Who remember the "David Copperfield magic underground " project that was supposed to open in Disney-MGM Studios in the late 90's ( and never opened ). It was announced on a big billboard near the entrance of the park, and then, it really disappeared! ...Well, Michael Eisner also have disappeared from WDW, but it's for other reasons!
Probably the only thing that survived from this project is this great and funny picture of Eisner with David released when everything was going fine by WDW marketing office.
It's Disneyland's Haunted Mansion 40th anniversary, and to celebrate this event we will have today a look "behind the scenes" of this beloved attraction.
First, the famous Sam Mc Kim painting of the exterior.
As everybody knows, Marc Davis designed most of the scenes of the Mansion, so let's begin by Marc's artwork, more or less in chronological order...
Here is the famous Hatbox Ghost Marc Davis rendering
...and another scene concept never used for the attraction.
WED special effects master Yale Gracey recreated in 3D Marc Davis scenes...
Please note that you can find the Dueling Portaits in big size on Kevin Kidney's site!
I also asked Imagineer Pat Burke if he had some untold story about the Haunted Mansion. Here is his answer!
"Disney Legend, friend, and co worker, Fred Joerger told me a few stories as he worked on the original Haunted Mansion. As you know Walt had been very sick with Cancer and passed away in December of 1966, before they could complete and open the Haunted Mansion. Fred said he and fellow Art Director Legends Claude Coates and Mark Davis, were hesitant to complete and afraid to open the Mansion to the public, as it was the first attraction on which they could not get Walt's official walk through and final approval. So this of course was a major reason for its delay. They wanted it to be everything that Walt would have asked for and approved. Seems like I remember a soft opening and then it was closed again for changes.
I was told some effects were deemed a bit too scary for guests back then. Sam McKim had shown me some of his original concept sketches which showed boats floating through the halls of a half floated, and flooded mansion much like the Blue Bayou themeing. I was responsible for the props and sets on the TDL Haunted Mansion and used Disneyland's HM as a guide. When Disneyland's opened the HM it had the best Victorian antiques in the attic scene. Over the years as antiques of the Victorian era increased in value, the great antiques slowly were replaced with cheaper substitutes. You know of course that the Nautilus pipe organ was added to the mansion after the 20,000 Leagues attraction closed at Disneyland.
Leotta Toombs had a funny story about when they cast her head for the famouse crystal ball scene. She said that at the studio they placed her head in a kind of a clamp to keep her pose steady. They applied a warm mold making wax to her head. She said it was a little too warm and slid down further forming a true capture or her bust! That was before plaster I guess, as I did later in college. Just a few funny memories from my coworkers..."
Most of the Haunted Mansion guests are always wondering how the special effects were done. Tne next videos will learn you (almost) everything about them.
The first video below is with Walt Disney himself presenting the future attraction surrounded with legendary Imagineers like Marc Davis and others...
The next one is from the Discovery channel and is a short walk-through with legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter. Tony don't reveal a lot of secrets in this one, but it's always a pleasure to see Tony!
This other 10 minutes video will tell you more about the history and the effects of the Mansion. And Tony Baxter, Marty Sklar, Bruce Gordon, sculptor Blaine Gibson, Wayne Jackson, and many other imagineers will show you much more of the "behind the scenes.
But it's this other 10 minutes youtube video that will show you the imagineers at work in the sixties, creating the ghosts of the mansion. This video is coming from Disney's tv show "The Wonderful World of Color" in which the Haunted Mansion made its debut. The first part of it is with the imagineers and the second part is a ride-through with - guess who? - Kurt Russell and the Osmonds , and, yes, they were young at that time!
You can find much more renderings and the whole story of the making of the attraction in the great Jason Surell book - the best book ever written on the "Haunted Mansion" - a "must have" if you don't have it yet!
Here is a great new picture of Walt near a huge moon model , probably taken during the filming of the "man in space" series for the Disneyland tv show in the 50's. Photo: copyright Disney.
We all know the famous 1955 painting of Peter Ellenshaw of Disneyland, but here is a rare picture where you can actually see him painting it, a long time ago.
Ever heard about Grevin wax museum in Paris? With the famous Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London, it's one of the oldest one. Located on Paris Grands boulevards, it has been totally refurbished and the famous "Palais des mirages" re-open recently, with new lighting show. Basically, the "Palais des mirages" is a mirror show created early 20th century with decors changing each minute. With the infinite reflection in the mirrors it gives you the feeling to be , for instance, in a huge palace of India, and it's an amazing experience not-to-be-missed if you are in Paris!
This gorgeous replica of Disneyland's Mark Twain river boat will be released by Disney Direct later this month or in May. This was the last item designed for Disney Direct by sculptors Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily before they left Disney Direct. Not only the details are stunning , but 6 or 7 different materials will be used in the manufacturing of the item : resin, wood, metal, etc...
It will be a limited edition of 500 and expect a price not less than 299$. Please note that on these photos the decals "Disneyland, Mark Twain, etc..." are not yet in place on the boat.
For me this Mark Twain replica is simply stunning.
Hello , for those of you that were unable to join the 15th event last saturday at DLP , here is a photo of the crowd in main street watching the castle illumination, as well as one of the fireworks and of the big thunder and mark twain lighting for the VIP party.
In my previous article about the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality, book i've shown you the great renderings of the DLP that never was which are include in the book. Today, i will show you another type of great documents which you can also find in the book and it is stunning pictures of Disneyland Paris seen from above. And all these pictures were shot by aerial photography master Yann Arthus Bertrand who did a lot of famous books including the acclaimed "Earth from Above". No one is better than Arthus Bertrand for aerial pictures and we were extremely lucky to have pictures from him in the book!
Above, a fantastic view showing Big Thunder at sunset and a part of DLP Frontierland. And below another aerial shot of DLP Big Thunder. A great one as it shows almost all of BTM track!
One of the most gorgeous aerial shot of DLP ever done showing the whole Frontierland! Click to enlarge the picture.
On this next shot, the Disneyland Paris railroad is entering Adventureland and passes in front of Indiana Jones Temple du Péril.
Talking about Indiana Jones Temple du Péril here is another picture showing the temple seen from above.
Let's stay in Adventureland with this great aerial picture of Captain Hook's pirate ship and Adventure Isle.
Let's move now to Fantasyland with this beautiful sunrise shot showing the back of Sleeping Beauty castle.
Another fantastic picture showing a big part of Fantasyland with also the Disneyland Paris railroad passing by.
Now, you need to know that all these great aerial pictures that you will find in the book are reproduced on full double pages ( or full page for the vertical shots ) which makes them even more spectacular when you're reading the book as each double page is 31 X 46 cm!
And when we didn't had pictures of Yann Arthus Bertrand, like for instance for Discoveryland, you'll find spectacular pictures like this one showing the Nautilus and Space Mountain, also reproduced in the book on a double page.
However Yann Arthus Bertrand also did aerial shots above DLP hotels and came back with some great ones like the one below showing the Newport Bay hotel which is reproduced on a double page in the chapter about DLP Hotels and Disney Village.
By the way, whether it is an aerial shot or not, each time a picture deserved to be on a double page you'll find it in the book. A good example is this next one, a stunning night shot showing the Main Street Electrical Parade in front of Sleeping Beauty castle.
So, you see, in addition to the 250 WDI renderings and the hundreds of others great pictures of the park, as well as a great text telling all the story of the making, the Disneyland Paris book has even more to offer than you might have thought. All the pictures you've seen above are of course include in the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book, and if you don't own the book yet, you now understand why it is such a great book.
And, good news, as until August 30 i do a special summer offer on the book which not only include a 20% discount on the regular price but, also, each one who will place an order will receive a special gift - and it's a great one! Below, you can see a video showing the whole book and to know more about the book and how to order and send your payment please go HERE , or send me an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com , or use the Paypal one-click purchase button below, right under the video!
The wdsfans site put on line this week two concept-arts about the production courtyard place making and the future stitch encounter facade. Here they are, but you can see them in bigger size on their web site at : http://www.photosmagiques.com/wdsfans/ It's a good web site that give regular news about the walt disney studios theme park, in Paris.
It's with a great, great pleasure that I welcome today Gary Goddard, CEO and founder of the Goddard Group (GGE), and before GGE, of Landmark Entertainment. Gary Goddard began his career at The Walt Disney Company in 1974, as the co-director (with Larry Billman) of the original WDW College Workshop production of The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Walt Disney World Resort's Fort Wilderness. When the college workshop cast members returned to their respective Universities at summer’s end, Gary was asked to stay on and cast, direct, and produced the “Professional Cast” version of the show, which he did. He was soon hired by Marc Davis and became a Show Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he worked directly with Marc and with other Disney Legends including Herb Ryman, John Hench, Collin Cambell, X Atentio, Bill Justice, Al Bertino and many others -- developing concepts for EPCOT, The World Showcase,Tokyo Disneyland, and River Country, among others.
Gary Goddard Productions, Goddard's first company, was formed in 1980, which became Landmark Entertainment Group in 1985. Goddard exited Landmark Entertainment Group in 2002 to start his new company, Gary Goddard Entertainment (now "The Goddard Group"). Thanks to Gary Goddard and his team we enjoyed among the years fantastic attractions whether it is Jurassic Park The Ride or Terminator 2/3D at Universal Studios, or the exceptionally great Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure, or the incredible Star Trek: The Experience at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.Gary kindly agreed to be a regular contributor for Disney and more with new updates each month (and maybe even more frequent) in which Gary will talk not only about the development of current projects of the Goddard Group but also about unrealized attractions, all this with gorgeous artworks, and God knows how much we love great artworks here at DIsney and more, don't we? Gary Goddard's Group also havea Facebook page where you can follow him HERE. And now, I hand over to Gary who will start by a great new project that was created and designed by Goddard Group and which is currently being built in China!
I am pleased to provide some artwork and insight into the design process for followers of this fantastic site. That being said, Alain Littaye asked me to provide “various projects” to start, so I have pulled together a few recent and past projects in no particular order.
The first one, as noted above, is in China. This project is called "Shanghaî Bund Movie Studio & Movie Park" and is now being built in Hengdian, China as part of the larger Hengdian Studios, a very successful movie studio. The first thing to know is this is a working movie studio, where films will be shot throughout the year. The studio’s largest standing set is based on the famous waterfront district in Shanghai called "The Bund". Despite the immense demand to film period movies and television shows on the real Bund, it has only been fully shut down once- for Steven Spielberg's 1987 film, Empire of the Sun.Because of this, Hengdian Film World engaged us to create an exact recreation of the Bund as it existed between in the years prior to 1950. While the Bund is the largest single standing set here, there are many other areas include “Old Shanghai”, and “Nanjing Road” and many more such areas. But in addition to the backlot and shooting sets, the new project will function both seamlessly as a theme park and as a working studio, allowing production to take place while simultaneously visitors enjoy the park. Within some of the large sound stages will be exciting and dynamic attractions that are based upon the history and part films of and about Shanghai.
Here's a first look at one of the signature attractions in our upcoming SHANGHAI BUND theme park coming to Hengdian, China.The SHANGHAI TROLLEY will take guests on a behind-the-scenes tour of the working studio, as well as of the public backlot. Interspersed throughout the experience are several special effect experiences, including the typhoon sequence depicted here.
Shanghaî Bund will also include incredible rides like the "Shanghaî Triad Chase". The ride, inspired by the movies based upon the infamous chinese triads will take guests in a wild adventure through Shanghaî's dark underworld".
I'd like now to showcase one of Goddard Group's great artists, Christopher Smith. Chris joined the Goddard team in 2011 after over 15 years of service as a Principal Concept Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering where he helped craft many of the company's most beloved projects. Prior to working for Disney, Chris also worked at Goddard’s first company, Landmark Entertainment.The illustration below was done for the SIX FLAGS DUBAILAND project. Because of the region's extreme heat, the Welcome Center (Ticketing & Guest Services) was to have been fully-enclosed within this grand pavilion. Behind the ticketing desks, giant panoramic windows looked out into the park, and the REVOLUTION roller coaster would have careened through a heartline roll right above the turnstiles. While this concept never came to fruition, the idea for an upscale ticketing zone lived on, and is under construction right now at South Korea's Lotte World.
Also for the SIX FLAGS DUBAILAND project the illustrations below depict what visitors would have seen as they arrived at SIX FLAGS DUBAILAND, and as they left the park as well. The first illustration shows the view as guests depart the elevated ticketing zone discovering (from the higher level) a grand panoramic vista of the park and its signature coasters and attractions. As a happy byproduct, as guests left in the evening, or later in the day, they wouldremain at ground level and pass straight under the ticketing building to discover the park's main merchandise venue which also forms the exit path from the park.
This next artwork is one of his stunning illustrations for the unrealized SIX FLAGS QATAR project. Set on the coast of the Persian Gulf, the resort would have featured an upscale theme park anchored by the "SIROCCO" launch coaster.
Also by Christopher Smith, here's a breathtaking illustration of the JOURNEY TO PARADISE 3D boat ride proposed for the Tropicana in Las Vegas. This was to be the world’s 3D/4D boat ride.Staged in an Omnimax-style dome, this vista was to have been the ride's first major 3D moment as guests left the real world behind and started their journey through a hyper-real tropical world. Completing the scene would have been water-spray and rumbling audio effects that would have truly immersed guests in the moment.
Let's have a look now to one of four unrealized attractions starting by this ride concept from 2007 when we were in the process of creating blue-sky concepts for Universal Studios Singapore.The GGE concept for the MADAGASCAR ride was very different from the boat ride that was ultimately created. Our concept was built around a trackless AGV dark ride system that would have taken guests on a PHOTO SAFARI, using onboard augmented reality cameras to snap images of the film's characters amidst the most iconic settings.At the end of the ride, guests would have been able to purchase a photo book with not only the photos they shot, but candid photos of themselves taken at several key moments in the attraction!
On a separate project, this one for Six Flags again, back when Mark Shapiro was still at the helm of Six Flags, he realized they needed a big idea to fill the vacant stunt show theaters found at several of the chain's largest parks.Perhaps the most exciting concept developed was for that of a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE action stunt spectacular. This concept would have seen the theaters enclosed in temporary canvas tent structures to allow for lighting control, and would have immersed the audience in the most special effects-intensive stunt show ever created.
One of the coolest things about the show would have been the marketing- as the new attraction would have been heralded by "self destructing" billboards(each with their own digital “countdown clock”) that would have been “self-destructed” on the date the message expired, revealing a new message behind the “exploded” billboard noting MISSION IMPOSSIBLE was now in operation.
Back to the mid-90's when I was still running Landmark, we were engaged by Andrew Lloyd Webber's REALLY USEFUL GROUP and a major Las Vegas casino operator to create a PHANTOM OF THE OPERA resort right on the Las Vegas Strip. We created something truly spectacular for the resort hotel itself, along with several very unique attractions.
With a facade inspired by Charles Granier's famous cross-section of the Paris Opera House, the resort would have contained a boat ride through the catacombs under the theatre, as well as a super-sized version of the world's most popular musical. (While the resort never moved beyond concept due to financial constraints, a scaled-down version of the mega Phantom production did eventually open at the Venetian in 2006.)
In addition to bringing "the inside to the outside" you will note a Gondola Boat RIde that moves beneath the main entrance (which as you can see, has the domed ceiling of the Paris Opera house acting as an immense Porte Cochere). The Boat Ride was an incredible telling of the tale of the love story but as seen from the point of view of the Phantom itself. The ride - created by The Phantom - was complete with clockwork "autumn figures" and "mechanical sets" as if the Phantom himself had created this life size music box tribute to the romance (as he saw it) between Christine and himself. The cool thing was that Andrew was going to score the entire ride based upon the themes of the incredible show. The world's first dark ride, based upon a great musical work, with an original score composed by the composer himself. It would have been world class.
We will end this first update by this stunning painting by renowned artist Dan Goozee. Back when the MGM GRAND was first being developed for Las Vegas, various show concepts were being explored- one of which was a TARZAN-themed concept, depicted here. On this one, Tony Christopher, my partner in Landmark, and I worked together on the show concept. Ultimately, they decided to go with another idea we developed for them, “EFX!” – a spectacular show which we created and which had a highly-successful 8-year run starting in 1995.
See you next week with a new great update!
All pictures: copyright Gary Goddard - Goddard Group
The acclaimed Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book is back and more affordable than ever at 55€ only! It's the perfect gift for any Disney fan! Click on the book cover to have a look inside the book and to order your copy ! Until December 25 ENGLISH regular edition copy is at 55€ only !
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The placemaking of Disney California Adventure comes to an end June 15 with the opening of Buena vista Blvd, the Carthay Circle Theater, Cars Land, and much more!
HKDL new land includes the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars ride and the town of Grizzly Gulch and it's the first new land with a Frontierland style built by WDI Imagineers since 20 years!
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