Monday, January 24, 2011

A closer look to WDW New Fantasyland artwork reveal interesting details on upcoming attractions



As promised last week here is the new artwork for WDW New Fantasyland in high-res. Actually, i had to reduce a bit the size of the file as the weight of the one released by WDW was 35 Mb and too "heavy" to be uploaded on Photobucket. Even reduced it's still in high-res and this great artwork by Greg Pro should pleased most of you.

We must also thanks WDW to have released this file in hyper-resolution as it gives the possibility to "zoom" inside the artwork...and to discover interesting unnoticed details at first sight about the new upcoming attractions.

Of course the zooming helps to see in details some decor elements like Belle's Village...



...and Gaston's fountain that you can also see in this other rendering...



...but also to discover that Beast Castle - and the rocks around it - is designed to look partly covered by (fake) snow!



A zoom on the Circus/Dumbo area provide a closer look on the Circus land entrance...



...and show how close the two Dumbo carousels will be...



...but also reveal something interesting, i.e the Circus themed "splash" zone where young childrens will get wet with pleasure.



Even more interesting are details of the seven dwarfs mine coaster. If you look closely to the rendering, not only you'll see better the dwarfs cottage but also you can have a better idea of the coaster train design which will look like elongated seven dwarfs mine wagons.



And more zooming on the same part of the artwork reveal the shining multicolored diamonds that guests will see in the mine.



In the WDW press release from last week we could read that "The journey will be accompanied by music from the classic Disney film and animated figures of Snow White and the Dwarfs..." and may be you're wondering where will be located these animated figures? Well, the most interesting detail of this seven dwarfs mine coaster gives partly the answer with this outside scene with the seven dwarfs "coming back home", standing on a big tree trunk. The coaster train will go of course under the trunk and there is no doubt that the seven dwarfs figures will be partly animated in this scene...



...paying tribute to Snow White's memorable sequence.



But the ride might include another scene with animated seven dwarfs as we can see in this new rendering below posted on Miceage today in Kevin Yee's article and showing a scene with the dwarfs, this time inside the mine.




Your thoughts?


All pictures: copyright Disney

11 comments:

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

Great renderings! You noticed very well all the details.

This new fantasyland is going to be nice, especially this dwarfs mine roller coaster and the little mermaid dark ride, but still too feminine in my opinion.

Do you know how big the Beast castle is going to be? Is it going to rival Cinderella's Castle in any way?

Another doubt I have about this project is what is going to happen with the existing dark rides. I read on this blog that they are going to build a royal court where currently is the Snow White dark ride. But does anyone know if the ride is going to move or close? And if it is going to move, does anyone know if it is going to be updated, or left as it is?

I have the same doubt about the Peter Pan dark ride, if it is going to remain (this one I don't think that they are crazy enough to remove!) and if they are going to update it or not.

Fantasyland is my favorite land in the Magic Kingdoms, but all of them need to be updated, as the existing dark rides are showing their age. A nice project would be enhancing the existing dark rides with new effects and scenes, with new technology but the same concept, like they did in Disneyland in 1983. They should do it in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris and Tokyo.

And I agree with Alain that the Little Mermaid ride would be a great and a much needed addition to the Parisian Fantasyland.

Alain Littaye said...

Marco, the Snow White dark ride will close forever and there is no plans to rebuilt it anywhere else as the seven dwarfs coaster will replace it.
The Peter Pan dark ride will stay with eventually an interactive queue (as they did on the WDW Winnie the Pooh attraction).
The Beast Castle should not be that big and certainly not as big as Cinderella castle.
And, yes let's hope that Little Mermaid will come soon at DLP!

WesAlex said...

Finally, the area that was 20,000 Leagues has been redesigned and is being built. The look of Fantasyland Forest, the Castle Walls is super. The Ariel and Dwarf Coaster Rides will be excellent additions to Fantasyland. Considering that in the original plan, Ariel was the only ride, the Dwarf's Mine is a plus. Be Our Guest Restaurant, Gastons' & Belle's Cottage will bring this classic Disney Tale to life. In a way, its like a miniature Harry Potter. The only thing missing would be a Beauty & the Beast Ride. As for Circusland, I need to see more before I render a judgment.

Replacing Snow White with a Princess Meet and Greet, I can understand, but I would prefer a new ride based on Tangled or Princess & the Frog in Snow White's place. The meet and greet could be relocated at the old Fantasyland Skyway Loading Station.

An "E" ride is needed in Fantasyland. I would suggest Peter Pan, a definite boys ride. The ride would use a similar technology to that used in Soar'in. Pan and Tinkerbell would take guests on a magical flight from the Magic Kingdom to Never-NeverLand.

That Disney is putting up plenty of money in this expansion, is good. Harry Potter has made Disney respond, but the response is no knock out punch. That is why I suggest the "E" attraction. While Universal was planning and building Potter, Disney sat back on its hands and did nothing. Epcot needs a new country like Russia & a Horizon 2150. Hollywood Studios could use a ride like the Monster Inc. Coaster. Animal Kingdom needs the Beastie Kingdom. Walt Disney World is unique because it has the capacity to grow and be the crown jewel in the Disney corporation. It needs some TLC. The Fantasyland Expansion is a start. We can thank John Lasseter for getting this project through. He has that vision thing that Walt Disney had.

Anonymous said...

is it possible that the entire rendering is digital? Made with an Adobe programme?

Alain Littaye said...

No, it's definitely a painting done by Greg Pro who is a great artist.

WDI never do (or rarely and it's not the case here) digital renderings for artwork which would be released officially.

Will said...

I love this image, however I do believe it is digital or at least digitally improved. There is no technique except for the usage of digital tools such as something from Adobe to create such a striking rendering.

The strokes are way to accurate, as are some "dots." If this was a real paint and brush kind of work, it would not be so incredible brilliant in color. And you cannot achieve this effect with Copic pens. There are many "vague" areas that are sort of transparent, this cannot be made with oil color or water colors and pens... Compare this to a Herbert Ryman or a Dan Gooze and you will know what I mean.

Look for example at the last image in your post: the trees are composed of several layers of similar strokes of color, which are of different transparency. Some are totally opaque, others not. This was not made with a brush. You cannot achieve this opaqueness! The dwarfs basically consist of several similar dots, also not possible with a brush. Finally, the tracks are way to precise and opaque to be made with a real brush or a pen. The zoomed shots show that the entire rendering is composed of digital elements.

The shot that shows the two mines, the track and the dwarf's house also boasts digital elements: over both entrances you see "dots" that are incredible precise! The light inside the house is so warm and glowing - this never can be a conventional color. And look at those diamonds! What wonderful colors!

The central evidence for this being digital is the scattering of the people: Some people on the streets are completely identical - as if copied and pasted! Look at the group of people standing between the two towers in the lower section. Now go up: you will se the exact same group of people standing in front of the bridge leading towards Belle's Village. The same group can be found in other places as well... this also it true for individuals or couples... Only possible with digital tools.

Do you see what I mean?

It is done in a fascinating and incredible realistic way. But this is not a conventional painting. I must have been done with a track pad and an art tool from Adobe or something else.

I have never seen art of this kind! It is fascinating and I can't stop looking at it. Maybe you can find out about the way it was made. I'd love to know more.

Great blog btw!!!

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

Thanks for the answer Alain.

For me they are doing the most stupid thing in this case, to replace a classic, original and beloved Fantasyland dark ride for another meet and great the princesses. Little girls can meet and great the princesses anywhere in the resort (restaurants, hotels, any corner of the parks), so I don't see the point in exchanging Snow White Scary Adventures for this. Besides, they could build this Royal Court anywhere else. At least the Snow White attraction is still going to be in Anaheim and Paris.
These dark rides are timeless classics, and usually have big lines, so I don't understand the reason for tearing them down instead of updating them. They could replace the existing figures for more advanced animatronic ones, add new effects, new scenes, new lighting, but not tear them down!

Anonymous said...

you might want to change the "wet with pleasure" line.
It is kinda very suggestive...

Alain Littaye said...

Honestly, i didn't thought it could be understood on a "suggestive" angle and i think that most of the readers will take it at the first degree. As for the other meaning, i don't want to be provocative, but where is the problem in being "wet with pleasure"?

Juanpa said...

I agree with Alain: both sides of the term are pleasant xD

Btw, thanks for the analysis... way more excited with this version than the previous, with all these meet'n greet houses. The only thing I dislike is to see the recycled Toontown fair canvas again. I think they're out of place.

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to get excited about this Florida Fantasyland redo - but what I see in this gorgeous artwork is a lot of huge spaces without much more than rockwork and plantings (which I love, but hardly state-of-the-art stuff), some awkward bridges and baffling walls. Are they really, still trying to impose that circus theme at a Disney park? Walt learned the hard way more than 50 years ago that was not what his guests wanted. The Disneyland version proposed in the 1970's didn't fly, even with better ideas than more spinning Dumbos. Those look like barely re-recycled tents from 'Toontown Fair' with no real ideas inside, again. Mini-castles? Thats been a small part of Storybookland for a long time. More castle-dinning options next door to Cinderella's? Why? Alice's banquet hall in Tokyo is fabulous, and her maze in France is a nice feature there -they could have been cheap and easy choices to include here. Beauty and the Beast begs to be a major ride. like Little Mermaid, and in addition to it. Still no Fantasia gardens, with all those wet possibilities? Nary a Mary Poppins tea house or even gazebo? Nor Rapunzel's tower?
It's better than a hole in the ground, but I'm just sayin'...could been a lot better while they were back at the drawing board/screen.