Toon Town is FULL of color and unique painting techniques. Using the color wheel there's orange and blue next to each other. Those two colors live opposite of each other on the color wheel therefore creating the most amount of contrast. As we look deeper we can see this darker shade of blue is about 20-40% darker than the mid-tone. Then as we go over to the edge we can see the highlight.

The natural shadow that exists on the faux plank boards is actually painted. You can see that there is a transparent light black airbrush that makes the shadow feel darker and deeper than what it actually is. Then that same technique is also applied to the bricks. Imagineers carved into the side of this plaster where if you look you can see on the bottom lines there is a darker hit of paint. It gives a very animated look but also an insane amount of depth.

Let's have a look around at some of this amazing detail.

And because white and black are not colors but pigments, the City Hall building gets a seafoam blue color for shadowing.

I just love the cartoon look of Toon Town.

Disney artist and Imagineer Bruce Bushman pictured here with Walt Disney, was a lead designer of the original Fantasyland as you can see by his concept art on the walls.

Bushman was first hired by the Disney Studios to work on Fantasia on April 5, 1937. In the years leading up to the 1955 opening of Disneyland, Bushman was one of the many Disney artists tapped to help design and build Walt’s theme park. The Disneyland prospectus that was used to attract financial investments included a number of Bushman’s concept drawings for Fantasyland.

Bushman designed the 70-foot tall canopy to top off King Arthur Carrousel, which was a refurbished merry-go-round, and had it look like it was made of fabric even though it was actually aluminum. The canopy is “supported” by vertical lances and shields. Bushman designed each shield and included artwork associated with the Knights of the Round Table. However, because there were more shields than authentic artwork he was forced to improvise. His solution was to include the coat of arms from his wife’s family, as well as those from a number of fellow Disney artists.

Bushman also helped design the Casey Jr. Circus Train. Disney Legend Ken Anderson said: “We did the little circus train, and we had a beauty. Bruce Bushman had worked and worked to get the design just right on this train.”

As the design of the Dumbo attraction progressed, Walt wanted to to make sure the elephants were large enough to accommodate adults as well as children. To make sure they could comfortably fit, Walt looked to Bushman - who was a tall man - and told his team to use him as their model for ride vehicles. Walt said to Bushman “If it fits you, it’ll fit anybody.”

We had a look at the NEW Fiesta Village makeover in a previous post, now let's take a look at the new night time features.

The Burbank Review newspaper ran the headline “Walt Disney Make-Believe Land Project Planned Here.” For the first time, the general public read about Walt Disney’s plan to build an amusement park and call it “Disneyland.” According to Walt, the parks’ attractions and exhibits “will give meaning to the pleasure of the children — and pleasure to the experience of adults.”

The article detailed that Walt intended to build a $1.5 million park on Disney Studio property in Burbank “at Riverside and Buena Vista” and create “a spectacular world of make-believe.” A number of themed lands and attractions that would eventually become a reality at Disneyland were first presented in this initial park description, including “scenes of a small midwestern town at the turn of a century”, “an old Mississippi paddle wheeler”“a frontier Western town”, and “rides in a ’Space Ship’ and submarine.” While those concepts would remain in Walt’s plans, others did not. What was the biggest change in thinking from this article? Well, that’s an easy one. The article said “Disneyland is not intended as a commercial venture.” It went on to explain that the park was to be made “available for youth groups, Parent-Teacher Associations and other organizations devoted to civic and social welfare.”

There were two main reasons Walt’s plan to build a park in Burbank fell apart in the months to follow. First, the Burbank City Council never warmed to the idea ,fearing it would attract an unsavory crowd to their community. Accordingly, in September of 1952, the council formally rejected the plan. Second, Walt’s vision for the park continued to expand and quickly outgrew the land available in Burbank. That vision also became more commercial in nature with increased input from Walt’s brother Roy. Around the same time as the Burbank project fell apart and something larger gained momentum, Roy urged Walt to establish a separate business to design his theme park idea. In December of 1952, Walt formally launched WED Enterprises and he was looking beyond Burbank to build Disneyland.

Fiesta Village has gotten a fresh facelift and wow look at the colors! This is a picture heavy post, there is a lot to see so let's go!

New colorful sculptures and artwork can be seen throughout.

Check back --- we will take a look at the New Fiesta Village at night!