With June 9th being Donald Duck’s 90th birthday, I thought I would take a look at all the attractions at all the Disney parks featuring our favorite duck. Donald, much like the other popular Disney cartoon characters has surprisingly few attractions dedicated to him, and I would venture none dedicated to him alone. It’s kind of surprising considering how popular a character Donald is, just ask any Swedish friend.
What Rides Have Donald Duck Included?
To start, we can look at some of the attractions that “feature” Mickey Mouse but add Donald into the mix. Mickey’s PhilharMagic is the first example this kind of attraction, and probably the one where I would suggest that Mickey might not even be the star. Mickey’s PhilharMagic is a 4D movie experience that starts with Mickey running the show, but quickly devolves into Donald showing up in all kinds of past Disney feature films. The name of the attraction could be dedicated to Mickey in order to make sure that the surprises of how much Donald actually features is kept under wraps. Anyone who sees that show can only agree that Donald is the real star of Mickey’s PhilharMagic.
While I can’t say that Donald steals the show in Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Rail, I can say safely that the ride wouldn’t be the same without him. This being the first ride featuring Mickey Mouse (Mickey’s PhilharMagic is technically a show), I guess it’s fine for Donald to take a back seat, or maybe an accompanying role.
Another part of the theme parks where Donald features heavily is in the various incarnations of Toon Town at several of the parks. From splash ponds to giant boats, it seems that if there’s a place for toons to live, Donald will have a house. I do enjoy the fact that Donald has a boat, since he is dressed up as a sailor. I do however find that Huey, Dewey and Louie are also often featured in these Toon Town homes along with Donald. I guess that’s fair enough since it’s pretty much agreed that they live with Donald. I just have a hard time calling any of these attractions Donald Duck attractions, and instead would call them the Duck family attractions.
What is the most popular attraction with Donald Duck?
Probably the most popular attraction featuring Donald Duck would have to be the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros at Epcot’s Mexican pavilion. While once again Donald is really only a portion of the characters featured, it is Donald Duck at his best. This is one of my favorite attractions at Epcot because it has so many great elements to it. It’s a relaxing boat ride with plenty of laughs, and it covers some classic Disney content (the Three Caballeros is a classic short film). Of all the rides I can think of, this is probably the best and maybe only Donald heavy attraction.
Why does Disney downplay their classic cartoon characters?
This leads to one of my problems with Disney parks, and it’s not just about Donald. Disney as of late has a great deal of focus on putting their intellectual property (characters they own) into as many attractions as they can. For some reason though, they seem to be reluctant on putting their key cartoon characters into the parks. Toon Town is probably the biggest representation of their characters in the parks, with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Rail coming close (which in some cases is found in Toon Town). I guess what I’m saying is it feels like Toon Town is a bit of an afterthought, and other than meet and greets, there’s little room for these key characters in the park and I want to know why.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that rights to these characters are very near being lost by Disney. In the next 20 to 30 years, many Disney characters are going to become public domain, meaning any theme park can use them if they want. It could also be that they don’t want to put too much focus on some characters, these key characters are the linchpin of the Disney organization, and it would be bad if they were associated with a less than popular ride. I don’t really know why they choose to push characters like Donald to the side for Marvel and Star Wars characters, but I guess they have their reasons.
Where I think Donald could have exceptionally themed rides:
As a fun game, I’ve been thinking a lot about Donald, and in particular how he could be used in the parks a little bit more. I have a few ideas, and I’m happy if Disney wants to steal them from me, all I ask is a little credit and maybe first dibs on the first ride.
Donald flume ride – If you think about Tiana, and before that Brer Rabbit, they don’t actually have a flume or waterfall associated with them at all. Donald on the other hand is a duck, and a duck that gets into scrapes all the time. Rage down a river with Donald’s rage!
Boat rides of any kind – I think any kind of boat ride featuring Donald makes sense to me. Bumper boats are also rage inducing, so that could work. Maybe a bumper boat with a horn built in that every time you hit it, you’d hear Donald cursing in the way he does.
Carl Barks duck themed dark ride – This is for all you uber nerdy Disney fans out there. Carl Barks is a comic book artist that became very famous for writing stories featuring Donald and the citizens of Duckberg. Many of the modern duck characters at Disney were either perfected by Carl Barks or even created by him (I highly recommend reading any of the collections available out there if you’re a fan of any of the Disney duck material). The great thing about these comics is that they always had a sense of adventure. You could take any of his stories and turn it into an amazing dark ride. They have action, adventure and a great gang of characters, including many where Donald is the real star.
I’m a big Donald fan (Goofy is a little higher on the ladder for me, but only because we have so much in common) and I always enjoy seeing him featured in the parks. Tokyo Disneyland is the only park that truly gives this Duck the credit he deserves (check out their Quacky Celebration), but I’d like more parks in embrace him more. Giving him a few events would be great, like Tokyo, but more importantly we need more Donald themed attractions that aren’t just playgrounds for kids.