DisneySky - COMPLETE & RESTORED

[D Hulk]

Inspirations for Inspiration Observatory, left to right: Ladd Observatory, Mt. Wilson Observatory, Griffith Observatory

Ahead from Dreamers Circle is of course Inspiration Observatory. In a sense it is DisneySky’s “castle,” and architecturally it boasts a similar asymmetric design. Inspiration Observatory is the brainchild of S.K.Y.’s astronomer extraordinaire Dr. Luna Diesel. It began humbly before her time, actually, with an original 1891 dome - a red brick structure modeled on Rhode Island’s Ladd Observatory. Dr. Diesel added a second dome alongside the first, this one a more spartan modern 1939 design based on Mt. Wilson Observatory.

Lastly in 1945, a large Art Deco complex was constructed to join the existing observatory domes and add more. A bronze rotunda sits atop stairs between the older domes. Behind it is a newer golden-brown dome, opened up and with its massive solar telescope - in its day the world’s largest - pointed heavenwards. Art Deco wings flank both sides. Observers who study the overall design of Inspiration Observatory will be reminded of L.A.’s famous Griffith Observatory, yes...Or they might be reminded of Disney’s never-build Glacier Bay...or Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. These combined influences suggest someplace at once scientific and transcendent, as potent a symbol for DisneySky as the castle is for Disneyland.

There are several functions inside the observatory. Inspiration Observatory Tours is a guided walkthrough past scenes from the history of flight. In an Ocean of Stars is a dreamlike, serene dark ride out into the furthest cosmos. Ptolemy’s is the park’s signature table service restaurant, housed in the observatory’s huge central planetarium. A secret chamber underneath it is home to S.K.Y.’s Almagest Bar. Lastly, the observatory’s west wing holds the Planetary Marketplace shop.

This observatory from Hong Kong Disneyland's never-built provides inspiration for Inspiration Observatory, albeit in a less snowy setting

The leftwards path east leads us towards the distant heights of Storm Mountain in Mythic Realms. And while the main runway is necessarily sun-bleached (it must be as a “functioning” airfield), these side routes are comfortably shaded by a grove of evergreens.

More Jet Age restaurants sit in the northeastern facades past Rosie’s. First is Wright Bakers, a confectionery housed in the aviation pioneers’ former bicycle shop. Wright Bakers shares a dining facade with Layover Lounge - this facade is a modernist 1950s airport lobby with clear story windows overlooking Mt. Helios. A smaller wooden shed connecting back to the bike shop (resembling the Daimler Airway hangar) prominently proclaims “RUNWAY ONE” in blocky white paint. Layover Lounge itself further east is styled after Miami’s sleek, sunny 1932 Pan Am terminal building.

This Art Deco building is actually a bit bigger than the original Pan Am station, as its top floor is the northern station for the Skyliner. Much like the like-named Skyliner at Walt Disney World, ours is a Doppelmayr gondola lift. Guests are shuttled over the icy slopes of Discovery Glacier to the southern station at Diesel Bay.

Across, to the left of Inspiration Observatory, is a Ford Tri-Motor plane which is home to the small Flyer Suppliers merchandise cart. Next to that is the Refueling Center, a drink window found in an airport refueling truck.

The fall of Icarus

Runway One’s eastern path terminates in Icarus Circle, a mini-hub with passageways to Mythic Realms and Discovery Glacier. In the circle’s center is a bronze statue of Icarus falling, a symbol of where we’ve come from.

Every land transition in DisneySky is through a gateway, and so it is here. Mythic Realms is accessed via a Chinatown-style tile roof gateway; on Runway One’s side it is more Mission Revival in style. The route to Discovery Glacier is simply through a tunnel in Mt. Helios’ northeastern ridgeline. A glacial freshwater stream pours out from the wide, inviting cave.

Dreamers Circle. The Layover Lounge complex to the left leads to Icarus Circle, while the Pudknockers complex to the right leads to Mercury Circle

Now if we return to Dreamers Circle and instead progress westwards, we see the faraway skyscrapers of Avengers Airspace. As before, we will discover more Runway One restaurants along the way, now along the northwestern perimeter. First following Lindy’s is Glider Sliders, a snack stand housed in a corrugated airfield shed. A vintage Parasev hang glider rests atop it. Pudknockers is a major “buffeteria” restaurant built from a converted test pilot school and inspired by famous USAF pilot bars. From the outside, it mostly resembles the long-gone Happy Bottom Riding Club from Edwards Air Force Base. While Layover Lounge to the east is sleek and modern, Pudknockers is an eccentric oddity, a humble high desert diner made from over-sized volcanic stones.

But without the nudity

Mercury Circle is the mini-hub leading to Cosmic Crater and Avengers Airspace. It is a symmetrical mirror of Icarus Circle, with a bronze statue of the Roman god Mercury in triumphant flight acting as a symbol of where we’re going.

The gateway to Cosmic Crater is under a cantilever resembling a Googie car wash (very much matching the Cosmic Crater aesthetic), its rooftop holding back a Mt. Helios rock slide. An archway like the one in New York’s Washington Square Park leads to Avengers Airspace.

Meanwhile a green, forested route to the north marks the eventual passageway to DisneySky’s expansion pad land. For now it simply a tangle of overgrown prairie grass surrounding a Curtiss Condor biplane on display. Between it and Pudknockers is a vintage airport weather station, a kinetic display which adds greater life to Runway One.​

 

[Suchomimus]

the Greek god Mercury

Wrong version, Doug. Mercury was what the Romans renamed Hermes.

 

[D Hulk]

Wrong version, Doug. Mercury was what the Romans renamed Hermes.

Fixed. Thanks for keeping me honest.

 

[Voxel]

Ultimate double meaning. Hermes/Mercury was also the god of Commerce. May this part bring Disney Money!

 

[Pi on my Cake]

But without the nudity​

Lame


But other than that AMAZING work so far!

 

[Evilgidgit]

If we are to visit the Mythic Realms, then I insist that Icarus be an actual meet and greet character.

XXX-rated!?

 

[D Hulk]

Land details have been worked out in-depth for all of DisneySky’s destinations, ranging from fountains to benches. Let us now see those details for Runway One.
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Cast member outfits
Cast members wear outfits inspired by period Pan Am uniforms for pilots and stewardesses - modern, tasteful, classy.
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Streetmosphere
The DisneySky Military Band is a marching brass band who play at scheduled intervals in Terminal Square and from there up the runway.
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Walkaround characters
The aviation-clad Fab Five from the opening ceremony remain as Runway One’s walkaround characters, continually greeting guests throughout the day. Photo ops regularly occur at Dreamers Circle and by the flagpole before Iwerks Terminal.
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Restrooms
The first restroom is shared between Grand Central Hangar and the Character Hub side of Terminal Square alongside it. This way, guests enjoy restroom access before rope drop. The exterior, as seen from Terminal Square, is a simple low-slung Spanish Revival facade built into the land’s bounding walls. The interior features tile mosaics depicting historic aircraft.

A second restroom is found alongside Iwerks Terminal on the opposite side. It too is a simple Spanish facade, plain stucco with palm trees visible behind. The interior is identical to the first, with more mosaic artworks.

A third and final restroom is found near Mercury Circle in an Art Deco facade seemingly built into the loose boulders of Mt. Helios. Piles of discarded airplane refueling tanks line the entries. This building continues the architectural style of Inspiration Observatory to its left.

There is no equivalent restroom in Icarus Circle as nearby Mythic Realms hosts a restroom just beyond its entry gates.
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Churro carts
Every “destination” in DisneySky features dedicated churro carts. Just like how Tokyo Disney Resort boasts specialty-flavor popcorn carts in every land, our carts do likewise with designer churro concoctions. It’s simply another special way to help DisneySky soar above the competition!

Runway One’s churro carts are found in repurposed baggage trains. Churros here come filled with creamy caramel and coated in crispy, delicious cornflakes.
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Drinking fountains
Fountains in our entry land are simply Jet Age variations on Main Street’s fountains, which helps subliminally connect DisneySky back to Disneyland.
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Trashcans
Similarly, the trashcans here are simple Jet Age variations on Disneyland’s designs.
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Benches
Most benches are fashioned from metal and wood, done in a Spanish style. Additionally, throughout the land are steamer trunks and piles of luggage which also serve as seats.

These trunks are covered in world-spanning destination stickers, evidence of veteran travelers. Note in particular the stickers advertising other DisneySky destinations.
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Umbrellas
Umbrellas shadings here are unobtrusive. They are simple, two-toned and minimalist, in keeping with that Pan Am-inspired Jet Age style.
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Fencing
In addition to the stucco walls, low-lying fencing is done with wrought iron in a Spanish style similar to the benches.
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Lighting
Most of Runway One’s lighting is hidden and recessed in the land’s structures. At night, the runway is lined with searchlights which probe the night skies and illuminate mighty Mt. Helios with romantic Art Deco grandeur.
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Stroller corals & phone-charging stations
With fewer major attractions in our entry land, dedicated stroller corals are less necessary. Nonetheless, cast members acting as airport workers will “taxi” guests’ strollers upon request.

Runway One’s cell phone recharging stations are found in her restaurants at every seat.
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This concludes our initial walkthrough of Runway One. Next we will begin an in-depth exploration of this destination's Guest Services, Attractions, Retail & Dining.

 

[James G.]

A sign of great writing and creativity is when the reader is inspired to go back and reread something, not because it wasn't clear the first time, but because it was so well-written, informative and enjoyable that they want to experience it again. I've reread each revelation of DisneySky several times, getting more out of it each time, and reenjoying it each time. Mr. Hindley, this is a remarkable creation. I'm looking forward to discovering every corner of DisneySky.

 

[D Hulk]

Guest Services

Iwerks Terminal
Guest relations center

Iwerks Terminal (named for animator Ub Iwerks, co-creator of Oswald and Mickey) is DisneySky’s “City Hall.” All-purpose guest relations services offered here include: General information, lost & found, guided tours, ADA info, park ticket changes and upgrades, foreign currency exchange, and a baby care center.

Iwerks Terminal is found in a scale replica of the Grand Central Terminal in Glendale, California. It is hard to overstate the original building’s importance to aviation history: It was essentially the birthplace of commercial aviation, offering the first paved runway and the first transcontinental flights. As a curious coincidence, Grand Central Terminal is presently the headquarters for Disney Imagineering, who supervised a recent top-to-bottom restoration project!

This striking building is a combination of Art Deco and Spanish Colonial-Revival influences. Its control tower bears gorgeous carved friezes depicting Zeus, the Greek sky god. A buzzing neon sign out front draws attention, particularly with a cute little winged arrow detail. From the top of the watchtower, a windsock flaps in the breeze.

The terminal’s golden interior reflects the real thing: Spanish tiles, Art Deco railing, high ceiling skylights, plus stairs to an inaccessible upper level. Major guest services are set behind a carved oak counter. Cute details everywhere suggest an active, vibrant airport. Luggage and trunks are piled up in the “Lost & Found” corner. Frescos pay subtle tribute to Iwerks’ storied career; they depict his creations such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an early Mickey Mouse design, The Skeleton Dance, plus Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow.

Strollers & Wheelchair Rentals are found on the Terminal’s exterior in a curbside Skycap setting.

Home Delivery Service inside is presented as Luggage Forwarding. This is themed as a vintage airline check-in counter, complete with a luggage conveyor belt which is used to move guests’ merchandise.

Banking takes place at a row of indoors ATMs set in recessed tile-lined alcoves.
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Storage Lockers

In-park storage lockers are found within Grand Central Hangar alongside the inner doorway. They resemble period-appropriate airport lockers.
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Park Info Board

Alongside the Layover Lounge near Dreamers Circle is a board displaying attraction wait times, showtimes, and FastPass returns. This board, naturally, is modeled after a vintage airport ETA board, with analog split-flap letters.​

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Next time, attractions begin!

A sign of great writing and creativity is when the reader is inspired to go back and reread something, not because it wasn't clear the first time, but because it was so well-written, informative and enjoyable that they want to experience it again. I've reread each revelation of DisneySky several times, getting more out of it each time, and reenjoying it each time. Mr. Hindley, this is a remarkable creation. I'm looking forward to discovering every corner of DisneySky.

Aw shucks!

 

[Parker41056]

I. AM. BLOWN. AWAY!!!!! This is so creative, detailed and immersive. Has a purposes and a meaningful flow. Can't wait to the see the attractions. I am lost in moment and environment and haven't even seem one e-ticket attraction yet. Please tell me that Disney has contacted you about this design and that this is a test to see how fans react!!! I want to go here now!!!! I wanted Disney Sea to come to Orlando but with some marketable difference, now I want SKY!!!

 

[Parker41056]

This would be great turned into a You Tube video with pics and explanation. Would also love to see some POV of some of these lands.

 

[D Hulk]

Runway One - Attractions
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DisneySky JetRail
C-ticket transportation ride

Sleek suspended monorails shuttle you to DisneySky’s many wondrous destinations

Transportation gives a theme park life, it gives the park energy, an iconic identity...it’s also simply practical.

Just as Disneyland is defined by trains, DisneySky is defined by airplanes. Of course it is deeply unrealistic to propose airplane-based transportation circling the park. Rather, the DisneySky JetRail is a suspended monorail transportation ride which embodies all the mid-century luxury and style of air travel in a sleek, unique package.

Unlike the classic ALWEG monorail model at Disneyland, DisneySky looks to AMF’s suspended model famously seen at the 1964 New York’s World Fair. So much of Disney parks has come from this event! Our two-car suspended trains (whose position below the track implies flight) are visually modified with a timeless stainless steel riveted look (like an airstream trailer), the sort of look which helps the JetRail feel at-home in a multitude of DisneySky destinations. A transportation ride circling a Disney Park clockwise...this might seem repetitive with the Disneyland Railroad up the road, but it is meant instead as a mirror, to show how Walt’s approach to Disneyland could fit a different era, a different topic, to be new and old all at once!

Vintage airstream trailers inspire the visual look of our JetRail trains​

RIDE STATS
Ride type: Suspended monorail
Capacity per Car: 100
Cars per Train: 2
Number of Monorails: 4
Hourly capacity: 2,400
Full Circle Duration: 20 minutes
Height restriction: None​

The DisneySky JetRail - Runway One Station is located just inside the Grand Central Hangar over the entry gates. From Terminal Square, guests access the elevated interior platform via mid-century airport stair cars near Iwerks Terminal. (Unloading guests exit down stair cars towards Marceline Character Hub.) Alternately, ADA elevators hide in the Hangar’s perimeter.

The enclosed, raised loading platform sits inside Grand Central Hangar alongside a clear story window framing Mt. Helios. To reach this platform in the Hangar’s upper level, guests pass the door to a JetRail Airways pilot’s office. This cluttered mid-century office - visible behind window walls - features pilot logs, time sheets, and other props. Deluxe railing protects guests while a JetRail monorail pulls into the station. There are four monorails in total serving the DisneySky JetRail. They are named Boreas, Notus, Zephyrus and Eurus, after the four wind gods of Greek myth.

Runway One Station

All seating on JetRail trains faces inwards towards the park. Panoramic windows provide exceptional bird’s-eye views of DisneySky below, with the central Mt. Helios almost always a far off focal point throughout the trip. Monorail windows may darken and double as screens, as seen on Universal’s Hogwarts Express, to effectively mask unsightly sections of the route. As always, before the journey begins a “This is your captain speaking” PA announcement goes out across the monorail. An unseen pilot welcomes guests aboard, wishes them a safe flight, and describes the majesty of DisneySky as the JetRail silently begins its circle tour.

The DisneySky JetRail route, Leg One, from Runway One to Pioneer Fields

There are three other stops along the JetRail route - Pioneer Fields, Diesel Bay, and Avengers Airspace. The trek to Pioneer Fields carries the JetRail through Mythic Realms, where it would look sorely out-of-place. Instead the monorail traverses tunnels hidden behind Storm Mountain. Windows darken, and after brief sounds of takeoff the windows light up as screens. The JetRail is now seemingly in mid-flight, sailing high above the Earth in a heavenly garden of cumulus clouds. Majestic music plays. Light diffusion litters the clouds with post-rainbow colors; it is beautiful. (A similar nighttime scene is rendered to maintain continuity for evening rides.)

Like a magical fantasy scene, the cumulus clouds reshape in the winds, forming specific images. First they become Mickey’s ears...then a series of DisneySky attractions. The pilot narrates these sights, before declaring that “we are beginning our descent into Pioneer Fields.” The window screens darken again, and when they return guests see not a projected skyscape but the real, physical mountain village of Pioneer Fields. The train slides past altiplano trees and an old dilapidated grain mill, pulling into the station.​

 

[D Hulk]

For now we will skip over an in-depth description of Pioneer Fields Station, which we’ll be returning to later. Rather, following an unload/load cycle, let us resume our flight...

The DisneySky JetRail route, Leg Two, from Pioneer Fields to Diesel Bay

This next leg is set entirely outdoors. We begin by “flying” elevated over the Chilean farmland of Pioneer Fields under the watchful gaze of Mt. Helios. Past a water tower, riders enjoy obscured views of Mickey’s Plane Crazy. As the monorail curves to the right, revealing to riders more of the South American farming town they’ve just passed through, it crosses over a gentle river and seamlessly into an overgrown South Seas jungle.

Tropical rockwork now hides views of Pioneer Fields. Indeed, sight-lines are shortened, limited, with only the nearest jungle foliage. The wilderness is populated with giant scary Tiki idols, some mere feet from our windows. The tracks rise upwards, passing a treetop where a “Barracuda Airlines” biplane sits crashed and smoking. The wider jungle expanse opens up, and with it evidence of airplanes - parachute crates litter the ground, all with S.E.A. or S.K.Y. insignia.

The route jogs inland to avoid a show-building behind it, sailing over Diesel Bay’s increasingly-civilized jungle boulevards. The southern tropical slopes of Mt. Helios are very near now, directly across a flowing river, with countless mountain waterfalls tumbling over Helios’ limestone cliffs.

As the track veers left into Diesel Bay Station, riders get a brief tantalizing view of glistening Langley Lagoon and the New York City skyline beyond it rising up behind a familiar Helicarrier. This is a tease of Avengers Airspace, our next destination after a brief pause in Diesel Bay’s masterful Art Deco station.

The DisneySky JetRail route, Leg Three, from Diesel Bay to Avengers Airspace

The third leg begins with another jog right, gliding over the massive wing of the mostly unseen Cedar Eagle seaplane. Riders now get a north-facing view of Langley Lagoon, of parched Cosmic Crater on Mt. Helios’ western slopes, of the entire western half of DisneySky summed up in one single fleeting view. Soon enough bridge cables and tall stone supports mask these views, as the JetRail crosses over Lee Bridge (modeled after the Brooklyn Bridge) on the same level as park guests walking the bridge’s pedestrian route.

The JetRail is now in Avengers Airspace, contemporary New York City, the exciting home of all Marvel superheroes. The journey carries the JetRail around the backside of the gigantic Helicarrier No. 64, and around the backsides of many skyscraper facades. We are now behind several show-buildings, passing through regular tunnels but without any screen sequences. Instead, the frequent glimpses of finely-detailed skyscraper facades is enough, as is the occasional detail such as a backpack labeled “Peter Parker” held to the exterior of the Daily Bugle with webbing. This sequence concludes as the JetRail descends onto the Helicarrier’s upper decks for a landing at Avengers Airspace Station.

The DisneySky JetRail route, Leg Four, from Avengers Airspace to Runway One

The last leg of this journey begins by crossing New York’s (fictional) Goodman Park, then flying way too close to some Greenwich Village midrises. The JetRail swiftly passes into a New York Metro tunnel...and windows darken. The final stretch is across an undeveloped expansion pad.

For riders, the window screens make this section a JetRail highlight. They don’t simply depict another flight through the clouds. No, they show a voyage launching higher and higher up through Earth’s burning atmosphere out into outer space. An incomprehensibly vast view of the Earth fills window bays. Our eyes are unable to take in at once the entire North Pole, the continents dwarfed below it, with the mesmerizing and incomparable Aurora Borealis dancing over scattered atmospheric clouds. Even the usually talkative captain on the PA falls silent at this awe-inspiring sight. Quiet, poetic, almost too-faint music plays. Then the JetRail rumbles ever so slightly as it begins an epic descent back down through the atmosphere, through massive clouds which dwarf any building yet made by Man.

Windows undarken just as guests glimpse the faintest outline of Mt. Helios peering through the cloud layer. When the windows again become transparent, we have landed back in Runway One Station, our grand circle tour of DisneySky complete. Including station stops, it only took 20 minutes to fly “around the world.” Some fairly grand sights caught our eyes along the way, sights which now beckon we explore further...
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A bit of a supersized post today, to get the full effect of a JetRail circle tour! Tomorrow we start to explore some of Runway One's other attractions.

 

[Suchomimus]

Will the monorails have names?

 

[DisneyManOne]

I've been wondering...would an updated take on Dreamflight be a good fit for DisneySky? Given that it's basically a whimsical, Journey Into Imagination-esque take on the history of flight, there'd be plenty of potential to beef it up (adding in more scenes -- maybe Kitty Hawk? Icarus' wings?) and turn it into something like the Spaceship Earth of DisneySky.

 

[jjparker17]

How have I only just found this?! This is AMAZING!

 

[D Hulk]

Skyliner
B-ticket transportation ride

Glide high above the foothills of Mt. Helios on a Jet Age cable car lift

The DisneySky JetRail isn’t the only transportation attraction to be found in Runway One. The Skyliner is a gondola lift offering one-way rides to and from Diesel Bay, with an extraordinary aerial trek across icy Discovery Glacier and past Mt. Helios’ frozen eastern slope.

For Disneyland fans, this will seem like the revival and upgrade of the old Skyway gondolas. For Walt Disney World fans, it will also immediately recall their own brand new Skyliner. In fact it’s the very same model, a 3S Gondola Lift system by Doppelmayr, with detachable lifts able to carry 10 people per vehicle while also accommodating strollers and wheelchairs. This is a sleek, reliable, quiet system that’s already been proved at countless other sites worldwide. With DisneySky’s short distances, such a system isn’t wholly necessary here, but it adds an incalculable degree of kineticism, beauty and life.
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RIDE STATS
Ride type: Doppelmayr gondola
Capacity per Gondola: 10
Hourly capacity: 4,000
Duration (One-Way): 2 minutes
Height restriction: None​

Skyliner - Runway One Station

The Skyliner - Runway One Station is modeled on the old 1932 Pan Am Miami terminal (which is now actually Miami City Hall). DisneySky’s version expands on the Art Deco original, with an additional upstairs floor minimized visually by horizontal sightlines. Skyliner gondolas fly out along cables from this upstairs wheel-turn station. These gondolas are finely detailed on the outside as gold-and-bronze-plated steampunk chariots - a design chosen to simultaneously match Runway One, Discovery Glacier and Diesel Bay. The gondolas’ doors feature engravings of the sun god Apollo. For riders within, on-ride speakers serenade them with an original orchestral piece meant to sum up DisneySky as a whole.

Steampunk gondola design

The Skyliner entrance lies on the terminal’s far end nearest to Mythic Realms. Here are pallets of air freight cargo marked “from” Far Eastern places like China and Burma and Macau and French Indochina (as Vietnam was then known); a few crates are opened up, revealing ancient Asian artifacts inside. This serves as a thematic transition to nearby Mythic Realms.

The Skyliner queue slowly ramps up from ground level along the building’s eastern perimeter. An initial overflow area to one side takes visual inspiration from Eero Saarinen’s 1960s era TWA Flight Center in New York. Tall, slanted window bays feature Jet Age-style stained glass, which depicts an artful scene of the clouds and the sun and Mt. Helios barely peeking through. Inner windows reveal adjacent rooms.

As the queue continues upstairs, it overlooks a replica of the Pan Am lobby complete with a big sunken globe - this is the ordering space for the Layover Lounge restaurant located downstairs.

From there, ramps further up lead to the well-appointed turn station, complete with massive wheel spinning gondolas between unload and load. A stylized wall mural shows off DisneySky’s many “destinations” in a mid-century graphic manner. In this space, guests load into their gondolas.

Skyliner route

From here gondolas sail out on their two-minute journey, beginning with a rousing passage through the upper levels of the lobby room. Their journey then brings them outside, rising ever upwards over Runway One’s eastern pathway and over Mt. Helios’ nearest ridge. Even the purely functional Doppelmayr tram towers are carefully themed (as is everything in acreage-strapped DisneySky) - a Runway One tower is redressed as a semi-steampunk lightning rod tower.

The gondolas continue into Discovery Glacier’s airspace, up nearly 100’ feet...or half the overall height of Mt. Helios, simultaneously giving them height while preserving the scale of nearby icons. Gondolas cross another tower, this one incorporated into the tall Nikola Tesla towers of Discovery Glacier’s Spark Gap coaster. They sail over the icy walls and arctic lagoons of Discovery Glacier - to be covered in greater detail later - towards a Victorian clock tower rising from The Time Machine attraction. This is the next tram tower, providing riders up-close views of a “steampunk-mechanized” bronze hammer statue which occasionally rings the tower’s big bell.

Gondolas cross a fir-lined southeastern mountain ridge and descend into the sweltering jungles of Diesel Bay. Views eastwards reveal a rather bare slope with nothing more than greenery, limestone rocks similar to those at the Wisconsin Dells, and scattered Peruvian Nazca lines depicting birds. In fact this large “undeveloped” patch is actually a green roof atop Pioneer Fields’ UP attraction, made more presentable for the gondolas overhead. Riders lastly pass a final Doppelmayr tower, in this instance done as one of Diesel Bay’s vine-covered oil towers. The gondola line descends down, down over a vibrant South Seas river into the Diesel Bay Station...to be covered later.​

 

[D Hulk]

Will the monorails have names?

You know, I've tried to think through every detail for this park. I really appreciate learning about things like this which I missed. Added into the JetRail description:

The enclosed, raised loading platform sits inside Grand Central Hangar alongside a clear story window framing Mt. Helios. To reach this platform in the Hangar’s upper level, guests pass the door to a JetRail Airways pilot’s office. This cluttered mid-century office - visible behind window walls - features pilot logs, time sheets, and other props. Deluxe railing protects guests while a JetRail monorail pulls into the station. There are four monorails in total serving the DisneySky JetRail. They are named Boreas, Notus, Zephyrus and Eurus, after the four wind gods of Greek myth.​

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I've been wondering...would an updated take on Dreamflight be a good fit for DisneySky? Given that it's basically a whimsical, Journey Into Imagination-esque take on the history of flight, there'd be plenty of potential to beef it up (adding in more scenes -- maybe Kitty Hawk? Icarus' wings?) and turn it into something like the Spaceship Earth of DisneySky.

Lovely idea. I did attempt a few drafts of something like this combined with bits of World of Motion, and I was never satisfied with the results. The EPCOT Center style is really difficult! In a few days we'll see what took its place in Inspiration Observatory.

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How have I only just found this?! This is AMAZING!

Glad that you found it, and thank you so so much for the high praise!

 

[D Hulk]

Marceline Character Hub
C-ticket meet & greet

Take a flight to one of countless fantasy worlds and meet beloved Disney characters

Disney Park guests always expect meet & greet encounters with their favorite characters from the latest Disney (or Pixar, etc.) films. This can be a challenge for park designers if no existing space thematically fits the latest box office smash - as we saw when Frozen first hit the parks. Marceline Character Hub provides DisneySky with a dedicated meet & greet attraction able to accommodate all unanticipated upcoming characters. With regular “departures” from Runway One to any and all Disney destinations, the latest beloved characters are always just a plane’s flight away!

The exterior facade is modeled on the 1923 Akron Airport Terminal in Ohio, but presented as though it’s the main air hub for Walt’s hometown or Marceline, Missouri. Tanned clinker bricks form symmetrical Art Deco towers, topped by oxidized bronze rooftops and airplane-shaped weathervanes. Travel posters inside and out in a graphic style boast of the Disney destinations & characters presently featured.

The terminal’s inside lobby is divided into three separate waiting areas, for the three separate featured destinations. (Destinations change out on a seasonal rotation.) Check-in counters for Disney’s magical “Dreamflight” airlines lead guests to their preferred lobby. Guests “depart” in groups, much like in the upgraded meet & greet that is Magic Kingdom’s Enchanted Tales with Belle. A single boarding gate serves for alternating departures and arrivals. Individual “vacations” in Marceline Character Hub should take around 20 minutes.

While guests wait, familiar engaging Disney tunes play on a loop. Overhead window screens - with unique day and night settings - depict Dreamflights’ Clipper planes taking off and landing. For our youngest guests, each waiting area features a luggage-themed playground. These come complete with slides, climbing poles and crawl tubes all set around stacks of steamer trunks. Children may climb on loading crews’ packing nets. A luggage carousel is reimagined as a simple playground carousel. There are also more temporary decorations and interactive elements matching the featured characters.

Upon departure, the group passes through the boarding gate. A series of highly immersive themed rooms shuttle them to their destination - with a few branching paths and duplicate rooms to maximize throughput for the three meet & greet destinations.

Pan Am Clipper boarding, derived from Delta Dreamflight

We begin in an “exterior” room of Runway One as dusk (to best fit all times of day outside), complete with a distant facade model of Mt. Helios. A catwalk boards onto a vintage Pan Am Clipper. This whole scene is intentionally reminiscent of the old Delta Dreamflight ride, and it uses similar proven forced perspective tricks.

The Clipper cabin is where we simulate our flight...fairly quickly. Cast members appear as flight attendants, greeting guests with spiels much like “Our magical flight to Neverland will be arriving in just a few moments.” The Clipper only works with the power of imagination, naturally, so cast members rally guests to chant together the name of the character they’d love to see. Magical enchanted pixie dust (fiber-optic lights) swirls throughout the cabin. The floor rumbles ever so slightly, and the Clippership takes flight! Window screens mimic takeoff, flight and landing, all covered in well under a minute with simple footage of clouds passing by outside. We have arrived!

Guests deplane through 1 of 3 themed “jet bridge” hallways. They finally arrive at their destination - a meet & greet room which is completely themed and dressed for a uniquely magical Disney location. Picture yourself whimsically whisked to the city from Zootopia, to Moana’s Motunui, to Frozen’s Arendelle (for that was the “test case” used to justify any location). Elsa or Maui or Judy Hopps (or whomever) greets the entire group with a scripted welcoming ceremony. Youngest guests are specifically called forth to gleefully interact with the featured character while playacting with simple props and costumes, all while parents enjoy the chance to rest, sit and take photos.

Following this, every family enjoys one-on-one photo ops with their character. Others meanwhile are entertained by exploring the rather elaborate setting Imagineers have created, since these rooms - complete with technical pluses like projection screens, music speakers and piped-in odors - are designed precisely to create the best meet & greet settings possible!

Once all the greetings are concluded, guests magically journey back to DisneySky via another super-quick Dreamflight aboard a Clipper. (Meanwhile parallel rooms have the next unseen group arriving.) They again pass through a jet bridge, fly on their Clipper, and return to the main Marceline lobby where an “Arrivals” route sends them to the Cayley Gallery shop next door. There they will find dedicated merchandise to match their enchanting adventure.
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Yesterday's Skyliner transportation ride post seems to have been overlooked, so please read about it if you're interested.

Tomorrow, Muppets. @AceAstro

 

[D Hulk]

The Muppets Present…
Great Moments in Aviation History
B-ticket show

The Muppets perform riotous recreations of iconic moments in flight

The ever-malleable Muppets have a new home at Disneyland Resort! Their live comic performances regularly transform staid old Runway One into a playground of ridiculousness, as the troupe attempts to reenact important scenes in aviation history.

The format is the same as The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History, giving that fan-favorite show a new home since its untimely removal from Magic Kingdom. The show is easily implemented as it is extremely light on infrastructure - merely the side facade of Air Tower Sweets, which is located just off from the main runway route in Terminal Square. This runway corner is a makeshift arena with benches made from steamer trunks dotting the asphalt. Our open seating plan allows families to gather or to simply relax even when no show is occurring.

Howard H. Hummel

At showtime, a live actor barges down from the air tower above. This is Howard H. Hummel, head air traffic controller for Runway One. He acts flustered and ridiculous, quite unsure of why so many people have gathered together in his “neat and orderly airfield.”

While Hummel blubbers on, Kermit the Frog appears in the tower’s upstairs facades with great fanfare. Kermit presents himself as the “town flyer...er, crier.” He informs Hummel that the audience has gathered to enjoy a show put on by himself and his fellow Muppets...who now appear in other upstairs windows. Among them are Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, and Rowlf the Dog. (Live hidden puppeteers perform as the Muppets, while pre-recorded dialogue provides their voices.)

Against Hummel’s continual confusion and consternation, Kermit insists that the show must go on. Kermit introduces Gonzo the Great, the Muppets’ aviation specialist, who swings haphazardly onto the scene in a ramshackle homemade biplane strung up by wires from Air Tower Sweets. (Gonzo is the most complex character in the show, and is realized with animatronics instead of puppetry.) While continuing to swing about in midair, Gonzo leads the crowd in a silly singalong of an original introductory song, “Heads in the Clouds.” This song is very, very, very, very silly, as of course is everything the Muppets get their felty hands onto. It concludes with the balcony Muppets launching air streamers, and Gonzo crashing his airplane through an upstairs window in Cayley Gallery (a breakaway setpiece). Explosions burst from the tower.

Gonzo reappears in the shattered tower top, smoking and burnt to a crisp...this Gonzo is a live puppet. Gonzo proceeds to narrate one of several aviation-themed stories, while other Muppets reenact historic roles.
Whatever possible seriousness is swiftly scuttled...and Sam the Eagle is quick to complain.

Also, occasionally Statler and Waldorf pop out from the highest air traffic tower to heckle the performers.

Specific shows include:​

• Icarus & Daedalus (featuring Kermit and Miss Piggy, with guest star Camilla the Chicken)​
• The Wright Brothers (featuring Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker)​
• Charles Lindbergh’s Transatlantic Flight (featuring Fozzie Bear and Rowlf the Dog competing for the same starring role)​
• The Apollo 11 Moon Landing (featuring Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, with a surprise cameo by Yoda)​

These performances are silly, song-filled, full of costume changes and deeply terrible puns, and deceptively educational for younger audiences. Each show runs roughly 10 minutes, with 8 shows scheduled daily (variable). An analog clock in Terminal Square with an “Estimated time ‘til show” marquee ensures guests never fail to catch an oddball performance.​