Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Season Eight, Project Seven: Landscaping Can Be Fun!

Disneyrules: 

Landscaping ideas for Fantasmic!

This new hillside will be built on the left side of the walkway towards the theater. Along with the new hillside will be hedges which will be located at the bottom of the hill, and the hedges will resemble Disney cartoon characters that are featured in the show, such as Mickey Mouse (In Sorcerer Form), Donald, Goofy, and others. Also Behind the snack cart and in front of the Ampitheater will be A Sign Statue that says, "Fantasmic", LED lights will be used to make the sign statue glow at night. And also there will be A statue behind the Sign Statue, that shows Sorcerer Mickey standing a small stone formation about to preform magic, and there will also be LED lights used for making the Sorcerer Mickey Statue glow, at night. And Finally there will be small rows of flowers between the pathway to Fantasmic, and the Tower of Terror Pathway. And that's my group's description of landscaping ideas for Fantasmic!

Team Power Play: 


Intro
The Prologue and the Promise was a mural found at the exit of Horizons. This amazing work has inspired Imagineer and me to create a two-piece area dedicated to it.
The Prologue:

Tomorrowland is a promise to our future, albeit a little more fictional one. The Prologue and The Promise has a sci-fi flair, in those buildings of the future and spacecraft. So a 'Prologue' to the future 'Promise' will be placed in Tomorrowland.
Located between the Skyway restrooms and the CoP area (an area in desperate need of a berm, mind you), this little area will contain trees, benches, and a fountain.
The focal point of the area is a fountain with a model of the buildings as seen in the mural rises above. A small rocket spins around it, adding the whimsical Tomorrowland touch. On the tip of the tallest tower will be bent, pointing toward Epcot.
Under this fountain reads a plaque:"This fountain is dedicated to the idea that this land is a Prologue to our future. The idea that the future will become this, a beautiful work of art where technology and nature and man are hand in hand in hand, a world we all can share."
Walking in, there are many real palm trees. The deeper back, the trees become more of those techno stainless steel trees. IN the very back, a mingling of real and techno trees awaits. This is all symbolic of how in the beginning, things were natural, then we progressively used more and more technology, and in the future we need a blending of natural and technology.
This whole area has it's own music loop as well, a soft rendition of "If We Can Dream It", "Reaching New Horizons", and "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" will play.
The Promise:

What better park is a promise of the future then Epcot? Epcot has always looked toward the future in every way.
Entering Epcot, the Leave a Legacy pillars have been removed, replaced with grass planters and palm trees.
As you approach the amazing structure that is Spaceship Earth, you can see that the fountain is now occupied by a tall, transparent structure, reminiscent of the one that was there on opening day. At the bottom, there is a round spaceship, similar to Spaceship Earth, and three transparent pillars are coming out of it. Right over the spaceship, the bottom of the pillars are pointing to the direction of Tomorrowland (a throwback to the Prologue). There is a plaque and a compass. The plaque says:
"The Promise of the future begins with the Prologue of yesterday. EPCOT Center, opened October 1st, 1982"
You can also see that there is one circle hole in each of the pillars, and that there is lightning on the pillars, and a new loop plays around it. The circle holes show the old EPCOT logo, and the lightning is deep-blue, while the speakers play a no-vocals, new orchestral rendition of "We've Just Begun to Dream". The lightning changes to a red color, while the circle now shows the Universe of Energy logo, and another new orchestral rendition of 'Feel the Flow' starts playing (it goes on for every old Future World pavilion). If you look closely at the structure, you can see that there is a small fountain in the middle of the three pillars, and the pillars also look a lot like the tower from the city of the future part of the 'Promise of Tomorrow' mural. Floating around the near-top part of the pillars are multiple futuristic flying machines- all of them representing a current Future World pavilion, except Spaceship Earth (for example, there is a rocket resembling Mission: SPACE). The idea of this one is to symbolize how EPCOT is a living blueprint of the future- a living dream future (the bottom of the structure at EPCOT is the top of the Tomorrowland structure- like EPCOT came from the head of Tomorrowland, the dream of tomorrow). There are benches nearby for guests to sit, relax and appreciate this landscape that mixes visuals, lightning and sound.
Extra Note:

If you check in to both of these areas in Gowalla (the iPhone app that Disney recently made a partnership with, you get the "Legacy" stamp. This stamp comes with a code that you can put on WDW's website and get a download for the "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" rendition that plays on "the Prologue"

Team Mojo: 
"New Frontierland"


Introduction 

It's funny that this project should be based on landscaping, because really...it's what my family does best. My dad almost got a really successful landscaping buisness up and running a few years ago, my grandpa is dedicated to decking out his acre and a half backyard, all in all the concept of landscaping in general really does run through the family bloodlines in a lot of ways. Hell, my great grandfather was one of Luther Burbank's personal gardeners for crying out loud (no joke.) I think one of the big points of any landscaping project is obviously going to be ascetics. What could we do to make something BETTER than it is in its current place? Well...the most obvious place to look in Disneyland for something to improve, probably from now until the end of time, is Tomorrowland. But, to avoid cliche and to work with a more natural landscape, we here at Team Mojo decided to tackle the less obvious, but in my opinion even WORSE off Frontierland. Why is Frontierland one of the biggest areas of the park in need of an overhaul? To me, it's quiet obvious. From a sheer design perspective, Disneyland's Frontierland really does leave a lot to be desired. Really, there's just that one really active "center" of Big Thunder, Del Zocola, the Golden Horseshoe, and the Mark Twain dock, but besides that, there's really NOTHING to do in what makes up the MAJORITY of the Frontierland foot space. Really, there's just that GIANT slab of concrete that serves as the Fantasmic! viewing area, and...that's about it. It's kind of a shame considering when the land was in its prime back in the sixties, it was BY FAR the land with the most activity. Well...even though we couldn't add any attractions, we here at Team Mojo decided to spruce Frontierland up in a way that REALLY needs it. We are basically going to give the entire river-front some much needed flair. The project itself will encompass a rather large amount of land (in total, all the improvements will span the ENTIRE length from Critter Country all the way up to Big Thunder Trail.) Geographically, it will be a pretty epic undertaking, but really...everything we are going to be adding will be on a very subtle, low key level. We aim for this geographical upgrade to significantly improve Frontierland without spending the big money on a new attraction.

General Lay Out 

By introducing some serious landscape work into the realm of Frontierland, we have essentially made basically the ENTIRE west side of the park sans Adventureland its own area. Basically, we've thematically connected ALL of New Orleans Square, Critter Country, and Frontierland into one big geographically spanning area. The names will essentially cease to exist, all that will remain is "Frontierland". Basically in this new Frontierland New Orleans Square will of course be the crown jewel of this Frontier landscape, but it will be filled with all various types of Frontier atmosphere making for an overall incredibly well rounded and diverse "land". So essentially, the set up geographically goes from Critter Country now acting as a backwoods area, the huge concrete slab acting as a bayou to the adjacent New Orleans, the Frontierland "town" getting a much needed prairie landscape, and finally the area area Big Thunder transitioning into the desert. It will be one large, flowing, geographical transition that will, at the very least on an ascetic level, be a huge improvement from what they have now. With that in mind, let's get to it, shall we...

The Back Woods

The area previously known as Critter Country will now be known simply as "The Backwoods". In this rustic, mountainous area, there will be a lot more redwood trees flown in to help complete the scenery. The shops in this area will now sport a more realistic, worn in feel to them. Splash Mountain itself will receive a very subtle but effective new paint job to darken the color tones of the mountain to fit with the more realistic landscape. In addition, more trees will also be added on and around the Splash Mountain area. Splash's outdoor queue will also sport new shaded awnings to help with the summer heat. Finally, there will also be a barrage of new overgrown foliage grown around the Haunted Mansion to give that ride a more "natural" feel as well as make it a nice transitioning point into New Orleans Square. In the second phase of the "New Frontierland" project, a Princess and the Frog D ticket adventure will replace the area that now encompasses The Hungry Bear and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but that's for another project. All in all, the Backwoods will now be an even more remote, pristine, peaceful area to get away from it all within the "New Frontierland".

The Bayou
The Bayou will be perhaps both the most subtle and the most obvious new addition to the entire "New Frontierland" area. It is subtle in that really...not a whole lot can be done with the area directly south of New Orleans Square when you factor in the fact that you still need to be able to accompany Fantasmic! seating. For that reason, the bayou-like atmosphere now present just south of NOS is indeed present on a subtle level, and yet will liven up the looks of that area considerably. The first thing to note are the addition of a few giant oak trees scattered around the area. These are very subtle in their effectiveness, but really they are there for a variety of different reasons. Not only to they of course look visually interesting in their own right as well as provide some much needed shade, but they also serve a deeper purpose of dimming the lighting down, just on a subtle level. One MAJOR new addition (well...not really major, but it is considerably interesting...) will be ripping out Fowler's Harbor (which I've always thought was kind of a random, unneeded spot) and replacing it with a cave. Actually, it's a flooded cave that can be seen from the riverbank. It is home to everyone's favorite jazz playing alligator, Louise. From inside the cave, guests and just make out the sounds of snoring and trumpet playing, sometimes in succession. This cave is an obvious homage to Brutus the snoring bear from the original Bear Country trail pre-Splash. There's also some lilly pads and other bayou-like flora and fauna that can be seen along this side of the river, and if you look close enough you might just spot a REAL alligator or two (real as in..."Jungle Cruise" real as opposed to "cartoon" in Louise's case.) One of the more radical changes to come out of the New Orleans section of "New Frontierland" is a dramatic change in look for the Pirates exterior building. Basically, we want the idea to be that the building has been OVER-RUN by vines and neglect. This does contradict the pristine appearance the building has had since opening, but we feel that by placing a giant overgrown oaktree in the MIDDLE of the queue courtyard, and at the same time have vines hanging down from the building and a really "backwoods" appearance to the whole thing, it could serve not only as a proper transitioning point to deal with Adventureland, which obviously must be accounted for in some respect since its in such close proxiemity, it also serves as an even greater entry point and "mood-setter" into the actual Pirates ride itself. Imagine if before you even get into the Blue Bayou you are hit with bayou like atmosphere and creepiness, on a more subtle level, on the outside. Seems like a pretty appropriate transition to me. In fact, I've always found it odd how in its current state, it's like...."oh, were outside of this pristine New Orleans building and....BOOM, were in the bayou". I don't know I mean, obviously it does the trick, but to me changing the appearance of the building to have a more run-down quality would work wonders.

The Prairie 

To transition from bayou to prairie, a few thematically neutral cypress trees will be placed around the small area between Pirates and Tarzan's Tree House/The Stage Door cafe. On the actual Frontierland side of things, basically what I want to do with the prairie is to give the "town" of Frontierland that basically comprises of the Golden Horseshoe, the shops, and the Stage Door Cafe, its own wild west setting. Basically, the pavement of this area will be repainted to a colorful brown and made to look like dirt (though it's not really dirt). There will also be a variety of desert flora and fauna scattered around. The meat of the prairie section will be the addition of a geyser on the river's edge, a little up from the petrified tree stump. This geyser will shoot up about five feet in the air and will provide a popular way for kids too small for Splash Mountain to beat the heat. Overall, with the prairie section my goal is to basically make this entire area look more rustic, as is my goal for basically the entire project, I guess.

The Desert 

Finally, we get to the little area that comprises of Big Thunder and Del Zoccala. Actually, this area is already pretty well landscaped as a desert, so really out of all the areas this will be the one with the least real work put into it. A major change however, will be removing the Del Zocola gazebo (which honestly I've NEVER seen used) and replacing it with a trio of cacti. These cacti are unique in that they possess a trance-like subtle movement to them. Did that cactus just wave its arm at me? You just don't know. The idea of the cacti is that they are being seen in a mirage so they posses an unusual almost psychedelic quality to their movement. Other than that, really we just transition into the forest area that comprises Big Thunder Trail, and we are back to the woods where we began, completing the gradual transition. And that's our New Frontierland for you. I'm sorry it's not as lengthy as some of my other projects, I have a lot going on today with it being my 20th birthday and all. I really should have had it ready to go sooner. Well, we hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing what everyone else has in store.
Jessiestudio:

The world of the future is a world of uknowns and every year the motion picture industry seems to have a new take on what will happen be it a post doomsday earth or a utopian society. Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park has always leaned towards the later displaying both the latest and greatest as well as the promising society of the future. This area of the park has seen two major remodels since it’s opening in 1955 and the latest one done in the late 1990’s left fans feeling quite underwhelemed thanks to Pressler Era Price cuts. Exentensive remodels take years to complete, just “enjoying” the pardon our pixie dust signs and mazes of construction walls at DCA have told us that, so Disney has decided to implement a small series of upgrades to the era’s thematic feel and then wait untill after the DCA remodel is completed to do an extensive remodel of the area.
The new Tomorrowland Landscape will be characterized by the idea that in a world of the future where space is tight and the need for relaxing gardens, fresh food, and CO2 absorbing plant life is overwhelming.



The first thing that can be noticed is the removal of the “frenchfries” in front of the astro Orbiters these french fries have been replaced on the fantasyland side with a smaller version of the old Disneyland Hotel Waterfalls.



On the front and Main Street sides of the entry small crystal blue ponds with islands in the middle have spring up. Each island bears a single tree adorned with twinkling lights and the ponds are equiped with small fountains that shoot up vertically in the style of World of Color with lights.



These fountains dance in time with the tomorrowland area music and provide an excellent piece of scenery during the evening adding some extra and much needed kenitics to Tomorrowland. The entry area is a sight to behold and definitely a draw into the park throughout the day and night but they are even more wonderful from higher up.



For far too long the People Mover/ Rocket Rod tracks have sat above Tomorrowland without any passing vehicles to enhance the area’s feel. Although these or a similar attraction are sure to appear in the large scale remodel coming later this decade for now the tracks sit above without anyone to enjoy them and the wonderful sights they provide of the park.



From the center of Tomorrowland guests will be able to enter a refurbished People mover load building where the Observatron sits on top. The building will now serve as a retail location. To be the little store that was on the bottom floor will be gone and the building a large two story shopping location. This store will that will house the Autopia Divers Licenses booths, Finding Nemo Merchandise, and be the vynlmation headquarters for the park.



On the top of the building the scenic Observatron has actually been working in quite well and helps maintain the area’s kinetic feel so it has simply receive a new paint matching that of the updated Astro Orbiter’s color scheme.



For getting from floor to floor there is an altered return of the infamous escalators from Space Mountain going in a spiral escalator shape around the Elevator Shaft which is hidden itself inside of a Moonliner Rocket that rises up through the store’s open center through both floors. Guests also have the option, once on the second floor, to head out to the Tomorrowland Balcony Park.



Located on the old People Mover Tracks this area will serve as a relaxing getaway during the day known as the Tomorrowland Balcony Park. The old tracks have been retiled and the railings redone with clear solar panel coatings on the glass paneling. The area is lush flowerbeds all with built in purifiers acting to help clean the water which is then reused for the entry fountains negating any new costs for the water features.

There are a series of trees that line the pathway although these trees are actually artificial ones that absorb 10x the amount of Carbon Dioxide that normal trees do the CO2 is then feed to algae which are then used to great a cleaner electricity that will power the lighting for the park. 3 small food stands done in Tomorrowland stylings also dot the pathway each selling an upscale sundry of food similar to that seen at the retired Glowfest experience at DCA. Tables located at the end of the old tracks right next to the Astro Orbiter provide a space for those who have purchased food to sit down and eat.



Rumor has it that the management was all too happy to green light this new landscaping areas first for the expanded retail space, they do love their cash registers, and secondly for the fireworks dinner and dessert packages. The park gets closed off at night about an hour before the fireworks on the busier nights to allow guests who purchase a special event ticket to be able to dine and view the fireworks from the park.



The beautiful scenery and lush landscaping make this new area of the park one of the most enjoyable for simply taking a break from the park in especially with the dancing fountains going on below you, the smiling faces of the children on the Astro Orbiter, and magic of the fireworks going off over head. It truly is a wonderful and enchanting place to be, enjoying the landscaping of the future.

CostaFreak: 
Introduction:

Now, I love the way the Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom is themed. What I hate though is that drab stretch of path connecting TL and FL that happened to be where the budget ran out during the 1995 refurb. That's where I come in.

Overview:

Right now, the area still looks the same as it did in 1971; some generic trees along the walkway, some contemporary architectured buildings on one side and the Tomorrowland Speedway on the other. What happens now...The God Of Death comes in and tears down the contemporary facades, the drab loading area for the speedway, and pulls out the current pathway along with the trees aligning it.

Fast foward about a year and a half...The God Of Humility has worked his magic. The changes that have occured:

- The new overall theme behind the landscape is that of a human colony on another world. The old facades of the buildings toward the Fantasyland side has turned into artificial rockwork with lush tropical flora seemingly growing on top of it, along with the occasional waterfall (and even at one point a pool of water with a half sunken transportation vessel). The rockwork itself has holes, exposing caves and the new metallic facade behind it, along with exposing some windows and the like. Guests will be able to go into these caves and the bunkers behind the waterfalls (which will contain a new space colony themed restaurant to replace Cosmic Ray's). The rock work seamlessly cuts of halfway down the path towards the heart of Tomorrowland, exposing the new futuristic facade completly.

- The pathway itself would have a little canal running through the middle. There would be fountains at certain points of the canal, as well as LED lights under the water to illuminate the canal at night. The railings dividing the path from the canals would be chrome with some new lamps and trees aligning the paths.





(In essence, this is what you're most likely gonna be looking at from the speedway side.)

- As for the speedway, the station will more or less adopt facade which will be a hybrid of the Flash Gordon/Buck Rodgers at the heart of TL and the chrome metallic theme from the newly renovated buildings on the other side of the path. That is somewhat unimportant for this project, so I will stop with the station right here. Landscape wise, the speedway would look like it would be careening through Martian plains and canyons (or at least those on a habitable planet outside of the Solar System). The current boring lawn of grass where the speedway is on will now be a mix of red dirt, rubble, and rocks, with some mounds and dunes of artificial red rock along the way. There would be trees that will be plopped here and there accordingly that take on a disfigured, surreal, yet beautiful, once again reminding people both driving on the speedway and the onlookers as well that this is a colony on another planet.



(The view from the side opposite the speedway, albeit a lot less dramatic. I do like the crashed UFO though.)


And that's about it. If it does end up that I posted this an hour late, keep in mind I started typing this around 6:30 EST, thus I didn't know it would take this long. Other than that, here's some music:


CostaFreak's elimination and resulting fall-out: 

MEW: Might as well get the ball rolling once again. Sorry for taking so long. 

To jessiestudio and Disneyland DHI: You guys had a pretty cool project. It had a nice quality to it and that short and sweet feeling was definitely present. That's really all I can say about it! B+! As for CostaFreak and Trevor...I applaud you CostaFreak for making it through the mind rape and pulling that project out of nowhere. GREAT WORK. I LOVED the project, it was just as fantastic as Team Mojo's to me. Everything you do CostaFreak Imagineering-wise has a certain style to it that's makes your work so interesting and all-together different. I have a framed-poster in my room of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog that has the label of "think different" on it. I wish there could be a poster with your face on it CostaFreak that says "think different." One of these days I have to figure out where you get all those awesome concept pictures from. I give you guys an A.

That means that Team Mojo and the God of Humility are up against each other in terms of winning. Last season we had a similar problem where we had two teams very close to beating one another. How did we fix the problem? We looked at their work ethic. One team worked a lot and the other not so much. Which team won? Obviously the first one. But this time around the situation is a bit different. Team Mojo had a great work ethic. I have to say that monkey and tiki are definitely forces to be reckoned with and are two of the season's biggest powerhouses (Right up there with Disneyson). I applaud you two. Then for the God of Humility. Trevor I'm really sad that you're not around as much as we'd like you too. Your'e an interesting personality who also has that different-style of Imagineering. You come up with ideas that are ACTUALLY ORIGINAL, something that can be considered rare amongst these boards. I was really looking forward to seeing what you could pull out of the bag for this project. CostaFreak you saved the day for your team by creating that amazing project during a busy time for you personally. Congratulations on doing so. Even though you put together a project all on your own, the winning team is Team Mojo. Congratulations guys! 

And now onto eliminations...

We have a DOUBLE ELIMINATION this round. I don't believe I mentioned it earlier. Thought that it'd give you all a bit of a surprise, although some of you probably figured out that two people would be eliminated. After all you are in teams of two. Makes some sense, lol.

The two contestants who will be eliminated this round are TrevorA and CostaFreak. I'm sorry, but you two have been eliminated from SYWTBAI. It seems as if you two slowly slipped beneath the radar as the season progressed which is a real shame. Both of you are great Imagineers and really deserve your spot amongst champions. Maybe next time you can fufill your more-than-likely rise to fame. You've also joined the jury so you get to help out with selecting the winners and finalists! :)

Imagineer2017: Wow! Taking out CostaFreak!? Costa did all that alone, with no help, and you chose to take him out? That's very surprising and upsetting! Costa, your work was amazing. Its a shame to see you go.

Tiki: ...I don't even get that. You said CF had the SECOND best attraction, and yet you eliminate him? I'm sorry, could you please elaborate on that decision, because it just doesn't seem right to me. Not to mention the fact that one of the teams got a D which is the lowest grade we've seen all season. I just have a hard time figuring out what went down in terms of eliminations.

MEW: So here's how it goes. Forgive me if any of this gets confusing or anything like that. The reasoning for their elimination may seem like a silly/stupid concept, but the choice that was made is final. Their elimination was a result of their team being the "under-the-radar" team. Every other team was present save for theirs'. Now I understand that it is not really their fault and that the real-world is respectively more important than the virtual VF/SYWTBAI world, but a scenario of this kind often pops up where the two (Or one) contestants who are unable to contribute as much work as the other contestants are eliminated. Now that last statement I made now that I overlook it is kind of a contradiction to my past statement. CostaFreak may have been absent for a long time but in the end he did contribute a great project. It's kind of like what happened at the beginning of the season. The contestants who weren't really "there" either dropped-out or were eliminated. Almost everyone was here except for a few contestants and unfortunately that situation occurred during this round, only on a smaller scale. An elimination of this kind was unfortunately bound to happen in this round or even an upcoming round. 

I'm sorry for causing any mixed emotions or hard feelings. CostaFreak you are great and as I said before, your project was awesome. I applaud you once again for it. I hope that your real-life situations work out fine and hope to see a possible comeback in the future.

Tiki: I specifically PM'd CostaFreak early in the project because I KNEW that team would be a nightmare production wise, and I told him "look...don't even try brainstorming, just pump out an awesome project at the end"....And he did EXACTLY that. I guess there's no point in me arguing when it's already final, but to me, QUALITY OF PRODUCT is really important when it comes to this game. I think CF's situation this project kind of mirrors Hack's last season. Both were on teams with otherwise dead-weights (sorry Trevor...but you haven't really been present in a good couple rounds now) and yet despite not having a valid TEAM to work with, managed to come up with the second best product overall. Again, its your guys' decision here and not mine, but something just doesn't sit right with the fact that CF did manage to create the second best project out of FIVE in spite of not having anyone really to work with, and he gets eliminated because of that. In fact, I was the one in the first place who suggested that he bypass typical brainstorming methods and just concentrate on having an awesome project to turn in come the due date. Basically you're saying that team got eliminated because there was no regular active brainstorming going on, but I think CF's project turned out to be as good as it was BECAUSE he didn't bother trying to get an active brainstorming session going in the first place.

Just my two cents. Probably won't change your guys' minds, but again...it just doesn't feel right to me...

Stratofarious: Wouldn't it make more sense to take out the team with the project with the lowest grade instead of the team with the second highest?

AdvBlueDude: My God that elimination was a bit intense. I'm surprised that Costafreak was eliminated instead of my team(though Im not complaining that we weren't) 

As for our grade, that was really mostly my fault. The alpine village was coming along pretty well but then I saw KingMickey's post sayin that he wanted to see more landscaping and thought that we should change it which didn't quite work out since it was literally THE DAY that I left for my snowboarding trip, basically leaving DisneyRules alone to finish it on his own. Though I did think he'd do more than restate the ideas i posted...

Monkey!: Wow, talk about controversy...

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