disney parks research paper

[emmieloveswdw]

I am in an AP research class at my high school. I need to choose a research topic for a 5000 word paper and presentation. I would like to do something on Disney parks or things like the 1964 worlds fair, EPCOT the city, etc. Any ideas for a topic or research question?

 

[John park hopper]

Possible you could do a paper on what innovations from both 64 Worlds Fair and early EPCOT have been incorporated into todays society

 

[actioncookbook]

The opening of Disneyland Paris. From the original EuroDisney name, the critical reception from the locals, and the overall performance of the park is a real interesting blemish on a mega company.

 

[Shouldigo12]

I am in an AP research class at my high school. I need to choose a research topic for a 5000 word paper and presentation. I would like to do something on Disney parks or things like the 1964 worlds fair, EPCOT the city, etc. Any ideas for a topic or research question?

I actually did a research paper in a college class, no joke, about the intense fans of WDW and how it's managed to gain them. Honestly though I wouldn't suggest doing that, since there aren't a lot of official sources and I only picked it because the teacher straight up told us he didn't care how good it was, it was just practice for future research papers we might do haha.

Maybe you could really dive deep into the history of WDW, including why Walt felt the need to build another park, the challenges he faced during building, and what happened to the building process once he died.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The key to good research papers is something you really want to learn about. A strong 5,000 word paper is going to need a decent amount of sources, so you don’t want to get burned out having to slog through something you’re not passionate about. If you do pick something about the parks, there is a lot of academic work out there on the Disney parks that is itself very poorly researched.

Maybe you could really dive deep into the history of WDW, including why Walt felt the need to build another park, the challenges he faced during building, and what happened to the building process once he died.

That’d be a very short paper seeing as Walt wasn’t very interested in Disneyland East and died before design, much less construction, really started.

 

[larryz]

How about citing Disney advances in transportation and how they've been adopted in real-life? Cases in point, the monorail system and how it was emulated in places like Las Vegas and Seattle; and the people mover and its airport transportation spin-offs.

 

[PorterRedkey]

You could do a paper on corporate greed.

 

[ObscurityPoint]

The opening of Hong Kong Disneyland had a controversial cultural impact and a rough start financially. While not as well-known as the failure that was DLP, it’s certainly an interesting topic. Hell, just write about the business ethics during Michael Eisner’s reign- there were so many ups and downs that could hold an interesting and informative paper.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

"WHY GALAXY'S EDGE SUCKS" - BY GUY ON THE INTERNET

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

I am in an AP research class at my high school. I need to choose a research topic for a 5000 word paper and presentation. I would like to do something on Disney parks or things like the 1964 worlds fair, EPCOT the city, etc. Any ideas for a topic or research question?

Which AP class is it? Bc you could go cultural (how changing norms forced Disney parks to change over the years), or political (how Walt’s Epcot probably wouldn’t have worked or how Walt’s foresight led to the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvment District and a special deal with the FL legislature).

For the 1964 Worlds Fair, it’s interesting that it wasn’t an official, sanctified Worlds Fair but this didn’t affect Walt’s decision to participate.

But, as someone else mentioned, a worthwhile paper might be the business and personal reasons why the parks were built in the first place. There are several strands of thought here for why Walt and Roy built Disneyland, with an overall arguent that history is complex and multi-faceted. No one does something for one, singular reason. There’s always more to the story.

 

[justintheharris]

I am in an AP research class at my high school. I need to choose a research topic for a 5000 word paper and presentation. I would like to do something on Disney parks or things like the 1964 worlds fair, EPCOT the city, etc. Any ideas for a topic or research question?

Can you give us a clue as to what exactly interests you? You list broad ideas but what aspects of the Disney parks, 1964 world's fair and EPCOT city interest you?

 

[MsAnniee]

If you are interested in working for Disney, why not research the college program. Lots of interesting stories from former participants. Plus you can get info from Disney for their perspective.

 

[bjlc57]

i did a 24 page paper on Eisner.. it was a group paper.. but I ended up doing the majority of it.. ( I was 43 at the time).. i read a number of books and I contacted the Walt Disney Company and got some research material from them.. They are a fair source of info.. you have to call California and get a hold of corporate ..and you have to have a legit reason for the info.. but if you pass the smell test, they will help you out..

 

[SeaCastle]

There is a fair amount of research out there given the park's and company's juggernaut position in American cultural/economic history. There are some truly fascinating materials on the design and formation of the parks (Building a Better Mouse by Steve Alcorn, Project Future by Chad Emerson) if you are interested in the infrastructure/planning/legal/design history. There are also a number of critical studies on representations of colonialism, race, gender etc. if that is more your thing. If your school has access to a solid database you may find some academic articles. A simple search on JSTOR for "Disney Parks" yields thousands of results. My advice would be to pick a more specific aspect of Disney that's interesting to you and work from there.

 

[Genie_naughty_whispers]

Deep dive into the mystery And controversy of the yeti animatronic

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

There is a fair amount of research out there given the park's and company's juggernaut position in American cultural/economic history. There are some truly fascinating materials on the design and formation of the parks (Building a Better Mouse by Steve Alcorn, Project Future by Chad Emerson) if you are interested in the infrastructure/planning/legal/design history. There are also a number of critical studies on representations of colonialism, race, gender etc. if that is more your thing. If your school has access to a solid database you may find some academic articles. A simple search on JSTOR for "Disney Parks" yields thousands of results. My advice would be to pick a more specific aspect of Disney that's interesting to you and work from there.

I’ve searched for Disney parks and Disney World in a lot of places but never thought to search in JSTOR or any academic journals. Guess that’s what I’m doing when I get to the office tomorrow lol.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I’ve searched for Disney parks and Disney World in a lot of places but never thought to search in JSTOR and any academic journals. Guess that’s what I’m doing when I get to the office tomorrow lol.

Unfortunately there is a lot of poorly researched garbage in the academic literature about Disney. A lot of half truths repeated, history of the company not really known, and poor assumptions made because they fit a preconceived point. Cultural analyses of Tokyo Disneyland are a big area where this happens. They almost all give some explanation for differences between Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland while completely missing that the change was made for Florida, not Japan.

 

[spock8113]

Research the 1939 Worlds Fair and it's influence on sponsorship and the '39 Fair's Unisphere that influenced the EPCOT Ball\

The 1939 World’s Fair and Disneyland - Disney History Institute

Coca-Cola - New York World's Fair 1939 The 1939 World's Fair and Disneylandby Todd James PierceThere were many crucial business relationships essential to the development of Disneyland--among them Walt Disney's chance referral to the Stanford Research Institute (who located the park in Anaheim...

www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com

Disney at the 1939 New York World's Fair

Jim looks at Disney's presence and influence, including a degree for Donald.

www.mouseplanet.com

Disney Avenue: EPCOT and the 1939 World's Fair

 

[larryz]

Any update, OP?

 

[Michaelson]

You could do a paper on corporate greed.

That would be a PHd thesis, not a HS report. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson