Disney's California Adventure Overhaul
- Thread starter annabannaboo
- Start date
-
Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.
Maybe it'll move a bit quicker than you were expecting?
I dunno. I guess it's possible. I just expected with all the indoor scenes and how big it is it'd be longer.
Excited to ride it in November, though.
You guys forgot to post this one from the same article:
And while we are on the topic of Disney Parks Blog articles pertaining to Cars Land, here are three recent ones that haven't been mentioned here:
Elsewhere in DCA, work is being done to finish the Buena Vista Street area of the park. This article and video share what went into the murals made of uniquely colored tiles for the Carthay Cirlcle Theatre.
MiceChat is reporting that the first public tests for Luigi's Flying Tires have been less than stellar:
Lastly, MiceChat also has a great construction photo update up this week:
Buena Vista Street is receiving all the final detail work needed to open:
One of the Red Car Trolleys testing on the tracks:
A look towards Carthay from the monorail:
This is the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Cafe, the building that will house the Starbucks in DCA:
Monorail bridge details:
Ad for Mad T Party:
Work being done for the "House of Cards" aspect of Mad T Party:
Updated awnings for the queue structure of California Screamin'
Finally, a "FINISH" banner is now in place on the Radiator Springs Racers attraction:
And while we are on the topic of Disney Parks Blog articles pertaining to Cars Land, here are three recent ones that haven't been mentioned here:
I know I saw many of our Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders at the Disney California Adventure park Merchandise Showcase just last month, and I can tell you, there was a lot of buzz about the Champions Custom Speed Shop and Ramone’s Low n Slow merchandise. From work shirts, t-shirts and headwear to a vintage leather racing jacket, fans were “geared up” quite literally, as they eagerly await the opening of Cars Land in Disney California Adventure park on June 15.
I had the fortunate opportunity to catch up with Design Manager Dan Howard and Designer Tyler Dumas, both from our Disney Design Group, who gave me some insight on what it was like to create these amazing new programs and where they drew their inspiration from.
“We developed a partnership with the team from Pixar and John Lasseter. They provided us with such great creative direction – how they thought about the storyline – giving us the opportunity to bring this highly themed merchandise to life,” says Dan. Tyler shared that “this collaborative effort and focus on the details allowed us to provide authenticity to the car culture that exists out there, and it really shows in the nuances of this product.”
So how about a look at a few more items that you’ll find this June at Ramone’s House of Body Art, including the Champions Custom Speed Shop work shirt, checkered flag “head to head” hoodie, specially themed drinkware, a magnet set, journal, keychain and more?
I know that’s a quick look, but I hope you enjoyed it. I’m really anxious to see the stores for myself and I bet you are, too. So keep watching the Disney Parks Blog, because there’s so much more to share with you as we race towards opening day.
We recently told you about some of the shows and characters coming to Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure park. Well, that was just the beginning! When Cars Land opens June 15, the tiny town of Radiator Springs will also be teeming with atmosphere entertainment inspired by the Disney•Pixar film, “Cars.”
Big and red on the outside, gentle and good-natured on the inside, Red the Fire Truck shows up with his sirens blaring and his bell ringing, heading to meet up with his good buddy, a Volunteer Firefighter. The Firefighter lets everyone know the flowers in the area need watering. It’s “Red to the Rescue,” but each time the Firefighter attempts to use Red’s hose, it backfires on him! In all the fun, the plants manage to get wet, and you might too!
Bringing a completely different kind of beat to the street is “DJ’s Dance & Drive.” DJ, the ultimate party car, rolls into town with his giant speakers, built-in disc changer and his very own dance party, led by a girl named Spinner. This gang stops traffic everywhere they go, creating a spontaneous, interactive dance party. Spinner and the crew teach us moves like the Overdrive, the Reverse and the Hairpin Turn, while DJ calls up the hits, from “Life in the Fast Lane” to “Car Wash.” DJ’s going to shift Cars Land into high gear!
Cruise on down to Cars Land this summer at Disney California Adventure park. The residents there will be glad you rolled into town!
I’ve already told you about the neon signs and merchandise location signs we’ve installed at Cars Land, but I’m back today to show you the marquees that have been installed at each of our three attractions. What I love about these marquees is that they are so varied from each other while perfectly capturing the essence of the attraction they represent. From Luigi’s exuberant hand-painted window sign for Luigi’s Flying Tires, to Mater’s unique take on how he’s adapted his home to host Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, to the archway that guests will pass under to enter Radiator Springs Racers, our Walt Disney Imagineering graphics team has outdone itself!
Our team continues to be thrilled daily with the finishing touches that are being put in place at Cars Land. We can’t wait for you to come and see it all for yourselves!
Elsewhere in DCA, work is being done to finish the Buena Vista Street area of the park. This article and video share what went into the murals made of uniquely colored tiles for the Carthay Cirlcle Theatre.
MiceChat is reporting that the first public tests for Luigi's Flying Tires have been less than stellar:
Tired
But once you’ve found a parking spot and you’ve gotten your Fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers out on the parade route, you might as well head right in to Cars Land and get in line for Luigi’s Flying Tires first thing, as it will have a painfully slow moving line. The Flying Tire ride had its first public test this past weekend for Cast Members, Imagineers, and their friends and family. The results were mixed.
The reports coming in from many Cast Members who attended are that the line for Luigi’s Flying Tires moves painfully slow and the queue is filled with bizarre instructions on how to get the thing to work. It hasn’t helped that John Lasseter, sensing the learning curve on making your tire move was too long for the standard 90 second ride cycle, has decreed that the ride cycle be bumped up to two minutes and 15 seconds. That makes for a better ride, but it’s also destroyed the numbers for what was already a very low capacity attraction. Interestingly, the test riders this weekend were allowed to walk right out to the middle of Cars Land for a stunning view of Radiator Springs, and they also noted that Alamo Rent-A-Car had their logos prominently displayed on the front of Luigi’s queue building as the ride’s sponsor.
Of course they know how to get it moving, they think.
The test riders at Luigi’s Flying Tires, Presented by Alamo this past weekend reported that the ride was full of giant beach balls bouncing all over the place with Italian music blaring, and the Cast Members working the ride didn’t seem confident and were unable to keep the line moving at a decent clip. It was also reported that the Cast Members have to walk out on to the windy ride floor to manually push vehicles into the wheelchair loading area, and with all the beach balls and free floating vehicles to dodge many observers felt that process looked quite unsafe and difficult for the young Cast Members working there. Hopefully these newly trained Cast Members get more practice in during these testing days, and they’ll be speedier and more confident when the actual paying customers show up in June.
It appears the main problem with Luigi’s is that the operation of the vehicle is not at all easy to figure out, and WDI has now filled the queue with instructions on how to get the floating tires to move. For last weekend’s test the walls of the queue were plastered with giant billboards offering rider instructions that only seemed to get more confusing as you shuffled slowly further into the queue. When the Luigi’s Cast Members were asked by test riders to explain the “Flying Tips”, their answer was simply “Just lean and it will move”. But the official rider instructions for Luigi’s Flying Tires, devoid of any pictures or graphics, were as follows this past weekend as provided by those who test rode;
Luigi’s Flying Tip #1 – Balance Point
Once airborne, find your BALANCE POINT,
shift your weight from side to side and
front to back so you are floating freely
and no part of your tire touches the floor.
(Easy enough, right?)
Luigi’s Flying Tip #2 – Lean
Once you have found your balancing point,
LEAN slightly in the direction you would like to fly.
If you lean too far your tire will dip and skid on the floor.
If you are flying with others coordinate your
BALANCING and LEANING together!
(I’m confused.
What’s the difference between
leaning and shifting?)
Play ball!
Luigi’s Flying Tip #3 – Spin
Recommended for advanced tire flyers.
To SPIN the tire simply move the control handle
to the left or right and hold in that position.
The tire will slowly start to spin
and will gradually increase in speed.
(Except the spin control doesn’t work and only frustrates
anyone who wastes 2 minutes and 15 seconds trying.)
Luigi’s Flying Tip #4 - Lean & Spin
Recommended for advanced tire flyers.
It takes more skill to SPIN & TRAVEL in a
desired direction at the same time.
To do so, choose a direction you wish to go
and continuously change your LEAN towards
that direction while your tire rotates beneath you.
(Huh? And exactly how am I supposed to become
an advanced tire flyer when the line is two hours long
and I keep getting smacked around by beach balls?)
Needless to say, the first big test of Luigi’s Flying Tires left a lot of folks scratching their heads and wondering if it was just them, or if their tire was broken. It’s not you, it’s not your tire, it’s that the ride is very complicated and takes at least several times before you get the hang of it. There’s a second test planned for Saturday, May 5th when thousands more Cast Members, Imagineers and their friends and family will be invited in to Cars Land to fly the tires again. It will be interesting to see what changes WDI has made to the ride by then, and if it helps any.
The good news is that several hundred front-line Cast Members have ridden Luigi’s Flying Tires last month as part of earlier testing, and they all report that their skill got much better on about the third ride and they really had a lot of fun by the fifth or sixth ride. But with a very low hourly capacity as witnessed by the painfully slow moving line this past weekend, it could take up half your day getting to your third or fourth ride on Luigi’s Flying Tires in order to achieve the Advanced Beginner stage. Forget ever becoming an “Advanced Flyer”, there aren’t enough Sudoku puzzles in the world to work on as you wait in that slow line over and over again to get to that mythical skill level.
Lastly, MiceChat also has a great construction photo update up this week:
Buena Vista Street is receiving all the final detail work needed to open:
One of the Red Car Trolleys testing on the tracks:
A look towards Carthay from the monorail:
This is the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Cafe, the building that will house the Starbucks in DCA:
Monorail bridge details:
Ad for Mad T Party:
Work being done for the "House of Cards" aspect of Mad T Party:
Updated awnings for the queue structure of California Screamin'
Finally, a "FINISH" banner is now in place on the Radiator Springs Racers attraction:
- Mar 16, 2010
- 11,087
- 2,883
Ehhh, 4 minutes is good with me as long as it delivers. I mean look at the FJ, Spiderman, Journey to the Center of the Earth etc etc.
Got ya beat by a month
FJ and Spider-man take up a fraction of this thing though.
And I'll hold my tongue on Journey...
Isn't it sad and surprising that the Luigi ride vehicles are nearly impossible to use first few times. One would think Disney would have tested the tech to death.
I'm not surprised at all. There's a reason they did away with them in the 60s. They were an operational nightmare, and things don't seem to have changed.
I chalk it up to John "Do It My Way" Lasseter wanting this land to be exactly what HE wanted, everyone else's ideas be damned.
From Disney Parks Blog
So Good You Could Eat It! Rock Candy Mountain at Trolley Treats in Disney California Adventure Park
Trolley Treats is heading down the track and into your hearts on June 15 at Disney California Adventure park. So what will you find when you look inside? Well…in the window of Trolley Treats (the new confectionery store on Buena Vista Street) will be a model of Rock Candy Mountain.
For those of you who may not know, Rock Candy Mountain was originally envisioned for Disneyland park as part of the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The Casey Jr. Circus Train would have traveled around it. It was Imagineer and Disney Legend Claude Coats who worked on concept art for the mountain back in 1957, and while the project was never built, the idea will live on in the whimsical model that guests can enjoy in the front window of the candy shop. Climb aboard, because this journey will take you across the Rio Fudge, through Taffy Valley and over Dew Drop Hills to Rock Candy Mountain.
So, come one, come all! Pound for pound, this unique shop will offer temptations for anyone with a sweet tooth. Selections from our candy makers will range from gourmet marshmallows and hand-pulled taffy to caramel apples, dipped strawberries, toffee, fudge and other seasonal favorites.
Crave something more? Watch our Candy Makers amaze and delight you as they bring the magic of gourmet Disney candy-making to life, right before your very eyes.
If you’re wondering what’s next door…well, I’m glad you asked. A few additional shops will line Buena Vista Street, including Kingswell Camera Shop (sure to ‘capture’ special memories) and Julius Katz & Sons (gadgets and decor galore), as well as Atwater Ink and Paint (you’ll feel right at home).
Trolley Treats will be one sweet stop and one sweet shop! Are you tempted to try it?
Do you secretly work for the IAAPA BJCool? You seem to have your finger on the pulse of every major theme park happening in the world; 24/7.
^Nope, just a super avid theme park fan with nothing better to do.
Well then, I recommend that you start the Huffington Post of Theme Park websites... Screamscape can't keep up with you!
It's looking amazing! From Disney Parks Blog:
When night falls in Cars Land, all I can say is “get your camera ready!” For years, I’ve had the pleasure of discovering all the different photographs to be had at the Disneyland Resort once the sun goes down, so having the opportunity to explore all the new photo possibilities in Cars Land at night has been a real treat.
When you enter Cars Land at night, you’re going to want to walk down Route 66 and take in the spectacular lights and neon signs of Radiator Springs.
This photo was taken just outside Radiator Springs Racers. You can really see the shape of the front of a car come into view in the rockwork with the way it is lit at night (the grill to the left, hood ornament on top, and even a wheel well on the right). Be on the look out for more surprises in the rockwork, some things are easy to find and some are a little harder.
This photo is one of my favorites so far. The cars are close and you have great view of the mountain range. It was taken just after sunset and I used a slow shutter speed to show motion.
Check back soon as I will be sharing more photos from inside Cars Land. I’m thinking of sharing some pictures highlighting some of the amazing (and fun) detail you’ll see throughout Radiator Springs.
Not sure if anyone has posted this before. Ever wondered what the cars look like underneath the track on test track? This pic is from a Radiator Springs Racer vehicle.
more pics at:
http://www.westcoaster.net/updates.php?updateCD=082211&page=6
more pics at:
http://www.westcoaster.net/updates.php?updateCD=082211&page=6
They really needed it, though. California Adventure is finally shaping up to be a respectable Disney park.
DCA Expansion Construction B-Roll Footage
[video=youtube;q_SQlPkU9p8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_SQlPkU9p8[/video]
MiceChat grabbed some great Buena Vista Street shots from the monorail as well as noticing that the California Screamin' queue looks normal again:
Likewise, Westcoaster spotted that the center image panel that has been gone for months from the Soarin' sign has returned after high winds nudged the old one out of place:
And the End of Line club is now the "House of Cards" for the upcoming Mad T Party:
[video=youtube;q_SQlPkU9p8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_SQlPkU9p8[/video]
MiceChat grabbed some great Buena Vista Street shots from the monorail as well as noticing that the California Screamin' queue looks normal again:
Likewise, Westcoaster spotted that the center image panel that has been gone for months from the Soarin' sign has returned after high winds nudged the old one out of place:
And the End of Line club is now the "House of Cards" for the upcoming Mad T Party:
From Disney Parks Blogs
Yesterday, we took you inside the exclusive, private 1901 which will be located at Carthay Circle Theatre in Disney California Adventure park. Today, we’re showing you the inside of Carthay Circle Restaurant, which will be accessible to all park guests when it opens June 15.
The photos above show the inside of Carthay Circle Restaurant, still under construction but close to the way it will appear when it opens on June 15. The new premier dining location will take guests back in time to opening night of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” a historic night for Walt Disney and his studio. Re-creating the excitement of that night, Carthay Circle Restaurant will immerse guests in the post-screening atmosphere – as if they are celebrating alongside Walt and Lillian Disney, themselves.
Reservations will be available soon, so keep an eye on the Disney Parks Blog for updates!
Carthay Circle Theatre, the iconic focal point of the new Buena Vista Street area coming to Disney California Adventure park on June 15, continues to take shape – and today we’re excited to bring you a look inside the exclusive, private 1901, which will be located inside.
1901 will be a special lounge accessible exclusively by Club 33 members. Named for the year Walt Disney was born – 1901 – the club will be a warm, intimate space with eclectic light fixtures, overstuffed leather chairs, and beautiful, rich touches.
“Imagine it’s the 1930s, and this is where the animators would’ve hung out, swapped stories, doodled on napkins,” as 1901 is described by Imagineer Ray Spencer. “This is the place Walt and the animators might’ve chatted, relaxed, unwound . . . a cozy den.”
The lounge will be decorated with personal artwork and photographs of the animators from the early years of the Walt Disney Studios, including some with Walt Disney’s own signature. “The guest is sort of an insider in this backstage world,” says Ray.
As we announced earlier today, a limited number of new members will be offered Club 33 membership in honor of the 45th anniversary of the Club (June 15) and the completion of the five-year expansion of the Disneyland Resort. Those interested in Club 33 membership may request more information by sending an email to club33interest@disneyland.com.
