Small World Additions Part 2

Okay, moving on...

I didn't take a pic of this portion because it had a character in it. I took a pic of it because it DIDN'T. I thought it was a total missed opportunity to put Cuzco from Emperor's New Groove here.


The Three Caballeros. I've actually never seen this movie...


Here's Ariel. I caught her at an awkward angle. It's because on the opposite side was Nemo and Dory and I couldn't decide which to take a pic of! So, I chose Ariel at the last minute. Flounder and maybe a couple other characters were around her but I don't remember.


Lilo and Stitch.


Here's Mowgly from Jungle Book...I'm pretty sure. Unless it's a normal Small World character that happens to look exactly like him. He's is sort of tucked away in the back pretty high up so I had to zoom in really far, which made it grainy and we were moving away, so it's blury but as far as I know, it's the only pic of him on the internet now!


This, I've heard is the most controversial of the new characters. I think it's because they deviate so much from the Mary Blair style and I agree. They are the most different from the rest and don't really belong but I dunno...they are really stylized anyway so it must have been hard. I'm not gonna hold a grudge.
One thing I WILL say about this area though is that there are a bunch of Native Americans. WHERE'S POCAHONTAS? Okay, I guess this area represents the American west and Pocahontas was an east coaster but still. I want her in there.


I just took this pic as we were coming out because I thought it was a unique view and has some of the great topiaries in it. Going on the new Small World was DEFINITELY worth it after not having been on the ride in about 10 years.

Oh and P.S., I had never seen the little processional they do every 15 minutes at Small World so I decided to record it. I ended up seeing it a couple times while we were in line and once while we were walking past the ride. So here!

Character Additions to "It's a Small World"

You may know that the "It's a Small World" attraction underwent some major refurbishment this year and reopened back in February. There's an article and pics here. Not only did the ride get some routine clean ups and maintenance done, but Disney also added some familiar movie characters to the ride. This was a subject of much controversy among Dland and Small World attraction fans. Some feared the characters would look out of place among the very stylized Mary Blair figures. Well, I had the opportunity to see the new figures this summer. It was great. Not only were the figures great, but I hadn't been on the ride in about a decade so it was almost like riding it for the first time. The ride really is great...and extra great after you've been walking around Dland for two days in 80-90 degree weather. So, I took plenty of pics, me being a camera whore. I didn't get all of the character additions because some of them snuck up on me and we were past them before I got the chance to get a pic. So here are my pics for those of you who haven't experienced the new additions! (BTW, click on the pics for larger views. You can really see the detail.) Enjoy!

Alice! I think she fits right in. In fact, she probably fits in the most because Mary Blair actually did some Alice work. You can see it and her work from some other Disney movies here.


Here's Cinderella. I actually had to ask my friend who she was at first because I didn't see the mice and I think she looks really generic. Also, BTW, this is the London section which is first. Before Alice there was Peter and Tink flying above but I passed them before I could get a pic. I think they could have done some other characters here too like Sleeping Beauty and her fairies which would have been less generic than Cinderella. There are other films set in England too that they could have added or done instead of Cinderella but whatever, she's okay.


Pinnochio! The only thing about this one is that I wonder why they did him one dimensional. I mean all of them are puppets. They could have taken advantage of him since he IS a puppet. Also, he's really isolated with no other characters around him like they just stuck him in there which I thought was weird too.


Here's Aladdin and Jasmine. I thought they went really well. They were in the right place and blended with the style and everything. I was happy with this addition.


Here's a close-up of Mulan. I barely caught her before we went into the next room. She's sort of tucked into a corner. She holds on to a kite that looks like Mushu that's not in this pic. The only problem I had was this was it's place stuck in the corner and I also would have liked to see her in her normal outfit instead of her boy stuff. It would have gone better with the blossoms behind her too. But, other than that, I think it's a great interpretation of the boy version of Mulan.


Here's Simba and Pumbaa. Timon is also there but I didn't get him in the pic. I was so happy to see them there because I love the Lion King. I also thought they did a good job here of capturing the Mary Blair spirit (which must have been hard because they are animals) but still making them recognizable.

So that's it for this post. I have more Small World pics but I'll put them in another post because this one's already pretty long.

Dland Silkscreening

So the other day, this genius idea occurred to me. It's probably been done before but I'd love to do it for myself. I was thinking about vintage Disneyland posters, which are awesome. You can see a bunch over at Daveland. I really like the look of some of them. They've got this really stylized, 50s/60s retro look to them. And then I thought "Wouldn't it be cool if they had T-shirts with vintage posters on them?" I know you can "print on demand" at various places at Disneyland but there aren't T-shirts as far as I know. If anyone knows, please let me know. Anyways, my idea was silkscreening my own shirts. Unfortunately, I don't have expensive equipment or a very good facility to do it in. I found a "do it at home" method on YouTube, which I might try but at the moment, I have like 5 projects going and school so this would be a project for the future. But the mostly simple shapes and limited color palettes on the posters lend themselves to relatively easy silkscreening projects but I don't know because I've never tried it. I just think it would be great if I had my own custom T-shirts with vintage posters on them!

Professional Way:

(aren't these guys awesome?)

At Home:



So that's my great idea. I hope I can do it sometime and it works out. I'd probably have to make different stencils for the different colors, but I'd have an awesome shirt that no one else does!

Disney Sequels Part 2

Okay, where did I leave off? Oh, and a warning. This may contain SPOILERS.

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)

Alright, Pocahontas was one of the golden age films. Although not as popular as Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, or Aladdin, I still enjoy it. It bothered me slightly at the end of the movie when John Smith had to leave. It was the only Disney movie I had ever seen where the main guy and gal didn't end up together. It didn't make me dislike the movie though. It just kind of left it there saying that they each had their places in their own worlds, where they were needed most. I refuse to watch the sequel because I have heard that Pocahontas ends up with a man other than John Smith (which is factual, I know) and I've seen screen shots of her in that dress and wig and it's so sad! I don't want my image of the noble, wise and beautiful Pocahontas tainted, okay? So that's that.

The Lion King II. Okay, out of all the Disney sequels I've seen, this one is by far the best. Syskel & Ebert even liked it! They got almost all of the original voices including voices for Mufasa, Simba, Rafiki, Nala, Timon and Pumbaa. The new characters were interesting...Zira is an insane villain but not as cool and collected as scar, her son Nuka (Andy Dick) is neurotic but the part where he dies is heart breaking, her son Kovu is a pretty awesome main character (Jason Marsden, who has provided a lot for Disney including the voice of Goofy's son, Max), and her daughter Vitani is pretty kick ass (Lacy Chabert of Mean Girls popularity). The thing that bothered me was the lack of Sarabi. What, did she just drop off the face of the earth??? I really liked Simba's mom. Sadly, the woman behind her powerful voice, Madge Sinclair, died of cancer shortly after the first movies release. She and James Earl Jones played a different sort of African King and Queen in "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy, which I always find amusing. Also, Suzanne Pleshette, the voice of Zira also has since passed away. Anyways, the animation is also MUCH improved when compared to "Return of Jafar." Also, the movie had a pretty good story line. It was interesting to see Simba as a father (although I liked him better in the first movie. He wasn't as uptight and protective.) I really liked Kiara's rebellious nature and how she was so much like her father. The songs didn't live up to the first movies, but it's a sequel, what can you ask for? They were decent though. I just want to say something though. Matthew Broderick can sing. He has been on Broadway! Why don't they ever use his singing voice??? I mean, the guys they choose for his singing voices are good but why? Maybe they wanted a manlier singing voice haha. One of my favorite songs is "He lives in you" where they brought Lebo M. back in to work on the African chants.

They liked the song so much, they used it TWICE in the musical and it works quite well with the first movie's story line because if you remember, when Simba meets back up with Rafiki, Rafiki puts his finger in the water and says, "You see, he lives in you." That's one of my favorite parts! Here's the Broadway reprise version, which I love.

I also like the songs from the movie, "We are One," and "Love will Find a Way."

I hate the song "Upendi." Oh my goodness, it's weird. But, despite a few drawbacks, The Lion King II is dang good for a Disney sequel and the sales show it. I think it's one of the highest, if not THE highest grossing of straight to video/DVD Disney sequels out there if I'm not mistaken.

Disney Sequels

Okay, so I'm gonna take a break with my ideal dland tour before I delve into Fantasyland and talk about Disney sequels. I'm not counting live actions although the second and third Pirates did NOT live up to the first and were dissapointments. And there are a few others but I won't get into them. There's a wiki add here about the sequels. So here's the first part of the list they give: (I say part because I realize that I'll have to do this in sections)...

The Return of Jafar (1994)

Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)

Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997)

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)

Belle's Magical World (1998)

Now I have only seen a few of these. In fact, I OWN some of them. First there's Return of Jafar, which I own and actually watched out of complete boredom a few days ago to see if it was as crappy as I remembered it....It was. Even as a kid, I realized that it was lacking. But now, I noticed a lot more. Firstly, the voices. Genie, obviously is lacking. He simply CAN'T be played by anyone other than Robin Williams. But I did look up the other voices and they got most of the characters back, surprisingly. Even Brad Kane, the singing voice for Aladdin came back. Lea Solanga didn't return however. But, Jasmine's singing voice was done by another beloved singing voice of mine, Liz Callaway, who did Anastasia's singing voice (not Disney, I know but still good), Odette's singing voice in The Swan Princess (you know you remember that one and you like it! I own it haha.) and Adult Kiara's voice in Lion King II. So most of the voices were okay and omg, they got Jason Alexander for Abis Mal? Wow. I don't know how they convinced him to do that. Okay, so other than the lack of Robin Williams, the story is just weird. Basically Jafar comes back, gets a retarded owner, Iago turns good, and then they defeat Jafar AGAIN. Thirdly, the graphics suck. If you just compare the carpet, it's so simplified it's not even funny. It looks like one of those disney channel series (like the Aladdin one, in fact haha). It just looks really sloppy and I know it's because the budget wasn't there. So they must have planned it to be straight to video for some extra cash. It wasn't worth it, Disney. Sorry.

Next, I guess Disney wanted to redeem themselves with King of Thieves and they did...slightly. They got Robin back, which made all the difference and they got a better story line, which involved Aladdin's dad (John Rhys-Davies!) and Aladdin and Jasmine FINALLY getting married. In fact, there's a song that says that exact thing. It would have been awesome if they could have gotten Alan Menken back but I suppose he was working on other Disney gems of the golden age at that time (Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Hunchback). I've only seen King of Thieves once or twice so I don't remember much of it but I do remember it being a heck of a lot better than Return of Jafar. Haha, I just remembered that I have some McDonald's toys from when that was released. I've got little figures of Jasmine in her wedding clothes and I think I also got Aladdin's dad. They're probably lost by now but it's funny that I remember those...

I don't really watch Winnie the Pooh stuff so I haven't seen Pooh's grand adventure but there are so many installments of Pooh that I'm guessing it's just as good as the rest of the stuff.

Next is Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. And, yes I owned that one too although it mysteriously disappeared along with our copy of Hercules unfortunately. So, this is what Wiki calls a "midquel" in that the story occurs somewhere in the course of the first movie's plot. So it happens when the Beast is still a Beast and it's Christmas time (I guess somewhere around the time where Belle and the Beast sing the song "Something There"). It's just random. There were a few new characters added like the evil pipe organ (Tim Curry!) and the little Christmas tree topper "Angelique" played by Bernadette Peters. Haley Joel Osment was Chip! Holy crap haha. That kid... Most of the main voices came back but I just don't understand why or how they convinced Peters and Curry to do it. And it was sort of wasted talent because it's a straight to video Disney movie and it's a midquel so we all know what will eventually happen anyway...

Belle's Magical World? I know nothing about. After the above mentioned sequels I started to notice that they weren't really worth watching and that they kind of dimmed the awesomeness factor of their predecessors. But, Paige O'Hara kept coming back. Props to her for being a trooper I guess.

My Ideal Disneyland Part 5

Okay, time for the Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters and the last part of the Tland series! This is another ride I have never been on. This space in Tland was originally occupied by Circarama, which opened with the park in 1955. It was a circular theater where guests stood in the middle and where able to have a 360 degree view of a projected image. The show changed a few times but the show "America the Beautiful" was there mostly from 1956 until 1984. The attraction closed in '97 for the '98 redo when the space was replaced with "The American Space Experience" exhibit which was reminiscent of the early sponsored exhibits that Tland used to be riddled with. It was part of the ride queue for Rocket Rods (has pics of the sign conversion to Buzz after RRs) I think for a brief time and then the AstroBlasters came in 2003.

I'm gonna go off on a bit of a tangent here, while I'm on the sponsored exhibits of early Tland. Apparently when Tland first opened, Disney was kind of poor and didn't have money for many rides in Tland. So, they had a butt load of sponsored exhibits. There was the Kaiser Aluminum exhibit, and the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry, which both opened in 1955, the Richfield "World Beneath Us" exhibit, the "Our Future in Color" gallery by Dutch Boy, the "Bathroom of Tomorrow" by Crane (which is something I think should be put into Innoventions btw) and "Fashions and Fabrics Through the Ages" by Monsanto. There were probably even more. The Monsanto House of the Future was really like one huge exhibit. When Disneyland first opened, it was like everything was sponsored! I mean, Monsanto was huge, Richfield Oil was in there for a while (Autopia and others), The Bell System, AT&T (Circarama/CircleVision), General Electric (Carousel of Progress), TWA (Rocket to the Moon), Coca Cola (BTW, that link is has a bunch of great pics showing how the Coca Cola Stage/Terrace has changed through the years), ALWEG (monorail), and Goodyear (PeopleMover). All of these were in Tland and probably more. But while I'm talking about it, I'll mention some sponsored stuff in other areas of the park. Dole has sponsored the Tiki Room since it opened and still does. The Tahitian Terrace was Stouffer's. Kodak is found here and there throughout the park with the Photopass stuff and Autopia is sponsored by Chevron now. Innoventions has like a million different sponsors in it. I read on MiceChat that Village Haus in Fantasyland is sponsored by Minute Maid and the Rancho del Zacalo in Fronteirland is (or was/ now is La Victoria?) by Ortega, Big Thunder Ranch is Brawny, Coca Cola is all over the place, and there are probably more. I look at old pics of dland and see these signs all over the place that have nothing to do with dland and are outside companies and I'm glad most of them are gone now. I like to feel completely immersed in disneyland while I'm there and outside advertising really takes away from it for me.

So that's that. Back to Buzz. Again, I've never been on it. I've heard it's like Midway Mania in DCA (which I've also never been on) but not quite as good. It's not the most popular but it gets traffic. I can't say much about it since I've never been on it but it doesn't sound that great. Also, as I mentioned with Nemo, I don't really enjoy Pixar being in dland because it doesn't feel like it entirely belongs there for some reason. I don't know...Tland isn't really supposed to be movie themed, or wasn't intended to be that way. Really, only Fantasyland was supposed to be like that. In my ideal dland, I think I would put something else in that space only I don't know what. I think having something like the old "Adventure thru Inner Space"might be cool, especially with the new technologies that we have today.

So that's it for this land but really, it won't be because it's always changing. And who knows what the future will hold for Tomorrowland? See you in Fantasyland for my next installation of the series!

My Ideal Disneyland Part 4

Okay, this time I'm gonna talk about the Astro Orbitor and the '98 Tland redo. The first incarnation of The Astro Orbitor ride was the Astro Jets. It was one of the first rides in Disneyland, opening only a year after the park did. Then, came the Rocket Jets in '66 on top of the people mover loading platform. It was essentially the same ride but with a different look and in a different location. I think it would have been pretty awesome. I mean the basic spinning ride with arms is used a lot (it's nearly identical to Dumbo) but to be on it so high up in the air, above all of Tland must have made it a lot cooler. It was there for 30 years! And then the uber idiots that ruined Tland with the '98 redo project killed it. They took down Rocket Jets and stuck some satellites on old arms and made it into "The Observatron," which was basically a useless thing there for decoration. Then, they built a new attraction, the Astro Orbiters. So, I've never been on the Astro Orbitor because they look really boring (which is why I've never been on Dumbo either.) I'll start with the few things I like about it. Firstly, I like how it has the look of an old model that Galileo or Copernicus would have used sort of like this. I also like the old world color scheme of it. What can I say, I'm a sucker for European history. The color scheme went with what the new colors of Tland were supposed to be. Like golds and old copper greens and burnt siena...basically metallic earth tones. I like that color scheme, but it doesn't go with the architecture of Tland. If all of the architecture in Tland was old world like the Astro Orbitor, it might be cool. But, it's not. It's what the future looked like to people in the 50s and 60s. It's got these really classic lines to it that look great...but only with a really basic color scheme. The white keeps up the cleanliness of the design. Here's a look at all the color changes that were done after the '98 redo. I was actually surprised at how much they changed. And since I never really went into Tland between '98 and 2003 (when stuff was painted differently again), I didn't ever get to see much of it. I couldn't believe they painted Space Mountain Green and Gold. I can't imagine it being anything other than it's classy white. But, there are some pics on this Daveland page if you scroll down to "New Tomorrowland: 1998" towards the bottom, that show concept art and I actually think it looks really good on paper. It just didn't really workout in the end though. And that one photograph of the land at twilight actually looks really awesome but it's been photoshopped a bit and it really didn't look that ideal in real life. Also, that page really demonstrates how many incarnations Tland has been through since the park opened. It's amazing. In 2003, Disney had some sense knocked into them and changed the color scheme back to whites and put some blues but kept some of the bronzes from the '98 revamp. Here's a pic of the Astro Orbiter that they just painted about a month ago...I don't know if I like it on the Orbitor but I like it for Tland. It's a nod to what it looked like before '98. So that's where the Tland colors lie today but who knows? A little mouse told me that after the current DCA projects, Disney is turning their attention BACK to Tland. I only hope they don't screw it up again.

I'd also like to mention those poor Mary Blair murals (the woman behind the style of "It's a Small World) that are are still behind those cheap airbrushed murals that are there today. To tell you the truth, my favorite mural is the '98 one, which showed current and past attractions. But the Mary Blair mural, although it doesn't really fit in Tland, should be preserved and put on display somewhere. She is so iconic and it really would be worth a lot. Here's a great blog entry with pics of the Mary Blair being covered up for the new mural. I didn't know it was still under there! And it probably still is like a treasure hiding under there being under appreciated!

Okay, for pete's sake back to the Astro Orbiter. So I like the look of it but the placement sucks so badly! The pic above is what the entrance to Tland used to look like. You can see the Rocket Jets in the picture too. It was just so welcoming and open. And now look at it with the Astro Orbitor! (note that pic was taken with the '98 color scheme) Ugh...it's so congested, especially in the summer after the fireworks show. It's like being in a mob. CMs have to act like road workers and keep the flow moving. Also, Tland doesn't look nearly as welcoming and you can't see those awesome clean lines of the PM track. I really hate it. And what's up with the weird rock formations that just take up MORE space? I agree 100% with what Werner Weiss over at Yesterland said about the whole thing: "The Astro Orbitor looks great, but the ride’s location so close to the Hub of Disneyland isn’t so great. The Astro Orbitor is a bit overwhelming, compared to the entrances to Frontierland and Adventureland—especially at night, when it’s all lit up. From some angles, it even detracts from Sleeping Beauty Castle. Guests board the ride at ground level, so the ride no longer has the “high in the sky” thrill of the Rocket Jets. It’s too bad that Disneyland can’t have the best of both worlds—the visual exuberance of the Astro Orbitor, located high on the old elevated platform of the Rocket Jets."

I also noticed that it doesn't only crowd the hub, but it crowds Pixie Hollow too. I know that space used to be part of Tland with the Monsanto house so it would have been okay then. But that area has been part of Fantasyland ever since the Alpine Gardens were there so it's really awkward to have the huge Astro Orbitor looming over you at Pixie Hollow. Here's what I mean. I waited in line like those people in the picture and was totally immersed in the magic of Pixie Hollow until I looked to my right. Someone behind us in line was yelling at a member of their party who was riding it...and they could hear them. That's how close it is. It's just dumb.

So in my ideal dland, the Astro Orbitor would be moved to the top of the PM loading station where the Rocket Jets were. I think the experience of being that high in the air would have been really awesome. Also, it wouldn't be blocking the welcoming view, the streamlined PM tracks, causing crowd congestion, or encroaching upon Pixie Hollow. I'd also take away the astronomical design because it is a nod to the past, and although it looks cool, it is the opposite of what Tland is about. I know it would be really expensive or whatever but it is my ideal dland after all. As for the color scheme, keep it simple and classic.

Okay, that's it for this time. To be continued...