Animation Since Walt
“The Jungle Book�?, “Aladdin�?, “The Lion King�?, “Pocahontas�?, “Mulan�?, “Tarzan�?, the “Emperor’s New Groove�?, “Atlantis�?, “Lilo & Stitch�?, and “Treasure Planet�? all provide settings, characters, and other elements that are adaptable to theme park fun, but they would be out of place in Fantasyland as it currently exists.

Should they have been (or only be) used in Fantasyland? They would require entire new sections to Fantasyland. Tarzan, Aladdin, Song of the South, Winnie the Pooh, and Buzz Lightyear have been used elsewhere in the park to the dismay of some. The only one I thought was better suited for Fantasyland than where it ended up was Pooh (which is in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World Resort). Fantasmic is another attraction that belongs more in Fantasyland, but it grew out of an idea for a show on the Rivers of America, and it was logistically prohibitive for Disney to install it anywhere else at the park. Notice that it is in the Studio park at Walt Disney World Resort.

If the exterior architecture is done right, content from animated films does fit well in areas other than Fantasyland.

Some of the post-Walt animated films clearly belong in European, storybook Fantasyland - “The Little Mermaid�?, “Beauty and the Beast�?, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame�?, and even “Hercules�? (which would require a new section of Fantasyland). But the others do not.

So What Did I Learn?
Maybe the rule isn’t “animation content goes into Fantasyland�? nor “European content goes into Fantasyland�? but rather “European animated content belongs only in Fantasyland�?. However, that is different from saying that only European animated content belongs in Fantasyland, which is what I started out with.

Looking back, I admit the evidence for an actual rule isn’t conclusive either way. The tradition established under Walt’s direction of Disneyland Park, from December of 1952 when he formed a team to create it, to fourteen years later when he passed away, was that content from animated films was placed into Fantasyland along with some other projects. We don’t know if he would have broken that tradition by allowing a Jungle Book attraction, for instance, to go into Adventureland. Aside from Dumbo, he didn’t put non-European animated content into Fantasyland, but then he didn’t really use it elsewhere, either

However, I still think some of the animated content fits much better in other areas of the park, because those areas are themed around the setting, not the medium in which the content was previously presented. Art direction and architecture are the keys to making the content work outside of Fantasyland. Toontown is the place for cartoonish buildings, to be sure, not Tomorrowland or Adventureland.

Where Does This Leave Us?
What the rules that made the park work as far as theming? That’s what it comes down to. I remember how controversial Star Tours was in some Disney circles. Basing a Disneyland Park attraction on non-Disney content, whether Han Solo or James Tuscarora Kirk? “Heresy!�? some said. That’s another story for another time.

So, should Fantasyland stay primarily European? Should content from animated films continue to find homes in other areas of Disneyland Park? Assuming we want to see the rules stay the same (or go back to what they were), what have the rules been?