Hi all!

Welcome to Day 11 of the 30 Day Disney Blogging Challenge in April!

Today we are looking at Disney Worlds. I don’t mean the theme parks but rather the realms from which our Disney stories originate. A lot of the films take place in kingdoms, forests, far-off lands and under the sea but my favourite world is one of nonsense and make-believe. It is a place where quite anything could happen at any moment and where the impossible becomes possible. Interesting, quirky characters roam this world and if you aren’t careful, it can suddenly become quite dangerous. If you haven’t guessed it by now, my favourite Disney World is:

WONDERLAND!

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland began as a novel by Lewis Carroll and was later adapted into a cartoon Disney version. It tells the story of a young daydreamer named Alice who one day, bored by her studies, sees a White Rabbit with a pocket watch crying “I’m late, I’m late” and follows him. He leads her down a rabbit hole which is the portal to the mysterious Wonderland. At first, Alice is intrigued by all the oddities she discovers, but it isn’t long before she is frustrated by the confusing realm she’s stumbled into and spends the rest of the movie trying to find her way home. I’m not going to focus too much on the plot in this post but rather the different and strange parts that make up Wonderland itself.

1.) HALLWAY & DOOR

When Alice finally lands from her long descent down the Rabbit Hole, she finds herself in a optical-illusion type hallway that leads to a room with a table and a tiny talking door. She is too large to fit through it, so she walks over to the table and drinks from a bottle marked ‘Drink Me.’ It instantly makes her small enough to fit but this time, she has left the key on the table which is now too large for her to reach. A biscuit appears that says ‘Eat Me’ and this makes her gigantic, her head bumping the ceiling. She begins to cry as the doorknob, flooded by her tears, open his mouth and lets the water flow through. Alice finishes the liquid in the bottle and shrinks, tiny enough to land inside it and travel through the doorknob’s now gaping hole.

2.) TWEEDLEDEE & TWEEDLEDUM FOREST

Still in pursuit of the White Rabbit, Alice leaves her glass bottle and races into the forest where she comes across brothers Tweedledee & Tweedledum. They try to distract her from her objective by telling a tragic tale named ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter.’ She escapes once the story is finished as they are too occupied by their own silly dancing and singing to notice.

3.) THE WHITE RABBIT’S HOUSE

Alice emerges from the forest to find the White Rabbit’s House. He mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and sends her inside to fetch his gloves. In her ever curious nature, she pokes around his bedroom and nibbles on yet another sweet marked ‘Eat Me’. Once again, she becomes gigantic and fills up the entire home. The White Rabbit catches sight of the image above and screams in terror believing Alice to be a monster. He hires the services of Bill the Lizard to smoke her out! Alice pulls out a carrot from the garden which has shrinking properties, allowing her to escape incineration.

4.) THE FLOWERS

Alice finds refuge in the tall grass home to many different types of talking flowers. They are fascinated by her and together, they sing Golden Afternoon, where viewers are taught they can learn a lot of things from the flowers. Unfortunately for our protagonist, the plants end up turning on her, believing her to be a weed after all. She races away before they harm her, utterly offended by their rudeness.

5.) THE CATERPILLAR

Alice encounters yet another mean, short-tempered character in Wonderland in the form of a caterpillar. He smokes a hookah and asks her several times ‘who are you?’ When she fails to answer, he transforms into a butterfly and flits away in rage. Poor Alice isn’t having much luck at this point.

6.) THE WOODS

Alice is understandably very frustrated by now. She finds herself in a dark wood filled with signposts pointing in all different directions. None of them make sense and they don’t appear to lead anywhere of value. All of a sudden, the Cheshire Cat appears on the bough of a tree. He always used to scare me as a child. He tells her that everybody in Wonderland is mad but suggests she try her luck at the Mad Hatter and March Hare’s tea-party. Alice makes her way there.

7.) THE MAD TEA PARTY

This is my favourite scene in the entire film. The March Hare and Mad Hatter are positively loopy! They invite Alice to celebrate their 364 days of ‘unbirthdays’ and pour her a cup of tea. Every time she tries to take a sip however, they take the cup from her hand and move seats. She attempts several times to have a civilized conversation with both of them but their responses are completely nonsensical. Frustrated, she leaves in a huff.

8.) THE QUEEN’S MAZE

Alice breaks down in tears in the woods. She wishes to go home more than anything. The Cheshire Cat, taking pity on her, reveals a secret doorway in the trunk of a tree that leads to the Queen’s Maze. Alice wanders through the lush green hedges to find a pack of playing cards painting all of the white roses red. They had accidentally painted them the wrong colour and the penalty for such things is beheading. The Queen catches them in the act and sends the cards to their death. The Queen invites Alice to play a game of croquet but instead of a mallet, they use coloured flamingos and instead of balls, they must hit curled up hedgehogs. This proves to be difficult as both creatures move about restlessly. When the Cheshire Cat plays a trick on the Queen and frames Alice, she screams her catchphrase ‘off with her head!’ The king earns her a fair trial first but the entire proceedings are convoluted and no progress is made. Alice manages to run away but not before she is chased by the entire deck of cards and the Queen of Hearts herself all throughout Wonderland right back to the talking doorknob. As they are about to reach her, she wakes up in the field, realising the entire thing was just a dream…

What I love about Wonderland is that you never know what to expect. There are bright colours, strange objects and downright weird characters. It is definitely the most interesting Disney realm in my personal opinion! If given the opportunity, I would certainly love to visit provided there was an easy way to return home should things become too intense. What about you? Would you love to go to Wonderland? What is your favourite Disney World and why?

Honourable Mention

Atlantica from The Little Mermaid

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! See you tomorrow for Day 12!

Peace & Love xoxo