Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering

0BAA8C59-2292-4EF2-B546-9428F2385216.jpeg


Welcome to Legacies, a celebration of the last 20 years of Imagineering projects here on this very forum! Legacies is a biweekly reflection curated by a few of us here on the forums to highlight some of the projects that many of us now may never have even been able to read simply due to when we joined. Every two weeks or so a new reflection will be posted right here in this thread for your reading pleasure with links to the original projects! So join us as we all gather together to celebrate the Legacies left behind by many armchair imagineers and their amazingly crafted projects!​




We-Want-You-Poster-Template.jpg


Want to add the ever expanding legacy of armchair Imagineering? Join the writing team for Legacies! Read up on what you find while you peruse the pages of the forum, write reflections of what you found to be some really neat projects, create fun activities like word searches and crosswords, and you can do much more by joining the writing team for Legacies! Don't have much time? Don't worry! Since this is biweekly working on Legacies will be super flexible and fit in with whatever your schedule may be! For inquires feel free to shoot a message to @tcool123 , or down bellow :D


 
Last edited:

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering
Forum Top 10's

Welcome to the kickoff to Legacies! Here we have four amazing Top 10 lists that span the entire existence of the forum! Get ready for the most viewed and responded to threads this side of WDWMagic! When exploring some of these threads please keep note of Rule #6 of this website:

Do not bump threads unless you have something else to add to the discussion. Additionally, replying to discussions which have been inactive for several months or longer should be avoided unless you have something of value to add.

Top 10 Viewed Solo Projects
  1. If I could improve Walt Disney World.... by stitchcastle
  2. DisneySky by D Hulk
  3. MEW's Dream Disney Resort (2016) by MANEATINGWREATH
  4. Refurbing Disneyland Resort Paris by orlando678-
  5. A Whole New World: Walt Disney World by DisneyManOne
  6. Dream Disney Resort (2017) by MANEATINGWREATH
  7. To Infinity and Beyond: The Future of Walt Disney World by DisneyManOne
  8. 50 for the 50th by spacemt354
  9. Kingdom Hearts III by KingMickey
  10. Walt Disney World: The Next Chapter by DisneyManOne

Top 10 Viewed Competitions (non Discussion Threads)
  1. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 7
  2. Around the Resorts in 30 Days
  3. The House Cup
  4. One Sentence Competition Season 2
  5. The Creator Games
  6. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 2
  7. The Sole Imagineer Season 2
  8. So, You Want to be an Imagineer Season 15
  9. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 4
  10. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 3

Top 10 Viewed Discussion & Brainstorm Threads
  1. Club 32 Lounge
  2. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 4
  3. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 2
  4. Walt Disney World 1966 - Vol. 1
  5. The House Cup
  6. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 5
  7. The Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 7
  8. The Imagineering Break Room
  9. New Imagineer Introduction Thread
  10. So, You Want to be an Imagineer Season 18

Top 10 Most Active Threads
  1. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 4 Discussion Thread
  2. The House Cup Discussion Thread
  3. Club 32 Lounge
  4. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 7 Competition Thread
  5. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 2 Discussion Thread
  6. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 5 Hype Thread
  7. Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 7 Hype Thread
  8. Walt Disney World 1966 - Vol. 1
  9. Disney Jeopardy!
  10. SYWTBAI Season 18 Hype Thread
 

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering
The Beginnings of the Forum

0BAA8C59-2292-4EF2-B546-9428F2385216.jpeg


The Imagineering forum first opened up to the public on June 4th, 2001 with four new threads! Two of these threads were created by member @woofboy111 , their two first projects on the forum will be the focus of this edition of Legacies!

Fire Chaser: The Ride

streets_nyskyline2011ww.jpg


This ride was created with the old Streets of America in mind for the park then known as Disney-MGM Studios. Guests would have entered a New York City fire station and been led by a fireman on what would have been Walt Disney World's most immersive queue at the time. The ride itself takes place onboard modified firetrucks that are driven by the fireman from the queue, and wholly interactive! Yes that's right this ride would have been an interactive dark ride with guests utilizing firehose nozzles to shoot out water.

The attraction experience would sure be a hot one! As guests actually go to a building with ACTUAL flames pouring out from it, and it is up to guests to put out the fire with their nozzles! You may be thinking real flames? How is that even possible! Well @woofboy111 was a step ahead of us all as they had compared it to the fire scene from the beloved Great Movie Ride which was a wild blaze that would happen routinely every few minutes. Overall this project had a fiery spirit, and was honestly really ambitious with it holding up the projects seen now 20 years later.

For more on this historic project please refer to this thread: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/fire-chaser-ride.23/
However keep in mind the Rule #6 of this forum:

Do not bump threads unless you have something else to add to the discussion. Additionally, replying to discussions which have been inactive for several months or longer should be avoided unless you have something of value to add.

DNA: The Rollercoaster Experience

dna.jpg


This ride was created with the goal of taking over the now defunct Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot. This DNA rollercoaster is a first of its kind for Epcot being a launch rollercoaster featuring plenty of twists and helixes that would make any rollercoaster fanatic happy. In addition this rollercoaster would also travel backwards using the same setup that Expedition Everest, but this project predated the beloved Animal Kingdom rollercoaster by five years! The ride itself sees guests being shrunk down to the size of a DNA strand as guests travel through a body going under surgery making this a spiritual successor to Body Wars. This ride would have been huge hit if it were constructed, and looking back on it now still sounds like an amazingly fun time!

For more on this historic project please refer to this thread: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/dna.24/
However keep in mind the Rule #6 of this forum:

Do not bump threads unless you have something else to add to the discussion. Additionally, replying to discussions which have been inactive for several months or longer should be avoided unless you have something of value to add.

Word Search

As an added bonus have fun with this word search inspired by @woofboy111 's projects

worksheet-1.jpg


Thank you for reading and see you with the next edition!​
 

spacemt354

Chili's
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering
Society of Junior Imagineers

0baa8c59-2292-4ef2-b546-9428f2385216-jpeg.560474


After the initiation of the Imagineer forum on June 4, 2001 - a group of active imagineers at the time including @Chad @DisJosh and others grouped together to form the Society of Junior Imagineers.

What will become more commonplace as we continue our time-traveling journey, when activity begins to spring up on these forums, for whatever reason there's always been a tendency to group together and form a localized community of imagineers. Be it the unique hobby that is very team-based and creative, or whatever combination of factors, the Society of Junior Imagineers became the Imagineer forum's first crack at 'organized' imagineering rather than simply individual threads.

They had their own SOJI website and member list as well


SOJI was the center of imagineering for a while however the concept was short-lived in the grand scheme of things. As we continue forward in time, one thing that hampers these organized groups is the reality that 'free time' on a hobby forum is limited and future activity time is hard to determine. Thus, many times people begin these groups but after a while, don't have the time to continue them, and if there's nobody around to continue the tradition then it kinda just ends naturally. One thing over the years I think we have become cognizant of is this reality, and when we start competitions or events, etc, we tend to do it at least with a few others who can continue on if one or several members cannot continue on due to real life obligations.

Concept of the Week
A new segment for these Legacy posts that will chronicle out of the box concepts from days past.
Posted on July 31st 2002 by @Dizneydude87 - The Britney Spears Adventure
hqdefault.jpg

 

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering
Society of Junior Imagineers

0baa8c59-2292-4ef2-b546-9428f2385216-jpeg.560474


After the initiation of the Imagineer forum on June 4, 2001 - a group of active imagineers at the time including @Chad @DisJosh and others grouped together to form the Society of Junior Imagineers.

What will become more commonplace as we continue our time-traveling journey, when activity begins to spring up on these forums, for whatever reason there's always been a tendency to group together and form a localized community of imagineers. Be it the unique hobby that is very team-based and creative, or whatever combination of factors, the Society of Junior Imagineers became the Imagineer forum's first crack at 'organized' imagineering rather than simply individual threads.

They had their own SOJI website and member list as well


SOJI was the center of imagineering for a while however the concept was short-lived in the grand scheme of things. As we continue forward in time, one thing that hampers these organized groups is the reality that 'free time' on a hobby forum is limited and future activity time is hard to determine. Thus, many times people begin these groups but after a while, don't have the time to continue them, and if there's nobody around to continue the tradition then it kinda just ends naturally. One thing over the years I think we have become cognizant of is this reality, and when we start competitions or events, etc, we tend to do it at least with a few others who can continue on if one or several members cannot continue on due to real life obligations.

Concept of the Week
A new segment for these Legacy posts that will chronicle out of the box concepts from days past.
Posted on July 31st 2002 by @Dizneydude87 - The Britney Spears Adventure
hqdefault.jpg

The personal information that they posted is more than I know about most of the current Imagineer board people! It's probably for the best that we don't publicly post our e-mail address, etc. any longer...
 

TheOriginalTiki

Well-Known Member
The personal information that they posted is more than I know about most of the current Imagineer board people! It's probably for the best that we don't publicly post our e-mail address, etc. any longer...
Gotta love our idea of what constituted internet security in the early 2000s haha. On the other hand, I find the idea of this early group exchanging emails so they can privately help each other out to be super duper charming. This was all pre-social media so it was actually a sort of clever work around to the issue of not everyone being on the boards at the same time.
 

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering
If I Could Improve Walt Disney World....

0baa8c59-2292-4ef2-b546-9428f2385216-jpeg.560474


If I Could Improve Walt Disney World is a landmark thread in WDWMagic history, to this day it is the most viewed solo project on the forums beating out @D Hulk 's DisneySky concept! The project started off simple with some ideas explained by a few sentences and supplemented by what @stitchcastle called mere doodles, but in reality are some detailed and amazing sketches!

1623950213463.png
1623950251051.png


As time went on these concepts were further fleshed out with more details and paragraphs of details tied to these amazing doodles that illustrated @stitchcastle 's ideas. Some of these ideas seem to actually have come to fruition with the Edna Mode show concept now being implemented at Epcot's Play Pavilion. Not saying @stitchcastle has joined the ranks of Disney's Imagineering, but they were just 18 at the time of posting and well it wouldn't be the first time a member from these very boards join the team of Imagineers ;)

In addition to seemingly plotting out real attractions @stitchcastle would go on to make detailed maps for their creations. One stand out addition was their Amazon concept! It featured a nighttime show based off of Noah's Ark, an Amazon River boat ride, treetop exploration trails for animal viewing, it's tough to be a bug along with a bug's land, and The Legend of the Anaconda an E-Ticket rollercoaster. Many of these details can bee seen in the map below, and it's just amazing to see the use of depth in the map along with how the land interacts with each of its attractions.

1623950771438.png

As time passed @stitchcastle outlined many more ideas than just those from his original posts. He would go on to include a Harry Potter land in Magic Kingdom, dark rides for all of the parks, a Spirited Away attraction, a new nighttime spectacular for Magic Kingdom, and even a fifth gate called Port Disney! With life and college picking up the reins to the thread shifted from @stitchcastle to long time active member @mharrington . Here @mharrington pioneered many of his ideas which he continues to workshop and improve to this day, and laid the ground down for many other users to pitch their own ideas including users such as @tcool/@tcool123 , @DisneyManOne , @spacemt354 and @TheDesignPirate/@MonorailRed which kept the thread going with countless of ideas and brainstorming concepts.

For more on this historic project please refer to this thread: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/if-i-could-improve-walt-disney-world.53038
However keep in mind the Rule #6 of this forum:

Do not bump threads unless you have something else to add to the discussion. Additionally, replying to discussions which have been inactive for several months or longer should be avoided unless you have something of value to add.

Brainstorm
A new segment for these Legacy posts that encourages the community to come together and brainstorm ideas and stimulate each other's projects that relate to the topic given at hand.

1623949946442.png


Prompt
If we could improve Walt Disney World what would we do?
 

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Take out the carpets and replace it with a meet-and-greet, put something in Stitch’s plot, change the transition from Fantasyland and Tomorrowland
Agreed on all accounts! I think a Big Hero 6 walkthrough experience could be really fun in that Stitch space. Or using the Turtle Talk tech for Baymax experience could be something.

Depending on its success I would love to see an Iwaju attraction as I think the afrofuturism approach would greatly diversify Tomorrowland with something unique
 

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Prompt
If we could improve Walt Disney World what would we do?
I've been toying with this idea lately of moving the Muppets to Echo Lake.

So basically the Muppets would take over Peevy's Polar Pipeline, Hollywood & Vine, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Tune In Lounge and the surrounding gardens to make a new subarea in Echo Lake known as Muppets Park.

Peevy's Polar Pipeline could be rethemed to Muppetlabs doing a field experiment on slush and snow making. It could have Beaker, wearing thick winter clothes and icicles on his nose, riding a bike powering a snow making generator which would pump out Disney's famous snoap to guests. The surrounding areas could be covered in fake snow similar to Blizzard Beach, and would just be a fun way to keep this little slush corner shop operational.

In one of the green areas the relocated Miss Piggy statue from the current Grand Avenue location alongside the Studebaker from the original movie which has crashed into a tree in the green areas.

Prime Time Cafe could be rethemed to be on the set of the Muppet Show with different areas of the restaurant pulling from various skits on the original Muppet show allowing for guests to dine in the Muppets News Room, Veterinarian's Hospital, Koozebane, The Swinetrek, Fozzy's Park, Muppet Labs, etc. The TVs from Prime Time Cafe could be reused and now show clips from The Muppet Show that could rotate to show skits for holidays and seasons. Just think about it they could play a variety of spooky sketches and songs for the Halloween season, Christmas sketches and songs for winter, the Star Wars episode for May the Fourth, etc. "Windows" could even show the Sweedish Chef in the kitchen trying to cook.

Given how Tune In Lounge is connected to the reception area of Prime Time Cafe they could redo this area as the Muppet Theater's backstage, and have Pepe the King Prawn own and run the new lounge.

For Hollywood & Vine I think a small scale Muppets dark ride could work here, and would flesh out the park's roster of attractions given there's still only two rides with no height restrictions.
 

Brer Panther

Well-Known Member
Prompt
If we could improve Walt Disney World what would we do?
Personally, here's what I would do...


MAGIC KINGDOM
- On Main Street U.S.A., do a new version of Walt Disney: One Man's Dream in the Main Street Exposition Hall.
- The Jungle Cruise is refreshed beyond the removal of the problematic elements. Add new gags, new animatronics, a couple special effects.
- If there's room in Adventureland, build a new Indiana Jones Adventure similar but not identical to Disneyland's.
- Refurbish Pirates of the Caribbean. Keep the movie elements, but change the dialogue back to how it was before (so instead of the pirates looking for Jack Sparrow, they're looking for the town's treasure and don't know that Jack is sneaking around trying to find it first). Bring back the barker parrot, too.
- Instead of retheming Splash Mountain, give it a nice refurbishment with a couple new animatronics and updated special effects.
- Use the land north of Tom Sawyer's Island to make a new, small land based on New Orleans, allowing us to have a ride based on The Princess and the Frog without retheming Splash Mountain.
- Peter Pan's Flight gets a refresh. New animatronics, new special effects, stuff like that.
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh gets a quick refurbishment. Nothing too drastic, just update the animatronics (make them a bit fuzzier, have their mouths move, etc) and add in some new special effects. I love the ride as is, but I think these would do wonders.
- Princess Fairytale Hall and the Tomorrowland Speedway get the axe for new dark rides - a new version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and a dark ride based on Alice in Wonderland.
- Pete's Silly Sideshow in Storybook Circus becomes a dark ride. Pete is the ringmaster of a circus featuring by obscure Disney characters like Humphrey the bear, Horace Horsecollar, the Three Little Pigs, Lambert the Sheepish Lion, and Salty the Seal. Or it could become a Dumbo dark ride (perhaps it could be based entirely on the "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence).
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor is moved to Disney's Hollywood Studios (we'll get to that). Maybe they could bring Timekeeper back?
- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is refurbished, with more emphasis put on your actually being on an adventure with the "real" Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on as opposed to the size of a toy.
- Put something in the now-empty Stitch's Great Escape building. What, I don't know.
- New nighttime parade.

EPCOT
- Spaceship Earth refurbishment as planned, with new narration and the removal of that stupid screen-based finale.
- Instead of a Play Pavilion, the Wonders of Life space becomes an updated Horizons.
- Nemo and friends are out. The pavilion's name is The Living Seas again. The dark ride is now a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-esque voyage to the bottom of the sea.
- Isn't there space between The Land and The Seas With Nemo and Friends for a new pavilion? Maybe something weather-related could go there.
- The original Journey Into Imagination returns, albeit updated a little (new special effects, etc.). ImageWorks is upstairs again. Dunno what should happen to the Magic Eye Theater (maybe make it a restaurant or something).
- Gran Fiesta Tour is overhauled. Now instead of a search for Donald, it's the Three Caballeros taking us around Mexico and informing us of its history. Shenanigans ensue.
- At least one new World Showcase pavilion. Don't care which country it's based on, I'm not picky.
- The existing World Showcase pavilions get some new rides, assuming there's room. Germany finally receives the Rhine River Cruise, Japan gets a Mount Fuji bobsled ride, Morocco gets a Peter Pan's Flight-esque dark ride where you ride a flying carpet over Morocco, things like that.

DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
- Get rid of the Frozen Sing-Along.
- Tear down PizzeRizzo and use the space for a Muppets dark ride (like this one, for example).
- Animation Courtyard becomes Monstropolis, with a relocated Laugh Floor, Harryhausen's, and either a fun dark ride a la Tokyo's Ride and Go Seek or a dark ride/suspended coaster hybrid based on the door vault scene.

DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM
- It's Tough to Be a Bug gets a visit from a can of Raid, freeing up the theater in the Tree of Life for some new attraction that DOESN'T terrify children.
- Planet Watch gets the axe. The space is used for a new land or two (assuming how much space it takes up).
- Asia gets a dark ride based on The Jungle Book.
- The Yeti is finally fixed.
- Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama is bulldozed to make room for new rides based on prehistoric animals that are actually, y'know, good.
 

PerGron

Well-Known Member

HomeImagineer

Well-Known Member
Well if i improve Walt Disney World Resort then personally, here's what I would do for this resort...

MAGIC KINGDOM
- On Main Street U.S.A., i would not scrapped or cancelled the Broadway Theater
- Relocated Walt Disney Presents to DHS to MK at the Town Square Theatre
- Building/Making a huge central plaza/hub similar size to Tokyo Disneyland.
- Add fountains to Cinderella Castle similar to Tokyo Disneyland, for their daytime & nighttime shows.
- The Jungle Cruise is refreshed beyond the removal of the problematic elements. Add new gags, new animatronics, a couple special effects.
- Making a Moana or Tarzan show.
- Removed the magic carpets ride & turn it into the Tiki Grotto area for maybe Meet n Greets
- Bring back the Barker Parrot at the entrance of the POTC.
- Instead of retheming Splash Mountain to P&TF maybe rethemed it to Western River Expedition instead.
- Between Rivers of America, Liberty Square & Fantasyland its a brand new expansion of Fantasyland, using the same type of Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySEA. (this include a Vekoma Family Suspended Coaster, a table-serve restaurant, dark ride, etc)
- Peter Pan's Flight gets a refresh. New animatronics, new special effects, similar to Shanghai's Version
- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is refurbished & being similar to Shanghai Disney Version.
- Adding a new stage similar to Pepsi E-Stage at Shanghai Disneyland.
- Putting Wreck it Ralph in the now-empty Stitch's Great Escape building.
- New nighttime parade similar to Paint the Night.

EPCOT
- A new pavilion between The Land and The Seas themed to weather.
- The refresh a brand new Journey Into Imagination but bringing back the Dreamfinder & Figment.
- Relocated Magic Carpets from MK to Epcot but themed to Figments Dream Chasers
- The Gran Fiesta Tour is gone & Coco is in.
- At least one new World Showcase pavilion. (Australia, India, or Brazil, etc)
- The existing World Showcase pavilions get some new rides & attractions (Italy getting a dark ride themed to Luca or Pinocchio or Japan getting a Big Hero 8 attraction/dark ride or the United Kingdom getting still Mary Poppins dark ride/attraction.
- Japan finally gets their Meet the World attraction from Tokyo Disneyland & relocated that attraction from Tokyo to Florida.

DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
- Getting a renamed of DHS into for example (Disney's Cinematic or Hollywood Adventure, Disney's Cinematic Park, etc)
- Adding a resort hotel next to the park called Disney's Hollywood Hotel between the lake to the entrance of the park & Fantasmic.
- Rethemed Rock n Roller 'n' Roller Coaster into The Rocketeer just to fit the late 1930s/early 1940s Sunset Boulevard.
- Galaxy's Edge Expansion (Based & make from Imagineerland.blogspot.com concept)
- Animation Courtyard becomes expansion for Monsters Inc or Disney Animation between to Toy Story Land & Sunset Boulevard.
- Replaced Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular into a Hollywood themed nighttime show at the Chinese Theater, similar to Happily Ever After & Wonderful World of Animation, it would had Disney Animation, Muppets, Pixar, Indiana Jones, The Rocketeer & even some Marvel & it will still had Star Wars in this show.
Adding a Chinese Theatre Stage Show themed to Mickey & Friends discovering the wonderful world of movie making.

DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM
- Add new areas between planet watch & the safari attraction themed to the North & South America
- The Yeti is finally gets fixed at Everest.
- Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama is bulldozed to make room for The Excavator, a similar Big Grizzly Mountain Coaster from Hong Kong Disneyland & based on prehistoric animals.
- Bringing back the Discovery River Boats but add the same techs from Tokyo DisneySEA Transit Riverboats.
- Keeping Rivers of Life instead of removing the show
- Adding a daytime show to the lake theater themed to the animals & living things that live in our world like The Lion King, Jungle Book, Tarzan, etc. & Mickey & Friends is in this as well.

OTHERS
- Adding a Fifth Gate to Walt Disney World Resort, maybe like Tokyo DisneySea or Florida version of California Adventure, etc
- Making a Mickey & Friends stage show at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon that is never been done.
- Mickey & His Friends in new Bathing Suits designs for meet n greets
- Making a new town similar to Celebration near WDW but also adding a multi-purpose performance space, similar to @DisneyManOne idea of Tower of Light & making more a Disney feel.
- If Discovery Island makes a comeback to operate but themed to Athel Island, thanks to @DisneyManOne for this idea
 
Last edited:

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Legacies: 20 Years of Armchair Imagineering
The Imagineer - An Imagineering Competition by @MaterA113

As part of a new chapter in Legacies, and in order to familiarize people with various older and classic competitions the next few Legacies posts will be going over the history of various past and iconic competitions.

0baa8c59-2292-4ef2-b546-9428f2385216-jpeg.560474


The Imagineer was the first major armchair Imagineering competition on the forums spanning over three seasons with one of which being entirely lost to history! The Imagineer would see various players submit their own ideas for the various prompts presented by the main host of the competition, @MaterA113 . Other times players would be assigned random teams to take on more daunting challenges to help build a sense of community between players. Players will then be scored by a panel of judges alongside with reviews from said panel of judges. The player with the least overall points would be eliminated alongside players who did not submit anything to the judges after three days. The player who accumulated the most amount of points would go on to win that season of The Imagineer.

The Imagineer Season 1

The original season of The Imagineer started in 2009 with eleven players all with a variety of skillsets and countless of unique ideas. The first ever challenge of The Imagineer saw players create highly themed meet and greets set in Adventureland, and the results were creative with meet and greets set up skippers, barker birds, pirates and of course classic Disney characters. The finale for this challenge saw @Jasonflz and @bamsk8er49 compete against each other in creating a huge 40th anniversary that worked many of the elements of their past projects, and huge upgrades to the park. How huge? Well players had to create a whole new land (three new rides and one giftshop and restaurant) alongside a new walkthrough on Main Street, major refurbishments to one attraction in each major land, and two new and original E-Tickets. Now a days such a challenge will be a huge undertaking for just one person, but to balance it out players had over two months to work on their submissions for the finale! The final winner of the first season was @bamsk8er49 even though he lost the public vote by one the judges felt like they did the best overall showing plenty of improvement over the course of the season. As the first season wrapped up it was clear that through all the drama and chaos that occurred players were still able to band together to do wondrous things.

The Imagineer Season 2

Season 2 of the Imagineer was announced officially mere days after the first season wrapped up, with sign ups happening quickly after. This may seem crazy, but hey there was a demand for competitions and this was the only one around! It also likely helped that the first season took almost six months to play out so newer members who were dying to play in a competition definitely had some pent up demand. As Season Two opened up for sign ups some familiar faces that are still active to this day can be spotted on the sign up sheet such as @stitchcastle , @MANEATINGWREATH and @Tiki (any relation to @TheOriginalTiki 🤔 ). With a cast list set the competition began with some new elements added into the mix such as a story and script to frame the competition, a built in standby list to replace dropouts, public voting which affects what the winning project is, and the inclusion of practice prompts to help players get their feet wet!

1628734360721.png

Artwork by @stitchcastle from their second practice prompt

The first official challenge saw players split up into teams and design two wildly different icons with the first official winning project being a radio tower in Dinoland USA alongside a new music loop featuring plenty of puns that fit the land perfectly. Following this debut challenge it was clear that the season two will be different from the first as the projects were more elaborately detailed as many of the projects were team based allowing for more work to be done on them. This is best exemplified in Challenge Three which is what many players and judges deemed the first real challenge given all the kinks were worked out. Both teams featured scripts for their proposals to change classic Magic Kingdom rides during the Halloween season with Goofy's Brainstormers winning for their Jungle Cruise overlay! The final challenge for the first round of The Imagineer saw an interesting change where the two teams had similar prompts with one team being responsible for a Deluxe Resort and the other doing a DVC Resort, but both are part of the same property! The two teams debated back and forth on a theme, but eventually they agreed on a Roman theme for the property which allowed for the ideas from all players to flourish. This property featured various restaurants, activities, a detailed pool, aqueducts, and of course some breathtaking artwork.

1628744294734.png

Artwork by @stitchcastle from their sixth prompt

Moving into the second round the two teams separated once more both working on their own projects in which teams created whole new dark rides for Fantasyland utilizing never used properties! Goofy's Brainstormers did a Sword in the Stone attraction that featured an original story and adventure utilizing simulator technology similar to The Simpsons Ride, and Chip n' Dale's Imagineering Rangers utilized Robin Hood for a shooter style attraction in the style of Toy Story Midway Mania. In the end Chip n' Dale's Imagineering Rangers stole the victory, and there was a bit of drama with the new style of deciding the winner. After the two teams merged into one they were tasked with creating a new Future World pavilion, and they decided to do a pavilion based on computers and the digital world. The finale saw @Chrononymous and @Fractal514 duke it both with an expansion to Sunset Boulevard one based around horror the other around music. In the end though @Fractal514 won the second season of the competition thanks to their creation of Tin Pan Alley with plenty of unique attractions, and a fresh new take on what could be a Hollywood Studios land.

Unfortunately this is where the coverage will end because although we know there is a Season 3 all the work and love for that project has been lost to time as The Imagineer moved to a forum that is no longer in operation.



The Imagineer Season 1
Project 1: Create a new meet and greet
Project 2: Create a new dark ride for Disney's Hollywood Studios
Project 3: Create a new E-Ticket for Disney's Animal Kingdom
Project 4: Create a new show for either the castle stage or Diamond Horseshoe
Project 5:
Create a new table service restaurant for Magic Kingdom
Project 5.5: Improve your submitted table service restaurant
Project 6: Create a new World Showcase Pavilion
Project 7:Create a new parade
Project 8: Create the 40th Anniversary Celebration for Magic Kingdom

The Imagineer Season 2
Practice Prompt 1: Add one new effect/easter egg to a ride
Practice Prompt 2: Replace one scene from a ride
Round 1, Project 1: Asante Sana Squash Banana
Round 1, Project 2: Hoooooo-Raaaaay Fooooor… A New Project!
Round 1, Project 3: Boo… to… you!
Round 1, Project 4: One Little Spark
Round 1, Project 5:
As We Live and Breathe
Round 1, Project 6: Dueling Disney Hotels
Round 2, Project 7: An Expansion Fit For A Princess
Round 2, Project 8: Mickey Mouse Summer House
Round 2, Project 9: World of Motion
Round 2, Project 10: It’s A Future World After All!
Round 2, Project 11: Movementacation
Round 2, Project 12: Bootcamp Minnie –Mickey
Project 13: Finale
 

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I can give you guys the lowdown on Season 3. Let me get home and I’ll write something up. What I can tell you now is that the season never finished, and it was cohosted by @TrevorA and @hack2112, who Mater had worked pretty closely with during SYWTBAI.
A shocking but great develompent! Would love to hear more about the mythical third season, pretty much all I knew was what was on these boards which wasn't much 😅

So happy to have seen this before going to bed, now I got something to look forward to in the morning. Thanks for the good news Jokers :D
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom