Disney Worldbuilders documentary captures ‘magic’ of turning films into theme park lands
New Disney+ film interviews masterminds behind Frozen and more to show how on-screen tales are adapted at Disneylands from Hong Kong to Paris
A new documentary that delves into filmmakers and their associated theme park projects is streaming now on Disney+.
Disney Worldbuilders uses interviews and file footage to go behind the scenes and into the childhoods of a set of storytellers.
There is a global emphasis in “Worldbuilders”, so it is a little light on Walt Disney World, though certain attractions such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Pirates of the Caribbean translate well across properties.
Like many of the filmmakers, Pete Docter made childhood sojourns to Disneyland, and they were big influences.
“To this day, I think Pirates [of the Caribbean] is the best ride,” he says. “I just remember feeling as though I had gone into a dream. It’s just such great storytelling. You go in, you fall asleep, you’ve experienced this whole thing and you come up and you wake up out of it and you’re just ‘What just happened?’ It’s magic.”