When Walt Disney set out to create Disneyland, he wanted to build a park that both children
and adults could enjoy.
More specifically, he wanted to build a park that would raise the bar in terms of quality
and cleanliness when it came to amusements.
He looked to state fairs and carnivals, not as models to be emulated, but as examples
to be avoided.
Walt succeeded and Disneyland undoubtedly raised that bar.
So it seemed a little odd when in 1996 The Walt Disney Company decided “Hey, let’s
try our hand at this whole state fair thing.”
That’s right.
In 1996, forty years after Walt Disney worked to ensure that his theme park wouldn’t be
associated with the likes of states fairs, Disney wanted to get involved in state fairs.
Why?
Balloons.
Well partially, balloons.
According to Walt Disney Entertainment Senior VP Ron Logan, the idea of the Disney Fair
was born from discussions at the company regarding what they could do to put their collection
of over 300 inflatable Disney characters to use.
But it was more than just that.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, over 158 million people were attending state fairs
every year in the United States.
That was a big market, and Disney was interested in getting a slice of that pie.
This itself was typical of Disney in the 1990’s.
While the company had spent decades assuring their dominance over the theme park industry,
CEO Michael Eisner was eager to take the beloved Disney brand and branch out into other vacation
and leisure ventures.
It’s the decade we would see Disney get into nightclubs, timeshares, cruises, indoor
entertainment, and even leisure-based adult education, which is apparently a thing.
So why not state fairs as well?
And with that, Disney’s Fun Fair Extraodrinair was born.
The premise of the fair was that rather than traveling the country as its own standalone
show, it would travel to pre-established state fairs and set itself up as an additional amusement.
The plan called for visiting 12-13 state fairs over the course of a year, but before they’d
do that, Disney aimed to run a test at a couple of fairs in the fall of 1996.
The show involved three massive fair tents that totaled out at over 100,000 square feet.
Guests who purchased admission to the show would first head into the main tent, which
at 55,000 square feet, fit an audience of 2,200 guests.
From there they’d be treated to a 40 minute stage show called “Mickey’s Great Inflation Celebration."
The show featured Mickey Mouse and his pals, who were represented by larger than life inflatable
balloons, as they defended Balloonatopia against Captain Hook.
Get it? Because hooks are sharp?
After the show was over the guests would get 90 minutes to explore the second tent,
which itself was Balloonatopia.
It offered a slew of different activities, including an inflatable house called Inflation
Substation, a villain themed maze called Hook’s Revenge, and area dedicated to previewing
upcoming Disney films and attractions, and an interactive area featuring computer and
console games, which most new outlets likened to a fair themed Innoventions.
After the hour and a half was up, guests would then exit through the third and final tent
which was, as you could probably guess, a gift shop.
The SouvenAIR Shop, as it was called, didn’t require a ticket to visit and offered not
only toys and souvenirs, but also allowed guests to plan and book Disneyland and Disney
World vacations.
Then the whole process would begin again, as Disney planned to run five shows a day,
seven days a week, for the duration of each fair it was visiting.
Disney’s Fun Fair Extraordinair premiered at the Washington State Fair in September
of 1996 and just a month later it made its way to the State Fair of Arizona.
Then, it all stopped.
Why?
Well, the show ran into a few problems, and as it would turn out, it was also just a fundamentally
flawed concept.
It was a state fair show that was approached with a scope and level of quality that Disney
was known for, and unfortunately that resulted in a pretty expensive endeavor.
According to show director John Clark, the initial show cost Disney a total of thirty
million dollars, with no idea as to how much that price tag would go up when trying to
do 13 shows in a year.
It was a massive effort that required 100 trucks to transport everything, a permanent
traveling staff of 150, and anywhere from 250 to 350 local technicians at every fair
to build and break down the show.
On top of that, Disney ran into some heat in Washington when it was discovered that
the production company they hired, SCS Production Group Inc, were hiring non-union workers.
That resulted in a protest by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and
would surely prove to be a recurring problem if they chose to keep opting for non-union
locals on the road.
Disney would either never have a chance of breaking even, or they’d have to jack up
their prices to cover all these costs.
What do you think they chose?
Leave a comment down below and let me know wha-NO OF COURSE THEY JACKED UP THE PRICES.
This is Disney!
By the time Disney’s Fun Fair Extraordinair made its way to Arizona, tickets for adults
ranged between $16 an $21, while tickets for children ranged between $10 and $16.
Those prices depended on which seat section you chose.
The three tiers were called “value”, “fun”, and, ready for this, “real fun”.
Now today those prices don’t sound too crazy, but for comparison, a normal admission ticket
to the State Fair of Arizona that year was $6.50 for adults and $3.50 for children.
And that was for the whole fair the whole day.
Disney was essentially asking for over three times as much money for what amounted to a
two hour experience.
It’s also worth noting that this year’s past state fair in Arizona had an adult admission price of $10.
So it’s still less than half of what Disney was asking for over twenty years ago.
So I guess this next part isn’t much of a surprise, but attendance wasn’t really
what Disney was hoping it would be, and ultimately it was decided that the project wasn’t worth
continuing… at least not here.
The fair would eventually be retooled into an event called Disney Fest, which would be
brought over to Asia and premiered in Singapore in 1997.
It, too, wouldn’t last very long.
Normally I try to find a silver lining whenever a project failed.
I look for an admirable motivation or a takeaway that would later benefit a project that did work.
However I don’t think there is one here.
Disney’s Fun Fair Extraordinair was a bad idea.
State Fairs themselves aren’t bad, but they’re such a fundamentally different experience
that Disney would have had to compromise what they were known for to make it work.
There was wisdom in Walt’s decision all those years ago to distance his park from
fairs, and while I can’t fault Disney for giving it a shot later on, I don’t think
anyone is surprised that it didn’t work.