Hi all!

Next to my Paradise Pier inspired park I also have started a fun side project. This one will be more of a 1 on 1 recreation then my Paradise Pier build. Just like with Paradise Pier 2.0 redo I also followed the transformation of the old postcard entrance and Sunshine Plaza into Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure back in 2012. I really adore the clean Art Deco and warm inviting Mission Revival architecture they've chosen for this area. We don't have many pieces yet in the game that fit those themes but the Sorcery and Small Town themes do come close with some pieces.

~Laying the groundwork~

When I do recreations I like to start with a map or blueprints of the thing I'm working on. I trace them in Illustrator and add or remove details I want to recreate. Having a base map will in Illustrator also helps me when I add another layer with a grid that is perfectly scaled 1m by 1m. I can then build this grid in the game and use it as a base for where everything needs to go. Next to this map I also search for as many concept art, blueprints, models and elevation studies that I can find of the project for references.

This image has been the base for the map I've made. Fun thing about this map is that you can see the old Sunshine Plaza and postcard entrance in the red lines and the 'new' Buena Vista Street in the black lines.

When I've traced, cleaned up and added what I wanted you get this map. The benefit of working in Illustrator is working in vectors. This means I can zoom in very far without lines getting blurry.

Then the grid is added. I try to line this one out with the longest straight lines in the original plans to make building on the grid in game as easy as possible.

Using blueprints and pictures of elevation studies I also managed to stick together the facades. I can use the map and grid for scale so it all works together.

~2D to 3D~

The next steps is building the grid in game and lining everything out. The flat top down map en flat elevation studies for the facades will be added together to create the 3D space in the game :D

This was the state of the park after the first few building sessions. I focused on the little plaza at the entrance and the east side of the street.

In the next few session I added the west side of the facades. This was the 'easy' part of the build. Next I had to fight the pathing system to get the Carthay Circle roundabout and curved roads leading to it. The grid is sunken below for the pictures but I still used it to measure out the distances. I also had to do some Tagi3d magic (shout out to his video on circular paths) to make clean circles that didn't deform when adding more path textures.

I didn't do my calculations right the first time and had to move the entire roundabout to the west halfway trough the build. I'm so happy the paths in PC2 function like scenery and you can just select it all and move it to the correct position!! (also very grateful I was working aligned to the world grid the whole time)

Next came the fountain At first I made the basic shape and foundation and after that (and loaaaads of marble pieces because we don't have ceramic tiles yet in the game) I could go on to detailing and finishing up the fountain area. I added the copper top on the fountain, more fencing around the planter and the ornamental accents around the fountain that hide speakers. I also finally got my hands on a clean picture of the elevation studies for the Carthay Circle Theater itself so I build the outlines for that one too!

And that brings us to today and the current state of the build! I really like how the little fountain area turned out. I've never been to DCA myself but walking around the fountain in game gives me the feeling I'm really there.

And with that I've finished the first little piece of the park. Hope you all enjoy and see you next time on Buena Vista Street!

~Dexter~

As someone who has been to this park more times than I care to admit, I'll be watching this project carefully to make sure you get everything right. 😉

I was there when this park first opened, and although I did like it, there were certainly some areas that needed a LOT of improvement. The entrance area was definitely one of them. Buena Vista Street was such a wonderful refurb, and gave this park the entrance it deserved. Now I'm just waiting for them to demolish the Hollywood Backlot area and build whatever it is they are going to build there.

The fountain looks beautiful. And it's so nice to see the red trolly back in action. Hopefully we'll see its return, as the reason for its removal was pretty dumb and I think Disney, in all their wisdom, can figure out a way to bring it back.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by shyguy

I love it! This is making me excited for future plans for my first visit to Disneyland.

8 hours ago, shyguy said:

As someone who has been to this park more times than I care to admit, I'll be watching this project carefully to make sure you get everything right. 😉

I was there when this park first opened, and although I did like it, there were certainly some areas that needed a LOT of improvement. The entrance area was definitely one of them. Buena Vista Street was such a wonderful refurb, and gave this park the entrance it deserved. Now I'm just waiting for them to demolish the Hollywood Backlot area and build whatever it is they are going to build there.

The fountain looks beautiful. And it's so nice to see the red trolly back in action. Hopefully we'll see its return, as the reason for its removal was pretty dumb and I think Disney, in all their wisdom, can figure out a way to bring it back.

Haha thanks! I'll consult you if I get stuck in some place then :P I was kinda surprised at how few pictures or building plans I could find of the final Carthay Circle Theater building. I do remember the concept for the restaurant being a later addition and I can see in the concept art and model that the theater show for the building stayed around quite some time during the development phase. I guess that explains the lack of details on it.

I appreciate the hard work that went into the tile mural and the colorfulness of the old entrance but I agree that it did not work as an entrance land for the park. I've accepted we never got, or are going to get, a Hollywoodland 3.0. I'm very curios to see how the Avatar stuff is going to fit and if it all will be contained into the old backlot area or if it will spill over into the Hollywood Boulevard part of the park. We also ready lost the cool thematic and timeline stretch from Buena Vistastreet into Hollywoodland and ending at Tower of Terror and I'd hate to lose the the boulevard too.

YES! like I mentioned above the trolley linked multiple parts of the park so nicely together. The loss of kinetic energy is also really sad for the park. I think having a trolley barn fit in in the area where they currently have the outdoor queue for the Hyperion and retrofit that queue together with a Hyperion refresh would work. Tower isn't part of Hollywood anymore so the barn could be a thematic opportunity to cap of the land and transition into the tower and campus area.

4 hours ago, Cody said:

I love it! This is making me excited for future plans for my first visit to Disneyland.

Thanks for the kind comment! I'm jealous of those plans :P