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Credit: DisneyOne of the most successful and iconic features of the Disney Parks is their use of immersion. The plaques on the entrances to Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World aren’t lying when they say “Here you leave today and enter of a world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.” That being said, Disney isn’t all princesses and pixie dust.
Theming and environmental manipulation are some of the biggest assets in Disney’s toolbelt, and if they want you to feel a certain way they can make it happen. While it’s definitely easy to get sucked up in the saccharine-sweet atmosphere of places like Main Street USA, things take a sharp left turn whenever Disney wants to push things in the other direction.
Dread, Darkness, and the Disney Parks
The title above might not sound like something anyone would ever associate with the happiest places on earth, but Disney has been subtly and psychologically scaring us for decades. What’s even more surprising is that every major Disney attraction has some amount of fear thrown in to make things interesting.
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Granted, there’s already a small amount of risk in every theme park ride, that’s why people go to places like Disneyland, Disney World, and so on, but the way Disney has ensured that Guests don’t leave their property without the tiniest adrenaline rush is almost uncanny. Not even things like “it’s a small world” and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” are immune.
Disney has a reputation for playing with Guests’ emotions, and fear is definitely one all of us feel at some point. As a result, the Disney Parks add it to their palate, giving us iconic rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. There’s a reason they’re called “dark rides.”
How Disney Does It
In the words of Sterling Holloway in Make Mine Music, “Imagination is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it can run away with you.” The moment Guests step into a queue for a Disney attraction, they are instantly transported into whatever story Disney wants to tell. With the use of sensory manipulation, they are ensnared from the first second.
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Think about the last time you walked into the Stretching Room of the Haunted Mansion or the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and how the smells, the sounds, and the other atmospheric elements are all geared towards an eerie, unsettling, and foreboding environment. That doesn’t exactly sound like Disney World does it? It’s all part of the illusion.
Pirates of the Caribbean is considered one of the heights of Disney Imagineering, and Guests are pulled into the action from that first whiff of gunpowder. The tension rises the creaking longboat takes them from the armory through dripping caves, past skeletal pirates, and over the edge of the waterfall into the middle of a high seas adventure with Captain Jack. The wave of excitement and relief is undeniably palpable.
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This same practice can be seen in any Disney ride or attraction that tells a story, and we give ourselves over to it every single time. While we won’t see anything like ExtraTERRORestrial any time soon, the Disney Parks still know how to keep us on our toes.
Has Disney messed with your mind? Tell Inside the Magic what you think in the comments below!