Concept Art For Midway Mania

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Can we start hating Lasseter now? He was supposed to save this one.

Well, here's what Al said on Tuesday in his latest article:

For the first time, major Disneyland projects were announced at a press party in Florida instead of Anaheim last week. The new big-budget dark ride for DCA we've been filling you in on for the last year was finally fessed up to at last weeks Florida press announcement, and the title appears to have finally ended up as "Toy Story Mania."

This concept was initially created and designed for the dark ride expansion slot in Paradise Pier behind California Screamin'. The same basic ride system, with much of the same special effect technology, is going in to Tokyo Disneyland as their new Monsters Inc. attraction in a reworked transition space that will bridge that parks World Bazaar and Tomorrowland.

But after the mock-ups and concept design turned out so strongly, Jay Rasulo felt the DCA version of the attraction had the potential to be the next "franchise" attraction, much like the sleeper hit Buzz Lightyear ride originally retrofitted onto a frumpy, old Omnimover ride at Walt Disney World. Eventually, the executives in Florida agreed to add a slightly slimmed down version of the Mania attraction to the Disney-MGM Studios park out in Orlando.

While the original title of the attraction was Toy Story Midway Mania to play up the Paradise Pier location, the addition of a version for Florida has changed the title to Toy Story Mania for now. There is still some debate on whether or not to give the rides slightly different names on each coast, but many people in WDI want to avoid the Buzz Lightyear scenario where that same basic dark ride has a different name in each of the five locations it has been installed. The thought here for Mania is to create an attraction "franchise" like Pirates of the Caribbean or Space Mountain that retains the same title from one side of the globe to the other.

The boardwalk location of the DCA version of the Mania ride had always been earmarked for a dark ride at some future date. But what was assumed five years ago to be a simple C Ticket dark ride is actually going to be a much larger D+ Ticket dark ride, and that means the construction of this facility has taken over that end of the pier (as seen above and below). Add in to this big project the sudden hands-on involvement of John Lasseter, and this ride promises to be the next Submarine Voyage when it comes to heavy involvement and expanded budgets simply demanded by Lasseter.

While the project managers from WDI have tried their best to work around the operation of the E Ticket roller coaster than runs directly above this busy construction project, it's becoming harder and harder to keep the coaster running seven days a week. In the last few weeks there have been several unplanned instances when California Screamin' had to remain closed for the entire day, or for a good part of the day, without warning. During the cold winter months when very few people want to be drenched on Grizzly River Run, that leaves DCA with just two other E Tickets for customers when Screamin' is closed.

Even with the light crowds and nonexistent lines this time of year, a closed California Screamin' ticks off a lot of customers with DCA's razor thin margin for error as a park. And looking ahead to the rest of 2007, there is now the possibility that Screamin' may have to remain closed until early afternoon for several months at a time later in the year.

What's interesting about this latest article is that Al mentions 2 other future additions coming to DCA :

Carland:

sig alerted

and a water show called "Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color":

Oh my, did we stumble into Cher's closet?

He also mentions that Ed Grier wants the Paradise Pier portion of the placemarketing to be completed by summer 2008.

I guess Disney is still interesting in flushing more money down the toilet that is DCA.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by zapppop

I guess Disney is still interesting in flushing more money down the toilet that is DCA.

I'm no expert, but what other practical choice is there? Please note the word "practical". While not enough funds have been invested, it is still a billion dollar investment, and it isn't going away. While the concept art looks hideous, if the main complaints are that DCA is ugly (and most of it is) and that there aren't enough attractions to make it a stand alone park (agreed), then why isn't beautification and adding more attractions a good idea? Granted, they need to be good attractions and tasteful changes to make it more pleasing to the eye.

[innerSpaceman]

It's not that Disney has a choice about whether to do something about DCA ... rather it's the choice between half-measures and a complete overhaul costing billions.

The "more of the same" half measures like "placemaking" and a slew of new Pixar attractions over the span of, what?, a decade - - strike me as the same misguided logic of a certain president in a certain war. I think in fact, it's the definition of insanity to expect different results from the exact same efforts.

[BarTopDancer]

But where did the pointy darts go?

[Alex]

The concept art for Buzz looked lame (in general I think concept art undersells the eventual attraction) to me and I enjoy that so I'll reserve judgment until I see it. But even if it isn't great it will be better then a never open burrito counter.

[RStar]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

The concept art for Buzz looked lame (in general I think concept art undersells the eventual attraction) to me and I enjoy that so I'll reserve judgment until I see it. But even if it isn't great it will be better then a never open burrito counter.

Yes, but I did like the burritos. And the chicken strips when they were real chicken, not the processed stuff they sell now.

[Alex]

I don't think I ever saw Mailburritos open. And whatever the chicken strips ended up being made out of, you can still get them at Farmer's Market.

[keith - SuPeR K!]

ism: spiderman is still on the top of my list as the most amazing and awesome attraction in existence! i know it may sound lame having 3d movie footage integrated with real life sets, but the way it all plays out it seems as if you are flying between buildings through the city on webs with spiderman... it is simply amazing. i couldn't even tell what was 3d and what was real... i had to look over my glasses a few times to answer the "WTF how did they do that?" that was echoing in my mind... you just have to see it for yourself...

[Alex]

ism: they're wrong. it is lame. well, not so much lame, just ... semi-lame. but you should see for yourself - i was wholly unimpressed by ioa so you probably don't want to be in my "stick-in-the-mud" camp. lolz

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I'm no expert, but what other practical choice is there? Please note the word "practical". While not enough funds have been invested, it is still a billion dollar investment, and it isn't going away. While the concept art looks hideous, if the main complaints are that DCA is ugly (and most of it is) and that there aren't enough attractions to make it a stand alone park (agreed), then why isn't beautification and adding more attractions a good idea? Granted, they need to be good attractions and tasteful changes to make it more pleasing to the eye.

As iSm said, the problem is not the improvements but rather the slow pace of their construction. When people complained about the lack of rides Disney built a small play area for young children with 4 small attractions which took about a year & a half to build. After the MSEP failed to raise DCA's attendance the TOT's construction began. The construction began in the late summer/early fall of 2001 but the ride didn't open til spring 2004. During it's construction a show based on WWTBAM opened & closed. Soap Opera Bistro closed & was replaced by a show for toddlers. Since then Monsters Inc was added almost 5 years after SuperStar Limo shut down (no gain or loss there), along with adding a Hollywood Studios sign & fountain and that's pretty much it.

• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Play It! (now closed) - 2001
• Flik's Fun Fair - 2002
• Soap Opera Bistro converted into Playhouse Disney - 2003
• Tower Of Terror (originally supposed to be there opening day) - 2004
• Monsters Inc replaces SuperStar Limo - 2005

For a theme park that gets complaints about it's lack of rides this is not a very strong effort from Disney to improve the park. Notice how each attraction is a year apart & none of the additions have raised DCA's attendance. It's looks as though Disney just wants to give the minimum effort to fix the park by adding a single new attraction & see what the effect will be. More proof of this type of thinking is what they have lined up:

• Toy Story (Midway) Mania - 2008
• Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color - 2009
• Carland - 2010
• Change the name from Disney's California Adventure to Disney's Grand Adventure - 2011

At this rate DCA (err... DGA) will be 'fixed' in about 20 to 25 years. I doubt the public will give a damn about that park by then. It's already got a bad reputation now.

iSm: When we return from the Grand Canyon I think we should call Wendy & see if we can use her timeshare. I think a (cheap) trip to Florida this fall might be in our future. Keep in mind, though it may be a mere shell of it's former glory, this year is the 25th anniversary of Epcot Center.