The Dawn of a Whole New World

The expansion and re-imagining of Disney's California Adventure kicked off two years ago with the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania and the start of construction on what will eventually be a billion-dollar makeover of the park.

This week, the transformation continues as the next phase of development brings the classic Silly Symphony Swings to the boardwalk of Paradise Pier and the spectacular new World of Color bursts forth from Paradise Bay. (All photos and art ©Disney)

With some of the changes, including a recently-introduced new logo, some in the fan community have wondered how it all relates. The new Vision Statement for the park actually spells it out nicely:

The Disney California Adventure Park is where great Disney adventures come to life. Here, the exuberance of discovering the new and unexpected is complemented by an exhilarating twist on Disney's past, present and future. Step into the adventures that inspired everything Disney from Hollywood movies to classic amusement parks as well as new stories that continue to add to Disney's legacy.

After coming across that piece I have to say that, for the first time, I completely get it. I was already excited about the upcoming additions to California Adventure, but to think of the whole park in the context of a place of inspiration I find, well... inspirational!

Previews of Coming Attractions

As a Disney Parks fan, there's nothing more exciting than getting the opportunity to see a new Disney attraction built from the ground up. With each new development in the construction process, anticipation builds toward the day when the walls finally come down and new wonders are revealed.

Guests visiting Disney's California Adventure these days are watching that park transform itself with the additions of World of Color, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Cars Land and more. Construction walls and displays throughout the park and in the Blue Sky Cellar offer enticing previews of the attractions coming in the next few years.

Sneaking a peek behind the walls (or a bird's eye view from atop Mickey's Fun Wheel) offers a fleeting glimpse of how those attractions look right now. Once everything is open, the world will forever know them in their finished state. Today, we get to see them as they will never be seen again. It's a fascinating window on the construction process. The inner workings. The birth of magic.

With the advent of digital photography and the Internet, it has become easier than ever for Disney fans to follow the progress of new attractions. A simple online search can produce dozens of results for anyone interested in the state of expansion at Disney's California Adventure, Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom, Toy Story Playland at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, or the new realms coming to Hong Kong Disneyland.

For the next week or so on this blog, we'll instead turn our focus to the past for a look at the development of some of the iconic attractions we now know and love in the Disney Parks. Stay tuned...