The "Magical Distance" of Disney

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Image from mickeyblog.com

Ackerman describes how smells move us in profound ways because we cannot describe them. She writes "smells are often right on the top of our tongues - but no closer - and it gives them a kind of magical distance, a mystery, a power without a name, a sacredness" (9).


About two years ago, my family took a trip to Disney. We went on the Avatar Flight of Passage ride, twice, and, goodness....it smelled. Bad. It made me, my siblings, and my father nauseous.


My mom loved it.


Disney is notorious for their scents and smell machines (dubbed "smellitizers") which enhance the experience of their parks and make your memories that much stronger. Such was the case on this specific ride.


When doing my Christmas shopping this year, I came across a small Etsy business called "Main Street Melts Candle Co." that specializes in capturing those Disney scents and recreates them through candles, essential oils, etc. So, naturally (or artificially, I should say), I bought my mom the candle of Flight of Passage. And on Christmas morning, Ackerman was spot on with her description: "Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines, hidden under the weedy mass of many years and experiences. Hit a tripwire of smell, and memories explode all at once." We were brought right back to Disney.


Ackerman perfectly expressed the frustration we felt in not being able to describe the scent of that ride to anyone. You had to have been there or have gone on the ride to understand it, but the candle was the tripwire that brought us back to that very specific experience, which was only 4 and a half minutes long.

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausFebruary 1, 2022 at 6:50 AM

    I did not know about Disney's "smellatizers" or that the smells are marketed. Cool post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SaachiMay 13, 2022 at 10:33 AM

    I sat for a 4d Disney show when I went to Disney world, and honest to god the scents they released in the theatre are still stuck in my nose, and make the experience so salient for me.

    ReplyDelete

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