The location I have selected for a ride on the miracles of Jesus (at my Bible World resort) is “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.” That ride is located in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World and in Critter Country at Disneyland. It is a dark ride that uses a track (although the one in Tokyo Disneyland is trackless). In The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom book, I had the ride layout of the Winnie ride at WDW, so I used that as the layout for the Miracles ride. A dark ride (with a track) is a good ride type for this set of stories, because it will provide close-up encounters of Jesus’ healings. There are other ride types that could work (depending on budget and space allowances)—the E-ticket “Rise of the Resistance” ride, a boat ride, or some type of show.
With all of the miracles that Jesus worked during his 3 years of public ministry, how would a ride designer select which miracles to include? I based the number on the layout of the Pooh ride, in which I counted to have 7 main scenes. Well, John’s Gospel has 7 major miracles that are called the 7 Signs! Those 7 are the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), the Healing of the Official’s Son (4:46-54), the Lame Man at the Pool (5:1-17), the Feeding of the 5000 (6:1-15), Jesus Walks on Water (6:16-21), the Healing of a Man Born Blind (9:1-41), and the Raising of his Friend Lazarus (11:1-47). The scenes of my proposed ride follow that order except I have reversed the order of the Feeding and the Lame Man to provide for a bigger scene for the Feeding. However, the correct ordering could be kept by adding/removing walls. For the Wedding Feast of Cana, the first room will show the water turning into wine through lighting effects. Guests can see the water from a waiter pouring from the stone jug into a pitcher as well as some other waiters who are spilling water out of their jugs. The second room shows the tasting of the wine. An element that would need special development is Jesus walking on water (with Peter sinking). Other healings of Jesus (or scenes from John’s Gospel, like the Samaritan woman) could be included in the queue for the ride.
0 Comments
People have their favorites on all sorts of things, including top tier amusement parks. There are really only two companies that are in this top tier--Disney and Universal (I put Busch Gardens in Tier 2). How do the theme parks of the two companies compare? Which one is the king of theme parks?
One criterion is the focus of the parks. Certainly the 6 Disney parks and 3 Universal parks in the U.S. each have their themes. But what I mean by “focus” is a little different. “Focus” has more to do with the modus operandi of the theme park division of the company. For Disney, the focus is immersing its guests in stories. Universal’s theme park motto is “Ride the movies!” They have similar aims, but Disney’s approach is a little more universal (pun intended). Another criterion is the intended audience. Certainly both Disney and Universal cater to families. Walt Disney built the original Disneyland with the belief that there should be rides that parents and children can ride together. Universal does focus a little more on families with older kids or young adults. I really enjoy thrills (such as roller coasters) at theme parks. Some parks like Six Flags or Cedar Point are known for their roller coasters. Between the “Top Tier” theme parks, Universal takes the cake. It has the more intense coasters like The Hulk Coaster and Rip Ride Rockit. Jurassic Park River Adventure is more intense than its counterpart Splash Mountain at Disney parks. With any company that is focused on creativity, the vision of the founder looms large. This is certainly the case with the Disney company. Walt Disney’s mark on the Park’s is still seen to this day. His apartment in Main Street USA in Disneyland always has its light on in memory of him. The Partners statue in front of the Castle shows Walt and Mickey holding hands. The motto, “What Would Walt Do?” is still on many cast members’ minds. Now what about Universal Studios? Can you name their founder? In 1963 MCA Universal president Lee Wasserman asked VP Al Dorskind to look into the feasibility of providing a permanent tram tour of their studios in Hollywood. There were certainly other figures who pushed Universal into more of a theme park role, but it all started with the desire to make Universal Studios a place tourists would want to come to. They have succeeded in that, but their founder’s vision was a bit more limited in scope than Walt’s. Another way of evaluating the “Top Tier” parks is the impressions they leave with people. Guests at Universal will come away entertained and with good memories. Those are good outcomes for any entertainment company. But I don’t think it quite measures up to Disney. Guests leave Disney parks (especially Walt Disney World) changed. Having experienced the unique storytelling and immersion into themed lands, people’s imaginations are opened up. I think this is observable in the plethora of websites, blogs, and podcasts that focus on Disney parks (rather than Universal parks). So although Universal might have a niche with themed thrill rides, the best theme parks out there (in my opinion) are Disney’s. There are a number of Disney cartoons that involve magic—the witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Ursula the sea witch in The Little Mermaid, magic lamps and genies in Aladdin, and voodoo in The Princess and the Frog, to name a few. The movie Fantasia (and the related Fantasmic show at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios) includes the short “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” that shows Mickey using magic (to his detriment). Those movies don’t seem to really glorify magic, since the users of the magic face some great problems (including even death in some cases). With that being said, I would appreciate it if Disney focused more on faith and less on magic.
Now to focus a bit more on the parks! First, we will stop by the Magic Kingdom (or Disneyland in California). I don’t really know anybody who avoids riding The Haunted Mansion for its inclusion of the occult, but I did ask my friend if we should ride it on my 2020 trip to Walt Disney World. The Haunted Mansion involves a seance and tarot cards, which go against Christian morality. Once again, it’s fantasy; people (even kids) don’t believe that the story is something they can experience outside the park. The use of the seance and tarot cards don’t invoke a desire for people to seek them outside of the park. There are a few other Disney rides that focus on magic like the idol in Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea (which involves a very different storyline than the other versions) and the whimsical Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland. Like The Haunted Mansion, riders don’t believe that those types of magic actually exist. I would like to talk a little about Harry Potter (at Universal parks). Some of my Catholic friends aren’t going to like to hear this—the head exorcist in my diocese (who I can’t name, because his role is not supposed to be public) told my classmates and me that Harry Potter can be an open door demonic activity (note: he said “can” and not “necessarily is”). On a related note, there is also the question of whether the books use actual spells. For these reasons, I generally steer clear of Harry Potter rides at Universal parks (although I did ride the family coaster The Flight of the Hippogriff). It’s unfortunate that I’m not able to experience their state of-the-art ride systems as a matter of conscience. Others can make the determination for themselves as to whether there is a serious risk in reading or viewing anything Harry Potter. In summary, we should be a little careful of the involvement of the occult in theme park attractions (or movies or books, for that matter), but the most important thing is to avoid the occult practices in real life. |
Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|