Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Lotion-View-1213.asp" target="_blank"><b>LP Lotion: Finishing Touches Added to Disney California Adventure Entrance Gates</b></a> Video and pictures of the finishing touches being added to DCA's new entrance.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Nice little update. It's interesting that the architectural details on this building are slightly different from DHS's entrance. This structure is more faithful to the original Pan Pacific Auditorium building.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The faux pennants are an interesting choice. It seems like it would be easier, and look more interesting and realistic, to have real flags up there, instead of the fake ones that always stick out from the poles. It reminds me of the old DL marquee (or the Let the Memories Begin thing currently in the Esplanade), and not in a good way. Flags wiggling in the breeze would add a little bit of kinetics to the entrance; if these move at all, they will look more like a weathervane than anything fun.
Originally Posted By TP2000 This is a very nice upgrade to what had been there for the last 10 years. It looks fresh and crisp and novel. I like it better than the older DHS version because it's not cluttered and weighed down with the hulking ticket booths/signage underneath they have at DHS. <a href="http://flic.kr/p/5m5d92" target="_blank">http://flic.kr/p/5m5d92</a> The DCA version is more elegant as the fins on top are taller and more graceful looking, and below its just the slim columns and fluted panels leading to the turnstiles and beyond. Very nice!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I agree it's better looking than DHS's version. But I still think something that blended better with BVS would have been preferable. Oh well.
Originally Posted By TP2000 On the artwork we've seen so far, it does look like a different feel than BVS, Dabob2. But after all the recent DCA expansion reveals that have looked even better than the concept art hinted at, I've got faith it will all flow together well by next summer. I parked in the Short Term Parking Lot on Harbor across from IHOP last night and strolled through the Esplanade for a few minutes last night to see this. It looks even better in person. Just really crisp looking, very sleek and stylish. What's interesting is how vibrantly lit it is! Compared to the rather murky and dimly lit Disneyland entrance at night, the DCA entrance is very bright and shiny and flashy. Here's a good YouTube video already up of the way this looks at night. ZING! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Asianjma123?feature=chclk#p/u/7/uiCWqNNJBEw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/As...WqNNJBEw</a>
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Wow! I had no idea that the new front entrance was operation. That was fast!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros How many of Disney's parks actually have their name on the gates? DL doesn't, and I don't velieve MK or HKDL do either. TDL has a sign over the entry to World Bazaar (though after the park entrance) and DLP has a small sign on the outside of the DLPH. I think a sign may be a part of the Paris Studios gate, and is definitely paer of the WDW Studios, but it seems like the rest are just there without the name of the park written anywhere. DCA didn't really have one before (but the giant California letters are a good hint), so it seems a little odd that they're adding it. Then again, it's kind of weird how many parks don't actually have their name on a sign at the entrance...
Originally Posted By Dabob2 DL does indeed have the big sign on the RR station with elevation and "population," remember?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <But after all the recent DCA expansion reveals that have looked even better than the concept art hinted at, I've got faith it will all flow together well by next summer. > It's entirely possible. And that video of the entrance does look really good. Very crisp, as you said.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "But I still think something that blended better with BVS would have been preferable." It may not tie into the early 1920s when Walt Disney arrived in California, but according to the Disney Parks Blog there is indeed a direct connection to Walt Disney: "One of the principal architects on the Pan Pacific Auditorium, Welton Becket, was a neighbor of Walt Disney’s and went on to become very influential in future Disney projects. It was Becket who suggested to Walt that he use his own artists – not an architectural firm – to design, plan and build Disneyland, and it was this advice that led to the creation of WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering). Later, Welton Becket Associates (formed in 1949 after Walter Wurdeman’s death) designed Disney’s Contemporary Hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort, though Becket himself did not live to see it completed."
Originally Posted By DlandDug Walt also exhibited his hand-built miniature scene of "Granny's Cabin" at the Festival of California Living held at... the Pan Pacific Auditorium.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Welton Becket's firm was also used to design the GE Progressland Pavilion building that housed the Carousel of Progress at the World's Fair. The thing with the lighting on the new entrance, and you can see it clearly in that Youtube video, is that they are using fixtures with a very clean white light. They may be LED's, but the light they emit is very white and helps with the crispness. The rest of the Esplanade uses either incandescents, or those really ugly 1990's halogen fixtures with the orange glow. The new DCA entrance, by comparison, is a big improvement in the color and tone of the light the fixtures emit.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Wow, that looks really nice at night. Must be a relief to the CMs to have the construction complete on the entrance and exit to the park.
Originally Posted By inlandemporer We didn't go to DCA yesterday, but noticed the gates on our way in, and especially on our way out all lit up. They looked really sharp, especially at night.
Originally Posted By ChiMike Looking at the pictures... The daytime pics from DisneyGeek didn't really impress me right away. It looked a little out of place. I'm sure I have to be there in person. Looking at this thread's nighttime video, I really, really liked what I saw. Looked great! If anything, it shows with the GGB behind it how chintzy the old entrance was.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt If anything, it shows with the GGB behind it how chintzy the old entrance was. It really does. The detail and design of this new entrance give DCA the proper Disney welcome (and I don't mean characters). I'm rather struck by how closely it resembles the concept art. I will miss the California letters, but this is a big improvement. Just imagine how great this will all look a year from now with the BV St. buildings and the trolly just beyond. <a href="http://i45.tinypic.com/2wm2zvr.jpg" target="_blank">http://i45.tinypic.com/2wm2zvr.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By alexbook I guess I'm in the minority on this one. Went to DCA yesterday and was thoroughly underwhelmed by the new entrance.
