#i promise guys penacony is a theme park

[user-kanra]

Penacony as a Theme Park

I just finished watching Jenny Nicholson's video on the Star Wars Hotel (Galactic Starcruiser, if we're being fancy) and the last section put into words a lot of concerns I've had about the current state of theme parks and the entertainment industry in general. It's a very worthwhile watch, and it's honestly got me thinking about Penacony, so I'm going to ramble for a bit.

I don't know if I'm off-base thinking this, but I've always perceived the Golden Hour to be very theme park-esque. If memory serves, it's where we first meet Clockie, who's voice actor did what I consider an amazing Mickey Mouse impression. It's design is very much giving theme park trying to look like a city (main street in magic kingdom, I'm even reminded of Hollywood Studios just a tad), and the statue of Clockie reminds me of Walt with Mickey in Magic Kingdom.

Also, that little bit of Robin POV felt like a character actor moving around the parks LMAO

(Spoilers under the cut)

I'm going to make a bit of a leap here and call Mikhail/Misha Walt Disney. I promise, I love that kid, I only want to use Walt as an example.

Misha, as the remnants of the Watchmaker, played a heavy role in designing the dreamscape. From what I can tell, the dreamscape was only ever really intended to be an attraction, a place of entertainment you're not meant to live in.

So Misha built the dreamscape. Mikhail is dead, Misha didn't even know he was Mikhail, so all we have left are people acting in the Watchmaker's name. This, to me, resembles Disney in the aftermath of Walt's death. EPCOT was named not for what it stood for, but because it was the name of one of Walt's projects that never got to see its creation.

I think Penacony is actually a great representation of what's going wrong with entertainment right now. Sunday's anger make sense in the context of the unequal, poor treatment a lot of guests get nowadays. This place should be magic for everyone. It should be everyone's most memorable moment. But for one reason or another that's not happening. (Why do people barf in the dreamscape? Evil trash cans and performers? I'd also be pissed if I was promised a luxury experience and got that instead).

But part of what was so important was that Misha's story ended in that chair. He can rest now. Penacony is no longer tied to the Watchmaker.

That's, you know, both good and bad. It leaves room for greed and bastardizing what the dreamscape was supposed to be. If you know anything about the current state of theme parks, you know that the quality's gone down and the prices have gone up. Jenny Nicholson said it the best when she said that Disney is looking for a way to charge the most and do the least. They're "cashing in on the good will they've built," they can get away with this stuff.

But it's also important. Walt wasn't always right (actually, he was usually wrong), and staying in the past (or a dream) is never a good idea in the first place. At some point, you have to face the core of the problem. For Disney, it's that capitalistic greed is the entirety of their current business model. For Penacony, it's that everyone being equal in a dream isn't the same as everyone being equal in real life. You need to look critically at Disney, just as the dreamscape shouldn't be your entire life.

Of course, there's more important lenses to look at Penacony with, but theme parks strike a special cord with me, so I thought I'd try to reason it out here. Hope this made sense!