While eating breakfast at The Three Broomsticks earlier this month, something clicked in my brain. Sitting at a low table among the scrapping of wooden chairs, while looking up at the rafters, dingy windows and seeing people walk around with fake beer, I realized that I had just eaten lunch at a similar restaurant a few days ago in another theme park...Liberty Tree Tavern.
"Harry Potter Land"'s imitation of an Old World mystique of century's past had already been built by WED 40 years prior. Tiny shops cluttered with period accurate Knick knacks? That was Old World Antiques long before Ollivanders. A spooky dark ride though a large stone structure? Haunted Mansion still tops Forbidden Journey IMO. An antique steam powered scenic ride? We had The Liberty Belle long before Hogwart's Express. Butter Beer? Well on opening day there was the Tavern Punch and it's back as part of the 50th anniversary celebration.
But who's the literary boy hero in this scenario? Will it was who the Silversmith was named after:
And if not Johnny Tremain, what about Ichabod Crane while walking towards the Mansion? His "landing" was the small shop next to the Keelboat dock.
Over time of course, some of those unique elements have been removed. The specialty shops are gone, as are the Fife and Drum corps. And no children are being declared the "sons and daughters of liberty" by the alleged townsfolk, and the cobblestone accents on the sidewalk have been removed, but a lot of classic Disney is still there in places like the Columbia Harbor House and the lobby of The Hall of Presidents.
Next time you're in MK, think about the standard set by the original Imagineers that continues to influence designs of all theme parks to this day.
"Harry Potter Land"'s imitation of an Old World mystique of century's past had already been built by WED 40 years prior. Tiny shops cluttered with period accurate Knick knacks? That was Old World Antiques long before Ollivanders. A spooky dark ride though a large stone structure? Haunted Mansion still tops Forbidden Journey IMO. An antique steam powered scenic ride? We had The Liberty Belle long before Hogwart's Express. Butter Beer? Well on opening day there was the Tavern Punch and it's back as part of the 50th anniversary celebration.
But who's the literary boy hero in this scenario? Will it was who the Silversmith was named after:
And if not Johnny Tremain, what about Ichabod Crane while walking towards the Mansion? His "landing" was the small shop next to the Keelboat dock.
Over time of course, some of those unique elements have been removed. The specialty shops are gone, as are the Fife and Drum corps. And no children are being declared the "sons and daughters of liberty" by the alleged townsfolk, and the cobblestone accents on the sidewalk have been removed, but a lot of classic Disney is still there in places like the Columbia Harbor House and the lobby of The Hall of Presidents.
Next time you're in MK, think about the standard set by the original Imagineers that continues to influence designs of all theme parks to this day.
