Walt Disney World is gearing as much as demolish Tom Sawyer Island and begin building on the Piston Peak ‘Automobiles’ space of Frontierland this month. The Rivers of America is not going to be saved, let’s be clear about that. This isn’t a last-minute plea for Imagineering to vary course.
It’s as a substitute geared toward addressing the aesthetic and inventive benefit of this space of the park for posterity and precedent. My actual hope is that the followers who’ve been dismissive in regards to the ‘worth’ of the Rivers of America can perceive why locations like this are an asset to theme parks.
As a result of this isn’t a dialog confined simply to this one substitute–it’s an ongoing one which’ll proceed within the years to return. That’s true typically, but additionally extra particularly with regard to the Rivers of America, which is on the chopping block elsewhere along with Walt Disney World.
This comes in opposition to the backdrop of the in-park areas that Piston Peak Nationwide Park will exchange completely closing. Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and Liberty Sq. Riverboat will all shut on July 7; the final day to expertise any of those sights and areas is right this moment (or “was” when you’re studying on Monday).
I needed to supply a closing ‘love letter’ to the Rivers of America, and the very best tribute I can provide is making a case for it (but once more), and sprinkle that essay with my favourite pictures I’ve taken of the RoA over time. So you’ll be able to both learn what I’ve to say or just scroll and benefit from the visuals when you’re sick of this debate.
From the outset, let’s make a couple of stipulations. I’ve seen a lot of the controversy about changing Rivers of America with Piston Peak revolve round a couple of factors, which strike me as (respectfully) lacking the purpose. With that in thoughts, I’ll comply with the entire following factors and deal with them in flip:
- Tom Sawyer Island and Liberty Sq. Riverboat usually are not widespread.
- Automobiles Rally Racers and the family-friendly journey shall be widespread.
- Magic Kingdom shall be extra widespread with Automobiles than Rivers of America.
- Pixar’s Automobiles franchise can match Frontierland.
Let’s begin on the prime. It’s no secret that the Liberty Sq. Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island don’t have the hourly throughput numbers as most sights in Magic Kingdom. Eliminating them reduces operational and upkeep bills on sights and areas which can be underutilized and don’t provide as a lot operational ‘bang for buck’ to the corporate.
Due to this, some followers will doubtless be completely okay with this determination to eradicate the Rivers of America–as is their proper. Many longtime followers have in all probability by no means even been over to Tom Sawyer Island or performed a lap on the Liberty Sq. Riverboat. Others in all probability have performed so sometimes over time, and can do these new Automobiles sights extra. That is essentially true–therefore the ‘underutilized capability’ time period.
There ought to actually be no argument that the visitor throughput of Piston Peak’s queued sights shall be larger than what it’s changing. The Automobiles Rally Racers attraction will doubtless fall someplace between Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice and TRON Lightcycle Run over time, making it a prime 5 attraction by way of utilization. These are apparent factors, not “gotchas.” It’s foolish to faux that any cheap Disney fan advocating for the Rivers of America believes in any other case.
The extra controversial stipulation is #3, which is that Magic Kingdom shall be extra widespread with Automobiles than Rivers of America. I’ve heard some detractors of the Piston Peak plan declare that is the start of the tip for Magic Kingdom. Whereas I’m considerably sympathetic to that line of argument (extra on that in a minute), I don’t imagine it.
If Imagineering delivers, Piston Peak shall be a marketable addition and Automobiles Rally Racers will seem in advert campaigns. It’ll be on billboards, commercials, promoted social media posts, and so forth. Rivers of America isn’t on any billboards. Except for saying their goodbyes, a lot of company usually are not reserving journeys particularly to see it. Disney has metrics exhibiting that Automobiles will transfer the needle; the identical can’t be stated for the Rivers of America.
From my perspective, this additionally a minimum of partially misses the purpose. Theme parks usually are not simply the sum of their journey rosters, to be raced round and checked off one after the other. They’re as a lot outlined by the areas in between; by the absence of sights, too.
Viewing theme parks guidelines fashion, with every journey being considered in a vacuum is how you find yourself with studios parks the place all the things is housed in a giant soundstage and the theme is “films” or one thing nebulous as a result of it’s probably the most environment friendly route. This strategy yields the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, Disney California Journey 1.0, and areas of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Furthermore, this line of reasoning is antithetical to Animal Kingdom, Tokyo DisneySea, EPCOT Middle, Disneyland Paris–and the opposite greatest variations of chateau parks. As a lot as I really like Disney’s Hollywood Studios and suppose it could have an ideal sense of place, that is largely true within the areas that didn’t faithfully re-create the backstage expertise. At the least, aesthetically.
Suffice to say, there’s a motive so a lot of Imagineering’s latest lands have been a departure from this fashion. Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge are removed from good, however they’re a stylistic breath of recent air for DHS. The legacy lands at that park which can be greatest, for my part, are Hollywood & Sundown Boulevard and Echo Lake. Many followers would agree, and that’s largely for the ambiance. Visitors really feel the distinction, even when they don’t understand it and it isn’t surfaced by satisfaction surveys.
Even Common has realized this! A lot of the reward heaped on Epic Universe isn’t in regards to the sights (though it does have a number of wonderful and envelope-pushing rides), it’s in regards to the sense of place. Ministry of Magic solely has one journey and one present, however the latest Harry Potter land is such a triumph of design that company take pleasure in merely being there.
The identical may be stated for Celestial Park, Darkish Universe, Tremendous Nintendo World, and Isle of Berk–each single land. Epic Universe has its points, certain, however the bones of the park are positioning it for long-term success. They’ve been working at getting away from their soundstage-style for the higher a part of twenty years now, attempting to be extra like old style Disney, design-wise.
Few areas at Walt Disney World excel from a being there perspective fairly just like the Rivers of America, Liberty Sq. Riverboat, and Tom Sawyer Island. These are unbelievable belongings to Magic Kingdom not only for the company who actively make the most of these sights. They provide serenity and pleasant ambiance even to company who stroll alongside the waterfront promenade, stopping for a second to catch their breath and take within the view. It’s not possible to quantify this. That’s exactly what worries me.
Generally Disney’s decision-makers view the parks as figures on a spreadsheet, and from that perspective, it’s straightforward to miss “underutilized” issues which can be extremely vital to the Disney theme park expertise from a holistic perspective. A reasonably persuasive argument may very well be made that each visitor who walks by Frontierland and gazes over on the Rivers of America, hears the Liberty Sq. Riverboat, and has their stress-levels drop by a share level or two has “utilized” these choices.
It might not click on within the second, nevertheless it’s the “little issues” we treasure simply as a lot as a journey on Huge Thunder; small particulars or quiet moments that develop into indelible components of our reminiscences from visits to the parks over time. These little issues may appear superfluous on paper, particularly when the choice is increasing the park and rising capability by 1000’s company.
By viewing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island as underutilized actual property that’s expendable, Disney is lacking the forest for the timber. Areas like these are what assist make our days within the parks particular and separate Disney from the competitors. They offer us little moments to pause and soak up the massive sights and experiences we’ve loved. This stuff and locations are what hold us coming again.
There’s a long run worth to be paid for viewing the parks from the angle that each sq. foot have to be put to its best use, have its capability maximized, or be instantly monetized. That’s too myopic of a view, and ignores the sensible actuality that company kind impressions based mostly on the totality of their go to, with these little issues or counterprogramming including as a lot because the E-Tickets.
If all the things is go-go-go, the visitor expertise as a complete can endure. And that’s true even when the person sights changing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island find yourself having larger visitor satisfaction scores. There are some issues which can be not possible to quantify–that company simply soak up, even with out realizing it. That is exactly why we worth atmospheric leisure–the power may be felt subliminally even when not consciously. It brightens the temper, even when unknowingly.
It’s the very same concept with the Rivers of America. There’s no visitor satisfaction “metric” for what number of company per day stroll alongside that waterfront promenade, pause for a deep breath, smile and take a photograph. It may very well be an indelible second burned into their reminiscence, or, extra doubtless, a fleeting little bit of happiness. It’s placing the fragile stability of experiences and feelings that makes Magic Kingdom, properly, magical.
In different phrases, ambiance can matter as a lot–perhaps extra–than a visitor including one other notch to their journey tally. It was vital to their day as a complete. It was a much-needed reprieve from the usually annoying nature of the world’s hottest theme park. This has lengthy been my perspective on the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island–that they’re invaluable belongings that function counterprogramming to present company an increase from the paved pathways and hustle and bustle of Magic Kingdom.
Areas like this additionally play a task in elevating the cultural function of theme parks, and reinforce our viewpoint that theme parks usually are not solely folly for kids. Theme parks as artwork. Certainly one of my favourite hidden gem books is Designing Disney’s Theme Parks: The Structure of Reassurance. This is among the most educational and esoteric books about theme parks, and it spends loads of time analyzing the design intentions of Disney Parks as symbols of Americana, and the cultural worth they provide past consumerism. I imagine that the Rivers of America match squarely on this evaluation, as a deceptively easy man-made “pure” atmosphere that speaks to one thing deeper in us. I concern that this misleading nature means we additionally received’t admire the complete extent of what it presents till it’s gone.
Admittedly, it’s additionally a matter of nostalgia and sentimentality for these of us who lament the lack of the Rivers of America. This waterfront promenade is one in every of my favourite locations in all of Magic Kingdom, and we’ve so many reminiscences of this waterfront stroll late at evening with a cool breeze coming off the Rivers of America, or early within the mornings because the solar flitters by the timber. It’s a type of locations within the park that permits us to decelerate, take a deep breath, and take in our environment. Possibly that makes me biased, and overly delicate to dropping the Rivers of America when the typical visitor response shall be: “Who cares? Convey on Automobiles!”
Nevertheless, Disney can also be biased as evident from classes realized by the late Nineties and early aughts. The corporate acknowledged what a mistake not wanting on the parks holistically was, and that’s exactly how we obtained Automobiles Land at DCA, World of Frozen, and just about the whole thing of the Disney Journey World overhaul. Wanting again on the parts of opening day DCA that have been good and are nonetheless round, they’re largely well-themed, atmospheric areas–Grizzly Peak, as an illustration.
That is exactly why I’m receptive to the spirit of the argument that dropping the Rivers of America might damage Magic Kingdom’s reputation within the long-term. To be clear, I don’t really imagine that this can occur as an instantaneous or direct results of this determination. Magic Kingdom will develop into extra widespread within the 2030s than it’s right this moment.
The priority is with the road of pondering that views the parks because the sum of their particular person components, wait occasions, and Lightning Lane gross sales knowledge. Taken to its excessive, this thought course of is the one that offers rise to large E-Tickets in massive sq. present buildings. It’s how the ambiance is regularly eroded, all within the service of the journey roster or maximizing each sq. foot of actual property.
Even this concern feels hyperbolic, actually. The reality is that Walt Disney World has nice bones, and was designed tremendously properly practically six many years in the past. That there are loads of cuts that may be made to the ‘fats’ (superfluous serenity and design) earlier than that bone is hit.
We simply noticed this play out with Island Tower on the Polynesian. Its exterior is ugly; plain, cheap-looking, and discordant with its environment. If Seven Seas Lagoon have been initially designed as a bunch of Island Towers within the Seventies, there could be no love for the world. Nobody would have nostalgia as a result of it’d be totally forgettable.
And but, it doesn’t destroy the skyline as a result of the bones of Seven Seas Lagoon are so robust you could overlook it. To the extent that it succeeds, Island Tower does so by leeching off the standard of and love for its environment. Irreparable injury to Seven Seas Lagoon would take many extra Island Towers, as a result of the unique design is simply that good.
It’s an identical story with Magic Kingdom and even EPCOT; the bones are so good that it’s arduous to think about any single misguided determination dooming the park. At the least, for me. Some followers have recognized dropping the Rivers of America as their tipping level, and whereas I hope they’re overreacting, I can not fault them for the sentiment at this level.
Though this argument strikes me as hyperbolic, it however worries me due to how shortly followers are to excuse poor choices or design. It appears to be like tremendous. It’s adequate. For me, it’s regarding that we as a fandom typically make excuses or don’t maintain Disney to its personal excessive requirements. (A problem I’ve had for the reason that Court docket of Angels controversy and “it’s simply stairs” debate.)
As a reminder, Disney itself returned to those excessive requirements solely after a sequence of choices so poor within the late Nineties and early aughts that they culminated in a sequence of theme parks that have been infamously less than Disney high quality. They have been so unhealthy that the tipping level was reached, regular company observed, and their attendance suffered because of this.
My view is that nice placemaking, themed design, and people “pointless” particulars are exactly what makes Disney, Disney. All of us have so many superlatives for why Walt Disney World is a particular place, and it normally isn’t only a journey roster. It’s the little issues that elevate the theme parks to an artwork kind. It’s exactly what makes us the supply of ridicule for outsiders who dismiss Disney as “youngsters stuff” and us as adults with juvenile pursuits.
Wanting in the direction of the longer term with a extra optimistic eye, my remaining stipulation on my record is that Automobiles can work in Frontierland. I might hazard a guess that that is the place I lose most followers of the Rivers of America. Many are rightfully frightened about loud googly-eyed zooming across the wild west. On its face, this Pixar franchise in Frontierland appears totally discordant.
My view on that is that Imagineering has labored its magic up to now, taking films and characters that appeared at odds with their respective parks and lands, and making them really feel extremely cohesive. We noticed this with Pandora in Animal Kingdom, in addition to arguably Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, and Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT. Aside from the Rat Experience, all of these have been met with fierce fan backlash when initially introduced. (Particularly Pandora–it was simply largely pre-social media, so many followers have forgotten or missed it completely.)
Whereas thematic cohesiveness of these additions is up for debate, my underlying level is that framing gadgets and choosing the proper canvas can work wonders. Within the case of Automobiles in Frontierland, they’ve picked Piston Peak Nationwide Park because the setting. This might work. It might work properly! Higher than Automobiles in Future World or Tomorrowland, when you ask me.
With regards to issues of timeline, lore, setting or story, my perspective is extra ‘relaxed’ than many followers. The frontier is an American spirit. That sense of rugged individualism, manifest future, massive folklore, and western exploration–all of it’s as a lot an ethos as it’s an period.
As America will get older and the 1800s are additional within the rearview mirror, the case may very well be made that the bygone period of the U.S. Nationwide Parks are a part of that spirit. It was a unique time in America, however one which embodied an identical sentiment because the “go west, younger man” age. Our Nationwide Parks are America’s Greatest Thought, and their spirit and panorama is at dwelling within the trendy American understanding of the frontier.
The America of right this moment is additional faraway from that automotive increase and heyday of the western ‘Nice American Street Journey’ than Walt Disney was from the Outdated West when he dreamt up the idea of Frontierland. At the least so far as the passage of time is anxious, the center of the final century is already older than the Outdated West was within the Nineteen Fifties. I might go on and on–and do right here: Can the Automobiles Franchise Match Frontierland?
However the factor about that is that it solely works…if it really works.
Pandora might’ve been a trainwreck; a jarring break from the harmonious areas of Animal Kingdom. Ditto the entire modifications at EPCOT. You may even contend that some entries on that record have been failures, not success tales. I’d argue that Walt Disney World has made loads of different thematic missteps. Simply because Automobiles can match Frontierland doesn’t imply it’ll.
Piston Peak Nationwide Park is the best setting, however Imagineers should now nail the design, panorama, soundscape–actually all the things. It’s going to be a really powerful needle to string; far harder than selecting an apparent thematic match for any given land. (Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Toontown, for instance, had no such issues; no person is really frightened about Monstropolis being an eyesore in DHS.)
The underside line is that if we’re dropping the Rivers of America, it had higher be price it. The marquee Automobiles attraction wants to be pretty much as good as Radiator Springs Racers. The themed design of the world have to be superlative and in conserving of the rugged spirit of Frontierland. The brand new space will need to have nice kinetic power and ambiance.
Since this undertaking was first introduced, I’ve been reassured that Imagineering understands the project. The brand new Enjoyable Map appears to be like promising and Imagineering’s rationalization of their inspiration and how they’re working to make sure thematic integrity and sightlines is promising.
This Automobiles miniland is in succesful arms. The undertaking staff clearly loves Disney historical past, basic animation, and Walt Disney World as a complete. They “get it” and can do all the things of their energy to lovingly create a land worthy of the American West and spirit of Frontierland. They understand they can’t ship two overly-short sights, a sea of concrete and a few timber, together with an idea that feels at-odds with Frontierland.
This has gotta be robust. They should make the skeptics (like me) concede we have been mistaken about ever questioning the knowledge of changing the Rivers of America. The hesitation for me at this level is that we’ve been burned many occasions up to now. Stunning idea artwork to promote followers on initiatives, with the completed product being a tragic shell of the promise. Finances cuts and value-engineering into oblivion. You get the concept.
If the completed Piston Peak appears to be like just like the Enjoyable Map, it’s going to be a triumph that makes all of the above issues sound just like the foolish rantings of a lunatic. However that’s nonetheless an “if,” and a fairly giant one, at this level. Right here’s hoping the executives get out of the best way and provides Imagineers the assets wanted to make this essay sound idiotic in a couple of years. I’d love nothing greater than to sound foolish; that is one scenario the place wanting idiotic could be an enormous win.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
How do you’re feeling about Walt Disney World retiring and changing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island with Automobiles? Has your opinion on Piston Peak advanced or improved in any respect since Imagineering revealed the Enjoyable Map, plus extra about sightlines and inspirations for the world? Do you suppose the 2 all-new Automobiles rides coming to Magic Kingdom are “price it”? Do you agree or disagree with our sentiment? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
