatness, snowman...

Image: Disney

Few subjects work veteran Disney fans into a lather faster than that of whether too many IP’s—that is intellectual properties—are good or bad for the parks.

Until the early 2000’s, Disney tended to split new attractions between two theme-types. Some attractions were based on popular IP’s, like Peter Pan’s Flight, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, or even The Great Movie Ride. A large portion of Disney’s other attractions, however, were based on entirely original story ideas, like Pirates of the Caribbean (the films came later), It’s a Small World, Space Mountain, Test Track, and Expedition: Everest. Around the time Michael Eisner stepped down as CEO and Bob Iger became his successor, Disney made a dramatic shift where all new attractions shifted to focus on IP’s. The last major Disney ride based on an all-original story concept was Mission: SPACE in 2003. Ever since then, Disney has redesigned a number of popular rides to pair with well-known IP’s (think “The Seas with Nemo and Friends”) and only generally approved new projects attached to IP’s.

Speaking for myself, I fell firmly in the “enough-with-the-IP’s” camp. I grew up with World of Motion, Horizons, and Maelstrom among the many others mentioned. With IP’s, it can sometimes feel like the story has already been told—like nothing is left to the imagination. With original story attractions, we get to experience a story that hasn’t yet been fully told, and guests can fill in the rest as they wish. Abandoning this seemed to suck some of the magic out of Disney parks.

Stormtroopers on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Image: Disney

The more I’ve heard alternate perspectives from our readers, the more I realize that IP’s serve some important purposes, and that IP’s and original stories don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

While I am still an advocate for Disney working in attractions with original stories, IP’s provide an important foundation to connect Disney guests with ride stories. They are stories visitors are familiar with. So many of my favorite attractions are based on IP’s—the Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours, and Splash Mountain come to mind. IP’s give guests a reference point to engage in rides and theming, and they also provide an important draw for the parks.

I do wish Disney would make a return to peppering in some original-story attractions, but are living in an exciting time where Imagineers are proving IP’s can be blended seamlessly with original stories. We see some of this in areas like The World of Pandora, but nowhere is it more apparent than in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. While the Black Spire Outpost is set in the same Star Wars universe we are all familiar with, it manages to expand on Star Wars lore with an all new original story that actually has some very interesting effects on the Star Wars timeline. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, in particular, might be Disney's finest achievement in this sort of hybrid between original storytelling and a familiar IP, a trend that could make for some exciting new content in Disney’s future that appeals to both camps of thought.

5. Immersion-everything

Guy and girl in Star Wars (Batuu-bounding) clothes with Vi Moradi in Galaxy's Edge
Hanging on Batuu with Vi the Spy...

Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)

I am all about ultra-immersion at Disney parks.

Until the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, my hands-down favorite attraction at Walt Disney World was Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, a hyper-VR experience which puts you in the center of an ultra-realistic Star Wars mission. I’m a vocal advocate for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, particularly the land’s most immersive elements like the Star Wars Datapad game and Batuu-bounding. When I first visited The World of Pandora, I found myself enjoying the land’s extremely immersive science fiction feel far more than its connections to the Avatar film series or even Avatar: Flight of Passage.

For me, there can be no higher level of success for a theme park land than to completely transport you to the realm that story takes place and let you adventure there.

However, I’ve come to learn that immersion isn’t everyone’s thing—indeed, too much of it can prove utterly uncomfortable for some guests.

Man with child in front of Millennium Falcon at Galaxy's Edge
Image: Disney

We once had the opportunity to bring a dear friend to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Being he was a Star Wars fan, we assumed he’d enjoy it too even though he tended to not like Disney. Despite how much his kids enjoyed it, he seemed increasingly uncomfortable in Galaxy’s Edge. It’s not-quite-familiar setting threw him off, and he had trouble grasping that the cast members were all “in character”—when he tried to quote a line from the films to one vendor and got a dry answer, he thought the cast member was just being rude. He was baffled by the food choices and almost left the land to go search for a burger. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was cool but left him nauseated. He eventually got the hang of things and had a good time (the cast at Docking Bay 7 gave him a great response to his “Republic credits will be fine” Jedi mind trick), but he just didn’t enjoy the land the way we expected. The ultra-immersion was just too much.

People enjoy theme parks for different reasons, and immersion isn’t always a winning ingredient for every guest. One reader explained it wonderfully— for some, immersion is uncomfortable. It isn’t what appeals to them about Disney. Rather, for some guests, the best part of visiting Disney parks is simply taking in spectacle and marveling at achievements in technology, architecture, and storytelling-- even more so, for some the greatest joy is simply watching their kids have a great time. Daydreaming and playing pretend may not be their thing, but Disney still has its own unique magic they can enjoy.

6. So… about those Mickey Ice Cream bars…

Mickey ice cream bar with chunk missing
Image: Harshlight, Flickr (license)

Yup, I’m going there.

I will be honest… I am and still remain unimpressed by Mickey Ice Cream bars. I think they’re one of the most overrated food items in the parks. I definitely got an earful (even from some close friends—curse-your-sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal) when I brought this opinion to light in an article.

I have not necessarily changed my opinion on Mickey Ice Cream bars… However, I do have some better perspective on why people love them so much, and it’s something I absolutely understand.

The reason Mickey Ice Cream bars never appealed to me is that if I’m visiting Disney parks, I want to enjoy something I can only have there. Why would I want a Mickey Klondike bar when I can have a Sleepy Hollow Fruit and Waffle Sandwich, a Dole Whip Float, a School Bread, or a Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle? We tend to visit with a limited snack budget, so the question seemed like a no-brainer to me.

That was until I stopped to consider that it’s all about the emotion connected to that food…

Kids eating in Disney's Animal Kingdom
Image: Disney

Very few things draw outbursts of nostalgic emotion from me like certain experiences at Disney parks. The sound of the Main Street Electrical Parade or the beginning of Fantasmic often manages to squeeze waterworks from my shriveled tear ducts. Tasting certain foods at Disney parks stir similar joyful emotion, particularly items at Kringla Bakery and the Biergarten—when I taste a rice cream or lefse or sauerbraten, feelings connected to happy memories flood back. Those dishes also taste amazing to me.

There are many people who would not get the Disney-feels or even like the taste of lefse or rice cream (they’re not particularly sweet), but I realized that many people get that same gleeful response when eating a Mickey Ice Cream bar. It’s not just vanilla ice cream encased in chocolate—it’s Disney magic on a stick! It’s the taste of childhood.

And that’s totally fine. I get it.

I guess I can say across the board that though I’ve stirred occasional disagreements with our readers, in the end, I feel like I always grow from it. What would the world be like if we listened more, if we considered the perceptions and experiences of others instead of losing our cool? What a difference that kind of grace and patience could make—not just concerning a visit to Disney parks but just the way we treat each other overall.

I need more of that every day… and for that, Theme Park Tourist readers, I am ever-grateful you’ve helped me grow both as a writer and a human being.

Enjoy this article? Keep reading to find out the 10 Things You Need to Buy Before Your Next Disney Vacation to Save Money, as well as 7 Crazy Things People Still Believe About Walt Disney World.

 
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Comments

That was a very cool article to read and I really enjoyed your perspectives. Those of us who love Disney can get pretty opinionated about things, and it's refreshing to hear someone say that their mind was changed, or at least that they can better understand the other side now. It takes humility to admit, and that is in short supply these days. Thanks for a fascinating article!

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