Originally Posted By markymouse I've had this particular, and particularly big, armchair imagineering fantasy project stuck in my mind for far too long. So, to get it out there, I've decided to write down my ideas for my own DCA. Today's installment starts with the entrance and ends with Grizzly Peak. Build Your Own Disney’s California Adventure Has anyone else tried out the awesome new toy available at EnginEars, Build Your Own Disney’s California Adventure? At half a billion dollars, it’s pretty expensive. But I finally sprung for it, and I’ve been having a blast. When you first open the box and read the instruction book, you are faced with two defining choices: 1. Work with what is there or bulldoze it? And 2. How committed are you to the California theme? I chose not to bulldoze, and to be very flexible about the California theme but not to throw it out completely. Entrance The first thing you’ll notice in my BYO DCA is the new entrance. You say it looks familiar. You see, I believe Disney theme park designers try too hard to make their own mark, to design something new and different. They go out of their way to prove that they are too creative to simply copy what has come before. They wouldn’t be caught dead asking “What would Walt do?†I, on the other hand, believe Walt was hands-down the greatest theme park designer ever. So my BYO DCA is heavily informed by Disneyland. Walt built a train station at the entrance to Disneyland because in the story telling, it tells you “You have left the outside world and arrived someplace specialâ€. So my BYO DCA also invites you to arrive via a train station. With the monorail track running right there, it only makes sense. What’s that? You say you get that, but that’s not why the entrance seems familiar. Maybe it’s because this particular train station is noticeably influenced by southern California’s Mission Revival train stations. Borrowing a great deal from San Diego’s Santa Fe (now Amtrak) station, my BYO DCA’s entrance has two ornate domed towers, and a large entrance archway, all in tan stucco, topped with red tile roofs. Entering the station, you note that guest services are here, at old fashioned train station ticket windows. So are the stairs and elevator to the monorail station. That’s right, in my BYO DCA, the monorail stops in both parks as well as at Downtown Disney. Though it’s tempting to move on, I recommend you walk upstairs to enjoy the Concourse, a very stylish art deco café and bar where you can have a coffee while watching, in one direction, the monorail gracefully pulling in to the station, or in the other direction, the view down El Camino Real to my BYO DCA’s central wienie – Califia’s Castle. Rounding out the station – officially called the Golden State Train Station – are a large gift shop to the left (re-themed but essentially Greetings from California) and the EnginEars toy store and the ice cream shop housed in the streamlined passenger train to the right. That area gets to stay virtually untouched since it fits the train station theme so well. Now, a few words about layout: These two wings of the train station form the front sides of the Entrance Plaza. Grizzly Peak and Hollywood Pictures are entered from the sides of the Entrance Plaza. The plaza becomes El Camino Real which then leads to the Central Plaza. The other lands, and Califia’s Castle, are reached from the Central Plaza. The design is much like Disneyland’s with the Town Square, Main Street USA, and the Hub – but more condensed. El Camino Real and the Central Plaza El Camino Real is a California take on Main Street USA. Though there are more than a couple of art deco and Mission Revival buildings, ala Hollywood Blvd., this pedestrian friendly street is less Sunset Strip and more the downtown of an affluent older town in perhaps Marin or Humboldt County. Plenty of ornate Victorian architecture and small trees make El Camino Real a welcoming place to begin your visit. You’ll find the street friendlier and less hip than what you expected at the old DCA. No smoothies here. Just a bakery, ice cream parlor, and several shops, all themed a decade or two later than in Main Street, USA, but still nostalgic and friendly. El Camino Real has the typical mix of shops and snack places. There is a bakery where you can watch the bakers at work. Because people enjoy watching things being made, guests can watch treats being made in the bakery and in Paradise Pier’s candy shop. It turns out some people get more excited about eating brownies and salt water taffy than sourdough bread and tortillas. Actually, the tortilla factory has survived, though relocated. There is a movie theater. It is of a later vintage than the one on Main Street USA, more art deco. It shows color Disney classic cartoons, “The Band Concert†and things like that. There is an ice cream shop. The theme is an ice cream shop/soda shop of the 1920s or later. A highly opinionated aside about the shops: On our last visit to the real DCA, I looked for a t-shirt for our 3 year old. I’d have loved a Mike and Sully to the Rescue t-shirt or a Turtle Talk t-shirt. None were to be found. In his size – remember, he’s three – I could find t-shirts with Soarin’, California Screamin’, and Tower of Terror. Three oh so popular attractions with preschoolers! In my BYO DCA, you’ll have no trouble finding t-shirts and other merchandize related to the most popular attractions for younger guests like Turtle Talk. A bookstore is sponsored by Compass Books and is basically a small satellite of their Downtown Disney store. It’s the best place in the park to find books based on your favorite Disney (Muppet, Star Wars, etc.) characters. There are also books for adults about Disneyland, Walt Disney, Hollywood, and California. One unique shop/attraction is the Ansel Adams Gallery sponsored by Kodak. Of course the Gallery provides film and disposable cameras and a place to pick up your Disney photos. There is also a gallery of California nature photography by Adams and others. Prints are available for purchase. In addition, there are several interactive kiosks where you can get lessons from experts on photographic topics. If you are interested in bypassing the shops of El Camino Real, you can always take the trolley. A small trolley – larger than the horse drawn street car on Main Street USA but still small by real world standards – carries guests through the park. On busy days, a vintage bus joins it. Like some real world trolleys, this one avoids having to turn around, because at the end of the route, the conductor simply flips the seat backs to reverse the direction the seats face, and then relocates to the other end of the trolley. The trolley makes stops in front of the Hyperion Theater, the Entrance Plaza, the Central Plaza, the Town of Grizzly Peak (near the Palace of Fine Arts), and Paradise Pier. Trolleys are typically powered by overhead wires. Here, though, that would interfere with parades. So this trolley is powered by pixie dust. Let’s hop off the trolley at the Central Plaza stop, in front of the park’s new central icon, Califia’s Castle. But before we get to the castle, let’s check out the statuary in the middle of the Central Plaza, known as Eureka. A raised bed – surrounded by benches, small shade trees, flower beds, and – no doubt – a popcorn cart – is home to a set of statues. At the center is a life size statue of a native Californian woman with her hand resting on the back of a grizzly bear. They are surrounded by three smaller pieces of statuary: the word “EUREKAâ€, a sailing ship, and a 49er panning for gold. For those of you who were paying attention in school, you’ll recognize these as the elements of the California state seal. Thanks to a little more pixie dust, when you walk by again, you might find the sailing ship replaced with an old time steam locomotive or a tule reed boat. Or the 49er replaced by a WW2 woman defense worker. These two elements change during the day, showing different modes of transportation and work representative of California. Grizzly Peak Now let’s head back to the Entrance Plaza, and go into the land of Grizzly Peak. You might have noticed I called Grizzly Peak a land. Grizzly Peak has been promoted from a district to being its own land, having absorbed Condor Flats and the Bay Area. Guests are welcomed to Grizzly Peak with a large, but tasteful, sign for “Grizzly Peak Recreation Area†carved into a boulder – something already in place at the Bay Area end. True to the placemaking rumors, the land has had a strong dose of Arts and Crafts. There are more trees. The black asphalt has been replaced with tan cement simulating bare earth – first a dirt airstrip and later a woodland trail. Remember I chose not to bulldoze, so I have to deal with the conflicting images associated with the first two major features of the land – Soarin’s aircraft hanger and the Grand Californian. The most visually pure approach would be to put an arts and crafts park lodge look over everything. The Taste Pilot Grill and the Soarin’ building would be refaced as park lodge buildings, seemingly part of the Grand Californian. People would have to accept that they enter the Soarin’ attraction through a park lodge. I have gone for a different approach that hopes to survive jumbling two distinct looks in one area – the park lodge and the airfield. The Taste Pilot Grill has been re-themed as an arts and crafts lodge, The Grizzly Peak Lodge. All those exposed beams are now log beams. The food is still counter service, to provide a quick meal for people leaving or entering the park, and to keep from competing too directly with the restaurants of the Grand Californian. You can get a burger, sandwich, or salad, or you can choose from a limited choice of entrees typical of a national park lodge, such as blueberry pancakes at breakfast, and a choice of salmon, herb chicken, or pot roast at lunch and dinner. A pet peeve of mine is the distance from restaurants to restrooms at Disney parks. The restrooms currently attached to the little aviation gift shop are gone. Now the restrooms are in the corner of the Grizzly Peak Lodge, accessible from the dining room and from outside. Now comes the jarring part, because between the Grizzly Peak Lodge and the Grand Californian is the Grizzly Peak Airfield. This dirt airfield welcomes wealthy and adventurous travelers who choose to visit Grizzly Peak by that exciting new mode of travel – the airplane. The right part of the airfield is dominated by Soarin’ which has not been substantially changed. The left part welcomes an attraction new to DCA. The area that had been the aviation gift shop and bathrooms is still themed to small service buildings of a rural airfield. But now, along with a smaller gift shop, the main tenant is the Barn Stormer. Goofy’s Barn Stormer is a kid-friendly roller coaster from Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Families ride a small roller coaster themed to an out of control bi-plane flying around – and through – the ride’s building. Goofy is emphasized less than at WDW. The last feature of the airfield is a small airplane, of an earlier vintage than the one currently residing in the real DCA. There is a luggage cart full of trunks, as if a plane load of passengers has just arrived at the Grand Californian. With more trees and the asphalt replaced with faux bare earth, the feel walking deeper into Grizzly Peak is more woodsy than you might be used to. Of course the Grand Californian is still a dominant feature. No way to change that. Grizzly River Run and the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail are not substantially changed, except for the already rumored addition of animatronic animals and a late 19th/early 20th century theme to GRR. Two new attractions are just beyond. To the right, squeezed in just past the Challenge Trail is The Grizzly Peak Nature Trail. This wooded trail leads past small habitats – with glass fronts but themed to look like boulders, hollow redwood trees, and the like – with various smaller California wildlife, such as ringtails, California quail, banana slugs, and desert tortoise. Like many trails, this one ends at a waterfall, habitat to three or four river otters. This attraction is new for DCA. But there is a logic behind it. I suspect that park planners wished to bring various elements of Walt Disney World to California, in a compact form. So they included studio attractions ala Disney-MGM Studios. They included edutainment ala Epcot, such as Season of the Vine, Golden Dreams, and the Bountiful Valley Farm. This and some other attractions add the missing element – animal attractions ala Disney’s Animal Kingdom. If the Grizzly Peak Nature Trail supports the realistic side of Grizzly Peak, the new attraction across from it supports the whimsical. Behind the buildings of the old Bay Area is a new dark ride. The County Bears are coming to DCA! Now, where have I seen that before? The new Country Bears dark ride is a water dark ride (like Small World, Splash Mountain and Pirates). The ride experience is a lot like Splash Mountain’s little brother or little sister -- floating along in a boat past kid-friendly scenes, with a few fun but modest drops. The scenes show various Country Bears in their daily lives – fishing, sitting on the porch swing, and eventually in the finale, performing a show. Of course their hearts are full of song, so there is lots of singing. One of my favorite in jokes on the ride – as you enter one of the darker parts of the ride, a spotlight lights up Melvin the moose. He says, very dramatically “Stuffed moose tell no tales.†Then a spotlight lights up Max the deer who says something like “What are you talking about? You tell tales all the time. Like the one about …†Then Buff the buffalo lights up and adds “Really, it’s impossible to keep you quiet.†Then, as you are about to pass under them, Melvin tilts down toward you and says something to you. It varies a bit from trip to trip. It could be “Watch out for the waterfall.†Or “You might want to scream now.†Or “Mind the gap.†Or “I turned down a part in Brother Bear for this?†The jokes are corny but the songs are familiar. Feel free to sing along. Adding a dark ride and an A ticket nature exhibit to this area and adding Barn Stormer across from Soarin’ reflect something I’ve noticed about the parks. An area of any theme park needs a cluster of attractions together to give people several things to do. Hollywood Pictures Backlot has finally become successful because Monsters Inc, Muppet Vision, Turtle Talk, and the other Animation exhibits have produced an area where you have a lot to do in one area. At the other extreme is Critter Country. If you are four, Critter Country offers one attraction, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. If you are over ten, it offers one attraction, Splash Mountain. If you are open to both experiences, it offers a grand total of two attractions. This area has a tough time because there aren’t enough things to do grouped together. Likewise, in the real DCA, what is a child to do after Redwood Creek Challenge Trail? Or after Jumpin’ Jellyfish? One goal of my BYO DCA is to add attractions to make clusters of things to do, like what exists now in Hollywood Pictures Backlot. Back to our walk through Grizzly Peak: The Bay Area has become The Town of Grizzly Peak. It is an ornate Victorian town. We’ll all survive having to wonder how the Palace of Fine Arts got there. To the right, the Golden Dreams theater seems to be gone. A Victorian store front façade has been added to hide it. The theater, with a completely different show, is now accessed from Paradise Pier. Golden Dreams is now in a smaller theater within Califia’s Castle. The bathrooms are still there. I’ve not quite decided what to put in the vacant Victorians to the left. Shops make more sense around the corner on El Camino Real. A dining spot makes more sense around the corner facing Paradise Bay and the rides of Paradise Pier. I certainly wouldn’t rule out an earthquake themed attraction. This could be either a simulator on a Star Tours scale or a grander attraction along the lines of Indy. There are a few characters who make their homes in Grizzly Peak. The characters from Brother Bear stay within the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area, while more anthropomorphic characters hang out in the rest of the land – the Country Bears, Chip and Dale, and Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore. Human characters include various park rangers and 49er types, including the Minor 49ers. That's all for today's tour. Next time, a much livelier Pacific Wharf and a hardly changed at all A Bug's Land.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Looks like a park I'd want to visit. My only problem is I LIKE Condor Flats, it speaks to me. Check out the ceiling exhibit in the shop accross from Soarin' Over California and you'll get a hint into why ;-).
Originally Posted By markymouse Yes, Deb. It's always easier to do in what you don't have a personal connection with. I've never been in that shop. If it's like so many corners of DCA, it doesn't get the credit it deserves.
Originally Posted By markymouse <My only problem is I LIKE Condor Flats, it speaks to me.> The idea behind Grizzly Peak Airfield is to keep much of Condor Flats, but to thematically incorporate it with the area around it. Hopefully it will still speak to you.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's great! I especially like the idea of putting Soarin in a lodge. I've wondered how they would hide that huge building, but theming it to a lodge with a high vaulted roof would cover the shape and fit into the theme. The one thing that confuses me a little at this point (although it may be explained later), is where the El Camino Real will go. As it currently is, there is almost no space for a road with a hub on the end there, as the Sun Icon is pretty much on the back side of the ITTBAB theater. If the theater is getting removed (and from the scale of your plans, it wouldn't surprise me), then there would be enough room for a lot of expansion there.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 you are faced with two defining choices: 1. Work with what is there or bulldoze it? And 2. How committed are you to the California theme?" -1. Work with what is there. 2. VERY committed. CA is a spectacular theme and very diverse and broad. I would tell a strong story of CA in that park, instead of water the them down and add things just because they may seem "popular" or lacking in the park.
Originally Posted By markymouse I've stared and stared at the satellite image of DCA. And I am convinced you can pack a street with pretty shallow buildings on both sides between Grizzly Peak and the ITTBAB theater. The outdoor cue area would be gone. And the street scene immediately in front of the theater would just be a facade. But I think it would work. The central plaza would be the back two thirds or so of the Bountiful Valley Farm. I should say that one of the features of Build Your Own Disney's California Adventure is you get to decide how many liberties you want to take putting square pegs into round holes. If you have your doubts about the physics of El Camino, just wait till you see what I claim to put into Paradise Pier. Seriously, I suspect I'm overdoing what can be fit between the entrance plaza and the central plaza.
Originally Posted By markymouse <CA is a spectacular theme and very diverse and broad. I would tell a strong story of CA in that park, instead of water the them down and add things just because they may seem "popular" or lacking in the park.> I really don't disagree. I would love to see what the right people with the right budget could do with it. But it's not a theme I'd have ever picked. I'd never want to tie my hands with something that would cause management to tell an imagineer "No, we can't use your mission to Mars idea or your Lion King idea. Can you do something with the Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County?" Having said that, I do want to reiterate, that my DCA is just one approach. One that takes a lot of liberties with the California theme. There are places that stick closer to the theme. The Country Bears are a California creation, originally intended for the mountains of California, where they are in my park. Then there's Ansel Adams and the very California train station. But then there's my Paradise Pier, which takes a BIG liberty. But that comes later.
Originally Posted By markymouse I've been a busy little mouse this evening, so I think I'm going to go ahead and post the next installment of my Build Your Own Disney's California Adventure. It includes possibly my favorite part of my park, sort of Disney's Animal Kingdom of California, with the last minute addition of a very questionable, very un-California E ticket. See what you think. Pacific Wharf From Monterey, California to Bar Harbor, Maine towns that once thrived on catching and canning fish have found new life exhibiting fish and educating the public about them. The same thing has happened to the businesses of Pacific Wharf. Pacific Wharf has become its own land, focused on the wonder of California’s sea life, plus one huge, probably out of place, E-ticket attraction. The waters around Pacific Wharf make it obvious this land has found a new focus. The water is much deeper in most places, and surrounds Pacific Wharf on three sides. It has been completely cut off from Pacific Bay, thanks to a wall under the bridge to Avalon Cove. A modest wave machine has been installed under the bridge, causing small waves that add kinetic energy to the area. But the big change is the addition of small colonies of sea otters and harbor seals that now live in the waters around Pacific Wharf. The sea otters and seals are awesome to watch and are the stars of this land. Most of the buildings of Pacific Wharf have been adapted for aquarium use. The building that was the Pacific Wharf Distribution Co. is now home to Otter Bay. In this aquarium exhibit, there are two large naturalistic tanks and several smaller tanks. The main exhibit is an indoor area for the sea otters. The sea otters spend part of their time in the waters around Pacific Wharf, and part of their time inside, where naturalist cast members educate people about them. The other large exhibit shows a kelp forest, and includes a lot of the other creatures one would associate with the sea otter’s habitat – fish, sea stars, eels, small sharks, etc. The smaller tanks, which look like they’re part of pipes and other industrial equipment ala the Cannery Row theme, include smaller California sea life. The jellies are always intriguing. At the far end of this building is a quiet A-ticket attraction, the True Life Adventure Theater. This is simply a small theater that shows segments from True Life Adventures and similar Disney nature programs related to the sea, such as Seal Island. Unless a segment is already showing, a guest can choose from six or so different segments. This adds to the theater’s repeatability. The Pacific Wharf Café is still in place. The Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill is now a counter service outdoor restaurant with fish and chips, clam chowder in a bread bowl, shrimp cocktail, crab cocktail and the like, along the lines of the outdoor stalls at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. But the rest of their buildings have been converted into aquarium-type exhibits. The building that had housed the Tortilla Factory is now home to the Museum of the Sea. This has a number of hands on, fun exhibits as well as exhibits of sea animals. It isn’t limited to California sea life. The coral reef exhibit features some very popular clown fish. The host of the museum is Mr. Ray, the teacher from Finding Nemo. He seems to swim from tank to tank, where he interacts with guests – the next generation of the technology used in Turtle Talk and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Though Mr. Ray represents the next step, he can’t replace the appeal of Turtle Talk which has become an instant classic. So Turtle Talk with Crush now has its permanent home in this building. The ground floor of the building that had housed the Bakery Tour is divided between more space for the café and exhibits about Californians’ relationship to the sea. But to enjoy the building’s new attraction, you walk down a ramp. Below the building is the Pacific Wharf Tide Pools. The exhibit is themed to look as if you have wandered under the Pacific Wharf to find a collection of rocky tide pool outcroppings. The ground is sand colored and gritty. There are shore plants. The rocky tide pools are actually touch tanks where guests can touch sea urchins, crabs, sea stars, and other inhabitants of the tidal zone along California’s coast. There is even a tank for petting small leopard sharks. Of course, naturalist cast members are there to teach and to watch out for the sea life. At the far end of the exhibit, past a fence with a typical “Closed area – Shore bird nesting area†is a naturalistic display with several types of shore birds. There are two gift shops in Pacific Wharf. In the Otter Bay area, there is a gift shop featuring plush seals and otters, and other sea life and nautical themed items. It is also a good place to meet your pirate shopping needs if you can’t make it to New Orleans Square. In the Museum of the Sea building near Turtle Talk is a gift shop which specializes in Finding Nemo toys, shirts, etc. The Sea Dogs are a live entertainment group that from time to time entertains guests with sea shanties, and tales of the sea. The final stop on our tour of Pacific Wharf is a big E-ticket attraction. The side of Pacific Wharf opposite the café, which in real life is just a wooden wall hiding back stage areas and parking, now has a big new resident. A sailing ship rests at dock. Just past its narrow berth is a large wooden waterfront warehouse. The ship is a late 19th/early 20th century sailing ship just back from a voyage of exploration of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. It is also the entrance way to Pirates at World’s End. Though you could argue otherwise, I’m not sure I can think of an attraction with a sequel. But at the risk of jumping on the Pirates bandwagon, that’s exactly what I’ve done. PAWE is a lot like POTC but with a lot of ice. It’s a chance for the Imagineers to take all their great ideas for POTC and Pirate’s Lair and create a whole new icy world. But watch out for the water fall. It’s a big one. Now let’s cross the Central Plaza and go into A Bug’s Land. A Bug’s Land Without a doubt, A Bug’s Land is the least changed of all of DCA’s lands. The cue area for It’s Tough to be a Bug has been completely redone because of the intrusion of El Camino Real. But the show and the interior of the theater haven’t changed. Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies is gone – victim of being officially my least favorite attraction at any Disney park. The space with the giant umbrella and most of the theming are left in place, and is now a covered outdoor eating area. A small counter service restaurant has been added which features typical theme park fast food. I think this is a really cute place, but a terrible attraction. This eatery lets you sit still for a nice long rest while enjoying the spot’s visual appeal. Then again, that’s pretty much what the Drive ‘Em Buggies already does. A useful logistical improvement has taken place. An underpass now allows guests to pass directly from Flik’s Fun Fair to the Tower of Terror area of Hollywood Pictures. It needed to be an underpass to preserve the backstage access between the two lands, essential for parades among other things. A more typical passageway between the new restaurant and the Chew Chew Train provides access to the Golden State, a new land in what is now the parking lot. However, our next walk through my BYO DCA will be through Hollywood Pictures.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That all sounds really good. I'm not sure how many people would be interested in looking at some sea life during their day at a theme park, but I bet there would be a surprising number of people who stop in just to check it out and really enjoy it. It sounds like some of the buildings would need to be expanded some (or at least use several of the already existing floors in the buildings), but that's not the end of the world. I'm a little concerned about the otters, since the area you propose is already blocked off from the rest of the lagoon, as it is the water storage "tank" for GRR. I'm sure that could be relocated backstage, but it would be difficult. Also, the layout for El Camino Real would definately work, but it just never occured to me to have the road go off to the side like that. Some of the buildings on the GRR side could probably use the space within the mountain for the inside, which would free up room on the ITTBAB side for some shallow shops. It could even have a little NOS style block of shops in the current Sunshine Plaza area, as most of that space would be untouched in your plan. This sounds really cool! If only this were Disney announcing it, then it would just be amazing.
Originally Posted By markymouse Now a tour of a land that's had a few additions and changes, rather than radical changes. Hollywood Pictures My Hollywood Pictures land is light on exciting new attractions. Instead hope to find some new theming, and a few good attractions from WDW. And one cool new AA show. One of the first things you might notice walking down Hollywood Boulevard are the “Mouse Earsâ€. Like the stars’ handprints and names in the real Hollywood, Disney stars have written their names and left handprints in Mouse Ear plaques set in the cement of Hollywood Pictures’ sidewalks. Each Mouse Ear also features a small plaque listing some of the star’s major Disney achievements. Also, the Mouse Ears are set in the sidewalk in such a way that they can be removed if the star’s appeal should prove to be of a passing nature. Zac who? Of course, Richard and Robert Sherman (in front of the Hyperion Theater), the surviving Nine Old Men (in front of the animation building), Julie Andrews, and the like will be there for good. On a practical matter, many of Disney’s oldest stars (directors, animators, etc.) will be invited to leave their mark sooner rather than later. Because you never know. If you come on a day that a new Mouse Ear is being dedicated, it is sometimes a big event. Looking left you’ll notice that the entrance façade for the Muppet attraction now faces Hollywood Boulevard. This raises the attraction’s profile and gives guests a fun attraction as soon as they enter the land. More importantly it frees up its old façade. But more on that later. Notice I said “the Muppet attraction.†Not “Muppet Vision 3-Dâ€. That’s because that show is gone. Instead the theater houses a new show called “The Muppet Show – Live (sort of)†featuring state of the art interactive audio-animatronic Muppets. This is an audio-animatronic version of the original Muppet Show. Fozzie Bear makes bad jokes. Kermit sings a song. Miss Piggy gets mad at someone. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker blow something up. But technology is used to allow the characters to interact with the audience, and to vary the songs and jokes. And of course Statler and Waldorf are still there. They have the best seats in the house but are still complaining, though this time their wisecracks are customizable. Turning the corner we enter the area that had been defined by Muppet Vision, the backlot stage, and the stand alone gift shop. The area is now known as Disney Studios. Do a quick google image search on “Disney Studio Hyperion†and you’ll see the early Disney Studio on Hyperion Boulevard. It consisted of two wings with a curved structure in the angle formed by the wings. In its new incarnation, the left wing hides the Muppet show building and the right wing hides the old Who Wants to be a Millionaire building. Within the building are three attractions, none of them original to DCA. “The Walt Disney Story†recreates Walt’s office and other elements that until recently could be enjoyed in Disneyland’s Opera House. It also serves as the pre-show for “One Man’s Dreamâ€. “One Man’s Dream†is a film presentation about Walt Disney and his dream, a copy of the attraction at Disney-MGM Studios. There is also exhibit space to show props and art from Disney films, classics as well as the latest film the studio might want to promote. “Mickey’s PhilharMagic†places the popular WDW 3-D film in the space that had been used for Millionaire. I like that there is a small outdoor stage. But I am not a big fan of the backstage theme. Like more than a few critics I’ve read, I feel movie theme parks excuse a lot of short cuts by claiming to be themed to 2-D movie sets. I prefer to keep that to a minimum. Specifically, on our recent visit to the real DCA, we heard a terrific middle school orchestra performing in what is not exactly the most visually pleasing stage setting. So the back lot stage is completely re-themed. Maybe it’s the great weather, maybe it’s the once abundant land, but many California towns have beautiful city plazas – fairly small parklands right in the center of the city, with perhaps a statue or a canon. Maybe a few tables for chess. And sometimes a bandstand. The whole wedge of structures that housed Schmoozies and the Backlot Stage has been ripped out. In its place is an oasis of grass, trees, shade and nature. There is still a snack stand featuring smoothies. And there is a stage and seating. But now it is in a restful, park-like setting. The back left corner of Hollywood Pictures, between Monsters, Inc. and the Hyperion Theater had been devoted to a bathroom and a gift shop. Now it has been turned into something more interesting. Behind a façade themed as a drive-in movie screen is the Disney Dine-In Theater. Its based on the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Disney-MGM, except that the theme is now Disney shorts and trailers rather than Sci-Fi movies. You sit in cars watching movies in a “drive in theater†while you enjoy a casual meal. Fans of the touch screens at the Taste Pilot Grill will be pleased to see that each car has its own screen from which you place your order. This promises to be a destination eatery in DCA, though more for the experience than the food. The Hyperion Theater receives its long awaited indoor lobby and bathrooms. I actually think the pre-show wait will always be complicated logistically, because you have to keep people in a line, so that the guests who’ve waited longest get first pick at the best seats. But at least they can be in a line indoors. In a typical theater lobby, you could enjoy refreshments before the show. That’s hard to do if you’re stuck in line. Perhaps there can be vendors who circulate through the waiting area. Something more stylish than what you’d see at a baseball game. More like those old fashioned nightclub cigarette girls. But with Cokes and popcorn instead of Lucky Strikes. Mike and Sully to the Rescue, the Animation building and the Tower of Terror remain pretty much as they are. Perceptive readers will remember there is now an underpass connecting the area near TOT with Flik’s Fun Fair. Perceptive readers will also notice a void has been left in the Animation building, since Turtle Talk has been moved to Pacific Wharf. I’m sure something will fill the space soon enough. Maybe pin trading! Just joking. Next time we’ll hop on the trolley – it stops in front of the Hyperion – and ride it all the way to Paradise Pier.
