After-Action Report: Peter Pan's Flight

You know what I don't talk about enough? Peter Pan's Flight. Let's fix that.

Peter Pan's Flight is the most popular of the Fantasyland dark rides by a country mile, with queues that regularly top 45 minutes. Granted, this is partly because of its low capacity for its ride type—the ornate pirate ships only seat two or three where most dark ride vehicles seat four—but let's give the ride's content plenty of credit too. Most people probably assume the secret of this attraction's success is neatly summed up by its title: it's based on Peter Pan, one of the most evergreen films in the Disney Animated Canon, and it lets guests fly.

The impact of that second bit cannot be overstated. There have been other suspended rides in the history of the Disneyland Resort, but none have ever managed to replicate anything like the atmosphere of Peter Pan's Flight, as you whiz through the stars over London and then Neverland. The Skyway, when it was around, lacked any sense of mystique; Soarin' lacks narrative structure and offers only an illusion of forward movement. Peter Pan's Flight is a proper adventure, taking place in what is perhaps the quintessential world of adventure.

But I would argue that there is another key ingredient to the ride's popularity: it is perhaps the single best example of classic dark ride design philosophy in any Disney park. It is about as far from a “book report ride” as you can get without literally presenting an original plot.* Instead of summarizing the events of Peter Pan, it strips the movie down to its emotional core. There in the heart of the film, we find, simply: the thrill of flying and the wonder of removing from our humdrum urban lives to a world of childhood magic. Accordingly, most of the ride is devoted to the airborne journey from London to Neverland, and even that is rendered impressionistic, with forced-perspective models and fiber-optic starfields, rather than being a “faithful” reproduction of the film scene. Everything else about the movie, even the central conflict between the children and Captain Hook, is almost literally an afterthought.

Can you even imagine a ride like this being built nowadays? If they had to invent Peter Pan's Flight from scratch in the current era, it would be called something like Journey to Neverland With Peter Pan**, more emphasis would be placed on all the song sequences, not just “You Can Fly!”, and Peter would be prominent in every scene. It would certainly remind people of the movie, but it would in no way feel like the movie. It almost certainly wouldn't build up 45 minutes' worth of queue at a time, judging by the way guest enthusiasm for the Little Mermaid ride has cooled.

This is why, when Peter Pan's Flight went down for extended refurbishment and gussying-up a few years ago, I was dreading what they'd do to it. I assumed, quite reasonably, that they'd stick in a bunch of imagery taken directly from the movie at the expense of the ride's unique qualities. The first part came to pass, but fortunately with a light enough touch that we were spared the second part. It has changed far less than the Alice dark ride did when it got its own “upgrades.”*** It's still very much the quirky classic it's always been (or at least since 1983).

I can make an observation along these lines: of the five dark rides in Fantasyland, popularity seems to correlate to some extent with adherence to the more traditional principles of dark ride design. As mentioned, Peter Pan's Flight is the most popular. Alice in Wonderland is nearly as abstract and also well-liked. On the other end of the scale, Pinocchio's Daring Journey is of more recent vintage than the others, leans toward the “book report” side of things, and is usually a walk-on. Obviously, there are many other variables to consider, but I think we can safely say that it doesn't hurt a dark ride's reputation to use the impressionistic approach.

So why have the Imagineers largely abandoned said approach? Clearly someone believes that guests want more literal and linear stories in dark rides, but the pattern I have just observed proves, at the very least, that there's more to it than that.

In any case, I'm really glad we still have Peter Pan's Flight as a counter-example to the current line of thinking.

As a final note, here's something I bet you never noticed before. As you turn the last switchback in the queue (before the turnstile), take a look to your left.

* Not that presenting an original plot is necessarily a bad way to go. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin presents an original plot.

** Punchy attraction names are a dying breed.

*** I'm not convinced most of them are upgrades; can you tell?