Your Guide to the Happiest Place on Earth
With Sunshine Plaza now officially closed to guests, the new temporary walkway is now open. Guests enter through the new Pan-Pacific Auditorium inspired turnstiles and then follow the walkway over to the Condor Flats area. This entry and exit walkway will remain in place while crews transforms the area into Buena Vista Street, set to open in 2012.
Take a look at the renders below of some of the new buildings. These were shown during the D23 Expo and are courtesy of the Disney parks Blog.
Disneyland has, “Partners” and Disney California Adventure will have, “Storytellers”.
A new statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse will be featured on Buena Vista Street when it opens in 2012. It’s called Storytellers and it is a young Walt just ariving in Hollywood to prusue his dreams. I cant wait to see the real thing!
More from the Disney Parks Blog:
How does this statue help tell the story of Buena Vista Street?
It is a young Walt Disney as you would have seen him when he just stepped off the train from Kansas City in 1923, arriving in California to pursue his dreams. The street is set in the time period between 1923-1937, the time when Walt arrived and subsequently innovated, risked and created the studio that is the origin of all that The Walt Disney Company has become. He is located on the ground, not on a pedestal or planter, so that he is accessable to guests – “one of us.” Early Los Angeles (Buena Vista Street) is Walt’s land of opportunity and dreams at this time, and metaphorically it is for our guests as well!
Tell us what is going on in the scene depicted in the statue.
Walt has just arrived in California from Kansas City, and as he looks around in wonder and optimism, the world is his oyster to realize his dreams.
The statue is also an amalgam of young Walt and early Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse – although not created until after Walt’s arrival in Los Angeles – was, according to story, created on a train and was part of Walt’s travels and his muse, and is a fitting travel partner.
How does this statue compliment the iconic Partners statue at Disneyland park?
It could be considered a “bookend” in that in Disneyland park, the Partners statue is a mature Walt and Mickey, already wildly successful and the guests are the benefactors of their effort. Walt has realized his dreams and is sharing with us. Also, the Partners statue is more of a “monument” at Disneyland park.
In Disney California Adventure park, the statue is of young Walt as he arrived in Los Angeles, and at this point in time nobody knew who he was. He is one of us, and his optimism and enthusiasm are yet to be proven. In a way at this point in his life he is “everyman” but you can see it on his face, and in Mickey’s, that through this remarkable individual’s dreams and efforts, something great is going to happen.
How did you decide on the placement of the statue?
We wanted it in the new Hub, facing the center and on the street corner, so that he is one of our guests. We also wanted him near the Carthay Circle Theatre so that he could be part of that scene as well.
The statue maquette is on display this weekend at the Parks & Resorts Pavilion at the D23 Expo and will later be seen in the Blue Sky Cellar at Disney California Adventure park.
While the Parks and Resorts presentation goes on at the D23 Expo the folks over at the Disney Parks Blog posed a video of a birds eye view of Buena Vista Street.
Enjoy!
Another update from the D23 Expo! Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs and Bob Weis, Executive Vice President, Creative, Walt Disney Imagineering, just took us back in time to 1920s Los Angeles, with updates on the upcoming Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure park. Imagineers have worked hard to transport guests back to the Los Angeles that Walt experienced when he first arrived in California.
Guests will be able ride the Red Car Trolley up Buena Vista Street to the new icon of the park, Carthay Circle Theatre — a recreation of the original theater where “Snow White and Seven Dwarfs” premiered in 1937. Guests will also be able to experience the park’s charming period architecture, mix of stores, eateries and guest services — it will be a whole new entry way into the park that immerses guests into the experience.
Now travel back in time with this new flythrough video, which takes you on a tour of the new Disney California Adventure park entrance like you’ve never seen before!