TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
--Yensid Valley--
Backstory
As Disney's MGM Studios segues into a new era of premiere blockbuster thrill attractions, such as Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, the park needs an area that is for families and delves into not only movies but the genesis of the creators themselves, most notably Walt Disney.
Yensid Valley will be a full fledged replica of Walt Disney's backyard (next to the Backlot Tour) and an extension of the Streets of America. As the Streets of America turns towards San Francisco, you meander down to the valleys of California and arrive at Walt Disney's estate on Carolwood Drive.
Carolwood Drive will be the transition from and attached to the Streets of America, now dividing off into the "Back"lot Tour, and Walt Disney's "Back"Yard...all in the "Back" of the theme park -- keeping things consistent!
Essentially partial areas of the elongated, original Backlot Tour and Residential Street will be removed and replaced with sprawling hills and green valleys reminiscent of the California Valley. While the design will change for the theme park itself, the premise behind the addition will be to create a sense of oneness with film, Disney animation, and the genesis of this all, Walt Disney himself. This will give guests a behind the scenes feel of how Walt Disney grew up, what he enjoyed, what he cherished, and providing that within the context of a studio park will give guests this behind the scenes look at the man's life.
It's fitting that once the park celebrating his 100th birthday in 2002, plans for a "Walt Disney" land shot up, however no plans were made in regards to the removal of the Sorcerer's Hat, which still stands strong in front of the Chinese Theater for some reason...
Nevertheless, the Yensid Valley concept would consist of the addition of a large and expansive miniature railroad family attraction for the Studios...an attraction style that the studios desperately needed. Furthermore, the park would also see the renovation of the popular walk through of Walt Disney One Man's Dream, and have the premise of the walk through be converted into a dark ride attraction, adding to the park's capacity and attraction lineup for guests. Also providing a much needed thematic home for One Man's Dream in the process.
In addition, compared to the other parks and resorts, MGM Studios has been known as a "concrete jungle" among avid theme park aficionados, and thus, Yensid Valley will provide much needed greenery, trees, water, and other natural elements to the theme park devoid of it aside from Echo Lake.
Lastly, aside from all of the attraction aesthetic upgrades and this expansion would bring, it would also lead to the possibility of futher usage of the park's backlot and animation corridors of the park, and be a bridge for future expansions to come -- see more after the presentation.
Expansion Map - Yensid Valley
Southwest View - Streets of America/Backlot
(As you approach the area, you can travel to a variety of different areas:
1 - Carolwood Drive
2 - The Carolwood Pacific Railroad
3 - Walt Disney One Man's Dream
4 - Walt's Barn Quick Service
5 - Fair Weather Gifts
Attractions:
1 - Carolwood Drive
Extending off of the Streets of America will be another American Street transitioning off of them, called Carolwood Drive, the street that Walt Disney used to live on in California. Carolwood Drive will then divide off into the Backyard area of Walt Disney's Estate. While not exactly to scale for thematic reasons, the spirit of the area holds true. What we will get to later on is if you walk to the left, you will walk into Walt Disney's "home" or Walt Disney's "barn". Walt's home will now hold One Man's Dream, an omnimover dark ride that follows Walt through to how he became the visionary that he is. If you go straight, you will arrive at the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, which is a miniature railroad modeled after the one in Walt's backyard. Through the ride, similar to Storybook Canals and Casey Jr. in Disneyland, you will be able to ride through the animated stories of classic Disney films, the ones that Walt Disney had a hand in creating.
2 - Fair Weather Route - the Carolwood Pacific Railroad
Walt Disney's love of trains will shine through in this location. You can ride around on a miniature railroad set akin to Casey Jr's train at Disneyland. On the attraction itself, it will be stylized to ride past, in chronological order, the various films that Walt Disney produced, as well as the Mickey Mouse cartoons that evolved into Disneyland and eventually after his passing, WDW.
Narrated by Julie Andrews, this attraction will be a family friendly and capacity friendly whimsical journey through Yensid Valley.
Attraction Style:
(Attraction similar to Casey Jr.)
Rolling up and down hills and valleys, this attraction will be roughly 5-6 minutes and offer guests a relaxing ride through classic Walt Disney films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, The Adventures of Ichabod Crane and Mr Toad, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, and more.
Ride Vehicles:
Although it would be fun to ride with no restraints on miniature trains, I'm pretty sure that MGM Studios would not pass its safety exam if they had an attraction like that.
So instead, using a miniature train similar to Casey Jr. in Disneyland, the miniature railroad will ride through the valley at moderate speeds, providing a relaxing family environment...almost like MGM's peoplemover! Trains have a rustic, old-time feel to them similar to what Walt would have had in his backyard decades ago.
Load/Unload Area:
As you load into your train - you hear "When You Wish Upon A Star" faintly playing in the background. The trail blows steam and whistles as your narrator (Julie Andrews) begins to describe your journey:
"Welcome to Yensid Valley - a place where dreams come true, let's all follow along as we travel through timeless tale sof animated Disney classics created and designed by Walt Disney himself. The train proceeds to leave the station, make a sharp left turn and ascend up a valley hill.
The Ascent
The melody from Pinocchio then shifts to "Some Day my Prince will Come" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as Ms. Andrews continues:
"In the late 1930s, a new form of entertainment came to the Carthay Circle Theater in California, a full length feature film of animation."
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
As you continue up the hill and down a slope, you see Snow White in her tower to your left as the song melody continues around you. The train whistles and rides bast in the the next collection of scenes. The next few scenes see Bambi and Thumper in the forest to your right, as well as Dumbo and a circus area to your left, representing two early films of Disney animation.
Overlook of the Park
Highest Peak - 35 ft
The train then rides up a hill once again to get a grand view of the area. You can see the streets of America to the left, almost reminiscent of the journey Walt Disney took to travel to California in search of his dream. This is hinted at in the narration, as the train makes a turn and slopes back down the hill.
In addition to the various films representing in Yensid Valley, the area also has several props and realistic story telling manuvers that make you feel that you are in Walt Disney's backyard. Authentic signs and railroad crossing plaques are around the vicinity as well as signs that tell you how far Walt Disney's Barn is as well as a variety of other areas around his old estate.
The Adventures of Ichabod Crane and Mr. Toad
Continuing on the journey you then slope down to the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, where you see a replica of the Headless Horseman riding in the distance among some scary looking trees, as the narration explains how the animation has advanced and will continue to advance over the coming years as Walt Disney and his team become more and more accustom to different art techniques and story-telling methods.
Transition Scene
The miniature train whistles again as you pass under the overhand you just came from, and go through a little crevasse in the hill, hiding the next scene from view.
Peter Pan and Finale Scene
The train comes out to a large ship on its left side as Peter Pan battles Captain Hook on it as you pass by and the narration continues. As you turn back towards the finale scene, you see a body of water to your right hand side. At night, this body of water is illuminated to show the "second star to the right" and during the day, you see Jiminy Cricket as the narrator gives it over to Jiminy, where he emphasizes Walt's passion for dreams and dreams coming true if you put your mind to things. All it took was one idea and a passion for that idea to become a worldwide phenomenon. The trains then whistle once more and re-enter the unload/load area for the next group.
3 - One Man's Dream
Walt Disney One Man's Dream will move down the street to Walt Disney's House in the Yensid Valley area. You will queue through his foyer and living room and into the "imagination room" where you will board Omnimovers and journey with Walt Disney through his life.
You begin on a train to California where you see Walt drawing Mickey Mouse. The next few scenes then cut through various Mickey Mouse cartoons such as Steamboat Willie that Walt Disney then created with the idea. The idea of Mickey Mouse would soon evolve into films and the next scene is Walt Disney outside of the Carthay Circle theater for the premiere of Snow White, as hinted at in the train ride. The following scene show Walt in the drawing room and many of the illustrations that Walt Disney had on the walls during the brainstorming sessions. The next scene depicts Walt watching a carousel while sitting on a park bench, where he came up with the concept of Disneyland. You then flash to Main Street USA and the opening of Disneyland as it becomes a success.
The finale is Walt's dream of Disney World and Epcot as a whole, as you see the plans and the Disney World Florida Project Video on a large screen (akin to the ending of the Great Movie Ride) as the ride comes back to the unload station.
At the unload station, you can walk into the post-show area, which is attached to the quick service restaurant and Fair Weather Gifts, where you can see all of the blueprints and plans you saw at the One Man's Dream attraction before. With the plans for Expedition Everest soon to open next year in 2006 being the most updated of the bunch.
Outside of Walt's House, you can see a bed of "lilly" flowers in honor of his wife, Lilly.
4 - Quick Service - Walt Disney's Magical Carolwood Barn
The Carolwood Barn will be a quick service location that you can walk to serving bbq hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, french fries, onion rigs, salads, sandwiches, and various beverages. It will be accessible from the post show area of the One Man's Dream attraction via a covered walkway, or from Carolwood Drive.
5 - Gift Shop - Fair Weather Gifts
The gift shop in the area will house a variety of quintessential Disney merchandise. It will be located at the exit for the One Man's Dream attraction, as well as a separate entrance and exit for people in the park and on Carolwood Drive.
Conclusion
Overall, this land will not only be a tribute to Walt Disney himself, but will fit with the California theme and the more "backlot" area of the MGM Studios Park without resorting or relying on big thrills or studio productions. Instead this area will add to the majesty of Walt Disney, and Walt Disney World as a whole, by providing a unique location in a Disney Park,, and an additional "street" (Carolwood Drive) to tie in with the various other "streets" in MGM Studios, and an additional part of the Streets of America.
Furthermore, as I hinted to before and will end on this note. This expansion/overlay will open up the doors for how Disney handles the park in the future, hopefully allowing them a way out of the limbo the park is currently in today.
Disney's MGM Studios is currently a thematic mess, with now real thematic bounds. However, Yensid Valley will offer an opportunity to blend the rest of the park around the values of Walt Disney himself - and take a name away from the Disneyland Paris Resort, by naming the park, Walt Disney Studios.
Naming the park Walt Disney Studios in 2008, instead of DHS, after the addition of Yensid Valley in 2005, will in turn allow Disney and WDI to navigate the future of WDS around Walt Disney and Yensid Valley. Rather than throwing more IPs into the park and just having separate lands with no cohesion, Yensid Valley will change the narrative of the park going forward being about building on your dreams and building on the legacy of Walt Disney himself.
Now, adding a Pixar Place, or an Animation Courtyard area of Frozen, or a Star Wars Land, would blend into the purpose of building on Walt's legacy and that it all started with him. A film park with all Walt Disney products in it, and a place in the park devoted to showing where it all began using Walt Disney's backyard entertainment as a metaphor for it all.
Thank you for reading!
LOVING the RCT3 work! I'm really excited for Walt and trains in general because the museum is opening up its second large scale miniature...which will be none other than than the property on Carolwood Drive complete with a scale recreation of the miniature railroad! Can't wait to bring you guys some footage of that!
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