Walt Disney World is gearing as much as demolish Tom Sawyer Island and begin development on the Piston Peak ‘Vehicles’ space of Frontierland this month. The Rivers of America won’t 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 aimed 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 concerning 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 alternative–it’s an ongoing one which’ll proceed within the years to come back. 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 substitute 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 points of interest and areas is at this time (or “was” for those who’re studying on Monday).
I wished 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 images I’ve taken of the RoA through the years. So you may both learn what I’ve to say or just scroll and benefit from the visuals for those who’re sick of this debate.
From the outset, let’s make a number of stipulations. I’ve seen a lot of the controversy about changing Rivers of America with Piston Peak revolve round a number of factors, which strike me as (respectfully) lacking the purpose. With that in thoughts, I’ll conform to the entire following factors and tackle them in flip:
- Tom Sawyer Island and Liberty Sq. Riverboat are usually not standard.
- Vehicles Rally Racers and the family-friendly trip will likely be standard.
- Magic Kingdom will likely be extra standard with Vehicles than Rivers of America.
- Pixar’s Vehicles franchise can match Frontierland.
Let’s begin on the high. It’s no secret that the Liberty Sq. Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island don’t have the hourly throughput numbers as most points of interest in Magic Kingdom. Eliminating them reduces operational and upkeep bills on points of interest and areas which are underutilized and don’t provide as a lot operational ‘bang for buck’ to the corporate.
Due to this, some followers will doubtless be fully okay with this resolution to remove the Rivers of America–as is their proper. Many longtime followers have most likely by no means even been over to Tom Sawyer Island or executed a lap on the Liberty Sq. Riverboat. Others most likely have executed so occasionally through the years, and can do these new Vehicles points of interest 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 points of interest will likely be greater than what it’s changing. The Vehicles Rally Racers attraction will doubtless fall someplace between Seven Dwarfs Mine Prepare and TRON Lightcycle Run over time, making it a high 5 attraction when it comes to 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 will likely be extra standard with Vehicles 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 consider it.
If Imagineering delivers, Piston Peak will likely be a marketable addition and Vehicles 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. Apart from saying their goodbyes, numerous friends are usually not reserving journeys particularly to see it. Disney has metrics displaying that Vehicles will transfer the needle; the identical can’t be mentioned for the Rivers of America.
From my perspective, this additionally no less than partially misses the purpose. Theme parks are usually not simply the sum of their trip 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 points of interest, too.
Viewing theme parks guidelines fashion, with every trip being considered in a vacuum is how you find yourself with studios parks the place every little thing is housed in an enormous soundstage and the theme is “motion pictures” or one thing nebulous as a result of it’s probably the most environment friendly route. This method 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 like Disney’s Hollywood Studios and suppose it may have an important sense of place, that is largely true within the areas that didn’t faithfully re-create the backstage expertise. At the very least, aesthetically.
Suffice to say, there’s a motive so a lot of Imagineering’s current 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 are greatest, for my part, are Hollywood & Sundown Boulevard and Echo Lake. Many followers would agree, and that’s largely for the environment. Friends really feel the distinction, even when they don’t notice 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 concerning the points of interest (though it does have a number of wonderful and envelope-pushing rides), it’s concerning the sense of place. Ministry of Magic solely has one trip and one present, however the latest Harry Potter land is such a triumph of design that friends get pleasure from merely being there.
The identical could be mentioned 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 20 years now, making an attempt 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 friends who actively make the most of these points of interest. They provide serenity and pleasant environment even to friends who stroll alongside the waterfront promenade, stopping for a second to catch their breath and take within the view. It’s inconceivable to quantify this. That’s exactly what worries me.
Typically Disney’s decision-makers view the parks as figures on a spreadsheet, and from that perspective, it’s simple to miss “underutilized” issues which are extremely necessary to the Disney theme park expertise from a holistic perspective. A reasonably persuasive argument might be made that each visitor who walks by means of 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 could not click on within the second, however it’s the “little issues” we treasure simply as a lot as a trip on Massive Thunder; small particulars or quiet moments that grow to be indelible elements of our reminiscences from visits to the parks through the years. These little issues might sound superfluous on paper, particularly when the choice is increasing the park and rising capability by 1000’s friends.
By viewing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island as underutilized actual property that’s expendable, Disney is lacking the forest for the bushes. 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 take in the massive points of interest and experiences we’ve loved. These items and locations are what maintain us coming again.
There’s a long run value to be paid for viewing the parks from the attitude that each sq. foot should be put to its most effective use, have its capability maximized, or be instantly monetized. That’s too myopic of a view, and ignores the sensible actuality that friends type 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 every little thing is go-go-go, the visitor expertise as an entire can undergo. And that’s true even when the person points of interest changing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island find yourself having greater visitor satisfaction scores. There are some issues which are inconceivable to quantify–that friends simply take in, even with out realizing it. That is exactly why we worth atmospheric leisure–the power could be felt subliminally even when not consciously. It brightens the temper, even when unknowingly.
It’s the very same thought with the Rivers of America. There’s no visitor satisfaction “metric” for what number of friends per day stroll alongside that waterfront promenade, pause for a deep breath, smile and take a photograph. It might be an indelible second burned into their reminiscence, or, extra doubtless, a fleeting little bit of happiness. It’s putting the fragile stability of experiences and feelings that makes Magic Kingdom, nicely, magical.
In different phrases, environment can matter as a lot–perhaps extra–than a visitor including one other notch to their trip tally. It was necessary to their day as an entire. It was a much-needed reprieve from the usually hectic 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 provide friends an increase from the paved pathways and hustle and bustle of Magic Kingdom.
Areas like this additionally play a job in elevating the cultural position of theme parks, and reinforce our viewpoint that theme parks are usually not solely folly for kids. Theme parks as artwork. One in all my favourite hidden gem books is Designing Disney’s Theme Parks: The Structure of Reassurance. This is without doubt one of the most tutorial and esoteric books about theme parks, and it spends a variety of time analyzing the design intentions of Disney Parks as symbols of Americana, and the cultural worth they provide past consumerism. I consider that the Rivers of America match squarely on this evaluation, as a deceptively easy man-made “pure” surroundings that speaks to one thing deeper in us. I worry that this misleading nature means we additionally received’t respect the complete extent of what it provides 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 got so many reminiscences of this waterfront stroll late at night time with a cool breeze coming off the Rivers of America, or early within the mornings because the solar flitters by means of the bushes. It’s a kind of locations within the park that permits us to decelerate, take a deep breath, and take in our environment. Perhaps that makes me biased, and overly delicate to dropping the Rivers of America when the common visitor response will likely be: “Who cares? Carry on Vehicles!”
Nevertheless, Disney can also be biased as evident from classes discovered by the late Nineteen Nineties and early aughts. The corporate acknowledged what a mistake not trying on the parks holistically was, and that’s exactly how we obtained Vehicles Land at DCA, World of Frozen, and just about everything of the Disney Journey World overhaul. Wanting again on the parts of opening day DCA that had been good and are nonetheless round, they’re largely well-themed, atmospheric areas–Grizzly Peak, for example.
That is exactly why I’m receptive to the spirit of the argument that dropping the Rivers of America may damage Magic Kingdom’s reputation within the long-term. To be clear, I don’t truly consider that this can occur as a right away or direct results of this resolution. Magic Kingdom will grow to be extra standard within the 2030s than it’s at this time.
The priority is with the road of considering that views the parks because the sum of their particular person elements, wait instances, 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 huge sq. present buildings. It’s how the environment is steadily eroded, all within the service of the trip roster or maximizing each sq. foot of actual property.
Even this concern feels hyperbolic, truthfully. The reality is that Walt Disney World has nice bones, and was designed tremendously nicely almost six a long time in the past. That there are a variety 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 had been initially designed as a bunch of Island Towers within the Seventies, there can be no love for the realm. 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 that 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 the same story with Magic Kingdom and even EPCOT; the bones are so good that it’s laborious to think about any single misguided resolution dooming the park. At the very 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 nonetheless worries me due to how rapidly followers are to excuse poor selections or design. It seems fantastic. It’s adequate. For me, it’s regarding that we as a fandom usually make excuses or don’t maintain Disney to its personal excessive requirements. (A problem I’ve had because the Court docket of Angels controversy and “it’s simply stairs” debate.)
As a reminder, Disney itself returned to those excessive requirements solely after a collection of selections so poor within the late Nineteen Nineties and early aughts that they culminated in a collection of theme parks that had been infamously less than Disney high quality. They had been so unhealthy that the tipping level was reached, regular friends observed, and their attendance suffered consequently.
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 trip roster. It’s the little issues that elevate the theme parks to an artwork type. It’s exactly what makes us the supply of ridicule for outsiders who dismiss Disney as “children stuff” and us as adults with juvenile pursuits.
Wanting in the direction of the longer term with a extra optimistic eye, my closing stipulation on my listing is that Vehicles can work in Frontierland. I’d 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 previously, taking motion pictures 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. Excluding the Rat Journey, all of these had 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 fully.)
Whereas thematic cohesiveness of these additions is up for debate, my underlying level is that framing gadgets and selecting the best canvas can work wonders. Within the case of Vehicles in Frontierland, they’ve picked Piston Peak Nationwide Park because the setting. This might work. It may work nicely! Higher than Vehicles in Future World or Tomorrowland, for those who ask me.
Relating 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, huge 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 might be made that the bygone period of the U.S. Nationwide Parks are a part of that spirit. It was a special time in America, however one which embodied the same sentiment because the “go west, younger man” age. Our Nationwide Parks are America’s Finest Concept, and their spirit and panorama is at residence within the fashionable American understanding of the frontier.
The America of at this time is additional faraway from that automotive growth 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 very least so far as the passage of time is worried, the center of the final century is already older than the Outdated West was within the Fifties. I may go on and on–and do right here: Can the Vehicles Franchise Match Frontierland?
However the factor about that is that it solely works…if it really works.
Pandora may’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 listing had been failures, not success tales. I’d argue that Walt Disney World has made loads of different thematic missteps. Simply because Vehicles can match Frontierland doesn’t imply it’ll.
Piston Peak Nationwide Park is the precise setting, however Imagineers should now nail the design, panorama, soundscape–actually every little thing. It’s going to be a really robust needle to string; far tougher than selecting an apparent thematic match for any given land. (Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Toontown, for instance, had no such issues; no one is actually 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 value it. The marquee Vehicles attraction wants to be pretty much as good as Radiator Springs Racers. The themed design of the realm should be superlative and in retaining of the rugged spirit of Frontierland. The brand new space should have nice kinetic power and environment.
Since this challenge was first introduced, I’ve been reassured that Imagineering understands the task. The brand new Enjoyable Map seems promising and Imagineering’s clarification of their inspiration and how they’re working to make sure thematic integrity and sightlines is promising.
This Vehicles miniland is in succesful palms. The challenge crew clearly loves Disney historical past, basic animation, and Walt Disney World as an entire. They “get it” and can do every little thing of their energy to lovingly create a land worthy of the American West and spirit of Frontierland. They notice they can not ship two overly-short points of interest, a sea of concrete and a few bushes, together with an idea that feels at-odds with Frontierland.
This has gotta be robust. They must make the skeptics (like me) concede we had been incorrect 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 instances previously. Lovely idea artwork to promote followers on initiatives, with the completed product being a tragic shell of the promise. Funds cuts and value-engineering into oblivion. You get the thought.
If the completed Piston Peak seems 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 slightly massive one, at this level. Right here’s hoping the executives get out of the way in which and provides Imagineers the sources wanted to make this essay sound idiotic in a number of years. I’d love nothing greater than to sound foolish; that is one scenario the place trying idiotic can be a large 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 Vehicles? Has your opinion on Piston Peak developed or improved in any respect since Imagineering revealed the Enjoyable Map, plus extra about sightlines and inspirations for the realm? Do you suppose the 2 all-new Vehicles rides coming to Magic Kingdom are “value it”? Do you agree or disagree with our sentiment? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!