This is an entry for “pre-show” in our Disneyland 101 Glossary: Disneyland Resort definitions in under 101 words, from Mouse Brief.
Some attractions at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park have a pre-show. A pre-show is an introductory video or other type of entertainment before the main attraction. Sometimes safety guidelines are incorporated into the pre-show, as in the video shown before Indiana Jones Adventure. Other times they serve to give instructions for an interactive ride, like in WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. In all cases, they take the attraction’s story, previously started with the queue decor, and present it more explicitly. Some attractions, like the recent Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway weave the pre-show fairly seamlessly into the main attraction.
For ways to have fun while you wait in line, check-out Make the Best of Your Time in Line at Disneyland and for a preview of what happens when it is time to board, see What It’s Like to Board a Ride at Disneyland. Now, for notable pre-shows at Disneyland Resort, keep reading…
Notable Pre-Shows at Disneyland Resort
A Classic Pre-Show
Haunted Mansion in Disneyland Park has a classic pre-show experience. Imagineers created this special pre-show to tell a story but also to serve a functional purpose. In Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion Stretching Room pre-show actually moves you from one place to another. The pre-show brings you into the ride literally and figuratively! This practical solution was so popular that the effect was replicated in Walt Disney World even though the practical problem no longer applied there!
Now, you just have to find a way out…
Suspense (and Safety) Builder
Really, every pre-show in Disneyland Resort serves some kind of practical purpose, and often that is to communicate the safety rules for a particular attraction. In Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland Park, these safety rules are shared through a delightfully old-fashioned news reel. Even better, the news reel pre-show builds excitement and suspense for the ride while also sharing the attraction’s guiding narrative. Imagineers managed to do all this while reminding you to buckle-up and keep your hands inside the vehicle.
While this pre-show does not have some of the pizazz of other entries—it real is just a video after all—the style and setting make it effective and memorable.
Pre-Show… What Pre-Show?
The pre-show for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland Park is notable, because we cannot quite figure out where the pre-show ends and the ride begins. You might not realize you have fully transitioned from queue to ride until you are already careening past AT-ATs. The pre-show happens in sections that includes hologram messages from Star Wars characters, interactions with live cast members, and a kind of pre-ride ride with an animatronic character. Or… is that pre-ride part of the… ride? Honestly, we do not quite know.
That is what makes this such an effective pre-show. That, and the fact that all of these elements come together to move the story along. It is masterfully done.
Step Into the Cartoons
Minnie & Mickey’s Runaway Railway at Disneyland Park is one of the newest additions to Disneyland Resort. We hope its charming queue and immersive pre-show signal a commitment to creating an excellent pre-ride experience in coming Disney attractions.
The queue area is humorous and vibrant. It’s a kind of museum of Mickey’s career. You see props that you may have previously seen in Mickey’s cartoons, but they are now in physical three-dimensional form in our world. Then the pre-show invites you to step into Mickey’s two-dimensional world! This is accomplished through a really cool transition. The pre-show itself is very well done, and the queue environment changes dramatically after you experience the pre-show. Thus the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway pre-show accomplishes what the best pre-shows do: an immersion into the world of the ride.
I am being intentionally vague with all of these descriptions. I would not want to steal that wonderful “first time” experience from you for any of these!
So Quotable
The pre-show for Soarin’ is a safety video. It plays on a small screen in a pretty barebones queue area in a “hanger” at Disney California Adventure Park. On paper (on screen?), you would not think that the Soarin’ pre-show would make this list. It’s more or less a theme park version of what you would hear on an airplane. But the pre-show host, Patrick Warburton, has such flawless delivery that this safety spiel has become beloved among Disney theme park goers. This little pre-show survived the reimagining of Disney California Adventure Park and the complete change-over of the attraction’s actual ride film.
“…anything else? Oh yeah, have a nice flight!”
It Makes the Story Work
When I heard that The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure Park was being converted into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride, I was skeptical. How would a vintage cursed elevator work in the Marvel universe?
Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! blasted through my misgivings. It’s just so much fun! This is one ride where I hear guests laughing throughout the experience. However, it does take a little finesse to fit the ride narrative into the existing ride-system. That’s where Rocket comes in.
He “sneaks” into the pre-show and explains why you will be getting into this elevator and even why you should put your hands up for the experience. He makes it work, and—like the ride itself—he does it with a whole lot of humor and style. It’s a fun pre-show and one that manages to make the story work.
How to Play
WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure at Disney California Adventure Park and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run at Disneyland Park are both newer interactive rides with integrated gameplay. The pre-shows for these rides help you understand the stakes and some of the mechanics of the games.
(Millennium Falcon also has an audio-animatronics character so good that many are convinced they are seeing a cast member in costume.)
Both pre-shows also introduce the narrative behind their rides while also linking that story to their film franchises and effectively bringing us into their worlds. It’s a neat trick!
Thanks for reading this Disneyland 101 Glossary post on pre-shows.
For definitions of more Disney terms, please visit Disneyland 101 Glossary. For general help planning your visit, please explore our free and complete Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep. Thanks again for reading!