Discover LucasPort, the Other Disneyland "Star Wars Land" Project That You've Never Heard About !

In three days from now Galaxy's Edge Rise of the Resistance, the most awaited ride of the year, will open at WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios, bringing a final grand opening to this Star Wars land. But what you most probably don't know is that more than 30 years ago WDI Imagineers envisioned another kind of "Star Wars land". It would have been called "LucasPort" - of course in tribute to Georges Lucas - and D&M unveil the project and tell you all about it thanks to great artworks which will be on sale on Dec 7 in the Van Eaton Galleries auction, see the auction catalog HERE.

This “LucasPort” project was a project that WDI Imagineer Tony Baxter and his team of Imagineers were developing for Disneyland's Tomorrowland. This was before WDI hit upon using a simulator for Star Tours. The LucasPort project was designed as a Tomorrowland update or replacement, and there was a lot of discussion on the name LucasPort vs the more generic “VenturePort.

Above and below: Disneyland LucasPort crystal shape building. Disneyland People Mover and Monorail would have gone through or around it.



The crystal centerpiece you can see on the rendering would have replaced Disneyland's Carousel of Progress / Innoventions building. Inside LucasPort guests would have chosen different paths leading to the attractions.







Among the attractions to be included in this LucasPort were an amazing Star Wars roller coaster - more about it in a minute - but also Alien Encounter, which was originally designed for Disneyland! Alien Encounter was created for this LucasPort project, and the lead designer was Imagineer Gill Kepler. Disneyland Rocket Jets would be relocated inside the crystal LucasPort building.


Disneyland guests would have met their favorite Star Wars characters.

Two blueprints of LucasPort. The crystal building is at the center, and note behind it and on the right the show buildings circled in yellow, red and blue that would have host the attractions.





A cross section view of LucasPort crystal show building, with its different levels.



The model of LucasPort, with LucasPort show building on the top center, Space Mountain on the right, Tomorrowland entrance on the bottom and Autopia and the Submarine rides on the left.



Others model pictures shows that a new and more futuristic load building would have been built for Disneyland's Submarine ride. Also note the Monorail coming in and out of the main show building.







Two more pictures of the model showing the crystal shape show building. Note the “VenturePort” sign at the entrance.





LucasPort would also include an incredible Star Wars themed roller coaster, which was the big attraction... but too big! The design of the coaster included a launch from Dagobah in a scene featuring Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi. The coaster train was dispatched from a huge "swamp like” room that was in fact an elevator - like Haunted Mansion ) and Yoda and the complete Dagobah swamp set was lowered to make it appear that "the force was strong" with the guests as the rocket sled appeared to levitate high above the swamp.



The coaster had 3 guests choice points where you could choose to dog fight or flee ( a coaster ride with loops or a smooth flight ). Below, the rocket of the LucasPort Star Wars coaster ready to be launched in a galaxy far far away.



During their ride in the Star Wars roller coaster rocket, guests would have gone through Dagobah, encounter Stormtroopers, circled AT&T Walkers, face a fight between Darth Vader and a Jedi ( or may be the Emperor ), go though meteorites, get close to the Death Star and even escape its explosion!
















Unfortunately this branching ride ate up tons of space and the project proved impractical when WDI Imagineers saw how big a structure would be needed to house 6 track segments that went their separate ways, then had to reconverge. Also, the decision points required too much guest interface time and immediate computation had to be safe and practical, a difficult problem to solve back in that time. Star Tours solved that dilemma and fit nicely into the former Adventure Through Inner Space building.

When the concept grew beyond the scope of Tomorrowland, it was proposed as part of a large second gate project using the more generic “VenturePort” theme. Lucas projects would become a land of VenturePort along with a Figment and Dreamfinder Imagination land, a Jules Verne area, Indiana Jones Adventures and a Future Technology area. VenturePort was a theme park with the crystal VenturePort structure being the portal to the various lands, including the Star Wars area. Imagineers John Stone and Sam McKim worked on many of those concept paintings. The unique aspects of the Ventureport concept was that the attractions were accessed via the large crystal centerpiece, like an airport. The attractions might have been behind a berm or actually on land blocks away, with a transport system used to get there.

The LucasPort concept was not ever a part of the WESTCOT project. It was a part of the VenturePort theme park concept, which was a different one that we may talk about someday. WESTCOT was like EPCOT with highly themed living experiences added to each of “The Four Corners of the World” so you could live a life you couldn't find anywhere else ...as per Walt's original EPCOT wishes.

VenturePort and WESTCOT were two different projects. Although the name “VenturePort" was such a great word that Imagineers considered naming WESTCOT Future World attraction building "Ventureport” - but that had nothing to do with the other theme park concept titled Ventureport. ( VenturePort did become the name of the center area in Disney Quest ).

Pictures: copyright Disney

D&M Exclusive: More About Shanghaî Disneyland Zootopia Land - and also SDL Marvel Land, Star Wars Land, and more

I'm reposting this article that i had posted just three months ago as new infos and artwork released by Bob Chapek at D23 Disney Parks and Resorts presentation bring a confirmation to what i was telling you but which was not yet revealed by Disney last May. When Disney Parks announced that a Zootopia land was coming to Shanghaî Disney Resort last year they didn't provided any infos about what will be the attraction except that it will be "a state-of-the-art ride". Then, last week-end at D23 Disney Parks  released the above rendering, always didn't give specific details about the attraction,  except that it will be "a state-of-the-art ride", etc, and mentioned the Zootopia Central Station that you can see on the above rendering as where will be the attraction.  It's an highly important point as it means that what i told you last May in my article was right - not all of it, but the major part of it - about what kind of ride it will be. The article also included others exclusive infos about the future of Shanghaî Disneyland park, so here we go:

The Zootopia land will be Shanghaî Disneyland’s eighth themed land,  the first-ever “Zootopia” land at any Disney theme park and will be built on the available land behind Winnie the Pooh and Pirates of Caribbean show building,  see the plan below on which the red line encircled the area for the Zootopia land. Which of course reduce quite a lot the land that i had encircled for a Marvel land in the previous article.

Before talking further about what will be the awaited Zootopia attraction, here are some pictures posted recently by a Chinese fan, showing the fences now in place at Shanghaî Disneyland for Zootopia construction. 

Now, you probably noticed that the area encircled in red for the Zootopia land is a pretty big one,  in fact you could put in it three show buildings like the one on the right of SDL Pirates of Caribbean attraction, which is a huge one. We know, thanks to the concept-art below, that they'll build a huge backdrop decor for Zootopia buildings as well as shops and restaurant but why would they need such a big space for the E-Ticket ride - as Zootopia will have only one attraction? 

The land description released by Disney didn't tell a lot about the attraction itself but simply said "Guests will be invited to experience the mammalian metropolis of Zootopia “where anyone can be anything,” with a new major attraction that will seamlessly blend Disney storytelling and state-of-the-art technology to bring this fan-favorite movie and its characters to life – including Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Entertainment, merchandise, and food and beverage offerings will invite guests to fully immerse themselves in the Academy-Award-winning animated movie".

If you've seen the animated film you know that the "real" Zootopia is supposed to be huge and it's of course impossible for Disney Imagineers to build all of it. On the other hand this buddy cop movie had a great script but the sequence that everyone remember the most is the great scene at the start showing a monorail running all over Zootopia with Judy Hopps, and arriving at Zootopia's train station. I mean: this sequence below, watch it, it's important for what is coming next:




Now,  last Sunday Disney Parks released a new rendering - the oartwork below or at the top - for the Zootopia land showing, on the left, the Jumbeaux's Cafe and in the background ...Zootopia Central Station! Don't think it's a coincidence as it's not and it confirms what i've been told. Here it is: from what i was told the Zootopia attraction will be an indoor E-Ticket ride with a "monorail vehicle type”, most certainly looking like the one in the movie, and, as it is of course out of question that Disney will create an indoor ride with a real Zootopia monorail, the Imagineers found a different way to give to Shanghaî Disneyland guests the illusion they travel through Zootopia. How, you ask? Remember the King Kong or Fast and Furious rides at Universal Studios, with guests inside a tram going through a long tunnel with 3D projections on each side? Well, from what i've heard the Zootopia ride will be like this, not with a tram of course but with a Zootopia theming, in addition to a dark ride portion with Audio-Animatronics - as it would be difficult to do a land based on Zootopia without Audio-Animatronics animals, right?



My guess - but what is below was not told to me and is just my guess so i can be wrong here - is that the ride will partly recreate this short travel through Zootopia as seen in the movie, up to the point when eventually "something will go wrong", as i think they can't have a visual travelogue only during the whole ride, something a bit more thrilling must happen. But the question in fact is this one: will SDL guests need to embark first in the monorail to access "Zootopia", then arrive to Zootopia's train station like in the movie and then enter the land - which would be the smartest way to give the illusion that you arrived in a real Zootopia - or: will the guests enter the land as they do usually, simply by walking inside it, and then the ride will provide them a look all around Zootopia? The first option might be difficult on a guest flow point of view - though Universal somewhat did it with the Hogwarts Express bringing guests to IOA Wizarding World and it works perfectly - even if the technology is not the same as it is a train really moving - but i still think that the first option would be the best - we'll see...

That said, even if the monorail designed attraction vehicle won't move on a one km long track like the Hogwarts Express, it still will need to move at least some few hundred meters to enter the part with the projections on each side. Which would explain why the land ( the one circled in red on the Google Earth capture above ) is quite long as the "monorail" will need - after entering the part with the projections - to come back to a station one way or another.

And they might also need to build two different "train stations",  specially in my first option, one for the start, one for the arrival at Zootopia. Will SDL Imagineers recreate the train station like the one in the movie? - pictures below - that would be a smart idea, after all Universal did it with the Hogwarts Express train station in Diagon Alley... And i remind you that Shanghaî Disneyland is the only Disney "Magic Kingdom" with NO railroad, so this ride could be a chance to introduce one which will give SDL guests at least the illusion of a train ride...







Once arrived, guests will find themselves inside Zootopia as shown on the official rendering below., with themed shops and restaurants. A good idea by the way, if guests will need to take the "monorail" to enter the land ( first option described above ) and to take it back again to return to "reality", would be to have a different kind of projections during the ride back, like Universal do in the Hogwarts Express when guests come back from Islands of Adventure Wizarding World to Diagon Alley... That's what i would do personally, but may be we're asking too much... Not to mention that i can be totally wrong and that SDL Imagineers may have planned something totally different for the ride inside the monorail, so as usual consider all this as a rumor until announced officially, may be we'll learn more in August at the next D23.



That was for Zootopia, let's talk now about the Marvel land for Shanghaî Disneyland and what i've heard about it. As said in the previous article Bob Iger announced recently that they intend to do a big Marvel land at Shanghaî Disneyland. You can see on the above Google Earth capture that, even after Zootopia will be built, they'll still have land available on the left of it. It could be big enough for a Marvel land but probably not big enough for what Bob Iger has in mind. So, guess what, from what i've heard the plan is to build the Marvel Land in Shanghaî Disneyland SECOND park ...scheduled to open in 2031, 15 years after the first park which opened in 2016.

But eventually the second park could open before, but not before 2029. Why 2029? Because in the meantime the Marvel land at Hong Kong Disneyland will be finished and HKDL will have an exclusivity on the big E-Ticket Avengers ride during 5 years. So, Shanghaî Disneyland second park is scheduled for 2031 but there’s apparently an option to start the works by 2026 which, with 3 years of construction, will bring its opening to 2029, and will resolve the question of HKDL 5 years exclusivity on the Avengers ride - the one on the artwork below.



Wait, as, as you might expect they're not going to build Shanghaî Disneyland second park with one Marvel land only, as big as it might be. So, the idea - at least for now as plans can change at Disney as we know - is to build also a Star Wars land in the second park - yes, the dream of Disney fans to have a brand new park with both Marvel and Star Wars land in it instead than having like at Disneyland Resort a Star Wars land in Disneyland and a Marvel land in California Adventure might become a reality at Shanghaî Disneyland... And if the Avatar sequels happen to be succesful in China i personally won't be surprised if a Pandora land would be also added in SDL second park... That said, note that nothing is set in stone for SDL second park, though all the ( many ) ideas bouncing around have a Marvel and a Star Wars land included in SDL second park. Not totally sure, though, that they both stick as apparently some big Imagineers think that having both lands in the same park is a waste... so, we'll see.

But we're not done yet, as things gets even more complicated because Disney is currently trying to decide where to build first the next Star Wars land in Asia ...as Tokyo Disneyland was supposed to get it ( it would be built behind Tomorrowland on part of the remaining parking lot ) but Oriental Land - who still have to pay for the Beauty and the Beast land and TDS Fantasy Springs - would apparently prefer to wait for a better Japanese economy... Recently, for the "Fantasy Springs" groundbreaking ceremony and name announcement, you've seen on the picture released by Oriental Land that Bob Iger and Philippe Gas were both at Tokyo Disney Resort, with OLC President and others TDR executives and some of you who know that Philippe Gas is Shanghaî Disney Resort President may have been surprised to see him there. Well, in fact Philippe Gas is no longer Shanghaî Disney Resort President since March and he is now "Walt Disney Attractions Japan and Disneyland International" President - it is Joe Shot ( previously Chief Operating Officer - Senior Vice President at Disneyland Paris ) who is now President / General Manager of Shanghaî Disney Resort. And apparently Bob Iger and Philippe Gas were not only in Tokyo for Fantasy Springs groundbreaking ceremony but also for talks and eventually convince Oriental Land executives to bring a Star Wars land at Tokyo Disneyland. As for what decision went out of the discussions, sorry, but i'm afraid you'll have to wait for an official announcement.

Pictures: copyright Disney, Google

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge : The Limits of Synergy

Star Wars Only has posted this video below in which they’ve got a point, and a big one: Disney doesn't understand Star Wars fans? The answer is: yes, for a big part, but what really screwed the opening of Galaxy’s Edge is to don’t have wait that Rise of the Resistance would be ready to open the land. The expected double-bingo with two openings instead of one didn’t worked as planned as we saw.

So, you’ll tell me: « well, when ROTR will finally open everything will go fine... » Well, yes and no. Yes, because the ride will be incredibly immersive, but no because they did another big mistake which is to have create a land storyline on the new Star Wars trilogy and not on the first ones. Did they forget that it’s the generation who are now the fathers and mothers of the children coming to DL, who are the ones paying for park tickets and hotels, etc? And for them Star Wars will always be Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi Wan, Yoda, AND Darth Vader. And you won’t find any of them in Galaxy’s Edge attractions , though Han Solo Millenium Falcon is indeed there with the Smuggler’s Run ride. Basically it’s like creating Peter Pan Neverland without finding Peter Pan in it. Or a Harry Potter land without Harry Potter, Hermione, Hagrid, and all the others good or bad guys of the saga. Would you even think doing such a mistake? Of course not.

So, what happened, how could they screwed something which was normally impossible to screw like creating a Star Wars land? If we except the greedy mistake of the supposed two openings instead than one at the right time with everything ready, the thing in my opinion which is responsible of this mess is Disney’s endless thirst for « synergy ». I bet you that if you won’t find any characters of the first trilogies, it’s because they were sure that they’ve been replaced in guests minds by the characters of the new trilogy, and that, in the name of the all powerful synergy, should be enough to bring in everyone at Galaxy’s Edge.

Well, no, it doesn’t work like that, everything has limits including synergy and Disney is learning it the hard way. That’s the problem with synergy: it’s made and work fine for people who don’t have insights. In two words, it’s an easy tool for people lazy to think a bit more deeply. And of course if you get it wrong when you spend one billion dollars on new lands, such a mistake becomes catastrophic at the end...




Picture: copyright Disney

D&M Exclusive: Shanghaî Disneyland Update: Zootopia Land, Marvel Land, Star Wars Land, and more

I have for you today some exclusive infos about the future of Shanghaî Disneyland park but, first, i have to apologize for a big mistake i did recently in the article HERE about the location of the Marvel land envisioned for Shanghaî Disneyland, as i had totally forgot the already announced Zootopia land!!!

The Zootopia land will be Shanghaî Disneyland’s eighth themed land,  the first-ever “Zootopia” land at any Disney theme park and will be built on the available land behind Winnie the Pooh and Pirates of Caribbean show building,  see the plan below on which the red line encircled the area for the Zootopia land. Which of course reduce quite a lot the land that i had encircled for a Marvel land in the previous article.

Before talking further about what will be the awaited Zootopia attraction, here are some pictures posted recently by a Chinese fan, showing the fences now in place at Shanghaî Disneyland for Zootopia construction. 

Now, you probably noticed that the area encircled in red for the Zootopia land is a pretty big one,  in fact you could put in it three show buildings like the one on the right of SDL Pirates of Caribbean attraction, which is a huge one. We know, thanks to the concept-art below, that they'll build a huge backdrop decor for Zootopia buildings as well as shops and restaurant but why would they need such a big space for the E-Ticket ride - as Zootopia will have only one attraction? 

The land description released by Disney didn't tell a lot about the attraction itself but simply said "Guests will be invited to experience the mammalian metropolis of Zootopia “where anyone can be anything,” with a new major attraction that will seamlessly blend Disney storytelling and state-of-the-art technology to bring this fan-favorite movie and its characters to life – including Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Entertainment, merchandise, and food and beverage offerings will invite guests to fully immerse themselves in the Academy-Award-winning animated movie".

If you've seen the animated film you know that the "real" Zootopia is supposed to be huge and it's of course impossible for Disney Imagineers to build all of it. On the other hand this buddy cop movie had a great script but the sequence that everyone remember the most is the great scene at the start showing a monorail running all over Zootopia with Judy Hopps, and arriving at Zootopia's train station. I mean: this sequence below, watch it, it's important for what is coming next:




Now,  here it is: from what i've been told the Zootopia attraction will be an indoor E-Ticket ride with a "monorail vehicle type”, most certainly looking like the one in the movie, and, as it is of course out of question that Disney will create an indoor ride with a real monorail, the Imagineers found a different way to give to Shanghaî Disneyland guests the illusion they travel through Zootopia. How, you ask? Remember the King Kong or Fast and Furious rides at Universal Studios, with guests inside a tram going through a long tunnel with 3D projections on each side? Well, from what i've heard the Zootopia ride will be like this, not with a tram of course but with a Zootopia theming, in addition to a dark ride portion with Audio-Animatronics - as it would be difficult to do a land based on Zootopia without Audio-Animatronics animals, right?

My guess - but what is below was not told to me and is just my guess so i can be wrong here - is that the ride will partly recreate this short travel through Zootopia as seen in the movie, up to the point when eventually "something will go wrong", as i think they can't have a visual travelogue only during the whole ride, something a bit more thrilling must happen. But the question in fact is this one: will SDL guests need to embark first in the monorail to access "Zootopia", then arrive to Zootopia's train station like in the movie and then enter the land - which would be the smartest way to give the illusion that you arrived in a real Zootopia - or: will the guests enter the land as they do usually, simply by walking inside it, and then the ride will provide them a look all around Zootopia? The first option might be difficult on a guest flow point of view ( though Universal somewhat did it with the Hogwarts Express bringing guests to IOA Wizarding World and it works perfectly - even if the technology is not the same as it is a train really moving ) but i still think that the first option would be the best - we'll see...

That said, even if the monorail designed attraction vehicle won't move on a one km long track like the Hogwarts Express, it still will need to move at least some few hundred meters to enter the part with the projections on each side. Which would explain why the land ( the one circled in red on the Google Earth capture above ) is quite long as the "monorail" will need - after entering the part with the projections - to come back to a station one way or another.

And they might also need to build two different "train stations",  specially in my first option, one for the start, one for the arrival at Zootopia. Will SDL Imagineers recreate the train station like the one in the movie? - pictures below - that would be a smart idea, after all Universal did it with the Hogwarts Express train station in Diagon Alley... And i remind you that Shanghaî Disneyland is the only Disney "Magic Kingdom" with NO railroad, so this ride could be a chance to introduce one which will give SDL guests at least the illusion of a train ride...







Once arrived, guests will find themselves inside Zootopia as shown on the official rendering below., with themed shops and restaurants. A good idea by the way, if guests will need to take the "monorail" to enter the land ( first option described above ) and to take it back again to return to "reality", would be to have a different kind of projections during the ride back, like Universal do in the Hogwarts Express when guests come back from Islands of Adventure Wizarding World to Diagon Alley... That's what i would do personally, but may be we're asking too much... Not to mention that i can be totally wrong and that SDL Imagineers may have planned something totally different for the ride inside the monorail, so as usual consider all this as a rumor until announced officially, may be we'll learn more in August at the next D23.



That was for Zootopia, let's talk now about the Marvel land for Shanghaî Disneyland and what i've heard about it. As said in the previous article Bob Iger announced recently that they intend to do a big Marvel land at Shanghaî Disneyland. You can see on the above Google Earth capture that, even after Zootopia will be built, they'll still have land available on the left of it. It could be big enough for a Marvel land but probably not big enough for what Bob Iger has in mind. So, guess what, from what i've heard the plan is to build the Marvel Land in Shanghaî Disneyland SECOND park ...scheduled to open in 2031, 15 years after the first park which opened in 2016.

But eventually the second park could open before, but not before 2029. Why 2029? Because in the meantime the Marvel land at Hong Kong Disneyland will be finished and HKDL will have an exclusivity on the big E-Ticket Avengers ride during 5 years. So, Shanghaî Disneyland second park is scheduled for 2031 but there’s apparently an option to start the works by 2026 which, with 3 years of construction, will bring its opening to 2029, and will resolve the question of HKDL 5 years exclusivity on the Avengers ride - the one on the artwork below.



Wait, as, as you might expect they're not going to build Shanghaî Disneyland second park with one Marvel land only, as big as it might be. So, the idea - at least for now as plans can change at Disney as we know - is to build also a Star Wars land in the second park - yes, the dream of Disney fans to have a brand new park with both Marvel and Star Wars land in it instead than having like at Disneyland Resort a Star Wars land in Disneyland and a Marvel land in California Adventure might become a reality at Shanghaî Disneyland... And if the Avatar sequels happen to be succesful in China i personally won't be surprised if a Pandora land would be also added in SDL second park... That said, note that nothing is set in stone for SDL second park, though all the ( many ) ideas bouncing around have a Marvel and a Star Wars land included in SDL second park. Not totally sure, though, that they both stick as apparently some big Imagineers think that having both lands in the same park is a waste... so, we'll see.

But we're not done yet, as things gets even more complicated because Disney is currently trying to decide where to build first the next Star Wars land in Asia ...as Tokyo Disneyland was supposed to get it ( it would be built behind Tomorrowland on part of the remaining parking lot ) but Oriental Land - who still have to pay for the Beauty and the Beast land and TDS Fantasy Springs - would apparently prefer to wait for a better Japanese economy... Last week, for the "Fantasy Springs" groundbreaking ceremony and name announcement, you've seen on the picture released by Oriental Land that Bob Iger and Philippe Gas were both at Tokyo Disney Resort, with OLC President and others TDR executives and some of you who know that Philippe Gas is Shanghaî Disney Resort President may have been surprised to see him there. Well, in fact Philippe Gas is no longer Shanghaî Disney Resort President since March and he is now "Walt Disney Attractions Japan and Disneyland International" President - it is Joe Shot ( previously Chief Operating Officer - Senior Vice President at Disneyland Paris ) who is now President / General Manager of Shanghaî Disney Resort. And apparently Bob Iger and Philippe Gas were not only in Tokyo for Fantasy Springs groundbreaking ceremony but also for talks and eventually convince Oriental Land executives to bring a Star Wars land at Tokyo Disneyland. As for what decision went out of the discussions, sorry, but i'm afraid you'll have to wait for an official announcement.

Pictures: copyright Disney, Google