News / Walt Disney Studios Park

The presentation and quick inputs from Imagineers during the brief segment simply introduce the characters and describe the ride. Far more interesting, as always with these wonderful little Filmparade shows, are the visuals – here, we’re treated to our very first glimpses at scale models of the boarding area, dark ride scenes and roller coaster, amongst copious construction shots. Later, we even get to see – for the first time – one of those already infamous Turtle Shell ride vehicles…!

After an introduction to the project and some quick shots of construction, the featurette gets right into the good stuff – a bright, colourful, detailed scale model of those mysterious dark ride scenes! The first image features one of the digital projections of Nemo, also featured in Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo & Friends and Disneyland’s Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

The scenes resemble those of a classic dark ride, with the actual area between track and wall being remarkable small – depth in the scenes is instead created through design and lighting. The colours and detail clearly show the scenes as more similar to those of Disneyland’s new Submarine Voyage – with the water drained out, of course!

We’ve heard tales and legends of the Sydney harbour fishing pier-themed boarding area, and now here’s the proof. Looking a little like the theme of Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with the industrial design of Rock n Roller Coaster, the area already looks colourful, detailed and very impressive.

The first image shows the turn after the station, leading to the first lift hill, with the operating booth in the blue building in the middle. The second shows the platform itself, with steps leading down from the queue line bridge, turnstiles and… seagulls, on the roof of the operating booth. These will be almost identical to those outside the Epcot attraction.

In the next shot, the camera gives a guest’s perspective on the area as you exit the ride, showing the incredible theme and detail – and this is only a maquette! Lots of signs and details can already be seen, with lighting, props and – can you believe it? – animatronics all serving to create a truly themed scene.

Next, the camera pulls away from the front of the showbuilding to give an overview of the ride, useful for those still new to the project.

The next three shots show the scale model of the spinning roller coaster section itself. Whilst the design is basically a standard Maurer-Sohne layout, this gives a first look at the way lighting and scenery will be integrated into the ride. Besides the enclosed lift hill, one section of the track in particular is enclosed by a ring of lighting effects similar to the red vortex of Space Mountain: Mission 2.

After a few final camera shots attempting to show what an on-ride view will be like, here comes the big surprise – the Turtle Shell ride vehicle! Though not mounted on the track, the vehicle has been invaded by a few Imagineers, as they check out what it’ll be like for guests once they’re on-board the ride and inside the coaster.

The vehicle itself certainly appears to be one of the final fleet, clearly following the standard Maurer-Sohne design yet with all the turtle shell trimmings as expected. Maurer’s vehicles have been themed well in the past, but once again Disney appear to have taken it to a new level of customisation.

The segment was recorded and uploaded by www.dlrpmagic.eu (not associated with us!) and should still be available for download over there if you’d like to see the pictures in motion.

This surprising news came first from member HTH2004 on Disney Central Plaza forum, who reports that the Production Courtyard placemaking project will begin on Tuesday 9th January 2007 (yes, next week!) with the addition of extra construction fences either side of the future boulevard and around the Studio Tram Tour station.

Between Disney Bros. Plaza (outside Disney Studio 1) and Studio Tram Tour, the small boulevard currently features little more than some plants, asphalt and food kiosks. The new plans, due to be completed as early as May 2007, just before Toon Studio opens, will see several new sets and facades lining the area and replacing the La Terrasse seating area, providing a true Hollywood entrance for the Tower of Terror. Then, in around October 2007, a second section between Place des Stars (Stage & TV Tour) and Armageddon: Special Effects will be worked on, we can presume providing some of the Tower’s infamous overgrown gardens.

WDSFans.com provides an aerial guide to the work below, whilst the second photo shows the Hollywood Boulevard of Disney’s California Adventure park, of which the Parisian version is said to be a smaller cousin.

Also on the French-speaking Disney Central Plaza forum, Grandmath reports the new boulevard and La Terrasse area will feature 23 trees, of which 5 will have been relocated from elsewhere in the park. The giant palm trees, such as those in front of The Hollywood Tower Hotel itself, however, are reportedly going to be false, both to ensure they survive the climate and to keep the forced-perspective of the building in check.

When the park is ready to expand further beyond the Tram Tour, the boulevard is expected to be extended into a full street. Until then, what will fill the end of the boulevard has not been confirmed. Details suggest work will be done to the area in front of Studio Tram Tour, suggesting a new backdrop similar to that at California Adventure could happen – perhaps with the Tram Tour entrance taking the place of California’s Hyperion Theatre. But as always, for now, nothing is confirmed.

What does appear to be confirmed, however, is that all these dates are absolutely true. Raptor1982 of WDSFans.com reports live from the Studios today that the trees along the path have all been dug out, ready to be removed. This not only confirms the placemaking work to be starting very soon, much sooner than expected, but suggests it will be fairly substantial in its impact on the area. Now let’s just hope they don’t give up half way like Toon Studio, eh?

DCA Hollywood Pictures Backlot photo by Joel.

The area in front of Flying Carpets was earmarked for a series of desert planters at the opening of the park, but due to budget restraints it took until 29th July 2006 and the start of the epic Toon Studio place-making project for the extra greenery to become a reality. Now, exactly five months on, the first fully-finished fruits of the project are open for all to see, enveloping the carpets in a tropical, palm tree oasis and creating a new example of the classic Disney “weenie” effect seen with Disneyland’s original Astro Orbitors, Tokyo’s Space Mountain or Paris’ Big Thunder Mountain.

Walt and his Imagineers always referred to these landmark icons as “weenies” since guests are drawn to them as a person is drawn to a weenie (sausage) on a stick. With these tree new “islands” of palm trees, brown railings and luxurious arabian lamps, the effect is that guests still see the Flying Carpets – but not quite enough. And so, they’re drawn to this corner of the land for a closer look.

The sandy-coloured flooring has also been expanded, joining the regular black asphalt with a curved “spill-over” divide. Some sections have yet to be finished to the regular Disney standard, since plans for the place-making project (now postponed for several weeks) call for the entire land’s flooring to be re-laid.

The arabian lamps feature coloured glass in three colours – green, red and blue, and are clearly inspired by similar lamps at the Floridian version of the attraction or at Disneyland Park’s Adventureland Bazaar. More lights have also been installed in the soil of the planters themselves, facing vertically upwards to illuminate the palm trees when night falls.

The planters leave a large space free near the entrance and exit of the attraction, a busy section of the land, but generally help to (unfortunately) exaggerate the work still needed for the rest of the land, particularly the sparse area in front of Animagique.

After discovering the oasis for the first time, it feels hard to remember what the area was like before. That is, until a single glance at photos from as recently as April 2006 makes it clear the striking effect three simple, lightly themed planters can have. Building sets just for a camera is all about simplicity, and, with a perfect budget to do “simple” (the entire place-making project is rumoured to cost just a few million Euros, small change in Disney Park terms), the Imagineers have made it an art.

Rumours have been circulating for a few weeks now about the huge delays with the placemaking project, with what was supposedly a one or two month job now due to be drawn out (excuse the pun) well into 2007. Some cite the new flooring as the problem, being insufficent to withstand time and weather when laid down to cover the current asphalt.

Whatever the reasons, the fences next to Art of Disney have been removed as a temporary measure over the park’s busy Christmas season, and should be returned to their places early next year to (hopefully) allow work to continue. For now, we can get a sneak preview at the initial impact of the project, separating the land from the rest of the park and joining it together with a clear, noticable theme.

Strangely, although the Art of Disney Animation section features no barrier to stop guests walking over the dirt, fences have been added around the palm tree islands of the Flying Carpets Oasis. Though their design is hard to make out from the speedy aerial view of the Flying Carpets themselves, they do not initially appear to have an Arabian theme like the lamps installed above.

Today, ‘rocknroller’ on the French Disney Central Plaza forum reports the Oasis area has been opened to the public, comprising three “islands” of palm trees and extra planting. Photos will be available soon.

All photos by Grandmath, Disney Central Plaza forum.

From the aerial vantage point of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, the full ensemble of palm trees can be seen in a single glance. Spreading from the Flying Carpets entrance across the three new ‘oasis’ islands and now right around the queue line of Crush’s Coaster, it looks like the fan plea for more palms has finally been answered. The trees divide up the paths into smaller, cosier, more Disney-style routes, and finally add a sense of adventure and discovery to the Studios’ otherwise simplistic layout.

The outside queue line’s unpromising metallic canopy has been swarmed by more palm trees, filling gaps which lead through to the outside world or the Genie’s Flying Carpets set. It appears paths are now in the process of being laid, whilst a reinforced, vertical concrete block (which has been in place for several weeks) hints at more still to come. Curiously, work on painting the sides of the lower ‘dark ride’ building has not yet begun.

According to the only concept sketch available, the metallic roof will remain unthemed, with the only detail being lights similar to those outside Armageddon: Special Effects. Instead, in true movie-set style, the theme will only be found around the ‘stars’ (guests) themselves, with supports, signage and build-ups of sand suggesting a dried-up fishing pier.

Aside from the palm trees and setting-out of pathways in the area, a major change making the attraction begin to look a lot like complete is the removal of scaffolding on the rockwork. Now not only does the blue look a whole lot brighter, but the layering and detail of the rockwork becomes more clear. Photo 4 above shows that the highest points of the rocks are actually separate from the building, with the gap likely making the addition of the building’s giant poster mural much easier to accomplish.

The design softens the traditional hard-edged soundstage design seen elsewhere in the Studios, as well as very cleverly sheilding almost all of the ride’s track from view.

The rockwork features three holes – the first, on the right, is the attraction’s exit. Next, where the turtle shell vehicles will dive out of the showbuilding, and finally the third where they will re-enter after the small outside drop, heading into the dark-ride scenes of the ride.

It’s becoming clearer by the day that Crush’s Coaster – and infact the whole of Toon Studio – is a wildly imaginative piece of Imagineering, vastly different to anything else in the park, at Disney’s other studio park in Florida or even at any Disney park worldwide. Not only will Crush’s Coaster introduce European theme park favourite Maurer Söhne to Disney theme parks, but it marks a massive shift in style for Disney attraction design. With this project, imagination really has run riot.

Photos 1-4 by Disneytheque.com, photo 5 by Dlrp.fr

Centre of events has been the giant, teetering canyon rock. Direct from the McQueen and Doc Hudson race scenes in the Disney-Pixar Cars film, the rock has been converted from CGI to reality, becoming a new icon for the future Toon Studio.

Beginning as little more than an unpromising steel and concrete frame on 29th November 2006, by 10th December 2006 the theme element had gained a thin wire mesh frame and a more detailed plaster shell.

The first colour arrived on 13th December, and just four days later on 17th December the main portion of the rock’s themeing was complete. Since the rock is part of a massive, wind-eroded canyon in the film, shrinking the icon down to Toon Studio size obviously took some planning. According to Dlrp.fr, the sculpting was completed by Atelier Artistique du Béton, whose past credits at Disneyland Resort Paris include Catastrophe Canyon and Le Pays de Contes de Fées. This new creation effectively mixes the two together, giving an authentic canyon look with miniturised detail.

Like some elements of Le Pays de Contes de Fées, the rock has been given an ultra-detailed sculpt to suggest it is much larger than it actually is. The small fallen “boulders” near the bottom and the incredible eroded detail of the tallest outcrop will create an optical illusion from the ride area suggesting the rock is larger and more distant from guests than they realise.

From the main entry courtyard of Toon Studio, the current Animation Courtyard, the rock will clearly also provide the classic Imagineering “weenie” effect, pulling guests towards the area and adding interest and colour to this part of the land. Interestingly, the multicoloured backdrop of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah matches the new themeing perfectly, with its purple edge next to the blue rockwork of Crush’s Coaster, it’s orange centre opposite the ochreous rocks of Cars and the final yellow edge next to its own oasis-themed entrance.

Photos by Dlrp.fr and Disneytheque.com

Again from Poppy The Monkey, these photos cover the dramatic evacuation of Walt Disney Studios Park as guests were hurried out of Disney Studio 1, through the backstage gate, past CastmemberLand and across to the more sheltered Disneyland Park.

Click here for the photos »

Poppy The Monkey presented these photos from Saturday on the MagicForum, showing both the initial damage to temporary items at Walt Disney Studios and the clean-up effort that was just beginning. Despite the storms of the day before, the park actually had queues of guests waiting to get inside…

Whilst the majority of the Christmas tree light coverings on Front Lot’s lampposts appear to have survived, the illuminated garland on the Studio Arch was hanging from its fastening, with the area cordoned off to prevent any accidents.

Worst hit were the movie posters on the metal lighting rigs throughout the park. Added in September 2005 as part of a park enhancement programme, they were made with thousands of holes in each design to allow strong wind to flow through, but apparently this was no match for Friday’s weather. The posters were attached to their frames with glue and velcro, but whilst the securly fastened frames remain, many of the posters are gone altogether. The Finding Nemo poster in front of Crush’s Coaster still has one jagged corner remaining.

The construction fences of Tower of Terror, blown over by the winds, have now been repositioned, closing off the Armadillo prop in the process. With their hasty replacement, though, the colours no longer match. At Disney Studio 1, the starlight effect on the windows has been removed completely after almost falling on guests running inside to take shelter on Friday. You can see a photo of the lights falling at DLP.info here.

Fences at the Toon Studio construction sites were also blown over. It’s not all bad news, though – at the entrance to the work-in-progress land, the fences next to Studio 1 have yet to be replaced, giving a clear view of the new “forest” of trees planted here a few months ago…

It is currently unknown whether the Studio 1 starlight effect or the many movie posters will be replaced in coming days or weeks. Overall, however, the Studios stood up well to its first weather crisis.

Storm photos by Poppy The Monkey, other photos by DLRP Today and Photos Magiques.