Shanghai Disneyland: My Perspective

[MANEATINGWREATH]

This is my own take on the Shanghai park. Please tell me what you think!

The goal I'm aiming for is a classic Disneyland/Magic Kingdom with A LOT of differences.

Main Street, U.S.A.- The concept of a Midwestern town set in the turn-of-the-century has been used quite often before, so that's why I'm going to set it (Or at least my version) in a different era: The 1940's. And to top that off it's no longer set in the Midwest. Welcome to 1940's Hollywood. May I present to you Hollywood Boulevard: "The Main Street of Entertainment."

Now this is a very controversial move. Disney purists especially will be upset by this. However there are some out there who wish for change. If you count World Bazaar at Tokyo Disneyland, the concept of Main Street, U.S.A. has been used five times, about to be six once the REAL Shanghai Disneyland is born. The reason I decided to go with Hollywood Boulevard is because I guarantee that the local guests will be very interested in the magic of movies and whatnot. A little piece of Hollywood Studios and California Adventure (Revised Hollywood Studios and California Adventure) in the middle of a Magic Kingdom. Pretty cool huh?

The amount of detail in this land will be AWESOME. It really makes you feel as if you're stepping into the Hollywood that literally "never was." As always, the train station, flowerbed, and entry turnstiles will remain...however they will be spruced up A LOT. It all begins with the turnstiles.



Obviously they will look rather similar to this (The posted concept art). But they won't be direct copies. Instead they'll follow the same architectural-style as the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: An eclectic Pueblo Deco manner, only lighter in color in comparison to the Tower of Terror. Since this park is held in China, the American (And Californian) flag won't be standing tall above the entryway...or in the middle of town square for that matter...

The train station will also follow the Pueblo Deco-style, although modeled very closely after its Florida counterpart (Sans the facade and interior). A clock tower (Based off of Union Station in L.A.) will lie in the middle of the building (Obviously on the highest point), while the interior would feature various details, such as miniature trains, dioramas, and black and white pictures of stars aboard the rails (Often times taken during the production of a movie involving the rails). Outside on an unused piece of track will be a luggage cart. Upon this luggage cart will be a pile of luggage, belonging to several big stars of the time period, including Zero Mostel, R.K. Maroon (A cameo appearance), Olivia de Havilland, Walt Disney, James Cagney, Bela Lugosi, Fae Rae, and Judy Garland. The rest are relatively unlabeled.

The Mickey Mouse flowerbed resembles that of the intro to 1940's Mickey Mouse cartoons, the same exact face seen on Mickey's Fun Wheel. To further imitate the cartoon intro the flowers around the head will be bright yellow, imitating the "shimmering explosion" thing always seen around the character's head in a cartoon intro. I'm still debating if the flowerbed will change seasonally.

Hollywood Boulevard itself will greatly resemble the street outside of Maroon Studios in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, complete with similar architecture, details, and points of note, particularly Maroon Studios. That's right, Maroon Studios will make a home on Hollywood Boulevard, in place of where one would usually find the Main Street Opera House. Inside guests can walk around the place and eventually enter "Animation Central" which is a walkthrough/show-attraction that takes guests through the world of animation and its creation. The interior of the attraction would be themed to that of R.K. Maroon's office and the relaxing hallways one would find in a well-known and well-kept cartoon studio. A meet 'n' greet will be located somewhere in the studio. A forced-perspective water tower baring Roger Rabbit's smiling face will be located somewhere in the studio.

Another important attraction of the boulevard would be the Red Car Trolleys, based off the new attraction coming to California Adventure and the trolleys seen in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Their main stop is located in town square, right on the curb next to City Hall and "Oswald's Gas Station" (Which is themed to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit). Its only other stop is in the park's central hub, but more on that later. Let's move onto the land itself.

The architecture of the land is pretty much of that seen near Maroon Studios in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. All of the classic window-signs dedicated to the Imagineers will find a home here...albeit revised ("Dr. Xavier Atencio: Psychiatrist for Toons, Imbeciles, and Flat-Out Lunatics"). The shops, restaurants, and whatnot will basically be the same as their counterparts across the world...themed to 1940's Hollywood rather than turn-of-the-century America.

The park's parade is...well I don't know, I'm not good with that stuff. As for the fireworks show I'm stumped as well.

In the park's central hub one will find the typical branch-off into all the other lands: Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, etc. Along with the castle and garden dedicated to the usual "Partners" statue. This time things are a bit different. The Partners Statue
will keep with the Hollywood theme and resemble this rather than the typical design.



The castle will be something that has never been done before. A combination of Cinderella Castle and Sleeping Beauty Castle (The Disneyland Paris version): The Disney Castle. Another controversial move. All the Disney castles around the world are themed to princesses...and now it's fine-time that they take a step away from the past and do something original for once.

More on my ideas later...

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Following updates will feature revised versions of Tomorrowland, Toontown (Which will be connected to Hollywood Boulevard through the "Ink and Paint Club"), Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland.

[tloolgb]

I like that. The parks could use an influx of new inspiration taken from the other parks. The Hollywood Main Street is just one of the Main Street ideas they could embrace. Nice work so far.

[ryno1986]

I've thought about the Hollywood Main Street before. I also think a 1950s Main Street would be cool. Considering that when the original Disneyland was built, Main Street took place 50 years in the past, you could apply the same concept today and set it in the 50s. Just like the turn of the century, the 50s are well known for being a sort of comfortable time before more turmoil times. I think it would work because the basic feeling of nostalgia and comfort would be there, just with a different twist.

[RandySavage]

I like both the 1950s and Hollywood ideas - basically anything different than what has been done 5 times (with admitted variation). Delaney's Hollywood Main St. sketch for Shanghai:

[Magic Lamp]

You don't have to apologize to be controversial in your ideas, MEW, I think we all could use a bit of a change in Disneyland.

I'm actually surprised why they didn't use a concept like Disneyland - 50 years later in Hong Kong. Basically, you build the same magic kingdom style park but put it 50 years into the future, so MS would be in the 1950's, Tomorrowland would use a design and showcase technology reminiscent of sci-fi movies in the 90's and 2000's, etc. It would utilize the same basic dream world of an adult in the year 2005 instead of 1955.

[Timekeeper]

Show Us More, please?


Timekeeper

[Hathaway Browne]

Great concept MEW. As others have said, don't apologise for being controversial. Its good to be controversial at times. Paris probably wouldn't have the radical Castle if someone hadn't suggested the be a little different.

Heck, even Disneyland was probably controversial and certainly radical for its time to some.

Love to hear more about your ideas for Shanghai.

I also think a 1950s Main Street would be cool.

What a fantastic idea! Some of the old buildings could remain but intermixed with "new" buildings. Not to mention the styles the can have for the stores. Main St. Music would be jumping to the sounds of Rock'n'Roll for starters...

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Wow, thanks for the feedback! I guess I'll continue then!

Okay now...I thought that HB (Hollywood Boulevard) was a controversial idea...well...I was wrong...I'm already prepared to get chewed out about this next concept. So PLEASE look at the idea before giving feedback. Next on my list is Toontown. Shanghai's version of Toontown will include a Disney first: The addition of non-Disney toons. That's right, for the first time in theme park history, such classic characters as Mickey and Donald will be joined by Betty Boop and Koko the Clown, and many, many others...

My reasoning for this pitch is simple: IT WOULD BE AWESOME. I mean, can you imagine seeing animatronic versions of Donald and Daffy having a piano duel? Or what about the Old Man of the Mountain (A villain from the Betty Boop cartoons) and Foghorn Leghorn making cameo appearances in a Disney theme park? No matter what feedback or criticism I'm given, I'm going to stick by this concept no matter what. End of story. Feel free to give feedback anyways, lol.

Toontown

Toontown will be located behind the eastern side of HB, a perfect location, judging by the fact that Maroon Studios and the Acme Warehouse (More on that later) are located on the eastern side of the street. The land's main entrance can be found in the central hub respectively...however it can also be accessed through the Acme Warehouse, but once again, more on that later. For now I'll just cover the land itself.

My most-bizarre rendition of Toontown is literally an actual cartoon brought into our dimension. The realm is filled with so much color and excitement, that it'd be hard to understand everything that's going on here at once. Cheery music fills the air ("Smile, Darn Ya, Smile" anyone?) as we make our way through the civic center of toon citizenship.

The main attraction here is "Who Kidnapped Roger Rabbit?" Located to the southern point of the land. The story is, is that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has been unemployed for years, thanks to the fact that cartoons went to color and another rabbit stole his spotlight: Roger Rabbit. After the whole "Marvin Acme" incident, Roger gained extreme popularity amongst Hollywood and soon after became the official mascot of Maroon Cartoons, as evident by his face slapped on the studio's water tower. Oswald on the other hand was left in the dust, forced to take such odd jobs as a taxi driver (Fired and temporarily jailed for purposely trying to run over Roger with his cab), a waiter (Fired and temporarily jailed for purposely trying to poison Roger with restaurant food), a stage actor (Fired and temporarily jailed for purposely trying to throw a piece of the set at Roger during intermission), and a coroner (Fired and PERMANENTLY jailed for trying to shove Roger into the back of his coroner-car). The now unlucky-rabbit was imprisoned in the Toontown County Jail for Ne-r-do-wells on a life sentence, no chances at bail or freedom.

About a year after the incident with both Marvin Acme and Oswald (It's now 1948), Roger wrapped up the filming of his latest movie shot with comedian Zero Mostel and actress Olivia de Havilland: To Kill a Mocking Rabbit. As in the case with most movie premieres, a party is held right afterwards. This party in particular was to be held at the estate of Roger and his lovely wife Jessica, with such guests as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Goofy, and many more. It was to be the night to remember.

One guest who wasn't invited however was, you guessed it...Oswald...the ever-evil unlucky rabbit...the black and white animated menace had been stuck in his solitary cell for nearly a year, and he wanted nothing more than revenge on the rabbit that took his spotlight. After much thinking and pacing he then got an idea...an awful idea...the rabbit got a perfectly awful idea..."I know just what to do!" And with that he began work on his awful plan...

Meanwhile at the Rabbit Estate, the party was going smoothly. Everyone was having a good time and no trouble had occurred...yet...just as Roger was about to thank everyone for coming, something unexpected happened. The lights went out. There was a panic. Jessica having a lit match to light the cake, was able to find a flashlight. And when she turned it on, she soon became horrified: Her darling Roger was gone! Suddenly a single spotlight hit the ceiling. There was Roger, tied up and gagged, attempting to break free and scream for help. And guess who was next to him? Oswald the EVIL Rabbit!

More to come!

One last thing...no non-Disney merchandise based on the third party toons will be sold in the park (While some characters may make cameo appearances on pins or advertisements), no meet n' greets either. They'll be COMPLETELY restricted to Toontown and Toontown only. So don't expect to see a big parade dedicated to Bugs Bunny or anything like that. These special characters can only be found in Toontown and nowhere else.