One of the beautiful things about theme parks like Disneyland is the way that they can bring your favorite stories to life in more tangible ways. You can get on a ride and actually move through the story and see your favorite characters made physical. The biggest hurdle to this for many is the price, but now Disney is putting together a new immersive experience outside of the theme parks that should end up costing a lot less than a Disney World ticket.
Today Walt Disney Animation Studios announced the Disney Animation Immersive Experience, a new exhibition that promises to bring Disney’s nearly 100 years of history in animation to life in a new way that won’t require guests to travel to a theme park, and shouldn't cost as much to experience.
In collaboration with Lighthouse Immersion, who have previously worked on immersive experiences based on the work of Van Gough, the Disney Animation Immersive experience is set to open in Toronto in mid-December, before embarking on a tour that is set to hit nine U.S. cities in the first few months of 2023 before expanding further.
Guests will walk through a series of galleries that take then through the history of Disney animation through a combination of projection mapping effects, music, and more. Visitors will also be given wristbands, that not unlike a Disney World MagicBand, will give them the ability to interact with the experience in different ways.
While exact ticket prices were not revealed, Lighthouse’s upcoming King Tut exhibition tickets are going for around $40, and while I would expect anything with the Disney name to be a bit more expensive, it will still be less than a day in the theme parks.
I got to attend a virtual press conference today announcing the new experience and while it was difficult to get a complete understanding because of the immersive nature of the experience, it all looked pretty amazing. Being able to stand in a large open space and be surrounded by both the art and music from your favorite animated Disney films simply looks incredible.
Many of the previous Lighthouse installations have focused on the work of particular artists, and that’s essentially what’s happening here as well. Animation is being given the same treatment that the likes of Van Gough and Monet have seen before. We don’t usually see animation treated with that same level of respect, and it’s wonderful to see it happening here. Hopefully, many of the viewers that come in to go through the immersive experience will come out with a new appreciation for animation and the animators that brought all these great films to life.
More information on the new show can be found at DisneyImmersive.com. There you can also sign up to be notified of when tickets go on sale, and when the show expands to additional cities.
