Zippa D Doodah
<font color=red>Suffering from Fairy Alienation.
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2003
My wife and I are both pastors. One way we have come to experience WDW attractions is to think of them in comparison with various models of worship. (I could now go into a threadjacking explanation of post-modern experiential worship but will restrain myself). WDW has a way of setting up attractions that are similar to how many Christians (and others too presumably) are experiencing worship. Allow me to explain...
Disney sets mood and tone for an experience, then you go have the experience, then you are equippped to ahve ways to act upon the experience. For example, the building and queue for Space Mountain (since someone brought that one up) prepare you for the ride. With every step you take in line you feel more and more like an astronaut preparing for a ride on a spaceship. Then you actually experience the ride. When you do so your expectations have been fine-tuned and your senses are piqued so as to get maximum value out of the experience. When teh experience is over you have a way to act on it. At Space Mountain that means going through a gift shop and buying a lighted toy, a T-shirt, or a collectible pin (this last one seems to be Disney's current favorite way to equip guests to act on and remember their various experiences).
This is much like Christian worship experience. Upon going to your place of worship you may not have to stand in a queue, but every step you take prepares you for the experiece ahead -friendly greeters, a cup of coffee in the gathering space, etc. Then after the experience of worship you act on it most often in a way that has been explicitly tailored for that day by the preacher. For Christians this may often mean "Go and make disciples". Of course it is only fair to note that in many churches, acting on the experience may mean stopping by the church bookstore (then it is very close to the WDW model)
Oh well... for what its worth...
Disney sets mood and tone for an experience, then you go have the experience, then you are equippped to ahve ways to act upon the experience. For example, the building and queue for Space Mountain (since someone brought that one up) prepare you for the ride. With every step you take in line you feel more and more like an astronaut preparing for a ride on a spaceship. Then you actually experience the ride. When you do so your expectations have been fine-tuned and your senses are piqued so as to get maximum value out of the experience. When teh experience is over you have a way to act on it. At Space Mountain that means going through a gift shop and buying a lighted toy, a T-shirt, or a collectible pin (this last one seems to be Disney's current favorite way to equip guests to act on and remember their various experiences).
This is much like Christian worship experience. Upon going to your place of worship you may not have to stand in a queue, but every step you take prepares you for the experiece ahead -friendly greeters, a cup of coffee in the gathering space, etc. Then after the experience of worship you act on it most often in a way that has been explicitly tailored for that day by the preacher. For Christians this may often mean "Go and make disciples". Of course it is only fair to note that in many churches, acting on the experience may mean stopping by the church bookstore (then it is very close to the WDW model)
Oh well... for what its worth...
