For the post this week, I ran a quick poll on Twitter to ask what you wanted me to write about. (Go follow me on Twitter if you don't already so you can vote next time!)
Out of four choices, the leading answers were an update on future projects and a guide on how I make my design posts. The other choices were another environmental design essay, which will be coming soon anyway, and some kind of top list, which also may be coming eventually.
So this week, updates on future projects, and next month the process guide!
So what I am going to give you right now is the lineup of what I'm working on, what I will be working on soon, and what I hope to do in the upcoming year. Plus feel free to give suggestions on what you want to see in the comments. Be specific and creative! Maybe I'll be inspired!
As I write this, I just today finished a major project that I've talked about over and over for months, my third gate design for the Disneyland Resort. The park is centered on the Disney created Society of Explorers and Adventurers, and is thematically and organizationally a cross between World Showcase and DisneySEA. The park has 11 lands based on real world locations across the continents, each expressing some form of adventure and exploration. Each also ties to a single IP that exemplifies some aspect of the corresponding real world culture. This was a challenge but at this point I like the result. That will be up next month, giving me some time to step back from it and review the results. Look for that the second week of February.
The next major thing that I am starting to work on is updates and revisions to most of the existing park plans that I have put up over the last two years. Just as I did with the Paris Studios Plan a few months back, I want to see what can be improved upon. In some cases, I'll update for what's happened in the real world, some of it will be edits based on popular taste, and a lot of it will be just me wanting to try some alternative choices. These will definitely not be as drastic as the Paris Studios version 2 revision, because I am fairly happy with all of the version 1 designs came out, unlike the Paris Studios version 1. But still, new versions of those old plans coming soon.
In the same vein of these updates, I want to try to do some alternate reality plans within these parks, where I try some alternates to what has actually been done in the parks. The two that come to mind are a different Fantasyland Expansion, and Beastly Kingdom instead of Avatar. But I am sure there will be others that come up.
And along with these new versions of real park plans, I am going to try to do a round of super realistic, what could actually happen in real life in the near future style plans, tied to an attempt at setting up a budget for the expansion. Basically, if I was making the decisions right now, but still had to stick to the a real budget and timetable.
As for new parks, I am entirely out of parks that I can design expansion/updates for that I have actually visited. That's somewhat of a rule of mine, so that I can best understand the way the park works and how it can benefit from changes. I broke that rule for Paris Studios, and I think that partially led to the issues with version 1. However, I might break that rule again and start working on Universal Orlando park because I am pretty familiar with it already. So that might happen, but it will take some time. Possibly mid to late 2017. Maybe I'll visit by then too.
There's also the possibility that I'll start up another original resort and park, but don't count on it soon. There's a specific international destination and park concept that I worked on years ago, struggled with before I had more experience, and have continued to think about, so I might get back to that if inspiration hits. If I go down this path with any success, I'll let you know.
Moving down from the park and resort scale, I'm going to do some more detailed plans for specific lands. These would be more involved and hopefully include more visual information than just a plan that better explains the vision I have. The one I most want to work on is my concept for Tomorrowland at Disneyland since I like the concept I have and it most needs a refresh. I want to get down the to elevations, the details, the materials, and the experience of the land in a way that an aerial map will never show. If there's any lands that I have done that you want more information about, suggest it. If it's a land that I have compelling ideas about, I might do it.
Next, I of course want to continue to do attraction plans. These are particularly fun yet challenging, and some of the projects that I love the results of most. The Indiana Jones project I recently posted is probably now my all time favorite attraction I've done. I currently have at least 10 attraction plans down on my list to work on soon. Without spoiling all of them, since some are in the project you haven't see yet, it includes Peter Pan's Flight in the Disneyland plan, Spiderman from the Paris Studios plan, the Animation ride for California Adventure, and Mission: Mars at Disneyland. Again, let me know if there are any specific rides you want to see more on. If it's something that I have ideas about, I'll add it to the list.
And finally, more essays and text posts like the one you are reading. I know they don't do as well and don't get the same view and comment numbers, but they serve an important function. They allow me to expand on some of the theoretical and technical ideas behind the designs and they also allow me to bring you smaller posts between the major design posts. It keeps me from disappearing for a whole month between main design posts.
So that means I want to write more environmental design posts where I analyze and explain the different design tricks that make the parks work. Future topics include music, water, and transportation, plus an analysis of the physical forms of theme park lands. And like I mentioned at the top, I also want to write some top lists, but something more theoretical than a generic list of my favorite 10 rides of something. I want to do more thoughtful analysis of the best of various theme park things, plus comment on what I personally favor. Subjects like top immersive lands, top entertainment elements, top restaurants by food and theme, and even top bad rides that need to be improved.
So that is basically the expanded form of the sticky note I have running, listing what I want to work on soon. No guarantees on order or when something will come, because its all too dependent on inspiration and time.
But suggestions and comments will steer me to prioritize what you want to see. And with suggestions, the more specific and creative you can be, the better and more likely I will do it.
So leave a comment, follow on Twitter so you can catch future polls, and check back next month for that Third Gate post!
Showing posts with label News and Updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News and Updates. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2017
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Imagineerland's 2017 Refresh
As I promised at the end of the last post, Imagineerland has now gotten a bit of a graphics refresh. Still similar to the old style, but a little cleaner and with a better color scheme, the refreshed logo references the hub and spoke park layout and the main header now adds the Shanghai castle to the complete roster of worldwide park icons.
The actual color scheme is based on the Disneyland Peoplemover poster. I loved the clean crisp color concept of the poster, so decided to adapt it here. The light and dark blue pairing suggests progress to me, so I thought it was fitting.
The graphics on each and every image that I have ever posted also need to be updated with this new style. That is not something I have gotten to yet because frankly it's going to take a while. So just ignore that incongruity if you look back in the projects. All new posts and new media will use the new style and its going to look great.
I've also added a more complete top posts section to the right. I picked a selection of posts that were both popular and that I think are some of the best work. Those projects also got new logos and will be the first to be updated with the new graphics. So go check those projects out if you haven't already.
In addition to this restyling, I have been working hard on a project that you are getting very soon! Tuesday morning American time will be the first new design post of the year: The Indiana Jones Adventure flume coaster / EMV hybrid that I proposed for the Disney Studios Paris Park.
It is a really cool concept and the post has some video elements that I put a lot of time into and am pretty happy with. Check back Tuesday for that post. Its a great first post for what I hope to be a great year at Imagineerland!
The actual color scheme is based on the Disneyland Peoplemover poster. I loved the clean crisp color concept of the poster, so decided to adapt it here. The light and dark blue pairing suggests progress to me, so I thought it was fitting.
The graphics on each and every image that I have ever posted also need to be updated with this new style. That is not something I have gotten to yet because frankly it's going to take a while. So just ignore that incongruity if you look back in the projects. All new posts and new media will use the new style and its going to look great.
I've also added a more complete top posts section to the right. I picked a selection of posts that were both popular and that I think are some of the best work. Those projects also got new logos and will be the first to be updated with the new graphics. So go check those projects out if you haven't already.
In addition to this restyling, I have been working hard on a project that you are getting very soon! Tuesday morning American time will be the first new design post of the year: The Indiana Jones Adventure flume coaster / EMV hybrid that I proposed for the Disney Studios Paris Park.
It is a really cool concept and the post has some video elements that I put a lot of time into and am pretty happy with. Check back Tuesday for that post. Its a great first post for what I hope to be a great year at Imagineerland!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Plans for the New Year
This year, I am going to start a new series of posts that fulfill one of my original promises for the blog: text posts, or as I first called them, architectural commentaries about theme park design. My intent was to attempt to apply some of my architectural training to study the design of themed spaces and why we like them so much.
I had tried to start this up a few times this last year, but never had the time to properly put together a plan for introducing this new kind of post. Now, with a new year, I should have the time and ability to get this going.
So with this new kind of post, my schedule is going to slightly change.
From now on my plan is for 2 posts a month. A text post on the second Wednesday of each month, and a full design post the fourth Wednesday of each month. So every two weeks you should have new content. I will do my best to keep that schedule, and if I don't have something on time for a scheduled post, I will still post with an update. So check back every other week to stay up to date!
I also want to say that my goal with these texts posts is to start conversations about the topics, not just one sided lectures. I hope to include questions in each of these posts that we can discuss in the comments. Talking with you about theme parks is way more fun than just talking to you. So please leave comments and share!
Now for some details on the content of the text posts.
I have a bunch of things that I want to talk about so there is not going to be a single theme, but, as I have planned now, the text posts are going to break down to one main series and then a bunch of random topic posts.
The main series for the time being will be something I am going to call The Environmentals. Name subject to change. This is going to be the main architectural commentary series that covers the little elements of design that makes theme parks special.
In each post, I'm going to present a discussion about a particular design element or strategy and how that affects our perception of a park. Some examples include the visual structure of "weenies", the scale of parks, the draw of kinetic motion, water, vegetation, music, and more. Some may be unexpected things, but I see all as important.
These are crucial elements that define the environment of the modern theme park. Specifically, the kind of theme park where the park is the biggest E ticket, like Disney and Universal parks. These uniquely special places call on a variety of urban planning and sensory design tools to create convincing and transformative environments that we love to spend time in, instead of just being walkways between attractions. There is a reason why Disneyland is special, and these posts will try to discover and explain why.
These posts will be somewhat researched with references, but will mostly be formatted as a casual discussion based on my personal knowledge and experiences with theme parks.
Besides those main posts, I'm also going to throw in some other topics that don't fit in that series, such as more in-depth discussions about the successes or failures of specific lands or attractions. Some things will not be about design at all, such as top lists, reviews, or maybe trip reports. Who knows where these posts will go, but this will be our chance to talk about theme park stuff.
This first post will be the text post for January and a new design post will be out in two weeks. Next month will be the first Environmentals post and will be an introduction to the topic and some thoughts on the general urban planning strategy of a theme park.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you all back and talking theme parks with me soon!
I had tried to start this up a few times this last year, but never had the time to properly put together a plan for introducing this new kind of post. Now, with a new year, I should have the time and ability to get this going.
So with this new kind of post, my schedule is going to slightly change.
From now on my plan is for 2 posts a month. A text post on the second Wednesday of each month, and a full design post the fourth Wednesday of each month. So every two weeks you should have new content. I will do my best to keep that schedule, and if I don't have something on time for a scheduled post, I will still post with an update. So check back every other week to stay up to date!
I also want to say that my goal with these texts posts is to start conversations about the topics, not just one sided lectures. I hope to include questions in each of these posts that we can discuss in the comments. Talking with you about theme parks is way more fun than just talking to you. So please leave comments and share!
Now for some details on the content of the text posts.
I have a bunch of things that I want to talk about so there is not going to be a single theme, but, as I have planned now, the text posts are going to break down to one main series and then a bunch of random topic posts.
The main series for the time being will be something I am going to call The Environmentals. Name subject to change. This is going to be the main architectural commentary series that covers the little elements of design that makes theme parks special.
In each post, I'm going to present a discussion about a particular design element or strategy and how that affects our perception of a park. Some examples include the visual structure of "weenies", the scale of parks, the draw of kinetic motion, water, vegetation, music, and more. Some may be unexpected things, but I see all as important.
These are crucial elements that define the environment of the modern theme park. Specifically, the kind of theme park where the park is the biggest E ticket, like Disney and Universal parks. These uniquely special places call on a variety of urban planning and sensory design tools to create convincing and transformative environments that we love to spend time in, instead of just being walkways between attractions. There is a reason why Disneyland is special, and these posts will try to discover and explain why.
These posts will be somewhat researched with references, but will mostly be formatted as a casual discussion based on my personal knowledge and experiences with theme parks.
Besides those main posts, I'm also going to throw in some other topics that don't fit in that series, such as more in-depth discussions about the successes or failures of specific lands or attractions. Some things will not be about design at all, such as top lists, reviews, or maybe trip reports. Who knows where these posts will go, but this will be our chance to talk about theme park stuff.
This first post will be the text post for January and a new design post will be out in two weeks. Next month will be the first Environmentals post and will be an introduction to the topic and some thoughts on the general urban planning strategy of a theme park.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you all back and talking theme parks with me soon!
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
A First Post Welcome
Welcome to Imagineerland, a new theme park design blog focusing on theme park design and discussion with an architectural basis.
I am an avid Disney and themed design fan as well as a current architecture student and have been producing my own conceptual works for many years. These plans have been seen on other websites and blogs over the past few years, but now I am excited to start my own website where I can feature my design process and opinions.
Ideally, I would like to be fairly active with postings and turn this into a substantial website. I have a large backlog of design projects and many more in my head just waiting to be designed. Additionally, I would like to post a series of architectural commentaries on theme park design, applying some of the lessons covered in architecture school to the parks. Working around my busy school life, I hope to be able to put up a post every few weeks, prompting continued discussion about the art of themed design.
The first post, a more detailed overview of my entry for the 5th Gate Challenge for Ideal Buildout, will be coming very soon. In the mean time, follow on social media, and welcome.
I am an avid Disney and themed design fan as well as a current architecture student and have been producing my own conceptual works for many years. These plans have been seen on other websites and blogs over the past few years, but now I am excited to start my own website where I can feature my design process and opinions.
Ideally, I would like to be fairly active with postings and turn this into a substantial website. I have a large backlog of design projects and many more in my head just waiting to be designed. Additionally, I would like to post a series of architectural commentaries on theme park design, applying some of the lessons covered in architecture school to the parks. Working around my busy school life, I hope to be able to put up a post every few weeks, prompting continued discussion about the art of themed design.
The first post, a more detailed overview of my entry for the 5th Gate Challenge for Ideal Buildout, will be coming very soon. In the mean time, follow on social media, and welcome.
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