Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks (Part II)

[RandySavage]

Eddie, since I know you had planned for Paris Main St. to be a 1920's period piece, are you looking forward to the new movie take on "The Great Gatsby"?

The previews make it look like a super glamorous version of reality...so I'm hoping its good.

I agree. The art direction is what caught my eye after seeing the Gatsby trailers: taking the already very cool 1920s Deco NY style and amping/romanticizing it (like 'Gladiator' visually romanticized the ancient Roman setting). I appreciate films that look like a painting on screen. I was hoping for a typical "Art of" book for this film, but it doesn't look like one is being made.

Associatively, a number of the Gatsby reviews are mentioning Disneyland/Walt Disney. The Gatsby house reminded me of some of the Shanghai artwork:

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

The concept art for the Shanghai castle looks great, though I wonder if there is such a thing as too big of a castle as it will be more easily seen from other lands than any other Disney castle.

Sadly, there is no railroad in Shanghai, supposedly because the Chinese don't have "nostalgia" for older railroads. But do you need nostalgia to appreciate riding a train around one of the castle parks? I never took any trips on a railroad as a kid, and none of us have grown up in the day when trains looked like the ones in Disneyland, so is nostalgia really that important? Certainly, the Chinese have seen old fashion looking railroad in cartoons and movies.

Anyway, despite how great Shanghai's castle looks . . . does Shanghai even have enough rides? What I think they will have includes:

Buzz Light Year
Tron Vekoma Tron Light cycle ride
Astro-Orbiter
Pooh dark ride
Pooh Hunny Pots in place of Mad Hatter Tea Cups
Castle/Storybook boat ride
Peter Pan
Roaring Rapids Boat Rides w/new technology
Carousel
Soarin over the World
Pirates Ride in its own "Treasure Cove" mini-land
Toy Story Land rides . . . could be kinda cheap
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train clone
Adventure Land version of Tom Sawyer's Island

No Frontierland, No Main Street, No Splash, No Space, No Its a Small World, No Haunted Mansion . . .

There will be some interesting gems, including new technology in the Tron ride, Roarin' Rapids, and the Pirates ride. However, I think that the Tron Light Cycle ride won't be as amazing as most fans/guests will hope as it seems to be more of a thrill ride along the lines of Space Mountain/Test Track, with a mild Tron overlay. I kinda think that the Roarin' Rapids ride will be similar to Grizzly River Run on the outside, though its showbuilding might have some interesting dark ride type scenes.

I think that Shanghai is mostly about making sure that there are a lot of E-Tickets, but the smaller rides/attractions aren't a big part of the equation. Of course, emphasis on E-Tickets has been going on for years. They took out the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland and put in Big Thunder. Grizzly Gulch in Hong Kong has just a single E-Ticket for this whole sub-land.

I wonder if the Chinese government will demand that they get a version of Pooh's Hunny Hunt, lest the Japanese have the best version!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Saw The Great Gatsby this afternoon and enjoyed it. My biggest issue was that the animation did not always blend well. Some scenes also jumped to a more "old timey" look, mostly flashbacks but not always. They were kind of off with all of the flash seen in the rest of the film's imagery.

And there is a direct connection between The Great Gatsby and Walt Disney. The great ash heap is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, site of the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Interesting about Flushing meadows. Here's a review. I liked Moulin Rouge, but Gatsby may not top it.
http://observer.com/2013/05/a-trium...tsby-founders-miserably-on-the-silver-screen/

 

[Eddie Sotto]

I recently ran across a picture of a good friend, Jim Michaelson. I met him at Landmark Entertainment group where he was both a graphic designer and illustrator of many of their projects. His speed and talent was astounding. He had already been a famous poster designer and had worked for WED. We worked well together and his work can be appreciated all over DLP MSUSA. He did the posters that line the walls of the Discovery Arcade, the 2 Emporium Murals, the Gibson Girl Poster and billboard, and the murals he was reviewing with me in the Liberty Diorama. Those are just a few of the great things he has done. Thought you'd like to see the man that did these things! Thanks for a great job Jim!

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Two Imagineers that made all the difference on the engineering side of the Steam Trains are (veteran of the Florida trains in the engineer getup) Bob Harpur, and his partner in steam powered crime, Joel Fritsche as the Conductor. They are seen here in costume running our first train for the press in October of 1991. You can imagine how difficult it is to build American Locomotives entirely from scratch in Welsh workshops, but they did it. Thanks guys!

 

[Eddie Sotto]

I just thought this press day image was fun as it made it look like Michael Eisner and I were "facing off". Couldn't be further from the truth!

Imagineer Tom Morris (went on to do Carsland, DLP Studios and HKDL BTW..)is shown doing an Interview.

 

[Nemo14]

Loving all these!

 

[articos]

I recently ran across a picture of a good friend, Jim Michaelson. I met him at Landmark Entertainment group where he was both a graphic designer and illustrator of many of their projects. His speed and talent was astounding. He had already been a famous poster designer and had worked for WED. We worked well together and his work can be appreciated all over DLP MSUSA. He did the posters that line the walls of the Discovery Arcade, the 2 Emporium Murals, the Gibson Girl Poster and billboard, and the murals he was reviewing with me in the Liberty Diorama. Those are just a few of the great things he has done. Thought you'd like to see the man that did these things! Thanks for a great job Jim!
View attachment 28874

Jim is one of the most talented, nicest guys in the business.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Jim is one of the most talented, nicest guys in the business.

He certainly is. Jim also did a very 60's inspired campaign poster for President Nixon that won him acclaim. You can see the similarity in the ribbons and stars on his Bicentennial Train Poster. It's almost a political attraction poster!

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Here's another example of Jim's talent. Note his formula of having a "central illustration' with supporting copy.

 

[flynnibus]

love these recent posts Eddie!

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Here's a few of his retro future posters from the Discovery Arcade. Swiped from sites as noted!

 

[dagobert]

I love these posters. I wish DLP would offer them in the shops. Thanks for coming up with the Arcades, I love them, especially when it's crowded or raining.

 

[MouseketeerCole]

Speaking of the Arcades, Eddie - I was somewhat surprised when I was last there to see the large modern photo of the Statue of Liberty surrounded by skyscrapers at the end of the Liberty Arcade. I figure it was included to tell the full story of the statue right through to today, but was there not a worry that it would break theme?

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Speaking of the Arcades, Eddie - I was somewhat surprised when I was last there to see the large modern photo of the Statue of Liberty surrounded by skyscrapers at the end of the Liberty Arcade. I figure it was included to tell the full story of the statue right through to today, but was there not a worry that it would break theme?

I really had to mull that and almost printed it in sepia. Even had second thoughts once it was up. It does break theme in a radical way, but for some reason, at the time I thought it was more important dramatically to finish the story.

 

[Professional Dreamer]

I remember when Master Steam Engineer Bob Harpur helped me out and had fun doing it with my 1880's 22 foot long Minneapolis Traction Engine. Set up to burn on wood, instead of coal, it could go a top speed of 4 miles an hour. After a low boy trip from Missouri to Walt Disney World, Bob was asked to fire up the engine to drive it off the trailer. Some thought we would need a crane to lift it off but I assured them I had driven it back in Missouri on a side street while trying to race a passing diesel train and cars. We blew our whistles back in an exchange of approval and seeing a span of technology of over 100 years. After Bob fired up the Minneapolis, which had been saved from a 1904 scrap metal drive out of almost 100, he put the chain operated clutch in gear and drove her off the trailer. In a big open field he drove it around for quite some time just having fun with it and letting it feel its wings once more. The steering was also chain operated. I had arranged for it to be stored in one of the Walt Disney World warehouse's for some additional themeing, so he drove it over and parked it inside. He told me latter that someone had to sit up with it half the night until the last embers in the boiler burned out as they didn't want it to burn down the building. Thanks again Bob. PD

 

[Eddie Sotto]

I remember when Master Steam Engineer Bob Harpur helped me out and had fun doing it with my 1880's 22 foot long Minneapolis Traction Engine. Set up to burn on wood, instead of coal, it could go a top speed of 4 miles an hour. After a low boy trip from Missouri to Walt Disney World, Bob was asked to fire up the engine to drive it off the trailer. Some thought we would need a crane to lift it off but I assured them I had driven it back in Missouri on a side street while trying to race a passing diesel train and cars. We blew our whistles back in an exchange of approval and seeing a span of technology of over 100 years. After Bob fired up the Minneapolis, which had been saved from a 1904 scrap metal drive out of almost 100, he put the chain operated clutch in gear and drove her off the trailer. In a big open field he drove it around for quite some time just having fun with it and letting it feel its wings once more. The steering was also chain operated. I had arranged for it to be stored in one of the Walt Disney World warehouse's for some additional themeing, so he drove it over and parked it inside. He told me latter that someone had to sit up with it half the night until the last embers in the boiler burned out as they didn't want it to burn down the building. Thanks again Bob. PD

Great story, thanks for that. Bob was the real deal.

 

[Professional Dreamer]

Eddie, Jim did such a "Great" job on the new Disneyland Jungle Cruise poster (my all time favorite along with the Retlaw 50 color Train Poster), that I hoped he would do the new Big Thunder Poster for Disneyland back in 1979. The WED Graphics Department team decided to do it unfortunately, and Big Thunder history suffered. PD

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Eddie, Jim did such a "Great" job on the new Disneyland Jungle Cruise poster (my all time favorite along with the Retlaw 50 color Train Poster), that I hoped he would do the new Big Thunder Poster for Disneyland back in 1979. The WED Graphics Department team decided to do it unfortunately, and Big Thunder history suffered. PD

Jim has his fans on the posters, that's for sure. I like how his Tarzan poster had the same big stone letters as his Jungle Cruise.