Disney�s New Buena Vista Street: Looking Forward by Looking Back,

Disney�s New Buena Vista Street: Looking Forward by Looking Back
Page 1 of 5

by Doug Marsh
January 14, 2011
Doug looks at DCA's new Buena Vista Street entrance and the background behind the various new "businesses" and features.
 
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Rendering of Buena Vista Street and Carthay Circle
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Guests entering Disney California Adventure in the coming years will find it quite different from the original entrance that opened in 2001. That entry and Sunshine Plaza were intended to evoke California as a state of mind; Buena Vista Street will take visitors to a far more specific time and place. A set of notices posted on the newly raised construction fence has offered some tantalizing clues about what guests might expect.


Aerial view of DCA's original entrance, compared with blueprint of Buena Vista Street
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Blueprint of Buena Vista Street with approximate locations of new "businesses."
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In order, here�s a look at what we just might find.

New entry gates for DCA are based on the streamlined moderne fa�ade of the Pan Pacific Auditorium, built in 1935. The Pan Pacific was essentially a large empty structure that could be used for a variety of purposes. Walt Disney displayed one of his hand built miniature scenes at the Festival of California Living at the Pan Pacific in 1952. After many years of heavy use, the Pan Pacific Auditorium was largely abandoned, and after years of neglect burned down in 1989. The fa�ade served as the design inspiration for Disney�s Hollywood Studios in Florida.


Historic photo of the Pan Pacific Auditorium
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Rendering of new entrance to Disney California Adventure
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Entrance to Disney-MGM Studios, built in 1989
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The name Buena Vista Street is taken from the street address of the Disney Studios present location in the San Fernando Valley. Buena Vista was also used as the name of Disney�s first wholly owned distribution company.

To the left of the entrance, at 2600 Buena Vista Street, is Oswald�s Filling Station. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit starred in 26 silent cartoons, produced by Walt Disney from 1926 to 1927. The rights to the character were taken by Disney�s distributor, and the character, in revised form, was continued by Walter Lantz at Universal Studios. In 2006 Oswald returned to the Disney Studio, and can presently be found menacing Mickey Mouse in the Epic Mickey video game. The design of the station largely appears to be based on Oscar�s Service Station at Disney�s Hollywood Studios in Florida.

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