Category: Disney & Universal

Exploring The Sunshine State (Part 2) – Islands of Adventure

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Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and other aspects of the entertainment industry. Universal Studios Florida was the first of three theme parks to open at Universal Orlando Resort, joined later by Universal’s Islands of Adventure in 1999 and Volcano Bay in 2017. In 2019, it ranked eleventh in the world – sixth in North America – for overall attendance among amusement parks with approximately 10.9 million visitors.

The success of its sister location, Universal Studios Hollywood, in the 1980s fueled the desire to build a similar park in the Orlando area to compete with Walt Disney World. Two of its early projects were partially developed by famed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, and many themed attractions over the years were developed in close collaboration with the directors, producers, and actors of the films they are based on. An early layout and design of the park also incorporated active production studios, similar to the Hollywood location, which provided guests with a behind-the-scenes look at film and television. As the interest to produce films in the Orlando area quickly faded, the design of the park transitioned to a more immersive, first-person perspective.

Universal Studios Florida operates a well-known annual event during the fall season called Halloween Horror Nights, where the park transitions to a Halloween theme featuring haunted houses and scare zones on select nights. One of the park’s biggest draws is Diagon Alley, a Harry Potter-themed portion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that opened in 2014. Other notable attractions include E.T. Adventure, which debuted with the park’s grand opening in 1990, Men in Black: Alien Attack, as well as roller coasters Revenge of the Mummy and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.

To make it easy for our readers, I will split the day according to how I spent it at the parks. So our review will begin at Islands of Adventure, then have a lunch review from the Toothsome Chocolate Factory, and end the day at Universal Orlando. Here are a few things to keep in mind: During my time visiting, Universal Orlando was celebrating Madi Gras. It was also President’s Day weekend so the crowd level was moderately higher than I liked. So without further ado, let our Journey begin!

Islands of Adventure

Universal Islands of Adventure (also known as Islands of Adventure or IOA), originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and later Universal’s Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part of an expansion that converted Universal Studios Florida into the Universal Orlando Resort. The resort’s slogan “Vacation Like You Mean It” was introduced in 2013.

Islands of Adventure is modeled after a journey of exploration, where guests embark on an adventure to visit a variety of themed islands. Initially, the park featured six islands. A seventh, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, was added in 2010, themed to the highly successful Harry Potter franchise. It was Universal’s largest investment since the resort’s founding in 1990. The expansion led to a significant increase in attendance, and in 2013, Islands of Adventure ranked seventh domestically and eleventh internationally after hosting approximately 8.1 million guests. The eighth island, Skull Island, opened on July 13, 2016, and is themed to the King Kong franchise.

Islands of Adventure is split into eight themed islands: (going clockwise around the park)

Port of Entry

Port of Entry is the park’s main entrance and is home to many shops and services including Guest Services aptly named The Open Arms Hotel. The park’s centerpiece, Pharos Lighthouse, is also located within the Port of Entry. Each night, this functioning lighthouse sends out a bright beam to lead visitors to and from the park’s gates. Like many theme parks using the “hub and spokes” format, this entry Island contains no rides.

Marvel Super Hero Island

Marvel Super Hero Island is based on the superhero characters featured in Marvel Comics. The area features comic book-styled architecture, with many building interiors created from a comic book perspective, characterized by exaggerated lines and angles. The exteriors of the buildings are painted with a special paint that appears to change color depending on the viewing angle; sometimes purple, sometimes orange. This island consists of four attractions: one tea-cup-themed ride featuring Storm from X-Men, one freefall tower themed to Doctor Doom from Fantastic 4, one 3-D dark ride themed to Spider-Man from Spider-Man, and one launch coaster themed to Hulk from The Hulk.

Toon Lagoon

Toon Lagoon is based on cartoon and comic strip characters from King Features Syndicate and Jay Ward. The area’s main focus is water-based rides. This island holds three attractions: one log flume ride themed to Dudley Do-Right, one river rapids ride themed to Popeye the Sailor Man, and one interactive kids’ playground themed to Popeye the Sailor Man.

Skull Island

Skull Island is the newest island at the park, having been opened in the summer of 2016. The area’s sole attraction, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, opened on July 13, 2016. The attraction and island mark the return of the King Kong character to the Universal Orlando Resort after the Kongfrontation attraction closed at Universal Studios Florida in 2002 to make way for the Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride. The only attraction on this island is the dark trackless ride based on the Kong films.

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is themed around the film series of the same name. Set after the events of the first film, the area takes on the guise of John Hammond’s dinosaur theme park featured in the series. As such, the area is filled with attractions and exhibits one would find in the “real” Jurassic Park, including thrill rides and discovery-based exhibits. There are five attractions located on this island: A children’s play area named Camp Jurassic, A river ride named Jurassic Park River Adventure based on the film and book of the same name, A suspended steel flying coaster named Pteranodon Flyers themed to the dinosaurs of the same name, A launch coaster named VelociCoaster themed to velociraptors and the Jurassic World franchise, and the interactive play area of the Jurassic Park Discovery Center based on the film and book of the same name.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade is themed around the Harry Potter universe, authored by J.K. Rowling. It officially opened to the public on June 18, 2010. On May 31, 2007, Universal announced that it had secured the licensing rights from Warner Bros. and Rowling to incorporate the Harry Potter franchise into Islands of Adventure. The 20-acre (81,000 m2) island features attractions, shops, and restaurants set inside locations such as the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade Village, and the iconic Hogwarts Castle. Groundbreaking began in 2007, with the official opening scheduled for June 18, 2010, as announced on March 25, 2010. As part of the promotion for the upcoming area, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the production of the park section is included on the Blu-ray and DVD release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent is themed to ancient myths and legends, and is divided into two sub-sections: an ancient Arabian marketplace called Sinbad’s Bazaar, and a Grecian-Atlantis-esque Lost City. Formerly, the Lost Continent included a medieval section called Merlinwood, but the majority of that area was re-themed for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This land is also home to Mythos, which is one of two full-service restaurants in the park and was voted the winner of the best theme park restaurant by Theme Park Insider for six successive years between 2003 and 2008. As of June 1st, 2023, there is only one remaining attraction on this island: The interactive Mystic Fountain.

Seuss Landing

Seuss Landing is based on the works of author Dr. Seuss. The island features several Seuss-themed attractions, especially geared towards small children, as well as a Green Eggs and Ham Cafe and Circus McGurkus restaurant. As in the books, one of the unique characteristics of this area is that there are almost no straight lines anywhere. Palm trees bent by the winds of Hurricane Andrew were even planted in the area to continue this theme.

My Rating: 8/10

I am a bit biased when it comes to the Islands of Adventure rating. This theme park is one of the most brilliantly themed parks in the Orlando area, behind the Disney Parks. Every island has its own character and charm that you can see in the buildings and the views. You feel like you are stepping into your favorite comic strip, whether it be Spider-Man or Popeye. Or you can feel like you are stepping into your favorite book, whether it be Cat in the Hat or Jurassic Park. There are a few reasons why my rating is a bit lower, mostly due to the crowd level. I also am rating this experience on this trip instead of my previous trips before. Another reason why it is not perfect is just the fact that I was rather time-restricted due to the fact that I only had one day in both parks. I also am very lucky to get a chance to experience Poseidon’s Fury before its closure, but my main gripe about the Lost Continent is the lack of attractions since the Wizarding World takeover. This island is one of the remaining islands that have not received anything new since opening day nearly 30 years ago.

Tips & Tricks

As mentioned in the Dockside review, you can catch a shuttle bus from the hotel to the Resort for free. That eases the burden of having to worry about paying for parking at the resort or trying to find a spot in the parking lot if it’s a busy day. One tip was my use of a fanny pack that I carried with me. I kept my wallet, my phone (while on rides), and my glasses (while on rides) inside of the fanny pack and felt it was just easy to keep track of my personal items. 

Keep in mind that almost all rides do require you to place items into a locker before boarding the ride, though there are a few that don’t have that rule in place. The major thrill rides, the coasters, will all have a locker system that is provided to you for free or for a paid fee for use of the day. The water rides do offer lockers for guests to use, however, they are paid lockers and there are no free lockers to rent.  There are air dryers, which once again are paid, that you can use located near any water ride. 

My second tip, download the Universal Orlando app. This app allows you to keep track of wait times for rides, and times for experiences like characters or shows, and allow you to mobile order for food at many of the restaurants.

Stay tuned for part two of my Universal Studios Orlando & Islands of Adventure experience where I’ll review more of the park and review the Toothsome Chocolate Factory restaurant!

Exploring The Sunshine State. Theme Parks, State Parks & Travel Tips! (Part I)

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Greetings friends! I am back with a new blog for all of our friends! I will review the four-day vacation that I took recently, highlighting each day with reviews and thoughts on each park. I will also add my suggestions and tips so that you can make your vacation planning easier! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the review!

My family left our home in North Georgia at about midnight, Friday morning. Our deal was that I would pay for every other refill of gas in the car, as well as half the grocery bill and the parking fees at the hotel. We would stop around 8 am to eat some breakfast at a Pilot Travel Center for a restaurant named Iron Skillet. After our Breakfast, we would head to our first destination on our vacation… Weeki Wachee!

Weeki Wachee Spring State Park

Weeki Wachee was started by a US Navy named Newton Perry, who was looking for an interesting spot for a new business. Newton would experiment and invent a method of breathing underwater from a free-flowing air hose supplying oxygen from an air compressor. This would give the appearance of thriving twenty feet underwater with no breathing apparatus. They would build an 18-seat theater built into the limestone so viewers could look right into the natural beauty of the ancient spring submerged. On October 13th, 1947, the first showing at the theatre would open. In the 1950s, Weeki Wachee was one of the nation’s most popular tourist stops.

By the 1960s, girls were coming from Tokyo to try out for the privilege of being a mermaid at Weeki Wachee. The mermaids would perform eight shows a day to sold-out crowds and as many as half a million people would come to the Springs to see the mermaids. The city of Weeki Wachee would become incorporated by 1966, putting the small town on the map. By 1982, the waterpark “Buccaneer Bay” would open with waterslides and white-sand beaches. Weeki Wachee is celebrating 75 ‘fintastic’ years right now, with some beautifully painted mermaids along the main paths.

Now, it is time for my thoughts, reviews, and tips for Weeki Wachee. While we were at Weeki Wachee, we were able to catch the show in the lagoon but the room was rather full already so we didn’t get the best seating to see some of the action. The show they performed was the Little Mermaid, which my sisters enjoyed greatly. My first tip is to arrive at the theatre about 30 minutes before showtime if you wish to have a good seat, as it fills up quickly. Weeki Wachee also offers a boat ride but sadly it was already full for the next three trips, so we skipped the tour. I love walking down the trail as the flora is somewhat beautiful but the shade was much appreciated in the heat that day.

My Rating: 4/10

The reason my rating is so low is just due to how little there is to do at the state park. I think it is a cute pitstop, but with only three mermaid shows and a boat ride. You can easily get bored at the park. I thought they could have done more flora on the trails, though some of the flowers were beautiful. My biggest complaint was the fact that the boat rides filled up rather quickly and made the rest of our visit rather boring. There is some theming around the park, but it is sparse and mostly used for photo ops. The statues they had out for the 75th anniversary could have spread out the park, maybe like a treasure hunt in my opinion.

Tips & Tricks

My first tip for visiting Weeki Wachee is to try going for a boat ride first. Head straight to the boat docks. While many will be watching the mermaid show in the morning, the line for the boat ride will be low. However, after the first show is over, the line and queue fill up for boat rides. My second tip is to keep an eye on the times for the mermaid shows. The park opens the theater for seating 30 minutes before the show and keeps doors open until the theater is full or the show is in progress. When we arrived, the theater was rather full but we were still able to get a seat. However, when the action scenes in the middle took place, it was hard to see much. 

Now, for a trick for those who have young kids. The state park does have a Ranger show towards the back that will teach kids all about beautiful animals, there is also a playground for them to burn their energy out on. My biggest trick is that we also took a child harness to help keep the youngest from running off, but allow her to still run around for fun.

Universal Endless Resort- Dockside

Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn & Suites and Dockside Inn & Suites are a pair of hotels located in Universal Orlando in Orlando, Florida forming a single resort. The resorts are built on the former site of Wet ‘n Wild Orlando, which closed in 2016. The hotels were built as value-level hotels for Universal Orlando.

We stayed for 3 nights in a two-bedroom suite on the 4th floor of the 1st tower, with our room in the middle of the tower itself. Each 440-square-foot suite has 2 bedrooms, separate bath and vanity areas, and a kitchenette. Each suite can sleep up to 6 people with two queen beds in one room and one queen bed in the other. Each suite came with two TVs, a mini-fridge, a microwave, a coffee maker, and other guest amenities including a safe. Staying at a Universal property does come with perks, including Early Park Admission alongside free transportation to CityWalk and back.

My Rating: 8/10

I was blown away at how big the hotel was, having only worked in hotels with 100 rooms at most. The lobby was really beautiful with its design and the theme of a beachside getaway. I do have to dock some points for the fact that they didn’t have enough luggage racks to handle so many guests which were rather disappointing. I didn’t include the marketplace or any of the dining options in my review as I didn’t experience it. The pool looked nice but I never got the chance to swim as I was exhausted after each day. My family said that the pool got cold easily so they didn’t stay in the pool for long. The room was really clean and I loved the location with a rather nice view of ICON Park and good views of the sunrise in the morning. Our room keys even had our names on them, with different characters from the Universal parks pictured on them. The room was straightened out each day with beds made. The checkout process was also rather simple and easy, plus we got to keep our keys as souvenirs!

Tips & Tricks

If you are staying at a Universal Resort, I would suggest that the first tip, once you are settled in, is to talk to the Universal Vacations desk in the Lobby. The guest services will be happy to answer any questions, make reservations and help you plan your day at Universal Resort. If you are going to SeaWorld (Like I did), you will need to make a reservation for the shuttle at least a day ahead at the desk as well. Another tip, while you are at the Vacation desk, is to go ahead and buy the PhotoPass. It was $70 plus taxes but cheaper than if you wait to buy the pass once you are in the park. The Photo Pass is well worth the money spent and I will explain it in the next part. When you check in, be warned that you will have to pay for parking ($15/night). 

Stay tuned for the next part where I review my experiences at Universal & SeaWorld during my trip!

Disney News Roundup – Sale Rumors, New CEO & More.

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If you have been following Disney lately in the news, there has been a lot of uproar and public outlash. Besides all the chaos, there also has been some interesting moves and progress Disney has been making as well. Join us today as we recap all the latest Disney news and give our thoughts on each topic.

Chapek Out, Iger In Again:

Bob Iger (left) takes over again for former CEO Bob Chapek (right) after only two years.

Under Chapek, The Walt Disney Company faced a number of public controversies and poor decisions. The CEO faced criticism for the company’s stance on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law following reports that the company had funded anti-LGBTQ+ legislators behind the bill, casting doubt on Disney’s pro-LGBTQ+ image. Disney’s position was called out by audiences, several creative talents who’d worked with Disney, charities, and advocacy groups, who further critiqued Chapek’s initial refusal to address the legislation.

Chapek also back when the parks were shutting down for Covid, wanted to lay off a large percentage of staff prior to employment acts and the CARES act being passed which would have helped those laid off with the financial pressures of temporarily losing their jobs. This just goes to show the true colors of Chapek and how all he cared about was money and cutting costs. 

Chapek also proved all he cared about was money when he spiked ticket prices so high while skimping back on products and services offered in the parks. Prices were so high, it made families not be able to afford a Disney vacation. It makes no sense why you would purposely turn away your target market and force them to either not visit Disney or go to you competitors. 

In addition to the various public relations missteps, political controversies, and unpopular business decisions, Chapek contributed to very poor earnings causing Disney shares to drop 41.4% overall for the year.

I seriously hope Disney can get their acts together and can get back on track. It’s a real shame they have fallen so far out of touch from their roots and loyal fans these past few years.

Disney Being Sold To Apple?

There’s been many rumors going around that Disney was going to be sold to Apple then Apple would license the Disney brand to Disney. If you ask me, it doesn’t make much sense to sell a major theme park operator that has a stranglehold on the market to a technology company with parks experience. While Disney leadership keeps denying these rumors, we keep seeing more and more evidence mounting that this could be true. Only time will tell how the company recovers.

Disney Acquires World’s Largest Cruise Ship:

Finally some good news! Recently, Disney purchased the world’s largest cruise ship weighing in at a whopping 208,000-gross-tons! Not only is it the largest, it is also the first cruise in the entire cruise ship industry to be fueled by green methanol, one of the lowest emission fuels available. According to early estimates, Disney Cruise Line expects the passenger capacity to be approximately 6,000 with around 2,300 crew members. 

With the acquisition of this new ship, it will allow DCL to tap into newer markets and destinations it has never sailed to before. Disney will take over construction and finish the project after the ship’s former owner and operator filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just weeks before.

Splash Mountain To Permanently Close:

Yet another Disney classic is set shutter on Jan. 23, 2023 to make way for a newly rethemed ride. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be taking Splash Mountains place at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The ride is heavily inspired by the culture of New Orleans and the Walt Disney Animation Studios film, “The Princess and the Frog.”

Disney’s “Government” Is No More?

Back when the Walt Disney World resort was being constructed, the land it sat on was nothing more than swamps. Disney had to build all the infrastructure and necessary projects to make the land habitable for theme park and hotel use. In order to do this, Reedy Creek was established in 1967. Reedy Creek is the name for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special purpose district that gives The Walt Disney Company governmental control over the land in and around its central Florida theme parks. The district sits southwest of Orlando. Today, the Reedy Creek special district encompasses about 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties, including four theme parks, two water parks, one sports complex, 175 lane miles of roadway, 67 miles of waterway, and the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.

With recent leadership turmoil at Disney and controversial political practices in Florida, Disney’s special governing body may soon be dissolved. The proposed bill declares that any special district created before November 1968 will be dissolved on June 1, 2023. The dissolution of the special district would mean that Orange and Osceola counties take on the assets and liabilities of Reedy Creek. That could lead to higher taxes for those residents to pay off Reedy Creek’s debts and take over the care of roads, policing, fire protection, waste management and more.

Overall, I can honestly understand both sides to the idea of removing Disney’s governing body. If Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, Sea World and countless other Florida based parks don’t have any special governing bodies then why should Disney? After all, does it just give Disney more power and cause there to be an unfair advantage given to Disney? 

However, on the flip side, we can clearly see why this special body is needed and why it would be a bad idea to abolish it. Obviously, there needs to be an authority to oversee all the infrastructure, safety and responsibilities of the area. If this body is totally abolished all the costs and debt will need to be taken over. One possible fair solution would be if the state of Florida took over the body and made it a state run agency this way everything is looked over and it takes away any special advantages Disney is given over the other parks in the area.

Disney’s Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Hotel – The Biggest Ever Disney Flop?

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Welcome back to the blog! In our previous Disney post, we discussed the history behind the creativity and innovation Disney was known for. We also discussed the shift away from Disney’s core ideas and the unfortunate move towards greed. In today’s post, we will discussing the highly backlashed Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Hotel. May the force be with us because we are definitely going to need it.

History

Let’s take it back to the very beginning. In 2017, the Star Wars franchise released Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi and there was a lot of buzz regarding the film. It was also around this time Disney was in the process of creating Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. With all the buzz, Disney decided to gauge interest in an exclusively Star Wars themed resort. Without surprise, the interest in the project was incredibly high. Shortly, after this the concept for the hotel was born. Let’s take a look at the concept art that first came out. 

Concept Art & Announcement

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Anyone Order Some Disappointment?

Obviously concept art is meant to be a proof of concept where the idea is put down on paper and visually created in the form of sketches, renderings, etc. Throughout the stages of creation concept art is of course subject to change. Generally when changes are made, it is usually for a variety of reasons such as financial, construction restrictions, permit issues, or any other factors that affect the operations or guest experience. Usually, what we see is when the concept changes from the art, elements from the original design are still present along with the changes. 

What Disney did here was kind of the opposite and it honestly is just a complete downgrade from the concepts. You would think with how Disney is they would under promise  during the concept then over deliver in the actual product. In the announcement video fans were promised an “immersive, interactive Star Wars experience” where we are the characters of our own journey in the Star Wars universe. When I first heard this, I was pumped about this project and couldn’t wait to see it. However, that feeling of excitement soon turned to disappointment. Everything shown and promised was either really watered down, not done or just cheaply done.

Now to be fair, we haven’t fully seen the product yet, since it just opened, so it could possibly be better in other areas of the resort we haven’t seen as much of yet. Also with the resort just opening, there may be improvements and expansions being planned that we may not yet know about. But at the same time, it could also go the opposite direction too where the resort is worse in quality and what Disney has shown us really is the best they got. If that’s the case, that is just really sad. Regardless, the Disney community has really been full of activity during this time.

The Disney Community

Generally when Disney announces a new project there is always a split opinion between Disney fans. There is always a group that isn’t in favor, a group very much in favor and then there is the other group of fans that don’t really care either way. This project started out very much like this but as time went on, and more previews were released, fans’ opinions all very much disapproved of the project and began calling Disney out. I mean can you blame them? Let’s take a look at what the community has been saying:

Our Thoughts & Feedback

As a fellow Star Wars fan and theme park fan, I am honestly torn on this project. The Star Wars fan in me is excited behind the idea of the project yet at the same time I am disappointed with the execution of the final product. I do agree with the some of the points the community has brought up:

  • Promised an immersive, interactive, roleplay type experience. Very watered down version of what we were promised countless times.
  • Hallways are generic with Star Wars theming.
  • Rooms while the idea is nice, they are very boxy and pod-like.
  • Pricing is very high for an average family.

Overall however, I do have to say while Disney did slack big time on this project, I definitely feel like the project is not a total loss. I feel like with some adjustments to price, expansions and improvements, the hotel can be successful. 

I definitely agree the promised product isn’t there and the price point does not match the value you get as a guest. I honestly feel like this project was overlooked and really pushed aside since in many areas of the resort shortcuts were made that really hurt the product. For example, the famous welcome video a guest received when they booked a reservation is really poorly done. In one of the YouTube videos linked above, it explores this idea and actually shows how bad it really is. After I watched the video for myself, while it was still floating around, I couldn’t help but agree with the points raised in that video. 

I really do think that at some point this project was overhyped by marketing, there was probably some sort of budgeting issue, company restrictions imposed or some other factor that caused the project to really nose dive publicly. I honestly do feel that there is a lot to play here. Was it laziness and lack of motivation from the team? Did Disney handcuff the creativity in the project? Did the company honestly stop caring and wanted to pull out but realized it was too late? All these are very possible. Regardless, as a Star Wars fan I hope to see this project reach its potential and not be an embarrassment. Hopefully the price decreases so I can one day go and experience it for myself.

What Happened To Creativity and Innovation in Disney?

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Author: Blake

Welcome to the first ever Disney focused blog post! Back in 2019, I had to write a research paper about a topic I was passionate about and related to my major. For my paper, I decided to spot light the creative history Disney has had, a brief timeline of the parks and the current track record Disney has with its current leadership. While, I don’t consider myself a hardcore fan of Disney or claim to know everything about it, I wanted to share my thoughts and opinions I wrote. After revisiting this after some time, I definitely remember enjoying this paper and am glad I am able to revisit it again. So without further ado, let the magic begin!

*For easier readability, I removed the citations used throughout the paper. Please note not all quotes or facts are directly mine. I will link the sources I did use at the end of the post. Thank you!*

Photo by Benjamin Suter on Pexels.com

The Industry That Almost Failed To Exist:

“To all that come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future…” (Walter Elias Disney). From the very start, theme parks were created as a place of fun and to escape the craziness of life. Creating a theme park to achieve these goals takes lots of creativity and innovation. Throughout the Walt Disney Company’s existence, creativity and innovation were core principles that Imaginners and leadership followed; however as of today those very same principles seemed to have disappeared and became lost within the profits of the company.

Back in the 1950s, the theme park industry was hurting and almost disappeared forever. When Walter Elias Disney came along, he took the failing American dream of what a theme park was and with hard work and innovative thoughts for the time, created what one knows today as Disneyland. Before Disneyland, Walt was an innovator in the making of cartoons and animation. He created some of the first cartoons in color and in sound. One day while spending time with his family at a local park and sitting on bench, a radical idea hit him. The idea of creating a theme park where adults and children can spend time together in a safe and comfortable environment. Fascinated with this idea, Walt set out with his brother Roy to create his vision. Walt purchased a 160 acre orange grove near Anaheim, California where there was nothing but orange groves and no major highways. The media criticized Walt saying he was crazy and it couldn’t be done. Regardless, Walt, the Imaginners and trades workers got the park finished and opened. Walt took all of his classic, well known characters and created rides using storytelling so that riders could connect to the characters and feel apart of the story. 

And So The Magic Began…

Walt didn’t just stop there with Disneyland. Throughout the years, he added to his park creating never before seen technology and elements in rides. To keep the park revelavant and market towards thrill seekers, Dick Nunis, who was the Director of Operations at the time, asked if the Imaginners could come up with something: “‘You’ll get your thrill show attraction. We are going to build a scale model of the Matterhorn and put a bobsled in it’. I had no idea what he was talking about. What Walt ended coming up with was a ride called the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Walt’s concept was having two tracks intertwining each other hidden inside of the mountain along with an opening in the mountain so that the SkyWay could pass through it. The designer of the ride had to learn extra math he never learned in high school just to be able to get the ride designed and its physics designed. The ride set the pace as the first tubular steel track roller coaster in the world. Other innovative ideas such as this came about like the It’s A Small World ride, the Monorail system which was the first ever monorail and Pirates of the Caribbean ride

The Legend Carries On:

While Disneyland was a huge success and in the process of completing these innovative projects, Walt’s health was declining due to lung cancer. When Walt died on December 15, 1966, the Imaginners who worked closely with him were devastated. Imaginners were worried about the future of Disneyland and what would be next since anything they worked on, Walt always gave feedback or worked with them on. Roy Disney took over the company and he and the Imagineers honored Walt by finishing all the projects Walt put forward before he died. Such projects include the Haunted Mansion and what would become Walt Disney World. It took a lot of innovation and creativity to solve the issues of sinkholes, swamp land,no roads and no utilities anywhere near the property. To combat this, the team put in all of its own utilities and roads and designed on ground level a network of tunnels to run all the utilities. The tunnels were also used for Cast Members to get around to the proper lands while in costumes without being seen by park goers. Don Iwerks,former General Manager of the Walt Disney machine shop recalls: “That was a major engineering job. It could run all the water systems, all the electrical systems and all heating systems all under this sort of roof.” The park featured mostly clones of Disneyland rides but also featured new and exciting experiences. One of those being Liberty Square which was themed after colonial America. After the park opened, it was clear all 30,00 acres of land could be further developed and Walt’s ideas would go on.

The Community Of Tomorrow:

Shortly after Walt Disney World opened to the public and became the companies second park to open, Roy Disney died. Imaginners still around from when Walt was alive and current Imaginners feared again what was to become Disney and didn’t know where the company was going next. Don Tatum who was Roy’s prodigy took control of finances while Card Walker who was Walt’s prodigy took control of the parks. The team under the leadership of Walker took Walt’s idea of EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) which would be a futuristic utopian community with radical ideas never thought of or designed before and finally put it forward. Card Walker, the president of the company at the time gave the following statement about the project: “More than a dozen years ago Walt Disney outlined his belief that the critical problems facing the world can and will be solved by creative people who are both dreamers and doers. He called his dream Epcot.” They ultimately gave up on the society since they couldn’t control how people lived their lives and instead took the themes Walt had created and made attractions and themed areas (Pavillons) out of them. For example, Spaceship Earth showed the evolution and futuristic advancements of communications and how it shaped society. The fact that the Imaginners were able to come up with original attractions to orchestrate a specific theme is absolutely amazing. 

The Eisner Era & Revival Of Creativity.

Unfortunately, this creativery would be on the brink of collapse due to a battle of management and hostile issues at the corporate level. However when Micheal Eisner and Frank Wells took over the company, they ushered in a new era of creativity. Eisner before taking control of Disney was an executive at Paramount Pictures who helped take the studio on a legendary box office streak. From the very moment they took over, Imaginners feared that the dreaded day came where they would be getting shut down. To their surprise, Esiner loved Imagineering and respected them highly. Esiner loved Imagineering so much that he spent a lot of time there and really connected with the creative minded people he was interacting with on a daily basis. 

Throughout his time leading the company, Esiner took on many ambitious and creative projects. The first of these projects was a Disneyland park in Paris. Unlike the creation of Disneyland in Japan, which was an exact clone, the Disneyland being built in Paris, while still having the same rides, was visually and creatively different and unique. Disneyland Paris’s tomorrow land for example had a more steam punk look to it rather than the traditional futuristic space theme to it. Not only was the theming different the technology behind some of the rides was different as well. Unlike the other versions of Space Mountain that started with a lift hill followed by a drop, this version used a catapult launch system created entirely by the Imagineers. It was the first inclined catapult launch system ever built in the world. This system added a whole new excitement to the classic attraction while keeping to the original concept.

Another creative project that followed suite was a chain of complexes called DisneyQuest. The idea was instead of having to spending millions of dollars on creating a park in which would be profitable in 11 years, build a complex that would be profitable within a few years. DisneyQuest was a 5 story windowless building featuring multiple attractions, games and new technologies in order to give the Disney experience without having to travel all the way to CA or FL. Despite closing in 2015 and not achieving the plans for 30 regional locations, the concept and creativity with the complex where pretty amazing since it was something never really done before and was just emerging.

Cooperate Greed… Goodbye Creativity!

Unfortunately, this creative resurgence would not last and would soon come crashing down. Starting around 1994, Disney began once again cutting costs and corners. Tom Morris, a former Imagineering Creative Executive, recalls: “…There was a time where we were encouraged to forget who we were. We’re no longer gonna be a castle park company. We are entertainment, retail, dining, and real estate development and other things.” The most obvious examples of this was seen in the creation of MGM Studios in Paris and Disney’s California Adventure which would be the 2nd gated park in CA. DCA broke the formula to how Disney created parks since there was no natural divider keeping the park immersed in the theming and rides, there were fewer themed lands and fewer attractions. Kevin Rafferty, an Imaginnering Executive, reflects: “Much to our chagrin, it didn’t adhere to our fundamental design principles of theme park design”. Disney moved away from their core principles and with MGM Studios Paris and DCA focused on making one day park experiences to complete the main parks. When a legendary Imaginner John Hench was asked to complement on the creation of DCA he stated “I preferred the old parking lot” While some may argue in order to be innovative, traditions and formulas must be strayed away from, by Disney doing so they were not innovative as in some cases. Instead, Disney only broke their formulas to cut corners and try to get the Disney experience out there poorly executed. 

The Iger Era… Not Much Better?

Sadly, this creative slump and decline of innovation only carried on under Eisner’s leadership and Disney suffered. One of Disney’s major partners throughout the years, Pixar, ended their partnership with Disney. To add to the companies suffering, Roy E Disney, Walt’s nephew, resigned from the board of directors and sought to drive Einser out of leadership. Bob Iger took control of the company after Eisner stepped down as CEO of the company. What was thought to be a new start only continued the downward spiral of lack of creativity and innovation. 

While Iger tried to focus on trying to get core principal’s back, he only failed and is losing the core principles even more. A common example that is clearly seen in the present day of Disney is the overuse of IPs (Disney characters or property) on rides and attractions. For example, instead of creating new rides with new characters and experiences, the same characters that have been used already are used again. Another issue connected with this is the recycling an old ride and slapping a new IP on to it. If one takes a look at Pixar Pier in DCA, all it essentially is, is the old Paradise Pier rides with new characters and color schemes. While it can be argued, the conversion of Pixar Pier was innovative and creative since it used new characters and brought new concepts to that specific area to DCA to make it feel more like Disney, all Disney did was recycle the land and just re-theme it which is not very creative. For example, the old roller coaster California Screamin’ was converted into Incredicoaster with little changes done to it. All that was done to this ride was, tunnels where installed on the tops of the drops on the tracks and the ride was repainted to fit the theme for the Incredibles. Re-theming an entire land by just repainting it and slapping new names on rides is not creative or innovative especially with a company that has such a rich history with these two core ideas.

To conclude, Walter Elias Disney created Disneyland out of a vision where adults and children can spend time together in a safe and comfortable environment. To make his dream a reality he used radical, outside of the box ideas to make it happen. Walt’s vision only expanded into what Disney has become today. However, the core ideas Disney was founded on and stood by for decades have disappeared and became lost within the profits of the company. One can only hope the company gets a new leader who stops caring about profits and returns to the core principles that founded and shaped this company. Whether it’s myself who one day works for this company making creative decisions or another Disney legend, one can only hope for the future.

Reflecting Back On My Opinions Two Years Later:

After reading the paper through again after two years, I think a majority of the observations I made where true and are still occurring today sadly. I think it is a shame that Disney keeps putting money and greed over creativity, fun and their founding principles. To be fair, I see why Disney has to do this being they build new attractions and lands that cost millions of dollars, host fireworks daily along with all the expenses. I get it adds up and they need to worry about the bottom line, but I think you still need to keep a fine balance between your finances and core ideas. Could you imagine how different and maybe even better Disney would have been right now if they didn’t always chase money and be greedy? I truly think they would be way better off. Putting finances aside for a second, we could even argue that Disney leadership possibly even doesn’t care at all anymore? WDW is crumbling (cough cough Monorails) and needs updates to it’s infrastructure and some of it’s older rides and EPCOT is just a mess.

“IP-COT”

I mean we have ECPOT which has was a very innovative and special park and now is basically a dead park and a former shell of itself. Yes, we are seeing progress but think about how long it took Disney to actually put time into this park. And yet again we are seeing Disney resort to overusing IPs especially in ECPOT. Some of the attractions make sense since they do fit the overall theme and idea of ECPOT but others you can’t help but ask yourself why. For example the monstrosity of an attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is terrible. Did they even try with that show building? I mean come on… You could have done better than that. Okay genius so you slapped green paint on it to try to hide it but what about the rest of the building? Such an eyesore especially from the parking lot. To be fair, we haven’t actually seen much footage or the ride experience yet and I’m not trying to bash it to hard. I am simply just using this ride specify as an example.

Image Credit: WDWMAGIC.Com

It seems like all Disney is going is slapping IPs in empty spaces to fill up the park as quick as possible. What happened to the original idea of ECPOT with original attractions? Think about it, with the technology Disney has, the money they have and other resources available to them imagine if they did remake and update EPCOT. I think the ECPOT we would get would 100% look like the early concept art we saw. There are so many examples more examples I could use to illustrate my points however, I choose EPCOT since I know the most about this park.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think if you look hard enough, we can see there is being progress made with creativity and innovativeness but I still think it’s too far berried under cooperate greed and cooperate politics. I think with all the new technology and tools that are out there now, it will be fun to see what comes from it. I really enjoyed writing this piece and be able to revisit this paper I wrote was fun to do. In the future, I hope to do more Disney content whether its reviews, reflections like this one or news. I hope you enjoyed!