Behind the Attraction is a documentary TV series by Brian Volk-Weiss for Disney+ produced by Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions and Volk-Weiss's The Nacelle Company. The first five episodes were released on July 21, 2021, with the remaining five being released on August 25 of that same year. The documentary is narrated by Paget Brewster. On October 4, 2023, it was announced a second season would be released on November 1, 2023.
Premise
The series explores the history of how popular Disney attractions and destinations came to be, how they have changed over time and how fans continue to obsess over them. It features many interviews with fans and Imagineers.
Production
In October 2019, Disney+ ordered the docu-series from The Toys That Made Us's creator and director Brian Volk-Weiss, with his production company The Nacelle Company and Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions attached as production houses.
In December 2021, Hiram Garcia confirmed plans to develop a season two for the series. A second season was officially announced on October 4, 2023 to be released on November 1, 2023.
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1
Season 2
Release
All episodes of Behind the Attraction were initially scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on July 16, 2021. However, after the success of the premiere of Loki on a Wednesday, it was announced that the release dates for most original Disney+ series would be moved to Wednesdays. As a result, the series premiered its first five episodes on July 21, 2021. The remaining five episodes premiered on August 25, 2021.
Controversy
On September 16, 2021, a statement of alleged plagiarism was raised to episode 4 of the series regarding the Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror. A Canadian YouTube channel called Art of Engineering pointed out several undeniable similarities to their original artwork and animations (showing the ride's interpreted interior layout) created by Art of Engineering and used in "How Disney's Tower of Terror Works" that was published on YouTube in 2019. Not only are the animations used in the Disney+ series a near perfect trace of the 2019 diagrams, but other fans pointed out the series' use of an orange background may allegedly indicate awareness of the parallels to the channel's 2019 work and an attempt to conceal the act as, throughout the rest of the episode, a more standard blue background was utilized. Neither Disney nor Seven Bucks Productions, the company responsible for the series, have commented on the matter, but internet reaction and US law seem to heavily be in favor of the original 2019 work.
As of September 21, 2021, the matter was resolved and Brian Volk-Weiss "offered a genuine apology on behalf of Disney, Nacelle and Seven Bucks Productions." The episode's credits were edited so that Art of Engineering creator James St. Onge received a credit for "Tower of Terror Blueprint Graphic Design".