Storybook Circus area soft opening

[supernova]

I thought the overlying theme of Fantasyland facade was supposed to be a fair/festival?

[Mo Noyz]

I'm not sure Fantasyland ever had a unifying theme. Aside from fantasy stories.

[supernova]

I never thought much about it either, though I always wondered why those horribly faded flags and tents were up there. I can't find much about it except for a blurb on Wikipedia (without digging around):
In 1983, Fantasyland received a major facelift (dubbed "New Fantasyland")[1] and the attraction facades changed from a Renaissance motif to a fantasy mock up of a Bavarian village. Fantasyland's main entrance is through Sleeping Beauty Castle. The entrance also contains a separate walk through attraction that opened in 1957 but was closed from 2001-2008 for security concerns after the September 11, attacks.

[Mo Noyz]

That's not about our Fantasyland, it's Disneylands.

[supernova]

Both have (had) them, though.

[Mo Noyz]

I've never been to Disneyland, but was always under the impression their Fantasyland was different than ours.

[supernova]

From what I remember (I stopped looking up a long time ago), the left side of Fantasyland had the flags and tent tops, which continued on to It's a Small World. I think they stopped after that, once you got into the little Pinocchio restaurant. I don't remember if the facades were up on the right or not, but I don't think so.

[HauntedGabe]

I can remember the flags even being on Winnie and that is a newer attraction. I cannot remember them being on Peter Pan after the Facade was re-done. They were on Small World, Snow and obviously the carousel. I cannot ever remember flags being on the Skyway, Pinocchio or 20k. Some of the area was more Fair-ish than other attractions. It just always seemed Theme-less to me.

Where Frontierland, Adventureland and even the premise of Tomorrowland smack ya in your face what the theme was intended to be, Fantasyland was a whole bunch of stuff thrown together. I saw the Fair more in the Toon Town/Mickey Starland etc. area. I just never felt like I was entering a Fair when entering Fantasyland. If that is what Disney intended, it was lost on me.

[HauntedGabe]

Just saw some new pictures of Storybook. They continue to work on the area that has opened and adding more details. Even if the attractions are not my cup of tea, I am impressed with the details. More of the train station can now be seen too and the upper details of the queue.

[Mo Noyz]

The skyway station definitely never had flags on it. It was always that Swiss chalet look.

[supernova]

Not the Skyway. The facade of the rides.

[HauntedGabe]

Not the Skyway. The facade of the rides.

Exactly. The skyway was an attraction or ride and didn't fit in with the fair theming. Jump to Pinocchio and it didn't either. Cross over between Snow and Pooh and there was a quick snack shop that kinda matched Pinocchio's between two fairish buildings, cross over to 20K. Then they added Ariel water area and the play area for Pooh, again not fairish at all. Just always looked an felt theme-less and very hodgepodge.
Disney did blend the Skyway into Tomorrowland, not anything special but it did blend.

I will be interested to see when Fantasyland expansion is complete how they merge the old and new together behind the castle or if in a turn of the head you will go from Princess land to buildings of yesteryear. And how they throw the Princess land into the middle of yesteryear with the new meet and greet. I'm am curious how Disney Imagineering will merge it all together.

[Mo Noyz]

Disney did blend the Skyway into Tomorrowland, not anything special but it did blend.

If it were special, it wouldn't have blended.

I was never a huge fan of the Skyway, but I always loved both stations.

[HauntedGabe]

My little kids loved the skyway. I volunteered to move the stroller from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland. lol.
The building in Fantasyland had a lot of eye appeal. Likely why Disney let it stand for so long.

I was happy when they demolished the station in Fantasyland that Disney left a tiny piece of history, the Clock Tower. A nice rememberence of days gone bye. Last week Disney knocked down the Clock Tower. Oh well.

[HauntedGabe]

I saw something else in Storybook that I don't understand.

At the new Train Station, the Water Tower for the train...It had previously been decorated as a circus tent, the actual tower structure was designed with the multiple flat sides just like a circus tent and a pointy top.

Disney in the last few days re-installed the Water Tower at the new Station. The Tower is no longer a tent, it was redecorated with an old rusty brown look and done. It is perfectly fine however the Station sits in Storybook Circus with several Circus Tents, so the reason to de-circus tent the tower and replace with rust.........?