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Credit: DisneyThe Disney Parks have been under a lot of scrutiny and criticism lately over some of the announcements, changes, and rethemes that have been happening.
More and more original attractions are being replaced by pre-existing IPs, or Disney intellectual properties. Basically, Disney has started to phase out “irrelevant” ride themes for Disney-focused characters and redesigns.
Perhaps the biggest example of this is Disney California Adventure changing Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier in 2018 when most of the Park received a Pixar retheme, including the iconic Sun Wheel turned Pixar Pal-A-Round. One of the most recent examples is Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios replacing the Great Movie Ride with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Disney fans haven’t made a secret of their distaste for this latest trend, taking to various social media platforms to complain about their seeming lack of creativity in recent years. A recent Twitter post from @disneyglimpses discusses Runaway Railway at Walt Disney World, saying that overall it’s a “solid and fun attraction.” However, they have issues with the Hollywood Studios doing away with its original concept of offering Guests a “glimpse inside of the film industry and changing to a hodgepodge of various IPs with absolutely zero cohesiveness.”
Others chimed in, saying that Hollywood Studios has “no rhyme or reason for anything anymore.” A comment from @CdnSteveMartin expresses the general opinion quite well, stating, “I have no idea what the overall theme of Studios parks is supposed to be anymore. Same is starting to happen to Epcot.”
While the Magic Kingdom makes the most sense to have a plethora of Disney IPs, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios were all created for different concepts that would have allowed them to flourish under continued originality. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind just feels abruptly out of place in EPCOT as does Toy Story Land in Hollywood Studios, or even Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge considering the Park has several Star Wars attractions spread out across the Park.
In comparison, Runaway Railway works at Disneyland because it was placed in ToonTown, an overall area of the Park dedicated to cartoons, rather than replacing an iconic attraction in the middle of the Park. Disneyland also created Avengers Campus to host their Marvel attractions, and, as the overall concept of Disney California Adventure is “Pixar Pier,” Carsland works as an entire area inside of a bigger Park.
Dropping singular, IP-based attractions or a very specifically themed area into these previously curated Parks is removing the original magic and innovation of Disney. @TheLegitKoolKid calls the trend “modern imagineering,” saying that it “just feels so corporate.” This is also reflected in the de-theming of many of the hotels at both U.S. Parks, with fans comparing the new hotels and redesigns to an expensive Marriott.
It could also be seen as yet another cost-cutting move by Disney, as leaning into characters, franchises, and properties they already own can make it easier to come up with attraction and theme ideas. It also helps further promote Disney media and merchandise, creating a very specific echo chamber of an experience. As trends come and go, hopefully original creativity will make its way back to the Parks one day.
Do you think Disney’s IP-brand theming is fun or lazy? Share your thoughts in the comments below.