Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Lotion-View-1058.asp" target="_blank"><b>LP Lotion: Blue Sky Cellar Unveils New Exhibit</b></a> The Blue Sky Cellar has opened a new exhibit devoted to previews of the next phase of new developments at DCA including The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Goofy’s Sky School, the Red Cars and new Paradise Pier dining enhancements.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Looking at that drawing that says the Redcars could be used for entertainment, it seems like there's only one logical thing it could be: The Newsies.
Originally Posted By socalkdg The entertainment would be first thing in the morning when the park opens.
Originally Posted By TP2000 I'm going to have to Google the phrase "wig wag". Are we supposed to know what that is? Great photo update though! Thank you!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Wig wag: <a href="http://www.azrymuseum.org/collection/Chandler/Other/wig-wag.JPG" target="_blank">http://www.azrymuseum.org/coll...-wag.JPG</a> There are several of them that will be placed along the new trolley route. It's a very clever detail.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Ah, okay, a wig wag! Duh. Thanks Hans. I'm going to start calling those things that in routine conversation now. I like how they noted they would remove the step bars off of them built for trainmen to climb up and service the equipment, likely to prevent kids from climbing up the wig wags when they are in the park. They do seem to be pouring a million details into everything new that goes into DCA, don't they? I have a feeling the new entrance complex is going to be visually stunning and full of charm.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>They do seem to be pouring a million details into everything new that goes into DCA, don't they?<< Sure looks that way. They're really going all out with lots of terrific little details. And there's going to be so much more in the way of kinetic energy when it's all done -- more movement and life than was there before.
Originally Posted By DlandDug There is a genuine antique PE wig wag at the Los Angeles Live Steamers in Griffith Park. I am also glad to see they are including atmospheric detail in this reimagining of DCA.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Yeah DCA 2.0 is just turning out to be better than I thought it would be. Its the details, one thing that this park didnt have, that is really impressive. What's funny is only 30% of the expansion has been done so far and DCA just feels different now. Can you imagine when the rest of it will be done?? 2012 cant get here soon enough! I dont know which park will I be able to pick on next . Well there is still WDSP! That wont let me down...wait a minute, it does every year. ;D
Originally Posted By TP2000 DCA 1.0 had endless slabs of painted stucco and flat vinyl signage and cheap industrial lighting worthy of a strip mall in Whittier. DCA 2.0 has all of this lush texture and hand-selected details and fixtures and furnishings and intricate little extras and knick-knacks. It really is almost too good to be true, and sometimes I just assume we are all dreaming this. Seeing the construction walls go up around that ridiculous Burger Invasion building about made me faint. And then you look in the Blue Sky Cellar and see how detailed and fancy the buildings that will replace it will be is almost too much to take in. This remake of DCA is truly unprecedented in the history of Disney theme parks, and likely the history of all theme parks. I can not think of anything like this that has ever happened to a 9 year old major theme park before. Ever.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 When MGM opened it had seven attractions. Seven. No Star Tours, no Muppets, no TOT, no RNRC, no F! It grew a LOT in its early years. The model was obviously to get it open, and then add more later. DCA was too closely modeled on that - it wasn't AS bare bones as MGM at opening, but too much so for a second park as opposed to a third (a crucial distinction). The major difference I see is that MGM/DHS's growth has been often kind of haphazard, IMO, sacrificing a certain coherency in the process. DCA's is being done with more care, and if anything is adding to the cohesiveness. This despite the fact that DCA has wildly different "lands" while DHS is essentially one big "land" with some sub-sections. But when 2012 gets here, DCA will have that detail, and that care/thought that will bring the place together nicely - hopefully in the manner of the other Disney parks with highly different lands that still manage to feel distinct and "of a piece" simultaneously.
Originally Posted By DlandDug While Disney-MGM was a very small park at opening, it was as lavishly detailed as any park that came before. Hollywood Boulevard was based on carefully researched buildings from the golden age of Hollywood and LA. The Chinese Theater was an exact recreation. Even "throwaway" buildings like Gerties and the Tugboat were given an imaginative treatment, each unique to its theme. Contrast that to DCA in 2001, with it's "stamped out" structures and lack of coherent theming. There has been no large scale remodeling of Disney-MGM. Aside from the removal of the original "Hollywood Bowl" theater to accommodate Sunset Boulevard, it has all been additions, rather than a complete re-imagining of the place.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan It's funny. During the Great DCA Wars of 2001-2003, I remember several of us making the point that "It ain't the theme, it's what you do with it." For which, we were scoffed at. And yet, here is DCA 2.0, using the same overall theme (California) and going deeper into the theme in terms of decor and details. But many of the same attractions are still there. So, with a theme as broad as "California" you can see that it isn't so much the theme, it's what you do with it. Like several of us said all along. People who hated the California theme are super in love with the new Paradise Pier (they like the Sun Wheel and Silly Symphony Swings better) and looking forward to Los Angeles/1920's entrance area. So I repeat, it ain't the theme, it's what you do with it.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <While Disney-MGM was a very small park at opening, it was as lavishly detailed as any park that came before.> I'd take issue with that. I don't think it compared on that score with DL, MK, or EPCOT, despite the nice touches you pointed out. I mean, come on. Plus, I don't want to just look at a nice recreation of Hollywood (I could go to the real Hollywood for that); I want stuff to DO. I went to MGM on a full price one-day ticket not long after it opened (since I only had one day after a conference and wanted to see the new park), and it's the only time a Disney park has left me feeling vaguely ripped off. It was more of a "half day" park than DCA ever was. <Contrast that to DCA in 2001, with it's "stamped out" structures and lack of coherent theming.> There were too many of those (as I've often said), but not everything was. I would argue that while MGM did have those nice touches, there was nothing as evocative as the GRR area or Condor Flats. Or even the animation building - as "Disney" a space as you'll find. And I've said many times why I felt HPB's "is this real or is it memorex and what is 'real' in Hollywood anyway" vibe was more interesting than MGM's attempts at verisimilitude. And MGM had too many blah "sound stage" buildings. They looked like sound stages, but talk about boring. So for me DCA at its best surpassed MGM at its best, and they both had too much blah.
