MiceAge
A different look at Disney...

Amazon Honor System Click Here to PayLearn More
-








Paradise 2.0

But in the meantime, the bulldozers will be moving in this winter in and around the Paradise Pier section of the park (and no, I haven't been invited to direct them where to go). The other new entertainment offering, and it's on a much more massive scale than the new parade, is the Wonderful World Of Color lagoon show that is no longer a secret to anyone. That's still heading towards a 2009 debut, but big work needs to be done to get ready for it.

Not caskets.
Photo: Fishbulb

Basically the entire northern edge of the Paradise Bay lagoon will be torn out and rebuilt to handle thousands of spectators per show. While the rather charmless "Golden State Amphitheater" that sits there now offers a terraced viewing area of sorts, it's not going to be nearly big enough to handle crowds approaching 10,000. That amphitheater was a last minute addition to DCA, and the area was originally supposed to house exhibits for the "California Workplace" concept Eisner and Pressler touted to the press in the late 1990's. By 2000, only three California companies signed up to sponsor exhibits; Mondavi, Boudin and Mission Tortilla, and they were all placed elsewhere in the park.

Mondavi bailed out of its custom built winery facility after the first summer as the family and business were deconstructed. They still officially sponsor the Seasons Of The Vine movie, but the theater is managed by the Foods department instead of the Attractions department and it is rarely ever opened to visitors. The average number of people who view the Mondavi show each day has averaged about 15 this summer, and that requires the viewer to know to go across the patio, track down a Cast Member, and specifically ask to have the movie started for them. There are days when the attraction is simply kept shuttered and closed all day. You have to wonder how much Mondavi is paying for that sponsorship agreement for a movie that is never actually operated for anyone, don't you?

Many acts died here.

To get ready for the lagoon show, the area from the Paradise Pier entrance bridge to just past where the Golden Zephyr currently stands will be transformed into multi-level terraces designed to look directly at the huge new lagoon show.

Look closely...
Photo: Fishbulb

On the other side of the parade route, backing up to this new terraced area, the Route 66 section is planned to be removed entirely. In place of the cheap Mulholland Madness county fair coaster and the McDonalds and pizza parlor a beautiful Victorian beer garden would be built. Nestled next to the beer garden would be a new coaster themed to Ratatouille and a mad race through kitchens and alleys, although there are some Imagineers who don't think that rides theme will do much to increase food sales next door at the beer garden.

...it is said Braverman's job was lost here.
Photo: Fishbulb

Just to the east of that and across from the current amphitheater the Golden Dreams attraction would be torn down. Sorry Whoopi, your time is coming to an end. Only the Palace of Fine Arts dome would remain, and it would be used as the exit for a brand new Little Mermaid ride using an Omnimover ride system like The Haunted Mansion. Those trusty Ominmover ride systems can carry up to 2,300 riders per hour, and seeing how Golden Dreams has been averaging only 75 or 80 visitors per hour this summer, that should be a much better use for that space.

I use antlers in all of my decorating.
Tony Baxter describes the Paris Little Mermaid ride model on the DVD

This new Little Mermaid family dark ride would help strengthen the presence of San Francisco in a park supposedly about California, especially once they tear down the droopy Golden Gate Bridge out at the entrance. Currently the only real homage to San Francisco in the park is the Golden Dreams dome, a single Churro cart painted like a cable car, and the empty San Fran row houses across the way.

Whoopi infested.
Photo: Fishbulb

But those row houses won't be empty for long, and this is where John Lasseter's style really starts to make an immediate impact. In fact, those row houses will likely feature the first proof that DCA has hit the budget jackpot while more and more Imagineers and many Disney fans (even the few who actually like the place now) get excited about the first-rate park DCA will become. The current plans call for those empty San Francisco row houses to become a new Disneyland Resort Preview Center with models and sketches of the new attractions and park themes coming to Anaheim in the next few years. The center will most heavily tout the plans for DCA, especially at first. But it would also be used to showcase the new Disneyland Resort hotels, Downtown Disney expansion, the new Disney Cruise Line ships based out of Long Beach, the new look and attractions planned for Tomorrowland, and any number of the growing list of new projects now headed to Anaheim.

John Lasseter remembers fondly the "Coming Attractions" exhibits that Disneyland used to feature in the Disney Showcase on Main Street USA, and he wants to recreate that for the new DCA projects about to get underway. And he also knows full well that any model or sketch displayed would be the talk of internet message boards all over the world. The 1.2 Billion to fix DCA has already been committed by the board, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars already ear-marked for Anaheim expansion and investment after the 50th changed the corporate conventional wisdom on Anaheim's earning potential.

Lasseter and the Imagineers assigned to the DCA projects would love to see a Preview Center, if only to prove to everyone that these huge undertaking is really going to happen.

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More

THERE ARE FIVE PAGES TODAY; CLICK HERE FOR PAGE THREE

© 2007 Al Lutz

-
MiceAgeCONTENTS | LEGAL
Google    
    Web www.MiceAge.com