Disney's Futura

 Hope everyone had a great Christmas.  Quick Reminder that the IdealBuildout Contest deadline is December 30th... just a few short days from now. 

***
Now, on to a new theme park.  This park orginated with a request by Leandro of Holland to create a site plan out of his idea and very rough drawing:

My interest was piqued by this idea of an all-future version of the Magic Kingdom: a Tomorrowland expanded outward to an entire theme park.  Since Tomorrowland has had a number of different identities since its inception (eg., real world futurism, Victorian steampunk, googie, deco-tech), and each identity has typically regressed into its current state of “Anything Goes”, I thought this would be a fun chance  to give some of these identities a themed area of their own.

I started from scratch with the layout and re-arranged, deleted, altered and added to the park's contents to come up with this:

Each of Futura's lands is based on some specific aspect or genre of sci-fi futurism, with each being its own world, distinct from the others in architecture, landscape & mood.
 

FUTURA BOULEVARD: Deco-Tech/Retro-Futursim

I imagined a version of Main Street USA in a retro-futuristic stye (Flash Gordon/Jetsons/1930s-1950s pulp) but with a clean, forward-looking, techno-industrial aesthetic.  This is a sci-fi land with lots of robots, towers, domes, etc.   Similar to Disneyland, there is a train station over the entrance to the park, but this train would be a futuristic MagLev.  I also put in an automated streetcar system that passes through the indoor arcade of one of the building blocks.  


The park’s icon is a futuristic version of the familiar fantasy castle. 

TOON-TROPOLIS: Animation/Googie

This land would be home to the animated, “Disney” vision of future, with attractions, restaurants & architecture based on Meet the Robinsons, Wall-E, Buzz Lightyear.   It is cheerful & colorful with lots of curves – a futuristic Toontown.

CYBERPUNK CITY: CyberPunk/Dystopia

Taking the opposite approach, this land features the ominous, gritty, dark style of films like “BladeRunner” & “Alien”.   Film Noir.  Lots of neon signs, steam and skybridges.   The comedy club lightens the mood.  I added a BladeRunner-like scoop E-ticket attracion based on a future Detective Agency.

NEBULA ONE STARPORT: Epic Space Fantasy

 This land is a space port with many ships, aliens, droids, bars, etc. – like something you might find in the Star Wars universe.    I added an AA darkride based on the characters of Captain Eo, taking them on a new musical adventure, but now tangible rather than filmed.   There is a launch-coaster experience that would feature pull-down virtual reality headsets (like those  Bremen Space Center) to simulate atmospheric dogfights synced with the movement of the track.  

MECHANICA HARBOUR: SailPunk

The next land takes the unique style invented (I think) by the artists who worked on “Treasure Planet” called SailPunk: It is 18th Century Sea-going (PotC) meets Sci-fi Space Adventure.  The lagoon is home to the Solar Winds fountain & FX show.

ALIEN PLANET: Alien Culture & Landscapes

This land simulates a mysterious alien homeworld.  If you know the game StarCraft, I had that in mind (Protoss planet), as I drew the land.  There are several overgrown temples.  Giant glowing blue crystals would grow among the strange trees throughout this land.   A crashed Mothership is part of the pre-show for the park’s flagship attraction (kuka).  

EARTH STATION: Reality-based TechnoFuturism

The final land takes its cue from the original Tomorrowlands & EPCOT’s opening day Future World:  It is reality-based, techno-optimistic futurism, hands-on & educational in nature with at least one lengthy, Horizons-like omnimover ride.  

***
  Thoughts?  Comments? 

Enhancing HKDL's Castle & Contest Announcement

Here's a quick creative entry followed by an announcement regarding the first ever IdealBuildout Design Contest.

First, I wanted to examine ways in which the HKDL Castle could be enhanced (i.e., heightened).  I feel that each DL-style park should have its own unique castle as its signature icon.  I think the SB castle design is a little too short, squat and underwhelming for its surroundings - not as soaring or majestic as it could be.  The idea here is to make it a little taller & grander - similar in proportion to Paris' castle: the paradigm of proportionality - while keeping most of the features of the original.  It remains deferential but stands as its own unique centerpiece:

And a quick photoshop of the middle version:

 

***

Now, on to The Contest...  ImagineeringDisney had an armchair contest early this year in which some pretty impressive work was submitted, and I thought it might be fun to do the same thing here.

The rules are simple.  

1. Dream up a theme park (or water park).  It can be an enhancement of an existing park, an all-star park, or - hopefully - something new. 

2. Draw your park (pencil, digitally, colored pen - doesn't matter). Points awarded for detail, clarity, professionalism, creativity.  Supplementary illustrations welcome.

3. Annotate your drawing (label) and include a written description (length at your discretion).

4. Submit your park drawing/description to me via email (address in About Me section at left) by midnight on December 30th, 2011.  

Shortly thereafter winners will be announced, shared & discussed here.   The winner(s) will have the option to request customized site plans (if desired) or concept artwork done by me for their park. 

Hoping you will have some fun with this and create some outstanding visual materials for your parks.

 

Tokyo DisneySea 2025

Continuing from last post, this entry will feature artwork & images created exclusively by yours truly.  I hope you enjoy:

I created these drawings for fun - imagining what my ideal built-out Tokyo DisneySea might be like.  

Currently, there are four pads surrounding TDS that seem reasonably suitable for expansion.  Since OLC has been adding youth-focused shows based on established Disney/Pixar characters since Tower of Terror opened in 2006, all of these additions return to the park’s more character-free roots.    And because TDS is fairly short on water/boat rides (for a park about the Sea), I added two major water attractions and a new bay. 

LOST RIVER DELTA: This area is the last greenfield of the park.  It is big enough for a small land (e.g. A Bug’s Land) or a large attraction.  I opted for the latter, expanding Lost River Delta.  The attraction I chose would be an FX & AA-laden flume based around the search & mysteries of the Lost City of El Dorado.   The layout and boat size is reminiscent of the Jurassic Park River Adventure.   Any visible showbuilding not hidden by dense rainforest vegetation would be heavily-themed as ancient ruins.    Here is a massing model of the show-building:

And a storyboard sketch of the boat entering the overgrown ruins for encounters with hostile natives and their gods.

GANGSTER ROW: Taking up the parking lot beyond the soon-to-open Toyville Trolley Park would be an area of gritty, seedy buildings and home to an indoor shooter coaster featuring Gangsters and the Coppers trying to take them down (guests would be divided in the queue).  There would also be a themed Prohibition era eatery & bar.  Here is a conceptual elevation I drew of the area facades:

 And a concept of one of the ride vehicles:

LEONARDO’S WORKSHOP: An ornate Renaissance villa would be home (and house the queue) to inventor & artist Leonardo Da Vinci.  After queueing past his creations, guests would board his latest Flying Machine for a Soarin’ experience.   Here is a massing model and conceptual elevation of the attration:

SVALBARD BAY: The final land takes up the giant parking lots north of the Arabian Coast.  I’ve read a rumor that a Glacier Lake expansion was/is slated for this area, so I went in that direction and created Svalbard Bay.  The aesthetic is EPCOT’s Norway (Scandinavian) meets Hogsmeade (whimsical/fake snow banks) meets New Orleans Square (lots of little alleyways).   Since this land is a New Orleans Square of the Far North it features a “Vikings of the North Sea” indoor AA boat ride that parallels PotC in mood and execution.    The land is not specifically set in time, but has quaint industrial technology, so the Viking attraction would begin the Village’s history museum.    In the bay, among the icebergs, there is a Viking longboat and sidewheeler/tall-ship icebreaker.   In coming up with plan I tried to remain conscience of attraction diversity so the final attraction would feature something akin the new Pandora’s Box ride system by Vekoma to present an original adventure based on the mysteries of the Aurora Borealis (treading close to The Golden Compass):  Here is a concept elevation & massing model of the land:

***

So there is a build-out of DisneySea.  Comments?  How would the next 15 years unfold if you were Toshio Kagami?