Disney Parks Research Articles

Immersive protagonists – exploring the notion of the ‘hero’ in theme parks

ABSTRACT This article considers how the prolonged immersive storytelling experiences that theme parks provide have developed over time, with a particular focus on the role the individual guest can choose to take. Using examples from the Star Wars Intellectual Property developed for Disney Parks, and specifically Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser (an extended three-day/two-night immersive experience), I consider how the role and agency of the individual participant/guest has changed over time and opened up from rather passive, to much more engaged. I argue that recent developments in theme park land, attraction and experience design (including extensions made possible by digital media) have opened up different structures in the narrative, allowing guests the option to become protagonists in a story they have agency over. This significantly extends the notion of the templated ‘hero’ Joseph Campbell introduced as part of his hero’s journey framework and makes way for the guest as immersive protagonist.

Technology is a wish your heart makes: How Disney harnesses practical magic discourse to legitimize MyMagic+

This article explores how Disney employs magical discourse to legitimize its MyMagic+ system. Through an analysis of the Disney Parks blog, we introduce the concept practical magic discourse, which entices users to indulge in the fantasy of transcending the constraints of reality, while obscuring the labor involved in the system’s development and maintenance. Practical magic discourse differs from existing conceptualizations of magical discourse, emphasizing experiential aspects of technology rather than capabilities; its mundane, rather than grandiose aesthetic; and individual level, rather than societal effects. Like existing conceptualizations, it is performative in willing a particular kind of relationship with a technology. Consequently, it holds the potential to enhance the allure of data-intensive systems, while diverting attention away from negative consequences. We discuss implications of practical magic discourse and underscore the need for critical examination of the enchanting narratives surrounding technological advancements beyond the realm of Big Tech.

I Am Your Father

In this narrative medicine essay, a child psychiatrist is left with no choice but to sit with his 6-year-old son after all his child-behavior strategies failed to jolt the child out of his meltdown, sparked by a long line for a Star Wars ride at a Disney park.

“When I’m a Human Being”: race, bodies, and power in Disney’s adaptations of “The Frog King or Iron Henry”

In the summer of 2020, Walt Disney Theme Parks announced plans to reimagine the popular attraction “Splash Mountain” in the theme of the 2009 feature-length animated film The Princess and the Frog. As only the third Disney feature-length animated film to showcase Black characters prominently, The Princess and the Frog seems perfectly poised to replace the Song of the South—critiqued for its romanticization of race relations after the American Civil War—in the Disney parks. In this adaptation of “Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich” (“The Frog King or Iron Henry”), Walt Disney Animation Studios introduces its first Black princess. While a hardworking, self-starter princess of color is a step towards representation, the film’s portrayal of non-white characters reinforces a hierarchy of race and class which privileges the wealthy white characters while relegating characters of color to the bottom rungs of human society and into non-human bodies. This essay explores the intersection of gender, race, and class in Disney’s adaptations of the classic fairy tale “Der Froschkönig” from the Grimms’ 1812 variation and the plans to reimagine it for Disney theme parks. In conversation with adaptation studies, narrative theory, and feminist theories, this contribution interrogates the underlying messages of prejudice and -isms in The Princess and the Frog that reinforce twentieth- and twenty-first-century prejudices against people of color, women, and the working class, rendering the proposed update of the “Splash Mountain” attraction into a modernization of the problems already recognized in the current ride.

Welcome to the magic: Exploring identification, behavior, socialization, and rivalry among fans of Disney’s theme parks

The current study qualitatively investigates how fans of the Disney Theme Parks are introduced to the brand and how they perceive Disney and Universal Parks. Findings indicate that family plays a very important role in both introducing and building loyalty toward Disney and the Disney Parks. Further, both family and positive memory play an integral role in encouraging fans to continue their fandom of the Disney Parks. Finally, fans report favoritism toward the Disney Parks brand compared to Universal Theme Parks, but they refrain from displaying the level of out-group negativity and derogation toward the rival brand present in other fandom settings. Discussion focuses on the implications of the current study while introducing future areas of investigation.

An Analysis of Disneys Revenue during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, ever since its outbreak in 2019, has been greatly affecting all aspects of life, and businesses across the world have been hurt as a result of the pandemic and measures taken to prevent it. While Walt Disney Co. has also experienced a decline in profit in years 2020 and 2021, its revenue fluctuates only within 7%, indicating a sign of the success and sustainability of Disneys business model. This paper will focus primarily on Disneys two business segments: the Disney Parks, Experiences and Product (DPEP) segment, and the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) segment. The analysis of revenue generated by these two segments will show how the combination of the two segments manages to keep Disney sustainable, as the decrease in revenue in one will be offset by an increase in another. Moreover, the combination of the two and Disneys reserve of countless well-known intellectual properties will prove the strength in its business model, as it successfully overcame emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Research on Enterprise Strategy Formulation and Marketing Strategy Based on Globalization View — Taking Disney as an Example

The Walt Disney Company is one of the biggest mass media and entertainment companies around the world. The company includes Disney Parks, Experience and Product; Disney Media& Entertainment Distribution; Studio Content Groups aimed to entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling. However, the changes in customer desires and the fast-developing competitive market have drawn questions for Disney: to construct a sophisticated business plan for the years coming. Especially with the fast developing globalised economies, appropriate adaptations Disney chooses to make become vital. This essay is going to articulate Disney’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through the use of the SWOT analysis model and provide an analytical conclusion to how Disney can further develop, focusing specifically on the aspect of globalisation. Couple of factors mentioned in the discussion include brand value, technological innovation, business portfolio, culture of the company and social responsibility. The impact of external factors, such as emerging market in Asia and Covid-19 pandemic, was also elaborated in the essay.

CONCEPTS FOR THE FORMATION OF PROGRAMME AND ENTERTAINMENT PARKS

This article examines the largest amusement parks, attracting many visitors of different ages and investors. The concepts of the formation of Disney parks, as well as the solution of regional identity in them on the examples of the USA, France and China are given. The characteristics of architectural and planning solutions in miniature parks from the earliest, Madurodam, to the most famous mini-parks franchise, Legoland, are described. The main principles of architectural and design solutions for programme and amusement parks are revealed.

No Spanish in Cinderella’s Kingdom

Research indicates that Disney theme parks function as sites of ideological negotiation. This study builds on the research by examining Disney World’s incorporation of its first avowed Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. Bringing together discourses of Latinidad, theme parks, and media, this essay focuses on how the park incorporates Elena into its landscape at the level of production, representation, and audiences. I argue that Disney’s inclusion of Elena, and by extension Latinidad, is malleable, situated within the geographic setting, and dependent on various factors seldom disclosed by the conglomerate. Ultimately, Elena exists as an outsider within the Disney park universe.

Research on Multi-level Distribution Strategy Based on Energy Internet

Smart city energy Internet is to comply with the trend of sustainable energy development, urban power energy as the center, comprehensive utilization of all kinds of energy, especially renewable energy, to achieve interconnection and common optimization. Based on the background of distribution network in Disney Park, this paper studies the regulation, operation and management strategy of distribution network of smart city energy Internet. This paper describes the characteristics of the energy Internet, and then analyzes the key technologies that affect power grid regulation, operation and management. The paper investigated the distribution network construction in Shanghai Disney Park under the background of urban energy Internet pilot region to understand the allocation of distributed energy in the park grid. Through simulation calculation and analysis, this paper puts forward a distribution network regulation and management scheme suitable for the characteristics of energy Internet. In this paper, the study found that with the rapid development of power grid, especially all kinds of distributed energy access, the new lines are becoming more. In a wide range of power grid structure is becoming more and more complex, in order to ensure the reliability of power supply and power supply quality, scientific regulation under the background of urban energy Internet development mode, enhancing the management level of power grid is the inevitable developing trend of power grid.

Paying Attention to the Mouse Behind the Curtain

Is it possible that justice requires giving people with disabilities like autism sufficient opportunities to pursue a flourishing life by promoting accessibility at theme parks and other places of public accommodation? I explore this question by analyzing the ethical issues at play in a series of disability lawsuits against Disney Parks and Resorts. Drawing on the work of Martha Nussbaum and Chiara Cordelli, I argue that Disney has an obligation of justice to provide these plaintiffs with their requested disability modification. I further articulate how public accommodations other than Disney should accommodate disabled customers, sometimes with government assistance.

Benign or disordered development? Assessment and simulation of security of highly aggregated tourist crowds in China.

Arising with increasing security issues in highly aggregated tourist crowds (HATCs), widespread attention has been dedicated to security status. Assessing and forecasting the security status of HATCs in various situations related to tourist destinations is an important strategy of security management. Thus, this study constructed a system dynamic flow diagram for the security evaluation of HATCs. The relevant data were collected on perceptions of crowded tourists through questionnaires at Tianyou Peak during China's National Day (Golden Week Holiday). Additionally, efforts were made to conduct online surveys at Shanghai Disney Park and Shilin Night Market in Taipei, since crowding always occurs in these two areas. Empirical results based on Vensim software suggest that HATC status is the result of the coupling of various influencing factors and the result of the benign coupling of the three subsystems: multi-source pressure, state variation, and management response. HATC security presents a changing trend of “increase-decrease-recovery”. Differences exist in the changes of HATC security status in different spaces and at different time nodes. The findings also indicated that HATCs that appear in the daytime are more stable than HATCs that appear at special time nodes. This study highlighted that the security management of HATCs should focus on systematization, differentiation, and precision management.

Mirror, Mirror for Us All

Love them or hate them, Disney theme parks have become some of the most culturally significant locations of collective memory of the American experience. Rather than focus, as most discussion has, on whether this should be viewed as “good” or “bad,” this essay seeks to lay a groundwork for understanding how Disney parks gained their cultural authority. In doing so it will suggest that public historians could benefit from framing the interaction between history and the public at Disney parks as a location-specific process by which the public and a corporation are engaged in a cultural ritual of transforming historical fact into the national narrative.

The Magical World of Disney: building relationships with clients from the brand personality

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the relationship between the brand personality attributed to Disney by consumers and how it affects the perception of their relationship with the brand. This quantitative study presents a survey with 283 Brazilian visitors from Disney parks. The Structural Equation Modeling was used, confirming the prediction relationship between brand personality and relationship perception. The results show that Credibility, Sensitivity, Audacity and Sophistication influence the client’s relationship perception with Disney brand. Among them, Credibility dimension was the main predictor. Our discussion contributes with the body of knowledge of relationship marketing and branding, especially in identifying the nature of the relation between these marketing variables.

Big name fandom and the (inevitable) failure of Disflix

Big name fans are those who have attained a level of recognition within a fan community without necessarily knowing each participant in the subculture and who have the power to influence how other fans in their community engage with the object of their shared fandom. Their niche celebrity status can be achieved through the range of knowledge, access, and official or exclusive information available to them, as well as the degree to which they produce their own media content. In the Disney fan community, big name fans are also sometimes known as lifestylers (lifestyle influencers), and their status is derived primarily from their social media celebrity. These fans document their frequent visits to the Disney parks and official Disney media events on social media, and they use their online platform to interact with their followers and share how they incorporate Disney into all aspects of their lives. Their microcelebrity status gives them power to shape and commodify what it means to be a Disney fan in the new media age through an emphasis on producing and sharing marketable personal brand content. This article seeks to understand the ways the influencer phenomenon has affected the Disney fan community and how this group of fans has shifted the practices, interactions, and habits associated with Disney fandom; it also addresses the limits of their impact among their peers.

Disney tech: Immersive storytelling through innovation

One approach that cuts across all departments at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) is that everything starts with a story, and technology is utilized to serve those tales. The constant advancement of technology in WDI's various disciplines has opened up entire new worlds and their stories to generations of guests, old and young alike. Decades ago, one could only dream of flying the Millennium Falcon or watching astromech droids rolling through a crowd while essentially living inside a fictional universe. Here is an inside look at how some of the technologies being explored at WDI are powering new adventures at Disney parks around the globe.

Big ideas: The sky's the limit

The genesis of any Disney park, attraction, hotel, or cruise project begins with people—creative and diverse and with varying perspectives. These people, Imagineers, are involved with everything from design through delivery—and the earliest phases are Blue Sky. Contrary to popular belief, Blue Sky is not a Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) department; it's a phase of a process where Imagineers explore all the possibilities of what an experience will be, whether it's an attraction, a restaurant, a hotel, a ship, or even an entirely new park. The approach focuses on putting together interesting and creative people with different perspectives, giving them meaningful challenges to solve, and then removing barriers so they can create the next big thing in theme park entertainment.

Inside the minds of two of Imagineering's most prolific creative executives

The allure of Disney parks is fueled by both new and nostalgic attractions designed to build memories for the millions of guests who visit each year. Once inside the park gates, the sights and sounds created by generations of Imagineers come into view. If you look closely, you can spot tributes to the people who helped bring the parks to life. On Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disneyland Paris, the names of Disney luminaries are creatively embellished across the windows on the various buildings. Open Since '55mDisneyland Casting Agencym'It Takes People to Make the Dream a Reality'mWalter Elias Disney, Founder a Director Emeritus and Center StreetmPainting a SculpturemCollin Campbell, Herbert Ryman, Blaine Gibson, Mary Blair, Dorothea Redmond are just two of the fictional business facades that pay tribute to various Imagineers for all posterity.

Fans as the Researcher’s Unwitting Collaborators

This article examines the notion of fan labor through Disney park fans’ work of “Disney scholarship” and “Disney history,” as well as the extent to which such data might be used by academic researchers. While it provides unavoidable entry points to academic investigations of Disney theme parks and their history, this body of knowledge reveals underlying motivations specific to fandom’s social and cultural economy. A brief history of Disney park fandom will show how fan-created works of “Disney scholarship” evidence popular expertise in often disregarded areas of culture, as well as processes of fan labor that complicate the traditional amateur/professional binary. For all their claims to professionalism, fans generally regard paid labor with suspicion and trade fan-collected data by rules typical of a gift economy. As self-styled Disney historians morph into Disney custodians, they reveal underlying motivations that help make sense of the data they produce: in their struggle to preserve Walt-era attractions and protect the park from the corporation’s commercialism, fans reveal a set of prescriptive attitudes on how to engage with the parks that inform their practices as park chroniclers. This is especially evident in controversies over proposed attraction updates, as fans set out to promote a historically and aesthetically discerning appreciation of Disney products, outside the imperatives of commercial culture.

The vision of the Disney World: an experience marketing study at The Walt Disney Company

The article aims to understand through interviews with Disney park goers and prospects the strategies that the multinational company The Walt Disney Company uses to become a brand that enchants, using the so-called experience marketing. The project also looks at how The Walt Disney Company's strategies can influence not only customers but also prospects to trust and desire the brand. The survey pointed out that more than 90% of visitors had their expectations surpassed, even though they had a high level of expectation of knowing the parks.