MC Guffee, 10/2

"An allegory of the consumer society, a place of absolute iconism, Disneyland is also a place of total passivity. Its visitors must agree to behave like its robots."

In this quote, Eco is asserting that the experience of the consumer society correlates to the experience of Disneyland in that they provoke an innate sense of consumer duty to buy-in both mentally and financially to their production of tomorrow. Disney does in fact have its own unique set of rules and regulations for its patrons which when removed from the context of the park seem quite unfitting. Disney aims to produce a utopian society that features the highest technological advancements to leave visitors in awe of the potentials of reality. However, this reality they have created is severely distorted to fit the consumer culture and restrict the consumer's imagination. By confining the imagination of the consumer and propagating the future, a spell of control is spread over the visitors. This spread of control not only allows Disney to herd visitors around like sheep, but also lead the sheep to drink from their shops, restaurants, and other product placements.
Comparing Eco's stance on Disneyland to Habermas' on the "cult of the new," it is evident that both were aware of the unifying illusion behind displaying a utopian society. Both theorists are warning readers about the consumer rabbit hole that twist and turns but has no perceivable end. Rather, the consumer is convinced of a better tomorrow through improved technology and the immediacy of satisfaction. In both cases, the consumer is made to feel their life and its materials are inferior to the possibilities of their lives. Disney and the "cult of the new" display themselves as a necessity to a better life through immediate satisfaction and capturing the imagination of the consumer.
Disney projects their view of the future to stimulate in their visitors a sense of inferiority that propels consumers to accept this dreamscape as not only pleasurable but also the ultimate. Thus, reality, as Eco mentions, fails in comparison to Disney and alongside Habermas' "cult of the new" we begin to truly comprehend the power capitalism and the projection of utopian society can have over the public.