The next generation of theme park attraction has arrived, in more forms than one, and the playing field is broadening every single day.
Islands of Adventure's Wizarding World of Harry Potter - and particularly Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - will be experiential to a level we have never seen. This isn't your stock interactive entertainment, built for giddy Generation Y playstation pumping teens. This is the next step of the master art form.
Down the road, Mickey tries not to get crushed. The new Fantasyland stands a valid chance of affirming its bragging rights in the new world of themed entertainment. These aren't just attractions - though with Ariel's Adventure (possibly renamed from DCA's version, "Ariel's Undersea Adventure") we will certainly have our fill of classic Disney experience with cutting edge technology, partnered with all the emotional gusto that came whirring out of those busy little trailers in Glendale twenty years ago.
The most interesting part about this concept painting, though, is how it separates the areas of Fantasyland into actual thematic pieces - a sort of master form of this concept that we've never seen before, expanding even further on the Disneyland idea and ranging closer and closer to the original Fantasyland concept:
Particularly the storybook village concept will be rooted in classic Disney - not just in the sense of the casting, but in the sense of the true experience of a place.
The next generation is supposed to be about bringing the fantastic worlds of our favorite characters to life in new, vibrant and relevant ways.
When the clock strikes midnight, we can only wait, watch and see who turns into the pumpkin. Time will tell.
