Hi! It’s Annie!
‘Big Hero 6’ is one of my favorite movies of all time and quite possibly my favorite superhero movie to exist. I know that sounds absolutely insane. After all, Marvel and DC are giant companies who specialize in coming out with superhero movies. But for me, nothing beats ‘Big Hero 6’. The movie is packed with character bonding, heartfelt moments, and amazing world building as well as action. No superhero team will ever feel as close as the characters in this movie do. Not to mention how relatable the characters are, unlike in most other superhero movies. And though I could go on and on about how much I love this movie; I’m here to talk about why it should be in the Disney Parks. Because there is absolutely no movie that Disney has created that would look and feel as amazing as stepping into San Fransokyo.
Recent Expansions:
There are various Disney Parks that are getting massive expansions coming up pretty soon here. Between a couple parks we’ll see brand new ‘Frozen’, ‘Tangled’, and Neverland areas (in Disneyland Paris and Tokyo respectively), which will result in a lot of new immersive experiences. Obviously, the most recent one is Avengers Campus in Disneyland which is opening this week. But, even though I’m a massive ‘Peter Pan’ fan, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if one of these new themed areas was ‘Big Hero 6’ themed instead. We have plenty of ‘Frozen’ in the parks already. And really, Marvel movies take place in real life. Doesn’t really make much of an immersive experience there.
California and Tokyo:
The fact that we have parks in both California and Tokyo makes it feel almost wrong that we don’t have San Fransokyo in both parks. The blending of both styles of infrastructure would call back to each park while making an eye-catching immersive experience. Not to mention the fact that the second park at Disneyland is in fact called, California Adventure. This was because this park used to feature things like California’s train system, the redwoods, the Golden Gate Bridge, old Hollywood, and much more that called back specifically to California. In fact, Pixar Pier was originally just supposed to be a tribute to the piers on the California coast. Since then, Disney has decided to put their own spin on these things. There is no old Hollywood in sight with the removal of ‘Tower of Terror’, the trains and call backs to the redwoods have been mostly removed, ‘Soarin’ is now an experience that takes place around the world and no longer features orange groves, and literally everything else has been re-themed. It’s not really a California adventure anymore. Adding ‘Big Hero 6’ to that park would add back things like the Golden Gate Bridge while also offering a unique immersive opportunity. Could you imagine walking down a San Fransokyo street with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background and Aunt Cass’s cafe open and selling food? We need this!
Characters:
We all know Disney likes its characters, but we also know that they have a serious problem with diversity. I don’t even want to get started with Disneyland Paris which has been casting white women as Tiana. But I think it’s common knowledge that most of the face characters at Disneyland are white characters portrayed by white people. One of the best parts of ‘Big Hero 6’ is the diversity of the cast. Seriously, the only white member of ‘Big Hero 6’ is Fred. Having Hiro, GoGo, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, and Baymax walking around would be amazing, not just for character experiences but also for character diversity in the parks.
Previous ‘Big Hero 6’:
At a few separate parks there were ‘Big Hero 6’ stops when the movie came out. Most of them featured Hiro’s garage with a meet and greet with Hiro and Baymax. The garage was highly detailed and the experience was completely immersive. Possibly one of the most universally immersive experiences at several of the parks. It made me just want to see more of what there is in the movie! Being able to walk the halls of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, possibly as an immersive queue would be even more detailed than the garage. I would absolutely love to see recreations of the science experiments done by each character! Or even a walk through recreation of Fred’s mansion complete with his superhero room. How about the dark island with Fred’s theme song playing faintly in the background? There’s so much they could do with the type of immersive details they’ve already presented for ‘Big Hero 6’.
Scenery:
Along with the major city scape ‘Big Hero 6’ also boasts some amazing other features. Such as the giant blimps that float above many of the buildings or the overlarge statue of Hans. Disney has done forced perspective extremely well before in the parks and this would be a great opportunity to use it again. As I mentioned before, it would also be nice to explore places like the streets, the cafe, the university, the island, Fred’s mansion, Bot fights, and Hiro’s garage.
I’m glad that Disney is starting to jump onto the immersive train, but I do think there are other movies that would be much more interesting to see done in that way. Especially because Disney has other animation avenues to explore that aren’t just princess movies, as much as I love those. But mainly I would just love to finally see ‘Big Hero 6’ represented in the parks. It’s as though Disney had no idea if they should classify this film as Disney Animation or Marvel and so just decided to sweep it under the rug. This is one of the best films Disney has created for story, diversity, and its realistic portrayal of depression. We need to see more of it in a way that isn’t just an under-advertised Disney Channel show. ‘Frozen’, ‘Tangled’, and ‘Peter Pan’ are great. But they’re also white led movies. We need to see more diversity in the parks.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 