Friday, October 19, 2007

More Adventures from California

Details continue to emerge and circulate from the official announcement earlier this week of the extensive refurbishment to Disney's California Adventure planned for the next five years.

Some of the more interesting details:

Cars Land will feature two other character-themed attractions in addition to the Radiator Springs Racers. One will feature tow truck Mater while the other will be derived from Luigi's Tire Store. Based on concept art, it appears that the Radiator Springs Racers will be similar in design to Epcot's Test Track vehicles.
Mullholland Madness will be born anew as Goofy's Sky School, and the Paradise Pier midway games will be extensively re-themed to feature Disney and Pixar characters.

Perhaps the most notable, albeit small element to be added to the park is a re-imagining of the now-famous "Partners" statue found at Disneyland and all the other Magic Kingdom parks. This new version reflects DCA's new theme of 1920s California and Walt's arrival in the Hollywood of that era.

The park's new entrance will not be very far removed from the existing theme and architecture at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida, even going so far as duplicating that park's Pan-Pacific Auditorium-inspired entry gates. DCA's new central icon, a recreation of the famous Carthay Circle Theatre, is already represented on Sunset Boulevard at the Florida Studios. The Pacific Electric Red Car Trolleys, a key design element and attraction for DCA's new "main street" area, are also made reference to on MGM's Hollywood Boulevard.


Images © Walt Disney Company

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The tire store sketch looks like a return of the old flying saucer attraction that never quite worked at Dland. Could be cool...

Gator Chris said...

HOORAY for the re-imagined "partners" concept. I would love to see that one come to pass.

Cory Gross said...

I'm admittedly amused with how there is some... self-reference... between the two parks. The new Walt Disney's California Adventure with have a main entrance plaza funneling into a main street. This will open into a hub with a reimagined Partners statue, flanked by a giant, castlesque replica of a movie theatre.

That's not a complaint though; just an observation. I'm generally excited about the upgrades. I could care less about Cars or anything Pixar, but the 1920's/30's theming is right up my alley. All they need to do is add the Country Bears to the Golden State and Discovery Bay to the Pacific Wharf, and it would be perfect! ^_^

Sleepy Hollow said...

Neat! I can't wait to see the new Partners concept. That's worth the trip.

Anonymous said...

If they're going to do a "reimagined" version of Partners, let's hope they do their research and Mickey ends up looking like he did in "Plane Crazy" or "Galloping Gaucho". Otherwise the company will be providing yet another example of their ignorance of their own history.

The sketches posted don't give me much hope in that regard - check out the "balloon shoes" and gloves - neither of which were part of Mickey's wardrobe back in the day.