News Coco Boat Ride Coming to Disney California Adventure

[MistaDee]

Ayyyyyyy fellow Bay Arean!

That makes at least 3 of us! haha

This is a beautiful post, thank you so much for taking your time to share this with us. I learned a lot of new things, and the last image is jaw-dropping- imagine THAT instead of Buena Vista Street, with a tower visible from all lands and serving as a true icon for the park. I can assume it doesn’t exist anymore?

One of the most underrated ideas of DCA was to bring back lost wonders of California, which was seen slightly in DCA; the Cathay Circle Theater, Pan Pacific Gates, they’re all places we won’t ever get to visit anymore and being able to see them is like stepping back in time. This is definitely a concept that Imagineers should explore more with aid of historians. A Victorian turn of the century boardwalk long destroyed, contemporary buildings from the past in Avengers Campus, and bustling pre-earthquake San Francisco… it’s a romantic California Adventure where you’re truly stepping back in time.

What exactly is that tower? I would love to know

I'm so glad you enjoyed! I love the history of World's Fairs, in many ways they're deeply connected to our modern theme parks. The tower is sadly gone, but there are some cool remnants left on Treasure Island where the expo took place. It's a fun place to take out of town visitors for a beautiful sunset over the SF skyline.

Here's a link to some of the remaining structures

Thank you for the long post. And while I see that you're passionate about this, as a California and specifically a Bay Area native that visited a lot of those places growing up (spent many summers at the Cliff House at the penny arcade) I don't need that in my Disney Park.

To be clear, you never visited the Cliff House I showed a picture of, that magnificent structure burned to the ground in 1907. Unless of course Walt let you in on some of that sweet cryogenic technology

That penny arcade was such a sweet place, they've moved most of it to the new Musee Mechanique in Pier 39 but it's just not the same

I've long said that the Disneyfied version of California was not a good theme in my opinion for a Disney Park located in California, especially when one can just take a short drive to see the real thing. Obviously others, including you, have other options on that.

I actually don't disagree here. Starting with a blank canvas, choosing to theme your park to the state it's located is absolutely not an optimal design choice. My point was more, given that Paradise Pier is already built, and Disney won't completely bulldoze it, what's the best way to make a glorified mall feel more magical?

For me, it would be to anchor the Pixar stories in a fantasy, Victorian-ish (honestly I'd be down with also using Art Nouveau and Art Deco from the '39 Golden Gate Expo for some "neighborhoods") California seaside pleasure pier.

With all that said we are where we are with the Park, and to me I rather them lean into Mexican architecture given the IP rather than trying to bring it back to some Victorian era pier setting for Coco. Especially since a lot of California architecture was influenced by Mexican architecture of the era.

We'll see what they give us with this project in the coming years.

I also don't necessarily think we disagree here. Mexican architecture is by no means mutually exclusive with a Victorian pier setting.

In fact, in my post I specifically called out San Diego's use of Spanish-colonial revival architecture for its Pan-California Expo which harkens back to the same era as much of Mexico's architectural heritage, although in California the revival is a little more inspired by the simpler, more rustic Missions whereas Mexican architecture in the same period was more baroque and eclectic.

Unless you mean leaning into Pre-Colombian Mexican architecture which I would also be pretty down with. In fact, the "gates" at the bottom of the last image are based on Mayan architecture fused with "Oriental" decoration:

I wonder if these elephants were inspired by the same DW Griffith film that gave us the old gateway to Hollywood Backlot....

So I guess I'm saying Disney could lean into both California AND Mexico's architectural heritage in a way that takes inspiration from some of the images I shared and generally fit that 1880-1920 sorta era. Creating a little Spanish Colonial Revival "neighborhood" for CoCo to have some food/merch would be a great start in my book.

 

[Disney Irish]

To be clear, you never visited the Cliff House I showed a picture of, that magnificent structure burned to the ground in 1907. Unless of course Walt let you in on some of that sweet cryogenic technology

That penny arcade was such a sweet place, they've moved most of it to the new Musee Mechanique in Pier 39 but it's just not the same

No, I never went to that specific iteration of the Cliff House (technically the 2nd), I'm not that old. I went many years to the third and current iteration of the Cliff House, and played many hours in the penny arcade that was in the basement. It was something my aunt would take myself and my brothers and sisters to do during the summer to get us out of my grandparents hair. That along with many trips to Golden Gate Park and other spots around SF is how I spent a lot of my summers until High School.

I hadn't gone to the arcade's current location on Pier 39, as I was way out of High School when it moved. I never even did when I worked in SF for many years. I'll have to take a trip to see it one of these days.

 

[MistaDee]

How about adapting the Pixar Promenade entrance into something like this:

Or, take a page out of DisneySea's Midway Mania entrance or Universal's Simpson Krusty Klown entrance and adapt this for CoCo:

Probably too hardcore for a big entrance, but I'd love it! haha

 

[AJFireman]

OCRegister put out this article several days ago.

Disneyland drops a big hint about where the new Coco boat ride will go

The new ‘Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia’ musical show starts Aug. 30 at Disney California Adventure.

www.ocregister.com

From the article-
"The new Coco show suggests the home of the world’s first Coco ride could be in the neighborhood of Paradise Gardens.

The most logical place to build a new Pixar ride would be in DCA’s Pixar Pier — right next door to Paradise Gardens. A few unused attraction pads lay beneath the Incredicoaster track."

The writer I know doesn't always have it right and have made some assumptions in the past but curious what he considers unused attraction pads"

 

[Disney Irish]

OCRegister put out this article several days ago.

Disneyland drops a big hint about where the new Coco boat ride will go

The new ‘Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia’ musical show starts Aug. 30 at Disney California Adventure.

www.ocregister.com

From the article-
"The new Coco show suggests the home of the world’s first Coco ride could be in the neighborhood of Paradise Gardens.

The most logical place to build a new Pixar ride would be in DCA’s Pixar Pier — right next door to Paradise Gardens. A few unused attraction pads lay beneath the Incredicoaster track."

The writer I know doesn't always have it right and have made some assumptions in the past but curious what he considers unused attraction pads"

I suspect he's referring to the location we've been talking about in the thread, behind the Incredicoaster, with the entrance via the Pixar Promenade.

 

[chadwpalm]

OCRegister put out this article several days ago.

Disneyland drops a big hint about where the new Coco boat ride will go

The new ‘Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia’ musical show starts Aug. 30 at Disney California Adventure.

www.ocregister.com

From the article-
"The new Coco show suggests the home of the world’s first Coco ride could be in the neighborhood of Paradise Gardens.

The most logical place to build a new Pixar ride would be in DCA’s Pixar Pier — right next door to Paradise Gardens. A few unused attraction pads lay beneath the Incredicoaster track."

The writer I know doesn't always have it right and have made some assumptions in the past but curious what he considers unused attraction pads"

If you look at these two paragraphs.....

"The new “Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia” musical show will run several times a day from Friday, Aug. 30 through Nov. 2 in Paradise Gardens at Disney California Adventure."

"The new Coco show suggests the home of the world’s first Coco ride could be in the neighborhood of Paradise Gardens."

.....it's clear he is using the musical show location as some sort of indication that the ride will go there too. It's a pretty broad leap if you ask me.

 

[Ismael Flores]

Mice Chat now speculating the same spot.

View attachment 810687

I hope the building is much bigger than that if not it is going to be a very short boat ride. The Mermaid building uses a small foot print because it has the omnimover that con zigzag in small spaces but a boat ride needs much more room for turns.

hoping that they decide to use up all that back area. They really do not need the small rat paths in the area, right now they have the triple lane bypass road near the power lines as access. Several of those lanes are already being used as storage space for a bunch of junk.
I wonder what those other two buildings are used for?

This would add space for a decent size show building. As for queue my guess is that can take over the remaining arcade games like they did before for midway mania. The entrance facade can also be moved forward several yards into the pier as well to increase queue space.

It is to bad that the Inside out spinner is there if not that huge Helix would have made for a great queue area and load area. A nice themed building looming over the helix and more room that the area in front of the Ferris wheel.

The gift shop next to it could have been expanded queue space or exit.

I still think they should expand the footprint of the boardwalk and expand it over the water area on the sides of the Ferris wheel. There is lots of room there without having to move the projectors. A nice wooden boardwalk over the water that has themed structures that can be used as a relocated store. It would also frame the entrance of the Ferris wheel entrance queue and finally fix that mess

 

[Ismael Flores]

I also have a feeling the Ancient Sanctum will disappear for the robot arm ride entrance for the same reason. It is just place holder.

the video and concept art showed people walking thru the pathway that is now a wall and garden. In the art people walk quite a few yards back then it show it panning left towards the Avengers ride, puts it behind Tower, then pans right to the load area of the Robot arm ride. That would put the load area behind the northern edge of Luigi's. The art also show the track turn at a 90 degree angle west at some point which would also put it directly into the backstage road and north end of Luigi.

lately they have walled off huge areas of landscape next to the pathways that leads from Carland to Avengers. I have a feeling that the large landscape area next to the Wall that separates Sanctum to Cartland will be. moved. If they do remove it then it gives them a chance to re-align the pathway so that it is up against the wall and the existing path becomes more space for the robot infrastructure

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

....it's clear he is using the musical show location as some sort of indication that the ride will go there too. It's a pretty broad leap if you ask me

I’m pretty sure he’s referring to the basic meaning of neighborhood without imagineering context. Most writers won’t know the theme park neighborhood, like Pixar Pier’s four. It’s more saying that the ride will be located at a neighboring land to Paradise Gardens, which is a terrible link.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’m pretty sure he’s referring to the basic meaning of neighborhood without imagineering context. Most writers won’t know the theme park neighborhood, like Pixar Pier’s four. It’s more saying that the ride will be located at a neighboring land to Paradise Gardens, which is a terrible link.

The article was written by Brady McDonald who covers DLR exclusively in detail. I'm pretty sure that he knows what the neighborhoods are, and I believe has written on them before. He is also one of the writers that Disney had used to give scoops to over the years.

In this case I think he is just providing context given that a Coco show is being done in the Gardens, and that it would make sense to go there. But that the most logical location is the spot behind Incredicoaster, which is technically near the Gardens, that we've all been talking about.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

The "tunnel of love" has been mentioned in this thread in the past week, sorry if that wasn't you. Anyways, when the term "tunnel of love" is used it evokes a very specific ride that is romantic in nature from the turn of the century where couples would cuddle during the ride. The IP chosen doesn't evoke that same theme or feeling in my opinion, as mentioned its about love of family not romantic love. As in the movie its only Hector and Imelda reconciling at the end of the movie that even has a romantic setting. So again I don't see this idea of "couples" and romantic theming being part of it, at least not in a major way. So maybe a scene or two, like with Hector and Imelda, but not the entire focus of the ride.

Anyways we'll see how it comes together, but I just don't see the "tunnel of love" aspect as being part of it.

Also I do think this attraction will be a major focus in some way during OBB, especially that first year.

I don’t think tunnel of love literally means the rides were romantic, if anything they were supposed to be dark and spooky. I believe plastic skeletons were a staple, which is why Coco could be a fun throwback to that era.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

If a family boat ride had been part of the original Pixar Pier plans, I think most would’ve viewed the project as an overall positive instead of a pointless retheme

 

[Disney Irish]

I don’t think tunnel of love literally means the rides were romantic, if anything they were supposed to be dark and spooky. I believe plastic skeletons were a staple, which is why Coco could be a fun throwback to that era.

You’re over a week late for that discussion lol. If you continue reading the thread you’ll see why I have that opinion.

 

[MistaDee]

I’m pretty sure he’s referring to the basic meaning of neighborhood without imagineering context. Most writers won’t know the theme park neighborhood, like Pixar Pier’s four. It’s more saying that the ride will be located at a neighboring land to Paradise Gardens, which is a terrible link.

I think I also don't know what the neighborhoods are tbh...Is it:

1. Incredi-Coaster mid-century modern
2. Toy Story Midway Mania sorta victorian style
3. Inside Out zone?
4. Lamplight Lounge area?

Is Paradise Gardens included in this? Maybe that would be its own neighborhood...

 

[Phroobar]

I think I also don't know what the neighborhoods are tbh...Is it:

1. Incredi-Coaster mid-century modern
2. Toy Story Midway Mania sorta victorian style
3. Inside Out zone?
4. Lamplight Lounge area?

Is Paradise Gardens included in this? Maybe that would be its own neighborhood...

I think we are over thinking this.

 

[MistaDee]

Was looking for concept art for the Pixar Pier thread when I came across this concept for a reskin of Grand Fiesta Tour in Epcot's Mexico pavilion:

Orange flowers projection mapped motif throughout the ride

1. Santa Cecilia Ofrenda
2. Cemetery scene
3. Ernesto de la Cruz tomb, Miguel projection mapped transformation
4. Bridge to the city of the dead
5. City of the Dead
6. Ernesto de la Cruz meeting
7. Thrown into cenote, rescued by magic Griffin animatronic
8. City of the Dead finale, Miguel and Hector Un Poco Loco performing from a stage


Here's a link to the video. Nice custom artwork, decent concept. I'd rather see something that's more focused on a journey into the world of the dead than having any book report beats like the Ernesto de la Cruz scene.

 

[MistaDee]

I think we are over thinking this.

I think the "neighborhoods" concept is pretty weak, if people who follow the parks as closely as we do on these forums don't get it then I doubt it's translating particularly well for the general public

 

[Disney Irish]

Was looking for concept art for the Pixar Pier thread when I came across this concept for a reskin of Grand Fiesta Tour in Epcot's Mexico pavilion:

View attachment 813225

Orange flowers projection mapped motif throughout the ride

1. Santa Cecilia Ofrenda
2. Cemetery scene
3. Ernesto de la Cruz tomb, Miguel projection mapped transformation
4. Bridge to the city of the dead
5. City of the Dead
6. Ernesto de la Cruz meeting
7. Thrown into cenote, rescued by magic Griffin animatronic
8. City of the Dead finale, Miguel and Hector Un Poco Loco performing from a stage

Here's a link to the video. Nice custom artwork, decent concept. I'd rather see something that's more focused on a journey into the world of the dead than having any book report beats like the Ernesto de la Cruz scene.

While its shorter than I would like, but that is certainly a show building that could fit into the area behind Incredicoaster without any issues. It wouldn't even need to expand much if any beyond the existing footprint of the parade building.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think the "neighborhoods" concept is pretty weak, if people who follow the parks as closely as we do on these forums don't get it then I doubt it's translating particularly well for the general public

I honestly doubt if anyone in the GP even know there are "neighborhoods", which is why I always thought it was a dumb idea.

 

[disneyC97]

I think that (the Poultry Palace box) might be my least favorite thing they added to Pixar Pier. Hideous.

Most of the Pixar Pier upgrades were improvements - specifically the entry arch, Lamplight and the shops across and the ferris wheel entry - even Bing Bong's. The all added to the more detailed Victorian look that started with Midway Mania and...

Unfortunately, this ugly snack stand and the mid-century Incredicoaster additions create a mess.

It also would have been better to add a proper canopy to the carousel and not just repaint and replace the very 2001 ferris wheel shade structures just past the Victorian entry arch added.

To tie this back into the thread...yes, put the Coco boat ride entry where that bandshell facade is and scrap the chicken box for a Coco-Victorian snack spot!