Welcome to the world of C. S. Lewis's Narnia
Welcome to the world of C. S. Lewis's Narnia
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Welcome to Narnia, where beavers talk and fauns serve tea. Here four kings and queens rule the land, and you can explore their kingdom.
Land Entrances
At the end of Muppet City is an imposing manor owned by one Professor Digory Kirke. (Considered somewhat crazy by his neighbors, he fits right in with the rest of the Muppet Street citizens!) A sign on the pathway tells guests that they are invited to take a tour of Kirke's mansion, if they wish.
Upon entering the mansion, guests immediately find themselves in a grand entrance hall. Within minutes, Professor Kirke appears and invites guests to come with him and explore the mansion. He takes them down a hallway, mentioning which rooms lie behind which closed doors, but also saying "But you don't want to see any of that rubbish."
Soon, the group finds themselves in a large room occupied by a single, seemingly forgotten wardrobe. Professor Kirke tells the curious guests a story about four children who stayed with him for a while and claimed to have visited another world on the other side of the wardrobe. "True stories are often the strangest ones," he informs the group with a wink, pulling open the door of the wardrobe and inviting them to step through it.
Note: There are two other entrances to the land as well, but they don't include the elaborate wardrobe experience. One is located in Halloween Town, and one can be found behind The Great Movie Ride. As a result, only one of the three entrances is thematically consistent, which is the same number of thematically consistent entrances to Hogsmeade, a land that receives near-universal praise, in Universal's Islands of Adventure. Hogsmeade has an entrance from The Lost Continent, Jurrasic Park, and the Hogwarts Express, which is the only thematically consistent entrance into the wizarding world (the entrance occurs when you step onto platform 9 3/4). While Hogsmeade did not exist in 2008, its significance is relevant as the World of Narnia functions in an almost identical manner; the entrance from Halloween town, and behind the GMR, are both generic, but the thematic entrance occurs when walking through the wardrobes in the Professor's mansion.
The Wardrobe Entrance: How it works
Inside the mansion, there are three hallways leading to three different wardrobe rooms. There are also three different live Professor actors. The tour groups, thought they don't know it, are on a tight schedule, and custom wireless communicators disguised as old fashioned wristwatches are used to ensure that Cast Member Professors keep their groups on schedule. The dials on the watch, while to an untrained eye appearing normal, actually inform the Cast Members when they're safe to take a group, enter the entrance hall, or open their wardrobe.
On the Narnian side, the wardrobes appear to be a solid cliff face when they're closed. When the Professor opens a wardrobe, the cliff face smoothly slides away to reveal the room on the other side. Projections and mist are used to make the transition more seamless. The Professor sends his tour group into the land, and then escorts guests waiting on the Narnian side back through the mansion and into Muppet City.
After guests have been escorted, the wardrobe closes again and becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the rock wall. About a minute later, another wardrobe opens.
The schedules are designed so that guests never have to wait more than five minutes before being taken to the wardrobe by a guide, and never see two Professors or wardrobes at once.
Land Layout
After stepping through the wardrobe, guests are transported to a magical land of wonder. In front of them is a single lamppost in a clearing. Stepping further ahead, guests get an expansive, sweeping view of Narnia. In the distance is Cair Paravel, the Narnian castle. In the center of the land is an expansive lake that holds fireworks and special shows at night. And to the right is the imposing ice palace of Jadis, the evil sorceress who has cast a spell on Narnia, making it always winter but never Christmas.
The bottom portion of the land has a bridge crossing over a river that ends in the iconic waterfall from Narnia. Like the movie, it is a mixture of ice and water.
The land has two primary areas, a spring side, and a winter side. The spring side has Cair Paravel, the lamp entrance, and Aslan's camp, which contains the primary shopping area within the World of Narnia. The area is decorated to match the tents seen in the movie, however, most are substantially larger, more detailed, and definitely more sturdy. Unfortunately, tents can appear to be cheap, so they must be made with a sense of grandeur. A mountainside behind Harmony's Armory provides depth to the scene. The bathroom stalls are wooden, similar to what you would find in a Narnia outhouse. The area also includes Beaver's eatery and an expansion pad for a future attraction.
The winter side has Tumnus's Teahouse, Jadis's Castle, and the Father Christmas's Gifts shop.
The sightlines line up perfectly. When entering from the NBC tunnel, Cair Paravel awaits on a mountain in the distance. When entering from the Professor's Mansion or exiting Aslan's camp, Jadis's castle stares you down. When entering the World of Narnia from the remaining tunnel, Cair Paravel appears above the treetops.
There are three bathrooms within the land, one in Aslan's Camp, one inside Tumnus's Teahouse, and one inside The Beavers' Eatery. The bathrooms in Tumnus's Teahouse are built to be inside a cave; the walls are plastered in rock work. The bathrooms in Beavers' Eatery are, like the rest of the structure, made of wooden logs. The bottom right section of the land is due for another bathroom, which is why there is a bathroom as soon as you enter Halloween Town.
The land is surrounded by mountains in every direction besides behind Aslan's Camp. On the spring side, the mountains are green and lively, whereas, on the winter side, the mountains are snow-covered.
The theming of the land reflects the conflict between Aslan and Jadis. This split is reflected in the environment, attractions, trash cans, and the nighttime spectacular. Aslan controls the area without snow, and Jadis controls the area with snow. There are two major boundary lines, the first is the bridge that goes over the waterfall, and the second is the path from Cair Paravel to Tumnus's Teahouse.
"Aslan" Spring Trash Can
Trash Cans
The areas controlled by Aslan (the spring area) have the trash can seen on the left.
The areas controlled by Jadis (the winter area) have the trash can seen on the right.
"Jadis" Winter Trash Can
World of Narnia Map
(Halloween Town on the bottom right, Muppet City below the Professor's Mansion)
Continuity to the Films
Although World of Narnia takes heavy inspiration from the Disney Narnia films, the layout of the land does not precisely represent the layout of Narnia in the movies. Things like Cair Paravel are designed to resemble their Hollywood counterparts, but the positioning of elements in the land does not match up exactly to the theatrical world of Narnia.
Forced Perspective
The model of Cair Paravel in World of Narnia is the centerpiece of the area, and the visual anchor that draws guests into the land. While it is large, the model also uses forced perspective and distance to appear much bigger than it truly is, and almost as big as it appears in the film. Guests are never very close to the castle, so the eye has no human to reference for scale, making the castle appear much larger and further away than it is in reality.
Time Period
World of Narnia is set during and after the film The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but because the land has no specific time setting, Disney has freedom to expand the land (expansion space is included on the map) to include content from upcoming Narnia movies (such as Prince Caspian).
Area Music
Throughout World of Narnia, a selection of tracks from Harry Gregson-Williams's majestic Narnia soundtrack can be heard.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Soundtrack (YouTube playlist, hit the playlist button to see all tracks)
Influence on the Film Saga
After the opening of World of Narnia at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008 and the immersive experience it offered, popular reception towards the Narnia movies increased somewhat, and influenced Disney to continue making Narnia movies for every book in the series, including The Silver Chair, The Magician's Nephew, and The Last Battle.
Next: Narnia Attractions
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