Originally Posted By Loopyjohn Great series Marc. When I visited TDS I'd left it too late to stay at the Miracosta and ended up in central Tokyo (which was surprsingly effortless to commute from.) I wondered what the hotel looked like inside and now you've shown me. Thanks! Next time, I'd love to blow the budget and stay in one of those Harbour terrace rooms.
Originally Posted By jbponzi Marc, Great article as usual. Keep all of those little details coming. Frankly, I find it helpful to see things like cash stations and ticket kiosks. For those of us who have never been to Japan, this will only aide our visit by providing us with visual clues. I also enjoy seeing the lamp post's, as the Imagineer's are truly remarkable in the level of detail that they are capable of achieving. One such detail from a previous article on TDS had a wonderful picture of a fire extinguisher enclosure. As an engineer I was over joyed by the level of detail placed in something so everyday and potentially mundane. Bring on the drain pipes, column flanges, and by the way do have any interesting patterns found in the pavement. I would be interested to see them, and no I am NOT kidding. For it these types of details that have helped to make a Disney park better than anyplace else.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi Just slightly off topic here but that was one of the things I truly loved about the interiors at Mysterious Island. All the everyday accoutrements were "imagineered" to fit RIGHT IN to Nemo's 19th century world. The illusion was never lost, from the brass and bolted FP machines to the huge "old" lamps hanging from the cave ceiling. Now THAT is imagineering at its best. LOVE IT!!!
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Hey OrlandoBoi! - still no mail from you ... try again ... I sent you an e-mail once to a hotmail address, did you ever get it? I also am signed up for the Netscape Instant Messenger utility call AIM. Do you have that? If so, I can e-mail you my screen name.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi Sorry Den. Been a bit busy here. Got your previosu email(thanks!)....my reply coming as soon as I get a chance.
Originally Posted By wtg2000 > wish I could have seen it with my own eyes when I was there in September, but unfortunately I wasn't able to convince anyone to let me enter. Curious. Did you try to go in the entrance in TDS? I had no trouble going in and looking around.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN September was a tough month if you wanted to enter the Miracosta. They had CM's stationed at every area possible, at the walkway from the monorail station, at the bottom of the ramp leading to the main porte cochére, barricades were placed at the staircases that led you from the ticket booths to the main entrance, and CM's at the private Mediterrenean Harbor entrance were checking for hotel guest ID's before letting you in. Trust me i tried every angle and failed miserable. That was until after the DisneySea Symphony ended and noticed on my way out that many hotel guests were going thru the exclusive entrance as CM's just stood there and bowed, but nobody was being asked for the ID, so i made i run for it ans was able to walk in and enjoy the lobby sights and gift shops late in the day.
Originally Posted By x-TDL-character Finally got off my butt today and rode over to the Mira Costa to check it out. What a fantastic hotel! That palace is maxed out hardcore, wish I had the cash to stay there. The lobby is BEAUTIFUL, the pictures don`t even do it justice. It was pretty small, but sooo ornate. The costumes are really cool too, the valets outside are dressed in coats and top hats! The bell-people (is that the pc word nowadays?) almost looked like Tower of Terror cast members, which will be even cooler when ToT opens in a couple of years. The banquet/wedding costumes were the most outrageous, can`t even begin to describe them. Those were almost a little over the top for my taste actually, but the girls wearing them were FINE so it didn`t matter. Gift shops were cool too, they actually have an "Adventure of DisneySea" game for playstation II there! I`ll have to save up for that one, just to see what it`s all about. Lots of resort line and TDR "Mickey" bus souveniers too. And the VIEWS!!!!!!!!!! (deep breath) Just like being in the park without paying for a ticket! Brought me right back to the last time I was there a few months ago, and looked pretty busy for a Wednesday. What a hotel!
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi Hopefully Marc will be able to show us photos of the murals painted on the dome above the MiraCosta lobby. You may find some "hidden" treasures in them! (smiles) -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By RCCRUISER How would one make a reservation for the Mira Costa Hotel? I have the main Phone number for 011-81-45-683-3777 but the information was in Japaneese. Does anyone else have any information about visiting this Hotel? rccruiser@qwest.net James Martin
Originally Posted By Santa Monica That was nice, but when are we going to get to see the rest of the WDS tour?
Originally Posted By ThunderHorn I love these park pictoral series! I don't get the opportunity to travel much due to my scarce college finances, so these pictures and dialogues are what I use to get my Disney vacations. Thanks for creating such detail and lengthy presentations. It really makes me feel like I'm there. While scrolling through the many pictures of your arrival, I could almost feel with much excitement the bumps of the trains and vehicles as we approach. Thank you so very much for providing this to us all. Kudos to you! ºoº
Originally Posted By Loopyjohn Marc - Excuse my ignorance, but I'm guessing that "trompe l'oeil" is a traditional European technique which would be painstaking to apply (& maintain)? I've read some people's reports on the park, criticising the vast amount of "painted on" theming in places where other parks would have created an 'authentic' 3D shape. Please tell me these people are missing the point!
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi That is correct LoopyJohn. Marc gave a more detailed report on the trompe l`oeil process last summer during his preview reports. I recommend reading it. The effect of this is much better seen in person of course. The hotel walls facing the inside of the park as essentially canvases where the brilliant artists demonstrated their skilled craft! -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By x-TDL-character >>>I've read some people's reports on the park, criticising the vast amount of "painted on" theming in places where other parks would have created an 'authentic' 3D shape. Please tell me these people are missing the point!<<< THESE PEOPLE ARE MISSING THE POINT!!!!!!! When my friend and I went into the park for my first visit, we stood on the bridge near Mysterious Island and he pointed to some of the artwork. He said "that`s a cool statue on the hotel, don`t you think?" and I said "yeah, I like it". Then he said "let`s walk down there and check it out closer" and I said "k". We got just about under it and he said "notice anything different" and I said "no. cool statue" So he says "look closer" so I did. (In case you haven`t noticed by now I can be a tiny bit unobservant but anyway) Finally he says, "dude, that`s a painting and I was like "***post deleted by admin***" and he was like "no, really! It`s not 3 dimentional anywhere". There are theme parks, who shall remain nameless, who do employ far too many cardboard cutouts in liu of sculptured scenes or animatronics. DisneySea is not one of them. They missed the point.
Originally Posted By believe >>> They missed the point. <<< I don't know about everyone else, I still think this "painted art" is still cheaper to do then to have the real 3D thing. I think in reality, they chose "trompe l'oeil" in order to save money - thinking that they can get away with it because it's "art" and how the real thing is. I mean, isn't that why European's did it in the first place - to save $? This type of art belongs more in MGM/Disney Studio's Backlot or DCA's backlot. But then again, if they did that, Disney would be called cheap. (look what they're saying about Mullhullond Madnesses' new walls with "trompe l'oeil" art work (clouds and sky) to be painted on the side facing the Grand Californian.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi How can you say that something that is part of a roughly four billion dollar expansion is cheap? Also, even IF the OLC ran short of funds and this effect is only attributable to their lack of funds I would GLADLY forgive them. The rest of the park is SO beautiful it almost defies description. The park you mentioned draws SO MUCH criticism because there was SO MUCH scrimping on SO MANY facets of it.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 Not to mention how much money it's going to cost them to keep this art looking as fresh as it does today!! Any way you look at it, this can't be cheap.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 This is sort of off topic, but looking at those great pictures of the hotel and the way it looms over that area of the park, I have to ask myself, "why didn't they do this sort of building at the back of DCA?" Surely tall buildings like these would have helped hide the outside world better than a coaster?? I know, I know - we can't have a topic without bashing DCA, but I just can't help myself! ;-) These things just jump out at me.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi I wouldn't call it bashing plp. So many things seemed to go wrong in the conception, design and execution of that park that today it has provided a myriad of "what if?" and "why the freakin' heck did they....?" questions. Asking questions is not bashing.
