Disney California Adventure placemaking artwork

I was so busy this week that i didn't find the time to post new topics , and i am deeply sorry about that. So today, here is a great topic about the artwork and model of the huge placemaking for Disney's California Adventure.

You may have seen these renderings on different forums, but i've tried to enhance them, and new details can be seen, now.
However, some are in good definition, others in low definition, i wish i could find some with a better definition, but it's better than nothing.

First, here is the map of what is going to change.



Let's begin by the beginning, i.e the future new entrance, which looks a lot like the one at Disney Hollywood Studios




The new "entrance" street will be reminiscent of Los Angeles 1920's architecture







The Walt Disney Plaza will host a new "friends" statue with Walt Disney and Mickey, a recreation of the Carthay Circle Theater. where Snow White was premiered at in 1937.and a new version of the " Walt Disney Story "






And then, there is of course the new Pacific Electric Red Cars where guests will board for a little ride from the park's entrance to Tower of terror







The major expansion in the Timon parking lot is the one everybody is waiting for, the 200 million dollars Cars land.
Let's have a look first to the Radiator Springs Racers "test track" technology major E-ticket ride and the Cars land overview.











The Cars drive-in restaurant should be great and remember something to anyone who had dinner at the Sci-Fi dinner restaurant at the Disney Mgm studios...
UPDATE 1/8 !! : In his new update on miceage.com Al Lutz reveal that the Cars drive-in restaurant is probably canceled...more latest news about DCA placemaking in Al's article HERE




Two smaller "C" ticket attractions will take place in Cars land, "Mater's towing" where " Tow Mater will be the disc jockey at a spinner ride that will have passengers being whipped around the desert floor in truck trailers ".




And Luigi's Tires using a similar technology to old Tomorrowland Flying Saucers, hopefully it should work better than 40 years ago!





The awaited Little Mermaid ride is going to be a real E-ticket, and it seems even better than expected






Not so far from it will be the DCA placemaking preview center




On Paradise Pier, Toy Story Midway mania will be the first to open later this year, and here is two pictures of the imagineers installing and testing the ride vehicle







Always on the Boardwalk, the Boardwalk games will be rethemed




As well as the Mulholland Madness coaster that will be rethemed as Goofy's Flying Academy



Always on Paradise pier, he new victorian architecture of the boardwalk buildings and the giant Mickey Mouse face on the sun wheel




And let's not forget the spectacular Disney world of colour water show, with its newly built viewing area , and the Beer garden





You can have more details of how this DCA placemaking will look in Al Lutz article on miceage.com and in his future updates.

Also, the excellent mice chat forum, from where most of the renderings you saw here are coming from have a great DCA project tracker page, don't miss it!

Artwork , Photos and Screen capture: copyright Disney

Map: copyright Los Angeles Times

Begin the year with great magic acts with Dani Lary, magician !

It's almost a tradition on french television, each year , for new year's eve, you can watch a magic show. So, what about beginning this year with magic? I mean: real magic, with the best magician in France, Dani Lary?
I've met him some years ago, during a special report about the Robert Houdin museum, and he was really kind, not "lost" in his ego, really cool guy, very sympathetic.

So stay sit down and relax, here are some good magic tours - may be it don't have all the Las Vegas show-off, but they're good. And for you Disney fans, stay to the end, as the last one is related to Disney!

Here is the first one, and the tour is called " Taj Mahal " . It is so well done that it is really difficult to see the trick.
He produces an unbelievable number of girls from a miniature temple using an ingenious method known as the "million dollar mystery" invented by Walter Jeans.

TajMahal dani lary
envoyé par piloulo

This next tour is a tribute to Dracula !



This one will take you in a chinese mood. Oh, and, by the way, Dani Lary does NOT have a twin brother.

DANI LARY torture chinoise
envoyé par lapantoufle

And this one in Egypt...

DANI LARY egyptien
envoyé par lapantoufle

This one bring us back in occident, in the world of Austin Powers

DANI LARY AUSTIN POWER
envoyé par MAGICMAGICMAGIC69

Did you ever saw a piano flying? Well, on this next tour, you will!



Okay, now here is the one in relation with Disney - i should say "Snowwhite " and you will see why...

DANI LARY BLANCHE NEIGE
envoyé par MAGICMAGICMAGIC69

All videos: copyright Dani Lary - France 2

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 FROM PARIS !

All my best wishes to each of you, dear Disney and more readers for this new " 2008 " year !

And, as i am living in Paris, it is from " the city of lights " that i send you these best wishes ! I wish you lot of happiness, and for "our" Disney theme parks fan side, lot of new and brilliant attractions from Walt Disney Imagineering wizards!

They used to say that " it all began by a mouse " , but we know that it's not totally true, that, in fact, it all began by a MAN.

And, because it was a man in love with all forms of art, to celebrate this new year, here is a special Pop-Art - Andy Warhol - like creation, with Walt himself sending you his best wishes from Paris ! Double-click on the pictures - you have the choice between two different versions - to enjoy them in real big size !

Once again, i wish you full of love and joy for 2008 !

Photo : copyright Disney

2008 MOVIE PREVIEW SPECIAL

2008 begin in 3 days, and here is a special movie preview with photos and trailers, when available.
For each of them i give you the release date in the USA.

Let's begin by Disney animated features. Of course, the most awaited of all is Pixar's Wall-E, release june 27.
I've already talk about it, so here is above a new picture and, below, the last trailer. For more infos about it, please see my previous posts.






The other Walt Disney animated will be "Bolt", schedule to be release on november 26. Here is a first picture. No trailer yet available.



Always in the "animation" category, but not from Disney, two movies on which i have a good feeling.
November 7 will be the date for Madagascar: The Crate Escape . No trailer yet available, but picture below.



And the other one is "Dr Seuss Horton Hears A Who " release on march 14, and i have an even better feeling on this one, as it is directed by the guys who did the Ice Age movies. Pictures and trailer below.






2008 will also be the year of the second Narnia movie , with Prince Caspian, release on may 16.





If you're fan or archeologist heroes, two movies should make your day. The first one is of course the highly awaited Indiana Jones and the temple of the crystal skull. And it's for may 22.




Here is some images of the shooting in the USA and Hawai.



The other archeologist hero will be back august 1 in the Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
As you probably already understood, the action this time is in China, and the production did a fantastic job with the recreation of Shangai, circa 1948, as you will see if you click HERE, and here are some pictures.





Another movie will bring us back in time, in 10000 BC, precisely. It is directed by Roland "The day after tomorrow" Emmerich, and it will be release soon, on march 7.





In the Marvel super-heroes category, the Iron Man will touch down in the theatres on may 2. And great
actor Robert Downey Jr is playing Tony Stark/Iron Man.






The other one is the new Hulk movie, played this time by another fantastic actor : Edward Norton, so the movie should be much better than the previous one.
No trailer yet available, but here are some pics. Release on june 13.




A new Harry Potter will also be release november 21, and a Batman "Dark night" on july 18.
But a good surprise may come from the new movie of the Wachowski brothers. After their "Matrix" trilogy, this new movie release may 9 looks pretty exciting. Okay, it may remember you a video game, but i think that, visually speaking, it may be stunning. Click on the image below to see what i mean.





Photos and Videos: copyright : Disney, Dream Works, Lucas Film Ltd, Universal, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Paramount

Will a " Soarin' " attraction be build at the Walt Disney Studios in the future ?

The Walt Disney Studios Hollywood Tower Hotel is now open to everybody since last saturday, and every guest who board inside the TOT elevator enjoy a spectacular view over the WDS for a few seconds when the doors of the "13th floor" open.
I mean, this kind of view.



Now, there is ANOTHER elevator at Disneyland Resort Paris which leads you to experience another kind of stunning view , and you don't even have to enter the park to enjoy it! It's totally free, perfectly legal, and it also leads to a floor where nobody lives...It is the elevator of the parking lot located near the WDS. Hundreds of people take it every day, but none of them stop at the "third" floor.
Not because it is a "cursed" floor, but simply because no car can park - for now - at this third floor. But if you get inside the elevator, and push on the "3" button, you will arrive - in less time than it took me to write it - to this 3rd floor, and then, all you have to do, is to push the door that lead to the 3rd floor parking lot. No car, nobody...a whole parking floor for you only. And one of the best view over the WDS.

Not only it's one of the best spot to take photos of the Tower of terror , whether it is by day like this one...



Or by night like this one...



But you also have a great view of the Disneyland Hotel, Sleeping Beauty castle, Space Mountain and the Walt Disney Studios entrance...



And also over the WDS Front lot , a view that includes the normally out-of-view backstage.



Now, where is the relation of all this with an eventual "Soarin'" attraction at the WDS? Well, since years, french forum DLP fans talk about a WDI map of the WDS where one can see clearly that a "Soarin over the world" attraction is planned to be built between the Cinemagique attraction and the former Disney channel - soon "Stitch encounter" building.
That's right, you've read well: a "Soarin "over the world" , not "over California". Which means very clearly that a future movie for this beloved attraction taking the guests for a flight over the world should appear in the future. After all, California is quite far from France, and there is a logic that a new movie will be done for european guests...and, too, for a version "2.0" at DCA or Epcot.

Now, when french forums DLP fans talk about it , there is always a big debate. " Do they have enough room to built it in that location?" Most of them generally think that there is not enough room to built it, and this is where i make the link with this 3rd floor parking lot.

You see, if you go near the west wall of this 3rd floor parking lot, you will have a perfect view over this "planned" location for a future Soarin' attraction - click the image below to make it bigger - and you will realize that they DO have the room to built it, even with two theatres.




The other question, of course, is : will they build it? Personnally, i still think that they will, and here is why. Some years ago, some attractions projects were proposed to another french theme park, the Futuroscope. One of them was a kind of "Soarin' " like concept - of course with a different movie , and the cost of it - without the cost of the building but including the cost of the shooting of the movie - was around 10 millions euros, not more. With only one theater, not two like in DCA or Epcot.
Add 5 millions euros for the building, and, for 15-16 millions euros, it was possible to build an attraction using the same technology than "Soarin'". For many reasons, the Futuroscope didn't choose to do it for now, but this means what? It means that, even with the usual WDI costs and another theatre, the price of a Soarin attraction is probably around 60-70 millions euros, much much less than the TOT. And for that price you have a 5 minutes "E" ticket ride that most of the guests will enjoy very much.
You don't have the spectacular outside architecture of the TOT, but you have a very popular attraction for a "reasonable" price.

So, why the park will miss an opportunity like this? A real good-popular five minutes long "E" ticket for much less than the cost of the two minutes ride of the TOT?

Also, there is another reason why we can expect a Soarin' attraction at the WDS. This part of the park is the last - with another one between the Rock and roller coaster and the stunt show - where there is still some room available to build new attractions. Once it will be done, the park will need a major expansion on the land located over the Tram tour station. Which will mean an expansion of the Hollywood Boulevard, new decors, and lot of money. Before they arrive to this point, they will undoubtedly try to use the empty spaces available in the first "part" of the WDS.

You see, there is a logic everywhere in life, even in Disney theme parks! So, believe me, they will build "Soarin'". May be not before the 2012 twentieth anniversary, as they will "capitalize" on the success of the Tower of terror during the next 2-3 years like they did when they opened Space Mountain, but they will.

Photos: copyright Disney , Alain Littaye and Alexandre Rosa