In 2016-17, I was a deacon finishing off my last year of seminary studies. It is custom for the transitional deacons to travel to Rome in January of that year to do a course in Rome (unfortunately, they won’t be able to do that this year due to Covid). As part of that trip, my classmates and I also had the option to travel beforehand. A total of 6 of us decided to visit Paris and stay at a seminary there.
Being such a theme park enthusiast and desiring to get to Disneyland Paris Resort (which has 2 parks: Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios), I made it known early in the planning process that I wanted to go there. With 14 million annual visitors, Disneyland Paris is the most visited tourist destination in Europe. None of my classmates, however, were interested in going with me, so I decided to make plans to go on my own. We weren’t going to be in Paris for many days, so I could only go to the parks for a day. I planned to go on the last day, which happened to be New Year’s Day (also the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, which happened to fall on a Sunday). As our plans on New Year’s Eve were to go to Mass in the morning, I would need to go on the morning of New Year’s Day to fulfill my Sunday obligation. I found a parish that had a 7:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, which would give me plenty of time to get in a full day at Disneyland Paris. Unfortunately I would have to miss seeing Notre Dame in-person (prior to its partial destruction). On the actual day, I got up pretty early and made my way to the nearby Metro station. The fares were free due to the holiday. Unfortunately, when I got to the church, I found out that the 7:30 a.m. Mass was canceled (even though the website had listed it). I tried in earnest (without WiFi) to find another early Mass, but the one cafe that was open couldn’t help me. I ended up at the original church for 9 a.m. Mass. Uncharacteristic of me, I left after Communion (but not before doing a prayer of thanksgiving) to try to make up for some lost time. There is a commuter rail that runs between downtown Paris and Disneyland, so it’s pretty convenient even without a vehicle. I could see the parks from the train before we made it into the station. I went straight to Disneyland getting in at about 11:20 a.m. (rather than the 10 a.m. I had been aiming for). It was a chilly day (I was wearing long underwear), and the frost was everywhere still at the hour of the morning. I got my Facebook reservation for Big Thunder Mountain (the best version in the world) and walked back to Pirates (the second best version behind the best ride in the world in Shanghai) and got on with almost no wait. Since I had a park hopper pass (cost was a total of $72 or so, much lower than a 1-day pass of $100+ to Disney or Universal in the U.S.), I next spent the ten minutes or so to leave Disneyland, walk over to Walt Disney Studios, and enter the park. I learned that most of the rides were other long waits or closed (as in the case of the tram tour...probably due to the cold). I got in the Single Rider line for the Ratatouille ride (which is set to open in EPCOT in early 2021) and enjoyed the experience of being a rat in the kitchen! I won’t bore you with all of the details of the rest of my day. Some of the rides at Disneyland Paris have more thrill than similar rides in other Disney parks. For example, Space Mountain has a launch, as well as some inversions. The Indiana Jones coaster also has some inversions (as does Rock n Roller Coaster, which is now being transformed into an Iron Man Coaster). Another unique ride at Walt Disney Studios is Crush’s Coaster, which is a Finding Nemo themed family spinner coaster. Overall, my day at Disneyland Paris was wonderful even in spite of the delayed start and the chilly temperature (although I was warm enough overall throughout my stay). I would recommend it to all people who enjoy theme parks. One should weigh trade-offs like missing Notre Dame. I’ll just have to make it a point to get back to Paris to experience both Disney and the grand church!
0 Comments
The next story from the Bible that I would like to highlight in a ride is Noah and the Flood (see Genesis 6-9). Like my first Bible World ride concept (The Ten Plagues of Egypt), this story would work well as a dark ride. I have selected Pirates of the Caribbean as the ride that could be transformed into Noah and the Ark (I call it “Noah of the Flood” to make it sound like it’s predecessor “Pirates of the Caribbean”). One reason is that Pirates already uses boats (or mini “arks”). The story doesn’t have as much “thrill” to it, so I’m saving Splash Mountain for another story (Jonah). The space in Pirates allows for a detailed telling of what happened before, during, and after the flood. I should mention that the story of Noah is memorialized in the to-scale Ark Encounter in Kentucky. That attraction could be best described as a walk-through exhibit with some animatronics. The owners, “Answers in Genesis,” use a literalistic interpretation of Genesis, which is maybe best described in another post. The ride layout that I used for my Noah design was the Disneyland version of Pirates, although it can be easily adapted to the Walt Disney version (or the versions in Paris or Tokyo but not Shanghai). The Disneyland version starts by going by the diners at the Blue Bayou (that restaurant would need to be re-themed) with one scene before the boats go out of view. The first scene of Noah of the Flood would be Noah and his family together before he gets word of the forthcoming flood. The next scene would show the moral depravity of their contemporaries (in PG rated material, maybe with some similarity to the old debauchery scenes at the end of Pirates). The remaining scenes are rather straightforward: warning of the flood, Noah builds the ark, the animals are gathered, the rain starts, more rain (with interior scenes of the ark), the birds being sent to check for land, the debarking of the ark, and the covenant with Noah. Most people already have an image as to what it looked like loading the ark with all of the animals, so a lot of work would need to be spent on making that scene be unique while at the same time faithful to what we can best surmise from the story. I think the human depravity scene (which is the impetus for God ushering in the flood) as well as the scene of God making his covenant with Noah (in the form of the rainbow) could be very impactful for the guests, as those parts of the story are not especially well-known. The exterior of the ride building could be changed to reflect an ancient port town (like Nineveh in the story of Jonah). I hope that after reading this, you can better envision what it would be like to ride through the story of Noah and the flood! FThe Repentance of Nineveh, Anglesay Abbey
Walt Disney World is a unique place to visit. When you enter the resort area, it’s as if you are leaving the outside world behind. With many hotels (or resorts as they call them), shopping, transportation, and theme park options (including a mini golf course), you will have basically no reason to leave WDW once you arrive. There are even a couple of times per year when you can go to Mass on Walt Disney World property--Christmas and Easter (the times may change every year, but one year it was 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.). The Masses are located at the Contemporary Resort’s Fantasia Ballroom. However, if you are at WDW any other Sunday or Holy Day, you will need to leave WDW to get to Mass.
Fortunately, there is a nice option just outside WDW (near Disney Springs)—the Basilica and Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe (https://maryqueenoftheuniverse.org). The Basilica and Shrine was instituted in 1979 (8 years after WDW opened) by the Diocese of Orlando to be the place where the millions of Catholic visitors to WDW could call their spiritual home during their vacations. Monsignor Joseph Harte, who was assigned with focusing on ministry to tourists in 1975 credits a visit to Our Lacy of Lourdes for the idea that lead to a “spiritual oasis” for the world. During my trip in 2016, I went to the Basilica at least a couple of times for daily Mass and prayer. They have Eucharistic Adoration and Confessions there, too, as well as a museum and outdoor grounds, so it is a very good place of pilgrimage. As of December 2020, their Sunday Mass times are 6 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 12 p.m. on Sunday. The other Catholic parish that is relatively accessible from Walt Disney World is Corpus Christi Parish (https://corpuschristi.church). It is south of WDW near the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. It is located in the town of Celebration, which was originally designed by the Walt Disney Company. Their Sunday Mass times (as of December 2020) are 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. Sunday. My prayer is that this post will help even one person to keep holy the Lord’s Day when at WDW (especially after the dispensation to attend Mass due to the pandemic is lifted). Perhaps you have never thought about praying at a theme park. Or maybe, like when you go out to eat, you wonder if you should make the sign of the cross and say grace before eating at a theme park. St. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, so we can even look for opportunities to pray at a theme park. It is part of the role of sanctifying the day and the places we go as Christians.
I would say that we should aim to pray just as much on a day at a theme park as any other day. At home, we try to get into the routine of saying grace before meals (and some people also do so after), so we should try to do that, too, at a theme park. As mature Christians, we should also have prayer time at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. We should be faithful to those times when we go to a theme park, too (even if we are tired at the end of the day, it’s good to thank God for the blessings of the day and also ask forgiveness for times when we were perhaps selfish). Perhaps praying a rosary on the way to the park will help your family be grounded in prayer before a day of excitement (and perhaps long lines). Now I’ll talk a little bit of what I’ve done for my prayer (especially my required Liturgy of the Hours prayers that I pray as a priest) at theme parks. First, I’ll describe what I do for prayer when I’m with others (like a friend). First of all, I’ll plan ahead to do most of my prayer time before I go to the park or after I return. A theme park is full of sights and sounds, so it is not an easy place to pray (although I think it can be done). I’m pretty low maintenance at a park; I really just need the occasional meal or bathroom break. So if I’m at the park with someone who has to take more frequent pauses, then I might take one of those breaks to do my Daytime prayer, for example. A few months ago, a friend and I were getting into a line that was over an hour long with social distancing outside. We decided to pray the rosary, only pausing when we had interact with the cast members or other guests. When I am at a theme park by myself, I have some greater flexibility as to how I can schedule my prayer time. If a queue is not too interesting, I can probably do one of my Liturgy of the Hours prayers. If a line is relatively long, I might pray my rosary (especially if I didn’t do it on the way to the park) or a Divine Mercy Chaplet. Something that I haven’t tried (and I have some hesitancy about doing it) is praying my Holy Hour at a theme park. A Holy Hour is best prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament before Mass, but sometimes I don’t have easy access to a church. In addition, the best times for being at a theme park (in terms of getting rides in without much of a line) is the beginning of the day and the end of the day. If I could be assured that I could find a quiet, out-of-the-way, shaded place in the park, I might choose to try that in the middle of the day. Hope this helps give you some perspective. I think some time I’ll have to write up my thoughts on wearing clerics to a theme park. One story of the Bible that I think would do really well as a dark ride is the Ten Plagues of Egypt (see Exodus 7-14). In case you don’t know what a dark ride is, it is an indoor ride where all of the environment (sights, lighting, sounds, smells, and movement) can be controlled. Disneyland sort of broke the mold with dark rides with attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and Peter Pan. Disney continues to raise the bar on dark rides, although parks like Universal and Efteling (Netherlands), have also made important contributions to this ride type.
The Disney ride that I have designated for transforming into the Ten Plagues of Egypt (as part of my Bible World plan) is the Haunted Mansion. I envision the left side of the Magic Kingdom being transformed into lands of the Old Testament. I think the Omnimover ride system (basically a type of ride that allows for continuous loading) that is already in use on the Haunted Mansion. would be a good system for this story. Alternatively I could see a ride system that has a little more thrill to it (maybe even a roller coaster) work well due to the increasing conflict between Pharaoh and the Israelites in the course of the story (culminating in the Egyptian charioteers being drowned in the Red Sea). I’m not the first to think that the account of the Ten Plagues could be told through the use of a dark ride. Ark Encounter in Kentucky (owned by the Creationist group “Answers in Genesis”) had mentioned as far back as 2013 that they would plan on a 7-11 minute teaching ride of the Ten Plagues. I have not heard any further word on whether that will become a reality. The ride I am envisioning will begin with a scene at the burning bush with God telling Moses to go speak to Pharaoh so the Israelites can worship God in the desert. There will be alternating scenes between Pharaoh’s Palace and then the city (with the effects of the plague). For the sake of brevity, the scenes could focus on the Ten Plagues with a few additional scenes of Moses and Aaron talking with Pharaoh. The Ten Plagues are: water turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, sick cattle, boils, fire/hail, locusts, darkness, and death of the firstborn. After the final plague (the death of the firstborn), there is a quick scene in which Pharaoh tells the Israelites to leave. The final scene would be the Red Sea opening up prior to closing on the Egyptians. Rather than using “Doom Buggies,” the ride vehicles would be chariots. Obviously the facade of the building would need to be changed to be in keeping with an ancient palace. If a new building were to be constructed for the ride (rather than using the Haunted Mansion space), it would be made to look like Pharaoh’s Palace. This new construct would still use the Omnimover system, Pharaoh’s Palace would be located in the middle space of the ride (different sets between the Plagues). Look at the photo for this concept. There are many books out there on Disney theme parks and imagineering. However, you might be surprised to hear that there are several books that tie Disney parks to the Christian faith.
Disney Devotionals by Albert Thweatt has 3 books in the series: Book 1 is on Walt Disney World, Book 2 is mostly on Disneyland, and Book 3 is on Disney Films. I have read (and gifted) Book 1. Albert is a minister in his home church, and he does a good job of trying to give some interesting facts about attractions while trying to tie them to some part of the Bible. Book 1 was originally daily devotionals he wrote to his wife and kids before he left for a night shift job. Faith and the Magic Kingdom by Randy Crane seems to be another type of devotional book. Although I haven’t read it myself, it intrigued me enough to put it on my Christmas lists. Consider giving a gift that will not only be of interest to Disney fans but also might help them to grow in their faith. Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas (but first a joyful Advent)! |
Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|