You may have read this news early this week on other websites and i'm a little bit late on this one but i wouldn't have missed for anything to post this great portrait of legendary WDI Imagineer Tony Baxter asBarnabas T.Bullion. Who is Barnabas T.Bullion, you ask? Well, WDI Imagineers have imagined a new back story for WDW Magic Kingdom Big Thunder Mountain and here is the official enhanced storyline:
"Barnabas T. Bullion is the founder and president of the Big Thunder Mining Company. The longtime mining magnate comes from a powerful East Coast family and considers gold to be his very birthright by virtue of his oddly appropriate name; in fact, he considers the ultimate gold strike to be his destiny. And that is why he is having so much trouble with Big Thunder Mountain. According to superstitious locals, Big Thunder Mountain is very protective of the gold it holds within, and the unfortunate soul who attempts to mine its riches is destined to fail. And so far that prophecy is coming to pass. The mine has been plagued by mysterious forces and natural disasters ever since. And yet the Big Thunder Mining Co. is still in operation. In fact, Bullion is discovering new veins of gold and digging new shafts every day, offering a closer look at the Big Thunder mining operation than ever before. But a word to the wise for anyone attempting to visit the mountain: watch out for runaway trains." I like the portrait very much, i think they did a very good job. There is also a new painting showing Big thunder Mountain and apparently both of them will be displayed in the new interactive queue currently being built at WDW MK.
And, as we're talking about Tony i thought you might be interested by this video interview done last August by the WDW Radio website in which Tony Baxter talks about his beginning at WDI.
David Goebel just posted a short but great video on Youtube showing DLP Frontierland. Those of you who've never been at Disneyland Paris will discover the "spirit" of Frontierland and Thunder Mesa. What i like in the video is not only the filming but also the editing which makes you feel the life on the Rivers of the Far West just like if you were in the real West. The part on Phantom Manor is still missing footage of the ride itself but it's a work in progress which will be edited in the near future and David of course plans to add shots of the ride.
Picture: copyright Yann Arthus Bertrand - Altitude More infos about the Disneyland Paris book on the book website HERE , including a video showing you the whole book!
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Editor's Note: Ooops, it seems that i did a mistake yesterday in the copy and paste of the second video code with Walt talking about the Riverfront Square project. I just put back the right embed code, so normally you should be able now to see the two different videos in the article below. However i noticed that, strangely, even if i've embedded two different codes sometime two similar videos appear. If this is the case you can see the first one HEREand the second one HERE.
After Disneyland opening Walt, with his teams of WED Imagineers, worked on many others projects. You know some of them even if they were never built like the Mineral King Ski Resort, but did you ever heard before about the Riverfront Square theme park project? And how close Walt Disney came to building an impressive five-story theme park in downtown St Louis just north of Busch Stadium in 1963? Riverfront Square was planned to be built in St Louis, Missouri. Why the hell in Missouri, you ask? Well, it's time to remind you that Walt Disney spent a big part of his childhood in Marcelline, Missouri, and although i'm not here to play the psychoanalyst those who are will tell you that the first years of childhood will determine the future of any human being. That said, Disney had a deep affection for the state and St. Louis in particular. "Missouri typifies good, common sense Americanism," Disney wrote at the time. "Whether your roots are in the farm or in the streets of its bustling cities, I guess you can gather from this that I still have a fine warm spot for the old home state." So, i suppose that all this may have been a good reason why he choose the state of Missouri as a place to build his second theme park. But, and although that after the construction of Disneyland Walt Disney publicly stated that he had no intentions of opening parks elsewhere, something happened. According to the "Walt Disney's Missouri" book, in advance of the St. Louis bicentennial celebration (planned for 1964), St Louis city leaders approached Disney about producing a film about the city. Forget about a movie, Disney countered, why not build a massive park based on Mark Twain, westward expansion, and the Mississippi River? So, in March 1963, Disney met with the mayor of St. Louis to discuss plans for the construction of a new theme park in the riverfront area of St. Louis, which was undergoing a major redevelopment for the city's bicentennial.
In addition to his Missouri roots, Disney was impressed with the new plans for the St Louis downtown area in the early 1960's, which included a new Busch Stadium and a nearly complete Arch and the theme park would have stood in the two city blocks north of Busch Stadium, which was being renovated at the same time. And of course Walt had his Imagineers draw up plans and design new attractions for this new park. Good news, i found back for you these rare plans thanks to two videos posted recently by the KSDK news channel. As usual, click on each to see them in larger size.
Riverfront Square was to be for the most indoors, contained within a five-story building, allowing for year-round operation. An atrium would stretch to the ceiling, where artificial lighting would simulate weather and time-of-day.The costs for the park were projected at $40 million, with a targeted attendance of 25,000 visitors per day.
The entrance to the park would have been similar to Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A, with one side of the street based on Old St. Louis, and the other based on Old New Orleans. Disney planned to utilize the Audio-Animatronic technology that had recently been developed by WED for the New York World's Fair. The top floor of the park would have housed a banquet hall, restaurant, lounge, and bar, overlooking the Mississippi river, in addition to having concession stands and shops throughout the park.
Several classic Disneyland and Disney World attractions were apparently originally conceived for the St. Louis park, including what would later become Pirates of Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion , and a "Western Riverboat" ride. not to mention the idea of a New Orleans Square. In addition, the concept of an indoor Disney theme park would be returned several decades later with... the Disney Quest concept.
Other planned attractions included:
- Lewis & Clark Adventure, a ride based on the travels of Lewis & Clark expeditions.
- A ride based on folk legend Mike Fink
- A ride based on folk legend Davy Crocket
- An attraction based on the Meramec Caverns of Missouri - Two Circarama theaters, with at least one of which would show a film about St. Louis - A bird room - An explorable pirate ship - An Opera House - A wishing well
Below, the part of the plan showing the Opera House, New Orleans Stret and New Orleans Plaza.
The next one shows the plan for one of the Circarama Theaters.
A larger view of the part with the Circarama and what seems to be a big theater.
The "Lewis and Clark Adventure" and "Meramec Caverns" rides never materialized - although a ride based on Lewis and Clark expeditions was also envisioned for the Disney's America project (which also never was) - but the plans reflect Disney's deep affection for the State of Missouri. Below, a rare rendering done for the Riverfront Square project, supposedlyshowing the Lewis and Clark ride entrance.
As we know Disney always had plans for a "Haunted Mansion" even before the original Disneyland opened in California in 1955. But the Haunted Mansion concept was apparently refined in the St. Louis plans, which included a stretch room elevator down to the illusions below,' exactly the way the ride was built years later in several Disney parks," according to the "Walt Disney's Missouri" book.
As for Pirates of the Caribbean? "The St. Louis park was to feature a 'Caribbean Pirate's Lair' and a 'Blue Bayou' boat ride...the Lair and Blue Bayou boat rides later evolved into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride". below, the part of the plan showing the Blue Bayou ride area.
When Disney touted the plans for the St. Louis park in 1963, he was very enthusiastic about his new technology using "audio-animatronic" robots. The plans for "Riverfront Square" called for animatronic robots portraying Missouri legends like Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, and even Napoleon. And on the first video below - right after a 15 seconds Ad - you'll see Disney during a St. Louis visit taken from the KSDK film vault, speaking about the Audio-Animatronics technology. Note: I've noticed that, strangely, even if i've embedded two different embed codes sometime two similar videos appear. If this is the case you can see the first video HEREand the second video posted below HERE.
So why didn't it happen? The most popular version of the story holds that Disney knocked heads with August "Gussie" Busch, Jr. from Anheuser Busch over - guess what? - beer. Disney was firmly opposed to serving beer inside "Riverfront Square". It's an issue that KSDK asked Disney about during his visits to St. Louis in 1963 and they found back the tape.
Reporter: "Then it's your idea Mr. Disney that none of these places in this development will serve liquor?"
Disney: "Not within this complex, no. I mean there can be things outside if people want to go there, I mean tied in. But not within the same area. At Disneyland we don't even serve beer at Disneyland. At the hotel yes."
Reporter: "Is it a personal feeling with you about liquor?"
Disney: "Oh, no! I'll have a drink with anybody. Thing is, a lot of people don't believe in drinking and I respect their wishes."
Here is the video with Walt talking about the beer issue.
But the beer issue may not have been the only thing preventing "Riverfront Square" from happening. Differences over who would pay for the construction and an offer of cheap land in central Florida may also have heavily influenced Disney's decision to build in Orlando instead, according to "Walt Disney's Missouri". By July 1965, Disney announced that plans for the park would not move forward, because of a dispute over the financing and ownership of the park, and Disney's desire to focus his attentions on Florida for what would become the construction of Walt Disney World.
So, even though St. Louis didn't get a Disney theme park, the plans for "Riverfront Square" live on in some of the most famous Magic Kingdom attractions in Orlando, Disneyland and others Disney theme parks around the world. Pictures and videos: copyright Disney - KSDK
Walt Disney Imagineering released an interesting "behind the scenes" video that will show you a bit more of the making of the new "Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow" attraction that opened recently at Disney Hollywood Studios. First, for those of you who still wondered if it was the real Johnny Depp who is playing Jack Sparrow in the show, and of course it's him. But the non-believers have now a proof with these video shots while he was playing...
...or at the end of the filming when Johnny is standing for a souvenir photo with the Imagineers involved in the making of the show.
There is also another interesting shot in the video showing the WDI model which was done for this new walk-through attraction. Imagineers Jason Surrell, Laura mitchell, Charita Carter and Jason Roberts will also tell you more about its making in the video below!
Finally, for those of you who were out of home for Thanksgiving last week and might have missed my previous article explaining why this new DHS show might be also a kind of technical rehearsal for the projection techniques that WDI is supposed to use in the new POTC version at Shanghaî Disneyland, don't miss it you will find it HERE.
There is a new exhibit at the Disney Gallery at Disneyland, Anaheim! The new exhibit is all about Disney Castles and you will see dozens of WDI artwork related to the different Disney castles they've built around the world. And i mean all kind of castles, not only the Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella castles but also others like the Beauty and the Beast castle recently built at WDW new Fantasyland or the Little Mermaid castle at Tokyo Disney Sea, etc..
In addition to all these great artworks you'll be able to see the model of Disneyland Paris castle! And it's not that easy to see it. Those of you who have never been to DLP will be able to "turn around" the castle, look at every detail of it...and understand why it's the most beautiful fairy tale castle WDI Imagineers have ever built.
On the Imagineering video below WDI Imagineer Kim Irvine, concept and show design director will tell you more about this new exhibit which should last six months.
I have a new Disneyland Paris update for you today, and we will also have a look on the construction of the Ratatouille dark ride at the WDS as the works are going pretty fast!
Here are the latest pictures shot this saturday by Max.
On the picture below, the left part should be the walls for the restaurant - as there will be a "Ratatouille" restaurant.
And on this next one the walls should be the one of what will be the ride entrance.
As you can see below they're finishing to put the walls on the show building and started to theme the top of the facade.
We're not totally done yet as Max also shot some pics of the new World of Disney store which has now Christmas decorations at its entrance. And, good news, the globe on the top is now turning again.
Hope that you enjoyed this new update. I remind you that from now until Dec 25 you can order a collector copy of the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book at the special Christmas price of 85€ (instead of 120€) +15€ shipping. And let me tell you that "From Sketch to Reality" will definitely make a GREAT Christmas present to anyone you love, including you! As usual you can pay directly with Paypal or bank wire transfer. You can either use the Paypal button below or send me an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com
Two important notes: first, we're running low of english copies so the sooner you'll place your order the better it will be as we're pretty sure that it will be out of stock by the end of this year. And, two, if you're living out of France the shipping can take quite a while, so to make sure you receive the book on time for Christmas - and avoid to have to pay extra "urgent shipping" cost the best is to place your order as soon as possible. More infos about the book on the book website HERE , including a video showing you the whole book!
Pictures and Videos: copyright Disney and more - DLRP Welcome, DisneyPictures: copyright Max Fan
