When I went to DHS in the summer, I really enjoyed it - I think it's a great park. The place has so much potential, though, and we didn't quite spend the full day there (we went a couple of nights earlier for the Fantasmic show, and probably would have struggled to stay in the park for the whole day, from morning to Fantasmic). I think that the area with the most potential has to be Pixar Place, and a big expansion of this is surely the next thing on the cards for the park after Star Tours II. The Backlot Tour needs to be removed - we didn't even consider going on it, because we heard the only thing of note was Catastrophe Canyon, which we'd seen before. I think it would be cool if they could close the Backlot Tour and keep Catastrophe Canyon in some way - I'm not sure exactly how they would do it, but it would be pretty neat.
So with the whole of the backlot tour flattened, it would free up a big space for Pixar-related attractions. I personally think that the park is more suited to teens and adults than Magic Kingdom, for example, and so I went for some attractions based on movies that appeal to the wider demographic.
I really like the approach of the Fantasyland Expansion at MK, where there are loads of little character environments that are interlinked. I think this approach could work really well in places for Pixar Place, too.
So, I'll just list the attractions/areas that I thought would go into my version of Pixar Place, along with what is already there - obviously, Toy Story Midway Mania.
Paradise Falls
This area could be covered in lush foliage, and look like a South American forest. There could be meet and greets with Carl, Dug and Russell, and Kevin should make an appearance somewhere, too.
Up Adventure
I think this has great potential for a simulator of some kind, where you are in a smaller version of Carl's house (I'd love the idea of sitting in his armchair or something similar, with simple over-lap restraints - making it feel really homely) as he is up in the sky on his way to Paradise Falls. The windows in the house could be replaced with screens (and probably enlarged to make it a better experience) and the room could swing around in sync with the video. You could rise out of the foundations, through the city, with some close encounters, and you could go through storms and finish up at Paradise Falls. It's a fairly basic attraction, but I think this movie is calling out for an attraction in a Pixar area.
The attraction facade could also be really cool. There are a few ways they could go with it - they could somehow create a forced-perspective version of Paradise Falls, which could be stunning if done well, or they could go for just Carl's house - you enter the attraction through the front door, and the whole show building could be concealed with trees or something similar. It could look really amazing (here)
Monstropolis
I would go for either a scaled-down version of the Monsters Inc show building, that could potentially house the coaster and MILF, should it move to DHS as many members want. The street outside the factory could be rife with the Monstropolis street signs, and maybe some shop fronts from the movie.
Monsters Inc Door Coaster (working title)
This has been talked about over and over, but I think it has to be built at some point, when the time is right. It could be a basic rollercoaster (that would be thrilling but not too intense) and it would be really cool to implement some dark-ride style scenes at the brake runs in the coaster to carry a story through the ride. This has so much potential, I think that when Disney eventually build it it will be great.
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
This could be moved from Tomorrowland to Monstropolis potentially, although I would either go with this or...
Harryhausen's
...this. A basic restaurant - with an animatronic Harryhausen at the centre - although I feel like DHS maybe already has enough restaurants, especially with the other restaurant in my plan...
Paris
Gusteau's
...which, unsurprisingly, is based on Ratatouille. This is a film that is crying out for a restaurant somewhere in WDW, so I think it could fit in really well in the Pixar Place expansion. It could be based on the building in the film (here), with the Parisian architecture and the neon sign. An animatronic Remy can interact with guests like he already does in Epcot.
A Bug's Life playground
Again, this has been talked about a lot already, with the simple task of retheming the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground into a Bug's Life. There could be some meet-and-greets here, too.
Wall-E
I would love for Wall-E to be implemented somehow into the area, and I was thinking it might be really cool for the robot Wall-E, or something similar, to perform in the area regularly in a way similar to Luxo Jr. He could just perform some of the basic bits from the first part of the movie - where he interacts with objects - and I think it would be a real crowd-pleaser, and would avoid the problems that have cropped up with the LCI version of Wall-E.
There's also the possibility of a Wall-E dark ride, but I'm still trying to work out how that would go. I would love the idea of sitting in the 'hover chairs' through the ride, but obviously the laws of physics are against me.
The Incredibles
I think that the Incredibles are criminally underused in WDW - it's one of my favourite Disney Pixar films. As there's no obvious environment for them to go in, they could be implemented with the studio side of things - similar to TSMM, where the building is decorated to suit Toy Story but the surrounding area is pretty generic.
Again, I'm still working on this, but I think it would be cool to have some use of the 'pod' transportation system (here)but this would then potentially be similar to Up Adventure. Some use of robo-arm, like has already been discussed by Imagineers IIRC, could be another approach they go for, because I think it's a film that is really suited to a thrill ride.
I haven't really looked closely at whether there's even space for all of these attractions and areas in Pixar Place, but even if some of them are implemented, I think it could be a stellar addition to DHS and make it a truly full-day park, with high-quality rides.
And what about the films I'm missing? Toy Story is obviously already represented, Finding Nemo I feel is really, really overused in WDW already (although any expansion of this expansion could implement the movie in some way - Crush's Coaster?) and Cars I think should be kept to DCA for now. I know there are some people that are dying for Radiator Springs as the focal point for the expansion, but I would much prefer WDW to have something more unique than just a replication.
...wow, that was a long first post.
So with the whole of the backlot tour flattened, it would free up a big space for Pixar-related attractions. I personally think that the park is more suited to teens and adults than Magic Kingdom, for example, and so I went for some attractions based on movies that appeal to the wider demographic.
I really like the approach of the Fantasyland Expansion at MK, where there are loads of little character environments that are interlinked. I think this approach could work really well in places for Pixar Place, too.
So, I'll just list the attractions/areas that I thought would go into my version of Pixar Place, along with what is already there - obviously, Toy Story Midway Mania.
Paradise Falls
This area could be covered in lush foliage, and look like a South American forest. There could be meet and greets with Carl, Dug and Russell, and Kevin should make an appearance somewhere, too.
Up Adventure
I think this has great potential for a simulator of some kind, where you are in a smaller version of Carl's house (I'd love the idea of sitting in his armchair or something similar, with simple over-lap restraints - making it feel really homely) as he is up in the sky on his way to Paradise Falls. The windows in the house could be replaced with screens (and probably enlarged to make it a better experience) and the room could swing around in sync with the video. You could rise out of the foundations, through the city, with some close encounters, and you could go through storms and finish up at Paradise Falls. It's a fairly basic attraction, but I think this movie is calling out for an attraction in a Pixar area.
The attraction facade could also be really cool. There are a few ways they could go with it - they could somehow create a forced-perspective version of Paradise Falls, which could be stunning if done well, or they could go for just Carl's house - you enter the attraction through the front door, and the whole show building could be concealed with trees or something similar. It could look really amazing (here)
Monstropolis
I would go for either a scaled-down version of the Monsters Inc show building, that could potentially house the coaster and MILF, should it move to DHS as many members want. The street outside the factory could be rife with the Monstropolis street signs, and maybe some shop fronts from the movie.
Monsters Inc Door Coaster (working title)
This has been talked about over and over, but I think it has to be built at some point, when the time is right. It could be a basic rollercoaster (that would be thrilling but not too intense) and it would be really cool to implement some dark-ride style scenes at the brake runs in the coaster to carry a story through the ride. This has so much potential, I think that when Disney eventually build it it will be great.
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
This could be moved from Tomorrowland to Monstropolis potentially, although I would either go with this or...
Harryhausen's
...this. A basic restaurant - with an animatronic Harryhausen at the centre - although I feel like DHS maybe already has enough restaurants, especially with the other restaurant in my plan...
Paris
Gusteau's
...which, unsurprisingly, is based on Ratatouille. This is a film that is crying out for a restaurant somewhere in WDW, so I think it could fit in really well in the Pixar Place expansion. It could be based on the building in the film (here), with the Parisian architecture and the neon sign. An animatronic Remy can interact with guests like he already does in Epcot.
A Bug's Life playground
Again, this has been talked about a lot already, with the simple task of retheming the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground into a Bug's Life. There could be some meet-and-greets here, too.
Wall-E
I would love for Wall-E to be implemented somehow into the area, and I was thinking it might be really cool for the robot Wall-E, or something similar, to perform in the area regularly in a way similar to Luxo Jr. He could just perform some of the basic bits from the first part of the movie - where he interacts with objects - and I think it would be a real crowd-pleaser, and would avoid the problems that have cropped up with the LCI version of Wall-E.
There's also the possibility of a Wall-E dark ride, but I'm still trying to work out how that would go. I would love the idea of sitting in the 'hover chairs' through the ride, but obviously the laws of physics are against me.
The Incredibles
I think that the Incredibles are criminally underused in WDW - it's one of my favourite Disney Pixar films. As there's no obvious environment for them to go in, they could be implemented with the studio side of things - similar to TSMM, where the building is decorated to suit Toy Story but the surrounding area is pretty generic.
Again, I'm still working on this, but I think it would be cool to have some use of the 'pod' transportation system (here)but this would then potentially be similar to Up Adventure. Some use of robo-arm, like has already been discussed by Imagineers IIRC, could be another approach they go for, because I think it's a film that is really suited to a thrill ride.
I haven't really looked closely at whether there's even space for all of these attractions and areas in Pixar Place, but even if some of them are implemented, I think it could be a stellar addition to DHS and make it a truly full-day park, with high-quality rides.
And what about the films I'm missing? Toy Story is obviously already represented, Finding Nemo I feel is really, really overused in WDW already (although any expansion of this expansion could implement the movie in some way - Crush's Coaster?) and Cars I think should be kept to DCA for now. I know there are some people that are dying for Radiator Springs as the focal point for the expansion, but I would much prefer WDW to have something more unique than just a replication.
...wow, that was a long first post.
