Customized Kingdom

Hello and hope everyone’s having a great summer (for those north of the Equator).

This entry is another guest feature, this time by IdealBuildout reader MagicLamp.  Interestingly, MagicLamp created his version of a New Magic Kingdom by cutting and pasting a number of my previously-posted parks:

I then went back and re-scaled and re-drew the park from scratch, adding details and additions.

OVERALL:  As I drew the park I saw that it has three central themes.  The west is Adventure.  The central is Fantasy (composed of five sub-lands).  The east is Discovery.   This is like that site plan of “Asian Disneyland” in the latest Imagineering book.  This also reminded me of the entrance to Animal Kingdom with its trio of ticket booth statues – elephant, triceratops & dragon – representing the Real, the Extinct, and the Imaginary.   Here, you’ll notice that there are three paths leading from where ticket booths would be (not drawn), I imagine that at its start each could have a bronze statue (circle) representing, for example, Adventure (explorer Donald), Fantasy (princess Minnie) and Discovery (inventor Mickey). 

LANDS OF FANTASY

FAIRYTALE STREET: I made this street non-linear & asymmetrical, as one would expect in a Fantasyland-style overlay of Main St.  I got rid of sidewalks as I don’t believe they existed in the Fantasyland time period.  The Train Station is moved to the side as it is a little out of period, and the distant central castle is the anchor for this land (and all the Fantasy areas).  The entrance paths go under the track, which is on a tree-laden hill, to reach the town square area.   The building on the rights side of the Square area is an exhibit based on Walt Disney’s history with bringing fairytales to the screen. 

Fairytale Street has two side streets.  Buccaneer Alley features Peter Pan’s Flight as it eases the transition to Adventure Bay and Inventor’s Road has a Pinocchio dark ride as it transitions to Discovery Bay.

ENCHANTED FOREST: This central land is basically a re-arranged version of the FLE (composed of both the old and new proposals).  I added an overlook on the lower level of Beast’s Castle (full-scale in this version) that lets visitors get a closer look at the “Enchanted Waters” area (waterfalls, pools, etc.).

COUNTRYSIDE:  The manicured English countryside of hedgerows and tended trees features attractions based on The Wind in the Willows, Milne's Pooh and Alice in Wonderland.

MICKEYVILLE: A medieval Toontown based on the WDI/Hani El-Masri proposal for Tokyo Disneyland.   Sorcerer Mickey can be met in an interactive, exploratory tower (built into the mountain ridge).  I was thinking an original 3-D musical film can go in the Music Hall (rather than PhilharMagic – which uses more modern instruments and clothing than is perhaps theme-appropriate for this land) .

art by www.hanielmasri.com

STORYBOOK CIRCUS:  In addition to what will be found at the MK’s new land, there is a D+ dark ride (Big Top) and a restaurant that has a viewing section of the ride (I believe such a concept was once proposed for Circusland at DL in the 70s or 80s).

DISCOVERY BAY: Discovery Bay is about gears, inventions, steampunk, riveted steel, etc.  Among the headliners is Island at the Top of the World , where riders board suspended dirigibles over elaborate AA scenes of a mythical, arctic Shanghri-La.  The Hyperion juts from its hangar on a Cliffside above the Bay promenade.

The land is covered in large pipes which are leaking steam.  A large gear-like platform rises from the Bay for periodic fountain shows.   Journey to the Center of the Earth winds around the land.   There is a submerged peoplemover-like attraction that tours the underwater sites of the Bay (ruins, shipwrecks, sea creatures, etc.).

ADVENTURE BAY: The approach to this land is a Pirate Village.  Similar to New Orleans Sq at DL, there is a lower-level water side promenade that could help with show/fireworks viewing (as it does with Fantasmic at DL).

 The rear of the land is jungle, pulp, serial themed (Indy, Everest, Baloo River Cruise).   Headhunter canoes add some kinetic movement to the Bay.

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Alright.  Looks like a another great spin on the Disneyland model.  MagicLamp, feel free to elaborate on your ideas in the comments section.

Sydney Disneyland

A little while back I received a request to draw a park based on this drawing by Ludovic Lefort:

 

While a drawing like this is a little too rough for me to translate, I decided to take this park on because there were some interesting features in his written description.  Ludovic's first language is French so there was a significant communication barrier, and my final drawing reflects my variation on his idea, rather than a straight translation of his park:

AMERICAN SEAPORT:  Ludovic wanted a typical, geometrical Main Street, but with a yesteryear Rhode Island/Mytic, CT theme rather than Middle America.  I took his idea further and opened Main Street into a bigger version of DisneySea's Cape Cod, influenced by Melville, Pete's Dragon, Nantucket, etc.

There is ride similar in scale to PotC, but based on northeastern nautical legends and folklore.

BIG RIVER BEND: Continuing with the idea of new twists on classic Disney lands, this Frontierland reflects not the frontier of mesas & cowboys, but the more civilized midwest and south (e.g. Mark Twain's Mississippi).

COUNTRY CIRCUS: I liked the idea of separating the American-set story of Dumbo from the pre-20th c. European fairytales of Fantasyland.  

image from progresscityusa.com

ADVENTURE PASS: Adventureland here is miniaturized, reflecting South Pacific and Himilayan exoticsm that may be appropriate for the Australian market.  The train passes through a lengthy JungleCruise-style show scene (ruined temple, Elephant grotto, orangutans).  Everest is designed so that the sides facing Adventure Pass resemble the Himalayas while the side facing Fantasyland resembles an Alpine peak.

FANTASYLAND: Fantasyland is buffered by a number of wooded exploration zones.  A castle based on The Beast's (with restaurant) is the park icon.  Bambi's Woods is a transition area from the American Big River to the animation-dominated FL.   The Teacups are found within Alice's Labyrinth.  As mentioned above, the Alpine side of Everest serves as the backdrop to the regionally-appropriate dark rides of Pinocchio and Snow White.   The Pixie Hollow area once planned for MK is also here:

TOONTOWN:  The two new attractions in this version of Toontown include a dry-land Aquatopia-like ride (Motor Mania) as well as a major motorbike launch coaster themed to Darkwing Duck.

HOLLYWOOD: Home to both a light look at Disney & Pixar Animation as well as the darker side of classic Tinsel-town.  One can imagine the possibilities of a Golden Age Hollywood-themed Haunted Mansion, which can connect in subtle ways to the ToT mythology.

Desmond Villa from 'Sunset Boulevard'

TOMORROWLAND:  Here, Tomorrowland is a fantasy Spaceport, with Star Tous, Skytopia (hovercrafts), a spinner with mini-Treasure Planet space galleons, and a Space Mountain with a Black Hole story overlay.

DISCOVERY EXPOSITION: The final land I based on the rivet & iron look of the famous Paris Expositions of the 19th Century.  The attractions are heavily influenced by Jules Verne (e.g. 20K Under the Sea from DisneySea with a Nautilus walkthrough as its queue, an Around the World in 80 Days in the style of IASW, a steampunk version of Dinosaur (aka Countdown to Extinction, a verions of Soarin')... a lot of heavy hitters in the bottom of the line-up.

 

 

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So there is another variation on a theme of a Disneyland-style park.  As mentioned in the beginning, this was based on a reader submission, with a great deal of personal interpretation.  I am always open to guest submissions, although I can't promise that I'll be able to draw them (a decently-scaled, cleanly drawn plan goes a long way, however)