Disney Smell Segment

[bmcintyre]

The parade at the Very Merry Christmas Party has 2 smells - gingerbread from one float and hot chocolate from another.

[WDW4Ever]

Go musty, chlorine-y, chemical-ly smell! It reminds me more of Splash Mountain though.

[dsnyqwn1]

Yeah, we love Tim, but I am not sure he really got the "Smell" thing. He's just talking about the ride smells that are pumped in. LOU- you are totally right about the water smell in the rides! My friends and I call it the "Wet cement smell." I smell a similar smell in "real life" and it takes you right back to WDW.
The hotel rooms have a distinct smell, too. I'm not sure if it is a cleanser they use, or if it is the A/C - but it's such a great smell!

I totally agree with the hotel smell. Whether it's in your room or walking around the property they just have the unique smell.

[pigletfan]

I too agree about the water ride smell! You can always tell when the water is close by. Another one for me that is kinda strange, the bus fumes! It always reminds me of riding on the Disney buses, or waiting at the Disney bus stops for the next bus.

[mickeysgal]

My favorite smell was the old soap in the theme park restrooms. When I got home it took me forever to find the same soap. I'm surprised the supermarket didn't throw me out for smelling each and every liquid soap they had. I did find it though..it was Softsoap's Cherry Almond. I don't find it often, but when I do...I grab it and take a trip down memory lane.

[MainStreet, USA]

I agree that the water rides do have a sort of unique smell, and it does sometimes invoke memories of Disney for me. However, maybe it's because I'm something of a local Floridian, but unfortunately, my reaction to that smell is not always so positive. I don't know if it's because Florida water is treated with something, but I find that much of Florida's water (not drinking water, but like the water used for irrigation sprinklers, etc.) has a distinct smell of its own... one with a hint of what smells like a cross between sulfer and "really bad eggs" (pardon the PotC reference there). At least to me, this is not a very pleasant smell. In many of Disney's water rides, I can still detect this same "smelly water" aroma, although it seems much more subdued, with a slight chlorine-like overtone. It doesn't "stink" like the irrigation water around here does, but it is still present.

So there are times when the "musty water smell" (to use Lou's term) does bring me back to Disney, there are also times when it brings me back to such instances of pre-sunrise workouts with AFROTC on the grass around campus, freshly coated in sulfer/bad egg smelling water from the irrigation system. Hmm... not always the most pleasant of memories.

Moving on now, I don't think I could put together a top 10 smells list. There are just too many. The smell of lingering fireworks smoke on a muggy night with no wind, the many wonderful foods and restaurants in and around the parks and resorts, the countless artificial smells pumped in to take the theme of an area just one step further. There's just too many to name. One of the things I love most about Disney is that they don't just theme to your eyes or to your ears, but to every one of your senses that they can figure out a way to appeal to. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell... each one of the five basic senses (actually, a "Sixth Sense" as well, because if you head to the Haunted Mansion, you can claim "I see dead people") is literally immersed in the theme of an area by one means or another. Adding smells to a section of a theme park, a specific scene in an attraction, or situating a themed restaurant directly adjacent to a resort lobby so that the unique aroma helps tell the story... it's all just one more way that Disney goes above and beyond to "plus" the guest experience. I think it's pretty safe to say that "Disney certainly knows the nose!"

[KINGCRAB]

Lou Mongello, if you're out there, I love that Disney water ride smell, too. It's just so gosh-darn pleasant and attractive.

I also love the apple pie aroma in PhilharMagic and I'm glad that that one was mentioned as well.

[phlydude]

This was a great discussion topic. I am right there with the water smell, yes it has a smell and it is unique.

The monorail does smell like mildew but it also smells like those cheap rubberized band-aids after they are wet...smells bad but the euphoria of being in Disney makes you not mind it at all

Rome burning is great - smells like burnt cork

Philharmagic has great smells too (Although the last time I went through, the queue area smelled FUNKY)!

[bartoli@charter]

I too agree with the water smell... but it's a slightly different one. While in line for Splash Mountain, every now and then you'll walk by an air vent in the wall, which looks like a hole in the rock formation. It blows out ice cold air (which feels so great on those 90 degree plus days), but with the cold air comes a smell of chlorinaded water, but not the same smell as a pool. It's similar but at the same time very unique. Does anyone else get that feeling about it? That smell stays in my brain for many months after returning from our trip, and if I smell something even close to it, I close my eyes and think of icey cool wind hitting my face and I am instantly back in line on Splash Mountain. Weird how it can trigger that kingd of memory.

[InStitches]

Before the segment began on the podcast, I immediately thought of the Rome burning smell in SE and I'm glad they included it. That is my favorite scene mostly because of the smell.

[SeventeenPluto]

I still can't believe Maelstrom was never brought up in the segment. It's the only attraction that I know of that features both the burning smell and the water smell.
Tim had the most obvious answers.

[ghasty]

Just thought this was hilarious today.

Picked up my kids after work this afternoon. It's been very hot and humid here in Atlanta the last couple of days with thunderstorms in the afternoons. My son, 7 (future imagineer) gets in the car and as soon as I crank up the air conditioning he exclaims, "wow...it smells just like a Disney hotel in here...kewl!!!"

[Blixzit]

How about the animal smell of Confection Section at Animal Kingdom? Sure it's not so pleasant, but when you smell it, you know you're at the park. Or how about Space Mountain? I don't know how to describe it, but SM does have a distinct smell. Whether you're on the TTA, or SM itself, you can smell it. I think it may have something to do with the air conditioning.

[cheshire_cat_81]

I'm really surprised no one mentioned Spaceship Earth...I'm not referring to the smell of Rome burning. It's that smell of cold air and grease from the omnimover turntable that hits you just as you walk through the entrance. Everytime I smell it, it's immediately 1983 and I am 2 years old, walking with my mom and dad's hand's in mine...

[jangomickey]

(I'ts been a LOOOONG time since I've been to any Disney property) My favorite smell is old-skool. In the old Journey to Imagination ride (around 1982-83), there was a sweet cotton-candy-like dry ice smell somewhere in the "spooky" room with the AVALANCHE and SHAKE words that I've never forgotten. I think I've smelled a similar scent during night time parades so my theory is it was dry ice or something. Not sure if they still use the scent any more.