Midway to Main Street | What Lands Would a NEW Disneyland Get? @MidwaytoMainStreet | Uploaded January 2018 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
One element of Disneyland that I loved learning about years ago was that the original four lands of the park were essentially reflective of four popular film genres at the time. These lands appealed to guests because they were settings and concepts that they were already familiar with thanks to the movies they watched. That got me thinking: What would Disneyland look like if it was rebuilt today with the same idea?
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Tomorrowland is one of the two lands that I think would still exist today. I don’t know if it’d be named Tomorrowland, but there’s no question that science fiction is as popular as ever. The difference though, is that the tone of sci-fi has changed tremendously since Walt’s era. Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was an optimistic look at the future. It wagered that the advances in technology would solve our problems and lead to a new era of discovery and adventure.
Today that’s changed. Sci-fi films, especially ones based on Earth, tend to be much darker. Some might say that’s pessimistic, and others might say it’s realistic. Today, more than ever, we love dystopias. Perhaps it’s because it scratches a survival itch we have. Or maybe it’s satisfying to see underdog heroes attack and topple an oppressive authorities. With so many films focusing on technology leading to our personal or collective downfall, maybe we look for reminders that technology isn’t the answer to our problems, but a tool to help us find that answer. Whatever the reason, I suspect a fresh Tomorrowland of 2018 would be a lot darker than the current one.
Initially I wondered if there would be appeal in that. Would we want to escape to a theme park land so dreary and dark? Then I considered that these films are so prevalent because we like to watch them. We love to play video games in these worlds, and if Alien Encounter is any indication, we would also enjoy inhabiting them at a park. Perhaps in keeping with Disney’s family friendly tone, we would see a land closer to the teen dystopian worlds of Hunger Games or Maze Runner than Blade Runner or Mad Max.
Fantasyland is the other land I think we would still see today, but similar to Tomorrowland, I think today’s Fantasyland would be very different. While the original Fantasyland was Walt’s playground for Disney’s very own animated films, I think today’s Fantasyland would draw more inspiration from franchises like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
While the era of fantasy from Walt’s time were retelling of fairy tales, modern audiences seek out more depth in not only the characters, but also the plots and settings of these films. We look for stories that don’t just feel like fables with no subtext, but tales with depth from actual worlds that might exist out there and inhabited by characters who feel real despite their origin. I think attractions in that Fantasyland would have more of an adventurous and grand tone to them. Think less small enclosed dark rides and more exciting rides with big reveals of fantasy vistas and besting monsters and evil.
Now as much as I love both classical and modern Westerns, I think it’s difficult to argue that it’s a genre with the same power that it had in the 1950s and 60s. So I think this land would go. I can, however, think of a sub-genre of film as popular today as the western were 60 years ago: Superhero Films. Come on, this one was obvious.
I’m sure plenty of people are going to point out how they’re tired of superhero movies, and I’d believe you. Between Marvel and DC duking it out, and all of the other studios trying to get in on the action we could see over five big budget hero movies a year. That said, the box office is a great indicator that tells us that for the most people, people still love ‘em.
This is one land where I think it’s easy to see them using specific IPs. After all, Disney bought Marvel and carries a lot of the responsibility when it comes to the genre being as prevalent as it is today. So yeah, the easy answer here is a Marvel themed land filled with action packed E-ticket attractions. I would personally hope we would see the Avengers of rides. A series of attractions, each with their own storyline, but storylines that all added to one overall plot playing out across the land. I made a video about this idea a while back if you want to know more.
The final land, Adventureland, was admittedly the toughest for me to think of. I almost wonder if it’s because the landscape of film today, for as much as we mock it for all being the same, has grown so nuanced that we can’t lump everything into clean-cut genres anymore. Or maybe I’m just missing something.
One element of Disneyland that I loved learning about years ago was that the original four lands of the park were essentially reflective of four popular film genres at the time. These lands appealed to guests because they were settings and concepts that they were already familiar with thanks to the movies they watched. That got me thinking: What would Disneyland look like if it was rebuilt today with the same idea?
New here? Be sure to subscribe!
🔷goo.gl/x17zTL
My Patreon!
❤patreon.com/RobPlays
My Disney Podcast!
🎧ttapodcast.com
Follow me on Twitter!
📱Twitter.com/RobPlays
Tomorrowland is one of the two lands that I think would still exist today. I don’t know if it’d be named Tomorrowland, but there’s no question that science fiction is as popular as ever. The difference though, is that the tone of sci-fi has changed tremendously since Walt’s era. Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was an optimistic look at the future. It wagered that the advances in technology would solve our problems and lead to a new era of discovery and adventure.
Today that’s changed. Sci-fi films, especially ones based on Earth, tend to be much darker. Some might say that’s pessimistic, and others might say it’s realistic. Today, more than ever, we love dystopias. Perhaps it’s because it scratches a survival itch we have. Or maybe it’s satisfying to see underdog heroes attack and topple an oppressive authorities. With so many films focusing on technology leading to our personal or collective downfall, maybe we look for reminders that technology isn’t the answer to our problems, but a tool to help us find that answer. Whatever the reason, I suspect a fresh Tomorrowland of 2018 would be a lot darker than the current one.
Initially I wondered if there would be appeal in that. Would we want to escape to a theme park land so dreary and dark? Then I considered that these films are so prevalent because we like to watch them. We love to play video games in these worlds, and if Alien Encounter is any indication, we would also enjoy inhabiting them at a park. Perhaps in keeping with Disney’s family friendly tone, we would see a land closer to the teen dystopian worlds of Hunger Games or Maze Runner than Blade Runner or Mad Max.
Fantasyland is the other land I think we would still see today, but similar to Tomorrowland, I think today’s Fantasyland would be very different. While the original Fantasyland was Walt’s playground for Disney’s very own animated films, I think today’s Fantasyland would draw more inspiration from franchises like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
While the era of fantasy from Walt’s time were retelling of fairy tales, modern audiences seek out more depth in not only the characters, but also the plots and settings of these films. We look for stories that don’t just feel like fables with no subtext, but tales with depth from actual worlds that might exist out there and inhabited by characters who feel real despite their origin. I think attractions in that Fantasyland would have more of an adventurous and grand tone to them. Think less small enclosed dark rides and more exciting rides with big reveals of fantasy vistas and besting monsters and evil.
Now as much as I love both classical and modern Westerns, I think it’s difficult to argue that it’s a genre with the same power that it had in the 1950s and 60s. So I think this land would go. I can, however, think of a sub-genre of film as popular today as the western were 60 years ago: Superhero Films. Come on, this one was obvious.
I’m sure plenty of people are going to point out how they’re tired of superhero movies, and I’d believe you. Between Marvel and DC duking it out, and all of the other studios trying to get in on the action we could see over five big budget hero movies a year. That said, the box office is a great indicator that tells us that for the most people, people still love ‘em.
This is one land where I think it’s easy to see them using specific IPs. After all, Disney bought Marvel and carries a lot of the responsibility when it comes to the genre being as prevalent as it is today. So yeah, the easy answer here is a Marvel themed land filled with action packed E-ticket attractions. I would personally hope we would see the Avengers of rides. A series of attractions, each with their own storyline, but storylines that all added to one overall plot playing out across the land. I made a video about this idea a while back if you want to know more.
The final land, Adventureland, was admittedly the toughest for me to think of. I almost wonder if it’s because the landscape of film today, for as much as we mock it for all being the same, has grown so nuanced that we can’t lump everything into clean-cut genres anymore. Or maybe I’m just missing something.
