As soon as upon a time, theme park lands have been outlined by basic ideas. A set of sights primarily based on concepts like “fantasy” or a medium like comedian strips was all that was wanted for various rides to share house. However for the previous 15 years, issues have been very totally different.
In 2010, the primary Wizarding World of Harry Potter land opened at Common Orlando Resort. This was adopted by a second land at Common’s different park, in addition to new lands from Disney World, together with Pandora: the World of Avatar and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. These theme park lands aren’t merely providing comparable sights, however an immersive expertise that covers each second you spend within the land.
Immersive Theme Park Lands Are The New Regular
If anyone is curious what the way forward for theme park lands seems to be like, one solely wants to have a look at the world’s latest theme park. Common Orlando’s Epic Universe has 5 new lands, and 4 of them use the identical immersive idea. Not solely do now we have a 3rd Wizarding World of Harry Potter however Tremendous Nintendo World, How you can Prepare Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, and Darkish Universe, all making an attempt to make you are feeling such as you’re in one other world even while you’re not on a trip.
There’s so much to be stated for this model of theme park expertise. Theme parks are, by their nature, presupposed to make you are feeling such as you’ve left the true world, and these lands arguably try this higher than something that got here earlier than. Common Artistic will get the credit score for having launched the idea, and so they actually did it admirably.
Nonetheless, if historical past had gone barely in another way, it’s attainable that Disneyland may have developed the primary theme park land devoted to a particular franchise, as there have been as soon as plans to rework most, if not all, of Adventureland into an Indiana Jones journey.
Indiana Jones Almost Took Over Disneyland’s Adventureland
When Michael Eisner took over the Walt Disney Firm within the late Eighties, he determined that one factor the parks wanted extra of was sights that appealed to audiences aside from babies and their mother and father. As a part of his new initiative, he started to work with George Lucas. By way of Lucas, he started tasks that will consequence within the creation of Star Excursions, the debut of Captain EO with Michael Jackson. Following that success, Eisner turned his eye towards one other in style Lucas property within the early Nineties, Indiana Jones.
He tasked Walt Disney Imagineering with creating an attraction primarily based on Harrison Ford’s motion hero. They didn’t disappoint. Not solely did they provide you with an thought, however they got here up with a number of. Ideas included a Mine Cart curler coaster impressed by the chase sequence in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a biplane flight attraction, a temple maze, and extra.
The thought grew to the purpose that the present Adventureland attraction, the Jungle Cruise, and even the Disneyland Railroad would change into a part of the bigger Indiana Jones expertise. Ultimately, there was an idea to not merely make one attraction, however quite to do all of them. The thought would have encompassed most or all of Adventureland.
Ultimately, it merely proved too expensive to drag off all the pieces that Imagineering wished to do, in keeping with Imagineer Tony Baxter within the collection Behind the Attraction…
[Eisner] regarded on the whole to do the Mine Cart Journey and the maze, and the temple, and the apparent factor was to scale it again to the massive occasion.
Because it occurred, Imagineering had just lately developed a brand new trip automobile with a built-in movement system, which wound up being good for the temple exploration attraction thought, and thus it was chosen to be the Indiana Jones attraction followers would in the end get.
And Indiana Jones Land Immediately Might Be One thing Particular
The thought of remodeling one of many unique lands of Disneyland into one thing primarily based on an IP, and never even one created by Disney, is the type of factor that will give purists hives as we speak. I’m undecided I’d fully be in favor of it myself. All the current theme park lands devoted to single IPs have been a part of main park expansions, which absolutely is a part of the rationale that followers don’t thoughts them as a lot.
However, as any person who largely enjoys the immersive parts of these different lands, I nonetheless can’t assist questioning what an Indiana Jones-themed land would have been like if it had truly occurred. Strolling into an space that appears like an archeological dig, with a number of sights, is simply the type of factor we might count on to see if such a land have been constructed as we speak. Whereas the idea was deemed too costly on the time, if there had been any indication then that such an thought would imply such huge enterprise, one imagines Disney would have paid that invoice.
It’s not onerous to think about the types of issues we might have present in an Indiana Jones-themed land if it had been constructed within the model of theme park lands as we speak. There’d be a tavern known as Ravenwood’s. Perhaps we’d get an Indian Restaurant that served ice cream for dessert, served in a plastic monkey cranium.
In fact, contemplating that no one turned out for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Future, evidently the high-water mark of Indy’s fame is gone, and thus getting an Indiana Jones-themed land sooner or later is all however unimaginable.
Indy shall be a part of Disney Parks for a very long time. Indiana Jones Journey continues to be probably the most in style rides at Disneyland. The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios continues to be going robust, regardless of quite a few rumors of its finish over time. We’re even getting a model new Indy attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Mine Cart trip may even be discovered as we speak at Disneyland Paris. There’s a lot Indy at Disney Parks that he may fill his personal land. A part of me actually needs he did.