“Behind the Attraction” traces the technological advances of Disney theme parks one turn at a time

There are, for the most part, two types of Disney Parks fans. There are those who see it once in a while as a great thing to do with the family, and there are those who take it … a little more seriously. The next Behind the attraction, due out on Disney + on July 21, is a show that aims to turn more casual tourists into devoted fans, explaining the story behind famous attractions like Star Tours, Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain.

Each episode features plenty of ancient imagery, talking heads, concept art, and the snark. If you think it looks like The toys that made us, but for the Disney parks, you would be absolutely right. Behind the attraction is produced and directed by Brian Volk-Weiss, the creative mind behind Netflix docuseries like TTTMU and The films that made us. He was specifically sought after by Disney + for his style which, according to his own description, is “more fun-oriented” and does not treat his subject matter as “the rise and fall of the Roman Empire”. He loves documentaries, but hates it when they take stupid subjects too seriously.

Namely, the series is narrated by comedy veteran Paget Brewster, an actress who starred in The Bros., Community and Another period. Disney fans will probably recognize her better as the voice of Della Duck on the 2017. Duck tales to restart. She adopts a light and playful tone, as far as possible from Morgan Freeman. Executive producer Dwayne Johnson, who also stars in Disney’s upcoming live-action, is also on board. Jungle cruise movie. Is there an episode on the Jungle Cruise attraction? Of course there is.

On top of that, the other four episodes available this week focus on Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Space Mountain. (Episodes about things like castles and transportation systems, as well as famous rides like “It’s a Small World” and Pirates of the Caribbean are staged later in the year.) They trace the history and the development of each individual attraction with clips from shows like the years 1955 Disneyland and The wonderful world of Disney, news segments and a mix of news and old interviews. Anyone who has watched the docuseries The story of the imagination (also on Disney +) will recognize a lot of repurposed footage from there. Which of course begs the question, why did we need another backstage show?

The biggest difference between the two is that The story of the imagination takes a strict chronological approach, starting with the origin story behind Walt Disney’s desire to build a theme park, progressing to the opening of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Epcot and so on. The last few episodes focus less on a historical perspective and more on “watch what cool technology we’ve built for this new thing”. Which leads to a sort of feeling of imbalance in the program, as well as a greater feeling that this is a great travel brochure for the Disney parks.

Which does not mean that Behind the attraction is not a big advertisement. I definitely want to visit Disney Shanghai after taking a look at the development of their Storybook Castle and TRON Lightcycle Power Run. But because the new show takes a more up-to-date approach, it’s much more “snackable,” with episodes that can be watched in any order depending on what interests you most.

Each episode always follows its individual topic chronologically, such as how the Hall of Presidents episode enters the development of the original show “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” at the 1964 World’s Fair at the attraction’s installation in Disneyland, from the creation of the complete hall from the presidents of Walt Disney World to today’s animatronics like those used on the Avengers campus at California Adventure. The story of the imagination also talks about the development of the “Stuntronics”, but it is Behind the attraction which draws a straight line for the spectator of Abraham Lincoln giving a speech to Spider-Man doing somersaults in the air. You actually understand how the technology created in 1964 can still shape something built in 2020.

Although it is unlikely that Behind the attraction will never delve into the different facial plants that the company has taken over the years, as YouTube shows, like the other world and Dead land do, the new show is at least able to admit that some things didn’t work out. The Haunted Mansion had to be completely redesigned for Shanghai, while Japan had a different story for its Tower of Terror. And the original Jungle Cruise didn’t have any fathers jokes!

Of course, there aren’t any Splash Mountain or Captain EO episodes, so we don’t yet know how the series will deal with some of the most obnoxious or embarrassing bits and pieces in Disney park history. Which is good, since Behind the attraction isn’t meant to be a full Disney story, just a quick half-hour show that will have you say “did you know?” to all your friends and family the next time you visit the Magic Kingdom.