Two "new" Fantasylands, thirty years apart!

[Californian Elitist]

What sort of bothers me about MK's Fantasyland is the fact that the facades don't have a cohesive theme. You've got Pan, small world and Philharmagic with the ugly tent/circus facade, Mermaid with beautiful rock work, Pooh with a wooded facade... I wish everything was cohesive instead of multiple themed.

 

[HMF]

What sort of bothers me about MK's Fantasyland is the fact that the facades don't have a cohesive theme. You've got Pan, small world and Philharmagic with the ugly tent/circus facade, Mermaid with beautiful rock work, Pooh with a wooded facade... I wish everything was cohesive instead of multiple themed.

All of that was going to be taken care of before the Sharp Pencil Boys got a hold of the expansion plans.

 

[Californian Elitist]

All of that was going to be taken care of before the Sharp Pencil Boys got a hold of the expansion plans.

What a shame. Then again, I'm not surprised.

 

[englanddg]

I would agree that the theming certainly needs improvement.

But, I don't expect anything in the next year.

Maybe when they toss an interactive queue in at Peter Pan?

Part of the issue is also Small World...as it is not a separate facade? Philharmagic really could go anywhere, and I am not sure why it is there. I actually think it would have been a better fit at Hollywood Studios...

 

[Tom Morrow]

Well Pan is supposed to get a new queue, yes? Maybe that will take care of it.

They should also make the ride "not awful" but that probably won't happen.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I was under the impression a new Pan queue was just a rumor. Perhaps not even that, maybe just an assumption that it will eventually happen based on the bathroom relocation. I'd imagine queue additions are planned eventually, but I hope there's more to it than just that. Peter Pan needs a serious upgrade both internally and externally to at least bring it up to the standards from Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Both the facade and the ride itself are better at DL/DLP. One hopes that the new bathrooms will spur on such a project, I suspect this WAS a plan they wanted to go through with at least. But I can't really hold my breath anymore.

Small World at Magic Kingdom I've always been perplexed at why they built it the way they did. Not that the ride inside is bad (it isn't, besides maintenance neglect of course). It's the location it was built in, I just can't figure out why they did this. Seems like a big mistake from the very start to put it where it is. Other versions of Small World around the globe all have their own dedicated areas. And as a result, the facades make a huge impression and there's much more dramatic buildup as you approach the ride.

MK's version was built WAY too close to Peter Pan. The facade suffers, the buildup approaching the ride is basically gone entirely. Not to mention it can even be a problematic bottleneck and the entire walkway through there feels claustrophobic). Even when I had never been to another Disney park as a child, it still seemed incredibly cramped and badly designed. It's just beyond me why they chose to do this in a park that was so much bigger than Disneyland. It's probably the worst design choice of the original MK plans.

And due to the way Small World was crammed into that area, they've basically made it impossible to make the facade like the other parks. Unless they closed the ride and relocated it entirely to another area. The ride could work well over at right side of the park near the circus area. There is (or was) a small walkway with some Wonderland props. Dunno if there would be any space to add something over there but it would give the ride more of the space it deserves.

Or they can come up with something completely different and new for the MK facade. Either way the tents need to go, I've never liked them (even less so when I finally experienced Disneyland Paris and its gorgeous Fantasyland facades). Disneyland's facade certainly isn't going to work, but perhaps something entirely new might and i'd like to see what Disney's imagineers could think up for it.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Part of the issue is also Small World...as it is not a separate facade? Philharmagic really could go anywhere, and I am not sure why it is there. I actually think it would have been a better fit at Hollywood Studios...

I actually agree about Philharmagic. I feel it should remain at WDW but i've also felt it might be a better fit at the Studios. Though it could use an upgrade of its own (the CGI isn't very good anymore either).

 

[bethymouse]

and the new FL is still not quite finished yet...
It should be more than awesome when the mine train is ready.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Even if they redo all the facades in Fantasyland there will still be disconnect of some kind due to the way the castle dictates the overall look of the land. When I see the new Tangled area (or Belle's Village), I'm reminded of the look of DLP's Fantasyland with it's "storybook" architecture of bent cureves, saturated colours and rich detail. This means the area itself looks great, but doesn't entirely "fit" with the rest of the land which uses more realistic angles, colours and frames for its buildings. MK's Fantasyland is (or was) about making "fantasy" real by increasing the number of turrents, slanted roofs and towers to exagerate reality, similar to how Main Street has a superfluous amounts of gingerbread detail, but still is grounded in real world architetural influence. Note the original earthy colours in the first photo which were replaced with candy blues in many cases in an (unsuccessful, IMO) way to make it more "fantasy-ish":

DLP and DL's Fantasyland have a more "storybook" look, that tries far les to replicate reality in some form, but exagerate the elements of design further to create an even more fantastic look, the Castle in DLP, reflects this too, in an effort to differentiate the land's appearence from real European villages a short drive or train ride away:

It's actually good that the Castle Walls exist as they not only provide a themeatic transition, but help to visually seperate the "old" and "new" Fantasylands, so that the difference is less obvious.

It will be interesting to see how much of the original Fantasyland is changed in the future, but I would hope that enough of the old design is retained to create a smooth transition from one look to another. Plus I actually like the look of the area right behind the Castle as is.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Even if they redo all the facades in Fantasyland there will still be disconnect of some kind due to the way the castle dictates the overall look of the land. When I see the new Tangled area (or Belle's Village), I'm reminded of the look of DLP's Fantasyland with it's "storybook" architecture of bent cureves, saturated colours and rich detail. This means the area itself looks great, but doesn't entirely "fit" with the rest of the land which uses more realistic angles, colours and frames for its buildings. MK's Fantasyland is (or was) about making "fantasy" real by increasing the number of turrents, slanted roofs and towers to exagerate reality, similar to how Main Street has a superfluous amounts of gingerbread detail, but still is grounded in real world architetural influence. Note the original earthy colours in the first photo which were replaced with candy blues in many cases in an (unsuccessful, IMO) way to make it more "fantasy-ish":

DLP and DL's Fantasyland have a more "storybook" look, that tries far les to replicate reality in some form, but exagerate the elements of design further to create an even more fantastic look, the Castle in DLP, reflects this too, in an effort to differentiate the land's appearence from real European villages a short drive or train ride away:

It's actually good that the Castle Walls exist as they not only provide a themeatic transition, but help to visually seperate the "old" and "new" Fantasylands, so that the difference is less obvious.

It will be interesting to see how much of the original Fantasyland is changed in the future, but I would hope that enough of the old design is retained to create a smooth transition from one look to another. Plus I actually like the look of the area right behind the Castle as is.

I hope that in the future the areas in FL, excluding FLE areas and Tangled can be made more cohesive. The FLE is fine because of the wall they built IMO... it provides a transition into what can be seen as a mini land. Tangled needs some trees and it should be fine. The rest of the facade work could be reworked and made to fit together better. I'd have to look at the pictures more closely to see but those are just my on the fly thoughts.

 

[mharrington]

What sort of bothers me about MK's Fantasyland is the fact that the facades don't have a cohesive theme. You've got Pan, small world and Philharmagic with the ugly tent/circus facade, Mermaid with beautiful rock work, Pooh with a wooded facade... I wish everything was cohesive instead of multiple themed.

Then again, Disneyland's Fantasyland is not quite that singularly cohesively themed, either. You've got some English structures for Peter Pan right across the way from the queen's castle for Snow White, just for example.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Then again, Disneyland's Fantasyland is not quite that singularly cohesively themed, either. You've got some English structures for Peter Pan right across the way from the queen's castle for Snow White, just for example.

The buildings look the same, for the most part. The Bavararian Village style. It's not like we have a tent for Pan and a castle for Snow. Snow's facade doesn't even look like a castle.

Thankfully Fantasy Faire had the same look going on.





I just learned about MK's Fantasyland's different themes, so it all makes more sense to me now.

 

[wolf359]

So much of Walt Disney World's Fantasyland is really a head scratcher to me. Its original 1971 look and layout, while based on what was the current look at Disneyland, didn't seem to take advantage of what they knew about improving space, layout, or sightlines. They HAD to have known it was going to be cramped, bottlenecked, and have poor transitions in and out of the area.

In the 90s they removed some of the clutter (like the fountains ) in order to help improve flow and they just finally fixed the horrible bottleneck going into Liberty Square but between Disneyland's 1983 makeover, the updated Pooh queue/facade, and now Fantasyland Forest it makes it abundantly clear that the rest of Fantasyland needs a lot more than a fresh coat of paint on the old facades.

 

[mharrington]

The buildings look the same, for the most part. The Bavararian Village style. It's not like we have a tent for Pan and a castle for Snow. Snow's facade doesn't even look like a castle.

I never said we did have a tent for anything of the sort.

And now that I think about it, I think the reason why WDW's Fantasyland doesn't have a Bavarian style may have something to do with the Germany pavilion at Epcot. Mind you, this is just a guess.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I never said we did have a tent for anything of the sort.

And now that I think about it, I think the reason why WDW's Fantasyland doesn't have a Bavarian style may have something to do with the Germany pavilion at Epcot. Mind you, this is just a guess.

I know you didn't. I was using the tent as an example and was trying to make a point.

I was told Fantasyland has three different themes. I don't think it has anything to do with the German Pavilion.

 

[mharrington]

Here's a video I found of the '83 Fantasyland's opening! By the end of this month, that version will have turned thirty years old!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Twelve dollars for admission... Wow.

 

[Sped2424]

I hope somewhere down the line, they'll decide to change the facades.

I hope that once the 7DMT opens and all the traffic is sent over there they could give some real needed TLC to Pan and Small World. New facades for both wouldnt hurt either.

 

[Sped2424]

Here's a video I found of the '83 Fantasyland's opening! By the end of this month, that version will have turned thirty years old!

What did they do to Maleficent.... side note the costume for prince phillip is much more accurate tan the one today. WHY

 

[mharrington]

I hope that once the 7DMT opens and all the traffic is sent over there they could give some real needed TLC to Pan and Small World. New facades for both wouldnt hurt either.

Well, rumors are persisting that Peter Pan will have an interactive queue put in, so that might mean a new queue and maybe even a new facade. And now that the Tangled bathroom area has opened, the Peter Pan bathroom area has closed, so now it's just a matter of when the installment of the interactive queue is put in.