BusinessWeak...

We screwed up, this was our attempt to fix it...





Bob Iger did an interesting interview with BusinessWeek that just came out...

Focusing almost entirely on the Extreme Makeover and rebirth of Disney California Adventure, he talks to reporter, Devin Leonard about Buena Vista Street/Cars Land. While it's a short interview, done while exploring the park, it's interesting getting into the mind of Iger, and how it relates to balancing the creative and business side of a company as big as the Mouse. I also like the fact that the CEO can admit mistakes. That's a rare quality that isn't shared with the former head of Walt's Empire.

Give it a read and find out for yourself...

The Signs Of The Times...

Take it as a sign...







The very point of a theme park is to have a theme...

This was one of the problems with DCA 1.0. really. You could say it had a theme, but it wasn't very strong or clear, it wasn't thought out and it wasn't really good.

For Imagineers it was a rare misfire.

When WDI began the task of taking/remaking California Adventure it needed a cohesive theme that would work throughout the new lands/areas/ to focus this park into a place that guests would want to go.

It's clearly been a success, but sometimes people don't notice all the little things. In addition to the architecture, the smallest of details help tell a story. For instance: Signs point the way, and lead the mind to the conclusion that it's believing the world that has been created for it. Or not. In this case, it works remarkably well.

Buena Vista Street is supposed to take you back to the late Twenties or Thirties and pull you into the period. The signs here are a great reflection of that. The buildings and music and atmosphere are all wonderful, but it's the signs that point the way.


























And these are only a few signs of what you take in as you walk into this representation of Walt's past...

Looking In The Mirror...

Mirror, mirror on the Esplanade...







It's been a very bizarre week at the Disneyland Resort...

Not only has DCA been doing better than expected, it's been doing better than Disneyland. Take Sunday for instance. The projected attendance for the day for California Adventure was a mind blowing 58,000 guests. All this while Disneyland was supposed to get a more moderately high 30's figure. It's like a reverse image of a month ago. And just getting 30,000 would have been a very busy day for DCA. Not anymore. Mid to high 40's are the norm and lately it's teetering on the 50,000+ level.

It's amazing the success you can achieve when you do something right.

The bean counters that smacked Disney's name on the mess that was DCA in 2001 couldn't grasp this simple concept that the company's founder put forth as a business model. They were the antithesis of what the man, and his company was. The majority of the new management in Burbank realize this now. Not all, but most, and that's as good as can be expected. After all, 12% of the nation believes Elvis is still alive. You can't get everyone on the right issue, but as long as you can get the majority of them with you, then you're doing alright.

Now, I don't want you to think that I believe DCA is perfect. It's not. It still needs work, and it will still get work. But it will be incremental, not dramatic like what has come before. It will have some interesting improvements, but that is/will be a talk for another day. In another post. For the next couple years, lets all walk down Buena Vista Street and enjoy what the company does best when it does its best. Let's take a stroll through the Pacific Wharf area and head beneath that arch for a breathtaking view of how you can be consumed by an idea. It's the best representation of entering the world embodied in a film. It's mesmerizing. Even if you're not a fan of the film, "Cars", Cars Land is a sight to behold.

And the new found success of DCA is good for everyone...

The Adventure Begins...

Now let's start on 2.1...We've only just begun...









Today is the day...

From this day forth, from now on, Disney California Adventure starts off with a new, fresh slate. For all of us entering the park that were there at the beginning, it's a new day. For those entering the park for the first time, it's a blessing. They get to start off the park from a completely different perspective.

Walking through that first land, it's going to be an experience that sets the tone for an incredibly fun journey. While Buena Vista Street is the flip side to Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A., Cars Land will be to DCA what New Orleans Square is to Disneyland. And Radiator Springs Racers will be its Pirates of the Caribbean.

So if you enter through that new front entrance today, enjoy the stroll, take it all in and drink from the canvas that Imagineers have painted.

It's going to be an adventure...

Reborn...

Now let's start on 2.1...






Today the media gets its first look at the new DCA...

While the Disneyland Resort's Second Gate doesn't officially reopen for guests until tomorrow, this marks the beginning of the rebranding as a park that can now truly be said to be a Disney Park. There is no such thing as perfection, and there are areas of the park which need to have more plussing, but people that come to the resort will no longer hesitate when they think about buying a ticket just for Disney California Adventure. It will finally be worth the admission price.

In fact, Buena Vista Street and Cars Land succeed so well at putting you in a Disney world, that they make the rest of the park pale by comparison. Not that there aren't great areas or detailed places in the park. It's just these new additions are so beyond what is/was expected that they leave the modest creations that Imagineers put in a decade earlier in the back of your mind.

Walking down that recreation of 1930's Los Angeles is going to create an entirely different impression for guests experiencing this park. People who have never been here will be amazed by the beauty, and people returning will be stunned at how different it is. The level of detail with the hidden treats waiting for you to find are indescribable and have to be experienced. Main Street's sister had a very successful plastic surgery and her sibling is in the same league for a change.

Cars Land is a wonderfully immersive environment. If you walk down the Mother Road toward the land you will feel yourself drawn into an animated film like no other experience you've had at a Disney park. But if you really want to feel the transformation, go through the entrance at Pacific Wharf. Going under that archway and entering the land there actually is more revealing and successful than the main entrance, IMHO. Even if you're not a fan of the film, your senses will be overwhelmed by the detail. You can't help but be impressed by the experience.

It's been a long road, but after a decade of disappointments, the park is finally the destination Suits expected and fans deserved...

(Just) In Time...

Finally. period...


Three weeks from today DCA opens as a Disney Park...

I've said that various times over many, many posts in the past few years, but finally people will walk down the lands and get a true idea of what I mean. One of the great things that you will find is the thematic transition of characters in the park.

Buena Vista Street is the best example of this. Being as the areas represent periods of the California that no longer exists, or as I refer to it, Decades, the character theming is important to the presentation of these times. The official description of BVS is that it's 20's/30's, it it is essentially the Thirties. And the Carthay Circle Theater is the culmination of this narrative.

If you've ever been to Tokyo DisneySEA (and shame on you if you haven't), then you know how they are able to take classic Disney characters and project them into a time, a period and have them own it. From Mediterranean Harbor where Mickey and his crew are dressed in maritime/oceanic themed costumes, Lost River Delta where Donald and his gang appear to be 30's adventurers, or the American Waterfront where everyone looks like they walked out at the turn of the Twentieth Century.

And you can go anywhere else in that marvelous gate and see the way the characters work and how the designers get it. It is a textbook example of the "Disney Way", the very reason why the Moustro was so successful. And this is one of a laundry list of things that the original DCA failed at.

That will all change when you take a stroll down Buena Vista Street. From the Newsies-type singers on the Red Car Trolley, to the period band Five and Dime or the traditional characters you see walking around interacting with guests, or the Citizens of Buena Vista Street, it will all take you to a place that you've never been if you've entered DCA before:

A Disney Park.

And we will all have a much more memorable experience. One that should have happened a decade ago were it not for blind, bean counters. But better late than never, right?

21 days and what should have been, will finally be...

A Glimpse Of The End Of The Beginning Of The End...

Reving up for next year...







It's less than a year before the Extreme Makeover of DCA is over...

Could this ad for a pin trading event next year be a peek into the marketing direction of where the Mouse will go?

Developing...

A Take...

A long time ago in a galaxy finally updated...


So, I rode both new attractions early last week before I left for a business trip back East...

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but real life has been pretty hectic lately and I've had to attend to it rather than the musings of the blogosphere. But as I said, I've ridden The Little Mermaid and Star Tours. I've noticed some people, particularly the cast members being somewhat disappointed with the experience. I think this comes from expecting it to be something it's not (ala: Pirates/Indy), combined with a lack of knowledge as to what it is.

It's a dark ride. Many cast members today don't know the terminology and aren't as familiar with what defines this type of attraction. Many went in expecting something with the bells and whistles associated with a fast paced attraction, which is what this ride is not. Let me tell you what it is. If you go in expecting to see something along the lines of Pinocchio, Snow White or Peter Pan, but with animatronics instead of statues then that is exactly what you get. That is what a dark ride is. And it's very lovely and extremely detailed. It's the story you all know, so anyone going in expecting something else? This is a Fantasyland attraction that's not in Fantasyland. And it's going to bring in the crowds in droves.

Star Tours on the other hand is exactly what you would expect, and more. While I knew it was an update to an older attraction, one which I've ridden very few times of late, particularly because it's long in the tooth and Tomorrowland isn't my bag (I'm a New Orleans Square, Adventureland, Frontierland kinda guy). While the area is a mix of dated attractions and a chaotic collection of uneven themes, this revamp is just what is needed to turn this area into the land of tomorrow. Now if TDA and WDI can just get together and iron out all the differences they have and have Burbank pick one of two or three projects as well as a cohesive retheme for the area. We can now expect some true excitement for this area when Disneyland becomes the focus after next summer.

I think Imagineers hit a home run with this one. While the overall budget is less than Mermaid (approx $50 million for DL, and the same for WDW), the impact on the area is going to provide a major improvement in the long lines headed to see this classic Disneyland attraction. It's really an amazing site to see and the multiple experience you get will keep guest getting right back in line after exiting.

Now, if they'll just move forward with those plans for Innoventions and the building to formerly be occupied by Captain EO...

Name Recognition...

Remember, only Paul Pressler can start a theme park disaster...









Many have noticed that the sign for DCA's Hollywood Pictures Backlot was taken down earlier in the week...

Yes, before long the branding of the area will move over to its new name, Hollywood Land. Signage and the Red Car Line will be the majority of the changes for next couple of years. We'll have to wait for a few years before the rest of the area steps back into the Golden Age of Film (40's).

And speaking of the Golden Age, HPB isn't the only place getting a name change. Maybe it's better if I say Golden State instead of Age. Because when the Second Gate is rebranded, the GRR and surrounding area won't be known as GS anymore. The new name will be "Grizzly Peak National Park" for anyone entering the area from Condor Flats to right before you step into the Pier.

As we've mentioned before, the area around the Grizzly River Run is going through a gradual transformation that will evolve over the next few years. The mistakes of the park were less dramatic here and the need to have a large scale project is also unnecessary as well. We have known that the wooden area of the park was going to slowly remove the modern elements in return for a 50's national park atmosphere, most didn't realize the name would become part of that as well. Slowly, the second park becomes a destination, not a delusion.

And that is a good thing...

Phased Too...

It won't be Golden Master for a decade...





As the Extreme Makeover picks up speed and noticeable improvement become more evident, it's time to softly unpack the future...

Ok, once again Blue Sky is here to add a little perspective laying out the (possible) terrain ahead. We're around a year and a half from the completion of Phase One of the EM and I thought we'd examine where some of the possible projects could/would be and when they could/would get done. As usual, this is a general outline, not something set in stone. Time tables can change and project status as well as choice of those projects may be altered. But this will hopefully reveal the topography of the broadening, bright future for Anaheim's Second Gate.

When the fall of 2012 comes to the Disneyland Resort, the park and resort will be dramatically different than they looked a decade ago. Like I've said before, the resort will actually be a resort. Certainly not near as big as Walt Disney World, but at least it will be the beginnings of a full resort and the "Spare Park" as some derogatorily call it, will finally be a Disney Park.

With the elaborately detailed and richly themed Buena Vista Street entrance welcoming guest through the turnstiles, it will be a much different experience for someone stepping foot in the park come the end of summer next year. That said, there will still be several areas that will/could provide ample opportunity for expansion or retheming. Translation: there is still work to be done, just not nearly as much and not necessarily as extreme!

There are four major areas for address:

1 - The majority of Hollywood Land (the former Hollywood Back Lot) will still be awaiting the majority of its transformation to a Forties (40's) makeover. While the Red Car Line will be working and the Disney Theater will reflect the coming atmosphere, the retheming of several areas along the walkways as well as the side and proposed enclosed entrance of the Hyperion Theater have yet to reflect the new period look. Also there are two stage areas ripe for expansion of attractions and a desire to update the current Muppets building. Should you see the new film featuring the characters become a hit, it will most likely stay within what was the opening theme, but likely updated to reflect the latest addition of this franchise.

2 - The area between Cars Land and transitioning from the Tower of Terror is available for the expansion of Hollywood Land or the increasing of valuable real estate in Radiator Springs. No decision has been made as to what will be put there or which combination of attractions will result. The exposed power lines on that side of the Cadillac Mountain Range offers the opportunity for more rock work to alter that skyline and reduce the remaining bad show. While the other side could offer viewpoints that better transition from the Tinsel Town facades (My own suggestion: Hollywood hills with the historic sign on one side/desert clifts that blend in to the mountainous rage on the other side.).

3 - The Golden State will start to occupy and transform the small Condor Flats area of the park over the coming years. With the opening of Cars Land, there really is no need for two desert themed area. This location, like the Grizzly River Run section, will receive a gradual makeover as elements are transitioned toward the early Fifties (50's) period that the Imagineers want the national park to project. The Red Creek Challenge Trail will likely receive retheming inspired by the Pixar film "Up" as the trail will be recast to reflect Russell's Wilderness Explorers.

The Paradise Pier area will need to be completed in the second phase of construction during the remaining decade. This is the largest area that will need to be rethemed. It will also be the most noticeable of all projects, as it takes up a much larger footprint than the other areas due for alteration. These projects will have the most visible footprint to the current expansion, so expect it to come in phases as construction would be approved.

4 - The temporary garden that has replaced the Maliboomer is a place holdover project for a 3-5 year time frame. The current and very embryonic thinking is that this area will be turned into the entrance for another E or D+ Ticket, which will most likely be built behind the Screamin' roller coaster which is currently occupied by the parade building.

The Goofy's Sky School coaster, for all the planning, is still a long term place holder project as well, although a much longer one than the Maliboomer area. Expect this area to remain for at least a decade+ as the company decides on what type of E Ticket to place here. Naturally, the theming is planned to match the surrounding areas reflecting a vibrant and roaring part of the early 20th Century.

The stores along the boardwalk are also scheduled to go under the knife around this same time for retheming to the Twenties (20's) period as well as several other elements (removal of those golden fans, retheming of lamp lighting and various, other theming). The Carousel could be expected to be transformed during this period to match the Victorian building of Midway Mania. Hopefully it will look similar to the classic structure that was presented on the model in the Blue Sky Cellar a year ago. The Screamin' queue building, line as well as the attraction itself are in need of a more focused retheming also. The transition of the queue building to something along the lines of the proposed fun house will likely be one of several options. And it's not the only location in need of some redressing along the boardwalk. The queue line for the Fun Wheel will hopefully get some variation of the beautiful covered structure that was abandoned during the design phase (my own hope's here) to replace the cheap tarps that were put back in place after the transformation from Sun to Fun.

The area featuring Ariel's Grotto is supposedly scheduled to be transformed into a Princess Palace (that name is not confirmed as the final choice, btw) and the stores are supposed to get a Neo-Victorian appearance as well to match the buildings across the pier on both sides (Mania and Mermaid).

Let me be clear that none of these areas have received an official green light, but that it is thought that these areas would be the focus of any expansion over the next decade. There are several proposals that WDI has available, but nothing is in an advanced state of planning for these areas right now until the first part of construction is finished. Once done, if the attendance levels that Iger and the Burbank/Anaheim Suits are expecting reach acceptable targets; Imagineers are hopeful that an expansion could start by 2013 or 2014 at the earliest.

Until the end of next year we will have to wait and see as the company examines the fruit of its labor in DCA's reimagining. Should attendance/merchandise/hotel bookings reflect well from all this planning, you can expect a second phase to move forward at a much faster pace.

Time will tell...

Letter Go...

Wiped away from the errors of the past...





Today is the last time to take pictures of those letters...

Tomorrow the C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A letters and parts of the front entrance will go behind walls for removal. Over the next year and a half we will have to be re-directed through various temporary entrances which will be a pain. Come summer next year the entrance that should have been there from the beginning will finally be there. Gone will be the hub cap, gone will be the shopping area that looked like something you'd find at your local mall, gone will be the bathroom tiles.

And also gone are most of the Suits and Bean Counters that actually thought this was a brilliant idea...

Blue Sky Buzz: Past Imperfect/Future Unfinished...

I thought I'd respond to a few e-mails I've received recently about the Extreme Makeover...

I apologize for the lack of updates, but I've been caught up in matters involving the real world. Just a few notes here, not a major update, but I thought you'd like to know/have a little bit of clarity about what's going on at the Second Gate.

First off many are wondering about the stores near where the Maliboomer once sat. In all the artwork and models we've seen, the pier area has the Games of the Boardwalk (done) and the stores remade with new Victorian facades (not done). Not to mention that lovely front queue that the Fun Wheel was supposed to get (still crossing my fingers on that one). Well, as I'm sure some of you have heard, it's not being done for the present. Not that it won't get done, but it's not on the current schedule. The main reason is funding or budgeting of the park. There have been no cuts or skimping on attractions just so you know. Please don't roll your eyes and start to think that this is another case of bean counters cutting the budget (like they did when the took DCA's almost billion dollar original price tag and reduce it by a third to $650 million).

That's not the problem. The problem is doing all this construction in a working environment and doing it at all times of the day and hours to avoid disrupting the guest as the walk around the walls. That gets expensive. Really expensive and it eats away at budgets. Much more than anyone at Disney would like. So funding has to be shifted. That's the reason you didn't see that structure in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel. That's why you didn't see the new cover for King Triton's Carousel. And it's why the stores are still in the style of stucco and exposed beams.

See, the Imagineers have had to try and keep the budgets for certain high profile projects as high as they can and decisions were made to drop or postpone some theming so that the funding could be used for other, more important construction items. Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Cars Land and the Buena Vista Street projects were all considered the most import things to get done. All other projects would/could be done, but later.

So when 2012 rolls around, some of what was planned won't be there. The side of the Paradise Pier with Screamin' and the Carousel will look relatively the same. The shops along the pier near Ariel's Grotto may still look the same as it appears that funding for this particular spot is on hold as well. The Grizzly River Run area will have received a modest retheming, but the animatronics will likely not be there till after Cars Land opens and the Extreme Makeover is officially over. The Hollywoodland section will not likely see any transformation back to a 40's era other than the Red Car Trolley line that cuts down the street until the second phase of the expansion too.

But this isn't the end. This is the beginning of the end of the beginning of the makeover. Hopefully you followed that. But sometime after summer of 2012 the park will be basking in its rebranding. Backstage, park planners and Imagineers will be busy planning big and small projects that will enhance what has already been done. Sometime in 2013 we will likely see projects start to sprout up in various areas of the park. They won't be as big as most of the projects that we've seen over the past few years because most of the hard work and major construction will be done.

Over the next four for five years we're likely to see the completed transformation of the Paradise Pier into a Victorian representation, but it'll come in phases. The areas near the coaster, the carousel and then perhaps the boardwalk area. No definite time period has yet been set, but things are being planned. The area where the stores reside is being put aside until the budget and ideas are ready for another attraction. There is room for another ride back behind the Maliboomer area now that the park only has one parade. There are two parade buildings and one is behind this spot with enough land for a major attraction. The offices of the pier would have to be moved and some other structural altering would be needed as well, but that won't be a problem that DCA hasn't already gotten used to.

There's also going to be construction walls going up in January that will block off the access to the pier where the Maliboomer was. There's a lot of concrete that has to be cut out to make room for that garden and the meet and greet area of this little makeover.

Eventually the Hollywood section will change and be rethemed to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Most of this shouldn't cause harm, with the possible exception of the enclosing of the Hyperion Theater which could be intrusive to guests and shows, but once all this is done, the trolley line will certainly blend in far better.

The Grizzly section will hopefully get animatronics in late 2012/early 2013 to match the new uniforms and rethemed areas of the 50's Yosemite style national park that it is slowly becoming. One thing that you will notice soon is the retheming of the Redwood Creek area. Gone will be Brother Bear and in its place will be Russell and the crew from "Up" to delight kids all around.

Should Cars Land be the success that everyone thinks it will be (it will), then you will see the start of planning for an expansion of this land, but don't expect it before the latter part of the decade. There is room there for one or two new attractions depending on how well the land is utilized. When you examine the totality of it, there's a whole lot of construction still to be done. Just not the gargantuan plots of land that have been reworked/rebuilt over the past four years.

Don't let this detract you from the fact that come summer 2012 the Disneyland Resort will finally have a Second Gate worthy of the resort that won't be perfect.

But it won't be finished either...

From Postcards To The Past...

As many of you know, this week prep begins for the hubcap and bathroom tiles to come down...

We have to wait a little while before the alphabet joins it as most construction on the front takes place in the new year, but progress abounds. Once the metallic sun goes down, prep work will begin for the new weenie; the replica of the Carthay Circle Theater. The mosaic tiles will be slowly disappearing behind the California letters. The design, meant to appear as a postcard looking into the wacky world of the Golden State, never really connected with anyone. The artwork looked far better than the actual result, and the result didn't look that good. If you make theming that has to be explained then it's not good theming. A major problem is the fact that the real world the park was to represent, can be gotten outside for free. No need to pay almost $80 bucks for it.

The entire mark of the entrance (and park) were off. When you walk down the entrance, it doesn't take you out of the real world, it just tells you you're in a cheap replacement for it. Contrast this with Main Street U.S.A., which with each step you take, sends you into an idealised version of turn-of-the-century America. By the time you get to the hub, you've left reality and moved on to another world. One created by Walt and his dreams.

It's not the same over experience across the Esplanade. After moving that short distance from the gates to Sunshine Plaza, you're left wandering why you paid for something you can get outside. And usually better themed. That's a major mistake and one that made many a person not go through the turnstiles. I know a lot of people e-mailed me to say that I was saying the new theming is as good as DisneySEA. Anyone who says that hasn't been reading this blog for very long. No theme is as as strong as TDS, save for Disneyland itself. And both of those aren't perfect either. There are cases and places where things have been put that don't belong. That said, I accept the new layout and explanation for Anaheim's Second Gate. It works a great deal better than the original plan ever did. I like how the new plan is a compliment and be a flip on the whole concept of Main Street.

While Main Street U.S.A. is a romantic, idealized version of Marceline, Missouri that Walt saw in is days as a young boy and Disneyland is a reflection of his imagination. Buena Vista Street will be a romantic, idealized version of Los Angeles, California that Walt saw in his first years starting his company and California Adventure will be a reflection of the adventures created by his company. I like that. It's not perfect, but then again, the Arabian Coast in Tokyo DisneySEA is an attempt to wedge something from the desert, where there was no water anywhere to be seen, into an aquatic environment. And it works. You have to suspend your belief and reasoning when looking at it and also forget that the film makes no mention related to the ocean or water. But the Imagineers made it believable. DCA will have a connection to the magic of the Disney Brothers company that started in L.A. so long ago. The entire park will be transformed into the Disney experiences viewed through the times and themes of the state where Walt made it all happen.

And when it's all done in 2012, it won't be really done. There will still be work to be done. There always will be. But a kid coming into that new entrance is going to have a much better experience than the tykes that walked past those letters in February almost a decade ago. As time goes by, the theming and detail will get better and slowly we will forget the mess this park was in the beginning. Let's just make sure we never let the Suits forget.

The second decade of this park is going to shine like Sunshine Plaza never did...

Adventures Bye Disney...

Disneyland's Second Gate looks a lot like a walled fortress right now...

And as I've mentioned before, it's only going to get more so when the new year comes. This park will finally have the detail and theming that it has been lacking in for the majority of the last decade. I know many people have mentioned the lack of a cohesive them to the park, but it will have one when all this is done. I'm not saying it's as good as Tokyo DisneySEA's theming, which it's not (but really, almost nothing is as good as that park's theme). But it will have a theme and not everyone will like or approve it, but the theme will work to expand the offering that can be built there. With the addition of Cars Land, the park will primarily have four major themed areas:

The Front Entrance/Hollywoodland - Themed to the bygone era of Los Angeles of the late 20's/early 30's and Tinsel Town in the 40's.

The Golden State - Themed to a Californian National Park like the way Yosemite might have appeared as in the 50's.

Paradise Pier - Themed to a Victorian turn-of-the-century seaside pier along a mythical coast of a California that never was.

Cars Land - Themed to the sites one would have seen along historic Route 66 during its heyday in the 60's as California's gateway to/from the West.

See the narrative they're working with? Each of the four sections will be themed to a different time period of California. The adventures you will experience there will be Disney attractions that are tailored to go along with what would be happening during a specific period. Now, certain people are going to complain about some of this, but it doesn't bother me. Woody, Buzz and the gang are toys that populate an area of a midway where toys would be prizes that you could/would win. It's like they're staring in a period attraction instead of staring in a period film. That's the justification for seeing Mickey or Goofy walking around Paradise Pier. A lot of people seem to get upset when they talk about Mickey in Victorian times because he wasn't created yet, but it's a set piece and he's the star. No one complained that he wasn't around when he made "The Nifty Nineties," so how could he be in that time? It was him fitting the period. But Mickey will fit any period they put him in at the park and come 2012 he's going to look really nice walking around in an early version of Hollywood. And don't get me started about what it'll be like having him there in a new Californian themed Christmas/Holidays setting. And the Golden State will capture the spirit of what it was like to have been in this fictional national park, with some left over memories of the mining company that occupied the land before it became a historic place. Cars Land will take you to a part of the state's past that many people have never experienced. These are Disney adventures via time capsules.

So each new attraction is planned to have a need to be presented in a period themed era and it'll be told from a distinctively Disney standpoint. And they'll play out on one of these four areas or eras if you like. This will allow Imagineers to dream up some interesting concepts and not be bound by the restrictions that the ill conceived opening day version of this park was. It's not the tightly constructed theming of Tokyo DisneySEA, but it is a much better master plan of a way to take this park in the direction of being or becoming a Disney Park.

And that is where it's needed to go...

Bye, Bye, Boomer...

Gone, yeah gone...

See ya...
Today is your last chance to ride a mistake...

The Maliboomer shoots guest up in the air for the last time today. If you want to experience anything like this you're out of luck. Oh, wait. No you're not. You can find this kind of attraction at a dozen other theme parks within driving distance. Some of them even better themed.

When I ride a Disney attraction I expect it to be themed, detailed and have some form of a back story. This attraction has none of these qualities. It's soulless like the man in charge of most of the bad and retched creations that he approved for this park and others. If he ever gets another job (having been fired twice since leaving the Mouse) I'd be surprised. A decade in charge, and decades to rebuild the image/reputation he helped tear down and sully. Either way, another bad mistake is wiped away. That's a good thing.

Maliboomer is dead, long live the Maliboomer...

Colorful Tales...

Color, color, color...




If you've been to DCA over the summer since World of Color premiered, then you've seen a noticeable change in the atmosphere...

It's not just the legion of walls or visible details. The new nighttime show has changed the perspective of how most people view the Disneyland Resort's Second Gate. The show has made people who never thought about coming under those ugly entryways take the journey past them. And when here, many of them have actually liked much of what they've found. Don't worry and think that the Suits are now going to stop the Extreme Makeover because it's not needed. That's not the perception. If anything, this will help Imagineers when asking for a few extra bucks for a project. It may even restore a few lost details that have been pushed back.

But back to that atmosphere. I've heard a lot of people that have seen WOC actually say they preferred it to Fantasmic!, which I never thought I'd hear. Now, I'm not saying it's better or worse, I like both shows for different reasons. One is enclosed and intimate with stage performers and the other is large in scale and filled with technological wonders. I know some people are upset at the lack of narrative elements to the show, but Steve Davison's show still has a story. It's changed since the testing phase where certain things worked and others that they thought would, didn't. The character that pulled all those scenes together, Squirt, still makes a muted, but surprising appearance. But the show is divided into emotional themes. Five themes to be specific: Adventure, Friendship, Courage, Fear and Love. I won't break them apart scene by scene, but if you watch the show, you'll be able to tell where one theme ends and the other transitions in. And the park's water extravaganza isn't the only thing that is transitioning here.

Come next week, Disney's Wall Land goes into high gear, and it doesn't let the pedal off the gas until well into next year. The front entrance will go under the knife at the beginning of the year, and guest will enter/exit through that side entrance into the Golden State area. The next couple of years are going to be more confusing and difficult as people are prompted in all directions as they avoid the massive amount of construction. But when the walls come down at varying times, between April of next year and the April after that, a lot will have changed in this park. And it'll be a Disney Park, a decade later than it should, but it'll finally be here.

What you've been seeing in the parks for the last two months is just a preview...

Blue Sky Buzz: Try All & Era...

Wow...





Wonderful...

Friday a whole new era begins for the Disneyland Resort...

Those that have seen World of Color know what I'm talking about. Having seen it three times now, I can tell you that it's a game changer for the resort and the theme park. Starting this week, DCA will make its first, bold step toward becoming a Disney destination, not a Disney abomination. You can already see some of the changes in how the park is being marketed in the new commercials and billboards for the event. It truly crosses the line that ends the Pressler Era for good and moves forward into a bright future for Disney Parks the world over.

So, what is it that is so different? First off, scale. The scale of this endeavor is big. Really big. More than any project so far seen in this park. When this show is seen by the public it will give them a sense that things have changed. Things are different in Disney's Second Gate in California. There's now a reason to come through those turnstiles. I've seen the show three times myself and it's incredibly beautiful with one of my first reactions to it as how different it feels from anything else that the Mouse has tried to pull off there since the 2001 park opening. It doesn't feel like a stopgap measure, as many other "events" have. This feels amazing and spectacular, an entertainment show that you would see in a park like Disneyland itself were it to have the real estate to actually pull it off. That is going to be one of the great benefits of the bay at Paradise Pier. And it's going to be a great alternative to those that have seen entertainment over in the Rivers of America and are looking for something else.

The one thing that some people will be critical of is the narrative of the show. There is none. Being as almost everything that Disney does from attractions to films, a storyline is usually involved, but WOC is a string of beautiful scenes combined with powerful, cutting edge technology that are connected by nothing else. And no, Disney wasn't trying to be lazy. There actually was a storyline in the beginning of the concept and it survived all the way through much of the testing phase. But it didn't work, so bits were replaced and changed as the show was worked on. If you've seen some of the videos on YouTube and think you've seen it then realize that you probably haven't. There have been at least five versions on display during late night testing and this is the final version for the opening. Missing is the little character known as "Squirt" that was supposed to be making an appearance throughout the scenes as a water creature that was going to tie certain scenes together. All of the scenes of paper mache animation as well. The Cheshire Cat scenes may have looked good on the small screen, but spread out over three hundred feet they didn't look near as attractive and so they were cut. It will probably have little tweaks made over the coming years and add/drop scenes just as "Fantasmic!" has done. There is even early, blue sky talk of having customized shows for specific events, like Christmas or perhaps Halloween as time goes by. But that won't likely happen the first few year, just like "Toy Story Midway Mania" was designed so programs could be switched out and new things added in little time, so will this show do/be eventually.

Come this fall, the front entrance will start to become a mess of walls and construction like many other parts of the park and a little more than a year later, Disney fans' eyes will drink in an incredibly detailed, lovingly crafted and themed new front entrance that evokes the idealized version of the Los Angeles Walt saw when he stepped off that train looking for his American dream. This Christmas will not likely be very themed in DCA as the room/space that could be used in very limited, but once the front area is turned into something far better than a gaudy extension of The Block in Orange, you can expect something during the holiday season to rival Disneyland's Main Street decorations. A very California Christmas I would say/imagine. With themed entertainment that the park is working on making guest feel like they've gone back in time to what it must have been like in an earlier part of the Golden State's holiday history. Events that park goers experience during Holidays 2012/13 are going to have them looking back on what was DCA when it opened as a faint, drifting bad dream. The young ones that first enter the park then will have to be told that all this wonder as a far better sight than what they remember a decade ago. They won't believe you.

And about that time, as the first phase of the Extreme Makeover comes to a close, people will start to see the improvements coming to the original park start to take place as well as the announcement of an addition Disney hotel if attendance and spending continue to rise from current levels. But that's another story for another posts (just like the beginning of the second phase of expansion at DCA which won't start till probably 2014 or so).

The future is bright for Southern California over the coming decade and we Disney Fans/Geeks can look forward to the evolving plans finally turning what was said to be a resort into an actual one...

Apostrophe Now...

A rose by any other name...


It's not made much press and the Mouse seems to be rolling it out subtly, but this is the new name/logo...

Would smell as sweet...

Blue Sky Buzz: Bearly Noticable..

Even with the Extreme Makeover going on in DCA, there are small, incremental steps that are slowly making this Second Gate a better place to spend time in/at...

If you've read the Blue Sky Buzz updates before then you know that a lot of what was supposed to be expanded has fallen by the way side. One of the things that has been planned but never implemented is a "plusing" of the Golden State area/land. The Grizzly River Run attraction to be exact. In its original incarnation of an extreme sports rafting company that had taken over an old, fallen into disrepair national park, there were supposed to be animatronic bears, condors and other animals. But these critters fell victim to Disney Bean Counters, the most vile and soulless of Suits, in my, most humble opinion. And so when it premiered in 2001, it was a very nicely themed water ride in the prettiest area of the new park... but it was missing the truly layered details of people seeing mother nature's creatures as well as her water. It was missing the Disney difference.

When the Extreme Makeover was proposed for DCA, this was one of the proposals put back in. Except this time there was an added bonus, with each area themed to a different period of Californian history, the extreme sports motif would be discarded and the audio-animatronic creatures would be back, all set to the theme of a mid-50's Yosemite style national park. As always, budgets get cut as pieces of the puzzle begin to be realized and cost rise more than expected. So again, the animatronics got cut. And the mid 2oth century theming was pushed off to a later date as well.

But have you ridden GRR lately? If you haven't then perhaps you should. Because if you were to take a look around the areas, near the drops and around the queue areas, you'd notice some subtle differences. The modern kayak that you used to see as you made your way down the queue toward where you get on disappeared a few months ago. In its place was a nice wood crafted boat that... might belong to a bye gone era in, say, the Fifties? And if you've noticed certain areas around the Grizzly area have started to have the extreme sport elements disappear. Replaced with something you would find in an earlier age back in the mid part of the last century.



And if you had showed up in the last couple of weeks, you'd have noticed that as you go down the first drop that the metal boat that was there... isn't. A more traditional one is. And an old fashioned cap is there with an artist easel. Somebody has been painting nature it seems. The same would be seen in the second drop. There's an old boat thrown over the side and the River Guides wooden hut has been redecorated with things as well. Little things.

But they're not the end. Expect more and more of the extreme sports theme to disappear over the next few months. More and more of the queue line, the wooded areas around the attraction and the costumes will be gradually changing. The costumes? Yeah, there will be new ones to reflect the different time period. If you want to see what they look like then you should Google something like, oh, 1950's national park ranger or something along that lines. It's not going to happen right away, but it is planned. Slowly this attraction will be molded into something closer to what was originally proposed for the Makeover.

But what about the animatronic animals? Well, we will have to see if the Imagineers can justify all that R&D they're doing for the Grizzly Trail expansion land for Hong Kong Disneyland. See, they're working on animatronic bears for that land and they look remarkably like the ones that were proposed to go into GRR. Remarkably. What would it take to reproduce a few more? Maybe throw in a skunk or some other animal? Hmmm... Let's hope WDI has some smooth talkers and John is there when they ask for it.

Going for a rafting ride at DCA in 2011 could be surprisingly different...

Blue Sky Buzz: Going Vertical...

If you start showing up at DCA over the next few weeks you are going to finally see noticeable change...

After over a year the new pier will opening up to give guest a look at a much more detailed section of the evolving Victorian shoreline that Paradise Pier will become between now and 2011. Then later this year the rest of the boardwalk where the stores are will go down and transform into the same stylings as games near the Midway Mania attraction. The Maliboomer dismantling that was originally proposed, then abandoned, then postponed is now on again and the area will become a meet-and-greet location for guest and characters. The trees, benches and shading should serves as quite a contrast to the cold steel and themeless environment of this horrible import from Knotts/Six Flaggs.

Across the pier we should soon start seeing The Little Mermaid attraction begin to take shape and form surprisingly fast. By the Holiday season you'll be able to get a very clear idea of the detail and size of this new experience.

Around the same time, expect to see a mass of steel heading skyward over in the new Carsland area. This collection of metal and concrete will begin to take form and slowly become the primary focus of the park. It will be the white elephant in the room. You won't be able to avoid. And each day, week, month there will be some new detail to watch come into play.

As the seasons change and the year winds down you can expect to see one half of front entrance go down and then back up again as it's rebuilt to the past. The focus on the late 20's/early 30's will start to transform the entrance into something uniquely Disney and not look like something that was transported from The Block.

After all these years of hearing about expansion, construction and change the largest part of it will begin to happen this year. Next year will be even more chaotic with all the construction, but it will also bring a great deal of excitement. It's as if we're getting a whole new park. A park worthy of being across the Esplanade.

Truthfully, it is and we will...