One of the hottest trends in travel right now is land snorkeling, which, it turns out, so-called Disney Adults have been doing for decades!
Colorful bottles
According to the New York Times, the term land snorkeling refers to the idea of “paying attention to where you are, not necessarily where you’re going. It encourages a focus on minute details, the way you might hover over a reef when snorkeling to view the comings and goings of tropical fish and the current’s effect on sea fans, while traveling.
Artist Crystal Guzman described land snorkeling to the paper as such: “When you snorkel, you don’t go with a destination in mind but go with the water and let the visuals take over.“You wander and you wonder.” That type of experience probably sounds familiar to many Disney adults.
Since Disneyland first opened 70 years ago and ushered in the era of theme parks, one of the main appeals of Disney’s parks has been the thematic immersion achieved by the various lands that Imagineers designed.
Main Street at Disneyland
At their best, the lands at Disney’s parks aren’t simply midways that lead to rides, but rather deeply immersive environments that bring guests into the worlds of their stories. So much so that many Disney Adults will often slowly make their way through each area. These guests take in all the meticulous details that make up everything from the original Main Street, U.S.A., all the way to modern IP-based additions like Galaxy’s Edge, eschewing the desire to simply rush from ride to ride, checking boxes off the map.
Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
This desire to “land snorkel” around the parks is arguably why many fans are angry when areas like the Rivers of America are eliminated.
An example of the current positioning of Liberty Square’s Haunted Mansion and the Rivers of America
While the Rivers themselves were mainly aesthetic, and neither Tom Sawyer Island nor the Liberty Belle Riverboat provides massive thrills, they created an explorable vista that added a large amount of detail and color to the Magic Kingdom, with many believing they were the heart of the park. It remains to be seen if the upcoming Piston Peak area will have the same land snorkeling appeal to Disney World guests, though admittedly, the latest concept art released for the project does seem promising.
Piston Peak ©Disney
Disney Adults have been land snorkeling around the parks for decades, and are likely to continue to do so as Disney continues to build immersive and heavily detailed lands. Stay tuned to DFB for more on Disney’s parks.
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What are your thoguhts on land snorkeling? let us know in the comments below.
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So now there’s an actual term for what we have been doing for decades! We do more of it nowadays, since some of the rides are a little much for older bones, but enjoyment of each park needn’t be measured just by how many rides you can get on. If you do take a little time to look around a bit, you will find some pretty cool stuff, and some of it will be things you realize you haven’t noticed before. Example: there is a metal Mickey sitting on the top of a Mickey icon that appears to be partially sunk in the stones; it has been there for years.
We never noticed until about 6 months ago that the stones surrounding this icon are tinted to represent yet another Mickey icon.
Look around – you might see something new that’s been there a long time.
Sorry – I meant to say these Mickeys are on the grounds of the Contemporary, on the bay side.
The land snorkeling to be had inside the boat on the Rivers of America, the Liberty Belle, was great too. There are/were little rooms with really amazing touches, and signs etc. throughout. I used to love to go just to roam around the boat. If it’s destroyed as a result of the ‘expansion,’ that will be a real shame.