It takes a lot of magic to make the Disney Parks work the way they do and we're not talking about just thrill-rides, parades, and the legion of animated characters brought to life. No, we're talking about details and practices down to the sensory level the likes of which you might never notice.
We've said it before and we'll say it again, Disney goes all the way when it comes to matters of immersion. Everything from the size, shape, and color of the attractions down to the smell of the environments, Disney overlooks nothing. Join us as we look at ten sensory details you probably don't think about whenever you visit the Disney Parks.
10 Size Matters
Disney is responsible for creating some of the largest theme parks on the planet. From Disneyland in California the Tokyo Disney sea, Mickey's got his mitts on some serious real estate. But the largest piece of Disney property resides down in Orlando Florida at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Walt Disney World is a testament to the feet of Disney Imagineering. Home to four has Disney's most famous theme parks and two exciting water park experiences, the property spans over 27,000 acres. That's nearly the size of San Francisco! Needless to say, we could live in a place like this.
9 Perspectives on Disney
Some of you might already be familiar with this idea, either from Disney or one of our previous articles. But have you ever just stood in wonder in front of the castle or any of Disney's various feats of architecture? Those castle spires look like they go beyond the clouds, don't they? And that drop from Splash Mountain looks like a long way down, doesn't it?
Like so many things, it's all a matter of perspective. In this case, a forced perspective. Using color and lighting, Disney's architects I've created the optical illusion that their structures are larger than they are. But as you'll see in our next entry, some of them meet the max requirement for massive.
8 Just Tall Enough
While some pieces of Disney are only made to look hundreds of feet tall, there are a select few that are absolutely ginormous. Due to zoning laws and air regulations, certain structures can only be a certain height before they need lights to be seen by air traffic. Disney, however, as a way around that.
Ever dedicated to preserving their famous environments outside the realm of reality, Disney made sure their tallest structure, Expedition Everest, was exactly one foot under the maximum amount, 200 feet. It's all perfectly legal, but it's still something most fans don't think about.
7 Hooray for Hollywood
Here's a little factoid only the truest of true Disney fans might know, and cast members might even ask you about it if you're trading for pins. Disney World's Hollywood Studios is it just a theme park dedicated to the glitz and glamour of the movies, But at one time was a functioning studio.
Before certain renovations were made, Hollywood Studios served as an animation studio, assisting in the creation of different animated features such as Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear. Who knew an amusement park could be both fun and functional for film?
6 No Stone in Sight
The castle, whether Cinderella's or Sleeping Beauty's, is the icon and epicenter of both American parks. With their towers, spires, and stained glass windows oh, they really do look like something straight out of a storybook. But although their walls might look like stone masonry and similar structures, not one stone was used in the creation of these icons.
The castles are created from cement, glass, concrete, steel, and fiberglass. There is no stone and no bricks within either structure. Through the power of sculpture and Disney Imagineering, we've been given these beautiful fairytale figures.
5 Somebody Croaked
If you're a fan of Disney Easter-eggs, then you know that the Haunted Mansion is a practical gold mine for them. But what might appear as just a simple nod to an old character is actually much more then it appears. This particular memento mori live beyond the gate of the Haunted Mansion's pet cemetery.
If you look carefully, there is a statue of J. Thaddeus Toad from Disney's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. This isn't done to pay tribute to a movie, but to remember a fallen attraction. It's a memento dedicated to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, a once-popular attraction that was replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. May he rest in peace.
4 Put a Ring on It
Across the great Bob Ross, there are no mistakes just happy accidents. And one such happy accident earned itself a permanent place in the Haunted Mansion's Mythos. If you look in the pavement of the Haunted Mansion queue, you might stumble upon a wedding ring that has been embedded in the concrete.
This is supposedly the ring of Constance Hatchaway, the black widow bride, but it wasn't done intentionally. In fact, it was a bolt or piece of construction that fell into the drying cement. Imagineers like to the way it looked and soon shaped it into a wedding band to fit with the theming. Keep an eye out next time you venture into the realm of the supernatural.
3 Sharp Dressed Mice
Mickey and Minnie are without a doubt the busiest characters in all of the Disney properties. Appearing in various shows, parades, specials, and meet and greets, Disney's power couple definitely have their work cut out for them. It takes a lot of work to look as good as they do, but just how much?
Though she might be a fashion icon, Minnie is outdone by her man in the wardrobe department. Mickey's closet features over 135 outfits and costumes where Minnie only has around 100. That's enough different looks to make Edna Mode's head spin, dahlings.
2 Recycled Robots
We're not going to lie, there is a little bit of creep factor with this next entry. One thing you might not know about the Disney parks is that they waste nothing, especially when it comes to Disney Imagineering. If ever they close an attraction, you can bet your boots that only a fraction of it is scrapped.
One of the most famous instances of this brand of recycling is with Disney's audio-animatronics. The singing animals featured in the America Sings attraction found new life on Splash Mountain, however, some of them reside in a galaxy far, far away. To have them fit in with the Star Wars universe, all they had to do was take off the animal pelts.
1 Something in the Air
If you're a certified, bona fide, energized Disney fan, then you probably have your favorite smell from the parks. Some of you are not in your head, some of you are collectively scratching them. We are course talking the smelitizers Disney uses to further establish the environments of the park's many lands.
There's a reason Adventureland smells like pineapple, Main Street smells like cotton candy, and Fantasyland smells like fresh flowers. It's all thanks to these ingenious little devices that pump out specific scents to further immerse you into the fantasy. You might not know why, but there's definitely magic in the air.
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