DisneySky - COMPLETE & RESTORED

[D Hulk]

The quarry walkway leads to Plunderer’s Dig, a sandy archaeological dig area inspired by The Boneyard at Animal Kingdom. This is an expansive outdoor children’s play area, complete with a huge scaffolding jungle gym with cargo nets to climb on above, plastic slides (archaeological chutes) to ride to the sand below, and a big central sand pit with digging toys and climbable crates. There are half-buried Moai to uncover in the sand, and many more semi-fossilized Tongan artifacts. Parents can relax and watch in chairs made from wheelbarrows.

Gaps in the limestone cliffs lead to Cenote Caverns. There are additional cavern entrances further into the site near the Pyramid of Mu. The cavern interiors provide a damp, air-conditioned maze of claustrophobic tunnels to explore, full of dark curving paths and dripping water. One branching route leads along a small underground river a-la Belize, and to a secret cenote. Sunlight lights the sinkhole from above. Here, the Tongans made sacrifices to their sky gods. Shattered human skeletons line the watery basin, mixed in with treasures like golden tikis and giant pearls.

The crumbling Pyramid of Mu sits opposite from the Tonga Observatory. The Pyramid of Mu Ropes Course spans a stillwater pond between these monumental buildings. This is a classic collection of rope bridges found in the archaeological scaffolding along the temples’ facades. There are three levels of rope bridges, all accessible from an ad hoc wooden archaeologist's tower in the central clearing. Bridges cross over the main walkways, with one accessing the Observatory rooftop, and two connecting to different levels of the Pyramid.

“Modern” 1930s anti-aircraft artillery guns sit mounted on the tower’s upper platforms, trained on the heavens in case of a Sky Pirate attack. Guests can “fire” these massive cannons, which release puffs of smoke and create loud, echoing ka-booms.

The lower level bridges access an open atrium within the Pyramid, which includes an unlikely indoors waterfall and views down onto the Lost Ruins Escape Room (covered later). The Pyramid’s upper level offers access to a ceremonial temple. Inside, a giant bell is rung by a “stonepunk” hammer device activated with a crank. Access to this temple is strictly one-way, with the exit leading down the exterior Pyramid steps alongside the escape room exit.

Through the front base of the Pyramid is the Map Room. This is the sort of pulp archaeological scene familiar from Raiders of the Lost Ark. A massive ancient model depicts the Tonga complex in its pristine Golden Age state. Guests may activate a shaft of sunlight using a wall lever. By manipulating a large magnification glass mounted on a staff they can direct the light across the model and illuminate different areas. Ancient hieroglyphics glow bright when lit.

Lastly there is the centerpiece Lost Ruins Escape Room. This major sub-attraction takes place within the Pyramid of Mu. Groups of ten guests (with parties combined as needed) are sealed within a Tongan tomb, and given 30 minutes to devise their escape...or suffer the consequences!

Lost Ruins Escape Room actually holds four separate escape rooms. Between them, there is an hourly capacity of 80 guests...which is actually huge for an escape room, and minuscule for a theme park! Due to this, the sub-attraction operates on a mandatory reservation return time system. Beginning at park opening, reservations can be made in person daily at an archaeologist's tent near the DC-3’s wing along the Diesel Bay pathways near the Lost Temple Ruins entrance. Reservations are strictly first-come-first-served...likely not the sort of adventure which one-time guests will rush for at rope drop, but for California locals it becomes a magnificent way to enrich return visits.

Guests assemble for their reservations (spaced every seven minutes) within a corrugated metal archaeologist's shed along the shores of the River Lani. Artifacts appear atop of and within crates. Archaeologist cast members welcome guests, and lead them to a secret Pyramid side entrance hidden in scaffolding under rubble.

A cast member leads guests down underlit stone hallways while delivering a pre-show speech. Ages ago, when the Emperor of Tonga perished, his remains were sealed in a tomb and a curse was placed upon the chamber. The vengeful sky deities protect that catacomb now, vowing vengeance upon whosoever dares enter…

But the tomb has already been excavated, the cast member cheerfully explains while leading guests into the Pyramid’s central waterfall atrium - the room visible from the ropes course. The curse has been lifted and the tomb is now safe to enter. Guests can access the tomb through a hidden passage behind a multi-story waterfall which gushes forth from a huge statue of the Emperor.

Guests obligingly enter the tomb - through one of four vault doors. Once inside, the chamber seals shut! The cast member calls to guests from the atrium outside, vowing to find rescue. And the game is afoot! Guests have thirty minutes to decipher their own escape from the Emperor’s tomb, before they are evacuated one way or the other.

Clues and methods-of-escape regularly change out, making Lost Ruins Escape Room an endlessly repeatable experience. There are codex puzzles in the Indiana Jones style, hieroglyphics on the walls to decipher, and physical puzzles formed from the temple’s stone mechanisms.

In-room special effects are a truly terrifying “Disney” touch, very much in the fearsome vein of ExtraTERRORestrial Encounter. Lights come and go. Eerie sound effects wail across the chasms of time. Spikes emerge from the ceiling. Mummies might appear. In the darkness, bats fly through guests’ hair, and bugs rush past their feet. These effects get changed out as often as the puzzles, again adding perpetual repeatability.

Should guests successfully solve the Riddle of the Emperor, a winner’s exit reveals itself. They escape into a shimmering treasure room held within a natural crystal cavern, where bioluminescent lights sparkle and dance as they refract through the diamonds and off of the Emperor’s golden trinkets. This sight - among the rarest locations within DisneySky - can only be seen when the escape room is won…

Otherwise, archeologist cast members rescue guests through an alternate tunnel exit. Guests narrowly escape while the tomb collapses behind them. As a consolation prize, one way or the other participating guests receive a collectible trading pin (among other rotating themed souvenirs) to commemorate their one-of-a-kind Disney Park experience.
​

---

Thank you very much, @fradz!

And rest in peace Chuck Yeager, one of the aviation legends who inspired DisneySky. He was 97.

 

[D Hulk]

Myth of Moana
C-ticket live show

Native storytellers musically retell the tale of Moana with colorful costumes and jaw-dropping sights

Guests who explore Diesel Bay’s enchanted wilderness will discover the Wayfarer Stage embedded deep within ancestral caverns. Gathered here in the glow of starlight and tiki torches, tribal Polynesian storytellers relate their culture’s ancient myths. They recount the Myth of Moana, an abridged version of Disney’s Moana told in a Broadway-meets-Cirque vein.

Wayfarer Stage - host to Myth of Moana - is found in Diesel Bay’s extreme eastern jungles. The theater building itself resembles a limestone mesa, like the jagged otherworldly cliffs of Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay. Along the cliffs’ highest peaks is a forced perspective model of Motunui, the tropical isle homeland of Moana.

A courtyard is spread out before the cliffs, with exterior seating for waiting guests provided upon beached catamarans and under their sails. Restless guests may enjoy small walking trails into the thick encroaching jungle. Behind overgrown rubber trees, the DisneySky JetRail may be seen. There are charming hints of man living alongside nature, such as orchid flowers on display in hollowed gourds and bamboo pots. Piles of harvested coconuts line the jungle floor.

Like the similar King Triton’s Concert at Tokyo DisneySea, Myth of Moana runs continuously throughout the day. Performances start every 20 minutes, and run 14 minutes each. Wayfarer Stage can only sit 700 guests at a time - ideal for a closer, more intimate show - but it boasts an overall hourly capacity of 2,100 guests. (Lost Temple Ruins nearby provides a great way for guests to kill time while waiting for the next showtime.)

Four minutes to showtime, guests enter into the Motunui cliffs. The entrance is framed by an aboriginal drua sailboat (the same sort used by Moana) with the show’s name upon its sail. Once within the mossy caverns, a tunnel cycles guests counterclockwise around the perimeter of the Wayfarer Stage. Petroglyphs on the cave walls depict ancient Polynesian watercraft, star navigation, and Maui worship.

Guests “emerge” from the tunnels into the Wayfarer Stage, a theater-in-the-round set indoors in a nighttime South Seas cove. Comfy seating circles facing inwards towards a central upraised luau platform. The theater’s outer walls are rocky island cliffs; woven tribal tapestries line these cliffs. The hard floor underneath resembles beach sand. A dome ceiling overhead - illuminated by planetarium projection tech - depicts the nighttime skies, prominently aglitter with wayfaring constellations which provide our thematic “sky” tie-in. There is the sound and smell of nearby ocean waves gently rolling against the shores. As a reminder that we are still in Diesel Bay’s 1930s setting, a distant radio plays crackly jazz tunes.

“We Know the Way”
(2:35)

As the show begins, lights fade into blackness. Drums. A chant begins - Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song “We Know the Way” from Moana. (All the show’s songs are pre-recorded, so live performers may focus on other aspects.)

The lights return as the song picks up. Upon the luau platform stands the Descendant, an elderly Polynesian storyteller here to relate her tribe’s prehistoric “myth of Moana.” She sings in Samoan and Tokelauan. The Tiki Chorus - eight period-appropriate tribal hula dancers - bound down the aisles accompanying the Descendant’s singing. (Two sets of Tiki Choruses rotate on-stage, allowing costume changes to portray elemental roles like the seas or the stars.) They join in the song.



The Descendant begins a new verse in English, slightly rewritten as an introduction to Moana - telling of her skills at celestial navigation and her importance in Polynesian legend:

“She read the wind and the sky
When the sun was high.
She sailed the lengths of the seas
On the ocean breeze.
We sing this hosanna
To famed Moana.”

The starry nighttime projections overhead start to magically shift with the Descendant’s lyrics, changing to day and then to night again. The stars align into a series of constellations depicting Moana, Maui, and the Heart of Te Fiti.

Morning light bathes the entire Wayfarer Stage as the song continues. We are transported by the power of storytelling back in time several millennia, back to the time of Moana. Puffy pink morning clouds fill the skies. Green foliage lighting covers the cliff walls.

We find ourselves in Motunui village. The Tiki Chorus portrays the ancient villagers. The Descendant appears as Tala, Moana’s grandmother. Moana appears as well, helping her tribespeople in their daily island life. Her chicken Heihei appears constantly by her side, always mindlessly falling and crashing into stones - this comic relief animal is portrayed by a puppeteer.

Descendant’s Narration
(0:25)

As the song ends, the projected darkness of Te Ka spreads like nightmarish tendrils across the island paradise. The Tiki Chorus appear in black costumes representing this blight. The Descendant narrates the story:

“The darkness of Te Ka spread across the land, poisoning everything. Moana set forth alone upon the open seas. To rescue her people, she had a simple mission. To locate the demigod Maui, and convince him to restore the Heart of Te Fiti.”



“How Far I’ll Go”
(2:36)

The Descendant/Tala vanishes into the shadows. Moana takes center stage upon the luau platform, joined by Heihei. She clasps a magnificent green glowing Heart of Te Fiti prop. Moana sings “How Far I’ll Go,” her ode to the seas, as lighting bathes the cliff walls in an azure oceanic blue.

As the song grows in strength, the platform transforms into a drua - a mast and sail rise up from hidden trapdoors. Moana boldly steers her craft out over breakwater and into the rough open seas. The Tiki Chorus portrays blue waves, dancing and undulating along the aisles and around her ship. The Descendant returns in a new puppet costume - she portrays a neon glowing manta ray, Moana’s spirit guide. Sky projections depict Moana’s epic voyage, shifting dramatically from sunny to cloudy to a typhoon ravaged by lightning. A light water mist effect pelts guests; wind fans blow. Moana remains unfazed, singing triumphantly as she sails!
​

---

Tomorrow we finish off Myth of Moana.

 

[D Hulk]

Moana Meets Maui
(0:35)

With loud crashing sound effects, Moana finds her drua suddenly beached on Maui’s desert island. Heihei falls off headfirst. Light colors change the cliff walls into sandstone.

Moana peers around cautiously. Strange Samoan chanting emanates from a cliffside cave. A massive shadow looms forth...and Maui bursts out vainly preening and flexing his muscles. (Heihei, meanwhile, simply walks repeatedly into a rock.) Moana stands tall, brandishes her oar, and angrily confronts the brash demigod:

“Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, I am Moana of Motunui and I’m here because you stole the Heart of Te Fiti!”

“Hey look, I stole the Heart of Te Fiti as a gift to you mortals, so what I believe you’re trying to say is...you’re welcome.”



“You’re Welcome”
(2:49)

Maui sings “You’re Welcome.” He strikes many imposing poses upon the platform, with projection mapping effects on his chest animating the demigod’s living tattoos. The Tiki Chorus joins in as more dancing tattoos. The entire room transforms into a stylized tapestry of color and shape, like Maui’s tattoos writ large and invading the skies. Moana is flabbergasted.

Sky projections change at a snap as the song ramps up! From one primary color to another. From tattoo patterns to tapestries. An angular singing Tiki sun. Flying birds and fish. Singing masks. Even physical, semi-animatronic moai lean out from the cliff walls to join in the joyous chorus.

Descendant’s Narration
(1:05)

Maui et al “freeze frame” in place as the Descendant takes to the platform to further narrate the tale:

“After much quarreling, Maui finally agreed to join Moana upon her quest. They endured long ocean voyages battling typhoons, sea creatures, and monstrous coconuts. They descended into Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters, so that Maui could retrieve his magical fish hook from the greedy Tamatoa.”

As the Descendant describes their voyages, Moana and Maui act them out. They sail the oceans on their drua platform, with more changing sky projections. Tiki Chorus members pop up depicting various threats. They portray Kakamora coconut pirates; Maui smacks them away with the oar. They portray monstrous fish; Moana smacks them away with Heihei. Projections depict the neon underwater hell of Lalotai. Several Tiki Chorus members together puppeteer a massive shiny Tamatoa, Maui’s crab archnemesis. Moana distracts Tamatoa while Maui grabs his giant hook from the crab’s shell and they escape.

“But with his hook retrieved and his shapeshifting powers restored, Maui betrayed Moana. Thinking only of his own safety he abandoned her, leaving Moana to confront Te Ka on her own.”

Maui jumps ship, vanishing into a trapdoor with a splashing sound effect. Moana sulks alone on her listing drua upon the dead still night sea. (Heihei mindlessly pecks the mast.) Moana sighs.

“Te Ka Attacks”
(1:42)

The skies fill with dark red smoke. Volcanic plumes blot out the stars, replacing them with flame and lightning. Cliffs glow like lava. Te Ka the giant magma demon rises up from the caves, bellowing in rage. This titanic practical puppet, handled by several puppeteers, lunges for Moana!



Moana dodges Te Ka’s fiery glowing attacks. Heihei weaves in circles. The Tiki Chorus, costumed as molten lava rocks, circles Moana’s drua menacingly. All seems lost when…

“TEEEEE KAAAAA!” Maui swings into the theater from above, flying suspended by wires now in the form of a giant sea eagle. Maui charges Te Ka upon the central drua, which burns away into the ground. The two do battle!

Moana rushes down an aisle. She climbs to a platform halfway up an outer cliff and turns to face Te Ka...just as Maui collapses in defeat.

“Let her come to me.”



“Know Who You Are”
(1:13)

Moana reveals the Heart of Te Fiti. Te Ka pauses her rampage. The entire theater glows with a brilliant, heavenly, life-giving green. Moana sings Te Ka a calming lullaby, “Know Who You Are,” as she walks amidst dancing Tiki Chorus waves towards the dumbfounded lava monster...

Moana embraces the monster’s sorrowful face in her hand. With great compassion, she places the Heart of Te Fiti in Te Ka’s chest. The giant molten costume glows a vibrant green as it reverses. Te Ka magically transforms into the plant goddess Te Fiti.



“We Know the Way (Finale)”
(1:00)

Skies become an overwhelming blue; the cliffs glow with new green growth. Both sets of Tiki Choruses appear, separately portraying Te Fiti’s flowers and the Motunui villagers. Paradise blooms spectacularly as Moana, Maui, Heihei and all the rest dance together in celebration on the central platform.

Lights slowly dim on everyone but the Descendant, who remains on the platform in her original 1930s outfit singing “We Know the Way (Finale).” Her traditional, aboriginal song brings us full circle!

At a climactic drum beat, the lights vanish! The show concludes.

Lights slowly return, and we are again transported to a 1930s nighttime cove in Diesel Bay. Faint jazz music again plays on an unseen radio. The Descendant alone stands upon the central luau platform. She thanks us for listening to her folktale, and wishes that it has been transportive.

Guests exit the Wayfarer Stage through a cliffside cave opposite how they entered. Again within mossy caverns, they round the theater’s perimeter clockwise. Triumphant “outro” music - Moana belting out “I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)” - sees guests forth. An exit passageway to the sweltering Diesel Bay jungles is lit by a green glistening Heart of Te Fiti keystone overhead.



Lastly stumbling outdoors, guests find Moana’s Greeting Grotto set in a Maori longhouse alongside the theater waiting area. A gentle jungle stream with bamboo bridges and stone trails leads inside. This is a meet ‘n’ greet sub-attraction with Moana and Maui “face characters,” should guests wish to prolong their enchanting South Seas reverie.​

 

[D Hulk]

Mt. Helios Funiculars
C-ticket transportation ride

Take a funicular to the peak of Mt. Helios and discover the summit’s secrets

Great mysteries await to be explored at the very top of Mt. Helios. The original inhabitants of Diesel Bay even tell of the Mountain Guardian, a titanic eagle which guards the peak from intruders. Now the time has come for guests to discover the truth for themselves. It is time for them to ascend into the highest peaks of DisneySky’s mighty central icon and see a world removed.

The peaks of Mt. Helios are a bit like Tom Sawyer Island: They are only accessible by ride vehicle. Cut off from the rest of the park, this setting feels especially transportive and exotic.

Funiculars serve as our means of ascending the mountain. Local Los Angeles visitors will know this transportation type from the historic Angels Flight. One of the world’s oldest types of railway, funiculars climb steep inclines from A-to-B. Train cars are themselves tiered into levels to fit the slope. Mt. Helios Funiculars are a four-rail system featuring two parallel tracks which leave from a station strategically located where Diesel Bay’s jungle meets its city. (Technically the ride is an inclined elevator rather than a true funicular, but it’s the theming which counts.) “Funiculars” climb the mountain’s tropical southeastern slopes before vanishing into a limestone cavern...all the better to preserve Mt. Helios’ forced perspective effect by hiding anything on the mountaintop, and all the better to prevent riders from seeing beyond the limits of DisneySky.
​

RIDE STATS
Ride type: Funicular
Capacity per Funicular: 36
Hourly capacity (Per Track, One-Way): 540
Total hourly capacity: 1,080
Duration (One-Way): 1 minute 20 seconds
Height restriction: None​

Located conveniently close to the Skyliner Station, the Mt. Helios Funicular Station is found on the opposite bank of the River Lani. A carved stone bridge spans the currents, with design inspiration from Los Angeles’ Art Deco bridges. Cable mechanisms - ostensibly meant to be the funicular’s driving engine, but really they’re just for show - rest on quartz towers featuring bas relief statues of eagles. There is eagle imagery woven throughout the experience, which serves as subtle foreshadowing in the vein of Expedition Everest.

The station’s structure is made of carved granite from a local quarry. This Art Deco stone holds in place colored glass depicting the Sun. Note that the station holds two entries; a check-in counter on the left serves as exclusive access for the South Seas Club table service restaurant. The right entry leads to a brief queue within the station building, where black and white photos depict the snowy sites at the line’s mountaintop terminus. A few of these photos even show the blurry, distant form of a massive eagle in flight. Plaques explain that this is the mythical “Mountain Guardian,” a legendary bird rumored to fiercely protect the mountaintop.

(Note that while the left track is meant to be a dedicated line for the South Seas Club, the stations are designed so that both tracks may be used for walkthrough attraction access when capacity and operations demand it.)

The funicular cars most closely resemble the Budapest Castle Hill Funicular, but with a strong Art Deco vibe. There is one train car per track, with each car divided into three levels. The station is divided into three levels as well for convenient side-loading, with stairs and ADA access ramps leading to the upper platforms. (The same arrangement is found in the mountaintop station.) Funiculars are mauve with golden panel accents. Interiors feature wood construction and plush booth-style seating, with room for 12 passengers for each tier (of 3). Photographs in the upper paneling continue the eagle foreshadowing. There are decorative track brakes in the front and rear.

The funicular’s journey begins slowly, 3 mph, as it gradually ascends the steep slope along a gravel route carved from the insatiable jungle. Even now this is a charming experience, with the vintage train noises and the jostle of rails passing below. Note that this section crosses over the Diesel Bay tunnel passage to Discovery Glacier, which - with the surrounding waterfalls and foliage - should make for a fantastic photo-op!

Once the funicular is 80 feet up the mountain, it enters a limestone cavern hewn into the foothill cliffs. The smell of coal permeates as lights dim. Initially, bats may be seen nesting upside down in the cavern crevices. Further in, further up, lights increasingly vanish as the funicular passes through an ethereally beautiful glowworm cavern. Specks of green bioluminescence pass by in the windows like stars.

Finally the funicular reaches Crag Point Station, located entirely within the mountain’s lovely caverns. Technically this is 160 feet up, not quite to the top of 199-foot tall Mt. Helios, but enough to provide adequate exploration space and to control sightlines and views for guests both atop the mountain and in the valleys below.

(Everything to follow is situated directly above several show buildings housed within the massive Mt. Helios. An elaborate hidden network of cooling vents and power stations - all the technical stuff show buildings need - is intertwined with the Mt. Helios walkthrough, hidden away in minaret peaks or otherwise hidden from guest sight with careful sightlines and barriers.)

The funicular station cavern resembles the lovely chambers of Mammoth Cave, with undulating organic forms of limestone capped by sandstone. Spare funicular wheelsets rest in a corner. Fake sunbeams or moonbeams shine in from ceiling holes, providing just enough light for guidance. The initial rotunda chamber gives way to a pair of smaller antechambers, which curve through an ancient Polynesian cave dwelling. There is shattered pottery on the floor, and petroglyph wall art depicting the sky deities from Lost Temple Ruins. One final petroglyph at the far end depicts the winged Mountain Guardian…

Eventually both passageways open up to the spectacular snowy summit of Mt. Helios! Imagine an alpine Tom Sawyer Island. Hiking trails twist around the treacherous cliffs, all of them winding around the mountain’s eastern glacier. Careful sightlines prevent views directly down into Discovery Glacier - just as guests below cannot see the mountaintop trails - yet the distant panoramic views make for a spectacular vantage point! A few stationary telescopes look down upon specific sights below.

Cold winds blow (from giant fans) down the mountain’s canyons. The peak’s mist machines create a permanent cloud ceiling overhead. Several explorable paths lead hardened guests further along the ledges. Some paths hug the icy cliffs, while another leads to a rope bridge venturing out over a rocky chasm. The sounds of avalanches overhead keep guests on their toes. There are a few details of earlier mountaineers in this region. Crampons remain lodged in the ice. Pickaxes and climbing rope lie hidden behind boulders. An upper ridge includes a S.K.Y. flag planted there by William Diesel.

Inaccessible icy stairs lead to a cave mouth - a frostbit wooden sign advertises the “Helios Hermit.” Guests may call out to the cave, and they will hear a response! The Helios Hermit himself, forever unseen in his hideaway, replies to guests with a gravelly voice. Performed by a hidden cast member with a microphone (shades of Knott’s Ghost Town), the Helios Hermit imparts guests with wisdom from his years of solitude and meditation. And of course some of the stranger things uttered by the Hermit suggest that he’s no longer playing with a full deck...

There is an insurmountable ridgeline ahead. The only way through is via a series of ice caverns, very much like the spookier caves on Tom Sawyer’s Island. Most passageways are easily walked through, but some optional routes are designed for crawling. Base camp tents lie artlessly wedged into a crevice, torn to ribbons as if by massive talons.

Guests who successfully brave these slopes will come upon Mt. Helios’ main attraction, the Eagle’s Aerie. In a north-facing granite cave, directly upslope from Inspiration Observatory in Runway One, guests find an enormous nest made from large tree branches. Rounding the corner, they see her...

The Mountain Guardian!

She is a full-scale giant eagle animatronic, as big as an elephant and fully articulated! This mighty bird feeds her brood of animatronic hatchlings around large freshly-hatched eggs. She barely notices guests, except for an occasional alert head tilt, before returning to tend to her young. Fans of Disneyland Park in Paris, with its dragon beneath Sleeping Beauty Castle, will recognize the sort of quiet majesty and awe a sight like this can create. For now that guests have finally ascended Mt. Helios, they are face-to-face with nature in all her untameable glory!

One-way pathways on the far side of Eagle’s Aerie lead through rather barebones mountain tunnels back to the Crag Point Station, where funiculars await to ferry mountaineers back to sea level.​

 

[D Hulk]

DisneySky JetRail – Diesel Bay Station
C-ticket transportation ride

This shimmering Art Deco station is situated on upper levels overlooking the Tradewinds Department Store. A vaulted expanse welcomes the arriving JetRail monorails, with all the gleek grandeur of the Jazz Age. Stylized jungle-themed stained glass filtered sunlight through the vault. Lining the upper walls are billboard advertisements for Diesel Bay’s many wondrous new products...most of them of course shipped in by William Diesel’s company. For added kinetic fun, these are “trivision” billboards, whose vertical prisms rotate every 20 seconds to allow for three ads to appear in a single space!

The station’s overall vibe is of a 1930s retro-futurist version of the Contemporary’s Monorail station. Loading is on the second level. Stair and elevator access lead up from the Pontoon Lagoon waterfront, with beaux artes steps and clock tower all heavily indebted to Chicago’s Union Station as depicted in The Untouchables.
​

---

Skyliner – Diesel Bay Station
C-ticket transportation ride

In sharp contrast to its sleek sister station in Runway One, the Skyliner’s Diesel Bay Station is housed in a dilapidated, rusting airplane hangar swiftly being overtaken by the jungle. This aging, ramshackle hangar is visually similar to the Hangar Stage in DisneySea and Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs...neither of which appear in DisneySky. Unlike the Runway One Station, the Diesel Bay Station sits low to ground level with nothing else underneath it. Skyliner passengers arriving from Runway One will enjoy an exhilarating descent over the River Lani and directly into the open hangar station platform.

Diesel Bay guests looking to board will approach from the jungle side, past a stone hangar wall with “DIESEL BAY” written in enormous (if sloppy) block lettering. The “SkyLiner” sign appears on a wrecked wing held from a winch tower. The hangar’s double door entrance is partially blocked by a rubber tree which grows up through the hangar’s interior stairways, twisting the stairs into unspeakable shapes, before emerging through the corrugated rooftop.

Guests queue for their cable car inside a makeshift office space...the original headquarters for William Diesel’s now-worldwide airfreight empire. Faded advertisements abound for “Barracuda Airlines.” Whoever runs this place now clearly lacks Diesel’s cleanliness or professionalism. The place is a sty, with an untidy desk surrounded by scattered air trunks, local archipelago maps (both aviation and topographical), and lots and lots of discarded, oily plane parts haphazardly strewn all about. The gondola machinery is made to resemble repurposed oil derrick equipment, with additional kinetic devices in the surrounding area to create this impression.

The return ride from Diesel Bay to Runaway One is a mirror version of the ride out, as discussed in “Runway One.” Initial ascent is thrilling, emerging from the hangar’s semi-raised platform and rushing upwards over the rushing River Lani. Guests enjoy the amazing bird's eye views on their swift, sleek voyage from Diesel’s 1930s metropolis to his 1950s airfield.​

 

[D Hulk]

Diesel Bay - Dining​

 

[D Hulk]

South Seas Club
Table service restaurant

Full-course meals specializing in seafood
[ADULT DRINKS]

A dining experience unlike any other awaits at the summit of Mt. Helios! Enjoy four-star opulence in the natural beauty of a mountaintop limestone cavern. The South Seas Club combines the glitz of a 1930s jazz club, the thrill of an alpine adventure, and excellent full-course meals all in one.

The South Seas Club, perched 160 feet from the park floor, is accessed via the Mt. Helios Funiculars. Check-in is located in the glass-and-stone funicular station at the foot of the mountain. To the left of the main attraction queue, diners find a ground level lobby awash in understated elegance. The Art Deco marquee sign ties our restaurant back to the South Seas Club seen in The Rocketeer. The bare stone interior of the station features Tiffany’s furnishings. Following check-in, the concierge will show guests to the left-side funicular loading platform.

The ride to the summit is the same experience as found on Mt. Helios Funiculars. (And note that while the South Seas Club has exclusive use of the left funicular track, this arrangement may change in the future if the attraction needs extra capacity; in that scenario, South Seas Club patrons will simply enjoy priority boarding and reserved funicular seating.)

Once the funicular reaches its high altitude destination inside Crag Point Station, diners unload to the left onto tiered ramps. Again we find ourselves within a gorgeous limestone cavern inspired by Mammoth Cave. This side of the caves is adorned with a stalagmite garden, made even more beautiful by colored track lighting. The bare rock floors are decked with fine hardwood floors, as is the entire restaurant, and walkways are lit by wrought iron candle stands. Exiting from the three funicular platforms, diners descend to the level by a series of stairs crossed by a zigzagging ADA ramp.

Following one more elegant check-in desk, the claustrophobic tunnels open up to reveal a single, massive cave chamber! This is our stupendous main dining room, nestled within the snowy peaks of Mt. Helios. A panoramic cave mouth looks to the west, bestowing the chamber with warm natural daylight and lovely romantic sunsets. Temperate Californian air keeps the cave comfortable year round. If there’s anywhere in the world like this, it’s the famously extravagant Grotta Palazzese Restaurant.

Diners take their seats at circular wood tables covered in white tablecloths. Decor is very minimalist. Iron candelabras at tableside provide soft, soothing candlelight. A makeshift “chandelier” overhead is made from rows of candles on iron mounts affixed to a cone of stalactites. Ferns grow from the limestone walls like the hanging gardens of Zion, Utah. Lanterns warm diners when the nights get a little chilly. The inner cavern includes a built-in bar, realized in a stately Art Deco style, with little subdued hints of South Seas tiki culture.

The South Seas Club offers full-course meals, with a focus on seafood. The food is done in an Asian fusion style, with just enough exoticism to prove unique while remaining accessible to any palette. Walt Disney World’s Flying Fish Cafe has a rather similar high-end menu. Ordering a-la carte is more than acceptable, but to get the finest dining experience our chef recommends the prix fixe meal known as the “Rarotonga Roast.”

A private dining room is located further into the caverns, away from the mountaintop views. Guests here will dine in a low-slung circular cave chamber, at a table on a central mounted island. Shallow glacier waters pool on all sides, with lights casting wave reflections on all surfaces. Darkness hides the chamber’s edges, which are hidden behind a thick tangle of stalactites and stalagmites.

The South Seas Club’s dedicated restrooms are located alongside the cavernous check-in counter. Once inside, the restrooms trade out the cave motif for simple teak floors and tasteful stucco walls with wrought iron accents.

Following a delicious meal, the trip back to earth is as enchanting as the trip up. Diners return to the Crag Point Station and descend the mountain in a funicular, as the sights and sounds of Diesel Bay slowly come back into being. This moment is especially magical for sunset reservations, as the return trip reveals DisneySky wrapped in nighttime and newly aglow with life.
​

---

Cargo Fruit
Snack stand

Wagon selling fresh-cut fruit and smoothies

To continue our tour of Diesel Bay’s dining spatially, from jungle to city, our next stop would be this rather humble thatch wagon in the deepest wilderness. Cargo Fruit sells fruity treats. From an assortment of tropical fruits on display - including mango, guava, and papaya - servers will prepare a freshly-sliced fruit cup, or blend a smoothie from scratch. Though servers slice the fruits by hand, a nearby propeller covered in passionfruit gunk suggests that sometimes they use other methods.

The wagon itself is a stick-and-straw thatch hut. This is the creation of a so-called “cargo cult” of natives…When airplanes passing overhead performed a cargo drop onto this isolated village, the local islanders assumed this was a gift from the gods and began worshipping the airplanes themselves as deities. A centerpiece straw airplane totem on the hut’s roof serves as such “sympathetic magic.”

The hut’s rear wall features a crude drawing of a “miraculous” airdrop. The shelving itself is made of airdrop crates. Nearby, there is even a wrecked CDS (cargo delivery system) bundle from a S.K.Y. airdrop.
​

---

Bush Pilots Diner
Buffeteria character dining restaurant

Curry and other Thai dishes

Bush Pilots Diner is DisneySky’s largest buffeteria restaurant. In the early days of Diesel Bay, well before the great Art Deco metropolis was formed, this was a popular dining spot for daring bush pilots and other adventurers. It is found in the Levuka-inspired shanty town where the jungle overgrowth gives way to towering limestone cliffs. The main entrance is a sort of ad hoc corner diner made from driftwood and corrugated metal. Additional facades include thatch huts and an old weathered colonial church. Much of the actual restaurant is located inside the “limestone cliff” jungle walls, which primarily house The Rocketeer and the Sky Pirates.

Through the entrance, servers greet guests at booths made from mounted surfboards. The buffet area stretches out below in a cavernous jungle shack, with several aisles of varying culinary treats. The interior design is equal parts vintage tiki bar, Louie’s Place from TaleSpin, Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, and original research-based design. Palm frond awnings divide spaces. The ceilings are overcrowded with dangling Micronesian fruits, both dried and fresh. Lamps are made from reused airplane headlines. Tropical flowers grow from steel row boats mounted vertically on the walls. Polynesian artwork fills in the remaining spaces.

Serving stations, made from repurposed air freight crates, offer up a wide range of foods. Bush Pilots Diner specializes in Thai cuisine served buffet style. Though the menu rotates regularly, common items include pad Thai, coconut milk curries, and desserts like mango sticky rice. As a specialty drink (alongside more common libations) are Thai milky sweet teas. Of course, there are enough Americanized dishes on-hand as well to satisfy less adventurous eaters.

The indoor dining space, which is semi-contiguous with the buffeteria floor, is a sprawling Levuka Town shanty built right up against the limestone cliffs. These mossy rocks provide a “naturally formed” raised stage overlooking the dining floor, where costumed characters will occasionally appear to put on a show. Tables and decor show off the bush pilots’ worldwide adventures. There are artifacts on display from such disparate places as the Klondike, the Andes, the Himalayas, Ethiopia, and Armenia.

But this is Southern California, where weather is rarely an issue, so by far the best and most spacious dining space is found outdoors. Leaving from the buffeteria, diners head out back to a tropical oasis surrounded by crystal clear blue waterfalls. Bamboo stilt patios, very similar in style to the waterborne bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian, provide more-than-ample table space...complete with a pair of circular docks out over the sparkling pools. Misters provide continual cool. More bush pilot artifacts line the nearby shanty walls. Lush jungle planting includes genuine Venus fly traps...plus one or two oversized fly traps created by Imagineering.

Views look out across the River Lani to Lost Temple Ruins, where the busted fuselage rapids hold diners’ attention. To the right is a secluded alcove of peaceful waterfalls, which gently flow in parallel down stone terraces like Jamaica’s Ocho Rios. Various native craft float in the waters - a catamaran, a drua, also a S.K.Y.-branded rowboat.

Bush Pilots Diner’s dedicated restrooms are set further back, past the outdoor dining patio, in a space located behind the Rocketeer show building. Thatched roof walkways along the edge keep restroom access safe from any bad weather. The restrooms’ facade is another Levuka Town house front. The inside is done in a simple Hawaiian style much like Trader Sam’s restrooms, with bamboo stall walls and tiki idol lanterns.

This restaurant is also a major character dining venue! While costumed characters are known to interact with diners on the outdoor patio, the best character experiences are indoors. The Fab Five appear in traditional Hawaiian garb, with leis and ukuleles. They take to the stage and regail diners with an authentic South Seas dance show, very much in line with some of the shows performed at Aulani.​

 

[James G.]

I gave this my usual, and well-earned- "WOW", but I do have a question about the South Seas Club. Understand that this comes from an Ohio boy who's never been to California during the Santa Ana Winds season, but this is an open-air (or open-cavern) restaurant, correct? I know it faces east, and what I read shows that the Santa Ana Winds blow from the east. Am I wrong? It seems that, if this restaurant was open-air and facing east, the winds would blow rather fiercely into the cavern where the restaurant is located, and trying to eat a high-class meal in a wind tunnel would take some of the charm off of the experience. Please correct me if I read this completely wrong. It would be a beautiful setting, rather reminiscent of Mythos at IOA, but being open-air could have some meteorological drawbacks.

 

[D Hulk]

I gave this my usual, and well-earned- "WOW", but I do have a question about the South Seas Club. Understand that this comes from an Ohio boy who's never been to California during the Santa Ana Winds season, but this is an open-air (or open-cavern) restaurant, correct? I know it faces east, and what I read shows that the Santa Ana Winds blow from the east. Am I wrong? It seems that, if this restaurant was open-air and facing east, the winds would blow rather fiercely into the cavern where the restaurant is located, and trying to eat a high-class meal in a wind tunnel would take some of the charm off of the experience. Please correct me if I read this completely wrong. It would be a beautiful setting, rather reminiscent of Mythos at IOA, but being open-air could have some meteorological drawbacks.

Good points. I actually misspoke when I said it faces east; that's edited now. (Problems of a flipped around map illustration.) The restaurant faces due west, to enjoy the sunsets. And the Santa Ana Winds tend to be a lot less ferocious in flat areas like Anaheim, which is quite far from the mountains which generate the winds. (So unlike my home.) I've never personally experienced high winds at the Disney Resort. Any additional concerns about discomfort could be mitigated with perhaps a wind curtain, or temporary glass partitions which could completely seal off the dining room. Since similar high-toned restaurants exist in places like Italy which have temperate climates like California's, I trust these precedents prove the concept doable.

 

[James G.]

Good points. I actually misspoke when I said it faces east; that's edited now. (Problems of a flipped around map illustration.) The restaurant faces due west, to enjoy the sunsets. And the Santa Ana Winds tend to be a lot less ferocious in flat areas like Anaheim, which is quite far from the mountains which generate the winds. (So unlike my home.) I've never personally experienced high winds at the Disney Resort. Any additional concerns about discomfort could be mitigated with perhaps a wind curtain, or temporary glass partitions which could completely seal off the dining room. Since similar high-toned restaurants exist in places like Italy which have temperate climates like California's, I trust these precedents prove the concept doable.

Absolutely. I understand the problems with keeping our compass directions straight at times. My original layout of Americana 1900, the one that I had a talented artist paint for me, turned out to be 180 degrees wrong from how it was supposed to be, and how it now fits into the entire Americana Resort. Also, being an Ohio boy, our winds almost always come from the west or southwest. If they come from the north or northwest, either we're in for a blizzard or the world's turned upside down.

You never cease to amaze me with DisneySky.

 

[Evilgidgit]

Absolutely. I understand the problems with keeping our compass directions straight at times. My original layout of Americana 1900, the one that I had a talented artist paint for me, turned out to be 180 degrees wrong from how it was supposed to be, and how it now fits into the entire Americana Resort. Also, being an Ohio boy, our winds almost always come from the west or southwest. If they come from the north or northwest, either we're in for a blizzard or the world's turned upside down.

You never cease to amaze me with DisneySky.

Just so I don't wonder @James G., where might we find your Americana 1900 project?

 

[James G.]

Just so I don't wonder @James G., where might we find your Americana 1900 project?

I've been in discussion with D Hulk about this- in fact, I just got off the phone with him. I don't have anything ready at this time for a formal presentation such as the amazing DisneySky that we're enjoying, but something might be happening. It won't be soon, like next week, but I'm getting some inspiration to get something presentable. I appreciate your interest, and will keep everyone informed if and when it happens. Thanks!

 

[D Hulk]

Just so I don't wonder @James G., where might we find your Americana 1900 project?

Here's a little something to tide you over. This is an illustrated map of Americana 1900 which I created for James, based on his design notes. If @James G. wishes to provide any further context, I leave that up to him.

JAMES' COMPLETED PROJECT! (Circa 2022)​

 

[James G.]

Here's a little something to tide you over. This is an illustrated map of Americana 1900 which I created for James, based on his design notes. If @James G. wishes to provide any further context, I leave that up to him.

This is Americana 1900, which I have nicknamed "America's Grand New Theme Park." If there is interest, I'll flesh it out in much more detail, but for now, I'll give a brief description of each area of the park. Americana 1900 is themed, obviously, to an idealized America between the years 1880 and 1920, and is divided into eight Townships. The main entrance, Heritage Plaza, is the wedge-shaped area at the very bottom of the map and leads under the railroad viaduct into Maple Grove, a small town only slightly removed from the pioneer days of America. It's lined with operating craft shops, a livery stable, train station and restaurants, and surrounds the village green. Heading south towards the center of the park is Century Plaza, with the 300-ft tall Americana Wonder Wheel as the park's main icon. Here are floral gardens and rides that emphasize the industrial motion of the turn of the century. To the right of Century Plaza (west of it) is Morrison Farm, with farm-based rides, restaurants and an actual working farm of the 1900s (lower right). Above Morrison Farm is Green Springs, a major water park built in the remains of a shuttered steel mill. Above Century Plaza is Courthouse Square, with the Americana County Courthouse surrounded by the shops, theaters and hotels of a prosperous county seat. Several rides are located here, including The Crypt of Fire- imagine the Haunted Mansion where the ghosts aren't happy that you're there. Left of Courthouse Square is State Fair, where many of the most traditional carnival rides (the Whip, the Caterpillar, a Looft Carousel among many others) share space with several coasters, including Thunderbolt and Lightning, a double coaster where Thunderbolt is a wooden coaster and Lightning is a steel coaster, sharing the same space. To the left of State Fair, the large rectangular space is The Pike, a tribute to the amusement areas of the great world's fairs of the late 1800s-early 1900s. Industrial pavilions, an enclosed drop tower, a recreation of the San Francisco Earthquake and the Great Train Robbery, and a massive coaster, the Great Pacific Northwest Scenic Railway, surround beautiful sunken gardens. Finally, in the lower-left corner, is Keystone Studios, a tribute to the great silent film studios where the Keystone Cops, Mabel Normand and a little tramp named Charlie Chaplin, created a new form of art.

If there is interest, I will attempt to come up with a more detailed presentation, with the help of my great friend D Hulk. Please let me know if interested, and thank you for your time.

 

[fradz]

I gave this my usual, and well-earned- "WOW", but I do have a question about the South Seas Club. Understand that this comes from an Ohio boy who's never been to California during the Santa Ana Winds season, but this is an open-air (or open-cavern) restaurant, correct? I know it faces east, and what I read shows that the Santa Ana Winds blow from the east. Am I wrong? It seems that, if this restaurant was open-air and facing east, the winds would blow rather fiercely into the cavern where the restaurant is located, and trying to eat a high-class meal in a wind tunnel would take some of the charm off of the experience. Please correct me if I read this completely wrong. It would be a beautiful setting, rather reminiscent of Mythos at IOA, but being open-air could have some meteorological drawbacks.

Just adding my 2cents here: The restaurant pictured is in the south of Italy, in Puglia (in Polignano a Mare exactly). I've actually been there, as I was frequently visiting Puglia 3 years ago (ex-gf). It's facing the Adriatic sea on the North, but it's a generally very calm sea. No wind issue there. I don't think it would be in this case either, if properly designed.

 

[Voxel]

South Seas Club
Table service restaurant

Full-course meals specializing in seafood
[ADULT DRINKS]

A dining experience unlike any other awaits at the summit of Mt. Helios! Enjoy four-star opulence in the natural beauty of a mountaintop limestone cavern. The South Seas Club combines the glitz of a 1930s jazz club, the thrill of an alpine adventure, and excellent full-course meals all in one.

The South Seas Club, perched 160 feet from the park floor, is accessed via the Mt. Helios Funiculars. Check-in is located in the glass-and-stone funicular station at the foot of the mountain. To the left of the main attraction queue, diners find a ground level lobby awash in understated elegance. The Art Deco marquee sign ties our restaurant back to the South Seas Club seen in The Rocketeer. The bare stone interior of the station features Tiffany’s furnishings. Following check-in, the concierge will show guests to the left-side funicular loading platform.

The ride to the summit is the same experience as found on Mt. Helios Funiculars. (And note that while the South Seas Club has exclusive use of the left funicular track, this arrangement may change in the future if the attraction needs extra capacity; in that scenario, South Seas Club patrons will simply enjoy priority boarding and reserved funicular seating.)

Once the funicular reaches its high altitude destination inside Crag Point Station, diners unload to the left onto tiered ramps. Again we find ourselves within a gorgeous limestone cavern inspired by Mammoth Cave. This side of the caves is adorned with a stalagmite garden, made even more beautiful by colored track lighting. The bare rock floors are decked with fine hardwood floors, as is the entire restaurant, and walkways are lit by wrought iron candle stands. Exiting from the three funicular platforms, diners descend to the level by a series of stairs crossed by a zigzagging ADA ramp.

Following one more elegant check-in desk, the claustrophobic tunnels open up to reveal a single, massive cave chamber! This is our stupendous main dining room, nestled within the snowy peaks of Mt. Helios. A panoramic cave mouth looks to the west, bestowing the chamber with warm natural daylight and lovely romantic sunsets. Temperate Californian air keeps the cave comfortable year round. If there’s anywhere in the world like this, it’s the famously extravagant Grotta Palazzese Restaurant.

Diners take their seats at circular wood tables covered in white tablecloths. Decor is very minimalist. Iron candelabras at tableside provide soft, soothing candlelight. A makeshift “chandelier” overhead is made from rows of candles on iron mounts affixed to a cone of stalactites. Ferns grow from the limestone walls like the hanging gardens of Zion, Utah. Lanterns warm diners when the nights get a little chilly. The inner cavern includes a built-in bar, realized in a stately Art Deco style, with little subdued hints of South Seas tiki culture.

The South Seas Club offers full-course meals, with a focus on seafood. The food is done in an Asian fusion style, with just enough exoticism to prove unique while remaining accessible to any palette. Walt Disney World’s Flying Fish Cafe has a rather similar high-end menu. Ordering a-la carte is more than acceptable, but to get the finest dining experience our chef recommends the prix fixe meal known as the “Rarotonga Roast.”

A private dining room is located further into the caverns, away from the mountaintop views. Guests here will dine in a low-slung circular cave chamber, at a table on a central mounted island. Shallow glacier waters pool on all sides, with lights casting wave reflections on all surfaces. Darkness hides the chamber’s edges, which are hidden behind a thick tangle of stalactites and stalagmites.

The South Seas Club’s dedicated restrooms are located alongside the cavernous check-in counter. Once inside, the restrooms trade out the cave motif for simple teak floors and tasteful stucco walls with wrought iron accents.

Following a delicious meal, the trip back to earth is as enchanting as the trip up. Diners return to the Crag Point Station and descend the mountain in a funicular, as the sights and sounds of Diesel Bay slowly come back into being. This moment is especially magical for sunset reservations, as the return trip reveals DisneySky wrapped in nighttime and newly aglow with life.
​

---

Cargo Fruit
Snack stand

Wagon selling fresh-cut fruit and smoothies

To continue our tour of Diesel Bay’s dining spatially, from jungle to city, our next stop would be this rather humble thatch wagon in the deepest wilderness. Cargo Fruit sells fruity treats. From an assortment of tropical fruits on display - including mango, guava, and papaya - servers will prepare a freshly-sliced fruit cup, or blend a smoothie from scratch. Though servers slice the fruits by hand, a nearby propeller covered in passionfruit gunk suggests that sometimes they use other methods.

The wagon itself is a stick-and-straw thatch hut. This is the creation of a so-called “cargo cult” of natives…When airplanes passing overhead performed a cargo drop onto this isolated village, the local islanders assumed this was a gift from the gods and began worshipping the airplanes themselves as deities. A centerpiece straw airplane totem on the hut’s roof serves as such “sympathetic magic.”

The hut’s rear wall features a crude drawing of a “miraculous” airdrop. The shelving itself is made of airdrop crates. Nearby, there is even a wrecked CDS (cargo delivery system) bundle from a S.K.Y. airdrop.
​

---

Bush Pilots Diner
Buffeteria character dining restaurant

Curry and other Thai dishes

Bush Pilots Diner is DisneySky’s largest buffeteria restaurant. In the early days of Diesel Bay, well before the great Art Deco metropolis was formed, this was a popular dining spot for daring bush pilots and other adventurers. It is found in the Levuka-inspired shanty town where the jungle overgrowth gives way to towering limestone cliffs. The main entrance is a sort of ad hoc corner diner made from driftwood and corrugated metal. Additional facades include thatch huts and an old weathered colonial church. Much of the actual restaurant is located inside the “limestone cliff” jungle walls, which primarily house The Rocketeer and the Sky Pirates.

Through the entrance, servers greet guests at booths made from mounted surfboards. The buffet area stretches out below in a cavernous jungle shack, with several aisles of varying culinary treats. The interior design is equal parts vintage tiki bar, Louie’s Place from TaleSpin, Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, and original research-based design. Palm frond awnings divide spaces. The ceilings are overcrowded with dangling Micronesian fruits, both dried and fresh. Lamps are made from reused airplane headlines. Tropical flowers grow from steel row boats mounted vertically on the walls. Polynesian artwork fills in the remaining spaces.

Serving stations, made from repurposed air freight crates, offer up a wide range of foods. Bush Pilots Diner specializes in Thai cuisine served buffet style. Though the menu rotates regularly, common items include pad Thai, coconut milk curries, and desserts like mango sticky rice. As a specialty drink (alongside more common libations) are Thai milky sweet teas. Of course, there are enough Americanized dishes on-hand as well to satisfy less adventurous eaters.

The indoor dining space, which is semi-contiguous with the buffeteria floor, is a sprawling Levuka Town shanty built right up against the limestone cliffs. These mossy rocks provide a “naturally formed” raised stage overlooking the dining floor, where costumed characters will occasionally appear to put on a show. Tables and decor show off the bush pilots’ worldwide adventures. There are artifacts on display from such disparate places as the Klondike, the Andes, the Himalayas, Ethiopia, and Armenia.

But this is Southern California, where weather is rarely an issue, so by far the best and most spacious dining space is found outdoors. Leaving from the buffeteria, diners head out back to a tropical oasis surrounded by crystal clear blue waterfalls. Bamboo stilt patios, very similar in style to the waterborne bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian, provide more-than-ample table space...complete with a pair of circular docks out over the sparkling pools. Misters provide continual cool. More bush pilot artifacts line the nearby shanty walls. Lush jungle planting includes genuine Venus fly traps...plus one or two oversized fly traps created by Imagineering.

Views look out across the River Lani to Lost Temple Ruins, where the busted fuselage rapids hold diners’ attention. To the right is a secluded alcove of peaceful waterfalls, which gently flow in parallel down stone terraces like Jamaica’s Ocho Rios. Various native craft float in the waters - a catamaran, a drua, also a S.K.Y.-branded rowboat.

Bush Pilots Diner’s dedicated restrooms are set further back, past the outdoor dining patio, in a space located behind the Rocketeer show building. Thatched roof walkways along the edge keep restroom access safe from any bad weather. The restrooms’ facade is another Levuka Town house front. The inside is done in a simple Hawaiian style much like Trader Sam’s restrooms, with bamboo stall walls and tiki idol lanterns.

This restaurant is also a major character dining venue! While costumed characters are known to interact with diners on the outdoor patio, the best character experiences are indoors. The Fab Five appear in traditional Hawaiian garb, with leis and ukuleles. They take to the stage and regail diners with an authentic South Seas dance show, very much in line with some of the shows performed at Aulani.​

Fun little note. The one Wooden Aircraft is actually not an Aircraft at all. It's an abandon Wooden Mockup for the Buran Spacecraft, the Russian Space Shuttle that only flew once.

 

[D Hulk]

Bulldog Café
Counter service restaurant

Burgers, homemade tamales and more

“Where flyers meet to eat!” reads the towering neon sign. As we follow the transition from the sweltering Micronesian jungle to the glittering dieselpunk city, we are greeted with a most unexpected sight…

A restaurant shaped like a bulldog!

This is the Bulldog Cafe, located across from Rocketeer Gear. A big, plaster corncob pipe juts out from the bulldog’s mouth, actively smoking (really it’s steam). There is actual precedent for such a weird-looking place...not only did such an eatery feature in The Rocketeer, it was originally inspired by a genuine “California Crazy” diner found in wartime Los Angeles. That old-school restaurant is, sadly, no more now than a museum exhibit, but its original menu and its oddball vibe live on in DisneySky!

The bulldog building itself is nothing more than an ordering counter...it isn’t very big. The style here is proudly, classically American. Many of the dishes served are duplicated from the historic Cafe menu, including hamburgers, chili, chicken pot pie and beef stew. Of particular note are the Mexican corn tamales, a seasonal favorite of Southern Californians, made year-round here! A window in the bulldog’s side shows chefs making these tamales fresh daily, grinding the masa and wrapping the corn husks.

With no seating available inside the bulldog, instead there is a series of structures to the bulldog’s left lining the shores of the River Lani. There are three eating spots in total. The first is a brand new, 1930s-era diner full of clean tile and neon lighting. The next continues the Levuka Town aesthetic found at Bush Pilots Diner. The final structure reverts even further, to the simple open air thatch designs found in the deepest jungle. Each building offers lunch counter seating plus normal tables, all situated to take advantage of the lovely river views.
​

---

Auto-Gyros
Snack cart

Snack wagon serving skewers

Auto-Gyros is a snack wagon which serves tropical skewers and wraps - dishes inspired by Greek gyros, but given a distinctly South Seas culinary twist (pineapples). Auto-Gyros is the sole park element located along the scenic jungle foothill trail connecting Discovery Glacier to Cosmic Crater. Parked in a recess within the otherworldly karst forest, guests will come across this streamlined dieselpunk truck. It seems to be converted from a first-of-its-kind gyrocopter device. Indeed, slowly rotating kinetic rotors spin on the truck’s roof. Note the nearby palm tree which they severed at the trunk!
​

---

The Flying Pig
Snack cart

Snack wagon offering Hawaiian luau food

Passing under the massive wing of the Cedar Eagle, out on Pontoon Lagoon’s southernmost dock, The Flying Pig serves quick Hawaiian snacks. Food is prepared in a barnacle-drenched dieselpunk food truck. The truck advertises itself with a winged luau pig emblem, which befits the “Flying Pig” name.

The true flying pig is the Short Mayo Composite docked in the waters beyond the food truck. This curious pair of aircraft also earns the “Flying Pig” moniker with their unique piggyback configuration: A twin-engine Mercury seaplane rests on the roof of a four-engine Short Empire flying boat. Docked nearby in the waters is a smaller pontoon seaplane, a fictional model most closely resembling a Cessna 170. Tokyo DisneySea features such a plane in their Lost River Delta area, known as the “C3-PO”; our plane is designated the “OB-1.”

Hawaiian luau food features prominently on The Flying Pig’s Menu. The most popular item is a Hawaiian plate lunch - an entree with white rice and macaroni salad, served “luau style” with an emphasis on pulled pork. Other entrees include Spam musabi and moco loco. Diners can enjoy their meals seated under the shade of the Cedar Eagle’s wing, or inside a red cargo container which has been converted for picnicking. ​

 

[D Hulk]

Cedar Eagle Dining Room
Counter service restaurant

American and Asian dishes
[ADULT DRINKS]

William Diesel’s greatest achievement in all his years as an aviation magnate is the Cedar Eagle! This titanic flying boat - which is officially known as the Diesel Heracles H-3 - is the largest aircraft ever built, with a wingspan well over 300 feet! Due to aluminum shortages, the vessel was built from birch wood instead, although skeptics dismissively nicknamed the plane the Cedar Eagle. (Yes, the Cedar Eagle is DisneySky’s Spruce Goose.) Many think the craft will never fly. But today Diesel will prove his critics wrong with a maiden flight around the Diesel Bay archipelago! And you’re invited aboard, for a high-class meal in a high-flying setting!

One of Tokyo DisneySea’s most distinctive features is the S.S. Columbia ocean liner, which is a 5/8th scale replica of the Queen Mary. This came about from Disney’s original plans for a Port Disney theme park in Long Beach, to be built around the Queen Mary which they then owned. At the time, Disney also owned the Spruce Goose, which too was displayed on the Long Beach harbor. And thus it makes perfect sense for DisneySky to include a 5/8th scale replica of the Spruce Goose, as a tribute to earlier Disney projects as well as to designer Howard Hughes.

Given available park space, the most that can be done with this iconic Cedar Eagle aircraft is a counter service restaurant...so we resolve to make it the best counter service restaurant possible! The Cedar Eagle’s plain white exterior is already quite stupendous, moored in the waters practically dwarfing nearby Lee Bridge (to say nothing of a luxury powerboat near the nose). There are hints of water-staining along the waterlogged hull. The Eagle’s massive right wing easily clears the walkways below. Four propeller engines shine in the sunlight. The DisneySky JetRail sails over the wing. This is a somewhat improbable spot for an aircraft hoping to reach open waters and take flight, but charts posted along the sidewalks demonstrate how Diesel intends to accomplish this.

Passing under banners celebrating the “Cedar Eagle Maiden Voyage!” and around the rear tailfin, entrance to the Cedar Eagle Dining Room is through the plane’s dedicated hangar. Checkered red-and-white gates (with carved wing slats) lead through a flat wood facade.

Though this show building is in reality quite small, it feels massive on the inside - achieved with a painted backdrop depicting the cavernous football field-sized hangar, all riveted and industrial. Sounds of workers echo from the hangar’s depths. Direct views of this backdrop effect are obscured by a big mobile mural. Since today is Flight Day, the hangar space has been outfitted for a soiree. A gigantic rear cloth mural - which shows an artist’s romanticized rendering of the Cedar Eagle flying in midair over a golden Diesel Bay sunset, refueling in midair from a Handley Page airtanker, flanked by smaller seaplanes, themselves flanked by sea eagles - this mural is just part of the day’s celebration honoring William Diesel.

Many more “temporary” decorations liven up the stark industrial hangar. More maiden voyage banners and flags line the rafters. Many furnishings are on-loan from the Tradewinds Department Store, including Art Deco potted plants and check-in booths for cast members. In a corner which still holds 2x4s of birch wood from the Eagle’s creation, display easels feature blueprints and construction photographs. Food ordering counters circle a central stylized model of a Hughes H-1 Racer - an air-racer attributed to William Diesel in this timeline, of course, and christened “Diesel’s Delight.”

The Cedar Eagle Dining Room serves light, healthy, farm-fresh foods, with both American and Asian styles. Typical dishes include rotisserie chicken, seared ahi tuna, Asian noodle salads, and key lime pie. Our chefs look to Sunshine Seasons - often considered among Epcot’s best counter service restaurants - to create a similarly winning menu.

Food in hand, diners board the Cedar Eagle through her rear cargo bay door. Cast member attendants offer seating options depending on capacity. Then they lead diners around a pair of red velvet curtains, which help to mark the transition between boarding and the Cedar Eagle’s “takeoff.” Yes, this isn’t DisneySky’s only mid-flight restaurant, but it’s the most budget-friendly mid-flight restaurant option.

There are three main dining rooms in the Cedar Eagle’s fuselage. First up is the Cargo Bay. This is the most bare-bones and industrial section, with the plane’s undressed interior full of blinking lights and hydraulic cables. Ribbed supports provide recessed lighting. Cargo netting holds crates overhead. Despite the functional setting, guests dine at well-appointed birchwood tables - as they do in every dining room. Empty space along the walls includes containers for beach balls flotation devices (as used on the real Spruce Goose) and red fire suppression tanks.

Sounds coming from outside the hull suggest that the Cedar Eagle is being towed out to sea; the flight has yet to begin.

If diners continue down the main central catwalk to the next section, they come to a midship divider located where the wings intersect the fuselage. This section includes the Cedar Eagle’s dedicated restrooms, which stylistically resemble very spacious lavatories.

The second dining room is the Passenger Fuselage. Imagine a luxury vintage airliner crossed with the Orient Express and a 1930s jazz club...all high-style and class. This is a rather feminine space, mauve and pink, modeled on the incredibly luxurious Dornier Do X flying boat. It’s like a transatlantic liner, in the skies! There are air travel details like overhead luggage bins. A ceiling mural features cumulonimbus clouds, framed by a perimeter of jungle treetops and populated by tropical birds in flight. Chanteuse music like Billie Holiday plays over a phonograph.

We are in flight now, with the sound of whirring propellers outside. Porthole window screens, flanked by lace curtains, depict passing clouds.

Upstairs from Passenger Fuselage is the final dining area, the Cockpit Level. Guests can access it via a spiral metal gangway, or by an elevator which is dressed to resemble a dumbwaiter. There is a fairly low-slung parabolic roof, just like on the Spruce Goose’s upper level. Decor continues the Dornier Do X style, with a little navigational equipment towards the cockpit doors. The outer fuselage skins have been removed, leaving behind the plane’s spine and plexiglass views of the picture perfect skies outside. This is an immersive screen effect, like at DisneySky’s Salon de Hyperion or Universal’s Hogwarts Express. We are mid-flight, gliding over cotton candy clouds. There are day and night videos, to match time of day.

A secret, private dining space is available upon request, or for VIPs. Lucky diners will get to eat in the Cedar Eagle’s cockpit. They will enjoy their very own screen view of the skies, framed by the control mechanisms. The pilot and copilot are hidden away behind massive seats, which swivel occasionally to suggest their presence.​

 

[D Hulk]

Diesel Bay - Retail​

 

[D Hulk]

Parachute Loot
Accessory store

Accessories in the style of sky pirates

Beginning again in the jungle, let’s now explore Diesel Bay’s retail establishments. Past a smoking, abandoned campfire, the first place we find is Parachute Loot. This shop is housed within a sprawling tent complex created from repurposed parachutes. The complex is built around the bamboo scaffolding and the jungle’s existing rubber trees. There are even hallways under tree root “arches.”

Sky Pirates run this shop, peddling their ill-gotten air freight loot...and also pirate-themed accessories. Some of the decorative loot on display includes a gunner’s cockpit, cases of pearls and ingots and bearer bonds, and even skulls wearing aviator goggles. In a sly wink to overarching DisneySky mythos, there are also ancient artifacts from Mythic Realms, now weathered with age. And in a nod to the ancient legends of Diesel Bay, a display case holds a gigantic eagle feather and empty bird eggs the size of a refrigerator...evidence of the Mountain Guardian.

Shelving is made from plundered Craftsman furniture. Near the checkout counter, the parachute canvas is tagged with the Sky Pirates’ motto: “A pilot’s life for me.”
​

---

Rocketeer Gear
Post-ride shop

Merchandise themed to The Rocketeer

Exiting from a thrilling flight on The Rocketeer and the Sky Pirates, riders eventually find themselves in a hangar post-ride shop. This hangar is a replica of the Santa Maria Museum of Flight, albeit more weathered, with cracked and missing windows. Most of the wares in Rocketeer Gear carry a Rocketeer theme, though there is also the typical Disney Parks merchandise. Since Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar doesn’t appear in DisneySky, many of its interior details are replicated here. There are ceiling fans made from seaplane propellers. Dried gourds dangle from the walls. Checkout is located at an oily workbench, which is covered in scattered wrenches and winches. Since this hangar is located at the transition spot between jungle and city, both settings are represented: Polynesian paintings dot the jungle side, and Art Deco paintings dot the city side.
​

---

Skunkworks
Special event store

Special event merchandise and other items

The term “skunkworks” - which originated with Lockheed Martin’s WWII-era thinktank - refers to a loose organization of inventors. The “loose organization” part at least certainly applies to DisneySky’s Skunkworks, a special event merchandise shop located on Pontoon Lagoon’s main dock.

Skunkworks is heavily modeled on the Higher for Hire building from Disney’s TaleSpin TV show. It is a dilapidated assemblage of random rooftops and sheds, thrown together from driftwood and recycled metal. The salty sea air is chipping its salmon paint and rusting its corrugated rooftops. Seabirds nest underneath a central air tower (unseen but heard squawking). A zeppelin weathervane looks out to sea. A windsock flaps atop the tower.

The Skunkworks’ interior serves as an air mail dispatch center. Shelves and rafters overflow with undelivered letters and delivery satchels. Bush pilot photos line the walls. Rusted wall signage includes a “Higher for Hire” panel. Though Skunkworks is not set in the TaleSpin universe, it certainly pays homage to its inspiration...and that includes occasional meet and greet opportunities when Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker arrive unannounced!

The surrounding Pontoon Lagoon docks are worth exploring in more detail. There are crates, barrels, plane wheels and storage huts - all dining space for the nearby Flying Pig restaurant. A big yellow eight-engine seaplane named “Pegasus” blocks intrusive views of Avengers Airspace. This plane is a smaller, more realistic version of Baloo’s Sea Duck from TaleSpin - a Boeing 314 Clipper mixed with a Dornier Do X flying boat. In the waters at its base, an inflatable airplane slide floats.

The Pegasus is available for exploration. Inside, explorers can peek into the cockpit, or the navigation deck, or the crew quarters with their alarmingly messy cots. Like Disneyland’s Columbia, this is a cramped and hidden away space which most guests will never discover, but it stands as a testament to Disney’s celebrated attention-to-detail.
​

---

Tradewinds Department Store
Department store

Stuffed plush merchandise, sweets and more

This classy, upscale Art Deco department store dominates Diesel Bay’s city center. This pink stone masterpiece combines influences from several classic 1930s department stores, particularly Portugal’s Armazéns Cunhas. Exterior bas relief carvings on the upper levels depict mythological birds like the Phoenix or the Roc. But the most notable feature is the DisneySky JetLiner, which silently glides into the store’s upper vaulted level like the Monorail gliding into the Contemporary.

William Diesel himself is the original founder. Back then, long before Diesel Bay blossomed into the Art Deco metropolis it is today, the store was simply known as the Tradewinds Boutique. It was much smaller too, occupying a smaller, humbler structure made of local wood and stone. That structure still exists now in one corner of the larger, renamed superstore, the faded “Boutique” lettering replaced by “Department Store.”

Diesel’s likeness appears throughout the expanded store, on paintings and carved into floor mouldings. Heavily stylized interior design refers back to Diesel Bay’s jungle origins, with marble columns carved like palm trees and Tiffany glass depicting green fronds. The shop’s centerpiece - set around a central merchandise counter and under the passing JetRail - is a scale model of Diesel Bay’s future cityscape. Like the Progress City model, it shows the city’s existing skyscrapers, and newer skyscrapers to come, all nestled against rugged Mt. Helios like mountainous Hong Kong. Checkout counters are behind golden cages, much as you might find in any department store from this era.​