How Bendy and the Ink Machine Was Inspired By Animation History

Indie games are becoming increasingly popular nowadays, particularly those of the horror genre. And several appear to have been inspired in some form by Disney. Five Nights At Freddy’s involves haunted animatronics in a rundown family diner, though this has a closer connection to Chuck E. Cheese than Disney. And, then, you have such games as Cuphead and Bendy and the Ink Machine, which are based around cartoon characters who have an animation style akin to that of the Golden Age of Animation.

Bendy, a five-part game, has a really great, intriguing, yet creepy story and world. The player controls the unseen character of Henry, a retired animator who returns to the old film studio run by his former friend Joey Drew, thirty years after leaving the company. Joey found success with several animated characters including Bendy the Dancing Demon, Alice Angel, and Boris the Wolf. The studio eventually failed and was abandoned. But, perhaps not as Henry thought.

Henry soon uncovers a disturbing underbelly of the studio he left behind. A humongous ink machine stands in the studio, leaking out black ink all over the place. Oh, and Joey may been involved in a satanic ritual of some kind that made the ink a sentient hive mind, and could bring his cartoon characters to life possibly using human hosts or cadavers. Bendy is running around as a hostile monster, several members of the staff have become ink monsters, and the studio appears to be made up of multiple underground levels, with each getting worse and worse as Henry descends into Joey’s hell.

But, we aren’t here to directly examine the lore of Bendy – as fun as that may be. If you are a Disney and animation fan, you may notice some similarities between the characters and story of the game, and actual people and events in animation history. How Bendy resembles a multitude of characters, the relationship between Henry, Joey, and the rest of the studio’s staff, and even the strange cult aspects going on.

Joey Drew appears to draw inspiration from two major figures in the early years of animation: Walt Disney and Max Fleischer. Most people know Walt’s history, but Max Fleischer has become sadly obscure in recent years. While most people believe Walt invented such things as rotoscoping, and mixing live action with animation, but Fleischer actually developed most techniques first. History and word of mouth have twisted a lot of early animation history and giving Walt Disney credit. This could be the inspiration for Joey Drew’s nasty habit of taking credit for the creations of his staff.

 

Now, I’m not bashing Walt Disney. Unlike the fictional Joey Drew, Walt treated his employees with dignity and respect most of the time, crediting them where credit was due. Though never one for personally complimenting his staff, Walt did appreciate their talents, particularly when it came to filmmaking and Imagineering. He sought out talent, and came to understand the work ethos to maintain a good working environment.

Max Fleischer invented rotoscoping back in 1914, which allowed live action footage to be traced onto paper. This technique was later used in the first major cartoon he and his brother Joe and Dave created – Out of the Inkwell. In this live action short, Max directly interacts with his character Koko the Clown, who emerges from an inkwell, escapes into the real world, before being shoved back into the animated world by Fleischer. Now that sounds a little familiar. Joey Drew builds the ink machine to bring his creations to life. Or to possibly cheat death if the lore’s hints are anything to go by. Thus, Bendy and other characters are found running around the studio, free of their 2D worlds, but still monstrous and very leaky.

Ultimately, the success of Disney created heavy competition for the Fleischer Studios during the 1920s and 1930s. Of course, Disney created Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy amongst others. Fleischer invented Koko the Clown, Bimbo, and Betty Boop, as well as bringing Popeye and Superman to the big screen. Several of these characters appear to have inspired by Bendy and co.

Throughout the game, Henry comes across various tape recordings of the disgruntled staff, describing Joey Drew as disorganized, backstabbing, secretive, and egocentric. He focuses more on the ink machine than the cartoons or the welfare of his employees. It is likely what led to Henry leaving the studio. This reflects some real life events at both significant studios. Both Fleischer and Disney encountered very public strikes by employees due to poor working conditions and low pays. It shook both studio heads to their core, destroying the familial relationships they had built with their employees. Though, in the case of Joey Drew Studios, the employees suffered a fate worse than death.

 

So, Joey Drew acts like he’s Willy Wonka, but is in fact a two-faced lair. And where does that leave Henry? Well, he’s an unappreciated animator who left the company, and Joey considered him a good friend regardless. That sounds a lot like Ub Iwerks, Walt’s first hired animator, a close friend, and the co-creator of Mickey Mouse. Yes, Mickey Mouse has a co-creator. In fact, Iwerks basically created Mickey’s iconic look, while it was Walt’s wife Lillian Bounds who named him. Henry left Joey Drew Studios thirty years prior to the events of the game, but returned to the studio on Joey’s invite.

 

Iwerks actually left Disney around 1930. Struggling to keep up with Walt’s demands and harsh command, Iwerks felt unappreciated, despite being the source of much of Disney’s success. Iwerks eventually formed his own studio, backed by Pat Powers, former distributor of Disney’s cartoons. Unfortunately, his studio did not last long. Iwerks would return to Disney in 1940 during the height of its success, now working in the special effects department, helping in films and Imagineering. But, unlike Iwerks returning to a studio in its prime, Henry returns to a boarded up studio, with monstrous toons running amuck.

Joey Drew’s characters and cartoons are presented in “Sillyvision”, which is likely a nod to Silly Symphonies. Bendy is a mischievous, grinning, dancing demon who served as the mascot of the studio. By far, he appears to be the most successful and popular character. Looking at his design, he immediately resembles the likes of Mickey Mouse or Felix the Cat, or maybe even Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey’s big brother and Disney’s first successful character.

But, Bendy has a closer resemblance to one of Max Fleischer’s character – Bimbo, a cartoon dog, who at first was a major star and competitive rival to Mickey. However, the popularity of Betty Boop, and then the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934, pushed Bimbo out of notoriety and into obscurity. Bimbo was a very mischievous character, pulling pranks, chasing women, and being a bit of a trickster. The animated shorts starring Bendy appear to take inspiration from this. Bendy may have fallen in obscurity following the collapse of the studio, mirroring Bimbo’s fate.

 

Boris the Wolf is Bendy’s sitcom arch nemesis in his shorts, but also proved to be a popular character. His role is likely a nod to Pegleg Pete, the long-time enemy to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Pete is actually an older character than Mickey, and even Oswald, first appearing in Walt’s Alice Comedies. Boris also resembles such characters as Goofy or Horace Horsecollar. He could also take inspiration from Koko the Clown, who appeared in numerous shorts with Bimbo.

 

 

And then we have Alice Angel. It’s kind of obvious who she is based on – Betty Boop, the most successful character from Fleischer Studios. Their design is quite similar, a pretty, dark-haired girl dressed in a tight, halter top skirt. Betty started off as a supporting character in Bimbo’s shorts, and was actually an anthropomorphic poodle, before being reimagined as a human. Betty was considered to be gorgeous and became a sex icon in the 1930s. Both Betty and Alice serve as the love interests to Bimbo and Bendy.

However, as history shows, Betty became hugely popular and sent Bimbo to the doghouse. Alice was predicted to outshine Bendy in terms of popularity. According to one character in the game, who designs the toys, Alice apparently wasn’t as popular as Joey had hoped, due to disappointing sales in her toyline. Betty Boop went through several voice actresses in the space of about five years, including Margie Hines and Mae Questel. Bendy seems to take note of this, and add an extra layer of drama too it.

In the game, Alice was originally going to be voiced by Susan Campbell, who was elated to have the role and even started referring to herself as “Alice”. She also is implied to have had a relationship with Joey, who only fuelled her delusions of grandeur. Then, Susan found out she had been unceremoniously replaced by another actress named Allison. Needless to say, Susan didn’t take this well. It fed her insecurities and mania, and when she was put through the ink machine, she came out as a vain, psychotic version of Alice Angel, hellbent on revenge against Joey, and becoming the perfect incarnation of her animated alter ego.

Well, nothing like that happened in real life. No voice actress of Betty Boop went bat shit insane and tried to become the character. Instead, an actress tried to sue Fleischer Studios for copying her appearance and distinct voice. Helen Kane was said to have been the inspiration for Betty Boop. You’d think most people would be flattered to be immortalised in animation, but not Kane, who instead sued the studio $250,000 for infringement. Apparently Betty’s success ruined Kane’s career, even though it was essentially declining at the time anyway.

It turns out Kane in turn may have got her look from another actress named Clara Bow. The Fleischers, meanwhile, claimed Betty was created purely from scratch without inspiration. Kane also claimed her distinct singing style was her own. But, a recording of an African American performer, Esther Jones, had sung in a similar tone years before, and Kane had witnessed it. This led to her lawsuit being thrown out.

Betty was censored in 1934 by the Hays Code, which was designed to make cartoons more decent for audiences. This involved toning down Betty’s sex appeal, making her more of a housewife. Bimbo’s fall into obscurity was also caused by the code, since a dog being in a romantic relationship with a human rubbed people the wrong way. In the world of Bendy, it is possible Joey’s studio fell victim to the code’s censorships. Bendy is a demonic entity, while Alice was both a sex symbol and a devilish character.

Chapter 3 introduces a trio of additional characters from Bendy’s cartoons called the Butcher Gang, who appeared to be antagonists to Bendy. They were Charley the Chimp, Barley the Pirate, and Edgar the Spider. Barley, in particular, bares a striking resemblance to Popeye, another of Fleischer’s most popular and recognised characters.

Interestingly, in each chapter, we see a progressive step for the studios. In the first chapter, the player can view silent projections of Bendy shorts. The second chapter is set in the music department, introducing sound to the cartoons. The third reveals the studio had its own toy manufacturing plant called Heavenly Toys, showing the mass marketing and production of Bendy and co. Then, the most recent fourth chapter shows that Joey even had plans to make a fully-fledged theme park called Bendy Land. Anyone else getting Disneyland vibes?

A new character is introduced in the fourth chapter, a theme park architect named Bertrum Piedmont is hired by Joey to design Bendy Land. Bertrum seems really passionate about his creations, and is enraged when Joey tries to cut him out of the picture and take credit for his designs. This leads to the theme park never seeing the light of day, despite actually been built. Bertrum didn’t take this very well. So by the time Henry encounters Bertrum within Bendy Land, the theme park designer has somehow become part of a ride himself, his gigantic, deformed head visible within the mechanics.

Now, Disneyland was built by many talented designers, engineers, artists, carpenters, and all under Walt’s guiding hand. It was no easy task getting the theme park built. Bertrum Piedmont could be inspired by several figures in the amusement park industry. There isn’t really anyone that fits the description of a resentful, bitter attraction designer though. Bertrum could be inspired by Walter Knott, founder of Knott’s’ Berry Farm, which just happened to be down the road from where Disneyland would be built. Yeah, a theme park close to Anaheim, opened by a man named Walter. Weird, huh. But, yeah, Knott opened his park, initially a berry stand, many years before Disneyland was even conceived. Both Walts were in fact friends, and Disneyland took some inspiration from the Berry Farm.

Another possible source of inspiration is Wendell “Bud” Hurlbut, a prominent and early designer of theme park attractions. He helped put Knott’s on the map by helping to change it from a chicken farm into a theme park. Hurlbut would design the Calico Mine Train, and a replica of the Liberty Bell, which he gave to Knott when he built a full scale replica of Independence Hall. Though Hurlbut had no involvement in Disneyland, Walt would often visit him for ideas and to share his own. And again, there was no conflict between them.

But, there is one notable person associated with Disneyland, who has all but been erased from its history. C.V. Wood worked at Stanford Research Institute, being in charge of the southern California brand. Walt Disney came to SRI to find a location for Disneyland. Wood was hired as Vice President and General Manager of Disneyland. Wood was just as charismatic and persuasive as Walt, convincing him they needed to bring in the help of outside companies to build Disneyland. A lot of the people Wood brought in to help had worked with him previously, and were quite loyal to him. Walt disliked this sort of organization, and feared a repeat of when Charles Mintz stole all of his animators from under his nose.

Wood came off as quite arrogant, later describing himself as “The Master Planner of Disneyland”, whilst trying to design other theme parks. Wood was fired less than a year after he was hired, and erased from Disney’s history books as having any involvement with Disneyland’s creation. Now, does that ring any bells? This seems to match up quite nicely with Bertrum’s character, with some tweaks. Wood named himself the mastermind behind Disneyland, when in fact Walt was. Joey took credit for Bertrum’s work, enraging the architect, so the situation is reversed here.

And what about the creepy cult within Joey’s studio. Characters literally worship Bendy as a god and saviour, painting the walls with words like, “He will set us free!”. Sammy Lawrence, the former music director of the Bendy cartoons, fell victim to the ink machine and now worships Bendy. In the second chapter, Sammy takes Henry prisoner with the plan on sacrificing him to Bendy, in the hope that his humanity can be restored. Bendy doesn’t seem to take kindly to his creator being murdered, despite being openly hostile to him throughout the first three chapters of the game, and instead massacres Sammy.

Other cult vibes include statues of Bendy everywhere, and the pentagrams Henry may have been using to bring his characters too life. Heck, right at the start of the game, Henry unintentionally recreates the ritual that was used to power the ink machine to begin with. By no means was either Walt Disney or Max Fleischer cultists, but the latter did seem to have a lot of cult-like imagery in his cartoons. Most notably in Bimbo’s Initiation, released in 1931, which is considered to be one of the most darkest cartoons ever made.

In the short, Bimbo falls down a manhole cover, and is locked within by noneother than a cackling Mickey Mouse. How did they get away with that? It was no secret that Fleischer resented Disney for stealing his thunder, often referring to Walt as “that son of a bitch”, as described in his memoirs. Bimbo lands in the lair of a secret society, who repeatedly ask him if he wants to join up. He eventually agrees to join when the cult’s leader turns out to be Betty Boop, and all of the members rip off their disguises, revealed to be clones of Betty. Seems like Bendy took some inspiration from here too. Alice Angel, on her path to perfection, created endless clones of Boris in order to make “pure”.

In one final connection to history, one of Bendy’s cartoons, “Tombstone Picnic”, appears to take direct reference from The Skeleton Dance, the first of the Silly Symphonies, and a cartoon entirely animated and storyboarded by Ub Iwerks.

I think it is awesome when these kind of stories look back to the past and take inspiration from what has happened in history. Bendy and the Ink Machine is an impressive game with a story of shadows, lies, and broken dreams. It may even yield some more connections to animation history once the fifth and final chapter comes.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Tomorrowland?

Ah, Tomorrowland. The fifth land of Disneyland. Designed to celebrate the future, or the endless potential of the future. A celebration of space travel, changing technology, and human ingenuity. The only problem is that “tomorrow” has a tendency to become “today”. Tomorrowland, in virtually all of the Disneyland parks, has been a bit of a problem child. Its theming always becomes outdated or stale in comparison to actual technology. Disney’s talented Imagineers were always playing catch up.

 

Nowadays, Disneyland’s Tomorrowland is a mismatch of weird theming and lost concepts, while the Magic Kingdom’s is a dumping ground for IPs and broken themes. Each Tomorrowland is different from the other, but mostly suffer from the same problems of what they are trying to represent. In the 1990s, the Imagineers had plans to stop trying to catch up with the times, and instead just planned to go with their guts and make a timeless Tomorrow for each resort. But, these plans didn’t exactly come to fruition as intended.

 

How do you solve a problem like Tomorrowland? Well, let’s take a look at the growth and changes at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and see if we can find some answers to its troubles.

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was nearly left on the cutting room floor during its construction. Walt Disney ordered the east side of the park to be left unmade, and Tomorrowland would be built in a second phase of construction. However, he changed his mind, and Tomorrowland opened with the rest of the park in 1955.

 

Back then, Tomorrowland was quite simple, and mostly served as a place for corporate sponsors to show off their products through attractions. Walt did turn to his business buddies to help finance and support the park, so it makes sense they got something out of it. Still, Tomorrowland also celebrated the future – The Monsanto House of the Future actually showed off technology of the future, and Rocket to the Moon celebrated the idea of space travel and flying to the Moon, which would actually happen nearly fifteen years later. An impressive exhibition showed off 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was also on display, reflecting Walt’s admiration for Jules Verne.

 

Many of the buildings in Tomorrowland were sleek, white, futuristic, and immortalised that style of architecture associated with the American futurism of the 1950s and 1960s. It was the time of the Space Age after all. Shortly into the future, America’s first monorail appeared in Disneyland. By 1967, Walt was gone, and the technology represented in Tomorrowland was outdated. New Tomorrowland was born, the land redesigned from the ground up. The white buildings and futuristic design would define this incarnation of the land. Shanghai Disneyland’s version looks a lot like New Tomorrowland.

 

Creating an idealistic optimism about what the future could hold, New Tomorrowland introduced the Rocket Jets, the iconic PeopleMover, Adventures Thru Inner Space, and the Carousel of Progress (which was introduced at the 1964 New York’s World Fair). Everything in the land was constantly in motion, and never before at Tomorrowland been so innovative. Or at least probably until Space Mountain showed up.

 

Over in Florida, Walt Disney World opened with its own Tomorrowland. While it had the same themes as Disneyland, it was its own creature. The entrance was marked by huge waterfalls. Several attractions like the Carousel of Progress and Flight to the Moon were brought over to the Magic Kingdom, though Flight to the Moon was reimagined as Mission to Mars, since trips to the Moon had now actually happened. And, then, Space Mountain opened in 1975 at the Magic Kingdom, remaining the most popular attraction at both American theme parks. Its Disneyland counterpart opened two years later.

 

Disney had surprisingly been able to predict the future quite well. They predicted a flight to the Moon, and Autopia could even be seen as the development of highways and the popularity of cars and driving. But, by the 1980s, Tomorrowland had been left behind again. Their tomorrow was now today and yesterday. The likes of Star Wars and Blade Runner had created a darker, grimy, industrial and gritty image of the future within the public mind. After Walt’s death, Disney fell into a creative pit and couldn’t quite capture their lost spark. They did not embrace the change in audiences, and made harmless family friendly films for a long time. They did eventually make experimental teen films like The Black Hole and TRON, but Star Wars had come and gone by then.

 

Disney faced a dilemma – either update Tomorrowland(s) again to keep up with the times, or do something different. By now, Tokyo Disneyland had arrived with a Tomorrowland similar to its American cousins. 

Then, Disneyland Paris opened in 1992. The European take on Tomorrowland was wonderfully different. Headed by Tony Baxter, Discoveryland honoured not the current idea of the future, but fictional, retro-futures imagined by the likes of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Leonard da Vinci. It had a huge steampunk variation of Space Mountain based upon From the Earth to the Moon. The Nautilus submarine was parked in the lagoon. The spinning Astro Orbitor was more 18^th century than Space Age. Though, the theming was never 100%, due to the presence of Star Tours, and later Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters.

A lot of Discoveryland’s ideas came from Tony Baxter’s sadly unfulfilled creation of Discovery Bay, set in a turn-of-the-century San Francisco, which was imagined as the centrepoint for a technological revolution – a place of submarines, hot air balloons, airships, time machines, volcanoes, and impressive glass towers. Of course, the land once considered for Discovery Bay is now being used to create Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

 

What makes Discoveryland a success was its timelessness. It did not try to capture the modern day take on the future, but rather a historical interpretation of steam and iron. This inspired Imagineers to do the same to Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom – to create timeless versions of Tomorrowland that would never need to be changed to keep up with modernity. They designed Tomorrowland 2055.

 

In short, Tomorrowland 2055 was to be an intergalactic alien spaceport. Sure, it’s a more out-there, fictional concept, but still marks Tomorrowland with a timeless design. It was to be a living, breathing place where aliens and space travellers lived, worked, and played. Sounds kinda like what is planned for Galaxy’s Edge. A second floor was to have been built on Tomorrowland’s show buildings, marked with metallic bridges and transport. Space Mountain, Star Tours, and The Timekeeper (Discoveryland’s Le Visionarium) would be main attractions. The disused Carousel Theatre would host an intergalactic revue of performing aliens.

 

 

Over in the Magic Kingdom, the terrifying Alien Encounter opened, serving as an anchor point for the new Tomorrowland, and would also appear in Disneyland once its own transformation was complete. Alien Encounter’s story was based around scientists from an institute called X-S, who captured and imprisoned dangerous extraterrestrials. The ride involved one such alien being showed off to the guests. It breaks out of its teleportation tube, everything goes to hell, children scarred for life, etc. Even the new night-time parade, Lightkeepers, was going to be out of this world.

It sounded like quite the wonderful concept and another feat of Imagineering’s creative skills. Too bad it never saw the light of day. Why? Well, take three guesses. It’s starts with “Michael” and ends with “Eisner”. You know the drill by now. Michael Eisner was CEO of The Walt Disney Company, wanted to revive the theme parks, Disneyland Paris unexpectedly failed financially, and Eisner got cold feet and canned every major plan for every resort, including Tomorrowland 2055. He then became obsessed with cost cutting and saving every little penny, allowing the uncreative likes of Paul Pressler to practically suck Disneyland and Imagineering dry of any creativity. Disneyland is not a museum, and it is certainly not a shopping mall! This sort of braindead thinking led to the hollow creations of Disney’s California Adventure, and Walt Disney Studios Park.

 

Tomorrowland 2055, at both parks, were axed, whilst Eisner and Pressler made their pathetic excuse for a second gate at Disneyland. The Magic Kingdom’s new Tomorrowland was already halfway through construction, The Timekeeper and Alien Encounter making it to the finish line, along with a majority of the deco-tech, Buck Rogers-esque architecture. But, the intergalactic revue never appeared, so the 30-year old Carousel of Progress remained where it was, along with the original 1960s-inspired buildings from Tomorrowland’s opening day.

 

But, the storyline also remained in tact, with the PeopleMover serving as the fictional city’s transportation system. The X-S Tech institute was there too, showing off its teleportation tech and alien captives in the Tomorrowland Metropolitan Science Centre. Space Mountain’s canon name was the Intergalactic Space Port 77, accompanied by a video arcade posing as the city’s power plant. There was also Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, and one restaurant has a large red rocket parked on the roof, actually a repurposed prop of the spaceship from Flight of the Navigator.

 

So, even though Eisner cancelled Tomorrowland 2055, at least Walt Disney World’s incarnation got some new changes. So, you have Discoveryland, reflecting a timeless imagining of the future from a past perspective, and the Magic Kingdom has an alien spaceport. Where did that leave Disneyland? It still needed a new Tomorrowland, but with zero budget, and Eisner stamping out Imagineering doing what they are paid to do, there was little options.

 

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland reopened in 1998, with inspiration taken from Discoveryland. But, without the money to actually redesign and rebuild the land, Imagineers were forced to paint everything in copper brown and bronze colours. Tomorrowland was going to take on a cheaper Discoveryland-like design, and the colours awkwardly clashed with the Space Age buildings. The Rocket Jets were gone, replaced with the Astro Orbitor, a direct copy of Discoveryland’s. Aside from that, little had changed. Alien Encounter never made it to Disneyland. Eisner deemed it too scary for Disney audiences, and the Magic Kingdom was eventually made extinct, replaced by the universally hated Stitch’s Great Escape.

 

The other new addition to Tomorrowland was a ride so infamous, it only lasted two years. The Rocket Rods replaced the closed PeopleMover, but its tech did not blend with the old of the PeopleMover. Its constant technical issues led to its quick, ungraceful closure. The Submarine Voyages also abruptly closed and were replaced with virtually nothing, until revived several years later with a Finding Nemo overlay.

 

So, the original Tomorrowland was painted an ugly brown, the closure of several iconic attractions, and the brief opening of a disastrous newcomer. The PeopleMover tracks still lie where they were abandoned, and no plans have been announced to either reopen the ride, or replace them. The land now had mismatched theming, one hell of a hideous paint job, and a lack of interesting attractions, and what remained were dated.

 

In 2003, Pressler was gone, replaced with Matt Ouimet. He strived to reverse the cost-cutting shenanigans that dominated the 1990s. Tomorrowland was amongst his goals to fix. The bronze colour scheme was gone, and Space Mountain closed for two years to give it an upgrade. A new paint job of blues, purples, and silvers dominated the land, and IP rides like Astro Blasters and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened. Tomorrowland was back to life. But, now, as the years have gone by, Tomorrowland still has a bit of an identity problem.

The Magic Kingdom’s version has lost much of its alien spaceport theming. Alien Encounter closed, and more and more IP attractions have arrived. Now it plays host to Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Lilo & Stitch, The Incredibles, Star Wars, and Marvel, and soon to be joined by the highly anticipated Tron Lightcycle Power Run from Shanghai Disneyland. Plus, there is the Carousel of Progress. So, what sort of theming is Tomorrowland supposed to convey?

Each Tomorrowland, including Discoveryland, has become a bit of a dumping ground for every Disney-related sci-fi property. And now that Star Wars is the big money bucket for Disney, it has practically dominated Tomorrowland, particularly with Season of the Force. But, when Galaxy’s Edge opens, what will happen to Tomorrowland? It may look suddenly empty. What becomes of Disneyland’s eastern land where science, technology, and the future are supposed to be celebrated. Maybe it is time to take it back to its roots.

 

It has been predicted that Star Tours may close in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, and relocate to Galaxy’s Edge. The Season of the Force may move on too. It would make more sense to put all of the Star Wars related things into one location, instead of using Tomorrowland as a dumping ground.

 

Personally, if I were in charge of fixing Tomorrowland – or the original version anyway – I would do a bit of jiggery-pokery, and restore a modern but still universal theme of optimism and celebrating the potential of the future. Mostly around space travel, the growing evolution of robotics, and maybe even slip in a Big Hero 6 ride, since it celebrates the use of technology, and we may need a little presence of a familiar franchise to draw in the crowds.

However, I suspect that Disney will rely on their new trend of using IP to draw crowds, even if the characters don’t fit the surroundings or rest of the land. Tomorrowland will likely get new sci-fi based rides, likely based on the likes of The Incredibles, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and Marvel properties. 

But, there is always hope for the future.

Should Winnie the Pooh Get His Own Land in the Disney Parks?

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, where Christopher Robin plays. You’ll find the enchanted neighbourhood, of Christopher’s childhood days…

 

I have heard people express their hatred towards Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and Elsa, but I have never heard a single person say they despise Winnie the Pooh and friends. People just love and adore that silly old bear even more than the world’s most famous mouse. Nothing wrong with that of course. The lovable characters of A.A. Milne have found their home within Disney and the hearts of many, and have had two films, an animated series, and a big presence at the theme parks. Seriously, Pooh is huge in Japan. And Mickey has technically yet to star in his own film – if you exclude Fantasia, The Prince and the Pauper, and The Three Musketeers.

Pooh has gained a rising presence in the theme parks, but not without a few sacrifices along the way to the bear’s girth. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was released in 1977, and is a mix of several shorts merged into one film. The shorts were made in 1966, 1968, and 1974 respectively, introducing American audiences to Pooh, and have Walt Disney’s magic touch to them. A second film, Winnie the Pooh, was released in 2011, and to this day, is Disney’s last hand-drawn feature film to be released.

 

Following a revival in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s, Pooh became a hot property in Disney, and CEO Michael Eisner wanted to bring the cuddly little tubby to the Disney parks. But, for Pooh to arrive, there would have to be sacrifices.

For years, Mr. Toad of Toad Hall was a hugely popular character at Disney and the Magic Kingdom. However, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride abruptly closed in 1997 at the latter. There had been rumours of its demise for a year, and passionate Disney fans rallied to protect Toad’s home in the Magic Kingdom. It was quite the sensation, with national newspapers reporting on the hysteria to protect the dark ride. But, the cries of the fans fell on deaf ears, the Disney closed Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride forever – literally five days after announcing its closure! Who does that? The ride was an iconic amongst fans, a clone of an attraction that opened on Disneyland’s opening day. Sure, Mr. Toad was as recognisable in the 1990s as he was forty years earlier, but in the theme parks, he was a god.

Still, despite Toad’s closure, his spirit lived on. A statue of Toad can be found in the Magic Kingdom’s incarnation of the Haunted Mansion. And even in the ride’s replacement, Toad can be seen pleasantly handing the deed to Toad Hall over to Owl. The backlash against the ride’s closure has pretty much cemented the Disneyland incarnation’s survival, and hopefully, Disney executives will think twice about touching such an iconic attraction. Disneyland Paris lacks the attraction, but does have a restaurant based within Toad Hall. Now that’s just classy.

But, even Disneyland wasn’t spared from the “wrath” of Pooh. 

The Country Bear Jamboree in Critter Country was closed down in 2001 to make way for Pooh. Swapping one group of bears out with another was a little bit more reasonable I suppose. One of Marc Davis’ finest creations, the Country Bears were the first ride adapted from Walt Disney World to Disneyland, and later opened in Tokyo Disneyland. Disneyland’s Bear Country was later renamed into Critter Country, with the arrival of Splash Mountain in 1983, creating a quirky but quaint land related to both Frontierland and had a Deep South setting.

The Country Bears closed their doors to make way for Pooh, but like Mr. Toad, Imagineers honoured what came before, keeping the talking animal heads of Buff, Max, and Melvin hidden within the ride. Ironically, The Country Bears movie came out a year after the Disneyland attraction closed – and the plot involved preventing the demolition of the jamboree hall.

Still, Winnie the Pooh was here to stay. The large show buildings of the vacated Mr. Toad and the Country Bears allowed The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to be opened, along with a large gift shop. It is a small but simple dark ride, and the sheer name alone was enough to draw crowds. The ride was coped in Hong Kong Disneyland, and then in Shanghai Disneyland, along with a honey pot-themed teacups ride. However, Pooh’s presence in Critter Country broke the Deep South setting, instead giving it a more warped sense of theming.

Over in Tokyo Disneyland, Pooh’s presence is a whole other ball game. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt was the first trackless dark ride in a Disney theme park, and with its impressive technology, is one of the resort’s signature attractions. The ride vehicle even bounce alongside Tigger. How cool is that? Pooh is extremely popular in Japan – they do love their cute characters after all – so it is fitting that he has such a huge, unique dark ride. Guests file past a huge open storybook, through Christopher Robin’s house, and then into the pages of said book, before boarding giant honey pots to explore the Hundred Acre Wood.

The beleaguered question and title of this article is does Pooh deserve his own land in a Disney park? Well, considering his popularity and how loved he and his friends are, the answer seems kinda obvious. The question is where could he go? Well, Disneyland Paris seems like a good location at the moment. Walt Disney Studios Park will be undergoing a large expansion starting in 2021, and by the looks of the concept art, there may be room to spare once Frozen, Star Wars, and Marvel arrive on the scene. There is a small space of greenery to the west of the Frozen land. Big enough for an extra land. The perfect spot for the Hundred Acre Wood.

Alternatively, there is space at the back of DLP’s Fantasyland, beyond the train station. Originally, a replica of the Matterhorn Bobsleds was to have been built there, but the project was abandoned. There was even a tunnel under the station to take guests there. There is a question of space, and the relocation of the behind-the-scene buildings that currently exist there.

So, here is my pitch for a mini-Winnie the Pooh land at Disneyland Paris, or at least speculation for what could be if such a land existed. 

First off, that ugly theatre building where guests can meet Mickey Mouse must go. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and hides the lovely train station from view. Nothing would replace it, and would open the path a bit more to the station.

Paths on both side of the station lead under it to the Hundred Acre Wood. As you might guess, the area would be heavily wooded. Trees, trees, and more trees. There is also a question of space from the back of the train station to the road to the north of the resort. The use of trees and gardens can help both make the space look larger, and to hide the outside world. Casey Jr. Circus Train’s railroad also winds around the available space. I would include a small hillock in the eastern part of that area, allowing the train pass through to glimpse the woodland.

Attraction wise, it would again be based on the amount of room. The smaller Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh would be the go-to choice since its been used so many times around the world. Personally, I would want to include the magnificent Pooh’s Hunny Hunt in the land, placing it at the back. The one problem is that, if you look at Tokyo Disneyland, Hunny Hunt has a quite a large, long show building. A smaller version, like the Magic Kingdom version of Pirates of the Caribbean, could easily fit into the land.

The way I imagine the layout – guests come out from under the train station’s two paths, with a third leading past Casey Jr. In the middle of the land is the Honey Pot Spin, a clone of the Shanghai spinner. At the back of the land would be the Pooh dark ride, either Many Adventures, Hunny Hunt, or maybe a new, original Pooh ride, with the exterior of a gigantic storybook acting as the main icon of the land. Pooh’s Corner, a gift shop, would be built in the north-eastern corner, adjoined partially to the dark ride’s show building. It would resemble a large British cottage or country house, nodding to A.A. Milne’s home in the Ashdown Forest, the real world inspiration for Pooh’s home.

Being a forest, there would be a large number of winding paths to explore. The western side of the land would be a walkthrough area, where guests can interact with the various houses of Pooh’s friends. Amongst them is Pooh’s house, where guests can hear him pondering about eating honey, and an animatronic Owl perches outside his treehouse. Pressing the ground-level door bell awakens Owl and he shall entertain guests with various stories about his wacky relatives.

Placing Pooh within Disneyland Paris would work quite well on a thematic level, being right around the corner from the British works of Peter Pan and Mr. Toad.

But what about elsewhere? Well, Shanghai Disneyland has plenty of room. It could easily close its Pooh dark ride, and create a larger, brand spanking new Hundred Acre Wood, and bring some more fluid theming to the rather bare bones Fantasyland. At the original Disneyland, Pooh’s presence in Critter Country is nonsensical, so a new ride in Fantasyland would at least suffice. Perhaps remove either the Fantasyland theatre, or It’s A Small World (I know, I know, it’ll never happen!), to make room for the dark ride.

I am surprised that Winnie the Pooh hasn’t received his own themed land yet. Epic rides yes, delightful meet-and-greets yes. There is a big question about what happens after Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens. What would Disney’s next goal be? Well, something smaller but equally important to their success and legacy, such as Pooh for example, might be a good way too go.

 

All images belong to the original creators.

 

The Themed Failure That Was the Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris

Starting in 2021, Walt Disney Studios Park, the second gate in Disneyland Paris Resort, will undergo an ambitious transformation and expansion, reinventing the whole park. Incorporating a huge lake, new attractions in Toy Story Playland, and new lands based around Marvel Comics, Star Wars, and Frozen. It is bound to be an exciting time at Europe’s number one theme park. But, WDSP didn’t always strive for such heights. In fact, it didn’t have any sign of imagination or magic to all. If you thought the original version of Disney’s California Adventure was drab, lifeless, and very anti-Disney in its conceptualisation, wait to you read what Paris’ second park was like.

Often considered the worst Disney theme park in the company’s history, WDSP was one of the by-products of Michael Eisner’s save-a-penny, cost-cutting schemes, following the surprise failure of Disneyland Paris. It is also the smallest of the parks. In it’s current iteration, the park can be explored fully in about half an hour. The original line-up of attractions was bare minimum. The most exciting was a 25-minute sit-in film, CineMagique, celebrating the magic and history of film. Nowadays, the likes of the Tower of Terror, Crush’s Coaster, and the amazing Ratatouille dark ride are the highlights. On opening day, there was even less than there was at DCA to attract crowds.

Back in the 1970s and early 80s, The Walt Disney Company was turning into a dusty museum. Since the death of Walt in 1966, the company had lost its creative head. That sense of business, charisma, and imagination Uncle Walt had was gone, and despite being run by his family, Disney was lost without its leader. As such, the animated films took longer to make and with smaller budgets. Innovation was not welcome. And the theme parks were practically dead in the water. Enter Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, who injected some much needed life into the dying house that Walt built.

Eisner, formerly the CEO of Paramount Pictures, was well versed with the film industry, and fanatically in love with it. He applied his own spark to Disney, with help from Wells, Roy E. Disney, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, injecting some much needed magic into Disney’s well. This led to the Disney Renaissance, a renewed interest in animation through the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the theme parks were given some new attention. Eisner wanted the parks to become a place where every member of the family, including thrill-seeking teenagers, wanted to visit. He turned to some outside help, to bring in the crowds with the likes of Star Tours and Alien Encounter.

Early on, Eisner believed the very process of the film industry should be celebrated within the Disney parks. He considered Epcot could host a pavilion dedicated to the industry. This pavilion eventually evolved into The Great Movie Ride, the icon and staple ride for Disney-MGM Studios (later Hollywood Studios) in Walt Disney World. The third park of Florida’s resort was dedicated to the film industry, and was, for a time, an actual working film and television studio. Some suspected Eisner opened the park to compete directly with Universal Studios Florida. The park opened in 1989, and served as a film studio, complete with sets, production departments, and a studio tram tour. However, Universal remained the superior “studio park”, having been in the tour business for years.

Eisner wanted people to experience how films were made via the tram tour, and could ride the movies through The Great Movie Ride and subsequent attractions. Still, Hollywood Studios was a success and the formula was suitable for duplication in the planned European resort. But, ten years after Eisner took the post as Disney CEO, things went down hill. While the movies were at their peak with the release of The Lion King in 1994, Eisner received blow after blow. Disneyland Paris was an unexpected commercial failure, Frank Wells died in a helicopter accident, and Jeffrey Katzenberg resigned and founded DreamWorks to rival Disney.

DLP’s failure caused Eisner to take a step back from big creative ideas, and instead relied on pencil pushers, marketers, and accountants to design any future parks and attractions. At the head of this hydra was Paul Pressler, who previously ran the Disney Stores, and came up with the original idea for Disney’s California Adventure – creating an ugly, irreverent, and uninspiring cesspit of a park that seemed to regard the same sense of nostalgia and magic Disneyland had with contempt. It took it many years for DCA to recover and flourish.

Disney had plans to open a second studio-based park even before Disneyland Paris opened: The Disney-MGM Studios Europe. The park would include a loving, romanticized street dedicated to classic Hollywood, actual film sets, a special effects studio, and a gangster shootout dark ride based on the Dick Tracy Crimestoppers ride once planned for Florida. Speaking of which, Florida’s studio park was starting to go downhill, or at least as an actual film studio. The tram tour was starting to look a bit bland and pointless with less productions being actually made in the park. Universal had its past and history to rely on, since it had built the studio first before introducing the tour.

With the failure of Disneyland Paris, the studios plans were cut and put on the drawing board. Paris did recover, and plans were made to add a second park to the resort. I remember adverts for the new studio park on British TV, with the various Disney characters gawping over the walls of the newcomer, with Snow White happily declaring the arrival of “the movie people”. Even though these characters are movie people, and were created by movie people. A little weird. I don’t remember much about visiting the park during my second visit to the resort back in 2005, but that sense of a small scale, and there being little too do linger.

 Turns out my feelings were unanimously shared. Walt Disney Studios Park was incredibly tiny, has huge open space filled with nothing, and the original line-up of attractions were boring, and only one felt like a legitimate tribute to show business. The entrance way was quite beautiful, resembling a classic film studio entrance, taking inspiration from Disney’s own studio in Burbank, California, complete with the Mickey Mouse-inspired Earffel Tower. A water fountain in the middle of the plaza features Mickey from Fantasia, enchanting the troublesome broomsticks. Beyond that was the large Studio One, housing a soundstage resembling a Hollywood street. But, like DCA, it is quite flat and cheap-looking.

Stepping out into the park, guests could pretty much see everything the park has to over with the turn of the neck. Yeah, the park is that small. Sure, there is the Partners statue of Walt and Mickey right in front, but beyond that was a park of disappointment. There isn’t any sense of proper theming, apart from the park being set in a fantasy film studio. It is slightly exaggerated with the studio buildings being brightly coloured and the like. Nothing special.

 

Animation Courtyard was meant to honour Disney’s proud history of animated films, but isn’t very enchanting or cartoony. There was The Art of Disney Animation, an interactive experience, the popular Animagique musical, and a unique if somewhat hollow take on Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Instead of flying across an Arabian landscape, you’re on a movie set with the Genie in the director’s chair. I guess the idea is that the Genie is replicating the feeling of the iconic scenes of Aladdin, or is revealing the truth that the 1992 movie was in fact just that. A movie.

Opposite that side of the park, there is the Production Courtyard. The most popular and beloved of the park’s attractions was CineMagique. A sit-in theatre show, CineMagique starts off as a tribute montage to classic films of the silent era. Then, a member of the audience’s phone starts ringing, and the rude American man disrupts the show. But, then the characters on the screen begin to notice and react to the loud phone. A wizard then magically transports the man into the movies, revealing him to be played by Martin Short. Short then travels through various iconic films and genres, finding love, magic, and a little adventure along the way.

The Studio Tram Tour was meant to be the headliner of the park, but was nothing special. Considering the park never once served as a proper film studio, the tram tour’s existence feels a little pointless. Despite being co-hosted by Jeremy Irons, and having the Catastrophe Canyon set piece, the tram tour offers nothing interesting to look at. Who even remembers Dinotopia or Reign of Fire today?

 

The final area is the Backlot, soon to transform into a new Marvel themed land. While the rest of the park had at least minor hints of theming, the Backlot literally runs with the idea of it being a backlot, incorporating large metal warehouses. The attractions here were Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, an Armageddon themed SFX simulator, and a generic stunt show which later gained a minor Cars overlay with the out-of-place appearances of Lightning McQueen and Mater.

And, that’s it. Sixty-two acres of minimal effort. Heck, the individual lands in the main park have more attractions than the whole of WDSP put together. This park was the complete opposite of what was going on in Tokyo Disneyland. While Walt Disney Studios Park was restrained in size, presumably budget, and imagination, Tokyo DisneySea was a mindboggling piece of art and Imagineering ingenuity. Perhaps the most beautifully designed theme park of them all. Imagineers were given free reign to do what they wanted with DisneySea, and virtually none in making Paris’ second gate.

The park’s failure was just as fast as DCA’s, and only added to the failure of the resort. Changes had to be done. In 2007, the park saw the arrival of Crush’s Coaster, a small Cars ride, and the iconic Tower of Terror. Several years on, the first but miniscule incarnation of Toy Story Playland opened within the centre of the park.

 

And, then, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy arrived. An amazing trackless dark ride using the same technology found within Universal’s Spider-Man ride. That and Toy Story Playland marked a change in direction for the park, with some actually love and affection found in the details and design process. And this looks like the way to go for the troubled park. 

The huge popularity of Marvel, Star Wars, and Frozen are bound to bring in the tourists and help transform WDSP into something much grander and beautiful. 

A park to be proud of.