Posted May 31, 20231 yr As I noted in the first thread on this park, Disney's America is a park based on the unbuilt Disney America Park planned in Virginia. Citytrader and I worked on a version of this park in rct3 years ago, and decided to try it again in Planet Coaster. Rather than recreate what Disney had planned, we decided to expand upon those original plans, dropping some and adding many others. For one thing we decided to highlight several exhibitions - World's Fairs - held in the US that came to symbolize the country as it was and how it imagined itself to be in the future. The first fair was the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia which celebrated the nation's Centennial. Many different inventions were on display there, even the arm of the Statue of Liberty was on display before it was erected in New York harbor. The second World's Fair was in 1904 in St Louis marking the Centennial of the Louisiana Purchase from France, and the third World's Fair was the 1939-40 New York Wold's Fair, marking the 150th anniversary of George Washington's first inauguration as President of the United States. It was also the first Fair to focus on the Future "The World of Tomorrow" Other events and eras we touch upon include "The Golden Spike" celebrating the completion of the trans-continental railroad, the Woman's Suffrage Movement, The Right Bros at Kitty Hawk. We see the Great Depression, the rural farm-life of the 1930's. Walt Disney is celebrated with the Hyperion Studios campus. Ocean-side amusement parks and boardwalks are explored, along with a visit to that Great American Show - The Circus. The Greatest Generation is viewed at Victory Field. We cross the heavy steamship traffic on the Mississippi River and visit New Orleans in the 1920's where Bonnie & Clyde lead us on a chase. Past the Big Easy restaurant we circle back to the Halls of Ellis Island where immigrants from around the world first stepped on American shores, then on to Enterprise, where industry revolutionized the country. A short journey from there and we visit Rushmore Station, a tribute to our National Parks and the "Wildest Show in the Wilderness" - The Country Bear Jamboree. So now we'll continue our tour with Bench Two of Disney's America...
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: Bench Two of Disney's America is not very large, in fact it only covers two lands, but they are very impressive lands indeed! The bulk of the work on this bench was done by Wagi. I think I created the one popcorn cart in the corner! Seriously, this bench will hopefully transport you back in time to the amazing World's Fair of Saint Louis in 1904! Still considered one of the greatest World's Fairs of all time, and it actually turned a profit! The Disney Imagineers worked tirelessly to recreate the essence of the Fair. Guests start their journey by crossing the river into the fairgrounds; They then arrive at a reproduction of the Pike, a mile long cavalcade of wonder and whimsy, where you could witness Creation, go to the Afterlife, travel by balloon to the North Pole, follow a river through the Tyrolean Alps, or travel by rail through the wilds of Siberia. Here are a few attractions painstakingly recreated for Disney's America; Ride through Siberia by train; Dive into the depths of the ocean on the Submarine Ride; Meet Jim Key, the educated horse. His promoters claimed that the horse could read and write, make change with money, do arithmetic for "numbers below thirty," and cite Bible passages "where the horse is mentioned."
May 31, 20231 yr Author Actually most of The Pike was Rich's work in this section, I just filled in a few spots! While this is not a 'totally faithful recreation' of the buildings of the 1904 Fair, hopefully we've been able to create something in the same style. This was a fun, yet challenging, part of the park to create...
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: Jim Key really was a wonder. There are some excellent articles out there about him and his trainer William Key, and a movie is planned with Morgan Freeman starring. it is said that President William McKinley saw Beautiful Jim Key perform at an exposition in Tennessee and declared, “This is the most astonishing and entertaining exhibition I have ever witnessed.” The horse did a lot more than stomp his foot. He picked out letters on a board to spell out words, and answered math questions the same way. So even if he was trained to do it, he was pretty smart to remember it all. Continuing down the Pike! Hereafter was a ride through Heaven and Hell; Next to the Hereafter was the Wireless Telegraph tower that broadcast all the way to Pittsburgh! The Battle Abbey had large tableaus of great military battles throughout history. It was one of the only attractions that lost money during the fair; The large two level Popcorn Hall;
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: Continuing past the Pike, Embassy Row comes into view. Countries from all over the world came to Saint Louis to exibit. The building of the Kingdom of Siam; This structure houses the Netherlands and it's beautiful tulip beds; One of the larger exibits was the German Pavilion, with a recreation of the Alps, Biergarten, Restaurant, and lovely scenery; Tired feet? Try riding one of those new fangled Autobuses, guaranteed to get you around the park at six miles an hour! Filming a commercial for Disney's America; The Grand Carousel is one of the highlights of the St. Louis World's Fair! Here's another great shot of the Biergarten! (See what happens when you leave him unsupervised??? Get's things all out of order... Wagi) The Cascades spill out from under the Festival Hall down into the lagoon;
May 31, 20231 yr Author Yep, the Alps are indeed cutouts. Surprisingly similar to what they used at the actual fair in 1904! And yes, they are available in the Workshop... The Autobus is modeled on one they actually had at the fair...well, as close as I could make it anyways... I didn't try to replicate too many actual fair buildings, they were huge and very ornate, but hopefully you'll get a feel for the real thing on a smaller scale... Also used a number of buildings from the Workshop, either whole (like the Siam Pavilion or Grand Carousel building), or parts of (like the rotundas on the sides of the central arch...).
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: Back to the Louisiana Purchase Exibition of 1904 as imagined by the Disney team! The Pennsylvania State Exibition building; A classic Cignet ride; The imposing Palace of Fine Arts; The Magic Whirlpool ride; To be honest, there is not a ton of information on the interior of this ride building. You went through a whirlpool and then saw various tableaus crypticly named things like "demons kindergarten", "bridge of sighs", and "dance of the phosphorescent phantoms", most probably painted backgronds with lighting effects. But here at Disney's America, Wagi has created a homage to the classic film Fantasia! The eerie entrance area! All Aboard! A dark and scary graveyard! That mountain looks familiar; Who is that on top of the mountain?!? Thank goodness we escaped from there! Wait, do I hear water? Look out! Buckets and buckets EVERYWHERE! The final area of Embassy row we will look at is the Japan pavillion, located right on Lake America. No captions needed here! Next up, one of the quieter corners of Disney's America!
May 31, 20231 yr Author It was pointed out that "Mickey was in Disney's Fantasia, yet he wouldn't be 'born' until 1928. This Exposition is set in 1904... hmm" I use the same excuse as to why Mr Toad's Wild Ride, which was set in the early 1900's, or Mickey's Philharmagic, set in the current time, exist in a Medieval Fantasyland themed to the 1500's or so. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
May 31, 20231 yr Author The bench Rich has the Japan Pavilion close to the edge of what appears on that bench, where in reality (PC reality anyways...) more of the park exists just past it. Here's a screen that shows a glimpse of how it flows together into the next area... And this from the opposite direction. You can see the lakeside path that leads past The Pike area of the fair and connects with the Colonial areas in the background... The fairgrounds is actually quite large around the central lagoon... These night-time shots show the size... In this last screen you can see a glimpse of several historical vignettes at far right that can be viewed from the parks steam trains...much like the diorama's found at Disneyland (but without a roof...)
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: Wagi mentioned the vignettes; They are great! Driving of the Golden Spike; Votes for women; And no caption needed for this iconic scene;
May 31, 20231 yr Author The Suffragettes are based on the ideas for the figures Fisherman originally did, I just narrowed the skirts to match the style during this time period and added hats, signs and banners.
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: The last part of Disney's America Bench 2 is a segway between the 1904 and the 1939World's Fairs. Representing the Depression era in American history, welcome to Leesburg, a typical rural community in the 1930's; Small town life is well represented in the bucolic area complete with livestock, a small main street, even a barn dance! A small boat dock connects to Lake America; The township's park is prepping for the big July 4th picnic; Remembering the fallen; At the edge of this small town is the state highway, and pass beneath the bridge, and guess where you wind up? Cool night shot...
May 31, 20231 yr Author Bountiful Farms has a whole range of critters - horse, mules, donkeys, cows, bulls, pigs and chickens, so the fertilizer is plentiful and fresh! Watch where you step... However visitor's to Aunt Tilly's Bountiful Farms Country Buffet do not add to the manure pile... Hank the barber working late...that's Tootsie McGregor getting a haircut because she's too cheap to use the Beauty Salon upstairs by the doctor's office. Good thing she doesn't mind a short boyish bob during the summer, and it IS the current fashion... While the soda fountain at Woolworth's stays open until late - 7.30 PM! - for those young couples courting...
May 31, 20231 yr Author Citytrader wrote: Second of five benches of Disney's America created by Wagi and citytrader is released! The park is a monster and thus has been split into five benches. Bench Two part 1 takes almost fifteen minutes to load on my fairly new machine! This part of the park includes only the Saint Louis Exposition of 1904 and the Bountiful Farm area, which covers the Depression era. Bench Two Part 2 will include the 1939 New York Worlds Fair and that will be released. (promise!!!) This park is very graphics intensive. The files for the pictures are located here; https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/vsw8zyl9nx45otixahg39/h?dl=0&rlkey=aqzecujkitjb6ac449jlo9yz5 Most pictures have a DA prefix attached, so should be easily deleted if you wish to. The other benches may be released during our lifetimes, but no guarantees!!! Make sure you download Wagi's eight million pieces of CS developed for the park! There are quite a few bits utilized in this bench. Finally, a very special thinks to anyone who contributed time, effort, or ideas to our project. And of course any Workshop items we used. Here is the link to the park on the Steam Workshop; https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2833500360&searchtext=disney%27s+america Enjoy!
May 31, 20231 yr The German and New York's World Fair sections are my favorite - really cool stuff! Thanks for sharing! there's this illusion of the reality, but it's not really really real, like it's beside and inside and inside and beside, but never on top.. nevermind, just kidding but not really
July 20, 20231 yr I'm pleasantly surprised how beautifully this park has been growing. The little details and careful attention to the accuracy of the themed areas is inspiring. Early 1900s US has always been interesting to me, so to see it be adapted in this way for a park is really cool to see. Keep it up! 👍 There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow; shining at the end of every day.
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