Page 30 - The Disneyization of Society

THEMING

retorted that his park would not be like those parks. Thus, Walt’s antipathy
towards amusement parks was borne of his own experience of being a reluctant
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visitor to them and a feeling that not only could they be so much better but they
would actually appeal to adults. He also noticed that many parents were like him
in that they only frequented these parks to appease their children. 12
Disneyland was conceived as a celebration of America’s past and as a paean to
progress, or as Walt put it: ‘the older generation can recapture the nostalgia of days
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gone by, and the younger generation can savour the challenge of the future.’ The
former element allowed Walt to lace many of the attractions and environments
with heavy doses of nostalgia that he felt would have a direct appeal to adults. Main
Street USA, the thoroughfare to the attractions, exemplifies this sentiment with its
unashamed harking back to turn-of-the-century middle America with which many
American adults could nostalgically associate themselves. Similarly, Frontierland
recalls the era of the Wild West but in a very cinematic mould and was designed to
provide a set of images to which adults could easily relate. The very process of them-
ing was central to this product differentiation strategy, since most pre-Disneyland
amusement parks were loose assemblages of rides of various degrees of thrill.
Walt’s genius in this connection was to turn adults from reluctant into enthu-
siastic visitors to such venues. There is little doubt that he was successful in this
connection, since the ratio of adults to children who visit the parks is usually put
at 4:1. The fact that in the American Disney parks, many visitors are returnees is
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a further testament to his success in attracting adults and to the significance of
forging a connection with an adult audience.
Theming accomplished at least two things. First, it established coherence in the
various rides and attractions in Disneyland and the environments in which they
were located. Second, in the design of rides and attractions, the accent was placed
on their theming rather than on the thrill factor, which was the emphasis in
traditional amusement parks. Indeed, Walt initially did not plan for roller coaster
rides in order to set his park apart from the amusement parks he loathed so much.
Gradually, such rides have been incorporated as a result of pressure from younger
visitors who found Disney fare too tame. However, when such rides were built
they were in heavily themed form, for example, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
(themed on prospecting in the Wild West), Space Mountain (space travel) and
Splash Mountain (Song of the South). By establishing coherence to rides and by
placing an emphasis on the theme rather than on thrills, Walt was able to differ-
entiate Disneyland from the traditional amusement parks that he so disliked.

Precursors of Theming

It would be a mistake to think of Disneyland as the progenitor of theming. It may
have (and almost certainly has) acted as a high profile spur to a realization of the