The one fixed at Walt Disney World is change. Walt Disney promised that Disneyland would “all the time be in a state of changing into” and that sentiment has remained true, not merely for Disneyland however for all Disney Parks. (It additionally holds true for all of the theme parks around the globe.) There may be all the time going to be one thing new within the parks, and incessantly including one thing shiny and new can solely occur in the event that they tear down one thing previous.
Usually, most parkgoers don’t prefer to lose traditional sights, however between the 2 extremes of maintaining every little thing the identical, and changing it with one thing new, I’ve all the time been on the facet of championing the brand new. Shedding previous favorites is all the time unhappy, but it surely was a value I’ve been prepared to pay to get the latest piece of artistic theme park design.
Nonetheless, I’ve lately begun to have a big change of coronary heart on this explicit subject. Hear me out.
Theme Parks Are Not Museums, However Perhaps Some Components Ought to Act Like Them
The assertion “theme parks should not museums” is an oft-repeated one. It’s a sentiment that in numerous methods I might agree with. Museums are about trying on the previous, and whereas nostalgia is completely a serious component of Disney Parks, so is trying towards the longer term.
I can’t think about a Disney Park in a stagnant state and by no means altering. The concept you might go to Magic Kingdom many years aside and have an equivalent expertise is about essentially the most boring factor on the planet to me. There’s all the time one thing new at Disney World every time I go to and that’s a part of what makes each journey really feel new and enjoyable.
Then I had the prospect to talk with Joshua Bailey, director of the brand new documentary movie Stolen Kingdom. Whereas the vast majority of the brand new movie offers with the city exploring of defunct Disney World sights and the black marketplace for stolen items, all of that’s, a minimum of to some extent, associated to the sensation that traditional Disney World sights needs to be preserved. Because the film journalist Seth Kubersky says within the doc:
When you say a theme park is just not a museum, you’re additionally implying that themed sights should not artwork.
Whereas I’ve all the time considered themed leisure as an artwork kind, one which has some completely unbelievable artists, and unbelievable inventors concerned in it, this line actually did make me check out issues in a barely completely different manner. Eradicating a themed attraction isn’t merely the removing of an expertise {that a} visitor can now not have, it’s additionally the removing of a artistic work put collectively by a whole workforce of artists and inventors.
As someone who does not thoughts that the Star Wars Particular Version exists, however does not like that the unique model of the Star Wars trilogy has been mainly erased from existence, I might be a hypocrite if I did not really feel the identical manner about themed leisure. Which brings me to what’s sensible to count on.
Disney World Solely Increasing Is not Reasonable
Themed sights are artwork. That shouldn’t even be a subject of debate, however even when we’re all on the identical web page about this, the preservation of that artwork is a sophisticated problem. How does one decide which sights are worthy of preservation and which aren’t? If all sights are value preserving over the lengthy haul, then how do you presumably develop?
Walt Disney World definitely has the reward of dimension and as such there may be numerous empty house that may conceivably be used to construct new sights. Magic Kingdom will likely be doing precisely that with the forthcoming Villains Land. Even Disneyland is planning a large enlargement though it does not have almost the house. Nonetheless, the concept that the entire current parks may be left alone and that every little thing new can simply be added as enlargement doesn’t work for me, both.
Disney World is twice the scale of the island of Manhatten however making Magic Kingdom the scale of Queens, whereas maybe technically potential, isn’t sensible. For there to be new stuff there should even be the tip of a minimum of among the previous stuff, and that’s the place the selections get troublesome.
A Steadiness Between Preservation And Invention At Disney World Will All the time Be Troublesome
In some instances, preservation is a bit simpler. Upon asserting the closing of Muppet*Imaginative and prescient 3D at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney World mentioned it was engaged on a approach to protect the attraction ultimately.
It’s unclear proper now what meaning. On a easy degree, it might imply releasing the movie on Disney+ and even on Blu-ray so folks can nonetheless watch it. At a extra excessive degree, it might even imply probably reopening the attraction in a brand new location down the street. Within the case of an attraction that’s primarily a movie, preservation is considerably simpler.
Nonetheless, after we’re speaking concerning the removing of the Rivers of America from Frontierland, preservation turns into basically unattainable. I’ve already written about I’m really excited for what’s to return in Fontierland, as radical reinvention isn’t all the time a foul factor. Right here, although, Disney World is not merely changing sights, it is basically altering the construction of the park and that has implications each good and unhealthy.
It’s all however definitely too late for the Rivers of America. If there was ever an opportunity of it surviving, that seemingly ended as quickly because the transformation was formally introduced. I nonetheless hope the brand new Frontierland will likely be one thing particular. I nonetheless imagine it may be. However we will lose one thing with the transformation that we’ll by no means get again, and that’s unhappy.
I Nonetheless Don’t Assume Theme Parks Ought to Be Totally Static
Whereas I’m beginning to change my tune on closing previous sights, that doesn’t imply I’ve a completely completely different perspective. I nonetheless need the brand new sights; I nonetheless assume that the brand new sights are mandatory; I additionally imagine that may generally require the closing of older sights.
I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know how one can discover the stability however I do assume there must be a stability. Closing previous sights isn’t all the time the flawed selection, however changing them with new ones isn’t all the time the proper selection both.
There is a phrase, anemoia, which implies “nostalgia for a time that you simply by no means skilled.” It is a phrase I found particularly as a result of I’ve all the time felt nostalgia for eras of Disney parks I by no means visited. Whereas many Disneyland World and Disneyland sights from opening day are nonetheless there, so many extra are gone. I am going to by no means get to journey them, however I’ll all the time want I might have.
Shedding theme park sights is a lack of artwork that may by no means be recreated. It is a lack of an expertise that may by no means be had once more or might by no means be had in any respect. On the finish of the day, I need Disney Parks to maintain shifting ahead, however I am going to additionally always remember once more what they’re shifting away from.