SLAP!

Disney's team of attraction designers (a.k.a. "Imagineers") pride themselves on telling a consistent story through the ride. Sometimes it's key to "getting" the theme — say, on Tower of Terror — while on other rides you might have to pay really close attention to get the plot — say, on Disneyland's Splash Mountain. But every attraction the Imagineers build has some sort of back story to it.

Apparently, the Studio arm doesn't agree. They've been doing their best to distance the new movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, from the theme park attraction. But they've over done it: I just read a review of the film where Nina Jacobsen, President of Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, says of the ride, "The rides don't have a narrative. We're taking evocative images and using them as the beginning threads to a story. Ultimately, the story stands on its own."

Worse yet: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says in the same article, "I felt you needed to counter the Disney name. I knew that (adding Depp) would tell audiences this movie is something different." Anyone else remember when "the Disney name" meant quality, and people wanted to associate with it? How sad.