I'm doing my own take on an earlier thread here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/mickey-avenue-new-land-at-dhs.843213/.
I've created several threads on a Toontown to return to WDW after Toontown Fair left, but I was just really confused as to what I wanted, because I'm used to having sections like these in castle parks and no place else. Everyone seemed to think that a Toontown would work perfectly in Disney's Hollywood Studios. But I was not so sure. Granted, the theme of Toontown seemed appropriate at first blush; in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", it was located in Hollywood, the theme of the Studio obviously.
But then, Disneyland, which has a Toontown, is also located in Southern California, where the real Hollywood is located. And I really thought that cartoon shorts, the theme of Toontown, didn't really seem to work as well in a park such as the Studios as it does in a castle park. To me, Mickey's House, as it exists in Disneyland, doesn't really fit the Studios theme. I also didn't think that cartoon-like, balloony architecture really seemed to fit the Studios, either. I thought that anything regarding a Toon Studio would work against the park's move to drift away from an actual working studio. Setting up a studio theme for an area like this, to my way of thinking, just seems to serve as a reminder of the park's past, and was a cop-out to boot, similar to the setup of Star Tours in Florida (which, of course, is located in the Studios). I agree with a website about the Studios (http://www.studioscentral.com/column/studios-weekly/defending-studios), when they said that introducing the "working set" idea creates a whole extra layer of stuff to get between the guest and the experience.
Then, I discovered this one article on Passport 2 Dreams: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2012/09/lightning-in-bottle-storybook-circus.html. Here, it seemed to dislike Mickey's Toontown for the balloony, cartoon-like architecture it had, thinking it was themed to one thing and one thing only, "Roger Rabbit", and that it didn't feel very Disney-like (I personally think it does, but I digress). Meanwhile, the article seems to show some praise for Mickey's Birthdayland/Starland, even though it was always considered a temporary area, albeit done on a big scale. Here's what the article said:
[T]he area did have a classic "Disney" feel appropriate to the Magic Kingdom, even if the "Disney" feel was decidedly... low rent. [...] [T]he best thing about Mickey's Birthdayland is that, by getting out the door just before the Roger Rabbit craze hit, it managed to realize Disney cartoons in a classically Disney way. It really did look like Mickey's house, the way you always imagined it[.]
I explain all this because when Birthdayland/Starland became Toontown Fair, it was in 1996, three years after Toontown in Disneyland opened. And so, I feel that the Disney feel here can work again in Mickey Avenue, a section at the Studios to be expanded greatly and improved on. The article stated that the Disney feel in Birthdayland/Starland was decided low rent, but that can probably be rectified here.
I'll start posting some of my ideas later, but until then, thoughts, comments, concerns?
I've created several threads on a Toontown to return to WDW after Toontown Fair left, but I was just really confused as to what I wanted, because I'm used to having sections like these in castle parks and no place else. Everyone seemed to think that a Toontown would work perfectly in Disney's Hollywood Studios. But I was not so sure. Granted, the theme of Toontown seemed appropriate at first blush; in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", it was located in Hollywood, the theme of the Studio obviously.
But then, Disneyland, which has a Toontown, is also located in Southern California, where the real Hollywood is located. And I really thought that cartoon shorts, the theme of Toontown, didn't really seem to work as well in a park such as the Studios as it does in a castle park. To me, Mickey's House, as it exists in Disneyland, doesn't really fit the Studios theme. I also didn't think that cartoon-like, balloony architecture really seemed to fit the Studios, either. I thought that anything regarding a Toon Studio would work against the park's move to drift away from an actual working studio. Setting up a studio theme for an area like this, to my way of thinking, just seems to serve as a reminder of the park's past, and was a cop-out to boot, similar to the setup of Star Tours in Florida (which, of course, is located in the Studios). I agree with a website about the Studios (http://www.studioscentral.com/column/studios-weekly/defending-studios), when they said that introducing the "working set" idea creates a whole extra layer of stuff to get between the guest and the experience.
Then, I discovered this one article on Passport 2 Dreams: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2012/09/lightning-in-bottle-storybook-circus.html. Here, it seemed to dislike Mickey's Toontown for the balloony, cartoon-like architecture it had, thinking it was themed to one thing and one thing only, "Roger Rabbit", and that it didn't feel very Disney-like (I personally think it does, but I digress). Meanwhile, the article seems to show some praise for Mickey's Birthdayland/Starland, even though it was always considered a temporary area, albeit done on a big scale. Here's what the article said:
[T]he area did have a classic "Disney" feel appropriate to the Magic Kingdom, even if the "Disney" feel was decidedly... low rent. [...] [T]he best thing about Mickey's Birthdayland is that, by getting out the door just before the Roger Rabbit craze hit, it managed to realize Disney cartoons in a classically Disney way. It really did look like Mickey's house, the way you always imagined it[.]
I explain all this because when Birthdayland/Starland became Toontown Fair, it was in 1996, three years after Toontown in Disneyland opened. And so, I feel that the Disney feel here can work again in Mickey Avenue, a section at the Studios to be expanded greatly and improved on. The article stated that the Disney feel in Birthdayland/Starland was decided low rent, but that can probably be rectified here.
I'll start posting some of my ideas later, but until then, thoughts, comments, concerns?
