Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
Got it! Thanks.
-
The new WDWMAGIC iOS app is here!
Stay up to date with the latest Disney news, photos, and discussions right from your iPhone. The app is free to download and gives you quick access to news articles, forums, photo galleries, park hours, weather and Lightning Lane pricing. Learn More -
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Rivers of America (plus Railroad & Dioramas) Re-Imagineered 2017
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
Got it! Thanks.
So, as much grief as I give the Fresh Baked Disney Bears Without Day Jobs, one of these types has posted a rather interesting Before & After video of the Big Thunder Trail. It helps to watch it on full screen mode to get the best effect, and muting it isn't quite necessary as the chatter is kept to a minimum.
This was taken the day it opened. You can see all those new mature trees are still going to take at least one growing season to rebound and leaf up. But you can also see what the landscape architects are going for here, with a new background berm of dense and tall trees framing the newly Imagineered environment.
This was taken the day it opened. You can see all those new mature trees are still going to take at least one growing season to rebound and leaf up. But you can also see what the landscape architects are going for here, with a new background berm of dense and tall trees framing the newly Imagineered environment.
D
Deleted member 107043
I actually prefer the landscaping in this area the way it is now; a bit less dense. To me the mature foliage looked overgrown and out of scale with BTM.
Agreed.
I can see what they're going for here though with a new "wall of trees" along the backside of the new S-curve berm that the Railroad travels along. That berm will serve a dual purpose of being the visual wall for both Frontierland looking north and Star Wars Land looking south.
Some of the newly planted mature trees in Frontierland-proper are in some stress however with thin foliage, as any tree is after replanting. It takes them at least a few months, if not one full year of Fall/Spring seasons, to get to a healthy state with full foliage. The nearly perfect Orange County-Mediterranean climate helps speed that process along though.
I expect one year from now that the new trees along Big Thunder Trail and on the berm behind it will look much more dense. And yet even when the trees grow in a lot more, it's going to be a much more purposeful look with a designed environment that tells a better story for decades to come, rather than just the "60 year old trees from a long abandoned ride area that got kind of overgrown" appearance this area had previously.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Trees don't exactly seem to be Disney horticulture's area of expertise. Well, I mean, sometimes. It's cool that Disneyland has so many trees, but they're overgrown all over the place and make things look smaller and block views. It's the opposite of WDW where they chop everything down. But I'd rather have it extreme like at DL than bald and ugly like out there.
Yes. One of the most prominent examples of this are the two ficus trees growing alongside the PeopleMover tracks at the Tomorrowland entrance. In 2017 those things are massive and dense and hide a huge amount of architecture. They tower over the adjacent buildings, and challenge even the Astro Orbiter for skyline dominance.
But 50 years ago they were wispy and merely accent pieces to the land beyond.
But at least Disneyland's horticulture team keeps those huge Ficus trees pruned. The old Rivers of America and Frontierland/Big Thunder Trail area was rarely tended to. They just let the trees and shrubs grow wild for decades, and it looked it before they finally got in there and re-Imagineered it.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Tomorrowland looks bigger (and better) in the past.
vancee
Well-Known Member
I hate going this way to get to Space Mountain, it takes forever to get there because it's so crowded and people do not know how to properly walk.. especially by Star Tours.Yes. One of the most prominent examples of this are the two ficus trees growing alongside the PeopleMover tracks at the Tomorrowland entrance. In 2017 those things are massive and dense and hide a huge amount of architecture. They tower over the adjacent buildings, and challenge even the Astro Orbiter for skyline dominance.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
There doesn't seem to be much of an issue in the past, even with all those people. I wonder what could be causing this disruption in present-day crowd flow? Hmm...what is it??
vancee
Well-Known Member
I don't know but they should really put signs saying to walk on the right side of the pathways. Hate people (especially when they have strollers or are in a wheelchair) that literally walk/drive into a crowd coming the opposite way.
That old photo above was taken on December 30th, 1969. The day before the very last day of the 1960's, and one of the busiest weeks of the year at Disneyland for the 1960's or the 2010's. There's not a stroller or an ECV in sight, everyone is just walking.
And... trying to be kind here... even when there are tight groups of people walking together the 1969 folks are noticeably slimmer and trimmer than their 21st century counterparts; you can get five slim people in a smaller space at an adequate comfort level than you can get five fat people. Take the much larger sizes of Americans in 2017 compared to 1969, and extrapolate that out to 60,000 people inside Disneyland at the same time, and you've got less space per person in 2017 than you had in 1969 with the same amount of people.
Back to the Rivers and Big Thunder Trail... I just got back from a late afternoon stroll in the park after running an errand. It was crowded but not tragically so. I walked the Big Thunder Trail and in person it looks a bit different than photos or video, but it does look very good. The train rolled by along the new berm and rockwork when I was up near Fantasyland, and that looks even cooler in person than it does on video. It just brings the area to life and looks so uniquely Disneyland, even though it's an entirely new view and concept we've never seen before. It just seems like something Walt would have done in the 1950's if he'd had the money and foresight.
I went over to the Hungry Bear Restaurant, and a lot of landscaping work has been done in the last few days since the most recent videos/photos. That new riverbank looks really good! Still lots more trees and berms to be installed to block out the big Parking Structure beyond, but you can see how it will all fit into place a year from now when Star Wars Land buildings become cliffs and higher mountains beyond.
I also walked through Adventureland. It was still crowded and congested, but at least it flowed a bit better. They installed a MASSIVE new King Palm tree where the Bengal Barbecue eating counter used to be. Adventureland changes looked very good in person, but I think that area will always be crowded.
Last edited:
Stevek
Well-Known Member
Maybe that giant brown turd in the middle of the current picture.
D
Deleted member 107043
And Star Tours, which is about a thousand times more popular than ATIS was.
Last edited by a moderator:
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
But doesn't 1960s Tomorrowland look like a real futuristic city there? Compare to today with garish colors and designs that don't mesh at all and it just looks like some sort of silly theme park thing. I always assumed those "rocks" were tied into some punny McDonald's french fries stand that used to be there until they removed Mickey D's from the parks. I was surprised to learn I was wrong.
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
What are those rocks supposed to be?
None of us mere mortals know.
Only Tony Baxter, and his hairdresser, knows for sure!
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Wow, so that's where they got that line for the Joker's commercial. "That luscious tan, those ruby lips and hair color so natural, only your undertaker knows for sure!"
monsterdavid
Member
David at Fresh Baked here. For what it's worth, I'm neither wealthy (I drive to the park in a Ford Fiesta) nor powerful. I'm just a guy with a (not at all fancy) camera who loves Disneyland and wants to share. Sounds corny I know. I also do have a full time, completely unrelated job to go with this hobby, and put in roughly 80-100 hours a week between the two efforts. 8 am to at least 10 pm every single day. This is not hyperbole. You don't have to like us of course, but it would be cool if our work wasn't trivialized or minimized based on obviously no information at all. I care deeply for what we do, the people I do it with, and for those who care about what we do.
Regards,
A guy who loves Disneyland
Oh, dear. It always makes me feel old when people don't understand 20th century American pop culture references until I explain them to them.
It's a line from a very famous ladies Clairol ad campaign from the 1960's, and yes, the other famous line from those ads "Does she... or doesn't she?" was subversively sexual. Don Draper probably came up with that line.
Speaking of ladies, our favorite lady blogger has a new video. I was in Critter Country looking at the Rivers of America late this afternoon, but judging by the morning fog cover and lighting she was there much earlier in the day. I'm mad I didn't see our lady blogger so I could thank her in person.
Last edited: