In this It's in the Details, I wanted to cover how Imagineers develop an environment to tell a story; to help immerse the guests further into the world they create, they do their best to incorporate and add details that are obvious, and not so obvious, to help tell the tale.
In Magic Kingdom, two new areas opened up this past year, New Fantasyland and Storybook Circus. Part of the Storybook Circus was a redesign of the WDWRR Train station in the area, with a new look and added excitement. To help tell the story of a circus travelling by train, such as Casey Jr. from Dumbo, a whole roundhouse and train depot was added, with little details to make it feel like an extension to the WDWRR itself; it's definitely one of my favorite environments, just for the "what if" it evokes.
Behind the train station is a set of bathrooms, modeled to look like a train depot, where the engines would be housed overnight, or on an extended stay at the location. Each bathroom entrance is an engine shed, and you can even see where the tracks lead up to each door. They even extend the story into the bathroom itself, where a pattern of tiles forms the rails heading into the shed. (I couldn't get a picture of this because of obvious awkwardness).
In front of the depot is a round table for directing trains along the different spurs; sitting atop it is the new water interactive area, in the form of Casey Jr. It seems as if he just pulled up from travelling along the cross-country rails and is sitting happily on the table while the circus is underway, much like any other train off of the main line.
Continuing with the story it's supposed to be a depot, at each end of the area are two lines that run off from the round table. They give the illusion that they are to connect to the WDWRR as a spur. Above is an image of the end of the line that follows along the Storybook Circus/Tomorrowland path. When originally built, there had not been a buffer plate, so it looked like an unfinished connection to the railway. With the buffer in place, that's not really the case, but looks more like an unfinished connection due to oversight on level and grade between the two lines.
That second line, extending in the other direction, actually holds Casey Jr.'s caboose, which provides merchandise space. This line actually continues off in the distance, out of sight of the guest, so as to appear it connects to the WDWRR at a point. It makes you think that one day, one of the trains may pull right up that track!
Missed It's in the Details #10? Check it out here!
