Everyone loves to learn the secrets behind Disney attractions, whether it is the origin story, the technology behind the rides or the small details you won’t notice until pointed out to you.
The “Behind the Attraction” series that debuts Wednesday, July 21, on Disney+ provides some of that insider information, with a bit of a twist — or, shall we say, a twisted sense of humor.
The 10-episode show, executive produced and directed by Brian Volk-Weiss, who created the popular Netflix series “The Toys That Made Us,” is narrated with a fast-paced, quippy tone that is a bit more self-deprecating than a lot of insider Disney fare.
“So what we try to do is, we try to really get into the fun,” Volk-Weiss said during a recent press conference. “We went away a little bit from the history and the protocols of building these attractions and just really went for these fun nuggets that either helped build the pop culture that we live in now or are part of what’s coming that is allowing Disney to continue to have such a big voice in the culture.”
After all, “we’re making a show now about amusement park attractions,” he said. “So why wouldn’t it be fun?” The tone is set by narrator Paget Brewster’s patter and delivery.
But don’t worry, there is plenty of information on how the rides came into development and how they work. During an episode on Star Tours, we learn how excited George Lucas was to work on the ride — after all, he always loved Disneyland, from the visit he made on the second day the park was open. We also learn the surprising source for the technology behind (or, rather, beneath) the shuttle to Endor.
Attractions are like icebergs, Volk-Weiss said. “And what I mean by that is, to the public, you’re only seeing maybe 2% of the attraction. If people knew the infrastructure that they don’t see . . . I mean, they’d be blown away. So that was a big part of what we were trying to do.”
To shine a light on some of that infrastructure, Disney Imagineers are given the chance to pull back the curtain on these attractions. (Did you know: Disney does not have rides, or roller-coasters. They are called attractions. Always attractions.)
“There are so many stories behind all of our attractions and we never get to tell them,” Dave Durham, Executive, Creative Ride Engineering, Walt Disney Imagineering, said at the press conference. “We get to share with the viewer some of those cool inside stories, some of the history, some of the challenges and a lot of the fun. It really is fun to build this stuff. It’s a lot of work. It’s a whole lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun.”
“I mean, we are tasked to do impossible things, fun things, magical things. And if we’re trying to bring those stories to life, you can bet that there’s a lot of stories about bringing it to life that guests never hear and they just see the end product of that,” Jeanette Lomboy, Vice President/ Site Portfolio Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering, said.
The episodes focus only on attractions that currently exist in order to cut down on the huge list of attractions Disney has built over the past 66 years. (Volk-Weiss really wants to tell the story of Mission to Mars, a Tomorrowland attraction that closed in 1992.)
The show also blends the stories of some attractions, which also illustrates the progression of technology and storytelling. For example, the Star Tours episode moves into the next generation of rides at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. And the Jungle Cruise episode starts off with Walt Disney’s desire to have real animals in the ride, and ends with Kilimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom, a natural evolution of Disney’s vision.
“Behind the Attraction” begins streaming on Wednesday, July 21, on Disney+ with five episodes at launch, and five additional episodes coming to the service later this year.
The following episodes will be available on Disney+ when it launches:
- 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.
“Behind the Attraction” is executive produced by Dwayne Johnson (“Jungle Cruise”), Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Kevin Hill from Seven Bucks Productions, and Brian Volk-Weiss (“The Toys That Made Us”), Robin Henry and Cisco Henson from The Nacelle Company. Brian Volk-Weiss directs the series.
