Characters Are Key at Disney
The 70th anniversary of Disneyland Resort has led to a new wave of excitement regarding The Walt Disney Company.
Disney’s exceptional 2025 continues as positive headlines are seemingly everywhere.
With the stock price up and several likely movie blockbusters coming soon, Disney’s running hot.
But that’s not what news stories are noticing most right now.
Photo: Disney
It’s the way that Disney has done one thing right for generations. Yes, characters are key at Disney.
Let’s discuss the strategy Walt Disney adopted in 1955 that’s still paying huge dividends today.
Built on Characters
Image: Disney
As I discussed the other day, here are four of the opening day attractions at Disneyland Park:
- Mad Tea Party
- Toad’s Wild Ride
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Snow White’s Scary Adventures
Photo: Disney
What do all these attractions have in common? Disney based the rides on existing movies from its library.
Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs started it all in 1937, while Alice in Wonderland came out in 1951.
Photo: Yesterland
As for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the character comprises half of Disney’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Then, we have Peter Pan’s Flight, based on the movie that came out in 1953, making it quite recent.
Due to the unique movie distribution patterns of the era, many opening day guests weren’t even aware of the film.
Of course, everyone knew the story of Peter Pan by this point, as the masterwork of J.M. Barrie was 50 years old by then.
Photo: Disney
Still, that was Disneyland’s bravest gambit on opening day, and it worked better than anyone could have predicted.
Peter Pan’s Flight remains a presence at Disneyland AND Magic Kingdom to this day.
Peter Pan’s Flight
Impressively, the ride mechanic hasn’t changed at all, with the same story told for 70 years and counting.
That’s the crux of what we’re discussing here. Walt Disney had grown up on the story of Peter Pan.
Photo: Gameloft
He’d even performed in a Peter Pan play as a child. So, he understood the power of branding.
Uncle Walt wanted a Peter Pan ride at Disneyland because he knew it would sell tickets.
Peter Pan’s Flight in Magic Kingdom
That was critical to the decision-making since guests paid for each ride back then.
But there’s a larger point here as well. It’s that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Disney Bets on Branding
Image: Disney
One of the most divisive topics in the Disney community involves the use – some would say overuse – of IP.
That’s intellectual property, the stories that Disney creates and then spins on the Disney Flywheel.
Walt Disney Company
I link that flywheel article frequently, but there’s a purpose to it each time.
Once Disney fans understand this strategy, every corporate decision becomes predictable.
Marc Davis and Walt Disney talk Pirates of the Caribbean. Photo: Disney
Walt Disney wrote his ideas for the Disney Flywheel on a cocktail napkin. In the process, he made his company eternal.
I say this because the Disney Flywheel works. It’s a master class in vertical integration.
Photo: Disney
Disney Entertainment creates a story for a television series or movie.
Then, should audiences connect with the characters, Disney transitions them to other divisions.
Bruno
Theme parks are obviously the focus of today’s topic, but they’re not the only places.
You’ll find music from Disney movies available for sale, as we witnessed during the “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” craze.
Disney
ESPN live sports broadcasts use Disney characters for marketing purposes.
We even had a Simpsons football game last year (which was my everything).
Photo: Disney
Marketing efforts such as this one tie into the underlying premise of the Disney Flywheel.
Disney creates or, in this case, purchases beloved characters. Then, it uses them in other formats.
Walt Disney himself recognized that The Happiest Place on Earth was a huge gamble.
Photo: Disney
He literally, not figuratively, bet the entirety of his personal wealth on the project.
Then, the illustrator leveraged his back catalog of beloved characters to sell the attractions.
Photo: Disneyland
Mad Tea Party is just a spinning ride, the kind you’d see at any amusement park.
It’s the Alice in Wonderland motif that differentiates the ride and makes it distinctly Disney, though.
Fantasyland – Mad Hatter – Mad Tea Party – Tea Cups – Sign – 6/13/18. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
When in doubt, Disney always bets on branding.
Disney’s Modern Characters
I often reference the Year of Frozen, a phenomenon you had to have experienced to understand fully.
When Disney released the movie Frozen in November 2013, nobody expected it to become a cultural phenomenon.
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure – on Disney+
Sure, we always believe that Disney movies will do well…just not THIS well.
The film’s success initially caught park officials off-guard, but they pivoted quickly.
Photo: Disney
By the summer of 2014, Jungle Cruise skippers were joking that parts of the ride were the only thing NOT Frozen at Disney.
Elsa & Anna dresses were everywhere, which is a topic I haven’t even broached: Disney’s merchandising machine.
Photo: Disney
That’s because we’re focusing on the parks today and how/why characters are key at Disney.
None of those theme park ripple effects would have occurred without the movie version of Frozen being exceptional.
Once Disney knows it has a hit, it quickly creates a Zootopia-themed land or a Moana water attraction.
This strategy has worked for 70 years now, and Disney’s not about to stop.
Photo: Disney
As we speak, Walt Disney World is adding new areas based on Cars, Encanto, Indiana Jones, and Monsters, Inc.
At Disneyland Resort, Avatar and Avengers expansions are underway. And those are just the latest examples.
Photo: Newsweek
You’ll find more than 60 IP-based attractions currently in operation at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
As proof, you should try to name the non-IP attractions at each theme park.
Black Panther – Avengers Campus
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the only one where the non-branded attractions outnumber the IP-based experiences.
At most Disney Parks, it’s quicker to name the original stories than the branded ones.
Characters Are Key at Disney
Photo: Screen Rant
Disney fans are quick to point out that when Disney allows Imagineers to create new stories, they’re excellent.
Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion are living (and dead) proof of that.
Photo: Disney
But since day one, characters have driven the success of Disney theme parks.
Remarkably, Disney showed discretion with one particular subject for the longest time, though.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Even though Mickey Mouse was the second major character Walt Disney created, he lacked a ride for generations.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway wouldn’t debut until March 2020, nearly 65 years after Disneyland opened.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
And that was the version of the ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, not Disneyland itself.
That version of Runaway Railway arrived in 2023, 67 and a half years after The Happiest Place on Earth debuted.
Carnival scene
I’m fascinated by the fact that Walt Disney invented the Disney Flywheel and swore by it.
Despite this fact, he was never willing to risk the legacy of Mickey Mouse on an attraction.
Thankfully, Imagineers found the ideal story to display Disney’s most important characters.
But the 65-year delay for a Mickey Mouse attraction reinforces the risks of character-based theme park design.
Photo: Disney
A bad ride would lead to a negative association with the character. Disney has largely avoided that fate.
Somehow, Imagineers keep finding ways to augment beloved characters with theme park attractions.
Photo: @michael.e.moriarty via Instagram
That’s a skill Disney has honed for 70 years and counting, and we’ll get a lot more of it soon during the expansion era.
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Feature Photo: Disney
