D&M Exclusive: The Michael Jackson's Peter Pan's Neverland Theme Park that never was

Unless you live on another planet, you probably know that last week was another "Michael Jackson week". The "This Is it" documentary and CD album were released and a major Michael Jackson exhibition opened last Tuesday in London. I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce to you one of Michael's most secret - and really fantastic - projects: the Peter Pan's Neverland theme park that never was.

Let's first go back in time to 1997, when Michael Jackson and Prince Al-Waleed - Disneyland Paris' biggest private stock-holder - created a company called Kingdom Entertainment and purchased 50% of Landmark Entertainment, giving the company a huge infusion of cash. Prince Al-Waleed had 45% and Michael had 5% of the shares. I remind you that Landmark is the famous company directed by Gary Goddard which created the Spider-Man ride at IOA and the Jurassic Park and Terminator 3D attractions at Universal Studios.



Above: Michael Jackson and Prince Al Waleed during the press conference announcing the creation of Kingdom Entertainment Co. I've aded the video of this press conference at the end of the article.

So, what had to happen happened, Michael asked Landmark if they could design a theme park, a real one, not only for him but a park where anybody could go, just like Disneyland. And this theme park would have been named Peter Pan's Neverland! Here is a bird's eye view of the park - please double-click on the image below to see it in big size.



This first concept is amazing, isn't it? Fully inspired from Peter Pan's story, the park would have started with a grand London entrance, as you can see on the artwork below.



A replica of Kensington Gardens, where anyone can see the famous Peter Pan statue, as well as Big Ben and the House of Parliaments in the background, not to mention horse guards at the entrance, all of which would have set a stunning replica of the Victorian city.



Here is another artwork showing this entrance by Greg Pro.



From that point guests were supposed to go to Neverland Island, and Landmark designers had designed two different way to go there, both of which were attractions. The first one, which would definitely have been an E-Ticket attraction, was... to fly to Neverland! As you can see on the artwork below, the take-of was over London, with a fly over Big Ben and other famous London landmarks like the Tower Bridge (note that on the artwork Big Ben and the Tower Bridge are close together but two miles separate them in reality) and then, lead by Tinkerbell, they would fly all over Neverland, the Mermaid Lagoon and Skull Rock and finally land near the Lost Boys home and woods.



And how would Landmark have achieved this wonder, you ask? First, no, the ride was not designed like Soarin' over California - which, by the way, was not built at that time. Instead, guests would have sat on a platform which would have turned down on a 50 degrees angle, a bit less than on the "flying" coasters, and the movie would have been projected on a huge Omnimax dome located under the platform, giving to the guests the illusion of flying over London and Neverland! What a great ride it would have been!

The other way to reach Neverland would have been by boat. During this short boat ride the boat would have go through mysterious caves before arriving to Neverland Island with its lush vegetation and waterfalls.

Once at Neverland, guests would have had the choice of six different areas:

"Lost Boys area" would have been a fun play area for young kids with slides, jumping fountains, a tree house but also a great roller-coaster with tracks going all over the land.



In "Mermaid Lagoon" guests would have had the choice between a boat ride going through Neverland Island caves or to enjoy a meal at a beautiful restaurant located underground with a huge window looking towards the lagoon where a Mermaid show was envisioned. Close to Mermaid Lagoon, the "Indian Village" would have been another area of Neverland where a raft ride was envisioned.



On the other side of the huge Neverland rock, guests would have find "Pixie Kingdom", a great area for young children with giant mushrooms playground and re-themed carnival rides.



Another major area - not so far from Pixie Kingdom - would have been the Pirates village with Skull Rock nearby as well as Captain Hook's ship.



It's there where guests could have watch a great live action show, including a flying Peter Pan fighting his eternal ennemy, Captain Hook. And of course the Crocodile was part of the show.



You may also have noticed that in this first concept three hotels were envisioned: a London hotel, a "Pirate's Cove" hotel and a "Lost Boys Tree top" Hotel. As we will see now, the project had significant changes in its final version.

This next document below is another map of the Peter Pan's Neverland park, actually it's the conceptual master plan. Drawn May 24, 1999 at a scale of 1" = 60' it shows a more advanced project with new attractions and also backstage facilities. Let's have a look again at the whole park to see the differences with the first concept.



First, the three hotels are gone, instead we have one big hotel facing the lake of the London Town area. Located near the entrance, a bit like the Disneyland Paris Hotel it would have allowed the hotel guests to have a unique view on the Neverland park.

In the London Town area, always located at the entrance, Big Ben is still there, but a replica of London's famous Tower Bridge was added. Also, a bigger Kensington Gardens at the entrance and a music hall dinner show in one of the main building on the right.
Inside the House of Parliament replica, a new show: "Salute to J.M Barrie", the creator of Peter Pan. Right on the other side of the Tower Bridge an indoor coaster as well as a 3D simulator theater were also envisioned.



In Pirate's Cove a Pirates Dinner show, another indoor roller coaster and a Pirates stunt show in front of Skull Rock were added. Also envisioned, a lagoon show, probably in the evening.



In Pixie Kingdom, the main difference with the first concept is a big building for a Pixie World dark ride. On the top of the picture below, what seems to be a inverted roller coaster would have had its entrance in a new land "Future Zone".



Lost Boys area always have its roller coaster running all over the land and even inside Neverland mountain, and as you can see below, Future Zone was located at the top with not only the inverted roller coaster but also a smaller coaster and a simulator ride.



In Mermaid's Lagoon, an underwater simulator was added to the first concept and a new area - Kid's Creek - was designed for young children with playground and water fun including small boats.



Peter Pan's Neverland was not designed to be as big as Disneyland, but it certainly would have been a great theme park where all the "Peter Pans" living on this planet would have rush!

So what happened? Why this Peter Pan's Neverland theme park was never built? Well, some years later, Michael Jackson and Prince Al-Waleed ended their association, and considering the cost of a concept like this one, it was very unfortunately the end of the Peter Pan's Neverland project. Although Michael lived in his Neverland Ranch, he never got to walk in this "real" Neverland. However, years later, Landmark designed for Michael a great statue showing Michael as Peter Pan!

Does this mean that we will never see this great park concept become real one day? Who knows, with all the different Michael Jackson celebrations that will happen in years to come - not to mention that Neverland Ranch could become for Michael Jackson's fans what Graceland is to Presley's fans - maybe somebody who has enough money will find, just like we do, that it would be great to build this Peter Pan's Neverland for real? And, hey, there is plenty of land available inside Neverland Ranch. Who could imagine a better place to build Michael's dearest dream?


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat


Artwork: copyright Landmark Entertainment Group, and Gary Goddard

Please do NOT post these artworks on other web sites or forums without asking permission, thanks.

Many thanks to Gary Goddard for the park's description and to Eric Wong for the pictures. Thanks to Nate Walz for the editing of this article.

Also, I've already let you know about it in a previous article, but i would like to remind you that most of the Landmark Entertainment old artwork is actually put on sale on two sites - but NOT the Neverland park artwork you saw in this article. The first site is the Landmark Selections site and the other one is on EBay.com where they have their own Landmark artwork store.


Edited Nov 7: Here is a rare video of the 1996 press conference where Michael Jackson and Prince Al Waleed announced the creation of their Kingdom Entertainment Co.

"Let's Dream!" , A Spectacular Nighttime Parade Directed by Taylor Jeffs and Gary Goddard Celebrates Lotte World 25th Anniversary ! HD Video

South Korea's Lotte World theme park is the 14th most visited theme park in the world, with 7.300.000 guests in 2013 and this year it celebrates its 25th Anniversary. The celebrations include a brand new nighttime spectacular parade called "Let's Dream!", written and directed by Taylor Jeffs with Gary Goddard as Executive Show-Producer.

"Let's Dream!" started a few days ago and has been a smash hit success so far. People are even saying it may be the best light parade ever created. In addition to amazing floats there are a couple of really neat “firsts” in the show, including the entertainment world’s largest fleet of drones, the flying lanterns you'll see in the video...

...as well as the first “hologram” float with the flying fairy that you can see on the picture below!

The next pictures shows the moment of the rising castle as well as a procession scene with korean lanterns before the parade with the floats.

I've got for you mosaic pictures of the parade - click on each to see them in big size - as well as a great HD video showing the whole show. By the way, one other cool thing but hard to see in the video is that park guests are actually the stars of the parade. In the pre show, different areas of the audience hear six different “bedtime stories” about dreams, and then they see each of those dreams come true in the parade. Those are actually park guests on the bed on the first float, in the mermaid bowl, on the magic carpet, etc…

Also, the score was written by Benoit Jutras - composer of Cirque du Soleil and Franco Dragone’s biggest hits, including “O”, La Nouba, Quidam, Le Reve, and others.

I think that Taylor, Gary and the whole team did a fantastic job as you'll see on the HD video below showing the entire "Let's Dream!" parade. In the video, the drones start to rise up at 11:22. The hologram comes by around 15:08, but is a bit more hard to see in the video. Hope you'll enjoy this spectacular parade!




Pictures: copyright Gary Goddard - Lotte World

Gary Goddard Update

It's with a great, great pleasure that I welcome today Gary Goddard, CEO and founder of the Goddard Group (GGE), and before GGE, of Landmark Entertainment. Gary Goddard began his career at The Walt Disney Company in 1974, as the co-director (with Larry Billman) of the original WDW College Workshop production of The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Walt Disney World Resort's Fort Wilderness. When the college workshop cast members returned to their respective Universities at summer’s end, Gary was asked to stay on and cast, direct, and produced the “Professional Cast” version of the show, which he did. He was soon hired by Marc Davis and became a Show Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he worked directly with Marc and with other Disney Legends including Herb Ryman, John Hench, Collin Cambell, X Atentio, Bill Justice, Al Bertino and many others -- developing concepts for EPCOT, The World Showcase,Tokyo Disneyland, and River Country, among others. 

Gary Goddard Productions, Goddard's first company, was formed in 1980, which became Landmark Entertainment Group in 1985. Goddard exited Landmark Entertainment Group in 2002 to start his new company, Gary Goddard Entertainment (now "The Goddard Group"). Thanks to Gary Goddard and his team we enjoyed among the years fantastic attractions whether it is Jurassic Park The Ride or Terminator 2/3D at Universal Studios, or the exceptionally great Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure, or the incredible Star Trek: The Experience at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.Gary kindly agreed to be a regular contributor for Disney and more with new updates each month (and maybe even more frequent) in which Gary will talk not only about the development of current projects of the Goddard Group but also about unrealized attractions, all this with gorgeous artworks, and God knows how much we love great artworks here at DIsney and more, don't we? Gary Goddard's Group also have a Facebook page where you can follow him HERE.

And now, I hand over to Gary who will start by a great new project that was created and designed by Goddard Group and which is currently being built in China! 

I am pleased to provide some artwork and insight into the design process for followers of this fantastic site. That being said, Alain Littaye asked me to provide “various projects” to start, so I have pulled together a few recent and past projects in no particular order. 

The first one, as noted above, is in China. This project is called "Shanghaî Bund Movie Studio & Movie Park" and is now being built in Hengdian, China as part of the larger Hengdian Studios, a very successful movie studio. The first thing to know is this is a working movie studio, where films will be shot throughout the year. The studio’s largest standing set is based on the famous waterfront district in Shanghai called "The Bund". Despite the immense demand to film period movies and television shows on the real Bund, it has only been fully shut down once- for Steven Spielberg's 1987 film, Empire of the Sun. Because of this, Hengdian Film World engaged us to create an exact recreation of the Bund as it existed between in the years prior to 1950. While the Bund is the largest single standing set here, there are many other areas include “Old Shanghai”, and “Nanjing Road” and many more such areas. But in addition to the backlot and shooting sets, the new project will function both seamlessly as a theme park and as a working studio, allowing production to take place while simultaneously visitors enjoy the park. Within some of the large sound stages will be exciting and dynamic attractions that are based upon the history and part films of and about Shanghai.

Here's a first look at one of the signature attractions in our upcoming SHANGHAI BUND theme park coming to Hengdian, China. The SHANGHAI TROLLEY will take guests on a behind-the-scenes tour of the working studio, as well as of the public backlot. Interspersed throughout the experience are several special effect experiences, including the typhoon sequence depicted here.

Shanghaî Bund will also include incredible rides like the "Shanghaî Triad Chase". The ride, inspired by the movies based upon the infamous chinese triads will take guests in a wild adventure through Shanghaî's dark underworld".  

I'd like now to showcase one of Goddard Group's great artists, Christopher Smith. Chris joined the Goddard team in 2011 after over 15 years of service as a Principal Concept Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering where he helped craft many of the company's most beloved projects. Prior to working for Disney, Chris also worked at Goddard’s first company, Landmark Entertainment. The illustration below was done for the SIX FLAGS DUBAILAND project. Because of the region's extreme heat, the Welcome Center (Ticketing & Guest Services) was to have been fully-enclosed within this grand pavilion. Behind the ticketing desks, giant panoramic windows looked out into the park, and the REVOLUTION roller coaster would have careened through a heartline roll right above the turnstiles. While this concept never came to fruition, the idea for an upscale ticketing zone lived on, and is under construction right now at South Korea's Lotte World.

Also for the SIX FLAGS DUBAILAND project the illustrations below depict what visitors would have seen as they arrived at SIX FLAGS DUBAILAND, and as they left the park as well. The first illustration shows the view as guests depart the elevated ticketing zone discovering (from the higher level) a grand panoramic vista of the park and its signature coasters and attractions.  As a happy byproduct, as guests left in the evening, or later in the day, they wouldremain at ground level and pass straight under the ticketing building to discover the park's main merchandise venue which also forms the exit path from the park.

This next artwork is one of his stunning illustrations for the unrealized SIX FLAGS QATAR project. Set on the coast of the Persian Gulf, the resort would have featured an upscale theme park anchored by the "SIROCCO" launch coaster.

Also by Christopher Smith, here's a breathtaking illustration of the JOURNEY TO PARADISE 3D boat ride proposed for the Tropicana in Las Vegas. This was to be the world’s 3D/4D boat ride. Staged in an Omnimax-style dome, this vista was to have been the ride's first major 3D moment as guests left the real world behind and started their journey through a hyper-real tropical world. Completing the scene would have been water-spray and rumbling audio effects that would have truly immersed guests in the moment.

Let's have a look now to one of four unrealized attractions starting by this ride concept from 2007 when we were in the process of creating blue-sky concepts for Universal Studios Singapore.The GGE concept for the MADAGASCAR ride was very different from the boat ride that was ultimately created. Our concept was built around a trackless AGV dark ride system that would have taken guests on a PHOTO SAFARI, using onboard augmented reality cameras to snap images of the film's characters amidst the most iconic settings. At the end of the ride, guests would have been able to purchase a photo book with not only the photos they shot, but candid photos of themselves taken at several key moments in the attraction! 

On a separate project, this one for Six Flags again, back when Mark Shapiro was still at the helm of Six Flags, he realized they needed a big idea to fill the vacant stunt show theaters found at several of the chain's largest parks. Perhaps the most exciting concept developed was for that of a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE action stunt spectacular. This concept would have seen the theaters enclosed in temporary canvas tent structures to allow for lighting control, and would have immersed the audience in the most special effects-intensive stunt show ever created.

One of the coolest things about the show would have been the marketing- as the new attraction would have been heralded by "self destructing" billboards(each with their own digital “countdown clock”) that would have been “self-destructed” on the date the message expired, revealing a new message behind the “exploded” billboard noting MISSION IMPOSSIBLE was now in operation.

Back to the mid-90's when I was still running Landmark, we were engaged by Andrew Lloyd Webber's REALLY USEFUL GROUP and a major Las Vegas casino operator to create a PHANTOM OF THE OPERA resort right on the Las Vegas Strip. We created something truly spectacular for the resort hotel itself, along with several very unique attractions.

With a facade inspired by Charles Granier's famous cross-section of the Paris Opera House, the resort would have contained a boat ride through the catacombs under the theatre, as well as a super-sized version of the world's most popular musical. (While the resort never moved beyond concept due to financial constraints, a scaled-down version of the mega Phantom production did eventually open at the Venetian in 2006.)  

In addition to bringing "the inside to the outside" you will note a Gondola Boat RIde that moves beneath the main entrance (which as you can see, has the domed ceiling of the Paris Opera house acting as an immense Porte Cochere). The Boat Ride was an incredible telling of the tale of the love story but as seen from the point of view of the Phantom itself. The ride - created by The Phantom - was complete with clockwork "autumn figures" and "mechanical sets" as if the Phantom himself had created this life size music box tribute to the romance (as he saw it) between Christine and himself. The cool thing was that Andrew was going to score the entire ride based upon the themes of the incredible show. The world's first dark ride, based upon a great musical work, with an original score composed by the composer himself. It would have been world class.

We will end this first update by this stunning painting by renowned artist Dan Goozee. 
Back when the MGM GRAND was first being developed for Las Vegas, various show concepts were being explored- one of which was a TARZAN-themed concept, depicted here. On this one, Tony Christopher, my partner in Landmark, and I worked together on the show concept. Ultimately, they decided to go with another idea we developed for them, “EFX!” – a spectacular show which we created and which had a highly-successful 8-year run starting in 1995.

See you next week with a new great update!

All pictures: copyright Gary Goddard - Goddard Group

Gary Goddard's " The Wonderful World of OZ " Theme Park Project

I did previously many tributes to Gary Goddard from the Goddard Group, one of the best theme park design company on the planet and you may have read my previous articles like the one about Michael Jackson Neverland theme park project or Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas, not to mention this other one about WDI artists who worked for Landmark Entertainment, Gary's company before he founded the Goddard Group. Now, you're probably aware that WDI has a "Land of OZ" project for the back of Disneyland Frontierland but it's not sure yet if this land designed by Imagineer Tony Baxter will be built or not. But did you know that Gary Goddard had in the 90's a Wonderful World of OZ theme park project for Kansas city? 

According to Gary's post on the Goddard Group Facebook page: 

"THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF OZ was a dream project. We knew we had a classic property that could become a theme park and a destination resort that could, if not rival Disney and Universal, certainly be a close 2nd or 3rd. But we were striving to make it the #1 family destination theme park in the country when we started our design concept. In my opinion, the work we did for THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF OZ was every bit as good as anything ever done at Disney or Universal. Beyond that, we were creating some new concepts that had never been done before, all based around the heart and soul of “The Wonderful World of Oz” as it was portrayed in the iconic MGM Motion Picture.

Once we had our initial concept and master plan, we did presentations for a number of people. Among them Harrison Price was brought into see the project and to render his professional opinion on whether it would make the grade or not. (Harrison Price is the legendary feasibility maven who helped get Disneyland financed originally and then went on to form ERA, working on hundreds if not thousands of projects thereafter -- he is considered one of the Deans of the Theme Park industry.) Well he saw our concept presentation and told the financiers “I have seen everything that has come down the pike since Disneyland and, without a doubt, this is the best project I have ever seen since Disneyland. This is a winner."

Gary Goddard describes the park's arrival experience: 

"One of the cool things about the park and how we designed it, was that you could enter the park in one of three ways: First, you could walk through the pastel-toned, almost black and white looking, Kansas street, turn a corner and walk “over the rainbow” to find yourself in Munchkinland. Second, you could actually venture out to The Gale Farmhouse for a tour, and while there you would find yourself in the midst of a terrible twister that will fly that house up into the air, and then land you in Munchkinland. Or Third, if you ventured to Professor Marvel’s Circus on the edge of town, you could fly up and away in one of his Great Balloons which would whisk you away to The Emerald City."

"The EMERALD CITY was home to several E-Tickets attractions, including the IMPERIAL WIZARD OF OZ SHOW, a production within an 800 seat theatre that would combine live performers and 3D film into a show unlike anything before it (until of course T2/3D -- which came a bit later.) 

There was also to be THE AERIAL ADVENTURES OVER OZ, the world’s first “flying” experience that would take you up and away in a massive OZ-styled AIRSHIP on an aerial tour of never-seen-before places from the Oz mythology.  Inside, we had the “Horse of A Different Color Carousel”, and the EMERALD CITY EXPRESS- a coaster experience designed to be a central form of transportation within The Emerald City."

"The HAUNTED FOREST – Home of the Wicked Witch of the West – this was an area where you had to travel through the “Haunted Forest” to reach the sinister Castle of the Witch. Signs are posted everywhere saying “I’d Turn Back If I were You” and “Stay Out” – as the canopy of the trees grows in size, they completely cover the walk way, allowing us to have a large open air “covering” over entire Haunted Forest area, making it an all-weather area of the park. It also allowed us to ensure that every visit to the Haunted Forest, even on the brightest sunny days, would become a “dark and shadowy” place for guests. The E-Tickets here included a FLYING MONKEY COASTER where you “fly” with the Monkey’s on a mission (inverted coaster), and BLACKWATER RAPIDS- a dark and foreboding river rafting ride through the Haunted Forest."

So, as you can see, this Wonderful World of OZ project would have made a real magical OZ theme park, and with a bit of luck this great project will become reality some day...
In the meantime make sure to have a look regularly at the Goddard Group Facebook page and to bookmark it as Gary is posting plenty of artwork of realized or not project which all looks great!

Pictures: copyright Goddard Group

The True Story of the Amazing Star Trek Attraction That Almost Was

The Goddard Group, a company directed by Gary Goddard, has launched a new blog which you're gonna like! Gary Goddard is the man who created for Universal when he was running the Landmark company the Jurassic Park ride and Terminator 3D among others famous rides and one of the latest post of this new blog is definitely not to be missed as Gary describes the incredible story of the Star Trek attraction that "almost came to life" in Las Vegas, back in 1992.

In one of my previous articles three years ago i've shown you this amazing concept of a real-size Enterprise, thanks to fantastic artwork like the one above - click to enlarge the pictures. This amazing project unfortunately not realised have a story. Years ago the Las Vegas Down Town hotels association, aware that the new Strip's hotels were getting most of the visitors, wanted to create a unique attraction to be located in down town Las Vegas. Different companies created concepts, including Landmark with this amazing Star Trek concept, but, although EVERYBODY loved this Star Trek idea their final choice went to the now famous Fremont Street Experience.



This real size Enterprise would have stand in the Las Vegas strip and would have been as long as Paris Eiffel Tower is high. That means unbelievably big. And of course guests would have found inside themed Star Trek attractions. The whole project had an estimated cost around $200 M (back in 1992) which was reasonable - specially considering the size.



Now, why such an unbelievably great project was never built, specially when EVERYONE was okay to do it? Well, as you will read in Gary's article ONE person was not okay, and because of this person all the project was cancelled. So, jump to the Goddard Group Blog HERE to read this truly amazing story!

Artwork: copyright Landmark, Landmark entertainment, Star Trek is copyright: Paramount Pictures