Defunctland: The History of Disney's Worst Attraction Ever, Superstar Limo

I think it's... I think it's fantastic. Mr. Eisner? Oh, hello Miguel. Oh, of course, Mr. Eisner. I'm sorry to bother you, but I give you Mr. Barry Bostwick and Mr. Richard Kind. If you sign for them. Yes of course. Thank you so much. Hello Michael! Richard. Hello Michael. Barry. So? Yeah, they told us to meet Big Cheese at Disneyland Resort Big Cheese... I'm not him, I wish I was Big Cheese This is Big Cheese Oh! Hello friends! Wow, I've been looking for you all day! I want to give you a personal tour of Disney's California Adventure!

How about we start with a ride on Caaaalifornia Screamin'? So Mickey, it's just you and me and I love that ride, and I want to go with you. Aweeeee Okay, boss. Okay boss. You know Mickey. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful theme park. You bet! It was not. And now the story of a company in panic and the only CEO who couldn't seem to catch a breath. It's Defunctland On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened its doors to the public and, along with elaborate theming, had a large, magical parking lot. Due to its location in Anaheim, Disneyland's land was far from extensive.

This made the parking lot prime real estate for any type of expansion, including a possible second gate. While a variety of concepts for a second park were proposed over the years, it would not be until 1982 that the Walt Disney Company would begin to seriously consider it. On October 1 of that year, Epcot Center opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This created the Walt Disney World Resort as it is known today. And it made a multi-day vacation at the resort necessary if guests wanted to explore all the offerings. Two years later, in 1984, it became increasingly clear that despite the success of Epcot, Disney as a company was not doing well.

A series of box office failures for its studio and big-budget projects for the parks had brought Disney to the lowest point in the company's

history

and many feared an acquisition. In a bold move by the company, then-CEO and President Ron Miller was ousted and Michael Eisner was named the company's new CEO. Eisner had big plans for the company: the most notable of which were to turn around the company's failing studios, make existing Disney parks more appealing to older audiences, expand internationally with the addition of a European park, and, finally, make Anaheim a multi-use city. day complex with the addition of a second gate.

In 1987, the Walt Disney Company acquired the Wrather corporation. Decades earlier, in the mid-1950s, Walt Disney had asked oil magnate and television producer Jack Wrather to build the Disneyland Hotel. Since Disney lacked funds, he spent most of his money building Disneyland. From then until Disney's acquisition in 1987, the Wrather corporation had owned the Disneyland hotel and property near the theme park. The obvious next step after obtaining the necessary assets was to finally build a second theme park at the Disneyland Resort. And it could have been that simple if Eisener hadn't been distracted. In addition to the Disneyland Hotel, the Wrather corporation also owned the RMS Queen Mary, a retired ocean liner that was permanently docked in Long Beach, California.

After Disney acquired the Wrather corporation, Eisner became interested in transforming the Queen Mary and the surrounding land into a new resort called Port Disney. Port Disney would feature hotels, a cruise ship dock, and a new ocean-themed amusement park called Disney Sea. Eisner pitted the cities of Anaheim and Long Beach against each other, trying to decide whether to build Disney Sea as the second gateway to the Disneyland Resort. or build it in Long Beach within Port Disney. The announcement was made in January 1990 and Anaheim and Long Beach worked with Disney to bring the new theme park to their city.

How

ever

, citizens of both cities were not enthusiastic about Disney's expansion citing problems Anaheim's residential neighborhoods already had. This, along with a variety of other legal, logistical and budgetary issues, caused Eisner to announce in late 1991 that plans for Port Disney and Disney Sea had been scrapped in favor of an alternative idea that the Imagineers had been drafting due to Eisner and Imagineers believe that a West Coast version of the park was the best idea for Disneyland's second gate. The park would have been almost identical to Epcot with some notable changes, such as a larger spaceship, Earth, and upgraded world

attraction

s. and a very different world showcase Including a dragon-shaped steel roller coaster at the Asia pivot and a boat cruise around the world Wescott was announced at the same time as the cancellation of Port Disney and Disney Sea in 1991.

One year Euro Disneyland would then open, which for a variety of reasons that are too long to discuss here failed horribly. The budget for the parks division was reduced dramatically and his ideas for Westcot grew. It became clear that the company could not afford such an expansion. But Eisner did not leave the Disneyland resort. and despite the problems he moved forward with his plans for a second park, Eisner had a simple technique that he often used when he decided on new projects. The technique is known as Jealousy. Every time Eisner saw another company doing something successfully, he decided that Disney would do the same.

What's more, he would take the idea and do basically the same thing. Basically in the same place, for example, after seeing the success of the Busch Gardens Tampa hybrid amusement park in the early '90s, he greenlit Disney's Animal Kingdom. The park was just over an hour away. of Busch Gardens after seeing the success of the Church Street Station nightclubs in Orlando, Florida, Eisner gave the green light to his own nightclubs and Pleasure Island in the Disney Village Market. Pleasure Island was about half an hour from Church Street Station. So when Westcot was canceled and Disney went back to the drawing board, it wouldn't be long until Eisner was presented with a new idea, as the Disneyland Resort at the time provided such a short visit to vacationers that many of the Guests would go explore California's other tourist offerings after their trip.

Disneyland President Paul Pressler recognized this and proposed an idea to Eisner: if Disney could offer

ever

y site and

attraction

in the state of California within the Disneyland Resort, then guests would have no reason to leave and spend their money elsewhere. This concept would become plans for an adventure in California. The California theme park will be located in the already themed California. Concept art for the park was released in 1996, a year after Westcot was cancelled. The California adventure's release date would include everything from flying over Yosemite Valley to the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. Making the film, the park's original concept art had a sense of serenity and appeared to be designed as an intimate romantic tribute to California.

In the Hollywood section of the park there was to be a recreation of the theme by building the observation deck and former restaurant at Los Angeles International Airport, which was being renovated by Walt Disney Imagineering. At the time California Adventure was in development, this was to be the display building for one of California Adventures' signature attractions. Superstar Limousine, a high-speed dark ride that would take guests on a wild paparazzi chase through Hollywood as guests boarded the attraction They would be greeted by Michael Eisner himself Eisner would tell guests that they had to get to the big premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theater as soon as possible to sign a contract for his next film But he warned guests that the paparazzi were all over the city And if they were caught doing something that would ruin his image Then Eisner would have to cancel the deal The

limo

driver would then flourish in an attempt to get guests to the film's premiere on time according to Disney historian Jim Hill, the attraction system would have been a combination of the traditional dark ride and a family roller coaster, the attraction would have also included a variety of pranks and jokes.

For example, guests would fly past the famous hot dog stand story with a large man with rhinestones creating flatulence sounds. But as his guests turned the corner, it would be clear that it was actually Elvis Presley pouring mustard on a hot dog the The trip ended when the guests arrived at the Chinese Theater only to be told by Eisner that he would have to. cancel the contract because they had been caught by the paparazzi. Then, a photograph taken of the guests during the trip was shown cropped in a tabloid reporting their

limo

chase. After this, guests would exit and walk the red carpet toward the Chinese Theater, which was the Gift Shop and exit to the attraction where fake Oscars would have been sold in photos and t-shirts from the attractions.

The original super star limousine concept was nothing innovative. But it seemed like it would have been a dark, fun attraction that would have fit right into the Hollywood section of the park. However, the mid-'90s version of the attraction wouldn't be the one guests experienced when the park opened and it won't this time. It was Eisner's fault. In August 1997 in Paris, France, Princess Diana of Wales died in a limousine accident. Her driver was supposedly fleeing from the paparazzi when he lost control of the wheel. The tragedy captured the attention of the entire world who mourned the death of the princess and the other passengers As for Eisner and his team, they now had a big problem Superstar Limousine It can't be a high-speed paparazzi chase anymore because now it would seem that it was some kind of twisted reference to the tragedy in which the Imagineers got involved.

They briefly fell out over considering cloning a Disney-MGM attraction for top contenders Anaheim Park with a big Twilight movie. The Tower of Terror Zone or rock and roller coaster which at the time was still in development, the Tower of Terror was probably considered the main contender, as Eisner was pushing hard for the idea of ​​a hybrid hotel on top of almost everyone else. he thought this was a bad idea and that logistically it would be problematic, if not impossible. It was also clear that the budget for California Adventure wouldn't allow for this or any of the other potential attractions, which meant that the Hollywood section of the park wouldn't have a ride on opening day, or would it?

Forced, either by the situation or by executives, to write a treatment for an acceptable version of the

superstar

limousine, the Imagineers had a few solutions: remove most references to paparazzi to eliminate any high-speed elements by making the Limousines moved slowly through the show building and Three. add more jokes and specific jokes, the idea was not good and the Imagineers considered the

superstar

limousine to be dead unfortunately. If their job was to please the boss, they had done it too well. Eisner, who had been in the entertainment industry for decades. He loved inside jokes and Hollywood jokes.

He loved them so much that he greenlit the terrible new version of the attraction. Imagination, probably bewildered by what they now had to do, did everything it could to make the attraction work. This included removing the Chinese Theater gift shop and adding the theater as a show stage in the attraction to fill the time after budgets were reduced further. The exterior of the themed building was discarded in favor of a cartoon cut-out look. This art style was also used within the attraction itself. The only three-dimensional animated figures. It would be celebrities But due to the lack of budget these would have to be Celebrities whose images were cheap or stars with whom the Walt Disney Company already had contracts.

Also, these weren't animatronics. But the barely animated figures with minimal clothing saw no movement. At some point, Eisner realized the trip was going to be bad. So first we made some quick changes to save face. He removed a reference to DreamWorks Animation that read Dream Jers Animation, which referenced the ongoing dispute between former Walt Disney Studios president Jeffrey Katzenberg. who now worked for DreamWorks and Eisner, Eisner also asked Imagineering to take him off the trip and footage of the trip was replaced by the sleazy Hollywood agent barking orders at the guests, proving that the superstar limousine portended more than one catastrophe.

The revamped ride opened with California Adventure. on February 8, 2001, was it as bad as you thought it would be? Yes, yes it was. Here and around Hollywood Boulevard there are many fun and interesting places to eat andbuy, all designed to highlight Hollywood in everyone And if you ever wanted to be a star, then you have to ride in the superstar limo. The superstar limo's cartoon-cut exterior features a variety of Los Angeles landmarks, including Union Station City Hall and the Beverly Hills Hotel. One section features the shortest railway in the world. Flight of the Angels from Los Angeles.

The railway that was built in 1901 had recently reopened, but an accident. resulted in the death of a passenger on February 1, 2001. Exactly one week before he opened California Adventure and the Super Star Limousine, however, the prominent reference on the exterior of the tail would not be removed. Another interesting feature was the flower bed which was decorated to look like a swimming pool. After waiting in line, guests would meet at the baggage claim area at LAX airport. Inside jokes about California and the entertainment industry would begin with the announcer giving instructions to arriving passengers. The white area is only for loading and unloading.

No Chatting Later in the line, guests would find television screens showing an entertainment news report featuring a gruesome puppet version of the late Joan Rivers. Rivers would describe the next biggest Hollywood star arriving at LAX that day, the star turns out to be the guests entering. the ride In this queuing area there were more cartoon cutouts that helped foreshadow the ordeal the guests were about to have. An example of this was a luggage carousel with packaged Oscars after guests gasped. On their way through the queue. They would approach the ground transportation section of the airport and board their limousine, a colored limousine. bright purple, cartoonish, a cast member guides them to their cars and tells them to enjoy their premiere, then guests are sent on to their next destination. be a recurring nightmare, an announcer tells them to keep their hands, feet, and egos in the limo at all times.

The limo enters a dark tunnel and the guest agent appears on the screen attached to the ride vehicle despite being a creepy, disgusting puppet. This turned out to be the most realistic part of the trip The first showroom is Beverly Hills and Regis Philbin walks out the door Fanning himself with money, then Melanie Griffith with Antonio Banderas and immediately after Cindy Crawford And this is just the beginning, the next scene of the show is Sunset Strip, here guests can see Tim Allen and Jackie Chan. After this, the guests enter a second tunnel and are reminded by their agent not to be late.

The third scene of the show is Bel Air, where guests can see Drew Carey with a handful of star charts. He also runs into sponsors who try to get him to sign advertising deals. A third tunnel features another reminder from the agent of him before the Malibu show scene. Here the guests encounter Cher standing in the corner of the scene as if she doesn't want to be there in the limo. He then enters the Lotes studio where guests meet paparazzi, screenwriters, and production assistants, all represented through cheap cutouts after these guests arrive for their premiere, where none other than Whoopi Goldberg greets them.

Guests are shown a photo of themselves before entering a final tunnel to their agent. He tells them that they are a superstar and that it was a superstar limo. So now we all thought we were going to a superstar limo, yeah, because I'm in it. Excellent California Aventure is right next to Disneyland, exactly located right next to The Disneyland Superstar Limousine has a superstar with a photo of me that is super limited and looks exactly like me. Here we go, here we go now. This isn't a fast and scary trip, is it? No, no, this is like a scenario, like you're in Hollywood and you want to become a superstar, right?

C'mon darling. We go for a walk! See you around! Say Hello! Well, and the dashing Antonio Banderas, and there's the Hollywood beauty Cindy Crawford Hello everyone, how about a map for your house? Drew Carey Pool Party Hold Your Breath Now A Picture Why They're Always Entertaining Shares Hollywood Favorite Whoopi Goldberg There may be no better way to illustrate the reaction It's no surprise that the trip was received negatively, with guests complaining that they had Waiting half an hour to ride in the cheap Book Superstar pop-up limo wasn't the only problem, California Adventure like Everything was berated by both the general public and critics, but overall the lines were so short at times I thought it was closed .

This is exceptional, the concept was bad, the execution was worse and the superstar limo was inexcusable. It is no surprise that on January 11, 2002, less than a year after the park opened, the Superstar Limousine closed. Management had no replacement in mind. They simply realized that guests visiting California Adventure would be much happier if they never experienced the attraction for which the Hollywood Pictures studio building was abandoned. For four years, rumors circulated about various modifications that the trip could undergo. Jim Hill reported that the Imagineers were considering transforming the ride into a goofy superstar limousine where Goofy would take guests through Hollywood and the C-list celebrities would be replaced by classic Disney animated characters to pull.

This Disney thing would take over a hundred Disney figures that had been placed in Disney stores across the United States and move them into the new scenes of the Show. Another idea was to reopen the attraction as is and over the course of a few months select Muppet animatronics were introduced at various points along the ride, these characters would be wearing helmets and would be actively renovating the superstar limousine as guests toured it. The Muppets would also comment on how horrible the current version of the ride and the finished product was after the transformation. Miss Piggy's Superstar Limousine Of course, none of these ideas came to pass and the building remained abandoned.

It wouldn't be until after Eisner stepped down as CEO in 2005 that the superstar limousine space would receive a new attraction as the first step in what became a $1.5 billion expansion and renovation for California Adventure, the new management team built the Pixar Monsters Inc themed dark ride Mike and Sulley to the rescue the simple dark ride would take guests through the events of the first Monsters Inc movie and was scheduled to open on January 23, 2006, but that's not the end of the story of the superstar limousines. Oh no, the ride lives on in the

worst

possible way, as Monsters Inc's dark ride was a quick fix for the park.

He arrives a year before the oldest. Actually, to save money, the Imagineers decided to use as much of the superstar limousine as possible. This included modernizing the trimmed exterior with door designs, which actually matched the movie's intro animation Reusing the limousines into Monstropolis taxis by reusing the track layout and some of the tunnel sequences and there was one more thing Oh yeah. They removed the C-list celebrity figures and dressed them in various animatronics throughout the ride. Some of these Zomba tronics are more obvious than others and the Drew Carey and Jackie Chan figures are especially easy to spot.

But don't worry if not all of the attraction's figures were reused in some way - while the new attraction has received mixed reviews and its inclusion of assets from previous attractions are disturbing to say the least, it's a much better dark ride. While Disney might wish it could erase the Superstar Limo from the memories of the unfortunate park guests who experienced it, it's still important to remember the ride and the other California Adventure missteps

history

is a good reminder. that even a company as big as Disney can still get into financial difficulties. Creative stagnation and even some pretty outlandish situations.

On the next missing piece of land, Michael Eisner learns the differences between building a park in Tokyo. and build a park in Paris, resort to the magic of Disney and hope that in the end it will make the dream come true.