News / Walt Disney Studios Park

Being a Saturday, many local fans were already at the park, and got a first-hand look at the soft-opening previews. Like magic, the blue fences were pushed aside with rows of new Toon Studio Cast Members waiting to greet guests – and inform them of no photography, no filming, merci! The invited guests were all families and workers of Imagineering, construction and vendors – though later hours did see a few regular guests allowed entry.

A view to the new Toon Studio, no Flying Carpet required! 

The day also marked the first official use of the new Toon Studio costumes, seen above, made up of khaki trousers, a red jumper underneath a white shirt decorated with sketches of Disney characters, a red baseball cap and finally the all-important Toon Studio jacket – blue in colour, with the new Toon Studio logo loud and clear. Underneath, logos for Crush’s Coaster, Cars Quatre Roues Rallye and Flying Carpets Over Agrabah. The Crush logo appears like that at the attraction itself – a blue and green warning sign – whilst the Flying Carpets logo is also brand new.

Surrounding the area are several signs indicating that the previews are for invited guests only. WDSFans.com got a high-quality capture of one, so we can see the land’s new logo up-close…

New logo revealed 

‘Official opening 9th June 2007’ of course, but tha’s not the case for the Toon Studio themed area itself – which has infact just opened to the public TODAY, 21st May 2007, for the very first time. Not only does this give guests a better preview of the new area before its two major attractions open, but it’s now an important route through to Studio Tram Tour.

New path gives a true ‘backstage’ experience

Grandmath on Disney Central Plaza forum captured this photo from next to the Tram Tour last week, showing current progress on the new path which will take visitors from the back of Toon Studio to Studio Tram Tour’s temporary entrance. This now allows work to fully begin on the second – and far larger – placemaking project: Hollywood Boulevard. Tomorrow really is becoming today!

Opening photo by nos77 on DCP; Logos captured by WDSFans.com; New path photo by Grandmath.

Strangely, it was back on 9th June 2006 that WDSFans.com reported the first major rumours for the Animation Courtyard placemaking. Blue colours for the existing buildings, a Sorcerer Mickey statue and – just maybe – some of the characters from Walt Disney World’s Cinderella Castle overlay to appear on the Sorcerer’s Hat. Walt Disney Studios is lucky – it’s not often Disney park rumours become absolutely true…

The redecorated Art of Disney / Wendy flies high 

So, here they are! After a break from park life for just over eight months, three of the golden statues from the ‘Happiest Celebration On Earth’ decorations at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom have flown their way right across the Atlantic for a permanent new home at Walt Disney Studios Park. Holes first appeared in the hat last weekend, and the statues were installed overnight on Tuesday/Wednesday the 16th/17th.

Peter Pan and Wendy are held in place by blue supports similar to those at their old home, whilst Tink flies on her own golden spiral, surrounded by stars.

Peter Pan leads the way / Tinkerbell spirals to the top of the hat 

Of course, according to the various concepts we’ve seen, work shoudn’t end here. The stars, lines and moon should be painted gold and joined by some ‘3D’ golden spirals around the hat like those already trailing Tinkerbell. Shown on both this concept from February and the current Walt Disney Studios map are several other flying statues from Disneyland’s 50th at Walt Disney World. The young Michael is shown trailing Peter and Wendy, whilst Ariel and Flounder float above the canopy by the Art of Disney Animation entrance. Finally, Dumbo appears hovering just in front of the hat’s moon.

Since the current statues were installed on Wednesday nothing else has yet to happen with the project, opening up speculation about whether these further changes will happen. In the first of Grandmath’s photos above, though, a small hole can be spotted in the wall above the word ‘Disney’. A chip in the artwork or preparation for Flounder?

Other preparations nearby can’t be missed…

Boxes of sorcery? 

Some nice new wooden boxes as props? Of course not! They’re hiding the foundations of the Sorcerer Mickey statue, which has yet to make its long-awaited appearance. The ground and plants around this new square planter have all be made ready though, with the position for the base of the statue outlined with an oval in the greenery.

With thanks to Grandmath for the Hat photos and Disneytheque.com for the statue base photo!

Whilst little more than 2D façades with empty behinds were – and are – generally expected for this development, as the corner points of the building row forming a huge physical barrier between The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the park entrance, these two at least will be fully-formed, 3D sets.

We reported the first metal framework beginning construction last week, and since then this interesting square tower has begun to match even more exactly the expected finished design – a reproduction of the ‘Off the Page’ store entrance from Hollywood Pictures Backlot at Disney’s Calfifornia Adventure. Also depicted on the new Walt Disney Studios Park map, this building features a square, pointed spire on its roof, and the latest photos below show that construction of its skeleton has almost reached this point.

Adding to the development now is a second tower, much larger in floorspace than the first and equally impressive in height, already adding quite a landmark to the previously barren corner by the Place des Stars stage. Now imagine this with a few more façades inbetween the two and fully decorated in warm Pueblo Deco colours – as a new “heart” for Walt Disney Studios Park, this should really get things beating in a more true Disney style.

The exact design of the building can be seen on the new park map below, with a large square body and a round dome similar to those on The Hollywood Tower Hotel behind. It doesn’t appear to match exactly with a building on either of Disney’s other two Hollywood developments – at Disney-MGM Studios and California Adventure – and considering its size could easily be put to use as something more than an empty façade.

It’s already clear that these buildings on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard won’t just be a much-needed boost of glamour and style for the middle of the park. As the map shows, they form a major barrier between the current hub at Disney Bros Plaza and the entrance of Tower of Terror, forcing guests to walk towards Studio Tram Tour or around Production Courtyard to reach the attraction, perhaps a response to concerns in earlier years that this location was too close to the park’s entrance for such a popular attraction.

The impressive size of the frames already exaggerate the forced perspective design of the 183-ft Tower behind, making it appear taller and more distant, as if this 1950s Hollywood development gradully built-up around its decaying exterior in the decade since that fateful night…

Map © Disney; All photos by Photos Magiques.

Casting has begun for that most prestigious of new roles amongst the upcoming productions at Walt Disney Studios Park. Tower bellhop? Bah! Turtle twister? Don’t get in a spin. This is the big one: the chance to portray a genetic mutation like never before at the Disney Channel Studios – real, live, in front of a studio audience!

Don’t worry, Julie hasn’t returned from the dead – this is Stitch! And for the upcoming Stitch Encounter, some very lucky Cast Members will be spending their days speaking his voice and controlling his movements on-screen, effectively acting out his entire role and interacting with the unprepared – and sure to be quite unexpected – dialogue of the watching audience.

A work position was posted on a French casting website, calling for “comedians capable of imitating the voice of Stitch”. Aware of the strong audience participation in Walt Disney Imagineering “Living Character” show, they’re also asking that applicants be capable of holding an audience and interacting off-script with an audience. You’d need to be between the ages of 20 and 35, fluent in French, English or both. Any additional languages will be a good bonus.

The need for a comedian is particularly highlighted, which already sounds promising for an attraction which relies heavily on the live roles of its Cast Members. The voice of Stitch for each show will need to not only portray the alien’s voice but also control his CGI movements on the giant projection screen and shape the narrative of the show through pre-designed animation rendered in real-time. Another requirement is therefore that the chosen Stitch(es) must be able to work a computer console and joystick.

At the attraction itself, work appears to have already begun on transforming the interior of the old Walt Disney Television Studios tour into the new theatre-based attraction. Closed for good on 16th April 2007, the largely unpopular attraction was swiftly surrounded by blue construction fences and stripped of immediate references to the old walk-through attraction.

The layout configuration of the new Stitch Encounter is still unconfirmed. Will it follow the same route as the former tour, passing by hard-working/solitaire-playing Disney Channel video control crew, or could a totally new design be used? With the former Disney Channel CyberSpace postshow closed since January already, this actually gives two perfect spots for the new theatre room, including the Art Attack stage which has been widely rumoured to be the chosen location.

The casting call posted above also throws up more questions about the actual launch date of the attraction.  Originally rumoured for November 2007, the official press release of 1st April 2007 announced it for an ‘Early 2008’ opening.  Strangely, the casting position is for October 2007 to March 2008!

One thing is certain – they’d better have a longer queue line planned out. Julie might have been legendary, but no-one can match the popularity of Stitch. Especially not if he’s appearing live, courtesy of a professional comedian!

Photos by Photos Magiques.

Launched on 20th February with the official Disneyland15.com, the official anniversary blog has come from modest beginnings to present a series of unique videos and articles delving into the backstage talent of the 15th Anniversary Celebration. Our host, Tristane, has introduced us to the scent creator, costume designer and director of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, and now attention has switched dramatically to Toon Studio, particularly Crush’s Coaster.

The first surprise on the French version of the blog today was the following photo, showing a painter at work on murals inside the key “dark ride” scenes of this unique new spinning roller coaster:

We’ve seen glimpses into the dark ride scenes before, but this more recent image shows some of the final, vibrant colours of the scenes and the talent at work. The scenes are much smaller, the route much thinner, than a usual dark ride, which might seem strange considering the theme of “the big blue”, but the paintwork completed here shows how the Imagineers have designed tricks of the eye to give the effect of real undersea depth. With blurred, faded background coral behind vibrant, crisp detail, a flat wall suddenly becomes a window into the depths of the Great Barrier Reef, with 3D sculpted coral in front adding another depth.

A good news day for Crush’s Coaster, then. But they weren’t done yet – a little later, and suddenly a brand new video has been uploaded to the blog, presenting even more backstage previews. Presented as a simple slide show with just a few seconds of actual footage, the video serves to present a series of never-before-seen images: concept models, detailed, sculpted coral and more…

A look at each and every shot of the video:

(1) Front elevation of Studio 5, shows some interior detail of the boarding area, such as steps over the track to its platform and a studio-style lighting rail above the action.

(2) A fantastic scale model of the entire attraction. The entrance path is chopped in half in the foreground – notice the warnings and wait times sign recently added in reality. The full 3D marquee featuring Crush is seen as a piece white card on guests’ left, a little further into the queue and yet to be modelled here.

(3) A close-up of the model, showing the outside drop and its jagged, diagonal rockwork surround. Notice the steel fences recently added, which here are shown to cut through a large chunk of blue rock, home to Nemo and Squirt amongst a small crop of green plants.

(4) The camera pans right to left, showing the route of the outside drop, its track almost entirely concealed by the rocks and shown to be filled with several plants.

(5) The lowest point of the drop and a close-up of Nemo and Squirt. These figures will be similar to those at the old Finding Nemo photo location, now lost to the Hollywood Boulevard project.

(6) We move onwards to the first scene of the dark ride, seen as if you were above the building looking toward Cars and Art of Disney Animation. The entrance from the outside drop is top-left, the two state-of-the-art digital projection screens lower-right and top-right. The coral is filled with a rainbow of colours.

(7) The next scene, this model shows only the Angler Fish attack, with the previous scene depicted as a flat floorplan. The colour and light has disappeared for a much more uncertain tone.

(8) A zoom-in on this corner of the track. One angler fish faces toward oncoming turtle shells on the corner, whilst another hides around the bend pointing toward shells as they continue past. Like the digital projections before, these are two identical effects doubled-up to ensure guests in both sides of the back-to-back ride vehicles see the same experience.

(9) Another close look at these impressive Audio-Animatronics, also due to be found at Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (California).

(10) An impressive example of coral sculpted for the attraction. Though no commentary is provided with these images, the coral appears to be in a tent backstage at Walt Disney Studios Park. Interesting, since it would be assumed the coral would be sculpted on-site at its final location. Several reference photos and concepts are pinned to a board above the décor.

(11) The lower portion of the coral shows even more variety in the undersea life, matching that seen full-coloured in the concept models above.

(12) A close-up of the coral. Impressive detail, and certainly like nothing else at Walt Disney Studios Park.

(13) Another close-up shows even more variety, all referenced from real coral and reproduced to be entirely accurate to undersea life.

(14) Finally, a noticeboard with the concept model of the attraction next to two real-life reference photos used to design its jagged rockwork façade, similar in design – if not unnatural blue colour – to that over in Adventureland.

After all this work, it might actually seem like 154 years for some of the Imagineers involved!

Video, photo and all video caps Copyright Disney.

2007 has been a whirlwind year for Walt Disney Studios Park, and although the four months between the announcement of Hollywood Boulevard and this first building structure may have brought noisy construction with a silence of news, the magic has been quietly building all this time. Can you imagine knowing 12 months ago a whole boulevard of street sets was to be green-lit and begin construction? It was top of the Walt Disney Studios “wishlist” for every fan throughout the first five years of the park, and now it’s becoming a reality.

This is the first major example of Walt Disney Imagineering’s “placemaking” initiative, and last week Disneytheque.com snapped exciting photos of the very first framework for a piece of the future ‘Boulevard of Dreams’… well, “exciting” if you scroll down a little further to see what it’ll become…

It’s a little less than dream-like, hey? But since every guest now visits the park equipped with their own construction-tracker (in the form of the recently updated park map), they can spot exactly which piece of the boulevard has begun construction…

In this case, it’s one of the “Pueblo Deco tower” buildings confirmed from the Cast Member Rendez-Vous event in January, and a closer look at the construction-tracker guide map reveals this is already a familiar Disney icon – one of the most popular pieces of Hollywood Pictures Backlot at Disney’s California Adventure park. The main tower of the ‘Off the Page’ storefront will be reconstructed without its signage – or interior.

The exact details of what will be featured inside the buildings has yet to be confirmed. Some, such as the ‘Gone Hollywood’ storefront across the street (also from California Adventure), will be nothing more than facades, but with the more three-dimensional buildings such as ‘Off the Page’, possibilites arise for actual uses. It has been confirmed already that one of the building arches to the left of this tower will shelter a brand new Tips Board (waiting times indicator) for the park.

The metal frame itself still has some way to grow – it currently reaches only to around the top of the Disney characters on the ‘Off the Page’ sign. With a line of impressive Pueblo Deco facades in front of the Tower and a second boulevard behind (stretching from Studio Tram Tour to Production Courtyard), The Hollywood Tower Hotel will be given a true boulevard setting and enclosed within its own Hollywood land, the buildings also helping to increase its height through forced perspective.

And in just over seven months, the Boulevard of Dreams will be complete. Now that is the magic of the movies!

Latest photos by Disneytheque.com, Off the Page photo by Jeff Keller.

The idea Walt Disney Imagineering calls “Area Development” has gone to play in every corner of Toon Studio. Whilst Disneyland Park has been the king of area development for over 15 years – everywhere from Boot Hill to Discovery Lagoon – Walt Disney Studios Park is finally beginning to join in with its three Toon Studio filmsets and the wacky studio entrance gate at the back of the land. Today, it’s all about signs – and they’re all pointing to the Toons.

The long-awaited ‘Cars’ neon was installed a couple of weeks ago atop the Ramone’s House of Body Art-inspired queue entrance. With a shiny red finish and a sleek metallic surround, it looks like a perfect slice of Route 66 Americana. Elsewhere, the neons and studio lighting glow throughout the day, ready to draw people in, whilst more trees have been added just in front of the Cadillac Range backdrop. Because – unlike the rest of the Studios and its loud billboards – this area likes to keep things a bit more hidden, give guests something to discover as they turn each corner…

Turning the corner towards Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, they will be confronted with a billboard – but smaller, more colourful and a key part of the area development. The ‘Welcome to Radiator Springs’ sign looks like it was copied and pasted right out of Pixar’s computers. In the distance, you can see the entrance sign for the attraction has also been installed, reading ‘Cars Quatre Roues Rallye’ in customised, bright blue neons.

As for the electricity pylons, theyve now been littered with studio lighting also pointing towards a Toon – the giant undersea backdrop of Crush’s filmset, so perhaps those electricity wires are almost real?

Sticking with Cars, and the photo below – from Disneytheque.com – again shows another new sign, but maybe not what we expected. With its dark, rotting wooden facade, the middle storefront always seemed to be a sure location for Lizzie’s Radiator Springs Curios. As the lopsided sign shows, though, Tow Mater has taken this spot! The photo also shows the large collection of new conifer trees in the area behind the land, as well as a brand new gate between Route 66 and the Studio Tram Tour route.

Crush’s Coaster has been receiving a last minute touch-up to its paintwork this week, helping the dark blue rockwork blend better with the brighter side wall thanks to an air-blown gradient.

Here too there are new signs pointing to the Toons. The all-important entrance sign was installed last week, with a small logo and wait time indicator at the top then two pairs of warnings signs below, one in French, the other in English. The information board clearly uses the same style as those at Epcot’s ‘The Seas with Nemo & Friends’.

It’s a small sign for the towering Studio 5 behind, but sources including La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum have confirmed that the much larger marquee featuring Crush himself will still appear, positioned along the queue line just before guests step under the canopy at the side of the studio.

The previously pale yellow building of Animagique doesn’t have any new signage but it does have a blinding new blue colour scheme to point guests toward itself – now with an extra touch of purple to replace the dull red bricks around the top of its waiting area roof. Later photos on Disneytheque.com show the pillars either side of the entrance (here being painted with a white primer) have actually been repainted in the very same blue as before, where a more contrasting colour might have been expected.

Also strange to note – the Fantasia hippos previously positioned in the flower beds on the right of the building, toward the Monsters Inc photo location, have now been moved to the lawn behind Art of Disney Animation, along the Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic route. The move doesn’t look temporary, so it remains to be seen if they will be returned to Animation Courtyard once the flooring has been completed, let alone what remains of their former flower beds…

But whilst the hippos are gone, something else returns. The look-out tower next to Flying Carpets Over Agrabah – which was recently repainted purple from dark blue – has now regained its fabric canopy and walls.

Finally, we end with the biggest pointer to the Toons of them all – the land’s brand new Sorcerer Mickey statue. We first saw a glimpse of the statue being sculpted in February, and now that the latest issue of Tales from the Laughing Place has shipped, we can get a closer look at the Studios’ fourth Mickey statue.

The Imagineer at work is Valerie Edwards, and the statue should finally appear in its full, golden form later this month, along with a spark of magic flying across the parade route and the host of other golden Disney characters on the Sorcerer’s Hat. So if it looks like everything’s pointing to the Toons right now, just wait ’till June!

Photos 5 & 6 by Disneytheque.com; Photos 7 & 8 by Kyoto, Disney Magic Interactive; Photo 12 taken from Tales from the Laughing Place; All other photos by Photos Magiques.

The damage and wounds of that fateful night in 1939 are finally beginning to appear all over The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, as construction suddenly hits a lightning pace to depict in full detail the blast of that fatal lightning strike. With the surrounding Hollywood Boulevard street set development set in the timeframe of the 1950s, the Tower also has over ten years of decay and dirt to cover its sandy exterior.

Early April saw the removal of the white tarp covering the front body of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, revealing the progress so far on the concrete behind. Well over half of the Tower, nearing around 80-90%, has now received full paintwork of pale yellow colours, with weathering and dirt on some sections finally turning this to the murky yellow we know from Disney’s California Adventure.

As for those fractures, they’re becoming clearer by the day. The separate right-hand tower is the first to receive cracks and breaks in its faux plaster, all filled with dirt seeping down across the previously clean paintwork. Below this, and at each of the metallic elevator door openings, steel frames have been added similar to those used in the sculpting of the Crush’s Coaster rockwork. These will be covered over with broken and ripped plaster to give the effect that a whole wing of the hotel collapsed into rubble when the lightning hit, leaving the elevator doors to open right onto a 13-storey drop towards the ground.

On the front body of the tower, above the indoor show scenes below, bricks have been built up to give the effect of the crumbled tower, bashed and knocked into pieces to give a real impression of the “blast” of lightning. Eventually, these will be further enhanced with more paintwork and weathering – plus a heavy dose of black and purple soot and dirt. Notice also that the extended room below the brickwork now has a fully finished pueblo tiled roof!

Elsewhere, other parts of the Tower continue to grow. The front tower, with the lowest dome, is finally beginning to grow with a full steel frame and the first additions of final plaster and concrete, whilst the sides of the main tower are now being given their balconies. You couldn’t ask for a better view – though currently the floorless balconies wouldn’t give you much time to appreciate it…

Not everything is dark and scary though, the Studio Tram Tour side of the lobby building is still being given its first coat of yellow paint and, with all of its classic 1930s windows, still looks like a fairly respectible Hollywood location. Even La Terrasse is getting a Hollywood touch-up, finally receiving a fresh coast of white paint (on the right) to prepare it for its supporting role in the new Hollywood Boulevard project.

Finally, two more photos from just this week kindly sent in by Kevin, the same reader who provided us with a look at Lightning McQueen yesterday. As the unseasonal hot, sunny weather gives the perfect climate for our Californian hotel, more progress can be spotted across the building – particulatly with the separate, small tower at the front, which now has a full concrete/plaster shell over one side of its steel frame.

Putting a 183-ft Tower at the heart of the park covered in such high detail was a clever move on the Imagineers’ part – as guests wander around Walt Disney Studios now, they can’t help but almost constantly gaze upwards to the 13th floor. An exciting bit of distraction, until the rest of the park catches up…

And don’t forget, you can see even more of the Tower — including a full archive of over 240 photos from the first blow of the shovel to today — at Photos Magiques!