The Rivers of America and the Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland have closed temporarily as construction begins to build Star Wars land in the back of Frontierland. When these areas reopen, the north bank of the Rivers of America will have a beautiful new waterfront, and the Disney Parks blog gives us a sneak peek at it today. "As you can see from this artist’s rendering, courtesy of Walt Disney Imagineering, this gorgeous new riverbank will also feature an elevated trestle over which the iconic Disneyland Railroad will travel."
The artwork was done by the great Greg Pro, make sure to click on the artwork to see it in big size and you'll find it also in three parts below!
Picture: copyright Disney
13 comments:
My question is: Will the backside of Star Wars Land be themed to match Frontierland? Seems they should have placed Star Wars Land on the backside of Tomorrowland...not between Frontierland and Fantasyland. Any thoughts?
My answer is "yes", it will. Why? Because WDI Imagineers are very intelligent and you can be sure they are fully aware of this transition problem. It's probably not going to be easy, but they'll find a way to do it. You still will have a transition between a land of the past and a land related to something which doesn't exist and supposed to be in the future so it surely won't be as perfect as if it was in the back of Tomorrowland but it was not possible for many reasons to put it there without destroying too many important parts of DL history. So, from Frontierland I suppose they will use the woods to provide a soft transition between the two worlds, and the look of SWL itself will not be too futuristic, so it should work.
The concept of "Destroying too many important parts of DL history..." can equally apply to the wilderness of the northwest corner of the DLR as well - that part of the foundational footprint was as vital to Walt as was the world over on the eastern side as well.
If you were to expand from the Tomorrowland side (which I am favor of for several reasons - thematic placement, transitions, story foundation flow, natural progress of design - ) the reality of loss of three attractions exists. Carousel Theatre (now no longer turning again), Autopia (noise level pollution and fume pollution factors still exist), Submarine Voyage (yes, it is the one remaining park with the sub technology and show - but the hourly count is very limited and the cost of maintaining the lagoon, projectors, et al is very high, so....), and then the Monorail would have to be re-tracked to provide primarily a loop service in and out of the park without the extra "highway in the sky" to clutter the area.
No matter the logic or reasoning, the choice has been made and done - hope is that it is done well. This artwork is comforting in some aspects of the changes to come.
I feel it will be an easier adjustment at the Studio Park in Florida.
Looks like it will be quite a beautiful sight to see; especially the train passing in front of the waterfalls.
I like how they took the time to reassure us fans with a beautiful concept art. They could have easily disregarded that aspect. I think they know how much the history of this place means to us, and I'm sure it will be a labor of love.
Don't get me wrong, I also think it would have been a better fit closer to Tomorrowland...
That being said, I take a lot of comfort in the thought of Star Wars IS set in a distant PAST ("a long time AGO, in a galaxy far away"). It makes its placement near Fantasyland a little bit more coherent.
Finally, I want to point out that a lot of beauty and charm of Disneyland comes from the fact that the place is small and cramped, that its paths are narrow, that many things have existed and gone, but always left a trace somehow. For instance, you could argue that the cheerful Splash Mountain was way too close to the scary Haunted Mansion and ruined its surrounding atmosphere when it was built in 1989. Somehow the transition isn't jarring, and makes for a quite charming pathway.
In that regard I think we should really embrace the way Star Wars land's placement changes the park and creates new spaces, new transitions, new pathways; cause that's Disneyland's DNA.
The decision to build Star Wars on the west side of the park, the side of the past, is really tragic. First, the river and wilderness is going to be heavily damaged. But even more damage will be done to the coherent symbolic layout of e park, with the pas to the left and the future to the right.
As Matthieu pointed out correctly, SW is set in the past Svonkin. Anyway, I must confess that I was a bit worried about the railway and the rivers of America, but this artwork shows that the place is going to become even more beautiful! Any news about when it's going to open?
Let's also hope that there's no visual intrusion from SW land in Frontierland and that they make a really good job in this new land. To be honest I'm against making a land from one franchise in DL, but since it's inevitable now let's hope that they make a great one!
Marco, no specific date yet for the opening, the only thing i can say is that both Disney and Universal are rushing to be the first to open "the big one". Big battle coming! :-)
"Disney and Universal are rushing to be the first to open "the big one" "
What is the Universal big project ? As they are ready to open Harry Potter in a few months, I don't see what is their next big project...
You will learn it soon on D&M, Xavier!
This is dreaming, but I'd love to see a cave system built underneath the waterfalls that the canoes travel through. Talk about fun and adventurous!
The renderings are beautiful! I wasn't thinking that there would be enhancements to the railroad. It's nice to know that it won't just be a hatchet job to make way for Star Wars! With all the Star Wars talk though what will become of tomorrowland? Pretty much the whole land is now Star Wars! Will it be like 2 Star Wars lands?
Thanks for the info Alain!
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