Approximately 2-1/2 years into the life of Disney+, the streaming service’s record for content that focuses on the Disney Parks is … a bit mixed. While there have been great full-length original series like The Imagineering Story and Behind the Attraction (which we’ve already covered in some depth), there’s also some vintage material from the circa-early 2000s “Walt Disney Treasures” DVD packages Disneyland USA and Disneyland: Secrets, Stories & Magic that we’re still waiting for. Nevertheless, the streaming service does offer a few potentially interesting tidbits for those looking to get their Disney Parks fix between visits. Here’s a loosely-ranked lineup, from least to best, of the parks-themed content Disney+ subscribers can enjoy right now.
Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings
This documentary mini-franchise, which has included a 2017 90-minute Freeform launch, two seasons of episodes and a holiday special, focuses on folks whose love of Disney has them planning proposals, weddings and/or honeymoons at locations in the parks, cruise ships and resorts.
The result is almost as unapologetically sentimental (brides-to-be dabbing tears out of the corners of their eyes are omnipresent) as it is unapologetically self-promotional (if you get a shot of a happy couple making breakfast together, you can count on the fact that it will be Mickey-shaped pancakes). Moreover, I found myself wondering about numerous questions, such as: What is the required lead time for scheduling a ceremony at EPCOT’s The American Experience Rotunda to ensure no other guests are present in the park?
Disney’s Holiday Magic Quest / Summer Magic Quest
It’s such a weirdly specific tie-in, creating a competition series in which cast members from Dinsey’s Zombies movie franchise (I guess the Descendants cast was unavailable) race around Walt Disney World parks after hours. Launched in 2020, perhaps as a way to help encourage guests returning post-lockdown, these thus-far-annual specials aren’t particularly interesting, except as a way to see what “overselling” looks like.
I’m not saying these young performers are overly enthusiastic, but a drinking game based on how many times someone says “this is incredible/awesome/amazing” would result in death. Also good for a laugh: the pre-episode disclaimers making sure viewers understand that the show “depicts actions and activities that are not approved for guests”— just in case anyone gets the urge to roll around Spaceship Earth in a giant inflatable sphere.
Shanghai Disney Resort Grand Opening Gala
If you were ranking the weirdest decisions Disney had made for what they would include on Disney+, this has to be right near the top of the list. This event marking the 2016 opening of the Shanghai Disney Resort doesn’t feature any celebrities or even company spokespeople.
It’s simply a 20-minute concert in front of the park’s castle, with a symphony orchestra playing (mostly) Disney songs, occasionally accompanied by vocalists singing in a mix of Mandarin and English. As a treat, you also get performers in bodysuits climbing on scaffolding designed to resemble Cinderella’s magic carriage. You don’t get to see any other area of the park, which also seems like a missed opportunity. The projections effects sure are pretty cool, though.
Dinsey Parks Sunrise Series
It’s kind of a neat idea: Taking images from Disney Parks in the peaceful pre-opening hours and turning them into the equivalent of one of those “fireplace logs” videos.
The problem in the execution is that they’re a missed opportunity, focusing almost entirely on the icons of their respective parks—Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle, Epcot’s Spaceship Earth and Animal Kingdom’s Tree of Life—and ignoring the chance to show other locations in a similar tranquil state. We know they had a camera there to shoot five seconds of World Showcase, for example; a little more variety, and maybe using more familiar Disney music, might have helped break up the monotony.
Harmonious Live!
There’s no need to pile on at this point about what a disappointment the Epcot nighttime spectacular Harmonious turned out to be; even the company has acknowledged that fact by discontinuing it after less than two years. But they were still trying to make it happen as late as June 2022 via this live-streamed show hosted by Idina Menzel, with narrator Auli’i Cravalho and plenty of live musicians and singers complementing all the fireworks and weird World Showcase Lagoon barges.
The performances are great, but there’s also time-filler like a generic pre-recorded segment narrated by Kristen Bell about the magic of music. Yes, we can all agree that music is magical—and that Harmonious was not.
Disney Illuminations Firework Show at Disneyland Paris
Yeah, it’s nothing more than a professionally-shot recording of the nighttime spectacular at Disneyland Paris, complete with music, fireworks, dancing waters and projections on the park’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. But it’s also a reminder that there’s clearly an audience for this kind of content, which makes you wonder why they can’t do the same thing for Fantasmic!, or World of Color, or any of the American parks’ castle fireworks shows.
Are they worried that folks might compare lesser shows to this pretty terrific one (leaving aside its prioritizing of the live-action Beauty and the Beast over the animated version)? They certainly weren’t worried about people being willing to appreciate the French-language version of “Part of Your World.”
The Most Magical Story on Earth: 50 Years of Walt Disney World
Hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, this 90-minute ABC 20/20 special presentation—originally broadcast in October 2021—kicked off the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World with a mix of history, music and self-promotion.
A fair amount of the behind-the-scenes stuff is offered in more detail in The Imagineering Story, but there are a few fun details, including the origins of the “I’m going to Disney World” post-Super Bowl ad campaign, and how Epcot’s Figment was improbably inspired by an episode of Magnum, P.I.. How much you enjoy the rest depends on your enthusiasm for material like Christina Aguilera and Little Mermaid-to-be Halle Bailey performing classic Disney songs in front of Cinderella Castle, and breathless touting of the then-upcoming new WDW attractions.
Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic
It’s another Whoopi-hosted TV special—though she gets help in this one from Jordan Fisher and Sofia Carson—as we get a peek circa 2017 at how the U.S. parks transform during the holidays. Some of the material is fairly familiar, like yet another tale of Kim Irvine replacing her mother as the Haunted Mansion Holiday’s Madame Leota, but there’s also plenty of content that emphasizes the unique challenge of switching from everyday to Christmastime during one overnight shift. And this is a particular showcase for the efforts of Disney cast members, ranging from bakers to horticulturists to dancers, as the reminder we all need that the parks just aren’t the places we love without the people committed to creating that magic.
Disneyland Around the Seasons
There’s a bittersweet quality to this episode of Wonderful World of Color, since it was broadcast just a few days after Walt Disney’s death in December 1966. But it’s still a pleasure to watch Walt introducing a show that shares with viewers all of the (then) new attractions at Disneyland, including 1964 World’s Fair carryovers It’s a Small World, Primeval World and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, plus the opening day of New Orleans Square.
It also provides a record of the “Christmas Fantasy on Parade” winding down Main Street, and even an early incarnation of the Candlelight Procession.
The Pre-Opening Report from Disneyland
Originally broadcast as part of the Disneyland TV series just a few days before the original park’s opening in July 1955, this teaser by Walt himself and narrator Winston Hibler offers a completely unique behind-the-scenes look at the work-in-progress, including the off-site construction of the Mark Twain and passenger cars for the Disneyland Railroad, and building Sleeping Beauty Castle. Plus, it’s satisfyingly honest about the ambitious timetable for building the park, as Walt mentions the “joys and anxieties of our race against time.”
A few references are cringey in their obsolescence, like touting the “feminine craftsmen” working with fabrics. But even with only half of this episode devoted to Disneyland—the rest spent on a history of Mickey Mouse—it’s a delight for fans of the parks’ history.
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Let’s Hear From You
Did you know about all of these Disney Parks-related offerings on Disney+? Overall, there isn’t as much park-related content as we’d like, and we’re surprised there isn’t more. Are you hoping for more Disney Parks content in the future? Have I missed any of your favorite Disney parks titles? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
