Behind the Attraction brings Disney Parks fun to the whole family, while also teaching viewers a thing or two about Disney history. The series, which will debut 5 episodes on July 21, focuses on the history of some of your favorite attractions while getting insight from individuals from Walt Disney Imagineering. It’s a very fun way to see Disney Imagineering in action from all different aspects!
Here are the five episodes that will hit Disney+ on Wednesday!
- Jungle Cruise: Join a skipper for the story behind Jungle Cruise, and try to spot the backside of water! When Walt decided to create the original immersive attraction, he tasked Imagineers with building a river AND the mechanical animals to populate it.
- Haunted Mansion: Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion — enter if you dare! When Walt Disney developed the attraction, he didn’t specify if it should be funny or scary, and so it became a perfect blend of both.
- Star Tours: Lightspeed to Endor! A long time ago…Disney created Star Tours, a thrilling simulator attraction that takes guests to a galaxy far, far away. It inspired Imagineers to build a whole new land — Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: Discover the ups (and downs!) of creating this gravity-defying attraction set in the eerie world of Rod Serling’s renowned “Twilight Zone” television series. Then hold on tight as Imagineers reimagine the Disney California Adventure Park version as Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
- Space Mountain: You’re about to hear the story of Space Mountain in T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…launch! Walt’s vision of an attraction that simulates space travel was a design challenge Imagineer John Hench tackled head on, creating a signature structure in Disney Parks around the world.
There will be five more episodes that will hit the streaming service at a later date.
When we watched the show, we loved all the fun behind-the-scenes footage and interviews you get to see. While the pacing and narration can feel like they are aimed at a younger audience, I think that this is exactly what will bring families together. This will start conversations and spark memories around some guest’s favorite experiences they have had in the park and will have them excited for their next trip.
When I was young, I spent all my free time reading about as much Disney history as I could. Each time I watched an episode of Behind the Attraction, I thought about how much my younger self would have loved it. I would have centered my next trips around the attractions in the series so I would have the chance to see all the aspects come to life in person. I think that this is exactly what this show will do for fans who watch it, whether they feel like they are seasoned experts or Disney newbies.
A few weeks back, we had the pleasure of attending a press conference with numerous Imagineers and Brian Volk-Weiss, executive producer and director of the series. Volk-Weiss was asked to share some of his favorite things he’s learned throughout the production of the series, and he shared this, which I feel sums up the show very nicely.
“When [Finding Nemo Submarines are] being built, they’re moving cables and wires and plumbing all throughout that area for attractions that will not be built possibly for 15 to 20 years. And that’s what that was the moment where I’m like, got it. OK, that’s how I have to look at this show. That’s how I have to look at the parks. (…) And I sure even now don’t have a master’s in Disney. But that was the beginning of me being like, all right, I’m still in high school. I got to keep studying. But that was the moment where I started to understand everything better than I ever had.”
Overall, I feel like this will be a show that everyone will enjoy, even if parts of it can feel childish. Any Disney fan will be excited to learn the tidbits that are held in this show and will be excited to see the names that are involved with telling these stories. Be sure to not miss the first five episodes of Behind the Attraction when they launch on the Disney+ streaming service this Wednesday and then connect with us on Twitter and Facebook to let us know what you think!
