Brand Partner ContentIn the Los Angeles County the original Disney experience is located. Millions of people each year descend onto Main Street to have the most magical time possible. With the attraction already there for people to travel to in Anaheim, California, sometimes this can be impossible for many people to get to and Disneyland is the experience that some people could never have; which is a real shame.
With the internet at our finger tips and technology advancing day by day there could be a real chance for the Walt Disney Company to immerse people in that Disney magic without physically stepping foot in California. So how would this be possible and would there be a market for this?
Walt Disney
Disneyland first become real in 1955 and was the brainchild of Walt Disney. On opening day he stated in his speech,” To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past…and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”
Walt wanted all people to experience his beautiful idea and this is why we now see Disney parks across the world in Florida, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Where would the inspiration come from?
The idea first cropped up during the COVID 19 pandemic when people were unable to travel to the happiest place on earth and fans were left bereft, yearning for some of the Walt Disney magic that keeps them going each vacation time. However, there was some salvation as many YouTube videos were released as a walkthrough experience of the parks around the world and people were able to have a tiny bit of what they wanted.
This was not a new idea because in 1956 in an effort to drum up customers Walt Disney released Disneyland USA, a helicopter style tour of the entire park and people were mesmerized at the sight of the park in Anaheim.
The idea of a game experience
Theme park games have been around for many years and really hit their stride when Theme Park was released, produced by Bullfrog which merged into EA UK, in 1995. It was fun, exciting and addictive. It pathed the way for games such as Theme Park World, Planet Coaster and the Roller Coaster Tycoon series.
However, these games are all about creating your own park or replicating your favourite ones. What about ones that were identical to the park that is already there?
Disneyland has an extensive amount to observe and experience from parades, dark rides, roller coasters, merchandise and much more. There could be an opportunity for an immersive game surrounding the Disneyland Park.
What would the gameplay be like?
There could be many different roles that a player could take on in the park and they could vitalise all park roles from customer to ride operator to kiosk worker in Fantasyland. There could also be a free world gameplay where a person is just exploring the idea of being in Disneyland Park all by themselves; you would have to be very rich and use tradingforexsites.com to experience an empty park in real life.
Could it work?
There is no doubting it could be one massive job and the realization of it could be one too many for some companies to produce it. However, it could well be done especially by a big company like California based EA who have got history in working with theme park games.
In Europe, there is a similar project underway regarding the theme park Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. A now defunct business called Immortal Media Studios were working on recreating Alton Towers to the exact detail and many working rides that people could ride. The game is called Virtual Towers and is an incredibly beautiful immersive experience which could be inspiration to many other developers with a similar idea.
Would it affect the park?
With the idea of a virtual Disneyland there is the question would people even bother going to the theme park if they could just experience it from home, especially with the advancement of VR? If anything it would encourage people to experience the park for real instead of virtually. If the game was made with the same passion as Virtual Towers was, then it would attract more and more people to visit just like the vlogs on YouTube do.
The idea that you could walk into a park from your couch is something that would be truly amazing and if gameplay was incorporated where you could actually work at Disney then it would be a game changer in the role playing genre.
If the idea ever become real then it could open up the possibility of virtual games being made about the other five Disney resorts around the world.
As Walt said, “Disneyland will never be completed” and he is right, there is expansion in each and every way!
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