The Disney is in the Details - Writing 220

 

At some point, you may have been among the millions of people who have visited “The Happiest Place on Earth.” If you did, you were probably focused on doing all the rides, beating the crowds, and searching in vain for somewhere cheap to eat. If that’s the case, you probably didn’t stop to notice the details around you – and, actually, that’s kind of the point. Disney puts a lot of work into creating the setting, be it in costumes, building design, greenery, and so forth. At the end of the day, Disney World is a theme park, so why even bother to go through all that trouble to insert details that no one will notice?

 

It has everything to do with telling a story. To tell the story itself, you need an almost obnoxious amount of detail. You may not consciously recognize a lot of these things until someone else points them out to you. Lucky for you, I am both obnoxious and very knowledgeable about details, so there are many things to say. Quick history lesson before we move on: Disneyland, in California, was built by animators, not architects. Because of their background, they approached the creation of a theme park the same way they would approach a movie – framing shots, backdrops, and transitions. This method is still in use today.

 

Parks are planned specifically so that there is consistency and a clear mood when the public is in a themed land. Let’s use the Magic Kingdom as an example. The Magic Kingdom is more than just the castle – there are several themed lands within this park. From the bottom and going counter-clockwise, there are six lands: Main Street, U.S.A., Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland. Frontierland begins as the Old West, but as a person walks father into the area, it slowly fades into wilderness backcountry. The colors here are earthy – brown, dusty red, and some green once you reach Splash Mountain. What’s more, Frontierland is connected to Adventureland, but it’s difficult to look over and see the other land clearly, no matter what side you’re on. When conveying a story, it’s important not to let the audience be drawn out of it. The same logic applies when you’re telling a story in a physical space. If a person was on their way to Big Thunder Mountain and could look over to see Aladdin’s Flying Carpets, it would ruin the theme. Hence, the lands are “disguised” from one another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2012 The Walt Disney Company

 

Areas are hidden in plain sight from the viewer. There are several archways that divide Adventureland and Frontierland. Their primary purpose is to make sure guests don’t see the buildings to the disparate attractions. Of course, some buildings are fairly tall, but that’s where Imagineers have gotten sneaky. On the building of The Enchanted Tiki Room, there are carved wooden heads of cattle on the spire. This isn’t accurate to the Polynesian islands, but said spire can be seen from Frontierland. The heads of bulls fit right in with the Old West. The best example, however, jointly comes from two separate parks: Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The former includes The World Showcase, which features pavilions of countries from around the world, and the latter hosts The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The idea behind the Tower of Terror is that it’s a hotel from the 1930s. It’s been painted a faded, dusty pink, which is not totally accurate to the time period. The Morocco pavilion has elaborate designs and the main color on their buildings is – take a guess – a dusty pink. Epcot was built before the Tower of Terror was, so in order to maintain the theming of the Morocco area, they needed to plan this new ride around those limitations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By sanctumsolitude on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanctumsolitude/2384878887/)

 

There are two reasons that are behind the “telling a story” philosophy and including so many details. The first reason is because park guests would notice if the details were absent. The Enchanted Tiki Room is best example here. It’s an old show that’s based around singing animatronic birds. What most people probably don’t notice is that the birds breathe. All right, so it’s not exactly breathing – just a mechanical pump that makes their chests move in and out slightly – but it adds to the illusion. If your first reaction was, “Why would you even bother to make a machine breathe,” that’s understandable. But consider this: all the humans you have ever talked to have been breathing (or at least, I hope they have). When you’re having a conversation, do you notice the other person breathing? Nope. But you’d definitely notice if a person was somehow standing there without taking in oxygen. And that’s the point of making the Tiki birds breathe – people will notice if you leave seemingly insignificant details out.

 

The second reason to tell a story is get an emotional response. In this case, a lot of Disney’s legwork has already been done before you enter the parks. Many people associate Disney movies with their childhood, so there are already positive emotions. Disney parks certainly speak to this. Advertisements for the parks often mention “magic” and “memories,” and show smiling families with cute kids running around the park having a wonderful time. Many of the rides, shows, and other attractions in the parks are designed to create this sense of wonder. Cinderella Castle, which towers over the Magic Kingdom, is an example of this.Even in the lines leading up to the rides are designed to create emotions. The queue for Expedition Everest features shrines dedicated to the yeti, a shop selling trekking gear, and artifacts of a fictional lost expedition. Each building is packed with relics, knick-knacks, and trinkets that imply what kind of people live, work, and pass through there. The effect allows you to step into the illusion that you are the base of the Himalayas, and that there is a real possibility that you might encounter a giant yeti. It’s that second part that makes you anxious, and ramps up your fear and enjoyment of the ride.

 

Even when you ride multiple times, the setting still plays with your emotions. It’s similar to how movies use music to enhance a scene, either to swell the joy of a scene or to make a shot scarier. Granted, the effect is diminished somewhat when you insist on going into the single rider line and riding it three times in one day… Not that I would know anything about that, of course.