Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Ok, maybe I'm not that obervant, but I just noticed something about TDL's main entrance...it's WDW's Exposition Hall!! I don't know why I never noticed before, but today, I saw a picture of WDW's, and it just hit me. Here's a comparison shot of both. WDW's Exposition Hall: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/Showpic.asp?filename=http://s231432788.onlinehome.us/lotion/pics/SS20080910-WDWMK/big/P04-0004.JPG&caption=" target="_blank">http://www.laughingplace.com/S...caption=</a> TDL's main entrance: <a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_Z8F47EdZ94Y/Rq5XypF9RxI/AAAAAAAABX4/JqD4gQNx690/s1600-h/Picture" target="_blank">http://bp3.blogger.com/_Z8F47E.../Picture</a>+(9).JPG
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Hmm...I had never noticed that before either (not that I spend all that much time looking at either structure). Interestingly, that same picture sparked my eye as I was going through them eariler. I had never noticed how big (or 70's looking) it was before. Interesting to see that it's not the only time they've used that in the parks, but kind of funny that they didn't use a more impressive building for the main entrance at TDL. (Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just not the most exciting building that Disney's ever created)
Originally Posted By Roger55 Never noticed this either. There are a lot of similar design elements in use. Im sure that the designs of Exposition Hall were the major influence on the TDL entrance. To me it looks like just the facade of Exposition hall was used as a reference. Of course there are open archways insted of windows. The middle window above the center door/entrance is different in design and shape. The pillars that hold up the overhang also are slightly different between the two. I wonder what inspired them to re-use Exposition Hall? Normally I would think they were trying to save money by re-using the contriction blueprints. But in this case the differences are too great to get any kind of savings. It has to be a some kind of creative reason. Thanks for sharing.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Roger, maybe they thought that since TDL didn't have a proper town square, that they would use some of the facades as the main entrance? I mean there is no "City Hall", "Firehouse", or "Opera/Exposition hall". I did notice that some of the details are different, but that's to be expected since it serves as the entrance so the windows had to go...plus, it's just the front facade...as guest pass under it to get to World Bazaar. Still, it's interesting and makes me wonder just how many other facades are copies, besides the more obvious ones.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Still, it's interesting and makes me wonder just how many other facades are copies, besides the more obvious ones.>> Almost all of them are. Virtually nothing was designed for TDL - it was lifted wholesale from MK. I recently did a round robin interview for a future article in Tales with some of the original imagineers. It was literally a bunch of kids out of school who weren't working on Epcot. They were literally using the MK architectural plans to build MK. The problem was that they had to convert the distances from imperial to metric which meant that they had to be very careful to get it right. But the crux of it is that TDL is almost a complete direct lift. I could easily list another couple of dozen direct lifts.
Originally Posted By Scuba Mickey This is interesting. Leemac, do you have a link to that artical you did?
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara TDL isn't a direct lift from Orlando's Magic Kingdom--that's much too broad a statement. The parks feel entirely different and look much different. While some of the architecture is very similar, the width of the pathways, the size of the hub, the two Center Streets off World Bazaar that actually lead into lands, the mini-New Orleans Square in Adventureland, the route of the Western River Railroad, the position of the Rivers of America (in TDL stuffed way back in the corner and hardly visible from anywhere in the park)--all of this makes for a substantially different park.
Originally Posted By leemac <<TDL isn't a direct lift from Orlando's Magic Kingdom--that's much too broad a statement. >> Architecturally speaking it is a direct lift - every single structure was either built at MK or was supposed to have been built at MK. There were no new designs for TDL - not one. The only variable was dealing with the capacity issues, construction laws for Japan and weather considerations.
Originally Posted By leemac Sorry Scuba Mickey - we haven't published the next issue of Tales magazine yet - it is released in October.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "Architecturally speaking it is a direct lift - every single structure was either built at MK or was supposed to have been built at MK. There were no new designs for TDL - not one. The only variable was dealing with the capacity issues, construction laws for Japan and weather considerations." Also, I would not say everything is a direct lift from the MK. They also used Disneyland as a template too. New Orleans Square is lifted almost wholesale, as were parts of Fantasyland, Toontown (granted, that wasn't there on opening day), and bits of Adventureland. So, I would say that TDL is an amalgum of architecture from DL and MK. I'm just curious about some of the facade details. I was kind of surprised that Pinocchio's Daring Journey was not a carbon copy of DL's facade...
Originally Posted By Mr X I'm thinking (guessing) that Lee is talking about the buildings themselves, and not necessarily the facades. Obviously, the face of Small World is from California or a close approximation, but I'm not sure beyond that whether or not the buildings themselves are copied from Florida (I'll take Lee's word for it...TDL looks pretty much Florida for the most part). New Orleans Square, though...are all those buildings from Florida too? I'm leaning "amalgam" here too, but inclined to take Lee's word for it unless other stuff comes up. DEFINITELY nothing original...I think on that we can pretty much all agree. The real creative minds were definitely engaged in EPCOT at the time, that's pretty obvious (too bad for OLC...bad timing on that one).
Originally Posted By leemac <<New Orleans Square is lifted almost wholesale>> Again - the NOS mini-land was lifted from MK's plans for a similar area that was planned and never built. I can only go by what I've been told. There were no original facades or structures for TDL - it was lifted wholesale from existing plans. I presume that means that some of the plans were never built for MK.
Originally Posted By Mr X **Again - the NOS mini-land was lifted from MK's plans for a similar area that was planned and never built.** There you have it. I'm assuming the Small World facade I mentioned was something else Florida thought about then?
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ There may be a few specific areas where they picked up DL "parts" but it doesn't really make any sense of why they would do that at all. Having seen most of the original blueprints over the years they still have MK "touches" all over them. <<The real creative minds were definitely engaged in EPCOT at the time, that's pretty obvious (too bad for OLC...bad timing on that one).>> It was deliberate, X. OLC wanted a lift - they wanted nothing original and it was even a push to get The Eternal Seas and Meet the World into the park. They just weren't interested - they felt that people would embrace the MK model wholeheartedly.
Originally Posted By Roger55 I've always felt from the first time I stepped into TDL that it had the MK feeling from a layout and architectural perspective. But that is where the similarities ended. Having now experienced the atmosphere, CMs, entertainment, cleanliness, etc at TDL for years, it always has a distinct uniqueness about it that can not found in any of the other resorts around the world. Lee, can you tell us just a little bit more about what will be coming out in the next Tales issue? Will it have some photo comparisons between the MK and TDL? I'm always looking for new ways to experience the different Disney parks when I visit. This thread might have just given me inspiration to capture photo comparisons of the two park's facades.
Originally Posted By Anatole69 ^^ OLC or not, that is a very Japanese attitude. Respect tradition and what has already been successful. TDS is more of the surprise, since it is so different from any other Disney park. - Anatole
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "Again - the NOS mini-land was lifted from MK's plans for a similar area that was planned and never built." Well, that may be, but Disneyland had the exact same layout to use as blueprints...and considering some of staff doing planning & design for TDL were holed up in the old Disney Gallery/apartement area right in the middle of that area, I would guess they used measurements from Disneyland, since I have no idea how far along any of the plans for MK were, since they ended up with Liberty Square, and Pirates was already in Adventureland.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Speaking of Pirates, even if WDW was planning on adding an NOS area...what about Pirates? TDL has the Disneyland facade, and MK had a completely different one. If they added the NOS area to WDW, why bother without Pirates? I'm curious now to find out just why there were plans to add that "mini-land" to the MK.
