Microsoft's Disneyland Adventures Could See As Many Updates As The Actual Theme Park

Disneyland Adventures

Many might have been surprised to learn that a game designed for the Xbox 360 Kinect in 2011 was getting a 4K rerelease for the Xbox One X and PC. However, it turns out that there's a great deal of future potential for Disneyland Adventures beyond what's on the disc. While the game is a remarkably realistic recreation of Disneyland, there are several attractions missing from the park. Game producer Jörg Neumann recently revealed at a special Disneyland event attended by CinemaBlend that he thinks there's real potential for regular updates and DLC for the title now that it's going to be on PC. He even has ideas on what he wants to include, like being able to visit the park at night, and even including older versions of the park, which he called Yesteryear. According to Neumann...

I think now that the games are becoming available so much more broadly on the PC, and they're basically go to be there forever, I think, I have real hope that we can do many other things like nighttime. I really want to do the Yesteryear, I think that would look amazing. There are some rides missing, Mr Toad's not in here.

Disneyland Adventures was first released as an Xbox 360 title that required the use of the original Kinect. While Jörg Neumann told me that the original game did well, the Kinect itself was not widely adopted by players. However, now that the game has been graphically enhanced for the Xbox One and PC, and now includes standard controls as well as the Kinect, Neumann thinks there's a real opportunity to not just re-release the game, but continually update it, adding new attractions and new ways to experience the park.

This, of course, will be in large part dependant on how the new Disneyland Adventures sells. If there isn't enough of an audience for new content, there won't be any, but the idea of a theme park game that could grow with the park is an attractive one. As a frequent guest at Disneyland, the recreation of the park in the game is remarkable, but it makes the few places where the game doesn't match the real place standout. One of the most obvious is in two attractions whose rights were a bit up in the air back when the game was first being developed. Jörg Neumann has made it clear he'd love to start by adding those rides.

I really wanted to do Indiana Jones, Star Tours too, but the time we made the game it was just in transition by Lucas. Yeah, I want to [make those], bad.

Since Lucasfilm is now owned entirely by Disney, getting the rights to recreate those two rides would be a lot easier, and it would be great to add those experiences to the game. Disney Parks fans are a passionate group, and if they gravitate toward Disneyland Adventures in large enough numbers, it sounds like there's a very real chance that the virtual park could grow and change just like the real thing. This could be great in 2019 for people who want to visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge but don't want to deal with the insane crowds that will surely be there when the new land opens in a couple years.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.