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Have you ever found yourself thinking about buying an air freshener with a Disney scent on it? Well I have…and it’s a little embarrassing (to everyone else of course) The effect that a smell has on your brain can never be under-estimated. As a lifelong fan of the parks, the way that the Imagineers have played into the nostalgic sensors within the limbic system is mind-blowing and completely brilliant!
There are a handful of attractions within Walt Disney World that can turn something as basic the smell of an apple pie into something that the merchandise teams can monetize;)
Disney World
Let’s start out with the cheesy.
There’s a certain “je ne sais quoi” about the scent of a vacation. From the smell of the rail system at MCO to the scent of the individual resorts and then the theme parks – everything has a mystique of excitement.
From personal experience, the scent that gets you teary eyed may not even become evident until you’re walking through it and start turning into a blubbery mess…but it happens to the best of us and it’ll come out of nowhere.
I’ve been known to get a little misty in the Canadian Pavilion, but that’s just me.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN WATER
The water rides at the Magic Kingdom all belong on this list, but I picked specifically the aroma of the queue and ride track from the Pirates of the Caribbean. This is due to something that Disney just has to add to the atmosphere, as water usually just doesn’t smell as satisfying as the POTC boats!
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HAUNTED MANSION STRETCHING ROOM
This one I can’t explain, but the stretching room is by far and away the BEST pre-show on property…and the scent adds to the ambience. As you walk into the room, your goal is to find the secondary door, because getting to the Doombuggies before everyone else is actually satisfying. Once you’ve located your spot in the room, it’s all about taking it all in….the dampness and the smell of a mansion taken over by ghosts leaves so much to the imagination!
PHILHARMAGIC PIE
I can’t explain this one, but when I eat apple pie in the outside world, it actually brings me back to the hundreds of times that I’ve seen Philharmagic! It’s such an amazing feeling to know that something as simple as pie can make me nostalgic and dreaming of escaping torrential rain storms and through the doors that AutoMagically open for guests:)
The 3D movies that bring the added “D” of smell can be overwhelming, but this Fantasyland attraction is above the others in this category. MuppetVision 3D is cheesy (by nature), It’s Tough to be a Bug is changing into Zootopia and even the past experiences like Stitch’s Great Escape with the hot dog smells…always interesting to see how smell can enhance a video.
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SOARIN
Most have put the original Soarin’ over California scent into one of the best, but with Soarin over the World joining the offerings at the Land Pavilion in Future World, time will tell if the Orange Groves, Vineyards and Ocean scents will ever be forgotten!
Other attractions that may have this emotion attached are Flight of Passage, Dinosaur, Jungle Cruise, Tron Lightcycle Run and even the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover. Everything has a scent that will transport you into the experience!
H20 SOAPS
When I go on vacation, I have one shampoo bottle that I use all week long…but it lives in my suitcase. Every morning, the MouseKeeping cast members leave a new H2O soap and shampoo for the following day. Magically, it disappears;) When I get home, my hair smells like Disney World for weeks!
Yes this is changing and evolving, but that doesn’t mean that the resorts won’t have things that make for perfect free souvenirs!
SPACESHIP EARTH – BURNING ROME
The Imagineers definitely outdid themselves when they looked at how to plus a classic Disney dark-ride with Spaceship Earth. How did they know back in the late 70’s during construction that almost 40 years later there would be a Facebook fan page for the scent of smouldering ashes of a burning Rome? Go figure!
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MAIN STREET USA
Main Street USA actually compiles a ton of different scents…but they all add to the full story and combined are so much better than alone.
#8 Popcorn is one of the best smells to enter your nostrils as each breath has got to be like 100 calories! (Granted, when you’re walking 20-30,000 steps a day, you need a little more energy;)) Imagine walking into a movie theatre….and multiply that by a few thousand times and then you’re on the level of WDW popcorn!
Baked goods, ice cream (#9), coffee, hot dogs (#10)…they all find their way into the scene of one of my favourite lands in all of the Magic Kingdom!
These smells, along with many others (good or bad) are all part of the story that makes Walt Disney World as magical as anywhere else on earth!
Did we miss any? Let me know via social media @StepstoMagic!