Pixar inspires attractions at Disney parks
Twenty years ago, “It’s Tough to be a Bug,” a 3-D attraction based on the film “A Bug’s Life,” debuted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. That flick — featuring an ant called Flik — marked the first installment of a Pixar property in a Disney theme park.
Since then, Walt Disney Co. purchased the film company and sprinkled its characters and stories through its parks around the globe. Pixar’s presence remains on the uptick, culminating locally with the anticipated opening of Toy Story Land on June 30 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Pixar-based attractions can give designers and builders a creative lift for projects that prize immersion.
“Pixar does fantastic stories and fantastic characters,” said Kathy Mangum, regional executive for Walt Disney Imagineering. “But what really applies to us in the parks is that they build these wonderful worlds that you want to be in.”
The film studio, with hits ranging from “Toy Story” in 1995 to “Coco” in 2017, has a hand in crafting the attractions.
“It really feels like these are natural extensions of the film world,” said Liz Gazzano, a Pixar executive producer for theme parks. A core group of 10 people work on park projects out of Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, Calif., although that number swells to 100, she said.
Another Toy Story Land is nearing completion at Shanghai Disneyland. It’s the first major expansion for the resort, which also features a “Toy Story”-themed hotel. The attractions are tailored for each market, said Jim Shull, a creative director with Imagineering. The parks will have different rides using the Slinky Dog character, and Shanghai will get Rex’s Racer, an orange half-pipe ride similar to RC Racer attractions found in Disney parks in France and Hong Kong.
A breakthrough for designers was the realization that everyone has played with toys, Shull said.
“That’s something that translates immediately, regardless of whether you’re in Paris, Orlando, Anaheim or Shanghai or Hong Kong,” he said.
At Disneyland Resort in California, an entire land is being re-themed with Pixar pixie dust. Disney California Adventure’s future Pixar Pier includes modifications turning an existing thrill ride into the Incredicoaster; a revamp of a carousel will allow visitors to ride on “Toy Story” creatures; and several eateries are being re-imagined, including a stand for Señor Buzz Churros. Eventually, it will include an “Inside Out” neighborhood.
And next month, Disneyland will launch a Pixar Fest with festivities leading up to a nighttime spectacular called “Together Forever” with Buzz Lightyear flying around the castle.
At Epcot, a “Ratatouille” ride — echoing one at Disneyland Paris — is planned. Magic Kingdom will have an “Incredible Summer” promotion in Tomorrowland this summer. And a bird show featuring “Up” characters will come to Animal Kingdom on April 22, 20 years to the day after “It’s Tough to be a Bug” debuted.
“It’s really that emotional connection that we’re getting to reignite and that fans embrace,” said Roger Gould, creative director, theme parks, for Pixar Animation Studios.
The idea is that a Pixar story doesn’t have to end just because the film does, he said.
“That’s what we’ve been able to do in the parks — keep those stories alive and moving forward in so many different ways,” Gould said.
The animated films are “perpetually watched” generation after generation, said Robert Thompson, who teaches pop-culture courses at Syracuse University.
“One of the reasons Pixar was so desirable to Disney was this very thing — you’ve got these culture properties with such global penetration,” Thompson said.
“These things have a longevity that I think is different from any other kind of movie, even classic movies,” he said. “Movie buffs continue to watch Hitchcock stuff, but Hitchcock stuff doesn’t penetrate all corners of the culture in the way Disney movies, and then Pixar movies, do.”
Don’t look for a total Pixar takeover of the theme parks though. Disney announced this week that it will close the Bug’s Life area of California Adventure in favor of new Marvel superheroes attractions. And there are many non-Pixar additions coming to Walt Disney World, including a “Guardians of the Galaxy” coaster, a “Tron”-inspired ride, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and the Disney Skyline connecting some resorts.
“We look at Disney’s great stories — whether they’re Marvel, Pixar, Disney or others — as what we can put into our parks,” Mangum said. “This does seem to be the year of Pixar this year. It will be something else next year.”