ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some basic features of the Disney theme parks in order to provide a backcloth for the examination in the later chapters of various commentators’ views about them. Inevitably these descriptions are brief and mainly cover the attractions and rides that have been especially singled out for attention by commentators. Readers wanting greater detail should consult standard guides. The vast bulk of the examination that follows concentrates on Disneyland and Disney World, rather than on Tokyo Disneyland and Euro Disneyland. The main reason for this is simply that it is the US parks which have typically been the focus of attention for the various commentators covered here. In fact, there is a basic structure to the parks which has been replicated in the Japanese and French models and they all share many common rides and attractions, but it is the US parks which have typically been the object of attention. Unfortunately, there are no pictures here of the parks’ buildings or landscape due to the fact that the Walt Disney Company has copyrighted many of the buildings and structures, so that even a tourist guide like The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (Sehlinger, 1994) contains no photographs. In his discussion of the Disney parks, Sorkin turns these restrictions into parody by printing a photograph of the sky above Disney World to which the following inscription is added:
This is the sky above Disney World, which here substitutes for an image of the place itself. Disney World is the first copyrighted urban environment in history, a Forbidden City for postmodernity. Renowned for its litigiousness, the Walt Disney Company will permit no photograph of its property without prior approval of its use. Is there a better illustration of the contraction of the space of freedom represented by places like Disney World than the innocent sky?
