The other day Nick (with the help from some listeners) speculated on what the Park 9 Combo Topper might be. It turns out it was the Brave Little Tailor. We got to see it at Friday’s WDW Trade Night.
This figure looks great. What do you think? Check out all of Park 9 here.
“If Main Street, U.S.A., is the romanticized version of Walt Disney’s hometown, Buena Vista Street is the next chapter of Walt’s life when he came to California,” says Ray Spencer of Walt Disney Imagineering. “It’s an extension of where we started at Disneyland park . . . and now our guests can step across the plaza and get the rest of the story.”
A big part of that story was the premier of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, and that landmark building is the inspiration for the spectacular Carthay Circle Theatre that anchors Buena Vista Street. This new landmark for Disney California Adventure park becomes one of the premier dining locations at Disneyland Resort, the Carthay Circle Restaurant and Lounge.
Celebrating “opening night at the movies” during the Golden Age of Hollywood, Carthay Circle Theatre is a spectacular new landmark at Disney California Adventure park. The historic design will draw guests inside to discover Carthay Circle Restaurant upstairs, with a menu created by award-winning Executive Chef Andrew Sutton, and a lounge downstairs, with each telling the story of Disney movie-making through the years.
“Carthay Circle Theatre is the perfect building to visually anchor Buena Vista Street,” says Ray Spencer, the creative director for Buena Vista Street for Walt Disney Imagineering. ”Stately, identifiable and quite spectacular.”
Couple the design with a seasonal menu that celebrates California’s diverse cuisine, toss in the flair of Disney theming, and it’s a winning combination for a casual and fun dining experience at the end of Buena Vista Street.
“The iconic central tower is the heart and soul of Carthay Circle Theatre,” Spencer says. “There’s a lot of ornate, custom woodwork – probably more details than the original theater. It’s full of textures and materials, custom tiles and plaster; very elegant, warm and rich.”
The building is modeled on the original Spanish Revival architecture of the 1920s, but not an exact duplicate. In the first-floor foyer, the décor tells the story of the relationship of Carthay Circle Theatre to the Walt Disney Company, with photos and artifacts from the 1937 premier of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Disney’s first feature-length animated film.
The first-floor lounge features an artifact case with treasures from the Disney Archives that periodically will be changed. “You’ll see pieces you’d never have the opportunity to see, except at the archives,” Spencer said. “And we won’t stop the clock in 1937, but will pay tribute to the studios and its achievements through the decades.”
The interior of the 68-seat bar and wine lounge is reminiscent of the grand palace movie days.
The upstairs dining room and terrace feature elegant, custom woodwork and millwork in rich tones, artwork and a beautiful center atrium skylight. Photos show Walt Disney and wife Lillian in formal attire at movie premieres and celebrations of accomplishments by The Walt Disney Company. It creates the feeling of a premiere after-party and “It’s as though you’re invited to the party,” Spencer said. The 200-seat dining room is divided into small rooms for a more intimate experience, including a terrace with seating for 56.
While the interior evokes the grand elegance of a classic movie premiere, the ambiance of the restaurant and lounge is warm and family friendly. “We’ve created a sanctuary to escape from the bustle of the park,” says Andrew Sutton, the executive chef. The design and theme are social and informal – a place where guests enjoy beautifully prepared seasonal cuisine. Servers jauntily attired in slacks and bolero-style jackets interact with guests in a friendly manner, guiding them through the inventive menus in the restaurant and lounge.
“Upon arrival, guests are greeted downstairs and escorted up the graceful staircase or by elevator to the restaurant,” says Joy Cushing, restaurant manager. The Carthay Circle Restaurant features tabletops with handsome artwork, dinnerware with the restaurant’s logo and Italian linen napkins – an upscale-casual ambiance.
Downstairs, the Carthay Circle Lounge is the place for a quick meal, shared plates and a glass of wine, craft beer or handcrafted seltzer soda.
In each place, historic photographs and artifacts create a sense of place and tell the story of the Walt Disney Studios. Disney continues its tradition of legendary service in this comfortable, relaxing atmosphere.
While Walt Disney’s animation was a hit at the original Carthay Circle Theatre in the 1900s, the cuisine is the star of this modern-day rendition of the famed movie house. Acclaimed chef Andrew Sutton, executive chef at Napa Rose restaurant at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, also is executive chef of Carthay Circle Restaurant and Lounge. Gloria Tae, Sutton’s protégé at Napa Rose, is chef de cuisine.
Sutton describes the menu as “Southern California cuisine – breezy, light and fresh.” The menu offers five varieties of sustainable fish, both wild and farmed, in dishes such as sushi-grade yellowtail grilled with jerk spice, topped with a tropical salsa of pineapple, mango, black beans and lime, and Sierra Golden trout roasted with couscous, lemon and oil. The lunch menu includes an udon noodle bowl with red Thai curry broth, and an Angus burger with Tillamook cheddar cheese.
Vegetables are hand selected by staff who visit the Santa Monica market and local farms seeking the best of the best local produce. With a nod to the heyday of the Carthay Circle Theatre, old-fashioned dishes such as “liver and onions” get a modern twist, with crispy fried chicken livers served with a salad with buttermilk dressing, bacon and onions.
Desserts, too, honor the seasons, with summer desserts including “Peaches In All Their Glory” and seasonal county pie with whipped brown sugar sour cream.
“Its modern cuisine that pays tribute to the bold and diverse flavors of Southern California,” says Sutton. “We live in the ‘salad basket of America,’ with farmers, artisans and ranchers.”
A friendly wine program includes both Old and New World wines, with a focus on California vintages. All of the servers have wine training.
Kids can choose from fun creations such as sloppy joes with house-made slaw, pasta and mini crispy tacos, or a beef filet or fish for dinner.
Each guest who orders an appetizer and entrée or an entrée and dessert will receive complimentary, center-stage viewing for the “World of Color” nighttime, water spectacular on Paradise Pier Bay. Lunch guests and guests who have dinner before 7 p.m. will receive tickets to the first “World of Color” show; guess who dine after 7 p.m. will receive tickets to the second show.
The Lounge menu is divided into Bites, Rolls, Snacks, Small Plates and Finger Desserts, served in a place to “relax, share and have fun,” Sutton says. Tastes range from hot shrimp with a chilled spicy tomato shooter to duck confit sliders with apricot conserve, watercress, crisp onions and Taleggio cheese.
Appetizers are paired with hand-crafted classic cocktails, California craft beers and world-class wines. Handcrafted purified seltzer sodas dispensed from antique seltzer bottles and meddled with seasonal fresh fruit are a specialty.
The Carthay Circle Restaurant will be open daily from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. For reservations: 714-781-DINE or email dine@disneyland.com with date, time and contact information. “World of Color” packages are available to each guest who orders an appetizer and entrée or an entrée and dessert. They will receive complimentary, center-stage viewing for the nighttime, water spectacular.
Buena Vista Street also offers three spots for quick bites: Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe; Mortimer’s Market andClarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream.
The 178-seat Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe (134 inside, 44 outside) offers Starbucks coffee drinks; signature sandwiches such as a turkey Rueben, paneer and roasted vegetable and salami with olive tapenade, and roast beef and cheddar, as well as savory soups including vegetarian cream spinach, chicken tortilla, classic chicken noodle and cheesy enchilada. Sweet rolls, pastries and breakfast sandwiches are on the morning menu along with specialty coffees.
Mortimer’s Market will offer whole and cut fruits, bottled water, juices and soft drinks. (According to Disney legend, Mortimer Mouse is the name Walt Disney gave his new creation in 1928. He later changed it to Mickey.)
Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream features Dreyer’s ice cream, including bars dipped in milk or dark chocolate that guests can finish with sprinkles, pop rocks and other fun toppings. Hot fudge and strawberry sundaes and other frozen delights round out the sweet offerings.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for continuing coverage of Buena Vista Street leading up to it’s Hollywood premiere during the media festivities taking place June 13-15, 2012.
I opened my email the other day, and there was a message from the Scuba Owl:
What do you think the combo topper will be for Park 9? My vote is for this Mickey from the Mission Space gift shop:
I almost think it would be too awesome for a topper. But then again, the Park 8 topper was fantastic.
– Scuba
Well that certainly got me thinking. The Park Combo Toppers are always Mickey Mouse in various costumes or forms from the Parks or Cartoons. Park 4 was Plane Crazy Mickey. Park 5 had Sorcerer Mickey. The 6th Park series featured Runaway Brain. The 7th series Mickey was all decked out in a tux and bow tie as he was years ago to great guests when WDW opened its gates. In series 8, we saw Mickey in a Rainbow suit he wore in Future World at Epcot. What will the 9th installment of Vinylmation’s marquee series bring us? Remember, the blind boxes come out on July 13 and the combo topper is slated for a July 27 release. Here are some of my thoughts, please leave yours in the comments.
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Dream Along with Mickey
How about Mickey from his stage show at the Magic Kingdom? A blue suit and bow tie would look great. And I believe this was one of the first Mickey’s to use the new heads with movable facial features. |
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Christmas Mickey
This could come in various forms… Santa Mickey or even this Victorian Christmas Mickey found at the Grand Floridian meet and greet. |
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Halloween Mickey
This colorful Mickey would be absolutely fantastic! The cap and cape alone would make this a must have. With today’s designs, they can pull off all the colors and stripes to make this figure look perfect. |
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The Band Concert
How about a tribute to the first color cartoon? Not to mention how amazing this figure, done correctly, would look. The amazing hat. The accessory baton. If not here, this must get made eventually. |
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Mickey’s Christmas Carol
I guess I have a holiday Mickey leaning here. But this portrayal of Bob Cratchit was classic and deserves to be immortalized in vinyl. |
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Kingdom Hearts
Let’s go way, way, way out on a limb here. A whole Kingdom Hearts set would be a must have, but a King Mickey as a combo topper would be a start. |
Annemarie just sent us pictures of her latest custom. It is designed after the boy from La Luna, the new Pixar short that plays before Brave.
Destination Vinylmation: What was it about this character that made you run home after watching La Luna and create him in Vinylmation form?
Annemarie: I may have a sickness, because the first thing I thought when I saw the character was that he’d fit perfectly on a Vinylmation.
DV: Was this design fairly straightforward or did you got through some different options in your head?
AM: He was pretty straightforward. I knew I wanted to capture his expression in the moment where he saw the moon up close. I originally planned to use a Director Mickey hat for his hat, but it didn’t look quite right and would have needed a brim anyway, so I decided to sculpt him his own special hat.
DV: What did you personally take away from this Pixar short?
AM: This short, as all Pixar shorts are, was beautiful. I loved its simplicity.
DV: What is your favorite Pixar short of all-time?
AM: I’ve always loved Geri’s Game the best. Not sure why, I just think the expressions are priceless.
Today is the 5th of July, the release date for the Toy Story Mania Andy Series in Japan. @vinylmati0n tweeted out this nice picture of them. Do you want any of these? We do!
Let’s have a grand welcome to Larry Delceg! Our newest member of the DLNT crew! He’s going to be helping get us all our photo reports.
This photo report covers DCA, Downtown Disney, and Disneyland. Larry provides images of parades in both parks, updates on the progress in DCA, and colorful shots from our favorite rides and attractions.
The Animation Academy is now displaying a schedule for drawing classes. If a park guest would like to learn how to create a specific Disney character, the time for each lesson is now conveniently displayed on an ‘A Frame’ at the entry.
The Red Car Trolley system will debut on June 15th and the overhead catenary has now been installed above the length of the tracks. High voltage electricity will travel through this catenary to be collected by a pantograph mounted on the roof of each Red Car, providing electricity to the traction motor. This technology not only powered the Trolley system of Los Angeles a century ago, but is also used today to power 200+ mph high speed bullet trains such as France’s TGV.
Overhead catenary in Hollywood Land
Merely a skeleton a year ago, the exterior of the Cathey Circle Theatre is now completed and visible for park guests to admire.
This professional painter was seen skillfully spraying a building on Buena Vista street above the DCA entrance turnstiles. This photo was taken moments before ‘the said photographer’ was ‘busted’ by a cast member and instructed that photos of visible construction workers were not permitted. The next day, the painting of the building and the trim was competed.
With a prolific daily schedule in Condor Flats, ‘Minnie’s Fly Girls’ are already performing a new routine.
The new Downtown Disney Lego Store is now on display for park guests and Anaheim residents to enjoy. An enormous model of a dragon most likely named ‘Murphy’ adorns the exterior – a new ‘must see’ stop for any Disneyland visitor.
Replicas of Buzz and Woody are among the impressive models displayed on the exterior of the new Lego store.
Although beautiful on the inside, the southern exterior wall of the Hyperion Theatre has always been thematically lacking. Currently being remedied, a new wall is under construction which will create an indoor lobby for the stairway and escalators. There is little doubt that the new wall will be themed with exceptional artistry and craftsmanship comparable to other new DCA renovations.
Since the opening of DCA, the front entry of Taste Pilots Grill has proudly displayed a replica of the rocket-jet ‘ X-1’ built by Bell Aircraft. Chuck Yeager made history when he piloted this experimental aircraft “Glamorous Glennis” and broke the sound barrier in 1947. In recognition of this accomplishment, Condor Flats was built to represent the proving ground at Edwards Air force Base and California’s significant contributions to aviation. The replica of the X-1 has recently been removed to be consistent with DCA’s new theme – an era before the sound barrier was broken. It will be interesting to see if a 1930’s vintage aircraft will be installed to replace it.
Fans of ‘Turtle Time with Crush’ know that the only seating in the pre-show vestibule has been the floor. Recently several ‘totally awesome’ couches have been added. These new couches are similar in design to the new couches located in the Animation Academy’s central foyer. Although still inadequate in quantity, this addition is clearly appreciated by Crush’s visitors. Dude!
Appearing periodically in front of the Hyperion Theatre, Monsters Inc. Mayhem is a live performance street show which provides the opportunity for DCA guests to meet their favorite monsters as well as provide electricity for Monstropolis.
An especially abundant quantity of wildlife can be found in Disneyland this spring.
May flowers are now in full bloom.
Soundsational pre-parade
One of the best Disneyland parades ever, Soundsational is scheduled to continue throughout this spring and summer.
Phenomenal attention to detail can be seen in the craftsmanship of the costumes created for Soundsational.
Hertz for Toddlers
Snowy Oasis in May
Silly Symphony of Swings is one vantage point to catch a quick overview of the current state of construction underway at DCA. However, it is easy to be distracted by the fact that “I can fly!”
Future in the Forest
Lift off!
California Scream’in is the only attraction in DCA which provides a view of construction underway… while inverted.
SR-91 at rush hour…
The ‘Finding Nemo’ submarine ‘Explorer’ was seen penetrating the back side of water and descending into the lagoon below. All passengers survived.
‘Wildest Ride in the Wilderness’ near dusk
Egress of the Mark Twain during ‘Fantasmic’, moments before traveling off stage – into the darkness of the west side of the Rivers of America.
A peaceful and quiet view from the ‘Mickey & Friends’ parking structure – as cast members prepare the parks for another day.
Thanks for reading!
From Erin Glover on the Disney Parks Blog:
Yesterday, we took you inside the exclusive, private 1901 which will be located at Carthay Circle Theatre in Disney California Adventure park. Today, we’re showing you the inside of Carthay Circle Restaurant, which will be accessible to all park guests when it opens June 15.
The photos above show the inside of Carthay Circle Restaurant, still under construction but close to the way it will appear when it opens on June 15. The new premier dining location will take guests back in time to opening night of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” a historic night for Walt Disney and his studio. Re-creating the excitement of that night, Carthay Circle Restaurant will immerse guests in the post-screening atmosphere – as if they are celebrating alongside Walt and Lillian Disney, themselves. Reservations will be available soon, so keep an eye on the Disney Parks Blog for updates!
The introduction of the Vinylmation 95 CYO has opened up new doors for custom Vinylmation artists out there. We would love to spotlight your work along side all the Mickey mold customs we have been featuring for years. So whether your a new artist, of a seasoned pro, email us (DestinationVinylmation@gmail.com) with you name and pictures of your work and we will get back to you with some fun questions to make up your article.
While we are waiting for yours, take a look at what these artists, commissioned by Disney, have produced for the Wonderground Gallery at the Downtown Disney District, California.
From Erin Glover on the Disney Parks Blog:
Carthay Circle Theatre, the iconic focal point of the new Buena Vista Street area coming to Disney California Adventure park on June 15, continues to take shape – and today we’re excited to bring you a look inside the exclusive, private 1901, which will be located inside.
1901 will be a special lounge accessible exclusively by Club 33 members. Named for the year Walt Disney was born – 1901 – the club will be a warm, intimate space with eclectic light fixtures, overstuffed leather chairs, and beautiful, rich touches. “Imagine it’s the 1930s, and this is where the animators would’ve hung out, swapped stories, doodled on napkins,” as 1901 is described by Imagineer Ray Spencer. “This is the place Walt and the animators might’ve chatted, relaxed, unwound . . . a cozy den.”
The lounge will be decorated with personal artwork and photographs of the animators from the early years of the Walt Disney Studios, including some with Walt Disney’s own signature. “The guest is sort of an insider in this backstage world,” says Ray.
As we announced earlier today, a limited number of new members will be offered Club 33 membership in honor of the 45th anniversary of the Club (June 15) and the completion of the five-year expansion of the Disneyland Resort. Those interested in Club 33 membership may request more information by sending an email to club33interest@disneyland.com.
And mentioned above, the famous waiting list for Club 33 has indeed opened once again to new members. Here’s a little more info…
From Erin Glover on the Disney Parks Blog:
Today we’re excited to announce, in honor of the 45th anniversary of Club 33 and the completion of the five-year expansion of the Disneyland Resort on June 15, a limited number of new members will be offered Club 33 membership!
Envisioned by Walt Disney, who drew inspiration from the executive lounges at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, the club opened in 1967 and has since held a place of mystery and legend among Disneyland park guests. You can read more about the history of Club 33 and see some photos from inside the exclusive club here. New Club 33 members will now enjoy exclusive sneak peeks at park enhancements and new attractions, and the availability to use VIP tour guides, itinerary planning services, valet parking and complimentary hotel upgrades – it will be like having your own Disney concierge service! New membership will also include access to 1901, a special lounge inside the new Carthay Circle Theatre opening at Disney California Adventure park on June 15. We¹ll have more information on 1901 later today on the Disney Parks Blog, so check back!
This opportunity will initially be offered to those individuals who have been on the Club 33 waiting list. As interest and capacity are evaluated, those not currently on the waiting list may be offered opportunities to join. Those interested in Club 33 membership may request more information by sending an email to club33interest@disneyland.com.
What is your favorite way to celebrate America and the 4th of July at Disney?
For me, it’s a stroll down Main St. USA and it’s also my tradition to watch The American Adventure at EPCOT this time each year.
