@laffiteslanding Thanks so much! I’m happy to share! I do apologize in advance that some ideas are more thought out than others; this is basically a huge list of brainstorming ideas and jotting them down as they occured to me. I’d love to get some feedback!
I got a little overambitious in my idea for a personal Disneyland, with the end result being the park is absolutely huge with each land having several themed areas. There are three main areas for Mysteryland: Masquerade Circus, Secrecy Street, and Gravity Falls.
Masquerade Circus
“Circus at the edge of town” vibes, but with the style and sophistication of the Carnival of Venice. Stilt walkers, jugglers, and unicyclists would roam the roads, all decked out in full-face concealing masks and fancy outfits. Jesters, harlequins, pierrots, and mimes. Cast Members would all be rather formal, to give an air of unease without being unwelcoming.
While I immediately knew what I wanted this area to look like and the emotional vibe I wanted, I had a difficult time coming up with a narrative.
At one point I imagined the circus was supernatural and went town to town kidnapping children, and there were going to be missing children posters everywhere, but that quickly became morbid.
Second idea was that the circus only appeared supernatural because of a series of unfortunate events (heh), which turn out to be a result of ordinary things like a performer ran away with the ringmaster’s daughter, or a rival circus was trying to sabotage their ticket sales, or the ringmaster faked their death to escape the mafia or for tax reasons or something.
Third idea was supernatural again, but this time the circus hunts down bad people. It lures in all kinds of folks to search out wicked souls, and traps them in the funhouse, which is a portal to another dimension. The innocents can freely walk into the funhouse and leave unharmed, with no memory of the wicked ever existing. This idea also became morbid.
I would love suggestions on how to improve this area’s backstory.
- Masquerade Carrousel: Circus animals in fancy masquerade outfits. Lions, tigers, elephants, zebras, rhinos, and giraffes all dressed up. Music could be slow, almost eerie, or perhaps something like the carousel room from the 1999 remake of The Haunting.
- “Dreams and Nightmares Funhouse”: Walk-through attraction based on the idea that the funhouse is an interdimensional portal that traps wicked souls. A surreal funhouse where reality seems to distort, to the point guests may feel they’re not even in the park anymore. The intended feeling upon exit is that of waking up from a dream or a nightmare.
- Magic and Mystique: Magician stage show. Part of the show’s story is that performers keep disappearing throughout the show, with Cast Members pretending it’s not part of the show. Would have to be done well so that guests know it is in fact a show and that nothing serious is actually happening to the Cast Members.
- Ballroom restaurant: French and Italian cuisine. Table service. Circus tent ballroom with crystal chandeliers and a live orchestra band.
- Masquerade Shop: Finely crafted masks.
- Umbra Penumbra Magic Shop: Magic tricks.
Secrecy Street
A city street that starts out Victorian London then bleeds into late 1940s New York, ending with the Manor property. Background music gets more muted as guests go further down the street. There would be a handful of cozy little alleyways and back streets to wander and get “lost” in.
- Basil of Baker Street: Great Mouse Detective for the win.
Ratigan is such an iconic villain, not to mention fan-favorite, that his presence is practically required, so the ride would depict one of Basil’s cases from before the events of the movie. Maybe the Tower Bridge Job? Guests would take on Basil’s role, riding through Mouse London trying to catch Ratigan. Since guests would already know Ratigan is the culprit, I pondered what the actual “mystery” aspect of the ride could be, and thought perhaps guests could choose different ride paths.
Upon entering Basil’s residence at 221½ Baker Street, guests are presented with the problem and asked to choose one of three possible solutions to how Ratigan might have committed the crime, after which they will line up in one of three different queues based on their choice, each leading to unique chase scenes, each with one of three different endings. Either guests fail to catch Ratigan, they briefly catch Ratigan only for him to escape, or Ratigan is captured and briefly put in jail but then breaks out (it’s a given that Ratigan will escape so as to match the events of the movie later).
- Baker Street Pub & Restaurant: British cuisine. Table service.
- “London Underground” station: This is a completely random idea. An underground subway that provides transport between Mysteryland and Discoveryland (my park’s version of Tomorrowland). This is mostly an excuse to have more fancy trains in the park. While the Mysteryland station would be styled after the London Underground near the end of the Victorian Era, the Discoveryland station would be styled after Art Nouveau / Paris Métro.
To make the ride itself more interesting, the underground tunnels could contain zoetropes for guests to view. For personal reference, I’m thinking of the Masstransiscope here in New York. Like the Railroad dioramas, they could tease the theme of land they are heading towards.
- “Myth Museum” / Museum of the Unsolved: I wanted a museum styled attraction and had two ideas for this.
The first idea was for a ride through a museum of myths and legends. Vampires, werewolves, Japanese yokai, the Loch Ness Monster, etc. Guests are accidentally “locked in” the museum for the night, and it appears they are not alone. What at first seems to be a creature terrorizing them is actually a burglar in disguise, who is then thwarted by the actual creatures who peacefully live in the museum. The burglar is tied up and left for the police to discover, and the creatures ask the guests not to reveal their secret. I eventually decided this was too similar to both the Haunted Mansion and Gravity Falls.
The second idea was for a walkthrough attraction of real life unsolved mysteries, which I ended up liking a bit better. Stonehenge, Nazca Lines, Bermuda Triangle, Amelia Earhart, etc.
- “Mystery Play”: Detective stage show with audience interaction. A classic whodunit story, but with the sarcastically humorous narrative style of Lemony Snicket.
- “Noir Cafe”: American 1940s cafe. Quick service.
- Mysterious Manor: This park’s version of Haunted Mansion, but with a 1920s murder mystery backstory. Art deco hallways shrouded in shadowy cobwebs, and flapper ghosts swinging to spooky jazz!
The storyline could go that a pair of wealthy siblings argued over who would inherit the manor when both died the same night, leaving the house with no owners. By the end of the ride it’s unclear whether the siblings both killed each other, one killed the other then offed themselves either by accident or out of guilt, or if they were both killed by a malicious entity within the mansion. As all the ghosts are relatively friendly, the last option leaves an ominous feeling over the possibility that one of the ghosts had harmful intent and is capable of killing mortals. In any case, the siblings appear to have reconciled and are enjoying their afterlife together.
For the Christmas season, instead of a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, there would be an original overlay based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, featuring the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.
- Railroad station: For the railroad that circles the park. 1920s art deco style.
Gravity Falls, Oregon
This subland is hypothetically dependent on creator Alex Hirsch’s influence and approval. I know that this is all just in my imagination, but I respect Alex Hirsch too much, especially since Disney has not always been kind to him (the multiple instances of censorship, refusal to move forward with a Gravity Falls series artbook, and that bedtime stories book that was published without his involvement). As per his statement, “Legally Disney can do whatever they want but creatively I would be very disheartened to learn that non-canon books were being written without my participation or consent.” Not to mention, I bet what I’m imagining here is probably not what he has in mind for a great Gravity Falls themed area.
There is also the trick of creating a high-quality land based on something that in the universe of the story is incredibly low-quality (but meta-wise is parodying low-quality tourist traps).
I figured timeline-wise, this would take place around the beginning of Season 2. Government agents could wander the area and ask guests “Have you noticed anything weird around here lately?” while something weird is happening behind them (which quickly stops or disappears should a guest point it out to the agents).
Summerween events during June, alongside real Halloween events later in the year. During Christmas there could be a Krampus themed event (based off of this art I made).
- The Mystery Shack: Part walkthrough attraction and part gift shop.
Would sell the blue pine tree hats Dipper wears, Mabel’s sweater “fashion line”, Grunkle Stan bobbleheads and fezs, black flashlight invisible ink pens.
- “Scavenger Hunt”: Inspired by the real life Cipher Hunt. This hunt could span the entire park with cleverly hidden clues in various nooks and crannies (to avoid getting in other guests’ way). There would be multiple routes so that each guest can have a unique experience. Guests that complete all the routes in a day receive a blank journal (high-quality hardcover) as a prize. Completing one route awards them a pin.
- Mr. Mystery’s Mysterious Tour of Mystery! No Refunds. : I was imagining if Grunkle Stan were to make his own ride attraction, it would probably be transporting guests using golf carts through an outdoor tour of obviously fake creatures he made himself, with cheesy narration he provided himself.
At first the ride could start as Stan’s obviously fake tour, but then Dipper and Mabel show up, being chased by real creatures and accidentally interrupting the tour. Stan would try to sell this as all part of the show with obvious fibbing. Stan quickly brings the guests’ vehicles back to the loading dock to avoid a lawsuit.
- The Bottomless Pit: Probably not feasible for a Disney park, but wouldn’t it be neat to have an anti-gravity simulator?
- “Into the Bunker”: Underground dark ride adapting the episode of the same name. Escape from the shapeshifter.
- Mystery Food Truck: Mystery Dogs (question mark shaped corn dogs), Mabel Juice (with gummy dinosaurs and edible glitter), Smile Dip (drug-free), Pitt Cola (peach soda).
In the event Hirsch would not approve of this land, I would substitute with an original small town area based on the Myth Museum idea, of various creatures trying to live normal lives while hiding their true identities (with supervision from Hirsch to make sure it does not copy Gravity Falls in any meaningful way). Maybe even have it themed to a summer camp.
