Disneyland, the New United Nations?, by Tatiana – In The Mix #9

February 12, 2009 Tatiana EL-Khouri 11 Comments

Last week, I mentioned my love for Disneyland and amusement parks in general. As a proud card carrying Annual Passholder of Disneyland, I can go on and on about the wonders and magic of the park. It was instilled in me early during my first trip at the tender age of 3 weeks old. I often tease my mother about taking me as a newborn to Disneyland so early. But she was a proud mother of her first child and like anything joyous in life she said, “I’m going to Disneyland!”

As an adult, my visits to the Happiest Place on Earth are filled with nostalgia of my childhood school trips and explorations of the park with my grandmother. But that’s not the reason I’m a passholder and visit the park at least 2-5 times a month. It’s inspiring as an artist.

The attention to detail as you travel through the different areas is reflective in the signage, cast member uniforms, color palettes, trash cans, line waiting areas, the vendor booths, sounds, and music. I feel transported to a new land and carried away to a place of imagination.

When I first heard that the iconic Mary Blair illustrated attraction, It’s A Small World was undergoing a remodel, I was aghast! I’m all for bigger boats, new coats of paint, and overall maintenance; but the idea of adding Disney characters to the ride didn’t sit well with me. And I wasn’t the only one! Many websites were erected during the year long remodel protesting the changes and the integrity of Mary Blair’s character development.

I envisioned the upgrade Pirates of the Caribbean received after the Johnny Depp success with the movie series. The overall look of the pirates animatronics are comedic, loose representation, and slightly cartoony. Then all of a sudden you have a realistic replica of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow staring you down as if you got transported to Madame Tussauds Wax museum.

But I’ve got to say now that the ride is up and fully functioning, I think they did a really good job of updating the paint, boats, and blending the Disney characters with the dolls of the world. What blew me away was the local news headlines reporting the “Disney Controversy” in reference to the newly added Disney characters. And questioning Disney’s motives of adding commercial animated properties to the attraction doting world unity.
Seriously? Controversy???

Can you imagine if the film The Haunted Mansion (which was based off the attraction) was a success and you had a replica of Eddie Murphy jumping out at you? Scary! But that I could see being more entertaining news-tainment.

Some of the patrons interviewed said adding the characters was demeaning to the message of the attraction. I think it’s ingenious that the Disney characters fit so well among the different areas of the world and reflect the diversity within the Disney library of characters. The infectious earworm that rings throughout the attraction is less annoying than the complaints of commercialism going too far. Give me a break, you are at Disneyland, not the United Nations!!!

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Tatiana has been a Disneyland fan all her life and a passholder for the last 6 years. She gives the best unofficial guided tours of the park and is chock full of trivia, history, and knows her way around a long line. She has not dined at the exclusive in park “country club” Club 33 but is actively accepting invitations from any of the 487 members.