My Walt Disney Studios

Started by Columbiad, March 28, 2011, 09:18:26 PM

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Columbiad

Loving the idea of a lake at the centre of WDS, I created this concept. I have posted an earlier incarnation of my idea on here before, but I decided I didn't like it – and did it again! You might want to open the picture in a new window or tab - theres a lotta readin' ahead!

I here tried to give WDS what DLP has and what WDS needed - lots of green, recognisable lands and a central hub. I think it lacks the authenticy of the layout of Hollywood Studios, in thats very organic, unlike a real studio, but if I were inchange of fixing the Studios Park, this is how I would do it!



Hollywood Boulevard
At the heart of the Walt Disney Studios with the Hollywood Hills as its backdrop is Hollywood Boulevard, a land themed to the Hollywood of Yesterday, encapsulating "The Hollywood-that-Never-Was" theme that the original MGM Studios Europe was intended to have. The Chinese Theater is featured here, facing the Hollywood Hills, and the Disney Soda Shop is located opposite.
Encapsulating The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, La Terrase and the exsisting facade, the buildings  back onto Toy Story Play land. The back of the buildings are covered in Lego bricks to tie-in with the theme of Toy Story.
At the hub of the park is a fountain.

Glacier Bay
Borrowing its name from the Hong Kong Disneyland concept, the Glacier Bay concept seen here is an amalgamation of Expedition Everest and Grizzly Gulch.
The story behind the land, is that it is an elaborate backdrop for the production of a Walt Disney Studios adventure film set in Tibet. In the film, there is an epic chase sequence in which a band of villains chases the hero through the forest, and the hero must ski down the glacier in order to escape.   However, the actor has refused to do the scene himself (you hear him complaining to his agent on the phone when you pass his caravan), and so you must take his place as a stunt double in the ride.
The land features a restaurant, which is based on the novelty of where the set ends eg. The snow stops and it turns back into a studio again, with all the lights and cameras and caravans. The restaurant is themed to the Prop and Scenery department of the film, and will have some of the charm that Blockbuster Cafe lost. This area will also feature an interactive area where young children can play with the snow-machines.

London Town
Recycling some elements from the Reign of Fire set, this set depicts  London. Walking into the land, ahead of you is recreation of Trafalgar Square, complete with fountains, with the National Gallery behind it. Behind the Gallery is Leister Square, the showbiz centre of London. At the corner of Leister Square is Chaplin Corner, an area dedicated to the Silent Era of films. This area is complexly in monochrome, to give the impression you're in a black and white film.
This area also contains an indoor area, in a similar vein to Studio One, which is themed to the prop and scene store for the London pieces.
Also featured here is a Theatre modelled after Shakespeare's Globe, which features an elaborate show inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Continuing round the land, you come to a recreation of Piccadilly Circus, which leads you into The Park, a typically English park, where you can have high-tea at the Penguin Cafe from Mary Poppins.
Exiting the park lead you onto Cherry Tree Lane, and the famous pavement where Bert created his chalk drawings. Number Seventeen houses the Mary Poppins darkride. This could either be a traditional omnimover ride, or an alternate possibility for a "Soarin'" ride, in which Mary enchants a park bench and whisks you off on a fight above Edwardian London, and, later, the World.

Harryhausen Drive
This next area is dedicated to Science-Fiction and Special Effects, and takes its name from the famous American animator, Ray Harryhausen.
The land is very 1960s themed, with references to films such as Day of the Triffids and Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and Jason and the Argonauts.
Found here is Star Tours II, a Creature Feature tour which looks at the creation of prosthetics, Maquettes and masks, and the Sci-Fi drive-in diner.  
The transition between here and the next land is a point for future expansion.

Burtonville
Excusing the terrible name (I couldn't think of anything better!), this land is dedicated to the work of visionary director Tim Burton. This kooky world is an amalgamation of all his greatest films, such as Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice in Wonderland.
Found here is a Nightmare Before Christmas Dark-Ride, an Alice Mad Hatter Spin (a 360 degrees motion simulator) and a diner made to look like the shopping mall in Scissorhands, which blends nicely with the '60s feel of Harryhausen Drive.

Toon Studio
The costuming building is demolished, and its footprint is replaced by two attractions. The first is the Cosy Cones Motel, a cafè and walkthrough that completes the Route 66 theme.  
The second is Mickey's Philharmagique!. (As the storyline is very similar to Animagique, Animagique would be replaced by another show, perhaps Nemo.) The exterior is a toon-esque take on the Grand Opera houses of Paris and London.
 
A new restaurant is also placed here, at the crossroads between Rue deVill and Sunset Boulevard. The exterior resembles the Dwarves building at the real Walt Disney Studios, and the building is themed to the Casting and Production offices of Toon Studios. Inside, it borrows many elements from the Animation Palate on the Disney Dream, except with more of a hectic casting office feel.

Villain Island
Turning right from Toon Studio, is Villain Island, the residential area of the Disney Villains (a sort of Villain's Hollywood Hills.) The area is inspired by the Night on Bald Mountain sequence of Fantasia, with Bald Mountain itself at its centre.  The mountain houses the Escape from Bald Mountain flume ride, a Villains-themed Splash Mountain ride.

Also on Villains Island is a theatre housing Villains Tonight! from the Disney Cruise Line, the shop Villains in Vogue from Disney's Hollywood studios, as well as a Villains meet and greet.

The Disney Bros. Studios.
A recreation of the original Disney Bros. Studios on Hyperion Drive, it houses the "One Man's Dream" film, Oswald's, (a restaurant,) and possibly a Bedknobs and Broomsticks dark ride.
The exit of this area is themed to the Entrance/Exit of a movie studios, and made to make you feel that you are exiting the whole park, and entering the real 1920s California.

Walt's California
Similar to Disney's California Adventure park, Walt's California is themed to California during the era that Walt arrived. The centrepiece is the Carthay Circle  Theatre, which houses The Great Movie Ride.
 Also found here is the viewing area for World of Colour, which is themed to the iconic Hollywood Bowl and is used as a restaurant during the day.
A "Bibbity Bobbity Boutique" style attraction is also featured here, themed to a 1920's beauty parlor. It gives guests the chance to be glamoured up in the style of 1920s stars and starlets, although they are going to a movie-premiere.
Walt's California is also the home of Hollywood's Brown Derby restaurant.
Walt's California also features the red trams, which snake round the centre hub of Walt's California, and go down Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard before turning at Production Courtyard. It's marked on the map by a bright red line.

The large pink building between Burtonville and New York (behind the Carthay Theatre) is one that I haven't been able to fill – any ideas?

New York Street Set
Divided by a greenbelt representing Central Park, the next area is the New York Street set, themed to 1930's New York, modern New York and the New York of Marvel Comics. At the centre is Times Square, the iconic heart of New York. Half of the square is covered by a soundstage, giving guests the chance to experience Times Square at night. Located here is Van Alans, a restaurant names after the designer of the Chrysler Building that gives the sensation that diners are dining on top of a skyscraper.

The right end of the area is dedicated to Marvel Comics. Featured here is  Spiderman Skyscraper Swing, a roller-coaster, and two other attractions themed to Batman and Superman.
Rockefeller Fountain, the hexagonal shape at the end of the word "Square," is a transition point for future expansion/attraction(s).
The left end of the set is themed to an industrial 1930's factory, which houses the Dick Tracey Gangster Shootout.

norhel

#1
I just skimmed through the text now, but it seems like a good idea.
4 trips to DLP, 3 to WDW, 1 to Disneyland California



Columbiad

#2
Thank you. Don't worry - I went a bit over the top with it! I get a bit sucked in when I do these see projects.

disneyrules

#3
These are all really great ideas :) :thumbs:
I only hope that we don\'t lose sight of one thing,that it was all started by a mouse[size=150] Walt Disney
[/size]


:pluto:  :mickey1:

Columbiad

#4
Thank you, disneyrules! :D

15MagicalYears

#5
I love your ideas, it would be great to see a WDS like this in the future. I can just imagine the Holywood Hills lit up at night.
I always think up my own dream park or attraction but never follow it through the way you have; congrats!

Josh

#6
This is the best concept I've seen for the Studios. I see you've taken a feature of Tokyo DisneySea, where you used the "Vee" layout rather than the wheel spoke design in the Disneyland Park.

My favourite feature in this is actually the Hollywood sign behind a brilliantly shaped and positioned lake. That would be a fantastic view to see after exiting Studio 1. Seeing a physical model of the Hollywood sign instead of a flat photo of it would look great, and would make an excellent crown for the park. :D I think I would move the fountain to the centre of the path, though (and make sure it's not too high), to further improve it.

However, what's happened to the tram tour? You can't have a studio park without a tram tour. If it was me, I'd get rid New York (sorry) and rebuild it there. Also, don't forget the Ratatouille ride in your concept. ;)

Great concept!
Disneyland Paris
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Columbiad

#7
Thank's Meph!

I think the Ratatouille ride is there - below Villian Island. I dont think I got the place or the scale quite right, so I'm sorry if its not very obvious!

I think the Hollywood Hills sign would be a nice surprise for returning guests who didnt know about the expansion - imagine thinking it was just a backdrop and walking right towards it!

Hmm.. I did think about the Tram Tour, although I forgot to add it on here.

I think the Tram Tour would begin inside the park, with guests being shown some of the sets in the main park area, and they'd take a turn and exit thorugh a "Staff Only!" Gate into "Backstage Areas". Of course these wouldn't be real backstage areas, just a sort of themeing double-herring, and guests would be taken to see the Catastrophe Canyon and some other new sets. I suppose I wasnt too eager to put it in becuase I've never had a brilliant Tram Tour experiance, either at WDW or DLP! Somethings always been broken or missing.

Thanks for the feedback!

disneyrules

#8
I know i posted before but i just forgot to say that i think the villain area of the park would be especially great and is a really good idea. :) I wish that they would build a villain park somewere or even just a ride.
I only hope that we don\'t lose sight of one thing,that it was all started by a mouse[size=150] Walt Disney
[/size]


:pluto:  :mickey1:

Columbiad

#9
Thanks, disneyrules! I always loved the idea of a Villians-themed area, but I don't theres enough material to cover a whole park.

Forgot to mention in the original post, but I placed the World of Colour viewing area so that the show would be preformed against the backdrop of Studio One and Hollywood Boulevard, with the back of Tower of Terror being the equivilant of Mickey's Fun Wheel in DCA, lit up by projections and lights.

peter

#10
just wondering, how did you make the map.

also, great ideas, but unfortunately superman and batman are DC, not Marvel, so they couldn't be used.

Columbiad

#11
Ah poo. So they are.           Oh well. Imagine they are! ;)

I started by tracing the existing WDS onto a sheet of paper and then drew my park outline. Then I scanned it into the computer and used Photoshop to colour it in. I then laid it over a Google Maps image of WDS combined with the map of WDS that showed the Ratatouille ride building. Then I saved it. :)

Columbiad

#12
Just a wee update: I altered the layout slightly, making it more nucleated. The entrance to the park forms the bottom corner of the square, which I think contrasts well with DLP's wheel shape.

This freed up some space behind Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, so I designated it as expansion room, or area for a backlot tour.

I updated the Ratatouille building to match the one seen on the recent concept art.

I also moved the  World of Colour viewing area from Buena Vista St. to Toon Studio. The colour theme fits in much better with Animation than with 1930's California.



I was also thinking about the name of the Villian's land. As de Ville means town or villiage in French, it doesn't quite work. Perhaps a French speaker could help with this: Would "Le Mal de Ville" work?
To English speakers it would look like "Mall (as in a promenade) de Ville" (as in Cruella, or 'devil' ), but would mean in French "Village of the Evil"? I'm not sure - beginning to wish I took French instead of Gealic in school!

Reality

#13
If the Studios are going to be redone this is what it should look like. However, I would merge London town and glacier bay and turn that area into the marvel land.

|Q|

#14
I don't get why 2 different areas dedicated to california.

You also put a second recreation of the Hyperion Ave. studios, but Studio 1 at the entrance of the park is already based on it.


Just for the sake of nitpicking =)

It would be great gettin something like that.

 Q