Oh, about that: Discovery Bay is now a part of the second gate. It hasn't been erased or forgotten about...
...and about that, it's not going to be exactly like either of those, but its DNA does borrow a lot from them!
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WaltWiz's Dream Disney Resort - Frontierland
- Thread starter WaltWiz1901
- Start date
It took a bit of time to figure it out (and not without a bit of extra help, admittedly), but I've finally landed on what the second park will be: Disney's Realms Beyond.
It'll be a long time before we finally touch on it, but good things will come to those who wait!
It'll be a long time before we finally touch on it, but good things will come to those who wait!
Hoping to return to posting more about the park after Citrus Dreamin' is over (or nearly over) at best. Rest assured, even with that taking up most of my time, I haven't completely forgotten about this!
In the meantime, I am more than open to answer any queries some of you might have...
In the meantime, I am more than open to answer any queries some of you might have...
Hope to have a map of Grand Avenue and the Hub finished by the end of the month.
On another note, the table of contents might look a bit different soon owing to a couple of changes I decided to make after the last part of my writeup...
On another note, the table of contents might look a bit different soon owing to a couple of changes I decided to make after the last part of my writeup...
Twilight_Roxas
Well-Known Member
If you want. You’re welcome to use The Olympian World of Percy Jackson as a land in one of the parks.
Would be more open to it...if I hadn't already put in a similar land, or "realm", in Realms Beyond.
Not gonna spill too much about it now, but I will say that Greek/Roman legends will be one subject that RB will focus on
Twilight_Roxas
Well-Known Member
Fair enough.
Garfield Builder
Well-Known Member
@WaltWiz1901 I hope the theme park has a Professor Layton Square.
cdunlap
Well-Known Member
Why don’t you make your own park with this Professor Layton Square you love so much?
My sentiments exactly.
Again not going to spoil an awful lot, but Professor Layton Square will not be a land in either park. It's too sparse as was pitched and I'm not sure it would be a good fit for either one
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Okay, gonna call on you guys' help for a moment. These are land concepts I've been tentatively thinking about for Realms Beyond:
- Beastly Kingdom: either a medieval, Fantasyland-adjacent version (like the scrapped Animal Kingdom land) or a jungly, Adventureland-adjacent version (maybe an expansion on this pitch of @Outbound's? Might have to make some adjustments to Adventureland itself so the two lands feel more distinct; Tim Kirk similarly mentions having to make Tokyo DisneySea's Lost River Delta edgier and more adventure-focused than Adventureland at Tokyo Disneyland next door in The Imagineering Story)
- Treasure Planet: "living land" based on (what else?) Treasure Planet; the outpost for this realm could be the Hawkins' home of Montressor
- Atlantis: ditto, but this time for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Alternately could take a non-IP approach
- Kuzcotopia: a Mermaid Lagoon-esque kids' area themed after The Emperor's New Groove
- Realm of Imagination (working title): same as above, but focusing around Figment and Dreamfinder
cdunlap
Well-Known Member
They chose one of the edgiest civilizations ever, the Maya, to be the land’s theme!
Other games and competitions have been taking up a chunk of my time, but rest assured, I haven't completely forgotten about this!
Here's an update:
Here's an update:
- There will still be a river and an island in Frontierland...not a supporter of what WDW is doing to theirs at all
- Adventureland will be a wee different from how I was envisioning it when I started to devote a thread to my pet project...
- ...as will Fantasyland
- It'll be a long while away, but expect Tundraland, Asgard, Discovery Bay, Port Helios/Olympus, Beastlie Kingdomme, and Tropical Outpost to be among the places to be explored in Realms Beyond
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Been a while since I've last updated the main writeup, but as quite a couple of Imagineers have been posting about their own takes on a castle park lately, it only seems natural to continue touring mine...
Almost every Magic Kingdom-style park, from Anaheim to Hong Kong, has a heritage railroad encircling the park’s berm (Tokyo Disneyland’s Western River Railroad only boards from Adventureland and circles around Westernland as opposed to traveling around the whole park, owing to local transportation law), and [Blue Sky] Disneyland is no different. Whether it’s taking guests from one land to another or giving them a Grand Circle Tour of the Happiest Place on Earth, there can be no doubt that the [Blue Sky] Disneyland Railroad serves double-duty as both an efficient form of park-wide transportation and the perfect attraction for those who want to take in all the sights and sounds of the park without having to walk every square foot.
Let’s take a Grand Circle Tour and see what sights the Railroad takes us past…
The two dominant influences for the Grand Avenue stop on the [Blue Sky] Disneyland RailroadIt only seems natural that the tour would begin at the very place where our adventures inside the park also begin – Grand Avenue Station. In keeping with the 1920s big city aesthetic of Grand Avenue itself, this station’s architecture is influenced heavily by both Union Station in Denver, Colorado, and the Yonkers station on the Hudson line of New York’s Metro-North Railroad.
The train is sure to arrive any minute now, so we better get a move on!
In the station lobby, a scale replica of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad sits alongside a layout of the park after dark, both with fully working models of the Lilly Belle and three of the engines in this park’s fleet respectively, while extra space for a third layout can be reserved by any model railroader bringing their own trains to the park. The station’s waiting room is adorned with posters of famous railroads and events in rail history, like the 20th Century Limited, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Golden Spike ceremony.
The C.K. HollidayAt last, after a while of waiting, the call of a steam whistle sounds off, long and loud. Our ride is here!
As with the Railroads at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom, and Disneyland Paris (Hong Kong Disneyland instead uses diesel-powered engines designed on the outside to look like steam engines), this narrow-gauge line is ran on by real, working steam locomotives which come complete with all the necessary bells and whistles, plus cab signaling units in the cabs of each engine to let the crew know of the location of a train on, or the condition of, the line ahead. The four engines which might be taking guests for trips around the park at any given time (a different engine arrives every ten minutes) are:
As the train chugs into a tunnel, the first of a couple it’ll go through on its trip, we seemingly emerge out of the darkness...to a gorgeous view of the Grand Canyon!
The Grand Canyon Diorama, located just before the Thunder Ridge Mine Train, faithfully recreates both the feeling of exploring the Grand Canyon and what has been heralded the longest diorama in the world. Ferde Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite” provides musical accompaniment as the train passes by the Canyon’s South Rim, encountering its wildlife and taking guests past the environments that can be found there.
Chuffing back out into the great outdoors, the train rumbles past a vast desert – the Living Desert which the Thunder Ridge Mine Train takes guests through, to be exact. One stretch of the latter’s track even runs parallel to the Disneyland Railroad’s; if the timing is just right, the two trains may even run side by side and blow their whistles at each other!
After this brief while outdoors, the train chuffs into the Rainbow Caverns, which oozes with color as water erupts out of Geyser Grotto and cascades down Paint Pot Falls into the pools below.
At least while riding the Railroad in the day, it appears like the passage of time has sped up, for upon popping out of the cave, we find ourselves in the midst of a western desert at sundown. To our right, a gang of bandits has stopped a stagecoach dead in its tracks on a bridge, threatening to rob its passengers of their precious gold.
This scene is part of one of the park’s premier attractions, Western River Expedition, which we’ll ride soon...
Returning outdoors again, the imposing Iron Mountain looms in the distance as we steam past the Rivers of America and into the woolly wilderness of Grizzly Flats. It is here where the Railroad’s next stop is: Grizzly Flats Depot.
Like Frontierland Depot on the Disneyland Railroad in Paris (pictured here), Grizzly Flats Depot is based on both Disneyland’s original Frontierland station and Ward Kimball’s railroad depotAs we wait for more passengers to board (and others to depart), it seems like a good time as any to point out that each station has a block signal to help communicate the status of the line ahead to the engines’ crews. These work in tandem with the previously mentioned cab units to ensure that guests are given a safe and reliable ride along the Railroad.
Before we set off again, we should take this time to note that rhythmic tapping noise you might hear while down by Grizzly Flats Depot – it’s the station’s telegraph, forever typing out Walt Disney’s opening day dedication of Disneyland in Morse code!
We can register when our surroundings have changed, for the redwood and pine barrens of Grizzly Flats give way to the tropical fauna of the Lost Coast – one of the areas which make up Adventureland.
The Temple of the Sacred Regalia stands in our path as the train chuffs into a tunnel bored into its side. To our left, cracks in the tunnel wall offer a literal sneak peek at the Indiana Jones River Adventure, while to our right is a Mayan-styled mural depicting what the now Lost Coast looked like in its prime. Nearby the temple is Aztec Falls, where trains (and DUKWs) travel behind “the backside of water” on their respective journeys.
Crossing over a scaffolding bridge (not an uncommon design motif for this area), we can see the Jaguar Excavation Co. Rail Runner crest a cable lift (and then plummet backwards down it as the cable gives way) before another corridor of trees leads us to the second tunnel on this leg of the route, an ancestral cave hidden within the mountains of Motunui. Māori-styled petroglyphs line the cave walls, illustrating voyagers setting sail to explore the ocean beyond the island and key moments from Moana.
The gaping maw of Skull Mountain, the adjacent port of Buccaneer Bay, and a view of Adventure Isle from afar signal our way out of Adventureland...
...and into a dazzling evening starfield. This mystical spectacle of a place is what the conductors of the Railroad call Constellation Point.
Mainly consisting of fiber-optic effects and ethereal arrangements of Disney music, Constellation Point takes us past, well, constellations of classic Disney characters – specifically those we shall meet in Fantasyland.
Tokyo Disneyland’s fan-favorite Pooh’s Hunny Hunt offers this good sample point of reference for the vibes Constellation Point gives off, which even serves as the inspiration for one of four key vignettesConstellation Point also takes us past these vignettes tying into the attractions bordering the tunnel:
Disneyland Paris’s Fantasyland Station, a major influence on the design of its equivalent hereUpon coming out of Constellation Point, trains almost immediately wind up at Fantasyland Station, a quaint English railway station in the midst of a peaceful, forested village green. Its architectural design is a mix of many different British styles, like Tudor beams and Victorian bricks. Being the halfway point along the Railroad’s route, the station also has a water tower for engines to take on enough water for the rest of their travels.
The station’s luggage hold, along the wall, is chockful of references to the British stories we’ll see represented in Fantasyland (and even some that aren’t), including...
After letting passengers off or on at Fantasyland Station, the train continues on its way, shortly thereafter traversing a bridge beneath which Thomas O’Malley serenades Duchess and her kittens (a vignette along the Enchanted Rivers boat ride). Traveling through a corridor of seasonally varied trees and over a bridge leading to Sundrop Shades, we leave the storybook villages and woods of Fantasyland...
The color palette of the “small world” exterior here is most similar to Hong Kong Disneyland’s version...for the hustling, bustling World’s Fair that is Progressland. The train chugs through the colorful, cheerful façade of “it’s a small world” and past the massive Cinerama dome that hides the show building to Mars Madness! before winding up in another celebration of what the future holds: Tomorrowland.
The final stop on its route, the Tomorrowland Transportation Hub serves not only the Railroad, but the PeopleMover as well, with the former boarding on the first floor and the latter on the second floor. Trains leaving this futuristic terminus are led into a tunnel for one more big surprise...
...a grand view of the City of Tomorrow, realized through a huge diorama augmented with projections and moving models (and part of which is a scene of New Horizons). It feels a lot like we’re actually riding through this high-tech metropolis!
After passing by the diorama, we then get a view of the Axiom, part of the WALL•E: The Stellar JOURN•E attraction.
Upon returning outdoors, the train returns to Grand Avenue Station, ready to take more passengers for another Grand Circle Tour or take them to one of their desired lands. We could very easily tour the park by rail again, but let’s continue looking at what it has in store for us, shall we?
Giving credit where due to @DisneyManOne for coming up with the idea for Constellation Point for his Mirror Walt Disney World, and @Evilgidgit for coming up with the Transportation Hub for his overhaul of Disneyland's Tomorrowland.
Next up, we ride a different kind of railway as we explore the other transportation of Grand Avenue!
Disneyland Railroad
D-ticket transportation
The Walt Disney World Railroad’s no. 1 engine, the Walter E. Disney, a main inspiration for the [Blue Sky] Disneyland Railroad’s similarly-named no. 1
Walt’s lifelong love of trains resulted first in a scale model that wound through the backyard of his home in Holmby Hills. Introduced to the hobby by Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston, Walt delighted in showing his “Carolwood Pacific Railroad” to friends and family alike. There are some who suspect Walt built his famed Magic Kingdom as an excuse for expanding his train hobby.The Walt Disney World Railroad’s no. 1 engine, the Walter E. Disney, a main inspiration for the [Blue Sky] Disneyland Railroad’s similarly-named no. 1
Almost every Magic Kingdom-style park, from Anaheim to Hong Kong, has a heritage railroad encircling the park’s berm (Tokyo Disneyland’s Western River Railroad only boards from Adventureland and circles around Westernland as opposed to traveling around the whole park, owing to local transportation law), and [Blue Sky] Disneyland is no different. Whether it’s taking guests from one land to another or giving them a Grand Circle Tour of the Happiest Place on Earth, there can be no doubt that the [Blue Sky] Disneyland Railroad serves double-duty as both an efficient form of park-wide transportation and the perfect attraction for those who want to take in all the sights and sounds of the park without having to walk every square foot.
Let’s take a Grand Circle Tour and see what sights the Railroad takes us past…
The two dominant influences for the Grand Avenue stop on the [Blue Sky] Disneyland Railroad
The train is sure to arrive any minute now, so we better get a move on!
In the station lobby, a scale replica of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad sits alongside a layout of the park after dark, both with fully working models of the Lilly Belle and three of the engines in this park’s fleet respectively, while extra space for a third layout can be reserved by any model railroader bringing their own trains to the park. The station’s waiting room is adorned with posters of famous railroads and events in rail history, like the 20th Century Limited, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Golden Spike ceremony.
The C.K. Holliday
As with the Railroads at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom, and Disneyland Paris (Hong Kong Disneyland instead uses diesel-powered engines designed on the outside to look like steam engines), this narrow-gauge line is ran on by real, working steam locomotives which come complete with all the necessary bells and whistles, plus cab signaling units in the cabs of each engine to let the crew know of the location of a train on, or the condition of, the line ahead. The four engines which might be taking guests for trips around the park at any given time (a different engine arrives every ten minutes) are:
- the W.E. Disney, no. 1
- the C.K. Holliday, no. 2
- the F.R. Thomas, no. 3
- the O.M. Johnston, no. 4
“Your attention, please - the Disneyland Railroad is now leaving for a Grand-Circle Tour of the Magic Kingdom, with stops at Grand Avenue, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. All ABOOOOOARD!”
...and we’re off!The Grand Canyon Diorama, located just before the Thunder Ridge Mine Train, faithfully recreates both the feeling of exploring the Grand Canyon and what has been heralded the longest diorama in the world. Ferde Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite” provides musical accompaniment as the train passes by the Canyon’s South Rim, encountering its wildlife and taking guests past the environments that can be found there.
Chuffing back out into the great outdoors, the train rumbles past a vast desert – the Living Desert which the Thunder Ridge Mine Train takes guests through, to be exact. One stretch of the latter’s track even runs parallel to the Disneyland Railroad’s; if the timing is just right, the two trains may even run side by side and blow their whistles at each other!
This scene is part of one of the park’s premier attractions, Western River Expedition, which we’ll ride soon...
Returning outdoors again, the imposing Iron Mountain looms in the distance as we steam past the Rivers of America and into the woolly wilderness of Grizzly Flats. It is here where the Railroad’s next stop is: Grizzly Flats Depot.
Like Frontierland Depot on the Disneyland Railroad in Paris (pictured here), Grizzly Flats Depot is based on both Disneyland’s original Frontierland station and Ward Kimball’s railroad depot
Before we set off again, we should take this time to note that rhythmic tapping noise you might hear while down by Grizzly Flats Depot – it’s the station’s telegraph, forever typing out Walt Disney’s opening day dedication of Disneyland in Morse code!
We can register when our surroundings have changed, for the redwood and pine barrens of Grizzly Flats give way to the tropical fauna of the Lost Coast – one of the areas which make up Adventureland.
The Temple of the Sacred Regalia stands in our path as the train chuffs into a tunnel bored into its side. To our left, cracks in the tunnel wall offer a literal sneak peek at the Indiana Jones River Adventure, while to our right is a Mayan-styled mural depicting what the now Lost Coast looked like in its prime. Nearby the temple is Aztec Falls, where trains (and DUKWs) travel behind “the backside of water” on their respective journeys.
Crossing over a scaffolding bridge (not an uncommon design motif for this area), we can see the Jaguar Excavation Co. Rail Runner crest a cable lift (and then plummet backwards down it as the cable gives way) before another corridor of trees leads us to the second tunnel on this leg of the route, an ancestral cave hidden within the mountains of Motunui. Māori-styled petroglyphs line the cave walls, illustrating voyagers setting sail to explore the ocean beyond the island and key moments from Moana.
The gaping maw of Skull Mountain, the adjacent port of Buccaneer Bay, and a view of Adventure Isle from afar signal our way out of Adventureland...
...and into a dazzling evening starfield. This mystical spectacle of a place is what the conductors of the Railroad call Constellation Point.
Mainly consisting of fiber-optic effects and ethereal arrangements of Disney music, Constellation Point takes us past, well, constellations of classic Disney characters – specifically those we shall meet in Fantasyland.
Tokyo Disneyland’s fan-favorite Pooh’s Hunny Hunt offers this good sample point of reference for the vibes Constellation Point gives off, which even serves as the inspiration for one of four key vignettes
- Mary Poppins flying through the sky, umbrella in hand
- Elsa working her magic to concoct a blizzard of snowy patterns, which freeze and morph into constellations
- Alice falling down, down into Wonderland
- Winnie the Pooh, fast asleep, floating into a hopefully sweet dream (or is it...?)
Disneyland Paris’s Fantasyland Station, a major influence on the design of its equivalent here
The station’s luggage hold, along the wall, is chockful of references to the British stories we’ll see represented in Fantasyland (and even some that aren’t), including...
- Mary Poppins’s carpetbag and umbrella
- the Mad Hatter’s hat, a cup of tea, and the White Rabbit’s pocket watch
- a pot of honey and Christopher Robin’s balloon
- a bow and arrow – maybe either Robin Hood or Merida has left it here?
- Miss Price’s motorbike
After letting passengers off or on at Fantasyland Station, the train continues on its way, shortly thereafter traversing a bridge beneath which Thomas O’Malley serenades Duchess and her kittens (a vignette along the Enchanted Rivers boat ride). Traveling through a corridor of seasonally varied trees and over a bridge leading to Sundrop Shades, we leave the storybook villages and woods of Fantasyland...
The color palette of the “small world” exterior here is most similar to Hong Kong Disneyland’s version
The final stop on its route, the Tomorrowland Transportation Hub serves not only the Railroad, but the PeopleMover as well, with the former boarding on the first floor and the latter on the second floor. Trains leaving this futuristic terminus are led into a tunnel for one more big surprise...
After passing by the diorama, we then get a view of the Axiom, part of the WALL•E: The Stellar JOURN•E attraction.
Upon returning outdoors, the train returns to Grand Avenue Station, ready to take more passengers for another Grand Circle Tour or take them to one of their desired lands. We could very easily tour the park by rail again, but let’s continue looking at what it has in store for us, shall we?
Giving credit where due to @DisneyManOne for coming up with the idea for Constellation Point for his Mirror Walt Disney World, and @Evilgidgit for coming up with the Transportation Hub for his overhaul of Disneyland's Tomorrowland.
Next up, we ride a different kind of railway as we explore the other transportation of Grand Avenue!
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cdunlap
Well-Known Member
Is that the mine train?
Disneyland Elevated Electric Railway
C-ticket transportation
Concept sketch for Disneyland Paris’s “El Train” by Eddie Sotto
The concept of a Main Street having an electric tramway, instead of the horse-drawn trolleys usually associated with the archetype, is not a new one. When designing Disneyland Paris’s Main Street, U.S.A., Imagineer Eddie Sotto had wanted to put one in as part of a 1920s-set draft, but while he was away on vacation, Michael Eisner deemed his vision for the land too deviant from the tried and true formula and his team ultimately agreed on simply doing a take on the standard Victorian Main Street, with the “El Train” being one of the biggest casualties. Nearly a decade later, proving that good ideas never die at Imagineering, the “El Train” would be realized at Tokyo DisneySea as the DisneySea Electric Railway, giving rides between American Waterfront and Port Discovery.Concept sketch for Disneyland Paris’s “El Train” by Eddie Sotto
[Blue Sky] Disneyland brings Sotto’s fresh spin on a castle park staple back to life by way of Grand Avenue, and with that comes the Elevated Electric Railway, adding extra kinetics to the Avenue’s right-hand block and adding to the idea of it being an urban neighborhood at the height of the ‘20s. Trains on the El ferry guests from Grand Avenue to Progressland, or vice versa, where they travel through the Progress Arcade from overhead.
The Third Avenue El is one example of the elevated lines that inspired the concept in the first place, while the attraction is of the same scale and scope as the DisneySea Electric Railway
Unlike the Disneyland Railroad, there are no round trips along the El; a train goes on a one-way, approximately three-minute route to the station on the other end of the line. Departing from the Grand Avenue station, we trundle up the right side of the main street, seeing the streets below from a different and unique perspective – and getting equally as unique views of the parade, too!
We make a slight curve around the southeast corner of the Hub before turning right into...
Departing from the Progressland station, we make a left turn and curve around the Hub before making another left into (and getting a bird’s-eye view of) the Progress Arcade. Tying the theme of optimism for the future together, the final sight we see before letting off at the Grand Avenue station is a tunnel with windows to different cities as imagined from the turn of the century to the 1950s.
Big City Vehicles
A-ticket transportation
The Omnibus
The Minibus on duty
- Two Town Cars (5 passengers)
- Two Limousines (7 passengers)
- The Omnibus (35 passengers), a modern double-decker bus decorated with billboards and advertisements for the Avenue’s establishments
- The Minibus (7 passengers)
- The Midtown Taxi (4 passengers)
- The Paddy Wagon (6 passengers), a police van; more paddy wagons come into play for a unit in the Symphony of Color Parade
- The Fire Truck (12 passengers)
- The Delivery Truck (9 passengers), an ice delivery truck
Not gonna give away too much before we reach Adventureland, but yes.
Broadway Theater
Live performance venue
Tokyo DisneySea’s similarly named venue in American Waterfront
Located just past Capone’s Jazz Club and splitting the Liberty Arcade into two halves, on the west side of Grand Avenue, is this aptly-named homage to the theaters down early 20th century Broadway.Tokyo DisneySea’s similarly named venue in American Waterfront
The theater’s signage, tall building height, and (by night) neon lighting make it an easy landmark to find when exploring the Avenue. Upon entering, guests step into an elegant lobby, recalling that of a theater one might’ve found in turn-of-the-century New York.
One show the Broadway Theater might show is a version of DisneySea’s Big Band Beat, a swinging musical revue starring Mickey and his friends. Other times, the theater might host a tribute to classic Broadway theater or a performance by a famous symphony orchestra – just check the showtimes at the theater entrance to see when to catch the next show!
Movie Palace
Cinema
Concept sketches for Disneyland Paris’s Main Street theater entrances by Eddie Sotto
The east side of the Avenue hosts a different kind of theater: the Movie Palace, its equivalent of the Main Street Cinema and perhaps one of the closest things it has to a D-zone, a place for guests to relax and take a break from the hustle and bustle that the main street buzzes with. Much like how Disneyland’s Cinema has six Mickey Mouse short films simultaneously showing on six small screens around a round viewing area, the Palace plusses the concept by having three big screens showing either of two double-bills each in a dedicated auditorium. In keeping with the era (or otherwise not straying too far away from it), the featured films all came out in the 1920s or early 1930s, accompanied by the Walt Disney studio’s greatest achievements or otherwise noteworthy shorts of their years of release:Concept sketches for Disneyland Paris’s Main Street theater entrances by Eddie Sotto
- 1923’s Safety Last! and Alice’s Wonderland
- 1927’s The Jazz Singer and Trolley Troubles
- 1928’s Steamboat Bill, Jr. and Steamboat Willie
- 1929’s The Broadway Melody and The Skeleton Dance
- 1932’s Tarzan the Ape Man and Flowers and Trees
- 1933’s King Kong and Three Little Pigs
Grand Avenue Exhibition Hall
Museum
To the right of Town Square, the Grand Avenue Exhibition Hall is open for guests to explore and educate themselves about the arts – mostly the art of the studio that Walt built.The usual attraction here is The Walt Disney Story, an exhibit taking guests through the life and times of the one and only Walt Disney. Artwork and historic artifacts culled from the different decades of his studio’s heyday (some of both reproduced where necessary) illustrate the storied career of the man who started it all, as do scale models of places like the Walt Disney Studios’ former campus on Hyperion Avenue and Disneyland as was depicted in both Peter Ellenshaw’s oil painting and model form in “The Disneyland Story” episode of the anthology series of the then-same name. Near the end of the exhibit is a rotating selection of attraction props, concept art, and models from Walt Disney Imagineering, further enlightening guests on the craft that goes into their work.
Whenever The Walt Disney Story is the featured exhibit, the Exhibition Hall’s auditorium accordingly shows the same film that guests see after making it through Hollywood Studios’ One Man’s Dream, narrated by Julie Andrews (best known as Mary Poppins) and presenting a compelling overview of Walt’s achievements. Occasionally, the auditorium might show a sneak peek of the studio’s newest film, which might also be the subject of a temporary exhibit beforehand.
Automata-mericana
Museum
Concept art by Eddie Sotto
Another exhibit can be found on the northeastern block (accessible via the Progress Arcade), showcasing simple yet complex contraptions called automata. Appropriately adjacent to the W.D. Hobbies hobby shop, the exhibit is a celebration of Walt’s passion for modelmaking and is populated by quirky vignettes of life on Grand Avenue.Concept art by Eddie Sotto
Among the scenes encased in the display cabinets and activated with the push of a button are:
- Citizens rushing to catch a movie at the Movie Palace
- The Sicilian Deli serving up a large order
- The Grand Emporium packed with shoppers (perhaps it’s a holiday?)
- Constables foiling a robbery at Manhattan Jewelers
Character Court
Meet-and-greet space
Grove Court, in New York City, is the primary visual inspiration for Character Court
While characters usually roam around the lands they would be most at home in, there are a few spots in the park where guests are guaranteed a chance to meet their favorite pals. One of these spots, Character Court, is the only permanent sort of character contamination to be found anywhere on the Avenue and is tucked away in a northwestern corner so as to not draw too much attention away from what else the streets have to offer.Grove Court, in New York City, is the primary visual inspiration for Character Court
These three brownstone apartments, arranged in a triangular layout (à la Grove Court), have been rented by the Sensational Six to give them homes while they’re taking a holiday away from Toontown. Like their Toontown residences, the apartments are filled with details to soak up (and also a few to play with) while waiting for their occupants to arrive: for example, Mickey and Minnie’s apartment has a functional piano, Donald and Daisy’s apartment has an oversized portrait of the Duck family tree, and Goofy’s apartment is full of bouncy furniture!
That's Grand Avenue's key attractions out of the way...next up, we start going over each of the major lands in the park as we go west and hit the trail to Frontierland!
As we get down to the meat of the park, just wanted to remind you all that short of drawing a whole map of it by myself (which I might resume doing - had begun doing Grand Avenue, but held off on it for a while after seeing a plan for the draft of DLP!Main Street it was practically a version of), I'm thinking about enlisting the services of somebody who can, like S.W. Wilson of Ideal Buildout fame. If you can (or know someone else who can) draw a serviceable enough map to use alongside this presentation, don't hesitate to let me know!