First Look at the New Disney Gallery

[Disneytwins]

Found this on the Disney Parks Blog, Disney Gallery reopens in the Bank of Main Street.




It looks Niiiiice!

[Nautilus]

Despite it's "themeing problems", it does look REALLY nice!

[Quacky4Donald]

Originally Posted by Nautilus

Despite it's "themeing problems", it does look REALLY nice!

What "themeing problems" do you see? Yes, it's a gallery put into a former bank. However, Starbucks and other companies do that all the time. Sometimes it can enhance the feeling of the new company coming in.

<Joe>

[Steve DeGaetano]

Originally Posted by Quacky4Donald

What "themeing problems" do you see? Yes, it's a gallery put into a former bank. However, Starbucks and other companies do that all the time. Sometimes it can enhance the feeling of the new company coming in.

<Joe>

Starbucks is a MODERN COMPANY OPERATING IN THE MODERN WORLD. Why would you want to be reminded of that sort of thing in Disneyland?

Main Street was once meant to represent America between the years of 1890 and 1910. The fact that it is nothing more than a shopping mall now has basically ruined the place for those of us who appreciate theme, and the efforts Walt made to refine it. That the theme is being destroyed in this most-intimately "Walt" of lands is a real, cryin' shame.

[Nautilus]

Originally Posted by Quacky4Donald

What "themeing problems" do you see? Yes, it's a gallery put into a former bank. However, Starbucks and other companies do that all the time. Sometimes it can enhance the feeling of the new company coming in.

<Joe>

MasterGracey could probably put it into better terms than I can on this subject, but people in the time didn't have art gallery's in banks. They are separate businesses and that's what made Main Street so appealing; being able to go into different shops that had different businesses like in the turn of the century. Now it's Main Street is being blurred into one giant retail opportunity with generic merchandise which is unfortunate because there was a time when you entered a bank it was...a bank, and that helped support the believability of the story.

[Quacky4Donald]

Originally Posted by Steve DeGaetano

Starbucks is a MODERN COMPANY OPERATING IN THE MODERN WORLD. Why would you want to be reminded of that sort of thing in Disneyland?

Main Street was once meant to represent America between the years of 1890 and 1910. The fact that it is nothing more than a shopping mall now has basically ruined the place for those of us who appreciate theme, and the efforts Walt made to refine it. That the theme is being destroyed in this most-intimately "Walt" of lands is a real, cryin' shame.

Why would we want to see cash registers on Main Street? They're a modern invention that was not around back then. It ruins the theme. "Sorry, Sir, we can't accept your Visa or Mastercard. They would ruin the theme of our land."

But seriously...I was only using Starbucks as an example. I see nothing wrong with using a former banking location for The Disney Gallery. If anything it could strengthen the art. Why not use a vault to help "protect" the precious art of Disney?

<Joe>

[Mr. Bungle]

I think it looks pretty great. And the bank theming is interesting.

[Mr Wiggins]

Originally Posted by Nautilus

MasterGracey could probably put it into better terms than I can on this subject, but people in the time didn't have art gallery's in banks. They are separate businesses and that's what made Main Street so appealing; being able to go into different shops that had different businesses like in the turn of the century. Now it's Main Street is being blurred into one giant retail opportunity with generic merchandise which is unfortunate because there was a time when you entered a bank it was...a bank, and that helped support the believability of the story.

Originally Posted by Steve DeGaetano

Main Street was once meant to represent America between the years of 1890 and 1910. The fact that it is nothing more than a shopping mall now has basically ruined the place for those of us who appreciate theme, and the efforts Walt made to refine it. That the theme is being destroyed in this most-intimately "Walt" of lands is a real, cryin' shame.

Bingo.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

I begrudgingly agree with Steve, these pictures made me vomit a little in my mouth.

[techskip]

While others may bicker about this I believe the "out of theme" comment is crying over spilled milk. The "bank" has not been a themed bank in a very long time... to suddenly cry foul because it went from AP Center to Disney Gallery is pretty bad. It looked "more" like a bank before but it really hasn't been one in a while.

[ryno1986]

So the question is would you rather they had just eliminated the bank theme altogether so that it would make more sense? I'm sure if they did that people would be mad too, so really there's no way Disney could win. (Actually, if they would have never closed the original galery, I guess they could have).

Regardless, I'm still jealous of DL's Main Street. If you really want to see a Main Street that's become a mall, come to Florida.

[mrfantasmic]

It looks fantastic, and charming.

I must hate Disneyland to make that statement, eh?

[Autopia]

Wow, you guys get your precious "Disney Gallery" back in a new space, and the first thing you do is complain about it making Main Street more of a shopping mall.

Micechat is amazing some days. A-freaking-mazing.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Originally Posted by Autopia

Wow, you guys get your precious "Disney Gallery" back in a new space, and the first thing you do is complain about it making Main Street more of a shopping mall.

Micechat is amazing some days. A-freaking-mazing.

For the record, I never cried for the Gallery's return. However, its location previously was perfect.

And I don't want to disparage Kim Irvine's work--as usual, exemplary. The issue I have is not with her--it's with the "powers" that directed that this be done.

Skip, I agree that the Bank of Main Street hadn't been a bank for a very long time. That doesn't mean it shouldn't have been a bank. You're telling me that they couldn't get one major bank in the region to have a branch there?

Even though it wasnt a bank, the details of the teller's windows was quite authentic and convincing. I wonder how many APs might have opened up an account, just to be able to say they bank at Disneyland?

The fact is, Main Street is losing (if it hasn't already lost) its thematic integrity. Everything from the "mauve and teal" paint scheme (Kudos to Wiggins for that description) to the strange stylings of some of the interiors, to the loss of details that some feel are insignficant, but which affected positively the overall feeling of the place, such as lacy widow walks and mantles in the gas lamps, that has led to the decline of Main Street.

People forget (or young people never knew) that Main Street was once a very realistic, vibrant, evocative area of the park--the New Orleans Square before there was one. As Mumford and Gordon wrote so eloquently, there needs to be a veneer of reality for the fantasy to be better--for the fantasy to seem "real."

That veneer has been removed, nay--torn away in shreds as one might remove wallpaper, and all we're left with now is a shell of what was. No more will an actual lamp lighter brighten the street at dusk; no more will a whitewing pick up trash. The hot feel of recycled plastic will greet us when we sit on the park benches. What we have here is not "magic" any more--as much as some want to claim it is. And if they do think it's magical now, then that makes them even more easier to distinguish as those who never knew--and never will.

There is no losing one's self on Main Street any more. There's no way to feel transported to a turn-of-the-century American small town. But hey, you can buy a neon light stick for $5 bucks, and experience what it would be like if a museum moved into an old bank in the year 2009!

We hear the gripes against the "theme police" nearly every time something like this happens. I wonder what it will take for the frogs to realize what they've lost? Will it be when the Firehouse is converted into a funnel cake stand? When the sidewalks are converted to speed ramps, like at the airport, to make it easier and faster for people to get into the middle of the park? When it's decided that the loops of a steel coaster over the buildings might not seem too out of place, if we make the steel look like wood?

My guess is, most will never "get it." And that's fine. At least we have a model of what Disneyland once was and what it could have been, at the Walt Disney Family Museum. Too bad the real thing couldn't be better than the model.

Disneyland is losing--at a rapid pace--the very fabric of what it once was. I, for one, don't take it lightly.

[seenoevil]

I think it looks great and it will be one of the first places I go to this coming Wednesday! (First place is Space Mt.!)