Fantasyland is the heart of Walt Disney’s vision. Walking into Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, guests leave behind the real world and enter a land of fairytales and magic, inhabited by the characters from Walt Disney’s early animated films. Many of the rides are retellings of classic Disney stories. Guests board small cars or boats that carry them through the entire tale. They are immersed in every scene and experience the dangers, adventures, and triumphs of the characters.

In the early 1980’s Disney engineers had just finished EPCOT and were beginning to work on Tokyo Disneyland. The staff was overburdened and rather than take on more personnel they hired MLA to do the audio and acoustical design for the rehabilitation of Fantasyland. The project included six dark rides, each requiring a major technical upgrade, in both acoustics and audio: Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, and It’s a Small World. Fortunately, many of the techniques and materials developed in Epcot could be applied to Fantasyland. The acoustical challenges in each ride included common aspects: background noise, room reverberation, scene to scene isolation, and vehicle noise. All absorptive materials had to blend into the scenery and had to be paintable and durable.