Impressions of Disneyland

[Don Boose]

Many thanks for these links, Becky! These building fronts are exceptionally useful. I am thinking of backdrops for photos of Volkers 1/43 Advent motor vehicles.

Don

[beckychestney]

All good things....

Well I'm down to half a Disneyland! But before I started the disassembly I took a few photos. And then after I reached the halfway point I took some more! I did a few experiments one day with a full spectrum fluorescent lamp. Most of the pics had that "bomb just went off" overexposed look but a handful were OK.







Since I do the setup left to right from Frontierland to Main Street Station and because the tree blocks the view, good photos of Fantasyland, Liberty Square and Sleeping Beauty Castle from the left side are all but impossible to get while the layout is fully operational. But with Frontierland etc. out of the way, all I had to do was crawl under the tree to get those photos.



This is what you'd see if you could ride the Monorail.







Or if you could ride with Casey Junior.







So as Disneyland fades back into it's boxes for another year, we say fear not! Construction on new elements will get under way soon!

[Vermin_King]

Thanks for sharing

[elliott]

Some great pictures Becky! You must have a large attic/basement to store Disneyland.What's next for Disneyland?

[beckychestney]

Weellll.....the biggest modules get stored on what's supposed to be my permanent train layout table in the basement. Until and/or unless certain things change I won't have the resources to build a new O gauge layout down there sooo.... The rest of it gets stored in boxes on pallets in the workroom/pantry/whatever room in the basement along with whatever's not currently in use on the other layouts plus the Christmas trees and all the rest of the holiday decorations. In other words, it's a messy cramped room!

Next on the Disneyland work schedule is of course finishing the disassembly. But while I'm doing it I will be carefully photographing key areas with a ruler so I have exact measurements for the things I want to build. The maps are good, but they're far from perfect. In 2015 when I added the Monorail I ended up having to slice a big curved notch in the park around Sleeping Beauty Castle to accommodate the station because I couldn't get it exactly right on the diagram. So in the three primary sites where I want to expand I need to know exactly how much space I have available.

Here's the list of the top short term goals:

1. Add a ticket booth complex to the area between the Monorail and the floral Mickey in front of Main Street Station.
2. Finish the restaurant structure next to the Moonliner in Tomorrowland. Time ran out and I included the test build of the structure for this year's display. Tentatively called "Pizza Planet".
3. Create a structure to sit to the right of M.S.Station creating a 90 degree corner at the front of Tomorrowland. Tentatively called "The Hatmosphere".
4. Add the Carousel of Progress.
5. Add lighting to more structures.
6. Rebuild Sleeping Beauty Castle. Why? It's gotten a bit faded over the years and I want it to have a smaller footprint with better landscaping.
7. Expand Fantasyland.
8. Build Skull Rock Cove.
9. Re-roof Pirates of the Caribbean.
10. And the biggest job of all: Rebuild Main Street.

In the long term it would be nice if the layout had a pre-wired base with jacks for the electrical connections so I don't have to figure out the power grid from year to year. I'd also like to build real excursion cars for the DLRR. Maybe most important of all, Disneyland could use about a thousand more people.

[VinceM]

Those are SHORT TERM goals? That's about a lifetime of work for me!!
Really great work Becky. Thanks for sharing again.

[elliott]

Wow. I thought maybe 2 or 3 items on a list. VinceM is right, that's a lifetime of work for me too. If anyone can do it though it's you Becky. Looking forward to more updates from you. Don't be a stranger please.

[SCEtoAUX]

That is very ambitious. It is a pleasure watching that layout take shape. Those other goals will be great.
Any plans to represent a fireworks display for the castle?

[beckychestney]

Originally Posted by SCEtoAUX

That is very ambitious. It is a pleasure watching that layout take shape. Those other goals will be great.
Any plans to represent a fireworks display for the castle?

That's something I've been wanting since day one. There's a big blank stretch of wall above Tomorrowland that would be perfect for projection. The problem is finding a place to put the projector. Most of the LED systems I've seen are too big to hide, even in the branches of the tree. And the nearest table surface would have the tree between the projector and the wall. So that never panned out.

The alternative system would use fiber optics poked through a dedicated backdrop panel. I have (had) a star tree topper that had a fiber optic "tail" that had a color wheel inside it's base that would be perfect. But I'll need a lot more filament than was included in that "tail" to make it work. The base with the motorized color wheel and light source could be hidden inside the Matterhorn.

[Richschindler]

I can't wait for Christmas to roll around again to see this incredible miniture Disney park once again. Ever thought about leaving it set up all year. You know, get rid of a bedroom or kitchen, LOL. Incredible work, thanks for sharing it with us.