At Disneyland, the scenery becomes critical to each land’s storytelling. Visitors believe they’ve been transported into another world because they’re surrounded by it; every shop, garden, and pathway works together to create an immersive experience. These tricks extend up above your sightline, to the very top of Disneyland’s staged worlds.
The rooftops in Disneyland help serve three key purposes for different lands and spaces. First, they combine shared resources without disrupting theming. Second, they conceal elements that detract from theming or would ruin certain illusions and sightlines. And third, they construct structures that aren’t really there, tricking you into believing Disneyland is much larger and more complicated than its real behind-the-scenes architecture.
COMBINE
Many of Disneyland’s rooftops tackle a practical purpose: seamlessly combining different buildings, without ruining the distinct theming of each. One building separates much of Adventureland and Frontierland, but the two lands don’t look remotely similar.
In this photo, Frontierland is in the upper half of the photo, and Adventureland in the lower half. I’m looking down from Tarzan’s Treehouse, and the path connecting the two lands is to the left of the frame.
The architecture and color scheme of each façade changes dramatically, but the rooftop blends them together. This trick works because you don’t realize its working; you never think about the fact that you’re looking at the same building twice. Disneyland also uses this trick for the Jolly Holiday and Enchanted Tiki Room (yep, they’re the same building!), and with Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Fantasyland dark rides.
CONCEAL
Nothing ruins immersion like seeing the outside world. Or, in Disneyland’s case, seeing another land. Many of Disneyland’s rooftops hide larger pieces of other lands, so that visitors don’t forget they’re not really in a Bavarian village or remote jungle. Of course, in some cases, this is an unsolvable problem. You’ll always see the Matterhorn from Tomorrowland, or Grizzly Peak from Cars Land. But in many lands, proper rooftop placement quickly fixes distracting sightlines.
This photo faces the back corner of New Orleans Square, from the train station. Behind these beautiful balconies and archways, you’d find the jungles of Adventureland. But these tall rooftops block the trees and rivers, so you don’t realize just how close you are to an encounter with an animatronic jaguar.
CREATE
And finally, Disneyland occasionally uses rooftops to create the illusion of depth and added texture within lands. My favorite example of this trick is in Fantasyland. Look up at the rooftops above Peter Pan’s Flight, and you’ll see tons of different levels of roofing.
Suddenly, it looks like this village you’re exploring winds behind the attraction, with little alleyways surely hidden behind Neverland. In reality, this attraction bumps right up against Alice in Wonderland. Disneyland also uses this trick in sections of Buena Vista Street, Pacific Wharf, and Mickey’s Toontown.
Ultimately, every piece of Disneyland scenery works together to tell stories, from the cobblestones beneath your feet to the chimneys above the rooftops. Your experiences in each land exist within richly detailed worlds, and the rooftops above each land are the icing on top of the detail cake.
Disneyland’s roofs of hiding other lands has practical purpose. But illusions of these are ruined by higher up views. I do not like seeing New Orleans from a tree in the jungle. But the effort is good compared to other themed parks.