Park Lore✨

Mostly written! Should be up in the next few weeks!

Countdown to Extinction: Inside the Evolution of Animal Kingdom's Time-Traveling DINOSAUR Dark Ride - Park Lore “Exploration – Excavation – Exultation!” Take it from the Dino Institute team: there’s an art to digging deep. Uncovering the past isn’t always easy, and making sense of what was only begins at findin...

… and now that it's officially closed, you can dig deep into the story of Disney’s Countdown to Extinction in my full, newly-updated Lost Legends feature on the ride’s history and experience – one of hundreds of in-depth ride histories on Park Lore! parklore.com/main/dinosaur

HERE & THERE: Illustrating and Comparing Disney Theme Parks' Ride Layouts From Around the Globe - Park Lore By now you might’ve noticed that Park Lore is all about seeing theme parks differently. In over a hundred in-depth stories, we’ve covered the tales of Lost Legends, Modern Marvels, Declassified Disast...

This is one of over a hundred layouts I’ve drawn as part of Park Lore’s mission to offer new ways to see the parks and rides we know and love.

You can compare Dinosaur’s layout to Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure in my HERE & THERE layout collection! parklore.com/main/here-there/

The clock has run out, and extinction has arrived.

Refreshed to commemorate this Lost Legend, my hand-illustrated inside look at DINOSAUR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom… The real goatasaurus of weird, ambitious, norm-breaking ‘90s Imagineering at its most unhinged & experimental. 🥹

They're on my list! I'm just always in search of better documentation to make sure I get them right. It matters to me that I'm not "guessing" where walls are and such. But I'll keep at it and get to them soon I hope!

I started this yesterday and just finished! Inspiration from @parklore.com’s map! I tried to include as many tiny details as possible 😅

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You can empower ad-free, in-depth, quality over quantity theme park storytelling (not edited for Facebook attention spans!) at parklore.com/join

Riding on @tf1design.bsky.social’s coattails as he releases his Build-Outs of Disney World’s parks, here’s my Magic Kingdom reimagining from a few years ago! You can walk through every decision and ride at parklore.com/main/buildout-mk!

Oooh, I can definitely do that! I'll let you know when it's up. No pressure to buy, but I'll make it an option! haha.

I think that’s intentional. Seems like at full build out, the area is really just terraced gardens around the lake whose entire function is to be a pleasant but neutral space; like Celestial Park, a “world between worlds” that’s sort of airy and abstract and stylish, but neutral.

I think that’s it exactly. And similarly it doesn’t amount to much cohesion – Up, and Tangled, and Princesses, and a water show that seems likely to be Disney + Pixar + Marvel + Star Wars. 😅

I think you could broadly say, “late 19th century art nouveau pleasure gardens.” It’s certainly giving late 1800s World’s Fair, but they haven’t gone as far as acknowledging that. I plan to in my build out for the park!

Earl will always have a place in my heart from when it was on the west side by Compass Books – always a place I got dinner when I arrived the night before a park day. And then it saved my ass at Disneyland Paris where it was the only thing to eat. 😂 So I've enjoyed its 10 forms at DLR

Islands of Adventure: A Blue Sky, Armchair Imagineered Build-Out of Universal Orlando's Storied Second Gate - Park Lore When I started Park Lore, I really hoped that this site would become the place on the Internet to read in-depth (but accessible!) theme park and ride histories; a sort of deep dive library where you…

This land is just one part of my complete build-out of Islands of Adventure – a project I absolutely love because I really believe that I preserved the park's foundation in timeless, literary, intergenerational worlds. It's a great read to settle in with this winter! parklore.com/main/buildout-ioa/

Guests can battle & catch wild Pokémon in four wild zones around Dominio, healing and evolving at Pokémon Centers and challenging friends, family, and other visitors in augmented reality Battle Pods. The raft ride becomes the interactive Pokémon Snap Splash Safari, and we get an E-Ticket dark ride!

One of the land's attractions is an interactive Pokémon Gym show, wherein viewers can help either the trainer or the Gym Leader make choices – a real-time special-effects show with live actors, puppets, and animatronics with multiple combinations.

In Cipresso City's Pokémon Lab, visitors can get oriented to the land's mechanics, then (either via Universal Play app, or a physical Pokéball for purchase) select one of the land's three started who I love like children: Pompeiiano, Aquilonico, and Lontralier.

One of my favorite projects I've ever drawn up is THE POKÉMON WORLD: DOMINIO REGION – my concept for converting Toon Lagoon at Universal Islands of Adventure into an Italian-inspired region in the Pokémon World, comprised of Cipresso City, Costa di Spruzzi, and Tempio di Losario. (1/3)

Yes, the route really should've been reversed! The "London" scene from Reign of Fire would've been a fine intro. Literally one flamethrower. And then Catastrophe Canyon is fire, water, motion, etc.

Thank you to everyone who spent time with my deep dive into the history of Walt Disney Studios Park this weekend! (parklore.com/main/walt-di...)

To help tell the story, I drew this pretty sobering look at this park's state when it opened in 2002...

Thank you for checking it out!

Bless u

This was step one, but I’m working on it! Hopefully in the next month or so!

It's been a long time since I've published one of my in-depth histories, but the newest entry is here – the full story of WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK at Disneyland Paris. It's an absolutely gargantuan feature, but if anyone will read it, I know it's you all.

parklore.com/main/walt-disney-studios

i will be semi-annoying about this, but only because i really want one? our Herdling calicorn plush is 80% funded… with ONE DAY LEFT.

please buy this goofy guy for your holidays!! so fluffy!! take us over the line!

www.makeship.com/products/cal...

Depends your metric for this, but it happened in a few ways when DCA's TOT became Mission: Breakout. The ride operated with its exterior fully scaffolded, and they ran it as "Late Check Out" (with unlit show scenes), which was likely because they were already mocking up GOTGMB setups.

I'm always fascinated by the sort of willy nilly color selections of early Disneyland designs. Fantasyland, green? Why not! Tomorrowland, pink? Sure! Adventureland, red-orange? Okay! Main Street, gray!? If you say so!!

One of my favorite #LayoutTuesday comparisons – the before-and-after of JAWS at Universal Studios Florida becoming The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley.

See them overlaid at parklore.com/main/then-now! And join for $2/month to support ad-free theme park storytelling!

😭 Thank you so much. I need to add this quote to the site. Hahaha

If you're doing any small business shopping this weekend, consider becoming a supporting Member of Park Lore for even $2/month.

It's a great way to support the kind of theme park art & storytelling (with no ads or clickbait) that we all say we want more of! Join at parklore.com/join!