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.
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