Three Disney Rides That Could Be Movies
by Matt Scalici on Jul.24, 2010, under Other Features
Earlier this week, Disney announced that Guillermo del Toro would be helming a film version of its classic theme park attraction The Haunted Mansion (no, you’re not crazy; they already tried it once with Eddie Murphy back in 2003). This marks Disney’s latest attempt to turn one of its theme park attractions into a movie franchise, with previous attempts meeting varying levels of success (Pirates of the Caribbean yes, Country Bear Jamboree no).
In light of that news and because I spent my middle school years visiting Walt Disney World on a weekly basis, I decided to come up with three pitches for new movies or even movie franchises that could be built around classic Disney theme park attractions. Now most of the rides in Disney’s theme parks are based on films, so this list is based only on rides or attractions with no ties to pre-existing films.
The Hall of Presidents
The Ride: One of the original opening day attractions in the Magic Kingdom back in 1971, The Hall of Presidents features Audio-Animatronic figures of every US President. The leaders of the free world come to life on stage and offer their timeless wisdom to the crowd of bored children who would rather be on Splash Mountain.
The Pitch: Night at the Museum meets 1776. A wax museum with figures of all the presidents comes to life at night and personalities clash. Bill Clinton and JFK set out to crash a sorority slumber party. George W. Bush keeps calling FDR “Hot Wheels” and pushing him perilously fast through the hallways. William Henry Harrison dies in the first five minutes. Plenty of opportunities for stunt casting (your suggestions are welcome below).
It’s A Small World
The Ride: A musical boat ride through all the countries of the world, united by the spirit of unity and the desire to crush the remaining sanity of parents with their endless, repetitive melody.
The Pitch: High School Musical set in the United Nations. When the new Secretary General takes office, he decides to use his background in musical theater to resolve the world’s problems and demands that all UN speeches be delivered in the form of a song. The magic of music begins to loosen up those uptight UN delegates as world peace and spontaneous choreography begin to break out everywhere. The love ballad duet between the Israeli and Iranian delegations is truly a show-stopper.
Maelstrom
The Ride: Located in the Norway pavilion at EPCOT, this ride takes visitors on a journey through Norwegian mythology, complete with vikings and angry trolls.
The Pitch: Pirates of the Caribbean with vikings. Granted, Disney already owns Marvel and thus owns the upcoming Thor movie which deals heavily in Norse mythology but there’s an opportunity to go more of a whimsical adventure route with this type of material. Johnny Depp would of course play the womanizing drunk viking.
July 28th, 2010 on 10:33 pm
Great post, Matt!! Loved the list! So let me ask you this – what Disney movie should they make an attraction of?
Lou
August 2nd, 2010 on 12:55 pm
GREAT question, Lou (and thanks for reading!). I’ve always thought TRON would be great creative territory for an attraction and with the upcoming sequel, the time could be right again. Who knows, maybe TRON LEGACY will become a much bigger hit than the original and make it worth Disney’s time to get the Imagineers working on something.
I’d also really like to see THE JUNGLE BOOK characters in an attraction somewhere in the parks. I’ve always felt like it was one of the most accessible and enjoyable of the Disney animated classics and I would think it would be a great fit for either Adventureland or Animal Kingdom.
September 22nd, 2010 on 2:31 pm
Both the Hall of Presidents and It’s A Small World attractions have their origins in the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.
Walt, having grown disinterested in film because he couldn’t produce animated features the way he wanted to, left filmmaking to his company and turned his focus toward another venue for creating an illusion of life: human robots.
Having successfully captured the American imagination with the Disneyland park that he designed and developed, Walt pitched to various corporations the idea of developing World’s Fair attractions for them. He did this with an eye toward forging relationships that he could then parlay into having these corporations lease space at his theme park… an infusion of cash that would allow him to expand the park.
It’s A Small World was done for…. I think General Electric, but I might be wrong. He actually recruited the famous Sherman Brothers songwriting team (known for many Disney songs, perhaps most famously those from MARY POPPINS) and told them to come up with something since, as he casually mentioned, “it’s a small world after all.”
He barely got it finished in time but didn’t have the time or money to develop the building that housed it. He was later delighted to move the attraction to his park and give it a proper “packaging”.
The Hall of Presidents grew out of his first animatronic experiment: a robotic Abraham Lincoln. He built this and, despite embarrassing, severely flawed demos convinced the World’s Fair people it needed to be shown. The Fair organizers then pressured the State of Illinois to feature it at their booth (which I believe was going to tie-in to the centennial celebration of the Gettysburg Address).
Critics at the time described the robotic Lincoln as macabre and disturbing. But Walt loved it enough to want to expand on the idea. The further development of the Hall of Presidents happened after Walt’s death (December 1964), but was certainly within the realm of what Walt’s wishes would have been.