A Modern Day Disneyland

[stitchcastle]

I've been thinking lately that so much of the Walt Disney Company and modern technology is so different and advanced now that it would be interesting to think up what a truly modern day new Magic Kingdom style park would look like. Not necessarily something that has to be completely re-envisioned like, say, Shanghai was but something that still honors the original history but with the technology and mindset of today.

~Opening Day and the first 3 Years~

From the onset, the park would be slightly minimal but won't lack in details and state of the art attractions. It would also be optimized for crowd control and the initial resort hotel offerings would be fairly conservative. This will be the initial roster:

Main Street U.S.A. - Would be a clone of Paris' Main Street but with only one arcade on the right side. The left end would have:
~Liberty Street~
-A fully realized version of Disneyland's abandoned Liberty Street that was turned into Liberty Square for MK. This street would act as a Main Street bypass during parades. But would also have its own shops and restaurants.
- Liberty Street Presents: The Muppet History of America - A side-show similar to what happens at DHS' Grand Avenue that takes place amongst the windows of Liberty Street.
-Liberty Street Theater - A mixed-use theater for events and special presentations.

Fantasyland
-Disney's Fairy Tale Castle
-Mickey's Philharmagic
-Cinderella's Royal Carousel
-Dumbo: The Flying Elephant
-Mad Hatter's Mad Tea Party
-Peter Pan's Flight
-Voyage of the Little Mermaid
-Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast
-Seven Dwarf's Mine Train

Adventureland

-The Great Jungle Adventure
-Festival of the Lion King
-Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
-Adventure Isle

Frontierland

-Liberty Belle Riverboat
-Woody's Round-Up Revue
-Jessie's Critter Carousel
-Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
-Soarin' Over The West
-Edison's Electric Manor

Tomorrowland

-Astro Orbiter
-Tomorrowland PeopleMover
-Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
-The Iron Man Experience
-Space Mountain

I'll post concept art and more details in the future along with Phase 2 which will feature an expanded Mountain Range.

 

[Miru]

I’d personally consider DINOSAUR, Indiana Jones Adventure, a Lilo and Stitch dark ride, and Journey Into Imagination as part of the expansion. This lineup for the early days is pretty awesome, though.

 

[GotsFancyPants]

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Uhhhhh.... thats Sony property bud.

 

[stitchcastle]

Uhhhhh.... thats Sony property bud.

Which are licensed from Marvel. It could go both ways.

 

[stitchcastle]

I’d personally consider DINOSAUR, Indiana Jones Adventure, a Lilo and Stitch dark ride, and Journey Into Imagination as part of the expansion. This lineup for the early days is pretty awesome, though.

Yeah, I'm toying with a multi-year phase 2 which would include Arendelle, Fire Mountain and a Space Port (that would include Smuggler's Run; Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar Flight of Passage)

 

[GotsFancyPants]

I'd really like to hear some details on these attractions, especially The Great Jungle Adventure, and this park sounds very interesting. Good work @stitchcastle!

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Wouldn’t it make sense having Spider-Man, and Iron Man in a Marvel theme area to include The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Antman, The Wasp, Captain Marvel, X-men, and the Fantastic Four? Can’t wait to see what you plan for Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and 20th Century Fox.

 

[stitchcastle]

So I haven't really had time to work on original concept art but here's a quick overview of Fantasyland.


Fantasyland
-so the main mantra for this park is generally making it more immersive and a celebration of all that Disney company is known for today. As such, Fantasyland will be focused on the classic fairy tale Disney Animated Features, which is the cornerstone for the entire company.

-Disney's Fairy Tale Castle

-with that in mind, the castle is going to be a 200 ft tall replica of the castle from the Disney Studios logo and it will be massive with two attractions inside:

"Once Upon a Time" - a walk-through exhibit that takes you through the entire castle and will tell, through dioramas, exhibits and small show scenes, the chronology of Walt Disney Animation. Starting down in the Castle Gardens with Snow White (at her wishing well) and going through the towers, the dungeons, each celebrating a milestone fairy tale in the studios' history.

the other attraction inside the castle is:

"Mickey's Philharmagic" - This will be an upgraded version of the Magic Kingdom classic where no one concert has the same line-up. The performances could include Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Moana, Frozen, Tangled. It will be randomized while still maintaining the emotional journey that Donald and the guests go through.

The rest of the land is broken up into 3 main sections. Now the main focus of fantasyland will be for the younger guests and as such, a lot of the attractions will focus on elaborate meet and greets with the Disney princesses and many favorite characters. Now to help with this, there's a little land-wide interactive game called:

"The Princess Academy" - families and their little princesses and princes can sign up and be able to collect different Princess Badges when they find and meet each Disney princess in Fantasyland. Those who complete the badges can then participate in the "Royal Coronation Ceremony" Hosted by Jiminy Cricket and the Blue Fairy where the little Princes and Princesses are crowned official Disney Royalty. The current line-up of Princesses that can be found throughout the land will be: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Tiana and Rapunzel.

~Castle Courtyard~

-Cinderella's Royal Carousel - an old Fantasyland Classic

-Cinderella's Chateau - as originally envisioned for WDW's Magic Kingdom. This is essentially Story Time with Belle but with Cinderella. guests will be able to spend time with the iconic princess as well as see her dress transform before our very eyes thanks to the magic of her Fairy Godmother.

-Merlin's Corner - while this will primarily be a shop, every now and again, Merlin will come out and introduce guests to his different magical creature friends that he's met in his travels, like Elliott the Dragon or even a big blue Genie from a lamp.

-Peter Pan's Flight - taken from Shanghai Disneyland with its expanded and updated effects and show scenes.

~Fairy Tale Village~ *this area is basically a Beauty and the Beast mini-land taken from both the Florida and Tokyo expansions.

-Gaston's Tavern

-Story Time with Belle

-Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast

-Be Our Guest Restaurant

~Enchanted Forest~ *this area will have intricate pathways and almost feel like a bit of a labyrinth, with the pathways leading to little surprises.

-Briar Rose's Cottage - A Sleeping Beauty meet and greet where we are invited by the Three good fairies to help with the preparations for Aurora's birthday.

-Seven Dwarf's Mine Train - sitting on the edge of the land, the main queue building for this attraction will actually double as a showbuilding for a Snow White Meet and greet as well called:
-Snow White's Happily Ever After - a small storytime concert with Snow White and her forest friends as they prepare supper for the Seven Dwarfs.

-The Snuggly Duckling - a counter service restaurant based on Tangled. This is also where we can meet Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder.

-Mad Hatter's Mad Tea Party

~Fantasy Faire~ * a smaller more Medieval themed version of the area in WDW, themed as an intimate little carnival by the sea, anchored by Prince Eric's castle.

-The Old Mill - an operational version of Disneyland Paris' Ferris Wheel.

-Dumbo: The Flying Elephant - with just one spinner

-Voyage of the Little Mermaid - This ride will be more in the spirit of the original suspended dark ride concept from Disneyland Paris.
-Ariel's Grotto - Where we meet Ariel.

 

[Miru]

Wouldn’t it make sense having Spider-Man, and Iron Man in a Marvel theme area to include The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Antman, The Wasp, Captain Marvel, X-men, and the Fantastic Four? Can’t wait to see what you plan for Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and 20th Century Fox.

And the Muppets, ABC, Touchstone, ESPN, Indiana Jones, Lucasarts, etc.

I like the base lineup for Fantasyland. Interactive games in each land would be a good touch and a hoot to play through. Maybe at the coronation, princesses who weren’t meetable, such as Kairi, can show up? I could see a Muppet game on Main Street, for one.

 

[stitchcastle]

I like the base lineup for Fantasyland. Interactive games in each land would be a good touch and a hoot to play through. Maybe at the coronation, princesses who weren’t meetable, such as Kairi, can show up? I could see a Muppet game on Main Street, for one.

Yeah! The Castle Gardens section could also be a good spot for meet and greets with Princesses that don't have a permanent attraction area.

And I would love to explore some more interactive elements for each land. Like Adventureland's could stem from The Wilderness Explorers from Up but appropriate it in a way that its history is folded in with the Adventurer's Club. Though I think the main interactivity portion of Adventureland will be Adventure Isle. Which, let me elaborate a bit...

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

So I guess the final Fantasyland sublands are the Circus, and Arendelle?

 

[QuasiNoFroyo]

Just imagine a brand new Disneyland where there is a Frozen Land instead of Fantasyland (complete with Elsa's Ice Palace as the park's main icon), Galaxy's Edge instead of Tomorrowland (even though Star Wars isn't even set in the future), Pandora instead of Adventureland, and Cars Land instead of Frontierland. And in place of Main Street would likely be a city street themed to Zootopia or Marvel.

Good idea or bad idea?

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Bad because it wouldn’t fit without the iconic lands.

 

[QuasiNoFroyo]

Bad because it wouldn’t fit without the iconic lands.

I have to agree, because with each land tied in with a single specific IP, it wouldn’t be inclusive enough for attractions based on other properties (or even original attractions) at all.

 

[stitchcastle]

So I guess the final Fantasyland sublands are the Circus, and Arendelle?

The next phase is probably going to be Arendelle but I'm also toying with bringing in "The Forbidden Mountain" and creating a subland around it. Though that might have to involve its own story that combines several Disney properties into an Avengers-esque experience. Let's just say that Merlin having an attraction in Fantasyland is sort of foreshadowing of bigger things and that there's one other European Princess that has yet to be permanently represented.