Disneyland: One Man's Dream- Opening Toontown to the Public

The movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (one of my favorites, I might add) first showed all non-toons Toontown. It's the place where our favorite cartoon characters lived. And it was also there before Disneyland was even dreamed of.

Legend has it that in 1952, Walt was talking to Mickey about his dream park, and Mickey suggested he build it right next to where he lived in Toontown. Walt agreed, but decided to hide Toontown from the guests so Mickey could have some peace and quiet.

It wasn't until 1993 that Mickey decided to let guests in Toontown. A portal between Fantasyland and Toontown was dug underneath the train tracks, and people could finally enter Toontown. Although the Downtown portion was still closed.


In reality, it was because Roger Rabitt's Cartoon Spin was still under construction. While guests could explore Mickey's House and meet all the toon friends, the big draw for the land would not open until the following year.

The premisis for Roger Rabitt's Cartoon Spin was that guests would board Lenny, Benny the Cab's twin, and take him to find Roger who was riding around in Benny. You and Roger both got into trouble with the weasels and the dip made you spin out of control.

This was a unique darkride because guests would be able to spin through the ride. When this idea was concieved, Imagineers were not sure if it would work or not. To find out, they attached one of the Mad Teacups to Pinocchio's Daring Jounrey- and it worked!

The land was a hit with kids, and old and young alike continued to enjoy visiting. Toontown was created to look like a cartoon. There is not one straight line in the land, it's all bent and curvey. The deatails in this land, like the manhole that talks, or the cartoonish light poles, really add to the expierence.

And an even more detailed attraction was on the horizon...

Disneyland: One Man's Dream- Fantasmic!

In 1992, Fantasmic! premiered. It was unlike anything ever done at Disneyland before, or any park for that matter.

The show features many Disney characters who are in Mickey's dream. Soon, the villians take over and turn the dream into a nightmare. While the plot itself is cute and fun, it's really the technology that leaves people in awe.

First of all, the light poles that appear are truly hightech. During the day, they are hidden underneath New Orleans Square, camoflauged from view. But at night before show time, they "magically" move out ofthe ground. Then after the show, they dissapear once again.

First, you have the characters that just appear and dissapear on the Island. They do this from underground pits below the stage via lifts. Pyro, fog, and other effects shroud the movement so we, the audience don't see it.

The mist screens are where the movie clips are projected. Recently, the cameras that project these became HD, so it's clearer then before.

In the final battle between Malificent and Mickey, Malificent becomes a dragon. A new dragon was supposed to premiere in June, but it broke and made it's debut three months later. The dragon lights the lake on fire. This pat is usually the part that leaves the audience in shock. How can a lake go on fire? Well, natural gas runs in pipes on the river floor, and during the show bubbles up to the surface. The fire emerges from the dragon and the lake goes on fire. When Mickey defeats the dragon, the gas is turned off, and the fire is extiguished.

The boats are also really cool. The Columbia becomes home to Peter Pan, and the fight goes uon between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. It even has a real cannon that gets shot off during the show. The Mark Twain becomes home to all the Disney charatcers during a stirring finale.

Fantasmic! has proved so popular, it has been running 2 shows most days of the year (sometimes even 3) for 17 years, with no end date in sight.

Here's the video. The show is truly great (Much better then DHS's show, which was copied from Disneyland. DOn't see it. It's very disapointing, especially after seeing Disneyland's show).

Disneyland: One Man's Dream- The Life and Death of WestCOT

The Second Gate at Disneyland was going to be huge.

But before we get into WestCOT, let's look at EPCOT for a moment.

EPCOT was the ultimate dream of Walt Disney. EPCOT, or Enviornmental Protoype Comunity of Tomorrow, was going to be an well planned urban utopia which was o be part of Disneyworld in Florida. I think Mr. Walt Disney can explain it better then I can:

When Walt passed away, The Disney Company decided it did not want to take on the task of running a town. So, they decided to turn EPCOT into a theme park. At first, Epcot was going to be about the future. But really, some Imagineers wanted to keep it futuristic, and others wanted a theme park showcasing the customs of different worlds. Eventually, these 2 ideas were pushed together, and EPCOT Center was born.

There were several problems with Epcot. First of, it was so spread out. Walking around the park took very long and got many guest tired easily. Secondly, what you saw in Epcot was what you got. In the World Showcase, there were no side streets to explore it was just 1 large area that you entered, and quickly left. Unless you wlaked through it, you really weren't thrust into the area it represented it. And most importantly, kids as well as adults found the area boring, with to much focus on education, and not enough kids attractions.

Imagineers took this into consideration when Micheal Esiner told them to "Amaze Me!". And that they did.

Many aspects were the same in WestCOT as in Epcot. The park was made up of a Future World and a World Showcase. But WestCOT was different then Epcot in most ways.

First we have World Showcase. Instead of idividual countries making up the area, there would be regions, including the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Not only did this conserve space, but it also would show much more diverse regions. This concept would also show you how different cultures affected each other's development, and the cultural diffusion that went on throughout history. And there would be a hotel in the park. If you looked up, you could see people living above you in France or Italy. It was going to be very unique.

There was going to be a ride called "Ride The Dragon" in Asia. Guests would ride a roller coaster themed to a dragon in the middle of a Chinese New Year celebration. Because of the hieght of the hotel, the rides could be housed on the lower floors while the higher floors served as a berm.

Americas:

Africa:
Europe: Asia:


The signature ride in WestCOT would be the World Cruise. This attraction would act like the Disneyland Train, taking you from region to region. Guests would board boats that took them past famous Audio-Animatronic scenes from throughout history. For instance, when you went into Europe, you'd see the burning of Rome, the painting of the Mona Lisa, and more. This part of the voyage would last about 9 minutes, at which point you could either exit and explore the area or continue on with the ride. There would be about 5 stops, making this 45 minute attraction the longest in Disney history.

At the center of WestCOT would be a 300 foot golden ball similar to Epcot's Spaceship Earth, This one would be bigger and would be dubbed "Spacestation Earth". The Future World Area around it would house various rides from Epcot, and also an updated version of Adventure Thru Innerspace, called Cosmic Journeys.

So, with stunning concept art, and a great plan, what was the problem? Well, WestCOT itself cost $2 billion. The locals were also less then thrilled about seeing Spacestation Earth from there backyards. Disney then proposed to change it into a odd looking sprie, partly due to the protests of the locals, and partly because of the terrible view guests would see from Main Street.

Still, fate seemed to be against WestCOT. And it was just too much and too expensive. And with EuroDisney failing in France, the idea was finally scrapped in 1995. It seemed like Disneyland would never become a resort.

But even as new rides were added to Disneyland, the idea of a second gate for the park never disappeared. Where there's a will, there's a way.

(As always, pictures Copyright Disney. All Right Reserved.)

Disneyland: One Man's Dream: Disneyland Resort Initial Conception

Disney abbandoned the Port Disney idea after protest from enviornmentalists and the government. So now focused shifted once again back to where it all started.

Disney aquired the Disneyland Hotel, along with all other assets of the Jack Wrather Coperation. Then, Disney sold all other assets (RMS Queen Mary, Lassie, etc.) and kept the hotel. This was the first step to building the Disneyland Resort.


Now, the first plans of the Disneyland Resort were being showed to the public. The resort would include:
-Disneyland Park (with a few more attractions...)
-WestCOT- A second theme park, similar to Epcot in Walt Disney World, which would be built on the Disneyland parking lot.
-4 Resort Hotels (The Disneyland Hotel, The Magic Kingdom Hotel, The WestCOT lake Resort
-Disneyland Center- A shopping, dining, and entertainment area situated on a 6 acre lake.
-Disneyland Bowl- A 5,000 seat ampitheater.
-Large Parking Structures, like Mickey and Friends, with a people mover to transport people to and from the parking structures.

The entire construction was going to cost $3 billion, with WestCOT itself costing $2 billion. Let's get into some of the details, shall we?

Disneyland Center was going to be a large dining and shopping area with different forms of entertainment. Think of GardenWalk and Downtown Disney combined. The buildings would be modeled after various California landmarks, including Catalina's Avalon Ballroom, Venice Beach's Boardwalk, and San Diego's Coronado Hotel. All this was to be situated along a 6 acre lake.

The Magic Kingdom Hotel was designed to look like the historic Santa Barbara Mission. This was going to be located, like most of the other hotels (except the original Disneyland Hotel) in Disneyland Center.

The Disneyland Resort Hotel was going to contain about 800 rooms and was going to be the most luxurious hotel in the resort. It was going to be Disneyland's crown jewel, like the Grand Floridian Hotel. And why wouldn't it be? It had was based of the same exact hotel as the Grand Floridian- The Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.

Finally, the WestCOT Lake Resort was going to be unlike any other Disney Hotel- the hotel was actually going to be inside a themepark. The resort would be desinged to look like the Beverly Hills Hotel. Guests could stay in rooms above the attractions above World Showcase at WestCOT (more on this tomorrow...).

And, of course, we had WestCOT which deserves it's own segment. It was truly a marvel.

Disneyland: One Man's Dream- Dreaming of A Resort

It is now the 1990s. Disneyland has been around for over 35 years and has been a success for all these years. Though there had been times of doubt at various points in Disneyland history, it proved so great that Disneylands were springing up all aorund the globe. First, in Florida as Walt Disney World in 1971. Next as Tokyo Disneyland in Japan.

But the difference was Disneyland was a single park. There was one hotel adjacent to the park that bore the Disneyland name, but was not owned by Disney. Cheap cheesy hotels and motels lined the streets adjacent to Disneyland. The theme park soon became boxed in by Anahiem.

So focus shifted for many years towards Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom opened with several nice Disney operated hotels. Then Epcot opened. And now a third theme park, Disney MGM Studios was built. Much attention was given to what was once called simply "Disneyland Florida" by many people. Now, Disneyland seemed to be forgotten. While guest were spending on average about a week at WDW, they were spending a day at Disneyland.

But it was Michael Eisner and Tony Baxter who wanted to bring the world's attention to Disneyland. But how?

At this time, they wanted to turn Walt's original theme park into a multi-day resort with hotels and additional theme parks.

There were many different ideas out there for turning Disneyland into a Resort. The first step for the resort was the aquisition of the Disneyland Hotel. In 1989, Disney was finally able to buy The Disneyland Hotel after Jack Wrather died after years of attepmting to buy it. To do this, Disney purchased the enitre Jack Wrather Corporation. With the purchase came the RMS Queen Mary, and an idea for a new Disney theme park.

The park was to be called Port Disney and would be located in Long Beach, Claifornia. The park would be similar to Tokyo DisneySea in the idea, but would be radically different in design and theme. Port Disney would also include a marina and crusie ship dock amongst hotels and shopping centers.


The theme park itself would be a combination of an aquarium and theme park. At the center of the park, Oceania stood, which was a huge aquarium (see below). There would be various lands exploring different waters of the world, Pirate Island, Mysterious Island, Heroes Harbour (celebrating mythical people, like Jason and the Agronauts), and Fleets of Fantasy 9featuring old fashioned carnival rides).


Unfortunately, California enviornmentalists were not very fond of the idea of Disney using all this waterfront property. The California government became worried that the theme park could also disrupt the operation of the busy seaports nearby. So, Disney decided to abandon the $2 billion theme park. They decided to refocus their intentions towards Anahiem.