many commentators have fleshed out the connections between disneyland and cinema, and i maintain that the key defining characteristic of thematic design is its roots in the language of cinema. i think what some of these writers miss, however, is what you touch upon—how literal the use of film *presentation* is used at the park.

for example, the attraction posters (now in the entry tunnels that pass under the railroad berm) used to be displayed prominently in the entry plaza, as if this were a theater’s “lobby.”

while on the “walking in walt’s footsteps” guided tour last month, our guide pointed out that one of walt’s initial ideas for the entry turnstiles was that a curtain would raise for each and every new guest as they walked in. just like the opening of a stage production, or a movie screening.

this was, of course, deemed highly impractical, and never implemented. but it shows just how literally walt disney took his park to be a physical manifestation of film—not just in the design and visual choreography of all the thematic elements, but in the actual presentation vernacular of theater and movie houses.

i had hoped that universal studios—which is very literally about filmmaking, would cash in on these connections. but sadly, no.

But what you bring up here, is the inspiration he took from the *presentation* of film. Movie Theaters. A black space, the curtain to focus your attention (which I still think should be raised before modern movie showings), engulfing sound. These are the things that “free” participants from the outside world, and allow them to truly enter another space, another frame of mind – just as the items you list do in Dland.

In a sense, each attraction is like it’s own movie too, but when you walk out of the theater, you’re in the larger world of the whole Disneyland theater… It’s Dland’s just a gigantic movie theater, with dozens of little theaters inside.