Disney's America Park...by Citytrader and Wagi

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader and I have been working on a park based on the unbuilt Disney America Park for what seems like the better part of a decade...or two.  We had to break down the park into individual benches to get the amount of details we wanted and still be able to allow a few peeps in the door and the rides to function.  There was a rather lengthy thread at Shyguy's (and a shorter one on the Frontier PC forums...), so I wanted to copy and paste parts of the thread from SGW here to recap progress as we're nearing the release of a couple more benches soon...ish.

So, we'll get started...

 

Citytrader wrote:

Most of you are aware with my interest in, OK, obsession with Disney's America.

Wagi and I were sitting out on the back porch (virtually) chewing the cud, (not each others arms or legs) when we hit on the idea of doing a bit of a hybrid park, sort of Disney's America as seen through the eyes of the iconic World's Fairs that the United States has hosted.

So we set out to create a park that combines the better parts of the original DA with our own spin, and then areas of the park dedicated to the 1876, 1904, and 1939 World's Fairs.

As usual, our ideas far outweigh the limits of the game, so we have split the bench in two, and will be releasing it in two parts.

Some of the areas of the park were pretty much copied from Disney's original designs, but the bulk of it is ours! We have also created a few walls and even a couple of custom bits for the park which we will release with the benches. See if you can spot any! Also, a very special thanks to Jurre for his parking lot bench that was the start to the park!

As with the original park, one starts in the parking lot at Colony circle, where the flags of the original 13 states proudly fly;

Liberty Fountain points the way to the entrance;

Approaching the front gates, you can find the usual strollers, wheelchairs, and locker rentals;

Tour of Patriot Plaza next!

 

[Wabigbear]

Just over two months later and we were back to remind you about this project...ain't you lucky!

While we don't post too much, lots has been accomplished.  No, really.  It has. 

Trust me.

Citytrader uses work as an excuse...while I'm no longer bothered with that thankless task.  But unfortunately also at Citytrader's advanced age he sometimes forgets what he's working on for days at a time only to wander around muttering to himself even when not at work, so it may seem slow...and you'd be right.

But it's worth it.  No really.  It is.

Trust me.

But I'm here to post a couple screens as proof that progress...and time...marches on and we really haven't been just lazin' around playing Solitaire or snoozin' away in the Lazy-Boy instead...well, I haven't anyways... 

As Citytrader remembered to tell you above in a rare moment of clarity, we're going to sample different historical time periods in American History (all of which Citytrader has first-hand knowledge of, of course...) as well as sampling some of the World's Fairs that have occurred over the years (and by 'sampling' I mean we ran out of room to model the entire thing in each case...).  Here's a case in point...

 

Of course America isn't just about World Fairs, so there's a lot of other time periods represented as well...like small town America right before WWII...

Betty Lou's too cheap to get her hair done in town by a beautician, she sneaks over to the Barber Shop and has Clyde the Barber trim up her bangs at closing...too bad he can't touch up her roots while he's at it...

And we've even have a few things I just fabricated out of thin air cause I had the bench that week, so there!

No guarantee that it wouldn't be another two months before we posted again, but that's like "break-neck speeds" for some of us Seniors... 

[Wabigbear]

The Perisphere above is made out of art shapes...but not by me.  It was in the Workshop but when I looked to recall the designer's name that I'd forgotten I couldn't find it! 

So apologies to him or her, I was going to attempt to make my own but your blueprint worked perfectly and I thank you!

The Trylon is a TMTK item...actually seven items as there's an 8 meter size limit for each section, so they just stack to reach the full height.  And they were actually made by...me.  I finally figured out the TMTK process of creating each piece in SketchUp (which I was familiar with...), importing the file into Blender (which I was NOT familiar with) and then into the TMTK editor. 

Amazingly enough they actually worked!

Oh, and the Barber Shop is by Quidam.  I gutted it, replaced the windows and added an interior, but the original blueprint was theirs.

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

As Wagi said, we had been busy, well, he was anyway!

Contrary to popular belief, it was Wagi who provided the home movies of the 1939 fair! 

Thought it might be fun to get back to our tour of the park, so here goes!

Here's a look at Patriot Plaza, which has paths branching out to the other lands we will be exploring in the future!

By the way, the park is now in three parts, and may very well wind up in four separate benches.

The parking tram delivers guests from the remote lots;

Arriving at the main gate;

Watch the changing of the guard at the Customs House;

The plaza is lined with various shops and eateries;

Turning right sends you into colonial America, where you can visit Liberty Square or Sleepy Hollow, and you can even join Lewis and Clark on their epic Expedition of Discovery!

A left turn takes you to the 19th century where you can visit the Industrial Revolution, explore Edison's lab, or stroll along the Promenade, a seaside boardwalk circa 1895.

Walking straight ahead leads you to the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, where the telephone and other famous inventions were first unveiled;

Welcome to Disney's America!

 

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

The next area we will visit is the recreation of the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, which sits across a small bridge from Patriot Plaza.

Here's the view from Patriots Plaza;

That statue is just to remind you whose park you are visiting!

The approach from the bridge;

The beautiful Art Gallery;

The Horticulture Building;

Part of the massive interior;

The 1876 Steam Operated Carousel is a very popular attraction;

The main exposition building;

The arm of the Statue of Liberty was on display, and for a dime, you could climb the ladder to the torch;

Looking back toward Patriot Plaza from Fountain Square at the Exposition;

 

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Here is a picture of the actual arm at the fair;

We put a Hats Fantastic in the display. They sell Liberty Hats!

[Wabigbear]

While we aren't trying to exactly recreate actual historical building, we have done a lot of research so our structures are somewhat similar, some even turned out very close to looking like the original, even if they are just meant to be 'inspired' by the real things. 

There's a couple examples in this 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition section of the park....

The interior of the Horticulture Building...

We made a smaller version of the Main Exhibition Building...

The "Art Gallery" shown in the screens above is based on the Memorial Hall at the Exposition, which still stands and is home to the Touch Museum...
 

Citytrader already showed the photograph of the Statue of Liberty's arm and torch above.  The layout of the 1876 Exposition, while fairly small, is also quite open.  The actual Exposition was also spread out with a lot of lawns and wooded areas.

Many of the banners and signs in this area are actual period artwork.

(And ignore the areo-plane on the carousel on the earlier screenshot...the very idea of mankind flying through the sky like birds is preposterous!  Why our steam locomotives  already roar down the rails at 30 miles an hour!  Mankind was not meant to travel at speeds any higher than that!  To reach the velocity needed to remain aloft such flights of fancy would require speeds prone to cause the weaker sex to swoon and even strapping gentlemen to go dizzy.  Nothing will ever come of it...)

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Happy 4th of July from Disney's America!  (And a hint of what's yet to come...)

Contrary to popular belief, I was not around for all of the above time periods, just for most of them!

[Wabigbear]

Quote

Contrary to popular belief, I was not around for all of the above time periods, just for most of them!

Yeah, well a guy's gotta sleep sometime...

[Wabigbear]

I  love the building I used for the New York World's Fair entrance, it's an Art Deco Entrance Building based on the PPA by slowly from the Workshop.  All I did was to add the flags, banners and the NYWF lettering to it and it's perfect as-is. 

One of my favorite Workshop finds!

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Representing the colonial period of American history is the quaint little hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, where mystery and terror reign;

The foreboding church. Looks like the gravedigger is burying yet another headless victim!

You have to look closely to find the reason for all this dread;

The Van Tassel family mansion is open to guests for a party!

Katrina Van Tassel has read all the old witch's tales, and frequently has nightmares about becoming a witch herself!

A very special thank you to  ramses.sam for his wonderful Baskerville Hall, which fits perfectly into the area!

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Start your journey with Ichabod as he heads home from the Van Tassel parlor;

Some noisy crows try to warn you of danger ahead;

Why did someone leave that nice axe here in the forest?

Lots of bats out tonight!

Looks like light in the clearing up ahead...

"For once you pass the bridge my friend, the ghost is through, his power ends!"

The bridge is just ahead... what is that?!?!

Ayyyyyy!!!!

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Continuing our tour of Disney's America, the next land we will visit is the iconic Liberty Square!

Entrance to Liberty Square from Patriot Plaza;

Paul Revere loves entertaining the crowds;

The centerpiece of Liberty Square is the recreation of Independence Hall, which houses the Hall of Presidents. The square has the Liberty Tree, with 13 lanterns hung, representing the 13 colonies.

One of the most popular restaurants in Disney's America is Gadsby's Tavern serving up colonial and contemporary faire;
 

The Christmas Shoppe;

A few small snack stations;

A carryover from my last iteration of DA, the E ticket attraction for Liberty Square is the famous Boston Tea Party;

The queue carries you through a typical colonial seaport;

The ride itself;

 

 

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

The final area of bench one that we have to explore is the Expedition of Discovery area, Saint Louis in 1803.

This bucolic area of the park is rolling farmland and has almost a wild west feel to it;

The E ticket attraction here is of course the Expedition of Discovery water ride. We will be joining Lewis and Clark as they explore the Loiusiana Territory and find a northwest passage to the Pacific. Let's take a look;

Our expedition leaves Fort DuBois in Saint Louis;

Herds of buffalo cover the Great Plains;

Leaving the Great Plains and entering the Rockies;

A small Native American village;

Climbing to the top of the Rocky Mountains. It's pretty cold!

Entering the hot springs of what will one day be Yellowstone!

Is that old faithful in the distance?

 

[Wabigbear]

I've always loved the look of some of the huge landscapes of the American West that were painted back in the late 1800's/early 1900's, and felt they would blend better with some of the objects available in the game, which are a mixture of  very realistic textures along with some things that are a bit more Impressionistic.  Peeps would already know they aren't looking out over a real landscape, so the realism of a photo I felt wasn't totally necessary.  And I think Disney would be more likely to use painted vignettes (like they do on the backgrounds of the Disneyland Railroad dioramas) than photos.  Originally I built the ride with several buildings holding the vignettes inside, but hiding the building exteriors multiple times just didn't turn out right, so they are, in fact, open air sections of the ride with the painted billboard images on one or both sides which were easier to blend in with trees and rockwork.

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

We pick back up in Yellowstone...

After a few more twists and turns, you arrive at the Oregon territory!

A bear encounter;

Entering the Pacific Northwest;

Arriving at Fort Clatsop in Oregon Territory!

 

[wolfpaw]

Some of the stuff you guys do in Planet Coaster is just insane.. some of these photos look like actual pre-park construction renders. Love to see all the detail put in and even down to the research done to get everything accurate - really impressive stuff. Excited to see more!

[Wabigbear]

When you enter the ride you are at Camp Dubois, where Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery set out, northeast of St Louis.  The ride then somewhat follows their journey across the plains, through the Rockies, then down to the Pacific Ocean where you arrive at Fort Clatsop - which is the same fort station by operateur with signage with the other name pointed in that direction...

The ride isn't totally historically accurate, I believe they explored the Yellowstone area on their way back...

Citytrader posted that the slowness in posting updates was due to him...  Ha!  He ignores the part where I take a bench to work on, and two months and 150 TMTK objects later I say "oh, did you want to work on this?"  While it's now split up onto three benches...he doesn't get it to work on it any faster as I'm usually messing around with at least two of the three either building structures, or - more likely - making something with the TMTK I think we can't live without.  Even on the rare moments he has time on his hands, the bench he has an idea for is probably being hogged by me!

[Wabigbear]

2 minutes ago, wolfpaw said:

Some of the stuff you guys do in Planet Coaster is just insane.. some of these photos look like actual pre-park construction renders. Love to see all the detail put in and even down to the research done to get everything accurate - really impressive stuff. Excited to see more!

Thanks for the kind words wolfpaw, they are much appreciated!  Both Rich and I are history buffs, so the research part comes naturally I think.  We also created a version of this park in rct3 years ago, so it was great to try it again in Planet Coaster.  Be careful what you wish for...there is indeed 'more' yet to come.  What started out as a plan to break this into two parts ended up being on five benches.  There isn't much room left (and neither one of us wants to work on it past the middle of the century...), so I 'think' we're about done on this project.  Besides the five benches, there was also around 640 individual TMTK objects made for it...so yeah, it kept us busy and out of trouble (me anyways...Police Reports may disprove that claim for citytrader...).

Anyways, thanks again, and a sincerely things for creating a new home to inflict our work on others!

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Our bi-annual update!!! 

Just beyond St. Louis 1804, you come into A Gathering of Nations, which depicts Native American customs and traditions before the arrival of the Europeans.

Many different nations are represented;

The area also has a few family friendly rides themed toward Native America;

 

[Wabigbear]

"A Gathering of Nations" was one of the areas that wasn't really a part of the original plans, but came about when trying to think about what Disney had offered in it's other parks in the past, and what they might offer in the future.  AND...because there was a chunk of land without anything on it and I have an aversion to empty spaces...

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

Passing back through old St. Louis, we head over to the California Gold Rush of 1849!

Welcome to Gold Rush;

Gold Rush is a recreation of a typical boom town of the 1849 era;

Small food court...

You can even pan for gold!

Heading to the other side of 1849, you pass a dentist's office/barber shop where guests can have their teeth pulled for free! 

Found this great quick draw ride on the workshop, and dressed it up a bit and it fit in with our theme perfectly! Very special thanks to St1jn1978 for the use of this great ride and facade!

A nicely themed Tornado ride seperates two roads;

A recreation of Sutter's Mill highlights our E ticket attraction;

A log flume, of course!

The flume climbs high into the Sierra Nevada Mountains;

Even through old caves and hollows in the mountains;

Before splashing back down!

One more stop in 1849, then it's time to "Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis, Meet me at the Fair"!

[Wabigbear]

Citytrader wrote:

The last area in 1849 is the Wild West show;

 

[Wabigbear]

And that concludes a tour of Disney America Bench One....

Citytrader wrote:

First of three FIVE benches of Disney's America created by Wagi and citytrader finally released!

This park is very graphics intensive. The files for the pictures are located here;

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ymdqt1svuojzxtz/AAAZIP9gfD1nCgCyK3PoOIUPa?dl=0

Most pictures have a DA prefix attached, so should be easily deleted if you wish to.

The park is a monster and thus has been split into three  FIVE benches. Bench One takes almost fifteen minutes to load on my fairly new machine! This part of the park includes the Entrance area, Liberty Square, Sleepy Hollow, 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, St. Louis 1804 including the Lewis and Clark River Raft ride, Native America, and 1849 the Gold Rush.

The other two benches may be released during our lifetimes, but no guarantees!!!    (They were released, no guarantees that the two AFTER that will be, although they are almost entirely done...)

Make sure you download Wagi's eight million pieces of CS developed for the park! Not a lot is needed for this first bench, but moving forward...

Finally, a very special thinks to anyone who contributed time, effort, or ideas to our project. And of course any Workshop items we used, which are referenced throughout this thread.

Please like and comment!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2557021966

[Wowman]

always loved this project. such a great job.