CONTINUED

To the right of this Muppet Movie exit area (in front of the Limo dark ride attraction) is what appears to be the unfinished back of the false fronts of the Hollywood Blvd. buildings. This is actually a very cleverly utilized multiple use facility. On the Hollywood street side it hosts a smoothie and coffee joint ("Schmoozies"), a hot dog stand ("Award Wieners" - yes some of the puns used in the park are pretty bad), and "Fairfax Market" (basically a fruit and drink cart next to the hot dogs). On the side facing Superstar Limo it houses what you come to find out is a stage for a show.

"Get A Grip" - it's hard to photograph a show like this, so bear with me here...

"Get A Grip" is what is scheduled on the stage (along with some rather boring guy dancing on drums act that seems to alternate - ignore it) and this effort gets an "A+" for trying - and a "B-" for execution. (It could earn an "A" in execution rather quickly with some minor changes.) In a nutshell, for lack of a better description, it's really a very clever way of doing a modest stunt show as if the "Cirque du Soleil" or "Stomp" folks had staged it.

The story here is that the very attractive cast is supposed to be a crew of film set grips that have a way- too- annoying star trying to direct herself. They of course put her in her place - being the impish athletic gymnasts that they really are. (I know it sounds dumb - I've been on a real film set, the grips are not impish athletic types by any long shot! - but this does work.)

What I liked about this presentation (unlike the heavily hyped, and apparently now gone "Steps in Time" Hyperion Theater musical, detailed later) is that they really tried to do something different with the stunt show format - and gave it a little art in doing so. The performers all work hard, for the most part the music used is quite good (it's a pastiche of all sorts of stuff) and there are some very unusual and unique moments in it.

The very minor problems with it right now are simple - the choreographer fell in love with too many of the moves, repeating them a bit too much - and the director fell in love with the music - letting it go on a bit too long. For example they do a great ladder ballet - climbing up and down them and sliding around - but they had audience members leaving after they repeated the series of moves they did on it three and four times.

With a trim of about one quarter to one third of the current running time (to eliminate the repetitive nature of some of the moves) they will have a winner here - and sadly one of the few current entertainment options that really come close to that "hip and edgy" feel they are almost so seemingly desperate to get.

This is the kind of stuff I think Disney can do best - and what I would think audiences expect of them. Performances for "Grip" that day were at 3:30, 4:45, 6, 8 & 9:15 PM - and the viewing area although it has no formal seating considerately has all sorts of boxes and platforms people can scramble up on to get a better view of things. I hope this gets the tweaks it needs and has a long run.

What the sign says!

Ok, now you've seen the Grip show - it's may be close to the time to see the Hyperion Theater show. Need a snack or a food court meal? "Hollywood & Dine" is here, but sort of hidden away in the back of the area. Again, as you find in the rest of this park - if its shopping or dining, they went all out in theming the location. They lavished a great deal of care in this park for shops and restaurants that they did not bother with in the actual attractions themselves (with a few exceptions). We'll talk more about this in the summary at the end.

The dining concept here is simple, it's food court fast food Chinese, burgers, deli sandwiches and pizza. It's also scatter serve - which means you pick up your items at the counters and then come up to a register to get rung out. (MUCH faster than the old systems Disneyland used to have.) You can eat inside, with sort of one wall recreations of long gone Hollywood landmarks such as Ciro's nightclub (The original Ciro's is now the Comedy Store up on Sunset Blvd.), or outside in front of the fake gas station (which cleverly provides some cover) or in front of the fake sci-fi backdrop.

I didn't get to eat here yet - but the reports are that the food is good quality (we must thank Disneyland Resort exec Mike Berry for improving the food at the parks here) - if a bit pricey as are all the food options at DCA. (Too bad they can't redo the Tomorrowland Terrace the same way at Disneyland itself eh?) Keep this location in mind, as it is one of three food courts at DCA (the others are the Wharf area, and under the coaster at Paradise Pier).

The Hyperion Theater

Walking towards the Hyperion Theater you see the dapper theater usher attired cast members beckoning you to the show, and you head on in. Before we enter though, a few notes on the Theater here - the front is disguised as a forced perspective set and it works quite well. You enter the theater doors only to find out they are a false front that lead you to a courtyard. You have a choice in this courtyard (obviously another future location for something, we'll detail it later) of going up a couple of stairways (yes - to save money they skimped big time on escalators here) or just walking in at ground level to the orchestra level seating. You do have a choice here thankfully, and the view of the show from orchestra level is fine, as it is from any seat in the theater. Don't kill yourself on the steps if you don't want to.

The way too many Hyperion Theater stairs you need not take.

Once inside you'll see they've done a very unique sort of "suggestion" of a older theater, with large abstract painted pieces hung up on the walls to look like ornate old balconies. It's cost saving, but done well. Seating is unusually curved - think a big noodle "w" shape here - giving an impression of more size than there actually is in the theater. Seats are OK, but I wouldn't want to sit through a Star Wars movie marathon here - thankfully daytime shows planned will be the standard just over 20 minute length you would expect in a theme park.

Expect the Candlelight presentation to move here this year - so they can finally sell those very profitable dinner packages they love oh so much. Rumors still abound that they will eventually host some of the Disney Theatrical road shows here when they finally end their runs - it's conceivable that the "Beauty and the Beast" musical could be sold as a dinner package to the hotel visitors. We'll see if they follow through on that - the theater was built to do just about anything they wanted in it.

"Steps in Time"

This review of the show "Steps in Time" is (by necessity here) of a production you will probably not get to see in any way shape or from - since Eisner himself has apparently given the entertainment director of the resort a half million dollars to come up with something else for opening day. If you want to read more about this, visit the last D-I-G (Disneyland Info Guide) update for all the details.

Now understand first here about this show - the singers and dancers gave all they had and they are extremely talented. But they were defeated by a producer that was long on ambition and nowhere near as long on talent, with a propensity to the simplistic aerobicize dance style choreography of Debbie Allen. In fewer words here, a lot of money was spent by someone with very little ability. Unlike the simpler "Get A Grip" show outside - which really did try to rethink what they were doing, this spectacle (like a car wreck, since you couldn't believe what you were watching) was just poorly conceived from the get go.

I won't go into too much detail about the production itself, since it won't do future visitors much good. But the weak points included a disjointed revue format - that abandoned telling its story between the opening and closing bookends, and a propensity to use way too much film projection of Disney animated classics. That's been a disturbing trend lately at the parks ever since Fantasmic debuted - using film clips saves a LOT of money on productions - but unless its carefully used it can really kill a show. Here the clips went on too long, they should have highlighted the action, not taken it over like they did for continued stretches at a time.

The arrangements for the new musical material also were a bit too out of touch with the originals (they strove for way too much "hipness"), and there is a real focus in the entertainment department to only utilize material from the newer films. After they opened with "Snow White" they went headlong into a series of stuff from everything "Little Mermaid" and onwards. (With the exception of "I Wanna Be Like You" from Jungle Book.)

Several of my fellow columnists for MousePlanet who also have seen the show felt that it only needed tweaking or minor fixes. I think they may have really be responding to the terrific talent up on that stage more than they were the actual production. A strong performer can make weak material look good, in this case they had some great voices up there doing their best. The good thing is there will be a new show here, hopefully it will be better quality. I'm glad they made the decision to try and fix this one.

As you exit the theater (with the lovely view of all the surrounding hotels in Anaheim mind you, you never really feel taken away in this park) you do realize this courtyard will be some kind of area that will be built out on. Current rumors have it that we could quite possibly see a combination of a ride - Tower of Terror - and another Hollywood themed hotel. This actually makes sense - and would be a great way to tie the two elements together. Pricing would be comparable to the Grand Californian, it would offer its own access to the park in that area, and with proper soundproofing (possibly enclosing the drop itself behind glass - theming it as a glass elevator) the noise problem could be handled. This would be something that would happen way on down the road, maybe once they get the third park up.

Ok, enough at looking at the wall. Let's get to the final exhibit here, the Animation building. The area's big success, the animation exhibit is a mix of several different elements. They finally got honest here - they list it as one attraction on the guide books, even though in the past they tried to list the different parts of it as individual attractions.

(In the brochure guide given out they list 25 attractions total (they count shows as attractions) - ten each in the Golden State (farm, raft and Condor Flats area) and the carnival (Paradise Pier), plus five in the Hollywood area (Animation exhibit, Hyperion Theater, Get a Grip show, Muppets movie, and Superstar Limo)

Depending on crowds, you may have to wait outside a bit in a queue - once you enter there's a large room where you can veer off to the several things offered. The giant entry room is really quite stunning - and also very cleverly done to save money by careful use of screens and video plus slide projections. With careful positioning you don't really notice there are only a few video projectors and they are pretty small - since the room is awash with coordinated slides of backdrops to the films to envelop you entirely in the movie. They also did some lovely montages of songs and key movie moments, and unlike the live shows, they pay tribute equally to both older and newer animated productions. I liked the use of concept art in the clips also - giving you more of a look into the movie than just using the standard finished scenes would.

Inside the animation lobby

Now keep in mind - there's no crime in doing something cheaply IF you can pull off the illusion. It's said Walt Disney was the proudest of one of the simplest and most inexpensive technical moments in Pinocchio - the scene where Honest John finally whisks the wooden boy off to Pleasure Island and you see the boat cross the water to the island. It always used to generate applause in screenings, mostly because of the terrific dramatic build up script and music- wise to it. Walt knew the actual boat shot was one of the the simplest to do in the film - just a cel pulled across a back drop, no expensive multiplane cameras or complicated animation was needed.

If you've been to Orlando, and visited the animation exhibit there at the studios, you probably don't need to bother with the Walter Cronkite / Robin Williams "Back to Neverland" movie on the right in the Animation Screening Room as you enter. The exhibit in the middle is the Sorcerer's Workshop - where you get to interact with the exhibits, and I will write about later in an update to this section after I get a better look at it (as well as check into the "Neverland" film to see if it holds up still).

"Drawn to Animation"

What I did see, and really enjoy a LOT was the little show on the left of the entrance, "Drawn to Animation." The size of the theater is small, and very cozy - it reminded me of the "Cranium Command" theater in Epcot as far as size. I was really hoping there would be smaller experiences like this in the new park, and in this case they delivered it.

The actress - Patrica (a stage name is my guess here) was just terrific, and she helped the illusion of being able to interact with the animated Mushu (from Mulan) work well. (By the way, the voice work on Mushu is not Eddie Murphy, but is close enough.) I really liked how effervescent this faux animator came across, pretending to finish a phone call while the audience comes in, her informality with the crowd, and her dead on timing.

The presentation itself details character development in animation - explaining the different steps it may take to make one come to life on screen and the evolutions they may take. It's very slickly done, but not too overly corporate - and of course ends with a new trailer for "Atlantis" which I hadn't seen before.

You exit out of the animation building through the entrance again, or via the attached gift shop (hey, it's Disney remember?) "Off the Page" which seems to be mostly a higher end gallery type of operation, focused on the Disney animated films. You may see some familiar faces from the Disney Gallery over Pirates in Disneyland now working here too. :)

Bathrooms on the left...

Between the animation exhibit and the Soap complex they have squeezed in a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright's Los Feliz Ennis-Brown House - which is really just the facade for the bathrooms, phones and ATM. (Sharp eyed viewers will remember this house as the villain's residence in Disney's "The Rocketeer.") Parents should beware that this is one of two very poorly designed bathroom locations with two exits (the other is in the carnival Paradise Pier area, behind the carousel) - it's bad because it's easy to lose people if they exit the opposite way from which they entered, simple to do in an unfamiliar environment that one visits infrequently such as a theme park.

Does the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area work well? Pretty much. The big Hyperion Theater show will be fixed, the animation exhibit and the "Get A Grip" effort (once tweaked) will be a nice diversion. The Muppets don't hold up as well, and definitely avoid "Superstar Limo" - it's just not worth it. The additions of "Armageddon" and the "Tower of Terror" (if they go that route) should fill this area up well in the future - let's really hope that it's the NEAR future, as they desperately need more crowd soakers in this park.

That completes this section - next we'll visit the less successfully pulled off middle "Golden State" area of the park, which includes the farm and San Francisco regions.

Let me know what you think as the series continues won't you? I may not be able to personally respond to each of you, but I will read all your feedback.

Part Two - Middling, i.e. Condor flats, the farm, and wharf areas

Part Three - Paradise Pier carnival area

Part Four - The Whoopi movie, Raft ride and other details such as parking, the hotel and mall

Readers Respond

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Take a photo tour of the park

Take a photo tour of the Grand Californian hotel

MAIN GATE AREA:

"Postcard design" entrance gate

Golden Gate Bridge: Monorail Crossing (this will remain a Disneyland specific attraction, with one stop for all three hotels outside of Disneyland proper).

Sun Icon: Sets the theme for the park

Parade: Route runs all the way down to Paradise Pier area

Shops: Engine-Ears Toys / Greetings from California

Restaurants: Baker's Field / Bur-r-r-r Bank Ice Cream

HOLLYWOOD PICTURES BACKLOT

Theme: Hollywood

Rides / Attractions: Superstar Limo dark ride / Muppet Vision 3-D Film

Shows: Hyperion Theater Show (day) Possible Broadway style show (night) / Get A Grip / Area entertainment

Exhibits: Disney Animation includes Art of Animation, Drawn to Animation, Back to Neverland, Sorcerer's Workshop

Shopping: ABC SoapLink / Gone Hollywood / Off the Page / Rizzo's Prop and Pawn Shop

Restaurants: ABC Soap Opera Bistro / Award Wieners / Between Takes / Fairfax Market / Hollywood & Dine / Pop-arazzi Popcorn / Schmoozies

Hollywood and Highland Web site - see what those entryway elephants should reallly look like

Ennis Brown House Images - see the inspiration for the bathrooms... ;)