[Disney California Adventure] Placemaking et futur du Parc

Franchement, je vois pas l'intérêt de rethématiser la partie Condor Flat qui est très réussie en tant que telle. Et c'est quoi le bâtiment de Soaring peint en vert ? ça m'a pas l'air top... Je ne vais pas démolir à l'avance, mais sincèrement, ce n'est pas cette zone du parc (pas plus que le Hollywood boulevard) qui a besoin d'être refaite. Ce que DCA a besoin, c'est qu'on retravaille toute la partie Paradise Pier (en virant notamment certains manèges de foire et le wild mouse hideux) et, surtout, qu'on agrandisse le parc, en créant ce fameux Carland. Là, refaire ce qui était déjà réussi, c'est une perte de temps et d'argent, sans compter les désagréments pour les visiteurs durant la phase des travaux. Non, je pige pas où ils veulent en venir...

Idem, je suis pas emballé. Comme pour nos WDS, je sens le rafistolage à gogo. Transformer Soarin avec une touche Art & Craft si chère au Grand Californian, c'est presque trop là! Tout va se ressembler au lieu de proposer un mix intéressant de zones typiquement californiennes.

Visiblement, d'après laughingplace, Bob Iger aurait confirmé Carland.
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Citation :

[/url][url=][color:00bc=#ff0000:00bc]Bob Iger Announces Carland to be Built at DCA[/url][url=]
At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, Bob Iger revealed that Carland will be built at Disney's California Adventure

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Si c'est vrai, voilà au moins une bonne nouvelle...

Conformation de la confirmation

Citation :

Concerning theme parks, Iger confirmed that the “parks are in great shape” and that Disney will continue to invest in capital, not just in maintenance. “Everything we have done with Pixar in the parks has worked extremely well,” he asserted. He also confirmed a new attraction for Disney’s California Adventure: “We are going to build a Carsland at California Adventure. Which will be a real anchor for that park in the near future.”

Ce qui est amusant, c'est que les fans américains se déchaînent: ça n'a rien à faire dans un parc sur la Californie, bouh encore une attraction Pixar, etc.

C'est dingue. Nous, on sauterait au plafond si on pouvait avoir cette attraction (qui, pour rappel, n'a rien à voir avec notre malheureux manège Cars, mais est basé sur la technologie de Test Trak). Mais ça prouve que les fans, de n'importe quel continent, sont d'éternels insatisfaits.

En tout cas, moi, j'espère qu'ils vont construire ce land au plus vite, bien avant le coaster ratatouille et les pseudo placemaking d'Hollywood boulevard et Condors Flat. Dès que Cars est ouvert, avec en plus le show nocturne Wonderfull World of Colors, j'achète mon billet d'avion pour LA...

En 2003, l'annonce d'Eisner de l'ouverture prochaine d'Expédition Everest à AK précédait de quelques jours seulement l'annonce officielle avec concepts arts et tout et tout.

Alors, Iger a-t-il fait une négligence ou le distillement d'info est-il savamment calculé?
Dans tous les cas, je pense qu'on peut s'attendre à une ouverture fin 2009-début 2010.

Merci Kinoo pour le concept art! Je trouvais Condor Flats pas mal du tout, je ne vois pas trop l'intérêt d'intégrer cette zone à la Grizzly Peak Recreationnal Area... et puis le bâtiment de Soarin' peint tout en vert!? La zone sinistrée de ce parc c'est Paradise Pier, c'est là qu'il faut changer en priorité!!

Sinon j'ai hâte de voir un concept art de ce qu'ils prévoient pour l'entrée du parc! Dans l'article de MiceAge, on parle d'une "Mission Moderne styled street that would resemble Los Angeles in the roaring 20's." donc à priori d'une vrai rue, un peu comme Main Street USA... Je me suis amusé à voir se que donnerait une rue "type Main Street USA" à l'entrée de DCA:



Sur le montage ci-dessus: en pointillés rouge, la zone où sont actuellement les lettres géantes CALIFORNIA et où doivent être installés les tourniquets d'entrée du parc; le trait vert représente le Monorail. Quel que soit l'aménagement retenu de cette zone, j'imagine que le Monorail sera caché à ce niveau, car ça fait pas très "Los Angeles des années 20"!! lol.

Pour finir, je suis très heureux d'apprendre que Bob Iger ait enfin officiellement annoncé la construction de Carland à DCA!

Kinoo a écrit:

Voici le premier concept-art révélé (dans le livre Disney Mountains) du placemaking de la partie Condor Flats qui se retrouverait englobé dans la partie Parcs nationaux de Grizly Peak:



On note:
- l'arrêt desservi par le tramway qui sera censé relié l'entrée et divers points du parcs
- Soarin' et sa nouvelle façade et les nouvelles couleurs plus forestières.

[Petit HS] Pour ceux que ce livre intéresse, l'avis de Yesterland ici: http://www.yesterland.com/mountainbook.html

Mr.Freddy a écrit:

Conformation de la confirmation

Citation :

Concerning theme parks, Iger confirmed that the “parks are in great shape” and that Disney will continue to invest in capital, not just in maintenance. “Everything we have done with Pixar in the parks has worked extremely well,” he asserted. He also confirmed a new attraction for Disney’s California Adventure: “We are going to build a Carsland at California Adventure. Which will be a real anchor for that park in the near future.”

Ce qui est amusant, c'est que les fans américains se déchaînent: ça n'a rien à faire dans un parc sur la Californie, bouh encore une attraction Pixar, etc.

C'est dingue. Nous, on sauterait au plafond si on pouvait avoir cette attraction (qui, pour rappel, n'a rien à voir avec notre malheureux manège Cars, mais est basé sur la technologie de Test Trak). Mais ça prouve que les fans, de n'importe quel continent, sont d'éternels insatisfaits.

En tout cas, moi, j'espère qu'ils vont construire ce land au plus vite, bien avant le coaster ratatouille et les pseudo placemaking d'Hollywood boulevard et Condors Flat. Dès que Cars est ouvert, avec en plus le show nocturne Wonderfull World of Colors, j'achète mon billet d'avion pour LA...

Personnellement je les comprends... OK, une attraction avec la technologie test track sur le thème de Cars est une excellente idée, mais il faut aussi voir autre chose. Et c'est autre chose, c'est la cohérence du thème...
Nous nous sommes tous déchainés sur la venue de Buzz à Discoveryland et le remplacement du Visionarium, il en est de même pour eux. Ce parc est centré sur la Californie, et ils rajoutent des trucs qui n'ont pas forcément, juste parce qu'ils ont de la place et du fric... Je pense que les fans demandent juste un peu plus de cohérence, et peut-être moins de pixarisation des parcs.

Je me souviens qu'un imagineer que je suis allé écouter en conférence disait qu'il y avait deux types d'imagineer, ceux qui voulaient tout baser sur les productions disney (Pixar ou Disney, comme Crush, Roger rabbit, Cars, Monsters inc...), et il y a ceux qui veulent développer des concepts originaux, comme Walt pouvait le faire dans le temps : Visionarium, Small World, Space mountain... et d'ailleurs on remarque qu'en général notre préférence va vers les concepts originaux comme Soarin'.

Bref tout ça pour dire que je comprends cette frustration des fans américains qui sont contents certes que le parc se développe, mais qui le voyaient d'une manière différente.

En voyant plus large, Carland peut faire référence à la route 66 et la Californie qu'on voit dans le film. Et puis est-on sûr que le parc va garder sa vocation californienne, ou s'étendre à une vocation américaine?

Concernant les clans dans les imaginiers, j'ai aussi une préférence pour les réalisations non disney. Mais ceux-là ne sont moins gatés que les autres ces derniers temps...

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Ce parc est centré sur la Californie, et ils rajoutent des trucs qui n'ont pas forcément, juste parce qu'ils ont de la place et du fric... Je pense que les fans demandent juste un peu plus de cohérence, et peut-être moins de pixarisation des parcs.

C'est clair, mais en même temps, ce sont ces mêmes fans à l'ouverture du parc en 2001 qui dénonçaient la stupidité de faire un parc sur la Californie... en Californie. Et lorsqu'on s'en éloigne un peu, paf, c'est pas bon non plus, ils crient au sacrilège. Qui a dit que le fan était un éternel insatisfait? Perso, je pense que Disney devrait se débarasser du thème de la californie et appeler le parc Disney Adventure. Et hop, tout le monde est content ! Parce que si on veut rester de façon stricte dans le thème de la californie, ça limite vachement les possibilités. Et puis, pour en revenir avec cars, je trouve que ça colle quand même mieux avec la Californie de par son ambiance, ses décors désestiques, etc (d'autant que la course elle-même se déroule à Los Anegles, faut-il le rappeler) que des rides comme La petite sirène ou ratatouille qui là tomberaient vraiment comme un cheveux dans la soupe !

Citation :

me souviens qu'un imagineer que je suis allé écouter en conférence disait qu'il y avait deux types d'imagineer, ceux qui voulaient tout baser sur les productions disney (Pixar ou Disney, comme Crush, Roger rabbit, Cars, Monsters inc...), et il y a ceux qui veulent développer des concepts originaux, comme Walt pouvait le faire dans le temps : Visionarium, Small World, Space mountain... et d'ailleurs on remarque qu'en général notre préférence va vers les concepts originaux comme Soarin'.

Je suis d'accord que tout ne doit pas être basé sur Pixar, mais en même temps, on est dans des parcs Disney, qui portent le nom de Disney, et les gens y viennent pour voir du Disney! Walt faisait de même: fantasyland était à la base entièrement basé sur ses dessins animés. Il y avait les autres lands, me dira-tu? Certes, mais on trouve quand même l'arbre des Robinson à Adventureland, Davy Crockett à Frontierland et Walt avait créé une attraction/expo 20.000 lieues sous les mers à Discoveryland. Sans parlé de la jungle cruise qui était basé sur ses films animaliers....
Je pense que tous les projets récents sont loin d'être basés uniquement sur des films existants: Soarin', Expedition Everest, etc. Mais, pour le reste, il me semble logique que Disney exploite ce qui marche. Le tout est de le faire avec les bons films (ceux qui deviennent de vrais classiques qui traverseront le temps, comme Nemo ou Toy Story) et pour en faire de vrais bonnes attractions. Car c'est surtout ça l'essentiel !

Dead or Alive, I
As for the DCA makeover we've been telling you about here for over a year, its birthing pains have continued this fall. While the big, fat billion dollar check to fix DCA really was approved by Bob Iger and the board of directors, company red tape has slowed the money from actually getting into the quivering hands of the Imagineers who are chomping at the bit to get started on the massive makeover projects headed to DCA. While the sharp pencil boys take their time in moving the money to the departments that need it first, the delay this fall has given the planners in TDA some time to figure out how they are going to continue playing host to millions of visitors every year while DCA goes under the knife.
What has been decided is that the DCA main entrance will be one of the first sections of the park to be rebuilt and re-themed into something very different. And how will that work exactly? They'll simply shut down the DCA main entrance, wall the whole thing off, and create a temporary entrance and exit facility nearby. Once the construction walls go up after the busy Christmas season, a temporary entrance gate will be opened up just to the east of the current turnstiles. The temporary entrance will funnel arriving DCA visitors into a walled-in walkway that will take you into the former Millionaire show building.
There the Main Entrance and Guest Services departments will set up temporary turnstiles and entry gates which will process arriving DCA visitors before dumping them into the park in the middle of the Hollywood section, right between the Monsters Inc. attraction and the soon-to-be-built Mickey's Philharmagic attraction. When it's time for you to leave DCA the old Millionaire building will also be your departure location, although there is a hope that at certain parts in the construction timeline a simple exit gate can still be maintained through the middle of the main entrance construction zone.
While the temporary DCA entrance and exit facility is operating, construction crews will be busy out front dismantling pretty much everything that currently exists of the DCA main entrance. Gone will be the California letters, the existing plain-looking turnstile structure, the "world's largest" tile murals, the truncated golden gate bridge, and pretty much every fa硤e and exterior design element there is in the area.
When the project is completed two years from now, the new and more lavish turnstile structures will have been pushed out to the approximate location of the current California letters. And arriving DCA visitors will enter the period-specific 1920's themed Los Angeles streetscape that we told you about several months ago. Once the new main entrance and entry street is completed, then the construction crews will head into the Hollywood section to refine and re-theme that section of the park as well.

Pier Drops
At the same time that work begins at the main entrance, construction will also begin in full force around the Paradise Pier section of the park. There are really three separate projects in Paradise Pier that will make for construction havoc in the next few years, two of which were already in the pipeline before the billion dollars was approved. But the end result of all three of these projects should be a dramatically more appealing and more entertaining area than what is there now.
The first project is no secret, and that's the Toy Story Midway Mania ride that opens next summer. And yes, we did say Midway Mania. It seems that the Californians have won the name game and will use a slightly different form of the attraction name than the Walt Disney World version. This D Ticket dark ride, after all, was originally designed and created just for DCA back when Matt Ouimet was in charge and was trying to beef up the second park any way he could. The original title was always Midway Mania, but when Jay Rasulo saw the full presentation on the attraction he was impressed enough to fast track it into the capital expenditure plan for Walt Disney World as well, and it was decided to shoehorn the ride into the Disney Studios theme park back when the name of that park was still going to be changed to Disney-Pixar Studios.
The theme of carnival midway games hosted by your Toy Story pals makes sense in Paradise Pier of course, but the theme will seem a bit odd for a movie studio theme park if the tourists in Walt Disney World stop and think about it for a few seconds. The word "midway" was originally dropped from the title when the ride was simultaneously announced for California and Florida earlier this year, but it has since been reinstated for the DCA version only.
The work on the Midway Mania facility is heading into the home stretch this fall, and the first ride vehicles have just arrived in California from their production facility in Osaka, Japan. That little detail was a real sticking point for some folks out in Florida, as the sprawling Central Shops facility in Walt Disney World has built many of the ride vehicles for the American parks in the last few decades. But when Midway Mania was first approved for DCA only, both the TDA planners and the WDI designers wanted to use a contractor in Osaka who already had a great reputation for quality work at Tokyo Disney Resort. The Japanese are also building the fleet of vehicles for the Florida version of Mania, and the Floridians are swallowing their pride a bit as they see how beautiful these massive 18 foot long custom-built vehicles have turned out.

While it may only be a D Ticket, Midway Mania is looking very promising. DCA visitors will likely take to the attraction instantly and it should easily exceed their expectations as it kicks the dark ride concept up a notch or two over the rest of the similar Anaheim offerings. In Walt Disney World however, where the only other classic dark rides on the entire property are the three aging and dusty workhorses in Fantasyland, this new ride may be a bit confusing to people. Some folks in WDI are wondering if people at Walt Disney World will assume this ride is meant to be a lavish E Ticket, instead of the more modest D Ticket dark ride it actually is.

Remember, as Walt Disney World was allowed to stagnate by it's poor quality management, it missed out on occasionally adding modern dark rides like Monsters Inc. and Roger Rabbit that have unique gimmicks but are really just simple dark rides at their core. So there won't be much of a point of reference for Florida visitors unfamiliar with the dark ride format, Buzz Lightyear being an exception. But here in California, there is no worry that people won't understand what type of ride this is supposed to be, and then when they do experience the state-of-the-art 3-D wow factor this one has the result should be very positive for DCA.
Midway Mania won't offer Fastpass, and it won't gobble up crowds. But at around 1,300 riders per hour and a 5+ minute ride time, it will certainly keep its head above water on all but the busiest days. The construction on the queue and area around the new facility will expand this winter, and require the Paradise Pier area to be cut down the middle for several months. Construction walls will slice the area in two and create two dead-ends on each side of the construction zone. To get from the Sun Wheel to California Screamin' during this time means you'll have to walk all the way back to Golden Dreams, and over the bridge into the eastern half of the Pier area. This construction is for work on the new Victorian themed building that houses the loading area and queue, as well as two new Victorian pavilions along the edge of the boardwalk that will shade the extended queue used on busy days.
http://miceage.com/allutz/al100907a.htm
http://miceage.com/allutz/al100907b.htm

Suite:

Water Wiggling
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Paradise Pier lagoon, work will begin this winter on the newly reconfigured viewing area for the World of Color lagoon show. While the new ride in Paradise Pier got a word added back to its title, the new water show for the Pier has had a word sliced off of the title. The current working title for the show is "Disney's World of Color", although the original Sherman Brothers score and lyrics from the Wonderful World of Color will still be featured in the water show. World of Color is now scheduled to premiere for the summer of 2009, and the advance buzz on this one is that it is shaping up to be a real winner.
To handle the anticipated crowds the northern flank of the lagoon will be entirely rebuilt with terraced viewing areas capable of accommodating 10,000 viewers at a time. The people standing there will watch an approximately 18 minute long night-time spectacle without a single pyro shell. The entire show will be presented with fountains, lights and projections, but the immense scale and giant water effects likely won't have anyone missing the fireworks. Think big, then think bigger than that, it will be impressive.
The new viewing platform being built atop the DVC expansion wing of the Grand Californian wasn't added so folks can see the fireworks, it was specifically added so hotel and DVC guests can watch the World of Color show in the lagoon just to the south. Certainly the Disneyland fireworks will be visible from that rooftop deck, but it was a presentation on World of Color that wowed the DVC planners enough to add a viewing platform atop the new hotel wing.
Disney learned their lesson on trying to pull off even limited pyrotechnics in that lagoon with the old (cough, hack) Luminaria show, and Steve Davison is designing World of Color without a single fireworks shell. The show will also be sans performers, boats, barges or dancers, as the whole thing will be controlled by a small group of technicians in a control booth. While nearly every recognizable Disney Character will make an appearance, they won't be there in person, but instead by digital projection on massive moving and rotating water screens that dwarf the current Fantasmic! setup. Imagine a finale of fountains that reach as high as the Maliboomer, and you've got an idea of how big this show will be.

Dead or Alive, II
And imagining the Maliboomer is about all you'll be able to do by the end of the decade, as that ride is one of the first to be sent to the scrap pile for DCA. The Maliboomer doesn't fit the new Victorian theme that will sweep all around Paradise lagoon, and it's on the way out. We'd told you in an earlier update that John Lasseter had wanted to bring back an old Orange County favorite and replace the Maliboomer with a parachute drop ride like the one Knott's Berry Farm used to have. That's one of the plans for the Pier remake that has been shelved for now though, as issues with the sightlines and ride system made some in WDI think twice about it.
The other ride originally proposed for the Paradise Pier remake was a roller coaster themed to Ratatouille. That one has been shelved for now. While the box office for Ratatouille was strong in North America, there wasn't much appetite for the merchandise with American consumers. It's thought now that the Ratatouille theme isn't lasting enough to dedicate a major attraction to in DCA, and an attraction for the northwest corner of Paradise Pier is undecided at this time. Ratatouille has done very well in Europe however, and the merchandise and toys are selling better in France than they did in America. With that, the Ratatouille attraction concept may very well be slotted in to the Walt Disney Studios park in Paris. The Little Mermaid omnimover is still a go next door however, in the space currently used by Golden Dreams and the Route 66 souvenir stand.
While the Grizzly Peak Recreation Area was one of the more successful sections of DCA, it is also slated to receive attention and additional attractions. However, after initial studies were completed that even included some Imagineers placing plywood animal cutouts along the Grizzly River Run flume during early morning testing, the plans for many of the new rides there have been shelved for now. The initial hope was that the Grizzly Peak mountain structure would support several additional wilderness themed rides that wrapped in and around the existing raft ride. A new version of Mine Train Through Natures Wonderland chugging past animatronic scenes, as well as a new theater home for the Country Bear Jamboree built into the side of the mountain were all seriously proposed, considered, and sketched out. Sadly, those ideas have been shelved for now.
The main culprit is the infrastructure of Grizzly Peak itself. It was built to house the raft ride and only the raft ride. In a perfect example of the short sighted and tight fisted creation of DCA in the late 1990's, that huge chunk of the park was dedicated to only one attraction; the Grizzly River Run white water raft ride. It's a decent ride as far as raft rides go, but it takes up a huge chunk of land. Not only that, but it caters to a specific slice of the DCA demographic; those who want to get soaking wet.
While it's a popular attraction in the heat of summer, once the sun goes down or the weather turns cool, the lines for the raft ride disappear. People know that they could get soaking wet on those types of raft rides and there's really nothing they can do to prevent it. Unlike Splash Mountain, where Mom can always ask to sit in the back and let the kids bear the brunt of the water, the inherent nature of the Grizzly raft ride means anyone can get not only splashed, but oftentimes completely drenched.
The ridership capacity of both Grizzly River Run and Splash Mountain are very similar, with Grizzly capable of handling up to 1,550 riders per hour and Splash Mountain capable of handling up to 1,400 riders per hour. But over the course of an average Saturday, Splash Mountain will continue to pack them in even during cool weather. The logs on Splash Mountain allow water-shy riders to request the back, and even those sitting right in front on Splash Mountain aren't subjected to the torrents of water that can crash over the sides of the rafts at Grizzly River Run. Even during the mild days of Fall, the ridership on Grizzly River Run falls off completely after sundown.

Just last Saturday the 7pm to 8pm hour for Grizzly River Run saw its ridership trickle below 500 riders, while Splash Mountain continued to pull in 1,300 riders per hour until after 11pm. Things get even worse for Grizzly in the winter. When both of the parks are packed to the gills at Christmas and Splash Mountain has a 90 minute wait, if it's seasonably cool in December the daytime lines for Grizzly are short, and when the sun sets at 5pm Grizzly sends out empty rafts for the last four hours of the DCA operating day. As such, Grizzly River Run is a huge facility sitting smack dab in the middle of DCA with a limited appeal that prevents a lot of paying customers from ever setting foot on the thing.
The plan to add a scenic railway and an animatronic bear show to the area was going to be able to add enough carrying capacity to justify spending millions on additional animatronic show scenes and eye candy. That way, Grizzly River Run may still be unpopular in winter and in the evenings, but at least there would be several other attractions that people could enjoy utilizing the shared infrastructure of the area. But after looking at the mountain structure's design and trying to figure out a way to shoehorn these additional attractions into the facility, it just wasn't going to be feasible. And so for now the plans to plus up the Grizzly River Run mountain area with animatronics and additional family attractions has been pushed to the back burner.
It's not the end of the story quite yet, but the attention of the WDI teams working on the DCA makeover have turned to Paradise Pier and Hollywood before they try to really tackle the underutilized and poorly planned Grizzly River Run area. Stop by and say hello to the nice CM's operating that raft ride this winter anyway, as they get lonely down there on the turntable when the weather turns cool.

Start Your Engines
While the makeover teams tackle the DCA main entrance, Paradise Pier and Hollywood, in that order, another WDI team will be pushing the boundary of the park southward with the construction of the sprawling Carsland section of the park. Carsland is another of the big secrets for DCA that anyone with an Internet connection already knows about. And while a formal announcement should come later this fall, the green light has been given to proceed with planning and final design work on this big E Ticket.
Unlike Midway Mania however, Carsland is an attraction designed specifically for DCA that WDW won't be getting. Using a third generation of the Test Track ride system and timed to open with Pixar's sequel to Cars, the WDI team is hoping that DCA's extreme makeover is mostly completed by the time this new E Ticket opens during DCA's 10th anniversary year.
By the time DCA turns 10 the WDI makeover team would like to have completed the construction of five new attractions, the permanent removal of Maliboomer and Golden Dreams, and the total makeover of five existing attractions, plus all of the new eye candy and rebuilt architecture surrounding them. Now if they could just hurry up with that DCA Preview Center coming to the San Francisco buildings!

http://miceage.com/allutz/al100907b.htm
http://miceage.com/allutz/al100907c.htm

Putain, deux ans pour refaire l'entrée. Vont pas se faire ch... là-bas. NOs palissades auw WDS à côté, c'était le paradis.

Je crois que c'est dans ce sujet qu'on a parlé de l'attraction sur la Petite Sirène et de son non rapport thématique avec DCA, parc dans lequel une rumeur la place pour un avenir proche. Newsparcs.com propose une explication:

Citation :

Chez Disney Imagineering rien ne se perd, tout projet se recycle.
Il en serait ainsi du wagon scénique de La Petite Sirène, prévu à l'origine pour Disneyland Paris, qui, ce qui n'est qu'une rumeur, serait prévu pour redonner vie à un restaurant du parc California Adventure.
Ce wagon scénique doit utiliser la même technologie que "Le Vol de Peter Pan" avec des voitures suspendues.

En effet, le restaurant "Ariel’s Grotto", n'a jamais marché malgré son allure magnifique.

dédé a écrit:

Je crois que c'est dans ce sujet qu'on a parlé de l'attraction sur la Petite Sirène et de son non rapport thématique avec DCA, parc dans lequel une rumeur la place pour un avenir proche. Newsparcs.com propose une explication:

Citation :

Chez Disney Imagineering rien ne se perd, tout projet se recycle.
Il en serait ainsi du wagon scénique de La Petite Sirène, prévu à l'origine pour Disneyland Paris, qui, ce qui n'est qu'une rumeur, serait prévu pour redonner vie à un restaurant du parc California Adventure.
Ce wagon scénique doit utiliser la même technologie que "Le Vol de Peter Pan" avec des voitures suspendues.

En effet, le restaurant "Ariel’s Grotto", n'a jamais marché malgré son allure magnifique.

Il n'est pas du tout question de remplacer le restaurant "Ariel's Grotto" par une attraction!! D'ailleurs, il n'y a absolument pas la place pour y installer une attraction du calibre du dark-ride de la Petite Sirène. Ce dark-ride devrait voir le jour sur l'emplacement actuellement occupé par le Golden Dreams Theater et le stand de souvenirs "Route 66": The Little Mermaid omnimover is still a go next door however, in the space currently used by Golden Dreams and the Route 66 souvenir stand. (http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al100907b.htm)

Autant pour moi.
Au fait je ne comprenais même pas l'info de cette manière. Je pensais que l'attraction serait là en plus du resto et accessible par ce dernier. Mais apparemment même en remplaçant le resto il manquerait de la place.

Le Wall Street Journal "officialise" le projet:

Disney's $1 Billion Adventure

Five-Year Revamp of Its Lagging California-Themed Park

Will Add 'Cars,' 'Toy Story' and Disneyland-Like Main Street
By MERISSA MARR
October 17, 2007; Page B1



ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Since its 2001 debut, the Walt Disney
Co. theme park Disney's California Adventure has floundered in the
shadow of its legendary neighbor, Disneyland. To fix it, Disney is now
planning a $1.1 billion overhaul -- the most extensive makeover the
company has ever given to a theme park.

Disney's board recently approved the investment, which
will be poured into California Adventure over roughly five years,
according to people familiar with the plan. The sum is particularly
significant, considering the theme park cost around $1 billion to build
and Disney has already spent more than $100 million trying to improve
it.

Originally aimed at luring visitors to spend more time
and money at the Disneyland Resort, California Adventure has been
criticized as lacking Disney's trademark creative spark. The California
theme has fallen flat with visitors from the western U.S., who make up
the bulk of attendance. Last year, the park drew just under six million
visitors, compared with nearly 15 million at Disneyland and short of
Disney's original forecast of seven million visitors a year for the new
park.

Disney's California Adventure theme park, next to Disneyland, celebrated its grand opening in 2001.

Now Disney hopes to turn the park around by making it
more like its successful neighbor, filled with references to company
founder Walt Disney, say people familiar with the plan. A key project
will be redesigning the entrance plaza, now a hodgepodge of California
icons, and replacing it with something akin to Disneyland's signature
Main Street.

Just as Main Street harks back to Walt Disney's
hometown of Marceline, Mo., in the early 1900s, California Adventure's
new entrance will trace the footsteps of Walt Disney from when he
arrived in Los Angeles in the 1920s, these people say. Similar to
Disneyland's iconic castle, the redesigned park will feature a replica
of Hollywood's former Carthay Circle theater, where Walt Disney
premiered the movie "Snow White" in 1937.

The new-look park also will be expanded by around 12
acres and will bulk up its attractions, with a heavy emphasis on
animated movies created by Pixar, including "Cars" and "Toy Story."

Jay Rasulo, who inherited California Adventure when he
became president of the parks in 2002, says the park has had some
success in extending the time visitors spend at the resort as a whole
and does have some popular rides. But he concedes: "Guests have told us
that when they stand in California Adventure, they don't have an
emotional connection to it." Mr. Rasulo declined to comment on the
investment Disney is making.

Several of Disney's efforts in recent years have had
teething problems that forced Disney to spend big money on efforts to
fix them, raising questions about Disney's theme-park strategy. New
Disney parks in Paris and Hong Kong -- seen as too small and lacking
insight into the cultures they serve -- have needed big additional
investments after initially drawing slim crowds.

When Walt Disney created Disneyland in 1955, and the
company started the Disney World resort in Orlando, Fla., in 1971 with
the first Magic Kingdom park, the parks were powerful brand builders.
But it is unclear whether that is still the case in the 21st century,
when kids are more interested in the Internet and Disney has more tools
to play with, such as the relatively investment-light but popular
Disney Channel.

Disney maintains its parks are a good return on
investment. In fiscal 2006, they accounted for almost 30% of the
company's total revenue of $34 billion and reported 30% growth in
operating income. Mr. Rasulo says the parks are long-term undertakings
and the company always anticipates having to invest in changes. Walt
Disney himself said Disneyland was never finished.

Even so, California Adventure has had special
problems. On a recent afternoon at the Disneyland Resort, 18-year-old
season-pass holder Megan White made a standard complaint: "Disneyland
is a magical place, but California Adventure is just a theme park you
can get anywhere." Ms. White, of Valencia, Calif., adds she spends most
of her visits at Disneyland, only entering California Adventure for one
or two rides because it has "no imagination."

California Adventure was the result of a years-long
attempt to build on Disneyland's success. In 1991, Disney originally
announced it was working on a plan to build Westcot, a West Coast
version of Disney's Florida park, Epcot, which had opened nearly a
decade earlier.

According to people involved, Disney's then-chief
executive, Michael Eisner, was eager to replicate the successful model
of Walt Disney World in Florida, which had grown to include several
theme parks, a fleet of hotels and a thriving retail and entertainment
district. The expansions created a destination that families sometimes
visit for a week.

But Westcot came with a price tag of as much as $3
billion and, according to these people, Mr. Eisner got cold feet after
the new Disney park outside Paris became a financial and
public-relations nightmare.

In 1995, Disney ditched Westcot. In the summer of that
year, Mr. Eisner held a three-day retreat in Aspen, Colo., where about
30 executives came up with an idea for a California-themed park, say
people at the meeting. Mr. Eisner chose Disneyland chief Paul Pressler
to oversee a $1.4 billion project in Anaheim that included California
Adventure, a retail district and hotels.

He positioned the new park as a contemporary
alternative to Disneyland. It included three main areas: the Hollywood
Pictures back lot; the Golden State wharf, which included offbeat,
decidedly sedate features like a vegetable garden and tortilla factory;
and the carnival-style Paradise Pier, anchored by a big, traditional
roller coaster.

When the park opened in 2001, visitors complained it
was light on rides and that the ones there lacked the imagination of
Disneyland hits such as the indoor roller coaster Space Mountain. As a
brigade of Web sites savaged the park, a perception set in that it was
a dud.

Mr. Pressler, who left Disney in 2002, says the park
suffered from comparisons to its successful neighbor, but he denies the
budget was ever a problem. "What we missed the mark on was not having
enough for young kids compared to the Magic Kingdom," he says. He
quickly added new rides: The vegetable garden was replaced by A Bug's
Land, based on the 1998 Pixar movie "A Bug's Life." Disney also later
added a $100 million attraction called The Twilight Zone Tower of
Terror.

The Disneyland resort as a whole, especially the
Downtown Disney retail district and hotels, succeeded in increasing
visitors' average stay from one day to two. But attendance at
California Adventure languished, while Disneyland was bursting at the
seams.

Bob Iger, who took over as Disney chief executive in
2005, asked the company's legendary theme-park designers -- known as
Imagineers -- to come up with a plan about a year ago, according to
people involved in the planning. An initial idea was to combine
Disneyland and California Adventure, creating a massive park that
required one ticket. But the investment in infrastructure to transport
visitors around that area was prohibitive, so they focused instead on
creating a second Disneyland.

This summer, Disney hired theme-park consultant Bob
Weis to oversee the new project. The remake is a complex undertaking,
according to people familiar with the situation. Disney plans to keep
California Adventure open during the five-year project, a plan that
will require visitors to navigate construction zones and initially go
in through a temporary entrance. Disney has no plans to discount ticket
prices during that period, they say. Though prices vary, an adult
ticket for a day at either park now costs $66, while a combined ticket
is $91.

Mr. Weis will add a new area called Cars Land, which
will re-create the fictional town of Radiator Springs from the 2006
Pixar movie "Cars," say people familiar with the plans. The centerpiece
will be a cutting-edge attraction in the style of Disneyland's popular
"Indiana Jones" ride.

Addressing criticism of Paradise Pier, Mr. Weis plans
to add a flagship ride based on the 1989 animated movie "The Little
Mermaid" and another on the 1995 feature "Toy Story," the people say.
The Mulholland Madness ride, which re-creates a careening drive along a
famous Los Angeles street, will be rethemed featuring Disney
characters. Others, like the Maliboomer thrill ride, are likely to be
axed.

It is still unclear what will happen to the name, as
the company sees appeal in the words "Disney," "California" and
"Adventure," these people say. But there is a big risk in leaving it
the same. That said, some unusual relics will be left untouched for
now, including the tortilla-making factory and a bread-baking
demonstration. A person familiar with the plan says the Golden State
area isn't considered as thematically out-of-place as others in the new
plan and won't be changed in the near-term.

Que la fête commence ! ! !

Surveillez le net: L Orange County Register annonce que Bob Iger devoilera les plans officiels de l extension de DCA aujourd hui meme, en direct de Glendale!

Concept-arts révélés !!!


L'entrée va vraiment être méconaissable!!!



Radiator Springs Racers, le E-Ticket dans CARSLAND:



Toy Story Mania:



WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLORS: spectacle aquatique nocturne:



LITTLE MERMAID (ils ont supprimé les véhicules suspendus? Apparament ce sera comme NEMO à EPCOT:

Je suis pas sûr que c'est l'entrée. Ce n'est pas plutôt le théâtre qui trônera au bout de la rue, style Main Street, et qui fera un peu office de chateau ?

Si, je me suis mal exprimé, c'est censé être la nouvelle icône du parc, pour remplacer le Soleil et Sunshine Plaza. Dommage qu'on ait pas plus de concept-arts sur la rue principale etc...

Cela dit, même si je trouve tout ça très bon, je suis un peu surpris. Pour un milliard de dollars, je m'attendais quand même à un peu plus. Car là, on a quoi ? Un gros e-ticket (Cars) accompagné d'un nouveau land, deux bons tickets D (la petite sirène et Toy Story mania, le deuxièpme étant d'ailleurs déjà en construction), une nouvelle rue et une nouvelle entrée, et un show nocturne. Bien sûr, c'est déjà considérable. Mais on parle d'un milliard de dollars ! C'est plus que ce qu'avait coûté le parc à son ouverture. Je me demande si tout a été annoncé ou s'il y a des choses en réserve qui n'ont pas été dévoilées...

Attention ce n'est qu'une première phase. A termes, tout le parc sera changé et d'autres attractions verront le jour. C'est un plan qui s'étale sur une décade.

En effet tout n a pas ete devoile.

Deja Carsland comportera 3 attractions et non pas une.
Ensuite Philharmagic va bientot remplacer Muppets.
Hollywood PIctures Backlot se verra completement transforme.
La nouvelle icone comportera une attraction Walt Disney Story.
Une rue principale va etre entierement creee menant jusqu a cette icone.
On parle egalement d un remplacement/grande rehab de Muholland Madness, ainsi que de Maliboomer.
Et comme annonce dans l article de presse, de nouveaux restaurants et ajouts de decors verront le jour un peu partout.

Ah oui et vivement le preview center, confirme pour fin 2008!

ps: oui Kinoo La petite sirene utilisera le systeme omnimover car il propose une plus grande capacite que le ride suspendu. Esperons que l experience elle, n en souffre pas...