EXPEDITION EVEREST EYESORE

EXPEDITION EVEREST EYESORE

Kenneth Dresser, a talented artist friend of mine, worked for many years on contract for various Disney projects. He enthused over the care taken in planning the original parks. Ways were found to insure that "no matter where guests stood, or in what direction they looked" they would see something of intriguing interest, if not beguiling beauty. Designers would imagine themselves standing at myriad points on a blue-print or model, contemplating sight lines. Competing infrastructure, mechanics and utilities competing with the desired atmosphere were carefully hidden or disguised to preserve design integrity.

A triumph of this principle, I think, is the positioning of the Rockin’ Roller Coaster within surrounding structures in the Disney MGM Studios in Florida. Aerial views of the park show this ride to be housed in an enormous white building at the perimeter of the property. From street level, however, I believe the building is invisible from all directions. Aerial views of the park also show an arterial roadway running quite near, but masked from the Studio Tour area by berms and trees.

The offending Swan and Dolphin hotels represent, of course, a signal disregard for this sage planning procedure. Given our contemporary willingness to demolish even recently built structures, however, one can hope that the offending upper floors of these gigantic (monstrous?) edifices will be removed one day. Robert Iger, make your reputation...

Expedition Everest represents a particularly egregious, but more easily corrected, lapse. Viewing the Potemkin bare backside of a partial fake snow-capped mountain peak – outfitted with gray emergency stairways – is unacceptable by classic Disney standards. The "suspension of disbelief" is violated from the Animal Kingdom parking lot, forfeiting the imagination game before one even enters the park.

This literal short-cut destroys the perspective artistry which gives the peak its height, authority and grandeur, voids its claim to reality, and is a real "spoiler" before guests even enter the park. Were Walt Disney alive today, he might well be mortgaging his home yet one more time to hide or disguise the offending exit stairs. In his absence (and memory) let’s hope the Imagineers are budgeted soon to rectify this cheapskate monumental blunder.