Disney seriously needs to expand its theme park portfolio and it looks like Kingdom Hearts is not in any plans! The theme parks are slow to innovate and build on the theme park experience. Kingdom Hearts is a very popular Square Enix video game that started in 2002. There is scant merch outside of the game and rare character meet and greets, but it has been 22 years since its debut! It may be difficult to use the IP with Square Enix characters like Sora so while a Kingdom Hearts park expansion is demanded at Tokyo Disneyland, let’s look elsewhere. Lorcana is a collectible trading card game that came out in 2023 from Ravensburger. There is not characters specific to the game except the Illumineers that are part of the Lorcana introductions.
The characters, the musician Martin, and Venturo (the artist?), and the poet, Shanzay, are ciphers for the players which should be kept specific, except one!, to the game. The game has potential for a theme park area with attractions, characters, and merchandise. I don’t think Disney will encounter the same problems with Ravensburger with this game in bringing it into theme parks. If so, then an agreement should be made. So why Lorcana? It could be the latest game to hit and fade away. Still, it is really the game world that was built by designers, Ryan Miller and Steve Warner, and their team that has great potential. There are a number of fantastic artists who worked to create alternate versions of classic characters.
This is the true potential. Mickey Mouse can be dressed up for various events. The potential of having not only the classic Mickey Mouse: True Friend, but also Mickey Mouse: Steamboat Pilot (there is one at Mickey’s House at Toon Town), Mickey Mouse: Wayward Sorcerer, Mickey Mouse: Artful Rogue, Mickey Mouse: Brave Little Tailor, Mickey Mouse: Friendly Face, or any other new versions in later sets! The point is that guests don’t have to know Mickey as Wayward Sorcerer, but they know Mickey! So this would be almost unlimited characters and costumes for the Character Department!
I mention Mickey because he is the best known, but I would really like to see Cinderella: Stouthearted in her armor as a knight, Winnie The Pooh: Hunny Wizard, and um, Gaston: Intellectual Powerhouse! “The Story Begins” trailer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74nOdRwf92c, introduces the Lorcana world with the Illumineer symbol. This of course will have Inkcaster toys, similar to a large artist’s pen, but in the form of a staff. They should be about one foot, three inches, the right size for a little one and the big kids. They are keyed to the land like Super Mario Land’s Power-Up Bands. The interactive wands in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Mario Land sell at great numbers, but I'm hoping the Inkcaster would be affordable; around $15.
Then, of course you need Illumineer gear; clothes like t-shirts with each Ink symbol and color and Inkcaster and Aurelian Gyrosensor toys. There is Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Steel Inks. The symbols could be a whole other level of Easter eggs throughout the park area. Before you enter, there are six Ink symbols you step on and it lights up. This sends a lighted path to the next part. The gateway should hint at this proposed Lorcana Land to “transport” guests. I think there should be a light at the entrance to transition to The Great Illuminary castle. This has already been designed, but guests enter the Hall of Lorcana with the roof looking out to the stars. Also, portals, columns, the great mechanism that turns Story Stars into Ink, and the Lorebook.
There should be a painting or image somewhere to show what the Great Illuminary looks like in full; a great pin with a sphere at its base. Once a guest uses the Lorecaster, a lit path leads up steps to a Lorebook. Touching the Inkcaster to an open Lorebook brings up an image of a character, maybe this character appears and interacts with the guest! So there can be Lorcana versions of the characters and also different characters that don’t have to be tied to a specific land or event. Part of the game is that the Glimmers, characters, are villains, so this could help very young guests overcome any fear of some of the nastiest villains. I’m looking at you Jafar, one little guy saw Jafar casually getting ready for a show and couldn’t move terrified to his core! Also, around the hall are the various Items that are memorable from the films; Triton’s trident, the Sorcerer’s hat, Magic Mirror, etc.
The Beast’s Library, Disney’s California Adventure, 2018, author’s photo.
Guests can spend some time wandering around and interacting with the Lorebooks. They fill up their Inkcasters from the reservoir in the hall. I think guests can buy the Items as souvenirs, recreate Actions with screens, and sing Songs to get Lore. This happens with activating the Lorebook, the various activities, and secret places that change throughout Lorcana Land. Accumulate 20 Lore, the goal of game play, and I’m thinking you get an exclusive Lorcana card! This would of course be subject to Ravensburger. The quests will really occupy guests and give them something to do. I’ve seen dedicated kids do so at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town Alive event. Of course, the rewards for theme park games is usually a souvenir like a sticker or toy, but the Lorcana card ties into the game and would be far more valuable even if it is a copy of a card with different art. The alternate art Lorcana cards go for hundreds of dollars, but a theme park version would have to be mass produced. Maybe they are buttons or paper certificates.
One of the halls should port over the Beast’s Library with the enchanted book, which should be a Lorebook now, showing guests their character. Besides the Hall of Actions and Hall of Songs, there should be a Hall of Honor, which would be a showcase for the Lorcana artists like Dave Beauchene or Rosalia Radosti. There may be Lorcana Days were a number of artists, many of whom are worldwide, could appear. The featured guests would be the game designers; Ryan Miller and Steve Warner. There could also be game play, bring your decks or buy starter decks and play in The Grand Illuminary! Which leads to the gift store, I’m uncertain if there will be enough Lorcana product to have available at a theme park. If so, I imagine there could be books, action figures, and the previously mentioned toys and accessories available. Sample games with decks for table use only at the Hall of Play.
The main attraction. This will be a ride that is not high tech, they tend to break down, have high capacity and touches on the basic theme of Lorcana. The point is to show what people like about Disney animated films and characters. So this will use as examples characters and movies from the first two sets; The First Chapter and The Rise of the Floodborn, but also characters that are not given their own attractions. The queue area is in halls that wind around The Great Illuminary, a view from a balcony, a peek into other halls. This is a way to show game play with an Illumineer using a Lorebook to summon a Glimmer, the Story Stars that are overhead, and screens showing the stories of different Glimmers. There are various reports about the state of the Inklands by Chief Bogo from Zootopia. The highlight is seeing the great mechanism that captures the Story Stars to turn into Ink. Illumineers can use their Inkcasters at various points to get Lore.
Merlin from Sword in the Stone details Illumineers about the ride on screens before the loading area. This leads the Ilumineers to board the inkships, I’m not certain if they are identified, but the ships are seen in Into the Inklands story trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W6FyW66zkY&t=35s. They look like steampunk zepplins with flapping wings and insectoid cockpit. This is of course modified with the open cockpit, seating areas in front and in back for up to eight guests. This is similar to WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. Also like that attraction, there are four mini-Inkcasters and Lore counters for each one in front of the seating area. If guests do not have an Inkcaster, this should still be a fun ride so the mini-Inkcasters (attached to a cable) should work. So guests have new Lore to gain just for the ride.
You use Inkcasters pressing a button like a trigger to hit Ink symbols at various targets. The ride vehicle uses a track to guide Illumineers. The inkship moves through the Great Illuminary halls, the Magic Brooms, animatronics, from Fantasia sweep the floors. Mickey Mouse, Detective, an animatronic is examining a clue; a strand of pink. Ahead is Martin about to play his Inkcaster that opens the forbidden Lorebook, it causes torrents black ink to pour down! The event in A Mysterious Locked Lorebook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP0U1z5i8Yg. Suddenly, the inkship turns and we see the Ink flood, it pours on Aurora! She is in her brown Briar Rose dress and this transforms her into Dreaming Guardian, in her blue dress. She weaves blue wards which she says will protect the Illumineers. You ar told that you will find answers in the Inklands. This sends the inkship out of the Great Illuminary into the Inklands.
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