Park / Otter's Magic Kingdom
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23-February 24
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83.50%(required: 80%) Spotlight
Cocoa 90% yes Terry Inferno 90% yes G Force 85% yes pants 85% yes Recurious 85% yes RWE 85% yes Scoop 85% yes chorkiel 80% yes Liampie 80% yes Mulpje 80% no posix 80% yes WhosLeon 80% no 83.50% 83.33% -
Description
An ode to Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando. I hope you enjoy!
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13 fans Fans of this park
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he's maked!
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Really sweet park to look through! It's quite a lot of content to look at, but it's all very well thought out and detailed. I was especially a fan of the toy story section, this felt like the strongest point of the park to me. I'm glad someone mentioned to check it out with the sound on, because the files on this were great. This is truly a map to be proud of.
I think this has quite a lot of potential with the casual player; it's exactly the type of map I would have been looking to download 15-20 years ago as a kid. Perhaps a bit of a community-wide marketing campaign is in order?
Sephiroth Fan Offline
Not even out of Q1 2024 and another absolute banger is released. What a year.
This is a real achievement Otter, first true MK park in I don't know how long and to do it at such a high level on top of that. I think the bits I enjoyed the most were the sort of custom areas you did, felt very much like you put your own spin on the theming's but kept the classic MK layout and feel. I honestly really like the Frontierland too haha, just love the atmosphere, could totally see myself walking into that area thru the main fort entrance. All the unique meet and greet areas also made this feel like your own take on it, really enjoyed seeing an emphasis put on those. And wow the custom music was such an awesome addition, really seals the atmosphere and makes this park feel special. Hopefully people who might have issues with disney style parks can see past it and judge it for what it is, because it is a truly fantastic effort.
V1 Review #5
(A little out of order, but I felt in a review-y mood)
V1 Seal of Approval:
+ Mainstreet USA is great.
+ Plaza in front of the castle is good
+ Phantom Manor is strong (even though I'm not the biggest fan of how the queue cover looks)
+ Fantasyland is well laid out and has strong architecture (but could have used a couple more columns inside the buildings, I feel)
+ Great use of music
+ I like Slinky dog and its area and Buzz Lightyear and his area
+ It's A Small World area is solid.
+ Adventureland/Moana is probably my favourite area.
+ Great Aladdin flatride.
+ Cut-Outs of PotC are great!
V1 List of Neutrality:
+/- Entrance feels a big large, even considering how big the park is. Or maybe I just think the train station is too wide.
+/- BTMR is a mixed bag for me. A lot of the landscaping looks bad, but then you have some great landscaping like the arch over the track. Also the bit at the water's edge is great.
+/- I'm somewhat lukewarm on the Frontierland architecture
+/- Frontier Cruise is good in general but I dislike the landscaping. Also, why elephants?
+/- Not the biggest fan of the PotC facade.
+/- Surroundings are solid, don't really move the needle in any way
V1 Scowl of Disapproval:
- Bold choice on the castle. I fall on the side that really doesn't like it.
- Semantics, but I found the double Toy Story area a bit awkward.
- Placement of Mad Hatter's Tea party is strange.
- Straight up not a fan of Galaxy's Edge. I think the Star Tours entrance is the strongest bit but not too much to like for me about the rest.
V1's Opinion:
A park impressive in scope and size. It's weird to say this is a little bit of a letdown for me because from the screens I expected this to get a 90% without much thinking from me. Looking at the park I think it's clear you have good foundations but I just don't think you managed to push the quality quite as much as the park would have needed.There is some great work, some not so great work.
I vote 80%.
Holy! I can't believe how quickly you finished this! There are so many good ideas in here and so many fun riffs on Disney classics. Highlights for me include the birthday cake castle (though I do wish the centre spire was taller), Phantom Manor, the little Tinker Bell meet-and-greet nook, and pretty much all of Toy Story Land. You're also the king of dark ride cut out views at this point.
Special shout out to Galaxy's Edge, which you nailed. There's such interesting object usage everywhere and the way you developed motifs throughout made it feel cohesive yet somehow never repetitive. I was looking at the way you used black domes as a sort of case study in this. Even though there are 20 or so, they're clustered in different combinations and at different heights giving great, interesting forms throughout. It isn't easy to pull that type of thing off and I think you did it beautifully.
There are a few spots where the foliage and flowers look a bit block-y, some areas where the path feels a bit too wide and empty (especially around the transition points between lands), and some of the rock type mixes looked a bit messy to me. That being said, this is an easy spotlight for me and exactly the type of big, blue-sky-but-rooted-in-realism parkmaking I love. Always a fan of your work, I'm sure I'll be returning to this one again and again
Incredible work. I want to start this review with some personal context, however---
late 20 to early 30 -ish-year-old americans grew up in a very particular era for the disney parks. the films weren't doing excellent, attendance was spotty, and the future of some properties (eg, paris) was genuinely in doubt. I know this is very hard to believe looking at disney today, which has grown into one of the largest media monopolies and whose parks are so expensive and so crowded that you might as well just visit them on streetview instead. But back in the late 90s and early 2000s, disney was practically giving away tickets to draw middle-class american families to orlando. This is why my family, living in kansas city, spent many winters down in florida visiting the theme parks.
to say they left a large impression on me would be doing them a disservice. as a toddler I spent literally every day in the playroom with the brio wooden trains, imagining scenes of elaborate train bridges over canyons. to see these 'railed narrative experiences' come to life in btmr, or in the peoplemover, the disney train, the epcot ball ride, winnie the pooh, etc etc... it was genuinely mindblowing. there's a home video somewhere of me in line for the disney train, jumping up and down frantically, and I don't think i've ever been that excited again in my life. I can still remember the feelings of the 'power of the theme park' that i felt as a kid when i close my eyes, and its rooted in the magic kingdom. For those crusty pessimistics to whom disney and their parks have now become symbols of modern capitalist control, I hope maybe you can reserve some warmth for those of us who grew up with something special here.
so let's take this into rct history, where all of us weirdo obsessive kids congregated. the last real magic kingdom attempt was what... highball's magic kingdom? in 2005! 19 years ago. I remember as a newcomer to nedesigns, furiously downloading past parks until I had seen them all, desperate to find someone who had done disney right. and don't get me wrong, I genuinely love some of those early attempts (looking at you, tilted acres). But as I got more experienced with rct, I realized that it was not really ever well-designed for disney. In many ways, RCT and its default themes and textures and ride selection is very catered towards the UK theme park scene which chris sawyer lived in. It is very hard to pull off some classic disney attractions with old school ncso, something which I always saw as a real loss to the game. and this was clearly echoed by the community, who despite ocassionally showing exciting screens, never put their money where their mouth is. 19 years without a magic kingdom! (except for louis's april fools prank...), arguably the single most important theme park in the world! I think many older players like me, until maybe the last few years, thought that the will and the way was just never going to be there for it.
Which brings us to this release. I think its unlucky but understandable that people will want to compare it to pac and airtime's (as-yet-unfinished-and-unreleased!) attempts. But that has always been the crux of being the best rct parkmaker---finishing. And you really did it---a detailed, expansive magic kingdom, with fresh ideas and remixed rides and pieces of nostalgia from your own magic kingdom memories (eg that candy castle). I really can see myself in this park, as a kid, frothing at the mouth. I think you are owed massive applause for reminding me of the feelings that drive me forward in my own parkmaking.
I understand very well the 'release blues', both in rct (where harsh criticism and comparison abounds) and in other creative enterprises (where usually deafening silence abounds). But I think you have made something special here and I hope after a bit of time you'll eventually feel the same warmth about it as I do.
Fantastic achievement otter! It's really impressive how quickly you were able to finish a map of this size and at this level of detail without burning out. I think your love of the park really shines through in a lot of the smaller details that I'll get onto in a bit. I'll take a bit of a classic area-by-area approach for this review I think, as the park design naturally lends itself well to that.
). Appreciate the use of glass and the dark green wrought iron look which adds some classic looking flair. The caravan carts are a great addition too, breaking up some of the path monotony, though I think the dark grey path area is a little too barren still. Architecture is superb, standouts for me being the Tony's Town Square building and Ice Cream Parlor, I think the disneylandian brick texture is well utilised.
Entrance and Main Street:
Lovely work here, clean architecture and pathwork. A+ music (
Castle + Fantasyland:
First off I love the decision to go with the 25th Anniversary Cake Castle overlay, however divisive it ends up being. I think originally you had the hotel here but the castle is so much more iconic, and going with this theme sets the map apart a bit more as its own MK interpretation, making it a memorable choice. The fantasyland area is probably my favourite of the map - the theming, architecture and atmosphere perfectly capture this part of Disney and there's a playfulness to it. The carousel could perhaps use some more flair or custom design, but I really like the indoor rides in this area and the cutouts you provided (and throughout the map, which was a good choice to work around the big blank roofs). I'm getting a little sick of the Small World music so let's move on
Toy Story Land:
Fun idea for a full land given the existing area is pretty small with just the one coaster. I think this could have probably been stretched to a full Pixar land given how the material is almost spread too thin, but there's some great elements in here. Beyond the two coasters (and again love the interior cutaway for the Buzz Lightyear coaster), I really like the Pizza Planet and Woody's Roundup restaurants, and the M&G section is fantastic, if somewhat out of place being Cars themed. Love the stacked semi-transparent umbrellas too, wish that motif was in a few more spots in this area.
Frontierland:
This is the area that drew me in least on my first couple of viewings, but taking another look around is revealing more details and stylistic choices that I missed, and I'm beginning to warm up to it some more. In particular I like Phantom Manor, how the queue winds next to the river, and the blushes of red in the foliage. BTMR has some great theming and lovely rustic architecture though I think the landscaping gets a bit lost and muddy in the brown shade.
Adventureland:
This area is another highlight of the map for me, very warm and inviting atmosphere and nicely spaced out. The transfer/adaptation of Splash Mountain into a Moana theme is smart for the land and the ride is quite excellently designed, feels like a very natural addition. Love the interior cutaways for Pirates of the Caribbean, fleshes out the ride very well, though I think the exterior facade could use a little more detail in places and been a bit more eventful. I do love Tortuga Tavern however, and the way it sort of blends into the landscaping for the next land.
Galaxy's Edge:
Hope I'm not running out of steam toward the end here because this is my other favourite area of the park. Ending on a high note I suppose! Anyway I find it quite bold that you ditched Tomorrowland here and hinged this side of the park on Galaxy's Edge (though I never really found the white 60s Tomorrowland look all that visually compelling). Architecture and theming are again top class and extremely immersive, love the palette of colours and the semi-covered thoroughfare acting like its own miniature main street. Pod Racers is great and very Disney with a cute ride entrance detail, though I think the landscaping could have used a bit of refinement in the rock types and colours. I also like how striking the beige towers are within the rest of the land, only wish there were some guests in the stands!
Everything else:
While the park is spectacular, I'm glad you didn't leave the rest of the outskirts in the dust so to speak, and there are some lovely finds here in what I imagine might have been a struggle to complete in the final stretch. The Disney Flavor Lab is a lovely reference and welcome respite from some of the more typical backstage buildings. I also like the pathway toward resort hotels (I assume) being lined with dedications to the past Disney spotlights (and an under construction one too haha). I only wish there was a stronger hint of a hotel or something in this corner, even if it's just a plaza etc. And lastly I must praise the music and sound design throughout the park - it goes beyond just ride and atmospheric music too, the instructions at the monorail ticketing station for example. Together they add a great deal to the immersion and enjoyment of the map. Such an underrated part of good parkmaking and you nailed it with this.
Overall if I could vote it would be a clear spotlight and probable 85 for the score. Loved it, and can imagine you feel very proud of this one.
I'm sorry for not having time for a full review right now, but I wanted to write something since this park is ridiculous. 260x260 map and no real filler or huge car parks! And so much detail everywhere you look.
I know that has become the norm, but if you had showed us this park at NE around 2005 we'd have not believed it was even made in RCT.
To me it's an easy spotlight, and that's as someone who isn't a Disney fan, who can't appreciate a lot of the detail and love this park has. I've only been to Disneyland Paris one time but even that limited exposure to Disney lets me recognize the vibes throughout.
I'm so happy for you to see this finally released. Finishing a park on this scale at this quality is not an achievement many of us managed to get during their rct career yet. The ambition you've showed with this park is huge, it surely will be seen as a full member in the circle of all the other great disney parks we've seen on this site in the past.
The entrance area works very well, it really sets the atmosphere of the park. The architecture here is great and i also really appreciate the custom music. Also there are some nice little scenes here like the balloon sellers or the little cart scene in front of the entrance. I also really dig the bold theming choice of the castle, although i have mixed feelings about the result. It‘s very good work, don’t get me wrong, but looking at the amazing quality of the main street architecture i feel like it could have been even better.
After i’ve finished looking at the main street area, my eyes immediately turned to the star wars area. Not an easy IP to built but i think you did it very well over here. I think it’s probably my favorite area of the park. It features great sculptures like the AT-AT or the tie interceptors. I also really like the path texturing in this area, and – again – you did an amazing job on the architecture. My highlight of this area definitely is the pod racer ride though, you really nailed the disney-vibe over here. I think this definitely should be considered a candidate for best ride design 2024!
Next stop in my tour through the park was the PotC area (i know the areas are called differently btw, but it’s easier for me to go by Ips haha). It’s done quite well too and it has some nice architecture. Next to Star Wars it almost felt a little underwhelming, but i feel like you also need areas like this in such huge parks.
The Moana log flume was another example of amazing ride design in this park. Probably one of my favorite log flumes ever. I also really like the way you did the landscaping here, you found a great mixture between fisch rocks and other objects. I also really liked the Aladdin flat ride, but it also felt a little out of place here with all the nice carribean architecture around. But i also don’t know enough about the source material to say if that’s your fault.
After i was done appreciating the log flume i found out i missed out taking a closer look into the castle area so far. I think it’s another example of an area where you really managed to get the disney vibe across. It’s a small world and the peter pan ride are nice dark rides that are integrated well into the park. The amount of greys and tarmac in this area because of all the dark rides is a pity, but that’s also not your fault of course.
Next up was Slinky Dog Dash and the Toy Story area. It’s a well designed launched coaster that again feels so disney it hurts. All the little details exploring the toy theme further work very well here. This seems to be an area that not only is really fun to view, but also must have been a lot of fun to build. And while writing this i found out with the Buzz Lightyear ride it has even more to it! I’m in love with the way you did all the structures for the ride here. I also really like the way that path is swooping up to the ride entrance. It’s another example of your fantastic ride design skills.
While viewing this area and the surrounding outskirts i also noticed some nitpicky points about the foliage of this park: I agree with pants that it felt a bit blocky in parts and maybe also a bit too wild for my taste. I appreciate the variety your foliage in this park has, but in some areas especially when foliage isn’t supposed to be the main focus of the viewer less variety could have maybe helped to improve this even more.
The western area was nice calm finish of my journey through this park. It feels very brown and the paths is very wide, but the architecture is great and i appreciate how you dealt with it using a lot of different brown tones. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a very beautiful coaster, really enjoyed viewing this layout for quite some minutes. The rock work over here was also really nice in my opinion, possibly a bit too wild, but that would be a bit nitpicky.
I could say so much more of this park. That really shows how huge this is and how much of an achievement it is to get this beast finished. I think this combined with the high quality of all the areas of this park make this a spotlight park for me. I hope shortly we all will be able to say congrats to you for this as well as for a well deserved parkmaker title!
I never expected you to become a spotlight winner. That doesn’t sound very nice at first, but hear me out… You’ve been in the community for longer than some people may realise, even all the way back on NE4. A steady background character with submissions ranging in the 45-60 range by community votes (or 20-80 if you look at the PT4 prelim judges). Maybe the slower years around 14-15 helped you get a spot in H2H7. I think it wasn’t until H2H8 that your learning curve started to bend upwards more and more. The Histories from 2022 for me was proof that you had parkmaker potential. That’s why my initial statement is a nice thing… Yours is a great rags to riches story. The American Dream. What better park to complete the American Dream than a Disney park ? How fitting! When I look at the front page of the site now, I see names such as braztaz, df99999 and Kumba. The growth you’ve shown is amazing, and it should motivate them that they can also make something as good as Otter’s Magic Kingdom.
Though my score (80% + yes) may be towards the lower end of the votes you’ve received, I think this park is a great achievement, even when you forget that it was built in a single year. The size! This thing is huge! The fact that we haven’t seen a proper Disneyland since Highball is not because people haven’t tried. I’ve seen so many entrances and main streets over the years… Some may still get there. Airtime and Pac come to mind, but also Highball’s improved version and Turtle. There’s so much content, but it’s not overwhelming. There’s as much as there need to be. It’s no secret that I dislike Disney and IP inspired things in general; it lacks originality and typically fails to surprise me. This is still a relevant factor for me, but I appreciate the parts that looks to be original such as Buzz Lightyear Astro Run and the Moana area. Those are original, right? They look as believable as the parts you lifted from real parks more directly - great job! I think the grandeur of the park, the completeness of it all and the presentation, the successful mix of existing themes and ones you added yourself (justifying the inclusion ‘Otter’s’ in the park’s name - this is YOUR version), and the fact that you did in a year what others have failed to do in a decade make me vote yes. And I’m so excited for you that you’ve received all these yes votes. A lower end spotlight for me, and maybe on another day I’d come to a different conclusion, but on the day that I voted… spotlight! Hell yeah dude!
Now for the 80%: this one is the result of a more technical assessment of the park. Some areas are fantastic and 85% or even 90% work. The entrance and main street for example. I love the scale and the execution is pretty flawless, though not as mindblowing as the similarly styled Belle Isle. Buzz Lightyear is also fantastic. The mountain for Journey of Water, the colourful look of Slinky Dog Dash (not sure why the track looks so faded though), Phantom Manor, dark ride scenes, all really good. Other parts were less strong or had some more notable imperfections. Compare the Mad Hatters Tea Party custom flat to Aladdin’s Magic Carpets. One belongs in a spotlight park, one is good Silver material. Sometimes the paths are too narrow, sometimes too wide. A planter too bulky or too insignificant. Some mismatching textures or shapes, some less refined back facades in focus, non-existent tunnel entrances and messy planter. No deal breakers, but I think 80% is the closest score to where I’d put the average quality of the park, and I think such a score would also best illustrate the growth that you still have in you. I’m sure we are still on the steep part of the otter learning curve and it makes me excited for the future.
Below you will find a compilation of screens to support my review. First the examples of less good work, and then the parts that support the yes vote!
Somewhat bland, glitchy... Roof matching the path in texture, but not matching the building in shape (octagon vs circle).
This area looks like you didn't know what to do with it, the park is stretched a bit thin here. Diagonal not very successful either. Also less impressed with the rock work in the bottom right corner
The little planter that couldn't. More should've been done to make this an appealing area rather than a concrete wasteland. Also note the giant blank back facade on the left drawing a lot of attention, and the unnecessarily mistmatched textures on the red building.
Another notible incident of poor composition and path design.
Another large path expanse, but it's very balanced in proportion here. Attention is drawn towards where it should be drawn: the architecture which is great. Foliage in the planter is perhaps a bit gloomy but it's not a complaint.
Took this screen when the wall was still missing... But I hardly noticed it, I was looking at the cool blue structure on the right, the super cool white + yellow towers, and the curvy path below. Really cool stuff.
Thematically a bit all over the place, but the area didn't look worse for it. Flat ride looks great, architecture looks great, pleasant path spaces... Spotlight material.
I thought this area was also one of the best looking ones, very warm and colourful and themepark-y.
Congratulations again on this massive achievement.
i loved this park. MASSIVE achievement finishing a park of this size, with this consistent quality. a well-deserved spotlight and parkmaker spot, for sure.
i was never a disney kid, i went to my first disney park (Paris) long after finding RCT and seeing disney parks built, but i do have a soft spot for the real-life parks - it was the first real example of **theming** that i saw in real life approaching (and surpassing) what i'd seen in RCT. a few times in the past i started disney park builds, even a magic kingdom one time, but i never got close to finishing.
maybe this frames my feeling for this park, but i feel like this is totally fantastic, and pretty much exactly what i would have loved to have built myself. you've smashed it. it feels SO real to me, really believable layout and little sub-areas everywhere for meet and greets, one-off character shops/scenes, everything is spot on. and there's so much to see, the size of the park is amazing. the setting with the external points of interest is great, especially love the little homage signs to previous RCT disney parks, that's a really classy touch.
my favorite areas were the Star Wars area (not a theme i usually like, honestly, but this one felt really atmospheric) and the Moana area (great vibes and colors). every area was great, though. such a consistent quality level throughout.
for the sake of a scoring scale, i felt like the score is a little low. it's an obvious yes to spotlight for me, and i think anything under 85% feels harsh. knowing how hard it is to finish a large park of any kind, i'd have been tempted to up this to 90% due to scale and consistency. i guess that's just the way of it when we're trying to score parks of vastly different sizes on the same scale. really though, the only thing that matters is you've got a spotlight and a parkmaker spot - massive congrats.
This was so great! Had a blast exploring this park. Really felt like spending a day at Disney. Like most people here, I had some parts that I enjoyed more than others. It's interesting to read how it seems like a lot of people have different takes on which parts they prefer. My favorite areas were galaxy's edge, the haunted house, BTMR, and PotC. Also really liked the idea of making splash mountain Moana themed.
I won't write a long review, but I just wanted to say that this is probably the best Disney park made in RCT2 by far (well, at least until Airtime releases his Disneyland Paris remake, who knows). It took my breath away.
I was really pleased to see Phantom Manor in there, even if the manor itself is a "brighter" version, similar to the mansion depicted on a canvas inside the real ride in Paris. Like, Phantom Manor before the curse happened. It was so great!
The animatronics / peeps inside PoTC were also amazing!
Great job!
Wow! Beyond grateful to receive a Spotlight - thank you everyone who has messaged me and have been kind of enough to leave comments. Wanted to share some thoughts and ideas that went in to making this park along with other miscellaneous things. Let's dive in.
Firstly as I mentioned in the readme, this started mid January 2023 and was posted 13 months later. Originally I had been inspired a few years back when I was introduced to Ideal Buildout. I spent much of the early stages of making this park viewing his Mega Kingdom park: https://idealbuildou...ga-kingdom.html. You'll also immediately see a wildly different castle that I had in my park for most of the build:
Thanks Steve and JK for repeatedly telling me to ditch the hotel in the middle of the park lol
I used Ideal Buildout and knowledge of the parks to create this rough and incomplete map that ended up being way different than the final product - but I had this hung up on the wall in my office at work just to keep me inspired. It worked!
I wanted to do Disney, but pull in some areas that were novel to RCT such as Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. Also, why not retheme Splash Mountain while we are at it? I made a bit of a theme change with Frontierland too with a bit more of a Pacific Northwest Vibe throughout. My head canon for rides like the Final Frontier Cruise was that it had some of the same wrong river jokes with the Elephant and the Buffaloes.
Toy Story Land is a bit of a hodge podge. The thought process behind Buzz Lightyear's Astro Run was to emulate something dumb current Disney would do: put Tron in all the parks. Originally I was going to do an omnimover in this space like the shooting gallery ride it's named after, but a Tron clone seemed like a good modern fit that doesn't quite thematically match. Thus, why it seems sorta squeezed in there! Understand though that the "land" seems small.
Galaxy's Edge in terms of layout is similar to Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland. I probably spent 100+ hours just consulting google maps and google street view of the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, and Hollywood Studios to get some of this right, or at least to my standard. But imagine if Disney rethemed all of Tomorrowland with a Star Wars overlay - that would be a silly idea, but I wanted to explore that here. Early tests weren't very successful, but as I kept adding more and more buildings to the area, the atmosphere and style started to reach where I wanted it to be. First test vs my favorite building:
I would agree with others that perhaps Moana and Adventureland is the strongest area. Making the queue/ride exit area for Splash Mountain / Journey of Water was so much fun. Working in that tight, dense space was a challenge - but I think it just elevated the immersion that extra ounce. The Tiki Room and Dole Whip corner was oddly one of the first things on the map as well. Real proud of that whole complex.
When making the walk of fame near the park entrance, it was quite inspirational to view each and every other Disney spotlight that preceded me. I think taking the time to view them helped me get this across the finish line. Adding Easter Eggs like that were quite fun, along with the various mobility scooters and backstage staff.. so hopefully that encourages you to go back and find some little scenes you didn't find on your first viewing!
At the end of the day, I wanted to finally tackle the project that Disney kids from the 90s like myself have always dreamed about as Cocoa alluded to. I grew up going to Orlando every few years and I still have countless memories of being in the parks and hanging out at the resort pool with my family. From 2006 to 2023 I didn't go to Disney and when I finally coughed up the thousands of dollars to go as an adult in my early 30s, I knew it was time to really commit to an idea I've had ever since I started playing RCT in 1999.
So thank you to everyone who has been a guide and a supporter along the way. Thank you to everyone who made the wonderful objects in this park. Thank you to the community for inspiring me to continue to play this game.
There's something even more magical about seeing a Disney park built in RCT2 than in real life. In the latter, we are constrained to what the architects want us to see within the walkable portion of the park, but in RCT2, we are able to see it in its entirety, backstages and all. This is what I love about realism in RCT in general, but with a Disney park, where the theming is turned up to an even higher level, the contrast is even more fun.
Unlike many of the people who are enjoying the nostalgia that this park brings, I've never actually been to any part of Disneyworld, so only the parts that are reminiscent of Disneyland are familiar to me. That said, I don't feel I have to know the real Magic Kingdom to appreciate how convincingly you've constructed a realistic, lifelike Disney park. It doesn't just look like one from a technical perspective; it evokes Disney magic in spirit as well. Every one of these areas has its own identity, which can be determined even from far away, and they all feel authentically Disney.
Too many details I love in this park to name every single one of them, so I'll narrow it down to twelve.
- Exact scenes from PotC made recognizable in RCT, particularly the iconic prison vignette with the three prisoners trying to coax the dog into bringing them the key.
- The equally iconic Haunted Mansion graveyard scene, complete with ghosts on the walls, and its delightfully curvy queue.
- The round blue structures on the Buzz ride and the innovative lamps around the surrounding path.
- The floral display around Snow White. I don't fully understand why there would be so many bushels of differently-colored flowers around her in this context, but I think it looks great.
- Al's Toy Barn also being itself a giant toy. This whole area is brilliant, and I love all of the color patterns and everything being made of toys.
- Realistic usage of "Go-away Green", the iconic Disney color that hides in plain sight.
- The dirt, sand, and gravel piles in the Galaxy's Edge backstage.
- Every building on Main Street USA, but special recognition for City Hall and the Tinkerbell ride building/Tony's Town Square.
- The semi-cylindrical glass roofs near the entrance sporting red and yellow flags.
- Big Thunder Mountain (the best version ever made in RCT) and the rethemed Splash Mountain.
- Everything about the Disney flavor lab.
- The fact that you included a roller coaster in Galaxy's Edge, which Disneyland failed to do, causing me to lose interest in their version. I love roller coasters, and I hate motion simulators--Star Tours already exists, and that ride in 3D was the closest I ever came during my eight-year vomit-free period (2012-2020) to breaking the streak--so when I found out that they had spent millions of dollars on more two Star Wars motion simulators, I personally fired Bob Chapek. Thank you for creating a Galaxy's Edge that I would actually pay money to visit.
There is, of course, the obligatory rockwork paragraph, and most of the rockwork in this park was quite lovely. Big Thunder is a standout example of this, and as the most similar outdoor ride to one that I have actually ridden, you've nailed it in a way where it's instantly recognizable. Journey of Water is another example where the rocks really make the ride, and the use of bushes placed in a circle to distinguish Te Fiti is brilliant in its simplicity. Galaxy's Edge was a bit more hit-and-miss for me - I really like what you did with the rocks around the At-At, but some of those around the coaster felt oddly streamlined while others could have been cleaner (many of this can be attributed to the use of too many sloped corner pieces, which I recommend every builder delete from their object folder). I believe that the little cliff behind BTMR just before the Railroad crosses over the bridge would have also been a bit cleaner without these particular pieces, but I also don't feel they really detract here. Only other miscellaneous landscaping suggestion I have is to perhaps eliminate the grid patterns that certain grass blocks use. 1K grass blocks create a grid (visible object borders) when sloped and/or diagonal, but 1J colorable landblocks do not; however, the latter does when the flat square blocks are placed in succession. If you wanted to eliminate the grid entirely, you could use the 1K grass blocks for the straight sections and 1J colorable landblocks for diagonals. Odd that they complement each other in such a way.
Marblehead showed us that you could build a huge American realism park convincingly at a high quality level. The Histories showed us that you could build theme-oriented rides with dark ride vignettes at a high quality level. A massive Disney park is the natural progression from what are two of your defining works, and it is almost poetic that the park that has finally brought you onto the Parkmaker page is something of a convergence of the two styles that brought you closest before. Even more almost poetic is that, after you and I spent years coming so close to the 80 mark multiple times, we both finally crossed the threshold within a week of each other and got to see our names turn green together.