A while back, I wrote about how Disney World, the Resort, is more than just a collection of theme parks. It had culture, I said, entertainment, history, politics, and more. But let’s be honest. Very few, if any, first-time visitors to Disney World plan to vacation there without ever stepping foot in one of the parks. And in the same way that the resort is more than just a collection of parks, the parks are more than just a collection of rides.
Back in that first article, I referred to the parks as living museums. Some might find that a bit of a stretch, but I think there are arguments to be made. Many would contend that museums are generally not profit-focused, while Disney World is famed for its ability to empty your wallet. It’s a really valid point. But like a museum, every Disney park has a story—or several—to tell you. Here’s what I think you should pay attention to if you’re trying to appreciate Disney World as a tourist and not a ride enthusiast.
Storytelling
Disney itself frames the parks as theatrical productions, and this carries through a lot of lingo. Park employees (whether they are guest-facing or not) are called Cast Members. Areas accessible to the public are “on-stage”, while employee-only areas are “backstage”.
Visually, Disney leans on its media origins for immersive placemaking. Techniques like forced perspective and controlled sightlines are tools from the same box that creates movie magic on Hollywood sets. One of the most well-known examples of sightline control is in Hollywood Studios. The Morocco Pavilion in EPCOT’s World Showcase opened in 1984. A decade later, coloring and stylistic elements of the new Tower of Terror attraction were chosen to blend with the Pavilion’s skyline because the Tower could be seen behind it.
Beyond the visuals, Disney engages other senses. Design principles indicate that anything a guest can touch should feel real. Background music is carefully curated to the place you’re supposed to be. And you’ve undoubtedly walked past a restaurant that vents its kitchen to the sidewalk to tempt passersby with the aroma of roasting steak. Disney takes this to a new level.
When you walk down Main Street U.S.A. in the park, you might think the popcorn you smell is from the Main Street Confectionery. It’s not—after all, purchasing patterns, weather, and other factors might leave the intensity of those smells to chance. Disney leaves nothing to chance. The whiff of popcorn comes from a “smellitzer”, a patented (by Disney) scent cannon that perfumes your environment to build the illusion.
Engineering and Imagineering
The parks face a challenge that movie sets don’t: millions of guests. A Hollywood set doesn’t need to withstand an up-close inspection. And it will also not be subjected to the physical wear of daily use (and abuse) by park visitors from all over the world. Walt Disney himself coined the term “Imagineer” during the construction of Disneyland; a portmanteau of imagination and engineering. The new word recognizes park design as a mix of theatrical design, engineering, and operations science.
The resorts and other Disney environments are also designed by Imagineers. But at the resorts, there are fewer challenges like “construct a 165-ft free-standing geodesic sphere that can withstand Florida weather and has space for a ride inside it”, or “construct a 145-ft artificial baobab tree with a movie theater underneath it.” (The solution to the first problem involves about 1,700 tons of steel, and the second uses design principles from oil rigs.)
Beyond the structures, there’s operational and human factors engineering. Every ride advises you to keep your arms, hands, legs, and feet inside the ride vehicle. But the design takes care for the safety of guests who don’t listen. Pathway design avoids pinchpoints and facilitates the flow of traffic. And I’m probably weird, but I’ve spent hours of my life standing on an attraction load platform and admiring the design elements that shift people on and off the ride as fast as humanly possible.
The skill and artistry that goes into the cathedrals of the world is evident and stunning. If you visit a Disney theme park, don’t let the subject matter fool you into thinking it doesn’t lean on the same levels of creativity and engineering. There are no museum placards in Disney World to tell you its secrets. But in the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, look for “window honors”: proprietor names on second-story windows represent those who had a significant impact on the parks. You can learn quite a bit by Googling the names as you go!
Hubs, Spokes, Wienies, and Wonders
Every park at Disney World has its own theme or focus, expressed through individual lands with sub-themes. At the Magic Kingdom, you’ll find themes from literature. At EPCOT, you’ll find exploration of both science and culture. Hollywood Studios is unique, as it was “retrofitted” onto a working movie studio, not purpose-built as a theme park. As you might guess, you’ll find a focus on movies and movie franchises, with lands such as Toy Story Land and the Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge. And Animal Kingdom, which is a working zoo, focuses on conservation and nature. But beyond their individual themes, there are constants at work that bind the parks together.
If you’re familiar with principles of urban planning, you’ll notice them at work, helping move the crowds. Hub-spoke-ring arrangements are common, where guests can move between lands through the center or by circling the perimeter. And in every park you’ll find a wienie, a visual magnet. These landmarks draw guests further into a park (or sometimes a land), giving them a “goal” to move toward. (If you are wondering about the name “wienies”, here’s the story.)
Wienies may remind you of fantastical attractions that are remnants of World’s Fairs, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Atomium in Brussels. They are not the only wonders; the second-largest saltwater aquarium in the US is found at EPCOT, and the savannah at Animal Kingdom is bigger than all of Magic Kingdom park. But there are two innovations that Disney is particularly known for that you’ll find everywhere. To put them in context, let’s go back to Disneyland.
About Those Rides
The story goes that the idea for Disneyland came to Walt as he was watching his kids ride the carousel in Griffith Park. According to the Walt Disney Family Museum, Walt was
… dreaming of a place where children and their parents could enjoy a safe, clean, entertaining experience together; where parents wouldn’t be relegated to uncomfortable park benches, trying to make the time pass with a bag of peanuts.
What I have always found interesting about this story is that, as near as I am able to determine, adults have always been able to ride the carousel in Griffith Park. Nothing prevented Walt from riding with his kids. Nonetheless, the idea was that Disney parks would be different from amusement parks. Not only because they would tell immersive stories through theming, but also because they would have experiences for the whole family, from infants to great-grandparents.
In service of this goal, Disney calls their offerings “attractions.” And they are not all rides! You may find barbershop quartets or other performing acts that create “streetmosphere”. There are shows, both live action and film. There is the themed environment itself, with all its detail. There are small museums and exhibits. And globally, the Walt Disney Company is the largest consumer of fireworks, with several parks around the world hosting a fireworks spectacular every night.
But when it comes to the rides, Disney leans heavily on the dark ride to deliver that all-ages experience. An archetype of the dark ride is the Tunnel of Love or Haunted House ride. But dark rides don’t need to be dark; any ride that moves guests in a guided vehicle through a series of scenes that [usually] tell a story falls in this class. This focus on storytelling makes it easy to produce family-friendly dark rides, and Disney has elevated this type of ride to an art form. It is really fascinating to see how much variety they have created within this concept.
The other innovation that is synonymous with Disney parks is the Audio-Animatronic. Audio-Animatronics are mechanized robots that follow a pre-set sequence of actions, usually synchronized to a script or music. If you have grown up in the era of Chuck E. Cheese, then Audio-Animatronic tech might not seem like it’s all that big a deal. You might feel differently if you knew that the first Audio-Animatronic attraction was so complex that it needed to use tech developed for missile guidance systems.
AAs are everywhere in the parks, and the stories told by dark rides often include them. Like the rides themselves, it’s very interesting to see how they have evolved throughout the years. I sometimes feel like modern animatronics have become so smooth that it’s harder to appreciate the complexity of the engineering that goes into them.
So there it is. I’ve made my best pitch. And maybe I have helped you to see Disney World in a new light. But even if Disney still isn’t your cup of tea—and it won’t be for everyone—there’s one more activity I’d like to recommend.
Disney World is a terrific place to watch people. Sure, yeah, sometimes kids are overstimulated and cranky. Sometimes it’s hot, and people are having tantrums, and not just the kids. (Been there, done that.) But mostly, people at Disney World have fun. They engage, and especially for kids, they engage with what is obviously a cultural touchstone. It always makes me smile to see it.
