Tag: Sunshine Plaza

From Erin Glover on the Disney Parks Blog:

We are reaching another major milestone in the ongoing expansion of Disney California Adventure park. On Monday, August 29, the Sunshine Plaza area will close to allow crews to start the transformation of the current park entry into Buena Vista Street, reminiscent of what Walt Disney encountered when he first arrived in California in the 1920s.

While the shops will close to make way for Buena Vista Street, guests will continue to enter the park through the new Pan-Pacific Auditorium-inspired turnstiles and follow a temporary walkway which will feature renderings of the future Disney California Adventure park and connect the turnstiles with the Condor Flats area. This area will be the temporary entrance and exit for guests during the transformation of the former main entrance stores to Buena Vista Street.

This entry and exit location will remain in place until Buena Vista Street opens in 2012. To see what’s in store when this area opens, take a look at the renderings below, which were shown this past weekend at the Disney D23 Expo in Anaheim.

The rendering above shows the west side of Buena Vista Street, including the restroom area in the top image.

The next rendering shows the east side of the street. In the center image you can see the new merchandise location, Elias & Co., rising above the other buildings.

We’ll have more details on the Disney Parks Blog as Buena Vista Street continues to develop at Disney California Adventure park.

From Betsy Sanchez on the Disney Parks Blog:

I’m excited to share with you a very special donation that we recently made to Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California.

As part of the expansion of Disney California Adventure park, the main entrance is changing and the cab of the California Zephyr train that most recently served as the location for Bur-r-Bank Ice Cream and Baker’s Field Bakery has been donated to the museum.

The train and related artifacts arrived at their new home August 6 and will become part of the museum’s Zephyr Project collection. Plans for a gallery dedicated to sharing the legacy of the California Zephyr are underway.

Visitors to the museum will learn about the history of the famous 1950s passenger train through the donated artifacts, while the recreated locomotive will offer the chance to experience what it was like for engineers to guide the stainless steel Zephyr trains through California’s Feather River canyon.

Fun Facts:

• The cab once operated as a real locomotive.
• It is an authentic rendition of the Western Pacific Railroad – one of the three railroads that operated the California Zephyr between Chicago and San Francisco from 1949 to 1970.
• It wears the same number as the last locomotive to lead a westbound California Zephyr into Oakland, Calif. on March 20, 1970.
• The California Zephyr is one of the most celebrated “name trains” of the 1950s and 60s.

Check out the video below to watch as the Zephyr begins to make its way to its new home.