New Disneyland - my armchair-imagineered castle park concept

[Delta-7]

Alright. I’ve decided now is the time to, uh...vent, because I don’t have any other way of expression at this time...about a special concept that’s been in my head for years....and years....and years....and in the past year has taken much of its current form.

Since I was a kid, I’ve always imagined a Magic Kingdom style park of my own. One that would take the strengths of each Disney park around the world with sprinkles of new magical experiences here and there. I’ve always wanted to realize some form of this dream, even if it was just in a computer simulation game (I do have Planet Coaster 1 and 2, but I am so overwhelmed by all the little gizmos and free-building techniques that I always get burnt out). As I’ve grown up and done more research on Disney attraction experiences worldwide, I’ve taken notes of what I’d like to see and change from other parks in my armchair-imagineered Magic Kingdom. And so, I’d like to introduce my concept, codenamed New Disneyland.

What I want to focus on with New Disneyland is sort of going back to the basics of a Disney castle park. Most of the themed lands in my concept are what some call “genre lands,” meaning the theme is an overarching subject, not based on something specific like a location or IP. At least, every land other than the entrance and hub areas are genre lands, meaning most of the park consists of Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, etc. The park’s areas are also made up of mini-lands, like those of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, each themed to a particular aspect of its land’s theme.

Going back to the Disney park basics also means including rides and experiences that are familiar with Disney fans. However, many of the attractions in this concept are different in some ways. I believe it was Walt himself who wanted the Magic Kingdom to be different from Disneyland, and I think it would be fun to go in that direction instead of traditionally adapting classic Disney attractions part by part. Certain attractions in New Disneyland are based on Disney ride concepts that were scrapped, or really good ideas from other mega fans of the parks. Some are even next-gen iterations of classic rides, like how Mystic Manor is to the Haunted Mansion line-up.

Before we set off on our grand circle tour of my concept, a few reminders. This concept will be presented in several posts, each one covering one of the park's themed areas. I also want to lay out the park's areas ahead of time so you know what to expect. The areas are as follows:

Dreamer's Avenue

Mickey Park

Fantasyland
Castle Courtyard
Storybook Grove
Enchanted Hollow

Adventureland
Volcanic Ruins
Deep Jungle
Swashbuckler Landing

Frontierland
Riverside Trail
Mountain Springs
Desert Mesa

Mystic Land
Mysterious Lagoon
Beastly Gardens
Wicked Lair

Tomorrowland
Retro Zone
Astro Zone​

Side note: I'm gonna be completely honest with you. My theme park specialty is rides, so you may not see much information about dining locations, shops, or entertainment. I apologize profusely for this but trust me: this park WOULD have those things. No one needs to starve or be bored while walking around. If you have ideas for shops and entertainment, I’d love to hear them! More importantly, a great chunk of this information is SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Some attractions I am describing are still early in my thought process, so please bear with me.

Now without further ado, I present to you:

NEW DISNEYLAND​

Dreamer’s Avenue

Our journey through New Disneyland starts with the typical walk down the street towards the looming castle in the distance. Dreamer’s Avenue is inspired by Shanghai Disneyland’s Mickey Avenue in setup, but its theme pays respect to a certain man with a dream. It’s a short street with classic amenities on both sides, in the fashion of America in the early 20th century. It is also the segue between the world of today and that of adventure, yesterday, fantasy, legend, and tomorrow that is New Disneyland.​

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Horse-drawn streetcars parade down the center of the road before circling back around near the park’s entrance. You might find a band playing some fashionable tunes or some Dapper Dans singing along. At the very beginning of the avenue, encircled by the turnaround for the Avenue Vehicles, stands a statue of none other than the man behind the mouse himself – Walt Disney.​

Mickey Park​

Like at Shanghai Disneyland, the street is shorter than Main Street USA at most parks, ending at the hub of New Disneyland - in this case Mickey Park. This hub, like Shanghai’s Gardens of Imagination, is a dedicated area itself, with its own attractions, right in front of the shimmering castle. This time, the area takes more inspiration from the Toontown areas in Anaheim and Tokyo, and some of Mickey Avenue in Shanghai, with cartoonish buildings lining the outer path.​

The infield of the area is like a wide park, hence the name, with intertwining paths amid a grove of grassy patches and a few shady trees.​

Throughout this grove, you can run into Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and a whole bunch of their friends at meet-and-greet spots spaced about. In the center of Mickey Park, there is a group of statues sharing a pedestal, in the likeness of these very characters I just mentioned - Disney’s Sensational Six – Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto.​

(no, it wouldn't be an enlarged merchandise figurine like this, but an actual statue).​

Near this statue, you might notice a wide, warm colored circus tent. That might be just another meet and greet space, but it’s really the show building for Silly Symphony Circus. Much like Carousel of Progress, the circus is a carousel theater that rotates between stages, each one containing a whimsical and musical performance based on scenes and involving characters from the animated series. I took this idea from a lost concept for a Silly Symphony bus-bar dark ride that I’m sure was to go to a castle park, but not so sure what land within.​

Originally, I indeed wanted the Silly Symphonies to be represented by a dark ride in this concept, but that evolved into our next attraction...​

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This next attraction in Mickey Park is a DuckTales themed dark ride that would take guests on an adventure with Scrooge, Huey, Duey, and Luey. More specifically, it’s based on an abandoned concept that would’ve been realized in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, located in what is today Storybook Circus. This uses the same set-up as Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, with wheels at the front of each seat that guests use to spin themselves around throughout their journey, and that’s just what the original concept had apparently.​

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If you have someone in need of stepping up to the bigger thrill machines, they can find just that at Goofy’s Sky School. On this Vekoma suspended family coaster, Goofy will teach you the basics of flying - or so he'll try. What could go wrong?​

You’ll take off as you climb the lift hill, then soar through tight twists and turns that even, in traditional Goofy style, send you crashing through the station building with a Vekoma station fly-through element. In contrast to most Vekoma SFCs, this one would have two trains instead of just one to meet capacity demands.

Lastly, it wouldn’t be called Mickey Park without the mouse himself having an attraction of his own. That’s right – Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway makes an appearance!​

This version of the ride would be very similar to the ones in Orlando and Anaheim, with slight differences in the track layout. One of the things I would add to this version is a longer tornado scene, where the trackless vehicles actually swirl in circles around the twister that Mickey and Minnie are caught up in.

In the next part, we venture into a mysterious land filled with swashbuckling pirates, deep hazy jungles, and ominous volcanic activity. See you in Adventureland!

 

[Delta-7]

Well, it's been almost two weeks, I know, but now we're ready for the next part of our tour of New Disneyland: Adventureland! Before starting out I want to clarify some things: I realize that these writings can be very text-heavy, so at the end of each part describing a land of this park concept, there will be a recap of its rides and attractions so that you won't be confused by thick walls of text. Here's the recap for Dreamer's Avenue and Mickey Park:

Dreamer's Avenue

• Avenue Band​
• Dapper Dans​
• Avenue Vehicles​

Mickey Park

• Meet Mickey and Friends​
• Silly Symphony Circus - carousel theater inspired by Silly Symphony cartoons​
• Goofy's Sky School - Goofy themed Vekoma suspended family coaster​
• Ducktales dark ride - Car Toon Spin-style dark ride based on Ducktales​
• Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway​

I also understand that having the circus and coaster in Mickey Park could disrupt the sightline of the park's castle. Since Mickey Park is based on Garden of Imagination, both of these rides would be far off to the side, with the coaster taking up a compact piece of land similar to Phoenix at Deno's Wonder Wheel park.

Alright, without further ado, let's keep going!

Adventureland
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You hear that? Adventure is calling – from the exotic realm of Adventureland! This land has been kind of interesting for me to imagine in this concept. I’m very aware that at Disney parks the world over, Adventureland is mostly based on the jungles of South America, Africa, and Asia, and the many adventures you’ll find within. Like other areas in my concept, Adventureland here has always been divided into sub-sections, so at first in makes sense for each sub-section to be based on one of the three continents. Then there’s Magic Kingdom, Tokyo, and Paris that have the golden age of piracy also included here, not to mention Florida’s and Paris’ inclusions of Agrabah from Aladdin. Anaheim and Shanghai bypass this by having Pirates of the Caribbean in areas separate from Adventureland, but remember, New Disneyland is made up of genre lands. That doesn’t mean Pirates can’t be included here at all, especially since I’ve come to think that Adventureland should mean more than just exploring jungles. That is why this land’s three mini-zones are based on a different form of the adventure genre.

If you set foot into Adventureland from Mickey Park, you’ll be warmly greeted with Polynesian temple ruins, dark jagged rocks, and a foreboding volcano looming overhead – all of which make up Volcanic Ruins. This Oceania/Polynesia inspired cove is laced with thematic motifs of the four main natural elements, and the attractions here embrace them.

In an area themed like such a tropical region, you'll be surprised to see there isn’t an interesting room filled with noisy, singing birds. If you are looking to be serenaded by some tiki birds, then look no further because just steps away is the Tiki Bird Twirl – a high-flying aerial carousel where you can soar among these elegant and adorable creatures. This ride is close in design to Astro Orbiter, with inline seating for each bird. During your flight you can hear graceful instrumentals of Tiki Room hits such as “In The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room” and “Hawaiian War Chant.”

Then there is a walkthrough and interactive play area, inside of Pydrotem: Temple of Fire and Water (Pydrotem is a portmanteau of pyro, hydro, and tem, derived from the latin term templum). This ruined but vaguely colorful temple takes some inspiration from Journey of Water at Epcot, utilizing interactive fountains and water features. Guests can also, safely, interact with small fire effects. Like at Epcot, there are informative signs on the behavior of water and fire.

Now what about the giant volcano that towers over Adventureland? It’s simply known as Fire Mountain – not unlike that unique roller coaster concept planned for the Magic Kingdom.

Unlike the original idea, I envision this as a dual-tracked roller coaster like Matterhorn Bobsleds and Florida’s Space Mountain, complete with inline seating vehicles. Why? Actually, this idea goes back several years to my initial thought process for New Disneyland. I wanted a ride inspired by Matterhorn Bobsleds, with those colorful inline trains, as at the time I thought it was such a classic ride that another adaptation of it could take the concept to the next level. However, seeing that Adventureland almost never has a thrilling coaster in any castle park, I relocated this idea over there and set it in a volcano.

Sometime later, I learned of the Fire Mountain concept and the unique ride system it was to have. While the idea of the coaster starting as a standard above-track ride and then morphing into a suspended ride sounds interesting, I decided to keep the Matterhorn style ride system. This isn’t just because it’s stuck with me for a long time, but also because for one, New Disneyland already has a suspended coaster in Goofy’s Sky School. One suspended coaster is enough for a castle park. And for another, the cancelled Magic Kingdom attraction isn’t the only one this Fire Mountain is inspired by. EPCOT had originally planned a coaster in the likes of Matterhorn for their Japan pavilion, set in Mt. Fuji, but it was scrapped due to sponsor issues of all things. Therefore, I think it would make sense for my concept of Fire Mountain to borrow from both of these cancelled attractions.

The story goes that the Society of Explorers and Adventurers have set up a base to study the volcano’s inner workings. They’re letting guests explore the bowels and lava tubes of the volcano via specially designed “magma sleds.” As you drop into the dark tunnels and climb the main lift, you’ll hear some very alarming rumblings. Cresting the lift and careening into the first tight turn, smoke sprays from an opening. From there it’s a turbulent escape through the inferno of the volcano as you whip around sharp turns, climb sudden hills, and plunge through some serious drops, careening both through the volcanic tunnels and even outside along the edges of the mountain (like Matterhorn Bobsleds). All the while, projection mapping and fog blasts all around you convey the eruptive chaos. But as with any Disney attraction, you return to the unload station safe and sound. The two tracks are near mirror images of each other, and each contain different special effect sequences to make for a unique ride experience should you decide to come back again.

Beyond the Volcanic Ruins is the jungle of Adventureland, and the section that most think of when reminiscing on Adventureland. Deep Jungle immerses you in an exotic wilderness that feels like Africa, Asia, and South America all at once.

Originally, I wanted there to be another version of Jungle Cruise, this one being the line’s next-gen iteration. However, I eventually decided against this because I wasn’t sure if having an attraction combining the Jungle Cruise and Shanghai Pirates ride systems would make it any more outstanding. Additionally, I want to limit the number of water-based attractions in New Disneyland since there are many more I will eventually talk about, as well as the number of E-ticket rides in each of the park’s lands to three. We just looked at one of them in Adventureland, Fire Mountain, and the other two are fresh ideas that I think really fit a castle park. So instead, Deep Jungle is kind of like Jungle Cruise as a mini-land – in that it’s inspired by jungles and wildlife from all three of the continents the ride represents.

If you’re looking for a challenging type of adventure, step right up to Tarzan’s Treetop Climb – a ropes course no different from Camp Discovery in Shanghai. Harness in and trek along narrow edges of rock walls, stagger up rope nets, and behold other daunting obstacles as you ascend near the top of the Deep Jungle canopy. I see this as a more extreme take on the Adventureland treehouse walkthroughs, including those inspired by Tarzan.

Would it be a Deep Jungle without The Jungle Book? Certainly not. But this ain’t another book report dark ride either. Mowgli’s Jungle Book Splash Bash is a Mack Rides interactive boat ride inspired by the adventures of Mowgli, Bagheera, and Baloo. Once aboard a raft dedicated to one of the film’s major characters, you’ll embrace the playful jungle environment by squirting water at riders on other rafts, off-ride onlookers, and even figures of animals that pop up from the water. This would be an appropriate outdoor attraction for Adventureland, especially Deep Jungle, filling the slow water ride void that Jungle Cruise has and providing kinetic energy to the immediate area's atmosphere that yet another dark ride would not.

Speaking of dark rides, there’s also Trials of The Lion King, a classic bus-bar dark ride like what Fantasyland would have. I understand some think that The Lion King would be best portrayed by an E-ticket ride, similar to the log flume ride going to Disney’s Adventure World. Nonetheless, the iconic animated renaissance film has not seen much representation by rides at the parks, and again, I want to keep the number of E-ticket rides per land reasonable. So I decided that, instead of being a book report dark ride, this would have an original storyline featuring the film’s most iconic characters: Timon, Pumbaa, and the adult Simba (although I don’t know if that’s objective. I’ll let you decide).

A challenge of coming up with a Lion King bus bar ride is what the ride vehicle would be. There is no definitive time when The Lion King takes place, and no humans appear at all in the film, so I wouldn’t jump to safari jeeps just yet. Paris’ upcoming attraction has an advantage in this area because it’s a water ride, so they can get away with the vehicles representing natural objects – logs in this case. But seeing how Timon and Pumbaa can be crafty and creative at times, I figured the vehicles could be something of their creation.

You’ll hop on vehicles made of bamboo and other natural objects, handmade by the dynamic animal duo. Like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, each vehicle is a miniature enhanced motion vehicle. You’ll take off into the African pride lands and join Simba in experiencing what it takes to be the Lion King (the ride’s name did imply that, right?) Throughout the trek you’ll encounter animatronics and projections of wildlife activities all around. Then, you take a wrong turn into the Elephant Graveyard and have a perilous encounter with the hyena tribe. Your vehicle bucks and jars during this sequence, as you try to escape the insane hungry pack, and then Simba comes to the rescue.

Along with rides themed to such iconic characters, it makes perfect sense to have meet and greet spots for Timone, Baloo, Jane, and other Disney jungle friends.

Venturing deeper into the jungle, we find none other than the Casita from Encanto. I think it was a missed opportunity for Animal Kingdom’s upcoming Encanto dark ride to not go to the Adventureland expansion pad in Magic Kingdom instead. The IP renowned for its stunning visuals and soundtrack as well as emphasis on magic fits better in that park, though I understand how Disney wants to tie it in with AK’s wildlife theme.

Regardless, I want to right that wrong in New Disneyland by including an Encanto trackless dark ride as the second E-ticket in Adventureland. Like what’s going to AK, the ride vehicles would be magical, moving furniture, but the ride experience would be much different as a trackless system, and better fit the action of the IP as you slide through different rooms with everything literally unfolding around you.

And of course, this attraction comes with a meet and greet just outside where you can meet Mirabel and other members of the Madrigal family.

For our last stop in Adventureland, it be too late to alter course. You see, the Encanto ride represents South America in Adventureland, so naturally, emerging from the deep jungle in this direction, you’ll arrive in the Caribbean Sea – or should I say Swashbuckler Landing. This is the designated “pirate” area of the park, so in terms of theming it has a little bit of everything from all the areas that include Pirates of the Caribbean at the other parks – New Orleans Square, MK’s Caribbean Plaza, and especially Shanghai’s Treasure Cove.

For those with a will in them to seek adventure, and especially the little ones, there’s a galleon that has run aground against a tall, rocky seaside cape (we’ll get to that shortly). It houses an interactive walkthrough and play area called Shipwreck Cape. You can explore the damaged ship and uncover its secrets among the cargo and treasure stored inside, and even fire blasts of water and smoke from its still-functioning cannons. But that’s not all, as you can also venture into the cape’s creepy caverns where you’ll find hidden messages, skeletons, secret treasure, and the fierce specters of fallen pirates guarding it.

Swashbuckler Landing is home to the third E-ticket in Adventureland, and you may or may not be surprised at what it is. Is it Pirates of the Caribbean? Obviously. Is it like Anaheim, Florida, or Paris? None of them, including Tokyo. A clone of Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai? Try again.

....is it based on Hong Kong’s Pirates ride that never saw the light of day? Now we’re talking!

That’s right folks, New Disneyland is bringing this lost attraction concept back to life, and it serves as both this park’s version of Pirates of the Caribbean, and this park’s Splash Mountain-style water flume ride. Very clever. When planned for Hong Kong, it was originally called Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Curse, and apparently based on the Port Royal attack from the first film in the franchise. Not much is known about specific scenes in this ride or if the track layout would be the same as Splash Mountain (now Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in the US). I mean, the Lion King flume ride going to Paris probably won’t use that same layout so what gives? That being said, I wanted to go in a different direction for the theming of Pirate's Quest at Dead Man's Peak.

As you can tell by the name, which is kind of inspired by Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island in Anaheim, the ride is actually not inspired by the hit franchise based on the original attractions. This is due to how I’m not so certain of the franchise’s future, isn’t it getting a reboot with a new story and characters? It’s also because we’ve already seen Jack Sparrow, his enemies, and the tropes of the franchise at five parks by now, and I want to go back to an original IP free adventure just like Walt had left the version in Anaheim. As I said, with New Disneyland I don’t want to just clone fan favorite rides from other Disney parks as I’ve seen many concepts do (which are great, by the way). In this whole concept I want to have new twists on these classic attractions, whether that be a change in ride system or theme, that would make them unique from other parks. If you want more information about Pirate's Quest at Dead Man's Peak, click the link.

For the next leg of our journey, we travel back in time to a land of promise, natural beauty, old-fashioned Americana, and regions where no settler has gone before. See you in Frontierland!

Adventureland

• Volcanic Ruins
  • Pydrotem: Temple of Fire and Water - interactive walkthrough with fire and water effects
  • Tiki Bird Twirl - Astro Orbiter-style aerial carousel inspired by Enchanted Tiki Room
  • Fire Mountain - dual-tracked indoor/outdoor roller coaster set in an active volcano
• Deep Jungle
  • Meet Timone, Baloo, and King Louie
  • Meet Jane and Terk
  • Meet Mirabel and Family
  • Tarzan's Treetop Climb - ropes course inspired by Tarzan
  • Mowgli's Jungle Book Splash Bash - Mack Rides interactive boat ride based on The Jungle Book
  • Trials of The Lion King - mini-EMV dark ride inspired by The Lion King
  • Encanto-themed trackless dark ride
• Swashbuckler Landing
  • Shipwreck Cape - shipwreck themed interactive play area
  • Pirate's Quest at Dead Man's Peak - Splash Mountain-style POTC attraction

 

[MickeyMouse10]

Looks great so far. It's nice to see you're not just copying and pasting. The differences make the journey more worthwhile.

 

[Brer Panther]

I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

 

[Delta-7]

Pirate's Quest at Dead Man's Peak​

Before we get to Frontierland, I figured I'd use an extra post for explaining this attraction so that I wouldn't be dragging the Adventureland section forever.

The layout of this Pirates/Splash ride would be somewhat a mirror image of Tokyo’s Splash Mountain, especially the main indoor sections. The loading and unloading docks would be separate as well. At the start of the ride, boats would travel up and around a lagoon in front of the final drop, much like Splash Mountain. Mists swirl up from the waters, giving the scene an ominous and foreboding look. Once up the second lift, however, you don’t wrap around the back of the mountain. Instead, you go straight into the first drop, taking you directly into the main show building. Just before this drop would be the talking Jolly Roger, giving different warnings to each boat based on his infamous monologue from the original POTC.

As far as the rest of the ride, it’s essentially replacing Splash Mountain scenes with some based on those in Pirates. It goes as follows: How Do You Do-->pirates ransacking, looking for treasure; post dip-drop-->Hurricane Lagoon/Dead Man’s Cove; Laughing Place-->treasure caverns; Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah-->pirate prisoners; final scene-->final treasure room. Now, the storyline of this pirate's ride is a little unique. While it does have scenes of pirates plundering a village behind Dead Man's Peak, the villagers aren't exactly helpless. They're actually fighting back against the pirates, sword fighting and all, leading to some rather comedic scenes - some new and some based on the Disneyland original, like the intoxicated pirates shooting each other.

Digging a little deeper (pun not intended), you plunge down the dip-drop into an underground grotto and cavern, where the treasure is. But beware...as if it isn't enough there are skeletal remains from buccaneers who tried to take the secret riches long ago, spirits of past pirates are not pleased with your visit, their angry voices echoing around the watery cavern. It's time to escape! Going up the final lift hill, you would witness one last duel between two members of rival pirate gangs, heightening some tension.

Cresting the hill, you hear a disembodied voice saying the line, "dead men tell no tales" (audible enough on ride but not loud enough from off-ride) before plunging down fifty feet through a twisted shipwreck and under the lagoon. Circling back into the mountain, some pirates are trapped in an underground prison cell. Around the bend is where Jack Sparrow would be sitting among his found treasure, but he’s replaced with another pirate, singing to a background instrumental of “A Pirate’s Life for Me” and remarking on his rich discoveries alongside a parrot.

Edit: and that is Pirates, ladies and gentlemen. Frontierland coming soon!

 

[Goofy Ninja]

I always thought the Moana fountains would have been a good queue for a Moana ride.