“It’s just that you don’t look like a Disney adult,” a friend of mine recently said after I told her how much I love Disney World. “Thank you,” I replied, because the term “Disney adult” is usually said in a pejorative way, and even I cast judgment on it. But we Disney people are not all alike.
I don’t own a single piece of clothing adorned with Mickey or Minnie. However, I can tell you where you can buy a Dole Whip in every park and I could ride a monorail all day long. I have always hesitated to call myself a Disney adult — don’t box me in with your labels, man — but after plowing through all the new content in the new Disneyland hub on Disney Plus, it’s time to face facts.
In honor of Disneyland’s 70th anniversary, the park has been rolling out special celebrations and attractions at the Anaheim theme park, but for those of us who can’t easily get to California, Disney Plus recently released a series of POV videos of many of the rides and attractions at Disneyland. From the Incredicoaster to the Haunted Mansion and Radiator Springs Racers, it gives fans a chance to virtually “ride” them.
My family has watched them all. At least once. Some of them three or four times. And also maybe ranking them by how much we want to ride them in real life? My children have inherited the Disney gene; to be fair, their father is an even bigger Disneyphile, so it was inevitable.
The beauty of these ride-through videos, which offer a first-person perspective from the front seat of these attractions, is the fact that they were all likely filmed after the park closed, so many feature moody, nighttime lighting. As we Disney folks know, nighttime is the best time to ride almost any Disney ride. Don’t ask me why, it’s just a hard fact. These videos were filmed inside the bare, empty park, another detail that makes them seem especially appealing since they’re usually teeming with crowds.
My kids love amusement parks and have recently made a habit of watching POV videos on YouTube of the world’s wildest roller coasters — this is a genre that is very hit or miss when not shot by someone who knows what they’re doing, given all the various factors that can render these videos unwatchable or, worse, a little nauseating. But one of the reasons I like Disney is because, love it or hate it, there is no denying that Disney knows what it’s doing. These videos are not just professionally shot; they’ve got style. While some rides are a quick two minutes, others are longer, sometimes 10 or 15 minutes, and they really do offer an immersive simulation of being on the ride.
As an East Coast resident, I consider myself more of a Disney World person; I haven’t been to Disneyland since I was a kid. Both places have some of the same rides, like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Pirates of the Caribbean, so they feel familiar. However, they’re not exactly the same, so another fun (to me) game we play is spotting the differences between the Florida and California versions.
Princess Tiana’s Bayou Adventure theme ride is featured in one video.
I’m not recommending these videos with the hope of converting anyone to being a fellow Disney adult. On the contrary, the parks don’t need more people crowding them — but these videos, which feel a little bit buried in a niche hub on Disney Plus, are so much fun to watch and for me, they have proven to be a satisfying alternative to the real thing. That’s more than I can say for the store-bought Dole Whip from my grocery store. We can put a man on the moon, but we can’t bring pineapple soft serve to the masses? These are the issues that keep Disney adults up at night.
