FLE vs. Cars Land...

[Lee]

Wasn't the Fire Mountain concept fake? Just some fan making up a rumor? I remember Eddie, who was at WDI when this was supposedly being planned, said he never heard of Fire Mountain or Villain/Bald Mountain.

No.
Both mountains, Fire and Villain, were real concepts.
Very likely Eddie wouldn't be familiar with them if he were assigned elsewhere.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Disneyland Resort has an exceptional attraction lineup. Combine that with the fact that the two parks are next to each other and the value is substantially higher than WDW if you are going solely for rides. The equalizer is the lack of the distinctly unique pavilions in World Showcase or the Animal experiences in the Animal Kingdom.

I enjoy going to both coasts as they both have their advantages.

One slight discrepancy on the entertainment spectaculars. If MSEP goes back to DCA, it will be replaced with Spectro so there will still be a slight advantage to WDW.

 

[cheezbat]

I'm glad to see DCA getting the love. It really is becoming a worthy second park to DL. NOw if only they'd dump about a billion dollars into both Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios to bring them up to par...

 

[TP2000]

Disneyland Resort has an exceptional attraction lineup. Combine that with the fact that the two parks are next to each other and the value is substantially higher than WDW if you are going solely for rides. The equalizer is the lack of the distinctly unique pavilions in World Showcase or the Animal experiences in the Animal Kingdom.

God bless Epcot Center! That's really what keeps pulling me back to WDW in recent years. Just a fabulous park, even with 21st century bruises in spots. DAK, not so much for me. Since I rode Everest, I often just skip that park entirely, as I did on a short 4 day stay at WDW this past January. Kali and Dinosaur are half-baked versions of the superior Grizzly and Indy back in Anaheim; Tough to be a Bug seems to be better maintained and fresher in DCA, and Kilimanjaro Safari has so much potential but has been in desperate need of a heavy rehab and creative rethink for many years now. Other than that, DAK is mainly just animal exhibits that don't interest me much personally.

One slight discrepancy on the entertainment spectaculars. If MSEP goes back to DCA, it will be replaced with Spectro so there will still be a slight advantage to WDW.

Very true. Only if Disneyland gets a second parade, as it's had quite a few times in the last 15 years, would the parade/spectacular tally even out between DLR and WDW. TDA seems to be happy with Disneyland having just one daily parade for now, though. The five separate, seasonal fireworks shows Disneyland now has seem to be their focus in the early 2010's.

 

[TP2000]

Good idea! I know this isn't really what you're looking for, but here are two aerials - at the exact same scale - for size comparisons. They're both horribly out of date, but the online mapping sites (like Google and Bing) haven't updated their aerials in a while. At least they have scale bars for comparison purposes (I've included a simple one here).

I wish we could compare the more recent aerials taken from helicopters, etc. but it's impossible to scale any non-orthogonal image (i.e. those not taken directly overhead). I bet we could scale the one you posted of DCA, though, since that one was taken at a great angle.

At first glance, Carsland seems HUGE compared to the FLE, but I think that's because the area of construction is less well-defined in the MK aerial. When Toon Town, etc. are taken into account, the two construction sites seem to be roughly comparable in size. We know Cars Land is 12 acres - I wonder what the total acreage is of the FLE.

Wait a minute, now that you post those other two pics, it appears that Disney has gotten hold of an updated Google image of Cars Land that simply isn't available on the Internets to us commoners yet! When I compare the older Cars Land pic, it appears to be taken at the exact same height and scale as the newer one, and thus it makes it a perfect comparison with the FLE picture you posted which is also at the same height and scale. Fun!

Here's the FLE and Cars Land projects side by side, at what appears to be the exact same scale.

The Cars Land picture is rotated, so that South is at the top of the picture. Whereas the FLE picture has North at the top of the picture. It helps with the compare/contrast because it lines up the correlation to how these two projects plug in to the existing theme park on the entryways; Cars Land accessed from the park from the north, and FLE accessed from the park from the south. A fun comparison, no matter which direction is up. :lol:

Thank you so much for providing those pics, and letting us realize these images are much more useable than they seemed at first. :wave:

 

[TheLand45]

I agree that it's not fair to compare to compare the two expansions, as they address fundamentally different problems in their respective parks. Nevertheless, it is an interesting topic for discussion.

I think Carsland will be amazing and will blow the FLE out of the water in many respects. However, I believe that Carsland is fundamentally flawed in a way that the FLE is not:

Carsland is an entire land based on ONE film (well, franchise I suppose). This has major implications for the long-term popularity, viability, and flexibility of the land. To be sure, there are advantages in the short term from a marketing, merchandising, and corporate synergy standpoint. But what about 20 years from now? Will it be popular? Will people still find the theme of "Carsland" compelling? Will all of the Cars characters and locations in Carsland keep the franchise alive, or will they date it horribly and render it stale? How do imagineers update the land and keep it fresh, without fundamentally changing its theme?

What if in 1955 Walt Disney decided to capitalize on the Davy Crockett merchandise craze and create an entire land called "Crockettland", instead of the broader and infinitely more flexible Frontierland?

Even worse - this penchant for devoting an entire land to the one franchise-of-the-moment seems to have taken hold of Disney management. A Bug's Land? Toy Story Land? Please Disney, just....stop. Whatever happened to long-range creative planning?

Don't get me wrong - I am absolutely fine with basing park attractions on Disney films (though often the best attractions have no movie tie-in). I am very excited for the two new FLE rides, and I think Radiator Springs will be awesome! I just wish it were located in a land that was more encompassing, evocative, and aspirational.

Great point!

 

[eilie]

Wait a minute, now that you post those other two pics, it appears that Disney has gotten hold of an updated Google image of Cars Land that simply isn't available on the Internets to us commoners yet! When I compare the older Cars Land pic, it appears to be taken at the exact same height and scale as the newer one, and thus it makes it a perfect comparison with the FLE picture you posted which is also at the same height and scale. Fun!

Here's the FLE and Cars Land projects side by side, at what appears to be the exact same scale.

The Cars Land picture is rotated, so that South is at the top of the picture. Whereas the FLE picture has North at the top of the picture. It helps with the compare/contrast because it lines up the correlation to how these two projects plug in to the existing theme park on the entryways; Cars Land accessed from the park from the north, and FLE accessed from the park from the south. A fun comparison, no matter which direction is up. :lol:

Thank you so much for providing those pics, and letting us realize these images are much more useable than they seemed at first. :wave:

Great catch! :wave: And no problem, I love doing this sort of thing!

I agree with you regarding the updated image - it looks just like an updated Google aerial! Usually the helicopter shots give us an angled view (like we get from Scott Keating), but this one is perfectly straight down, so we can scale it. Yay!

Just to double check on the scale, I overlaid the new photo over the old one I grabbed from google maps. I had to reduce it a bit to get the correct scale (to match the FLE one) - but they were very close (as you correctly discovered). Here's the updated DCA aerial, rotated, with scale bar. This one is exactly the same scale as the FLE image:

Should be fun to compare!

 

[TP2000]

Great catch! :wave: And no problem, I love doing this sort of thing!

I agree with you regarding the updated image - it looks just like an updated Google aerial! Usually the helicopter shots give us an angled view (like we get from Scott Keating), but this one is perfectly straight down, so we can scale it. Yay!

Just to double check on the scale, I overlaid the new photo over the old one I grabbed from google maps. I had to reduce it a bit to get the correct scale (to match the FLE one) - but they were very close (as you correctly discovered). Here's the updated DCA aerial, rotated, with scale bar. This one is exactly the same scale as the FLE image:

Should be fun to compare!

I also love looking at these aerial images of Disney parks, under construction or not. I'm just glad there are young whippersnappers like you to do all the hard work of editing these things, as I'm clueless on how that works. So thank you very much again. Your update image of DCA is nice because it takes in all of the Cars Land construction, including Mater's Junkyard Jamboree that got cut out of some images, plus you can now see the Little Mermaid construction site in the extreme lower right hand corner of the DCA image.

What's interesting is that I know exactly where that official DCA Cars Land image came from, and it should be easy to get updated ones from various fan websites now that we know what WDI is using... In the corner of the Blue Sky Cellar is a cabinet that they update every couple of months with these aerial pictures and other photos of the latest construction stuff, while the rest of the Cellar displays remain constant for 6 to 9 months before major exhibit change-outs.

Disney must have some sort of a super-cool corporate account with Google that allows them to get the latest satellite shots, which they probably use for legit planning in addition to the Blue Sky Cellar displays.

And so, without further ado, is the compare/contrast photos of FLE vs. Cars Land scaled and sized accurately by eilie! Ta-da! :sohappy:

 

[eilie]

What's interesting is that I know exactly where that official DCA Cars Land image came from, and it should be easy to get updated ones from various fan websites now that we know what WDI is using... In the corner of the Blue Sky Cellar is a cabinet that they update every couple of months with these aerial pictures and other photos of the latest construction stuff, while the rest of the Cellar displays remain constant for 6 to 9 months before major exhibit change-outs.

This is great information - thanks! I'll have to check out that cabinet when I'm there in June. I really wish WDW had an equivalent exhibit for all of their upcoming projects, but it's great to hear that we'll be getting updated aerials for DCA every couple of months!

 

[sponono88]

Your update image of DCA is nice because it takes in all of the Cars Land construction, including Mater's Junkyard Jamboree that got cut out of some images, plus you can now see the Little Mermaid construction site in the extreme lower right hand corner of the DCA image.

Good point, the original image cut off a small part of the entrance to Cars Land. To make it easier to identify (especially for those who aren't familiar with the park), I outlined the exact location of the construction site at DCA. The yellow road is Route 66

 

[TP2000]

Good point, the original image cut off a small part of the entrance to Cars Land. To make it easier to identify (especially for those who aren't familiar with the park), I outlined the exact location of the construction site at DCA -

And, pretty please, could you do a little blue outline for Mermaid there in the corner? She needs some love, and it's interesting to see two major attractions like Mermaid and Radiator Springs Racers go up so close to each other.

 

[sponono88]

And, pretty please, could you do a little blue outline for Mermaid there in the corner? She needs some love, and it's interesting to see two major attractions like Mermaid and Radiator Springs Racers go up so close to each other.

Just for you, TP! And just for fun I added the yellow outline which is Route 66, leading through the town of Radiator Springs (pointing out the entrance as well)

(updated the image in my previous post)

 

[TP2000]

Just for you, TP! And just for fun I added the yellow outline which is Route 66, leading through the town of Radiator Springs (pointing out the entrance as well)

(updated the image in my previous post)

I love it! HA! Thanks so much. :wave:

And I'm sure it's legitimately informative for those who may not know the Disneyland Resort like you and I do.

 

[skimbob]

I like it but what do I know I am a Californian. :ROFLOL: I wish it was opening day for all these rides and attractions in all the parks. I think everyone will love it when everything is finished.

 

[misterID]

Can someone compare RSR to the backlot tour area at DHS?

 

[cbconglom]

well here it is from 200' so basically if they demolished all of pixar and the backlot and lma.. it would fit.. not that i'm suggesting all of that just some of it

 

[misterID]

Thanks. If they just put in RSR I think it would work, but LMA would have to be leveled. Not a bad trade off...

 

[cheezbat]

Thanks. If they just put in RSR I think it would work, but LMA would have to be leveled. Not a bad trade off...

I don't see that happening. If anything, I think we'd get a watered down version of Radiator Springs Racers and they'd just shoehorn it into the spot of the Backlot Tour.

 

[misterID]

It looks like it would cost a lot less money to stick a RSR clone on top of LMA, then all the work it would take to clear the BLT area. I don't know how you could build it without interfering with LMA.

 

[donniedisney]

I think John Lasseter is more concerned about DCA than WDW because, DCA is a park in desperate need of fixing. He's changing the entire concept of the park. People need a reason to leave DL and walk over to DCA. With Little Mermaid, Cars Land, Toy Story Mania, and ToT they will do that, not to mention WoC.

In WDW they should have worried about Fantasyland later and started on that waste of space they call Animal Kingdom. :hurl: