Sunday, May 13, 2007

IT'S A CHANGING WORLD, AFTER ALL: There's a lot for me to say after this Disney World trip, but the thing that's sticking with me right now that's most relevant to this blog is the way in which the theme park is in (perhaps constant) transition. Right now, the Princesses are clearly ascendant, but not all of them -- Pocahontas and Mulan don't seem to exist anymore, while Mary Poppins (presumably because of the Broadway show) is way more present than you'd expect.

Obvs, Song of the South has been reduced to the narrative inside Splash Mountain, only without Uncle Remus, and Captain EO is no longer with us. No evidence of the 101 Dalmatians, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Lady and the Tramp characters either, from what I could tell.

But we ran into the Mad Hatter. Go figure. And Mickey and Minnie, Chip and Dale, Donald, Goofy and Pluto are all still at the core of the place, even if they only exist on the level of iconography these days -- and not in any kind of narrative universe, as far as kids know.

If I could make a prediction, the next few years are going to see even more Capt. Jack Sparrow and Pirates stuff than there is now -- it's the one character on whom they've clearly got the boys hooked. I have to assume some kind of "Dinner with Captain Jack and the Crew" is forthcoming...

No comments:

Post a Comment