Hotel’s change to Pixar theme is conversion, not immersion
In June 2018, right after covering the opening event for Disney California Adventure’s Pixar Pier, my son and I walked past the Paradise Pier Hotel. He pointed to its sign and asked, “How long until they change the name of that?”
Late last month, the Disneyland Resort finally announced that it soon will change the name of the Paradise Pier Hotel, named for a land in California Adventure that has not existed since Disney converted that land into Pixar Pier nearly four years ago. Disney did not reveal what that new name would be, only that the hotel would be rethemed to a variety of Pixar Animation franchises.
The plan, as described by Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock, would create a modular structure that would allow Disney and its Imagineers to change which Pixar franchises they feature in the hotel at any given moment. That way, Disney would always be presenting its most popular and enduring Pixar franchises, instead of leaving hot new properties
on the sideline because older franchises had taken all the space.
Disney fans want to have Disney characters on their Disney vacation. Disney promotes — and prices — its hotels with the idea that the “magic” of the Disney experience does not end when you leave the parks. So it makes sense for Disney to employ Disney themes in its hotels. But is what Disney is planning at the Paradise Pier really a “theme,” or is it just decoration?
Theme park resorts typically limit their hotel themes to architectural
styles or motifs. A variety of styles allows resorts to differentiate their hotels to guests. But if a resort wants to differentiate with intellectual property, a resort has some decisions to make that extend far beyond which property to use.
It’s the same process that parks use when creating attractions. Do you just slap some characters on a ride, or do you build a more immersive, custom experience? It’s the difference between the Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind spinner and the bespoke Radiator Springs Racers.
For an intellectual property theme to work on a hotel, the hotel’s role as a place of lodging must be incorporated into the story. Otherwise, what passes for theme is really just decoration. The current gold standard for theming in a theme park resort hotel is Walt Disney World’s new Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, which is presented as an interstellar cruise ship within the “Star Wars” universe. Disney even went so far as to make the ship, called the Halcyon, the setting for Leia and Han’s honeymoon.
With Pixar, unless Disneyland builds a real-life Cozy Cone Motel, what fans will get will be more like Emotional Whirlwind-style decoration. Which is fine. Disney ought to offer a variety of lodging experiences, and intellectual property decorations should be a part of that mix. The new Pixar hotel should be a nice step forward for the Disneyland Resort.
But someday, Disney’s fans in Southern California would welcome a true themed hotel experience, too.