Originally Posted By mstaft Great News From the Disneyland Media department : ----------------------------------------- 15 October 2008 Blue Sky Cellar Unveils Exciting New Magic Coming to Disney’s California Adventure Park ANAHEIM, Calif., October 15, 2008 – Nestled in the Golden Vine Winery at the base of Grizzly Peak in Disney’s California Adventure Park, the Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar is a place where Guests will get an exclusive sneak preview of what is new and what is in store for the expansion of the Disneyland Resort. Beginning October 20, Guests will view working models as well as dozens of concepts and sketches from Disney Imagineers, the creative minds behind the design and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions. With Blue Sky Cellar, Guests will be invited for the first time to preview works in progress at Disneyland Resort by immersing themselves in a facsimile of an Imagineering workspace. Based on the belief that idea gathering is best when “the sky’s the limit,” the Blue Sky Cellar is designed to resemble an Imagineering “charette,”an extended creative idea development meeting. Guests receive an inside-look at how Imagineers take “blue sky” ideas and refine them into the classic storytelling that characterizes Disney Theme Park attractions and adventures. In this whimsical immersive setting, Imagineers have taken over a former wine cellar and set up shop. Wine barrels have turned into work stations and the former wine tasting room has become a screening room where videos showcase the behind-the-scenes magic that goes into the creation of new and upcoming attractions for Disney’s California Adventure. Guests will view several new attraction models, including the newly envisioned Paradise Pier area with its turn-of-the-20th-Century look, ride vehicle maquettes from Toy Story Mania!; and the new character overlays to the Games of the Boardwalk. Special features include updates and character additions to attractions such as Mickey’s Fun Wheel (an enhancement of the current Sun Wheel) and Silly Symphony Swings (a refreshed and rethemed Orange Stinger). Brand new sketches and artwork line the walls including images of the new entrance area, soon to be known as Buena Vista Street, which will bring to life a nostalgic look at Los Angeles from the 1920s and 30s when Walt Disney first arrived in California; a Red Car trolley, reminiscent of the Pacific Electric Railway; and a new central plaza area including a replica of the Carthay Circle Theatre, where Walt premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The “coming soon” area features images of Disney’s World of Color and The Little Mermaid attraction, and looks even further ahead to Cars Land, a 12-acre expansion of the Park which will bring to life the town of Radiator Springs from the Disney/Pixar animated film Cars, complete with three new attractions for the whole family. Additionally, Guests in Blue Sky Cellar will have fun testing their knowledge of Disney trivia at one of the interactive workstations. The screening room features Imagineers describing the approach and vision of the Disney California Adventure expansion. Guests will see footage of model-making, sculpting, blue sky meetings and all the aspects of bringing a Disney concept to life. Included in the original announcement of the multi-year expansion of the Disneyland Resort in Fall 2007, the Blue Sky Cellar is part of the overall commitment to keep the community and Disneyland Resort Guests informed of the exciting new and upcoming plans for the Resort. Future updates will focus on other new areas and attractions, and Guests are invited to return periodically for additional exciting information. ------------------------------- Sounds promising! Mark www.insightsandsounds.blogspot.com
Originally Posted By submarine-maniac I went to the CM preview today. It was very nice. They fed us breakfast and then we got to go inside and take a look. I think it was very well done, and it got me excited again for everything.
Originally Posted By jmuboy Miceage has pics of the new preview center up: <a href="http://micechat.com/disneyland-news/California-adventure-fix/" target="_blank">http://micechat.com/disneyland...ure-fix/</a> Overall, very impressed (and still very excited). Here are some of my comments, thoughts, and things I noticed: - Looks like the Maliboomer will be replaced with three parachute drops. All the same height but on gradually higher bases giving them the illusion that some towers are taller than other. I had thought the replacement of Maliboomer would not happen right away. Surprised to see this ride. The parachute drop towers are also green.....wonder if the Green Army Men theme of the parachute drop (rumored by Al a year or 2 ago) is actually happening? Also, does this mean Jump'n Jellyfish are leaving? Or maybe the Jumping Jellyfish towers / theming are relocating to this spot. Who knows at this point. - Goofy's Fly School (if that is still the name) looks 1000 times better in this newest piece of concept art than what we saw last fall. It looks like they actually tried to make it fit the Victorian themeing (now if they still choose to rip it out I would be fine with that). - I still for the life of me can't figure out what type of ride the Mater ride will be. The circles on the "floor" of the ride area makes me think "Lady Bug Boogie" but why would we have that ride repeated again in the same park. - In the scale model there is also a new Victorian Pavilion built to house the carousel. Looks nice and blends well with the TSMM building. - The blue scream shields are missing from the scream'n coaster in all the art and the model??? If they do go away, I hope they add some big flags along the upward parts of the big drops like they used to have at old piers and amusement parks. - The giant sun icon to go inside the coaster loop, and replace the Mickey shilloutte, is not shown on the model. - The queue building and the wrap around boardwalk (and its adjoining pavilions) at Mickey's Fun Wheel look much more elaborate than what we saw last fall. Nice (still not a fan of the giant Mickey Face. Thought he Sun was just fine). ....and a final side note: With all these changes in the pier, will the Paradise Pier Hotel update its art work on the ground level which now includes references to so many rides that are going to be gone in a couple of years? Especially that big piece of art work behind the check in desk! I hope the answer is yes.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt I do not care for the redesign of MM. I suppose it does fit into the vintage theme better than the Goofy's Flying School overlay, but there's something about the latest redo that looks cheap to me.
Originally Posted By DlandDug I hope alll have seen the LP article by now: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/Lotion-View-746.asp" target="_blank">http://www.laughingplace.com/L...-746.asp</a> To answer a few questions... - Looks like the Maliboomer will be replaced with three parachute drops... does this mean Jump'n Jellyfish are leaving?<< I asked a specific question about this. The word is that the model is only for exploring ideas. The parachute jump is not yet a done deal, officially. Plan views show the Maliboomer gone, with Jellyfish and Zephyr still in place. >>Goofy's Fly School (if that is still the name) looks 1000 times better in this newest piece of concept art...<< I really don't think they will be doing this. This is one of many "proposals" posted around the room. It looks like an early effort to me. I do prefer this direction, though. >>I still for the life of me can't figure out what type of ride the Mater ride will be...<< It was refered to as a "spinner" in the presentation.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt You know, this all looks very nice, but there's something about it that is lacking. Other than the big E ticket in Cars Land and possibly the lagoon show there's not one other attraction that excites me.
Originally Posted By jmuboy Are you seriously not excited over the Little Mermaid Ride? I think it sounds pretty cool so far. And you have to address the basic issues of the park first - the lack of any nice themeing or park environment - before we can move forward with MORE cool rides. I am happy overall. We'll see what happens in the end.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "In the scale model there is also a new Victorian Pavilion built to house the carousel." I think this could very well be the 'new' thing (not seen before) that I'm the most excited about. It looks exactly like the antique carousel that we went to a lot when I was younger, but even better. In it's simple plan it just screams Victorian to me, and really jsut embodies everything that I hoped would end up at the Pier. Here's a picture of 'my' carousel's building: <a href="http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/chva/images/NT07_StoryCityCarousel2L.jpg" target="_blank">http://clubs.hemmings.com/club...el2L.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By Britain Now, is there there a new Screamin' queue in the model? It kinda looks like there is, but it isn't very detailed - like they aren't quite ready to commit to it yet.
Originally Posted By jmuboy In the model it looks like the Scream'n station has been enclosed and a new "wing" has been added as part of the enclosed queue line. Glad those silly tent/umbrella things are going away.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "Are you seriously not excited over the Little Mermaid Ride?" Meh. Not really. I'm not into mermaids, princesses, or orange stuffed bears. I'm sure it will be nice, like TSM is, but that subject matter is geared towards kids. After all the complaining since 2001 we still don't have anything on the boards for DLR like Spaceship Earth or The American Adventure. Again, this stuff all looks pretty, but it doesn't really address DCA's biggest problem for me: the lack of an ambitious signature E ticket attraction. Maybe that's coming in the yet to be announced 2nd phase.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I agree Hans. Rather than excited, I am disappointed. will the retooling of the Paradise Pier rides make me want to ride them any more than before? No, in fact the Waveswinger and Sun Wheel seem like down grades. I would rather see Califia or a Circle of Hands than the Little Mermaid. I would have wanted Bluesky cellar to have gone to another venue and Seasons of the Vine retained. I am quite excited with the concept of Carsland and the entrance, but overall, these changes feel like lipstick, and at the same time getting rid of some of what was right with DCA. Except for the entrance, everything is toons - that to me is a bad, not a good thing.
Originally Posted By jmuboy davewasbaloo - I agree that I want to see Golden Dreams and Seasons of the Vine return. My "Blue Sky" dream is that Golden Dreams shows up inside the new Cathay Circle (like originally planned) and Seasons of the Vine will return once the Blue Sky stuff is over in 2012.
Originally Posted By jmuboy Just watched the video that plays inside the cellar again. It seems like to me (the way they present the new ideas/attractions in order by year of opening) that the Games of the Boardwalk and the re-themed swings are the "next thing" we'll see to open after the Fun Wheel. They give these attractions a "coming soon" banner rather than a year date like the other attractions. Makes sense that they probably plan to close and re-do one of the pier rides at a time to keep capacity at a stable level. Plus the Orange Stinger will require large scale demo inside the drained lagoon before the new swings ride can happen.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Well, I'M excited enough for EVERYBODY about the new Little Mermaid ride! It may be the only place you can find Prince Eric and Ariel together at the resort! And just think of all the crabs we'll be able to see!!! ORGOCH: Keep the crabs ta yerself, sister! They's one thing I sure don't need in MY sorry life!
Originally Posted By ArchtMig >>>Again, this stuff all looks pretty, but it doesn't really address DCA's biggest problem for me: the lack of an ambitious signature E ticket attraction.<<< I know you hate the cartoon based theme. But Cars Land as an expansion development to an existing park looks as ambitious or even more ambitious as anything I can think Disney has ever added to an existing park. And the whole thing probably will cost nearly as much as they spent on all of original DCA in the first place. And Radiator Springs Racers is probably going to cost as much as Expedition Everest did, and I think that one was probably the most expensive single add to an existing park that Disney has done to date. And although you may not like the story of it, or the theme, to not consider it an "ambitious signature E ticket attraction" is simply wrong. If they spend as much money as it takes to pull off everything that is depicted in the drawings, Cars Land will be the first thing that is exclusive to Anaheim and drooled over and envied by Disney park fans worldwide since Indy in 1994. NOTHING at Disneyland since Indy, nor ANYTHING EVER at DCA, gives us the kind of over the top bragging rights that Cars Land has the potential for.
Originally Posted By ArchtMig And yeah, it's based on a cartoon... I know, I know. But that's all we're getting nowadays, and we have no control over that. So ya either stop coming back, or you just have to suck it up and enjoy it IF the project is spectacularly realized. (In other words, no more washed out failures like our version of Pooh. Or Tomorrowland) I like Pixar movies. A lot. I like the movie Cars. Yeah, I wish that Disney would do something major NOT based on a movie property for a change. But they're not going to. Not here at least. We won't get an Expedition Everest based on nothing that Disneyland or DCA can relate to. We won't get a Spaceship Earth. We won't get something groundbreaking like Mission Space unless it's a clone of something groundbreaking like Mission Space, only ten or fifteen years past the point that the original was groundbreaking. That's how the company treats us here at the li'l Disneyland Resort. We get retreads of stale old attractions and ideas (Innoventions, poop brown Space Mountain, HISTA, Muppets, ITTBAB, Astro Orbiter, Pooh, the list goes on and on). Or we get very well done fresh new state of the art and/or totally unique things (Nemo Subs, TSMM, Radiator Springs Racers) that are based on cartoons. Given the choice between old retreads that are stale the moment they open the doors here in Anaheim vs. totally new and unique state of the art attractions based on cartoon films that I'm a big fan of anyway, I pick the cartoon based attractions. And in the case of Cars Land and especially Radiator Springs Racers, I'm super excited over the potential there.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney I have to agree with Archmig here! I of course, use to be VERY critical of DCA turning into DPA as Dave is and certainly agree with him, but I think I just resigned to the fact now that DLR and DCA especially will just be a cartoon based roster of rides and shows and that obviously isnt going to change anytime soon. I mean, DCA has created ONE attraction since opening that was non-cartoon based and that was TOT, one, which was a clone anyway and based on a tv show. But everything else since the quick fixes and post TOT has all been cartoon stuff and specifically Pixar based minus Aladdin. DCA is really a park that is 180 degree difference then what it opened up as since the only attractions at the time that were heavily cartoon based were only the 3D films and the Animation studio. Of course, back then, DCA was suppose to be an 'adult' theme park. Seven years later and the cartoon shows and rides seem to far outweigh the other stuff now, it really does tell you that DCA of 2001 was a disater on a grand scale since they abandoned everything that park was suppose to represent. And now that we are entering DCA: phase three (I say that because phase one was the opening and phase two was the quick fixes and completly cartooning up the theme a few years later with FFF, MSEP, the kiddie shows, Monsters Inc and etc) and now phase three (although officially phase two) is just a bigger, heavier version of continuing what phase two started. On one level it DOES suck, on the other level, I do like the fact that everything that is being introduced, EVERYTHING are all original idea's. I mean, that's what is incredible about this new phase: every new show, ride and land is completely original to DCA and DCA only. You certainly couldnt say that about DCA when it opened and one of my main beef with the park at the time. Hell, the only thing in that place that said originality and was GOOD was Soarin, Screamin (although as far as coasters goes was different even though it's in the vein of anything Sixx Flaggs has done in the past) and the animation studio. Everything else was a WDW clone or a knock off of a SFMM ride. It's quite sad when you look at that lineup. So yeah, even though this stuff is waaaay too cartoon oriented, I do like the fact its brand new 'blue sky' thinking at least and I have a feeling something like Radiator Springs racer will not be duplicated for a long time to come or maybe never at all, sort of like Matterhorn at DL. It just might be an attraction that's too costly, too specifically themed to an area and simply too big to be put in anyplace else appropriately....or at least for a long time. I already heard TLM is being cloned at WDW, ONCE again like TSMM happened is being snatched up by its sister resort. But Radiator Springs wont be as easy I think. So, that's pretty cool .
Originally Posted By lesmisfan the cellar is great but yeah with the model of the pier the only thing that bites is that besides mania, the funwheel,and games of the boardwalk, most everything else is not going to happen, as in the carousel, the queue for screamin. this was one of the first models from a source i was talking to.
