Stolen Kingdom

by Mike McGranaghan

My 7-year-old has become fascinated with YouTube videos showing people exploring abandoned Toys R Us stores. These scavengers record themselves peeking in windows and rummaging through stuff left in the dumpsters out back. A few of them even manage to get inside the buildings. I have to admit that I get sucked into these videos every time he watches them. They produce an addictive combination of sadness and nostalgia that you can’t quite get anywhere else.

For that reason, I understand the motivations of the people we meet in Joshua Bailey’s documentary Stolen Kingdom. It focuses on “urban explorers” who break into abandoned Disney attractions, then show the world what they find inside.

The first half of the film contains a ton of riveting footage shot by the likes of YouTubers Adam the Woo, Dan Bell, and Matt Sonswa. We get to see them foraging through forbidden parts of the Magic Kingdom, meticulously photographing decrepit old exhibits that once delighted visitors and now sit in decay. It is a strange phenomenon that it’s financially cheaper for Disney to let these attractions rot than it is to disassemble them. This is clearly part of the allure.

During interview segments, the men - and yes, it seems to mostly be men taking part in the activity - provide glimpses into the psychology behind their adventures. Across the board, there is a long Disney fixation. Several subjects discuss buying fully into the “most magical place on Earth” image fostered by the company when they were children. This makes them yearn to revisit places they remember from the past which are no longer accessible to the public. Even if you don’t agree with what they do, the emotional connection generates undeniable empathy for these otherwise oddball individuals.

Stolen Kingdom veers into related territory during its second half. Not all urban explorers are content with just getting inside closed Disney buildings. A few, like Patrick Spikes, want to take something home with them. That’s right, they steal artifacts. Although it’s often just small pieces, one enterprising thief somehow made off with Buzzy, a heavy animatronic character from an EPCOT feature called “Cranium Command.” Nobody is sure how this heist was pulled off, who did it, or where Buzzy is today. Spikes seems the most likely suspect, but he denies it.

From a filmmaking perspective, Stolen Kingdom isn’t anything special. It only runs 74 minutes and is a bit scattershot in its assembly. However, the mystery of Buzzy’s disappearance is compelling, and the unprecedented footage from inside Disney’s forgotten lands is enough to keep your eyes glued to the screen.