The Happiest Place on Earth Book and Disneyland's Tomorrowland Concept Art

 Imagineer Herb Ryman is probably one of my favorite Disney artists when I consider concept art and others renderings. His work on EPCOT Center is stunningly sublime and also dazzling. But for the first blog post of August 2025, I wanted to highlight his incredible work for Disneyland, specifically Tomorrowland's Monorail and Submarine Voyage stations. 

It's a tribute to the creative thinkers of Walt's day that they would stack two such important attractions on top of each other. Making the most of limited space, after all, was a tradition at "Walt's park". Fantasyland used this design trick to their advantage, creating layers of charm upon charm. In Tomorrowland, the goal wasn't charm but it was to create "A World on the Move" long before the 1967 version so many theme park fans rightfully adore- and it succeeded tremendously. 

This image is from the incredible new book, "The Happiest Place on Earth" by Don Hahn and Christopher Merritt. If you think you know all there is to know about the creation of Disneyland and have seen most of the concept art for it, you couldn't be more wrong. Get this book and get it now!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

A Polynesian Village Getaway

Simply magical! That is exactly what I think of this beautiful piece of concept art. How can you not just love the view of the Magic Kingdom from this restaurant at the Polynesian Village? 

Animator (and more) Don Hahn's book Yesterday's Tomorrow, Disney's Magical Mid-Century sparkles with great text and one incredible piece of art one after another. It's a must purchase for any fan of what Walt and his Imagineers accomplished in the 50s and 60s. The list is too exhaustive, but as you'll discover from reading, so is the list of what wasn't built. Amazing!

The next days of our Walt Disney World trip report are coming- as is my trip report on my Commando visit to Disneyland.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Oh, Roger!

From various news sources, Disney producer Don Hahn (Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, the very sadly overlooked Atlantis, Emporer's New Groove) reports Roger Rabbit 2 is finally on the way! One of the best and most creative Disney properties is finally given a new lease on life years after its 1988 release. Cannot wait- and bring on all those imagined but never built attractions at Disney's Hollywood Studios!