ABSTRACT
Art museums have adopted a number of Disney theme park features as strategies for survival at a time of dwindling resources for cultural institutions. Within museum education departments, visitors are increasingly considered customers and museums are adapting to please consumers by embracing entertainment in their programming. In order to compete in the experience economy, museum participation is now a commodity to consume for those with leisure time. Moreover, the modes through which visitors are being asked to engage with museums through processes and strategies long-employed by The Walt Disney Company entices visitors towards the consumption of themed experiences, entertainment, and products, thereby sanitizing and de-politicizing public participation. This entertainment-as-participation standing in for political activity furthers the current post-political landscape where political issues are concealed, neglected, parodied, and/or quickly forgotten while continuing on unchallenged and unchanged.
