The Blue Sky Disney blog has some interesting information on what could possibly be coming during Phase II of the DCA expansion. Keep in mind that these are all rumors. One idea is to…
… take the Pacific Wharf area and turn it into the San Francisco area of the park. It’s one of several proposals that are being pitched for the Wharf area in the Second Phase.
Golden State will go from being “extreme sports/rafting” themed to a sort of national park type theme. Animatronic creatures will be added to Grizzly River Run, & a E-Ticket locomotive type ride may replace the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
The Hollywood Backlot area will be themed more toward the 30’s Hollywood that they abandoned in the early design phase of the park. There is a proposal to take all the area around the TOT attraction that is used for the road access to the Timon parking lot and transform it into the Golden Era of Hollywood with several ventures and areas that evoke the time when Walt Disney started to make motion pictures and buckle the system. Just as the new front entrance will give visitors a look at what Los Angeles was like when Walt came here in the late 20’s, the Hollywood section will continue on that by focusing on the glory of Hollywood in the 30’s. The area around the Hyperion Theater will finally become the grand entrance that it was deprived of under Pressler. At least one E-Ticket will be going into the Hollywood section but right now the Bothans don’t have credible evidence as to what direction narratively it will go.
The entrance to the area right past the HBL will lead to the jewel of D(C)A… Carsland. The land which will take up 20 percent of the park will have 3 attractions upon opening four years from now… Radiator Springs Racers, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Roaming Tires. But the new land was designed to hold at least two more attractions. By the Second Phase we should see at least one more D-Ticket or a plussed C-Ticket at the least. The Paradise Pier area will get another E-Ticket during the Second Phase, most likely one of several that have been pitched for the helix next to the entrance of Screamin’ or it will have an entrance there with an attraction behind the stage. Should enough money be available expect Goofy’s Sky School to be taken down and a true E-Ticket put in its place. And the proposals so far include one attraction that is an original thrill ride and another that is based on a classic character.
As Disney California Adventure reaches the midway point of a $1.1-billion expansion, I’d like to take a speculative look at what Walt Disney Imagineering might have in mind for Phase 2 of the massive renovation project. DCA’s extreme makeover was necessitated by the on-the-cheap, off-the-shelf nature of the nearly decade-old theme park that even Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger now calls “mediocre.” Phase 1, which began in 2008, fixes about a third of the flawed park. What I’m interested in looking at here are the possibilities for the other two-thirds. What follows is a land-by-land compilation of possible attractions and thematic changes for Phase 2: Most of the proposed plans that have come to light remain firmly in the “what if” stage. In some cases, Disney announced and then postponed attractions. In other instances, the ideas have filtered out into the online community. In all circumstances, Disney remains officially mum, guarding future projects as closely held secrets. Quite naturally, any sequel to the wholesale reimagineering of DCA remains contingent on the success of Phase 1, which wraps up in 2012. So far, the crowds have responded positively to the uptick in quality (Toy Story Midway Mania dark ride), spectacle (“World of Color” water show) and attention to detail (Silly Symphony Swings wave swing). And the best is yet to come. Crews have broken ground on Phase 1 projects that demonstrate Disney’s commitment (the $100-million Voyage of the Little Mermaid dark ride), ambition (the 12-acre Cars Land) and heritage (Buena Vista Street entry plaza). Mouse watchers believe if Phase 1 continues to pay dividends, Iger will pony up more money for Phase 2 starting in 2013. The operative word here is “if.” So far nothing has been announced for Phase 2, but Imagineers have been busy dusting off old plans and dreaming up new ideas for the re-emergent Anaheim theme park. As any Disney fan knows, these “blue sky” proposals can change repeatedly over the course of development – and many never see the light of day.