Honor Hunter has a great article up:
Blue Sky Disney: The Hidden Sea...
If you haven't yet, go read it. This is exactly what the word "story" means. It isn't a plotline, it doesn't have a beginning, middle or end. It is simply the layered and multi-faceted history of a place that makes it feel real.
Disneyland had this sort of thing from the beginning. Rides like the Jungle Cruise have all sorts of layered history in the queue area. Clues and hints to the past of the business. It's never in your face and is probably missed by 90% of guests. They simply don't look and probably don't see it, but if it weren't there, something would be wrong and they'd know it.
This is the kind of "story" that needs to be used again. Richly detailed history. If this building is supposed to look old, why does it look old? What made it look old? Was it the elements? Battles? What kinds of weapons? Was it sun or wind or rain? It's the story of how something got to be the way it is, not a story you read and follow.
Sometime in the 90s, Disney forgot this meaning of story and got sidetracked by plots. Plots don't offer the rich, real world details that make Disney parks magical. A plot isn't what makes BTMRR so amazing. It's the history of a mine that is well crafted and layered without actually every coming out and saying a single word. It's told through the tools laying around, the bits of old and frayed rope, the rusted pulleys and rotting wooden towers.
As much as I enjoy the newer rides, this type of storytelling seems to have been lost and I really truly and dearly hope for its return.
What say you?
Blue Sky Disney: The Hidden Sea...
If you haven't yet, go read it. This is exactly what the word "story" means. It isn't a plotline, it doesn't have a beginning, middle or end. It is simply the layered and multi-faceted history of a place that makes it feel real.
Disneyland had this sort of thing from the beginning. Rides like the Jungle Cruise have all sorts of layered history in the queue area. Clues and hints to the past of the business. It's never in your face and is probably missed by 90% of guests. They simply don't look and probably don't see it, but if it weren't there, something would be wrong and they'd know it.
This is the kind of "story" that needs to be used again. Richly detailed history. If this building is supposed to look old, why does it look old? What made it look old? Was it the elements? Battles? What kinds of weapons? Was it sun or wind or rain? It's the story of how something got to be the way it is, not a story you read and follow.
Sometime in the 90s, Disney forgot this meaning of story and got sidetracked by plots. Plots don't offer the rich, real world details that make Disney parks magical. A plot isn't what makes BTMRR so amazing. It's the history of a mine that is well crafted and layered without actually every coming out and saying a single word. It's told through the tools laying around, the bits of old and frayed rope, the rusted pulleys and rotting wooden towers.
As much as I enjoy the newer rides, this type of storytelling seems to have been lost and I really truly and dearly hope for its return.
What say you?
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