A different look to Shanghaî Disneyland artwork

The Shanghaî Disneyland event was undeniably eagerly awaited by the Disney fan community and the SDL WDI artwork was what we had waited for for many months. I will have, today, a new look at this SDL artwork. Although Disney did its best to not provide renderings which would reveal SDL design in detail, there are still interesting elements to provide food for thought as we saw last week in my previous SDL article.

Something in particular in SDL artwork caught my attention. Although it's hard to see details, when we look at the rendering the only area which seems to have a futuristic "Tomorrowland" design is the area located on the left of the castle, i.e in a location where normally a Frontierland or an Adventureland is built, and exactly at the opposite where are all other Magic Kingdoms built their Tomorrow/Discovery/lands - except Tokyo Disney Sea which have its Port Discovery located on the west side.



But there is more: WDI Imagineers know from all studies done since 1955 that guests are generally inclined to visit Magic Kingdoms clockwise, i.e they usually begin by Adventureland or Frontierland, and then the other lands. Not all of the guests of course, but most of them. It's well known, and there might be another meaning at this clockwise visit, as by doing this guests begin by the past (Frontierland) and end with the future (Tomorrowland) which is quite logical.

But in Shanghaî, it seems that everything is inverted. Not only am I not surprised by the lack of Frontierland, but also what seems to be an Adventureland area stands where we usually find a Tomorrowland or, at DLP, Discoveryland. So knowing all this, why WDI Imagineers would have put a "Tomorrowland" exactly at the location where guests usually begin their visit, why would they invite SDL guests to begin by the future instead to have a look at a nostalgic past?

Well, maybe because there is no nostalgic past for chineses. At least for the period of time that we usually find in Frontierland. Generally Frontierland bring back DL guests in the 19th century at a time of pioneers, gold rush, and the birth of a nation. Like everyone, China had its 19th century but, you see, they probably don't keep good memories of it. For centuries China was the most advanced civilization, much more advanced than the rest of the world; especially in science, medecine and arts. China also brought to the world major inventions like printing, paper, compass, bank notes, gunpowder and even pasta!

And then, in the 19th century, China adopted a defensive posture towards European imperialism. As China opened up to foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Chinese Empire's control and European imperialism proved to be a disaster for China. The First Opium War was from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860. The subsequent passing of the humiliating Treaty of Tianjin in 1856 and the Beijing Conventions of 1860 opened up more of the country to foreign penetrations and more ports for their vessels. Hong Kong was ceded over to the British. Thus, the "unequal treaties system" was established and heavy indemnities had to be paid by China, and more territory and control were taken over by the foreigners.

I think you begin to understand why the Chinese don't really have a nostalgic image of the 19th century. For China, it was probably the worst time of humiliation in all of China's history. I've been told that at WDI, quite a while ago, for HKDL i think, they envisioned doing a chinese Main Street instead of an american one. I though it would have been a good idea and I probably thought this because of my romantic vision of chinese cities at the turn of the century, but China probably don't have the same romantic image of that era...

Now, in this early 21st century China is back and its residents are on their way to become the most powerful nation in the world which probably will happen in the next 20-30 years or the other half of this century at the latest. The time of a new greatness is coming for China and the Chinese are well decided to put China's flag on the moon - and probably they will succeed. In two words, we have a whole nation looking towards the future and not really back two hundred years ago. That could be a reason why SDL's Tomorrowland would be located where guests usually begin the park visit. Nothing right now is more important for China than the future, so let's begin with it!

Although China doesn't have good memories of the 19th century it doesn't mean that the collective subconscious doesn't have myths and legends. China civilization is more than 5000 years old, and there is no doubt that old myths are part of China's subconscious and that Shanghaî Disneyland will probably pay tribute to some of them. As for the SDL fireworks that we can see on the rendering, when Shanghaî Disneyland will open in 2016, Disney better not be cheap on the evening fireworks. Because the Chinese know what the word "fireworks" mean. As a matter of fact they also invented fireworks. And not last century, but 900 years ago.

Artwork: copyright Disney

Many thanks to Nate Walz for the text editing!

Disneyland Paris Update : Getting ready for DLP 20th Anniversary - Part Two

Here is a new Disneyland Paris update and we'll begin by some pictures of the works on the big World of Disney Store which will open next year for the 20th Anniversary. Located at the entrance of the Disney Village it will hide the Gaumont theatre facade, which is good news. Just like others World of Disney stores guests will find inside all the Disney merchandise they can dream of.







Last month in another DLP update i've told you all about a meeting organized by DLP for the webmasters to keep us informed about what will be done this year to make sure everything will be as beautiful as possible for DLP's 20th Anniversary.

Since then DLP released a short video filmed during this meeting and, surprise, we can see in it some interesting Imagineering documents that we saw during the presentation but couldn't take pictures of. I did some screen captures of the video for you and let's begin by documents related to the renovation of the Molly Brown.







A picture of the always charming Peggie Fariss, now in charge of DLP Imagineering, interviewed by Mathias Dugoujon from DLP web communication, during the inaugural cruise of the new Molly Brown on the Rivers of the Far-West.



As you know Sleeping Beauty Castle is currently being repaint and during the presentation Thomas Bardenat - here on the picture - shows us the color palette of the new colors chosen for the castle. On the picture below you can see behind him some of these colors...



...and below two DLP Imagineers painting the castle model with the new colors.



One very interesting document is linked with the transformations inside Main Street U.S.A Disney & Co shop. As i told you the beautiful band organ currently inside the shop will be send to Florida and placed inside the Story Book Circus area in the new Fantasyland...



...And WDW Imagineering in exchange will provide to DLP some visuals which will be used inside the Disney & Co decor. On the video as they had to fill the whole 16:9 frame the picture is distorted and the visuals don't look like the one we saw. So i photoshopped it and now they look more like the real visuals which are more rectangular than square. They're not perfectly sharp but that's the best i could do!



By the way, these visuals should also interest WDW fans as i'm pretty sure they will be used, too, inside the Story Book Circus area opening in 2012.

I suppose you're dying to see the video, so here it is!




A special bonus with another video as DLP also released a promotional video for the new Disney Magical Moments Festival, including comments of French VIP who were there during the special event.




See you soon for a new update!

Pictures: copyright Disney or Disney and more

New Imagineering Behind the Scenes Video : How the Hitchhiking Ghosts Come to Life at WDW Haunted Mansion

Walt Disney Imagineering just released a new video going behind the scenes at the new and amazing hitchhiking ghosts effect in WDW Haunted Mansion. The effect, now in place since two weeks, is unbelievably cool and all Haunted Mansion's fans around the world will love it.



WDW Magic filmed the new hitchhiking ghosts effect and posted the video two weeks ago. If you've not watched it yet on Youtube here it is below.



I'm sure that DLP fans would love to have the same effect at the end of Phantom Manor and some weeks ago i told you that the park was planning to enhance Phantom Manor effects - and introduce new effects, too, at Big Thunder Mountain. There is little doubt that this new hitchhiking ghosts effect would be part of it. Unfortunately i have bad news for you as the latest news say that both Phantom Manor and BTM new effects are on hold for now and won't be installed for DLP 20th Anniversary. It's a bit a pity as both PM and BTM needs really some enhancements. Let's cross our fingers, may be they will change their mind, they still have time to put these amazing effects in place at the end of Phantom Manor.

Picture: copyright Disney

Videos: copyright Disney and WDW Magic

SDL Artwork high-res files reveal more Shanghaî Disneyland secrets

When Disney released on April 8 the first Shanghaî Disneyland artworks i had, probably just like you, a mixed feeling. I was happy to see - at last - some SDL artwork and on the other hand i was a bit frustrated by the low resolution which didn't helped to see the concept in details. I thought we would have to wait until 2016 to discover high-res artwork, but, no, finally Disney released high-res files of these renderings! And it changes everything, as we can have now a crystal clear view of the SDL project - at least as it is now!

So, here we go again for a new exploration of the SDL artwork and as you will see these high-res files reveals more about what kind of attractions we can expect at Shanghaî Disneyland. First rendering on the top is the high-res version of the full Shanghaî Disneyland bird's eye view of the park.

As you will see when you will enlarge the pictures these renderings are very probably digital paintings. Even more, nothing - except may be the castle - seems to have a definitive design. As we know Disney doesn't want to reveal SDL design too clearly to avoid copycats of the concepts - which is perfectly understandable - but my guess is that WDI SDL Imagineers may still be in blue-sky mode on some of them and, as Jim Hill would say, we'll try to don't get "shanghaied" by what we will see now. However, i think that a big part of the ideas that we can see on these renderings should stay in the final concept.

So, let's begin by the beginning, i.e the entrance. As we know, tihere is no Main street U.S.A but as you'll see on the top of the image, after the main gate and before the big green space area in front of the castle, there is some buildings on the left and the right and SDL might have, finally, something which seems to be as long as half the length of Main Street, with a different design of course.



Before we enter the park, let's have a look at an interesting area located just on the left of the entrance. If the SDL map below is right it should be "commercial facilities", right at the exit of the park, may be a kind of equivalent of our Disney Village at DLP, i.e an area where SDL guests will find merchandise shops and restaurants.



Here is again the SDL map that i've posted last month showing where will be what, including SDL hotels. As you will see an hotel with view on the park is envisioned by WDI Imagineers.



We will come back to the castle with others renderings but apparently the "Fantasyland" part of the park will be, as usual, located behind the castle although there will be some classic Fantasyland rides around it. If you enlarge the image you'll see on the right of the castle something which definitely looks like a labyrinth. Will they put there the Alice's Labyrinth that we have at DLP or will it have another theme?



Let's move on the left. Where we find generally Tomorrowland SDL guests will have their Adventureland! And this is now for sure as we can see clearly on this part of the rendering a Pirates fortress, a gallion in te lagoon close to it and a Mayan pyramid on the very right. All this seems to confirm that Pirates of Caribbean and Indiana Jones Adventure will be part of Shanghaî Disneyland on opening day. I've read on forums that some people were thinking that the big dark mountain on the foreground might be an Expedition Everest but, first, this mountain doesn't look at all like the one of Expedition Everest and, two, may i remind you the feelings of chinese officials about everything linked with Tibet? If there is an attraction that i'm pretty sure we will never see at SDL it's really Expedition Everest, at least in its original theme as WDI could use the track with another theming.



Let's go now on the west part of the park where we find generally Frontierland or Adventureland. Instead, SDL guests will find in this area SDL Tomorrowland as there is no doubts that this is the Tomorrowland area of Shanghaî Disneyland.



A closer look reveals not a lot, except that this big dome building on the left should be SDL Space Mountain. Here, too, the design is obviously not the final design. On the picture above you'll note that a kind of Astro Jets / Orbitron ride might be at the entrance of the land. However i will not be surprised if this land received modifications in years to come, so let's say it's just a first look, which is better than nothing!



Always from this SDL bird's eye view rendering, let's have a closer look at SDL lake and pier. The fountain at the center was already identifiable on the low-res version but we can see clearly that the big boats will not look like American steam river boats. Also, we might have smaller boats moving on the lake like they do on WDW Seven Seas Lagoon.



At the far right of the lake is another pier and, behind, it might be the hotel with view on the park that we saw on the map. I know it doesn't look really like a hotel but WDI is probably keeping secret the original design.



Let's go back to the center of the park and the castle with a new high-res version of another rendering we saw last week.



Here is a close-up on the castle and what looks like multi-colored water falls in the front might mean that there will be a big fountain pond at the foot of SDL castle.



Always in front of the castle the next image shows not only small chinese pavilions but also a path with cherry trees in blossom and, if you look well, an area with Disney characters topiaries!



We already saw them last week but here is a better view of the Fantasyland Carousel. You'll note also on the picture others carousels in the background....



..and the Dumbo ride, both located in this 46,000 square meter of green space at the centre of the park - also designed to be a cultural hub and a reminder of "the themes of sustainability and nature that will be integrated throughout the park" as Iger said.



The third rendering released last week is also available now in high-res and it allows us to have a closer look at the castle. Here is the full picture in its high-res version...



...a close-up on the castle...



...and an even closer view on the castle's entrance.



So, let's see what we know now about Shanghaî Disneyland according to these renderings. If there is no changes SDL guests should find:

- A gorgeous fairy-tale castle with in front of it small chinese pavilions, Disney characters topiaries, Dumbo and Fantasyland Carousel rides as well as others carousels.
- An Adventureland area on the east side of the park with, very probably, Pirates of Caribbean and Indiana Jones Adventure
- A Fantasyland area behind the castle, including an Alice-like or other theme labyrinth
- A Tomorrowland area on the west side of the park with, very probably, Space Mountain as well as an Orbitron ride or similar
- A merchandise and dining area at the left of the entrance

That's not a lot and i wish we knew more about the rides themselves but for now, that's the best we can do with the artwork available!

Artwork: copyright Disney

Star Tours “ Mall Tours ” Backdrop Reveals Star Tours 2 Hangar

The Star Tours “Mall Tours” had its first stop at the Aventura Mall in Miami, Florida. Guests could meet C3P0 or R2D2 and have pictures with them. But the most interesting is this big backdrop which reveal what is very probably the new Star Tours hangar from which our new Starspeeder 1000 will depart.

Jump to my new Star Tours web site where i've posted today THREE new articles! It's HERE and, as i've enhanced last week-end the site layouts, be prepared for a jump in outer space!

Picture: copyright Disney-Lucas Film Ltd

New Little Mermaid video reveals King Triton Audio-Animatronic

Walt Disney Imagineering released this new Little Mermaid video showing the recording of the ride music. Remember "Part of Your World" "Under the Sea" "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Kiss the Girl"? You'll hear all these classics throughout The Little Mermaid attraction when it will open at Disney California Adventure on June 3rd. The ride will last about 5 1/2 minutes and scenes will include 183 characters, including 127 in the “Under the Sea” scene alone.

On the video you'll see for a few seconds a new Audio-Animatronic, the one of King Triton which should appear at the end of the ride!



Video: copyright Disney

Shanghaî Disneyland : Why Bob Iger was not the only one to be pleased by SDL groundbreaking event

When Walt Disney bought - in secret - the massive property in Florida which is now known as Walt Disney World, he had more than one goal in mind. Not only did he want enough property to build several theme parks and hotel resorts, but he also really wanted to avoid something which had driven him crazy at Anaheim, i.e to have non-Disney hotels built close to the park, taking advantages of Disneyland's success.

Since then, each time the WDC builds a new theme park and resort they remember Walt's lesson. In Paris, for instance, DLP has enough land to not only build at least three theme parks, but also to keep any hotel competitor from building too close to the resort. In Hong Kong it's even better as there is no land too close to the resort where someone could build a non-Disney resort, as the land where HKDL is now was only ocean ten years ago.

In Shanghaî it's a bit different. Obviously the deal that Disney has with the Chinese administration includes enough land to build three theme parks and many hotel resorts, and, as you will see, Bob Iger was not the only one last friday to be pleased by Shanghaî Disneyland groundbreaking event. As a matter of fact, the beginning of Shanghaî Disneyland construction means "good news" for a lot of others people nearby.

In an interesting Shanghaî Daily article called "Pudong eyes Disney windfall" Liang Yiwen reveals all of what should happen in the Pudong area - Pudong being the district where SDL is currently being built. No one can beat the Chinese on pragmatism and Chen Zhongmao, deputy director of Pudong New Area Commission of Commerce asked: "Disneyland is expected to attract 7.3 million visitors a year. Where will the visitors stay at night and where will they go during the day?".

Well, I suppose that Disney expects them to go to the park and stay at the SDL hotels, but it's not a stupid question as SDL guests might be interested to discover other things outside the resort.

Apparently, the Pudong New Area Commission "found that many visitors to last year's World Expo stayed in Puxi due to the lack of sightseeing and commercial facilities in Pudong" and it seems that the commission learned something out of this. And so: "the government plans to remove the rice paddies around the future Disneyland site and build high-end tourist sites with a 'local flavor' to keep amusement park guests in Pudong".

No kidding? They want to try to keep SDL guests in the area? What a surprise.

And Chen Zhongmao added: "Overseas tourists will be interested in the towns with distinct local culture. Disneyland embodies Western culture and the ancient towns represent Chinese culture - a perfect match ... One of the planned attractions is Xinchang Ancient Town, a water town more than 1,000-year-old where director Ang Lee filmed scenes for the film 'Lust, Caution'. Beautifully carved wooden window frames and elaborately painted signboards are common sights along Xinchang's main street, which was first built during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Another attraction will be Hengmian Ancient Town, which remains relatively unknown among modern complexes. Both towns will be given a face-lift."

To be honest, I, who likes archeological sites, will be interested to discover authentic old Chinese cities. I've spent too much energy being angry because China is destroying most of its old areas in Beijing or in other cities, so I think I welcome the possibility to visit genuine old Chinese towns when i will come to Shanghaî Disneyland. So, one good point for them on this idea.

However, the word "money" means the same in China as in occidental countries, and: "Other facilities, such as a shopping center that will include the country's biggest outlet mall, are also listed on Pudong's new commercial development blueprint, which was released yesterday."

There we are.

Want more details? "To compete with mature commercial magnets in Puxi, Pudong now plans to add about 700,000 square meters of commercial facilities, mostly retail space, annually through 2015. A large-scale outlet mall, which will be accessible by Metro Line 2, will be built in Chuansha area by 2013."

How far will it be from Shanghaî Disneyland, you ask? "It will be about 10 kilometers from Disneyland and close to Pudong International Airport. The excellent geographic position and convenient transportation facilities will help the outlet mall attract locals and tourists" Chen Zhongmao said.

"Excellent geographic position and convenient transportation facilities"? You bet. With Shanghaî Disneyland located just six miles from this future mega outlet mall and the transportation system which will be build specially for SDL available, it's for sure "an excellent geographic position"!

And, because the Pudong New Area Commission wants to build this the right way "the government has invited US-based Chelsea Property Group, Japan-based Mitsui and Italian fashion retail giant RDM to draft a blueprint for the outlet mall". In two words, it means that on your future trip at Shanghaî Disneyland you'll be able not only to enjoy a new kind of Magic Kingdom but also to discover ancient cities and also to buy your favorite Armani underwear at Chinese prices.

I agree that said like this it's less poetic than a WDI rendering but I suppose that's what we call reality.


Part of the text: copyright Shanghaî Daily

Many thanks for the text editing to Nate Walz!

Shanghaî Disneyland Groundbreaking Event Video !

Here is a great video showing yesterday's Shanghaî Disneyland groundbreaking event - in english and with french subtitles thanks to Disney Magic Interactive forum. In addition you'll find above the official Shanghaî Disney Resort logo. If you've not read it yet, don't miss my full report about yesterday's event with SDL artwork and pictures HERE.



The next video coming from a chinese TV channel is for my chinese readers. It's all in chinese language with no english subtitles and you'll see also in it some shots of HKDL as well as this SDL map.





SDL video: copyright Disney. Editing and subtitles by Disneymagicinteractive. com

Little Mermaid Attraction: Ariel Audio-Animatronic unveiled !

Two weeks ago WDI unveiled the impressive Ursula audio-animatronic and yesterday they released a video showing the one of Ariel. The Ariel AA is not the same size, of course, than the Ursula Animatronic but it looks really good as you will see in the video below!



Picture and video: copyright Disney

Breaking News : Shanghaî Disneyland Special Event on April 8th ?

Apparently, an important announcement about Shanghaî Disneyland will happen on April 8th! This time, my friends, it seems to be the right one, the big final official announcement we're all waiting for! More details below from the very serious New York Times:

Disney Said to Have Cleared Hurdle for Shanghai Park

It appears that the Walt Disney Company has cleared the final hurdle in its decades-long bid to build a theme park on the Chinese mainland.

Invitations were sent late Friday to reporters for “a special event” to be held at a hotel in Shanghai on April 8. The invitation, sent jointly by Disney and a development company called the Shanghai Shendi Group, does not say more than that. A Disney spokeswoman declined to give more information.

A consultant working on the project said the company and Chinese officials would formally announce the beginning of construction on Shanghai Disneyland, which is expected to cost $3.7 billion to build and expected to open by 2016.
Disney wants to make Shanghai Disneyland into a megaresort on a par with Walt Disney World in Florida. But the initial phase will be more modest: a “Magic Kingdom-style” park with a castle surrounded by themed areas, like Tomorrow Land, two hotels, a shopping district and a lake.

The park will include replicas of well-known Disney rides, including Space Mountain and It’s a Small World, along with and new attractions based on Chinese history.
“It will be the Disney that people know but with a very strong Chinese cultural presence,” “said the consultant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with Disney."

Text: copyright Brook Barnes

The Disneyland Paris that never was: Main Street U.S.A - Part Two

Here is the part two of the "Main street that never was" article, always with the brilliant comments of Main Street show-producer Eddie Sotto. We saw yesterday the 1920's Main street concept but other concepts not necessary linked to this 20's version were also never realised, and i asked Eddie more details about some of them, beginning by the one above.

"After the park opened, there were proposals to add more new experiences. Between the entrance to the Discovery Arcade and the Camera Store is a façade that we were going to renovate into what you see here. This was bringing the multiscreen history of silent film to Main Street. I knew this was a very hard sell, but I am personally passionate about silent and early film. Keaton, Linder, Chaplin, Louise Brooks, George Meiles and more would be on going in this exhibit. There would also be handcranked Mutoscopes and other machines that guests could look into and experience early film. Of course, there was no way anyone would want to do this. So we have a sketch to remember it by! I would've loved to see this come true. There also was an evolution of this idea that was a video store except the videos were previewed by turning a crank on the antique Muto scope machines. The name "Buffalo Nickel" arcade was first coined at Knott's Berry Farm where I had worked years earlier.

Below, this is the concept where a video store has demonstrations of coming Video attractions in the movieolas. You could crank the chapters of the video forward and back by using the handle so it really was a way of sampling upcoming movies. This was to go between the camera store and the Discovery arcade facing town square. I thought this might work, but they never went any further.



This next sketch was intended to depict what would happen if we decorated the interior of the Main Street Transportation Company. This may have been done after opening as an enhancement. Ever since we first designed it, the Main Street Transportation building was intended to display the live horses that pulled the trolleys. Being able to go in and pat the horses would be a very nice payoff to such a dominant building.



The original intent at the end of market Street - rendering below - was to cross the arcade and go through three arches which would take you outdoors and they are would-be wagons with all kinds of things to eat. This area still has arches and doors so at some point you could create a courtyard and do food carts out there. What's the point of having a market Street without an open-air market? So in this sketch I showed people in the arcade and then sunlight leading to the far left of where market Street would enter.



Barbara Wightman did this next drawing and I believe it was primarily intended to be a concept for a bakery and was very early in our interiors explorations.



This rendering depicts a 1876 "Crystal Palace Exposition" type entry sequence. This would be a giant glazed ticketing complex and ironically, the cost of this is what drove us into subsidizing the coverring of ticketing with a hotel. At one time we even had the Crystal Palace restaurant from Walt Disney World as part of the Main Street program. I think it went away early on and perhaps this sketch was my way of getting it back in on a grander scale. It's hard to remember.



This is one of my favorite Herb Ryman paintings and probably the best Main Street piece of art. He decided to depict the ground-level of the elevated train station in Town Square. Herb always focuses on what people are doing not what the architecture is doing. In this image something has just happened offstage as the policeman's attention. You'll see dogs, people interacting and all kinds of "business". An artist named Tony Sarg did illustrations of New York City that were all about the people and Herb brought the book to work to say that's what he wanted to do to make the Main Street renderings more interesting. And of course anything Herb does is interesting. So beneath the El Station you would have merchandise and other vendors.



This next image is the Fire Station for Main Street and because it was not a revenue-generating location it was cut and instead the Storybookstore replaced it. It was based in part from the Staten Island Ferry Building in Manhattan. Carpenter Gothic is the style.



The artwork below depicts a crystal piano that was designed to rise up out of the ground and form a gazebo. I always loved how the Rock 'n Roll band "grew" out of the ground at the Tomorrowland Terrace at Disneyland. It would be so beautiful to hear distant piano music and then see a glowing, Crystal Steinway rise up in the middle of the Restaurant! This was the centerpiece of our Crystal Palace Restaurant at the Hub. Later the Plaza Inn replaced the Crystal Palace because it was less expensive to build.



This next painting was an early concept for City Hall. Eventually the design of the double columns and rotunda ended up as the interior of Harrington's China store.



This next artwork was done by artist and friend Jim Michelson, best known for his spectacular attraction posters and discovery arcade posters. He did this sketch of the forecourt area.



This artwork by Carol Grosvenor is a early concept for the StoryBook Store. It was before it became a small library theme, inspired by the film "the music man". But Tiger, in the booth, was kept in the final version.



The artwork below, by Nina Rae Vaughn, was to show the San Francisco feel of the Market Street as a concept. We did keep the look and style although these are not the facades at all. Market is also a famous street in San Francisco.



This artwork, also by Nina Rae Vaughn was more of a piece of marketing art for what we were building. We had already done most of the design at that point.



This last sketch shows the Photo shop and the photographer office but the final result is slightly different. I did this to give the buyers the exact density of props, their type, and direction for placement and buying. From a sketch like this you figure out the lighting, furniture, wallcovering and more. "The office" was moved from behind the counter - which became the darkroom - to the niche closer to the street so more guests can see it.



These "Main Street that never was" articles ends with this artwork from Eddie. Again, all my thanks to Eddie Sotto for his great comments on all these amazing concept-arts, it was fascinating!


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

Artwork: copyright Disney enterprises Inc.