That’s right my friends, even fast and sure cash flow machines such as retail space and restaurants sometimes are so elaborate, so ambitious, so rich in themeing and so unlucky to actually never make it into the finished theme park. Still in most cases Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney development company - the two divisions who actually share the job of designing the retail and food space for the theme parks – can be sure that eventually everything will be given the go ahead, that the restaurant actually will make its way to the theme park. Well, even they expect some slight changes, maybe some parts of the concept being “turned down a bit” or re-tooled to provide a better food servicing and less show. A good example for those slight changes and also the most evident case of this procedure was the “Mama Melrose” restaurant at Florida’s Disney MGM Studios: this table service eatery was actually conceived and created as “the Great Gonzo’s Pizza Parlor”, an integral part of the “Muppet Studios” themeing which the whole surrounding area of the park was supposed to get. As we all know the Muppet Studios didn’t make it off the drawing board and so with a bit of minor tweaking and re-tooling Gonzo’s pizza became Mama’s pasta … and the rest is history.

Another great example is the well known story of Walt’s idea of a Chinese restaurant on a side street (China town themed) to the Main Street, U.S.A., featuring an animatronic head of the wise Confucius delivering answers and wise thoughts to the eating (and paying) audience. This idea was later re-tooled into the Tiki Room restaurant concept which then was re-tooled once again into the classic Tiki Room attraction. But as usual great ideas don’t die at Imagineering and so the Imagineers gave the restaurant con animatronic show another try in Paris by using the Tiki Room restaurant concept as the base for their Explorer’s Club restaurant in Adventureland. Unfortunately the demand for table service restaurants was smaller than expected when Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 and the Explorer’s Club was transformed into the counter-service restaurant Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost. With the transformation the animatronic show was cancelled too, but till today the animatronic parrots still sit in the lush tree in the main dining room – pay them a visit next time you are in Paris, before they are gone as they are slowly but surely falling into disrepair, one by one disappearing… But as we finally arrived in Disneyland Paris, let’s head over (at least in our minds) to probably the greatest - of the known - projects never to be given a try: the luxurious Vulcania restaurant!

The Vulcania Restaurant is still talked about by Imagineers as the greatest sit down restaurant never to be built for a theme park, and even so the Kirk family tried to pursue the Oriental Land Company to find a place for it in the plans for Tokyo Disney Sea’s Mysterious Island this masterpiece eatery still didn’t make it over to Tokyo bay. So what was so great about it you ask me?
Well for a start this restaurant would have been located in a premier location in Paris’ Discoveryland, serving as another culinary deli basically replacing Walt’s if, following original concepts, it would have been used as EuroDisney’s equivalent of Club 33 – the secluded members-only restaurant in California’s New Orleans Square. The actual restaurant building would have been on the right side of the Discoveryland entrance, sharing backstage and kitchen areas with the Plaza Gardens Restaurant next door and forming a themed gateway into the world of Jules Vernes and Leonardo da Vinci together with the Constellations on the opposite side of the walkway. In fact the building was already depicted as “future restaurant” on the souvenir park maps sold in the early years.

The Vulcania Restarant’s (as was the projects name during development) façade would have been created out of the same material and in the same colours as the Constellations shop’s with some extras added like tall spires shooting for the sky. But what would have really attracted the guests and continued basically the stone artwork adoring Constellations would have been the huge, colourful stained glass windows telling the stories of Jules Verne – think of a detailed depiction of the Hyperion cruising through the sky or of the caves and the dinosaurs inhibiting them which the expedition in journey to the center of the earth encountered). The restaurant’s entrance would have been guarded by rock formations similar to those now found at the entrance to Discoveryland giving the impression as if the building was actually coming out of the ground like the neighbouring Discovery Mountain (which I remind you was supposed to sit on a dormant volcano according to WDI backstories).

Once inside the building guests would have approached the reception desk of the restaurant and a attendee in a nautical uniform would have walked the guests through a half obscured and cave like corridor with lanterns and ropes reminiscent of those found inside the Nautilus toward their reserved tables. During this short walk the attendee would have told the story of how the good captain Nemo used to come and eat at this eatery between his high sea adventures. Maybe this was due to the fact that the walls of the dining room were over and over adorned with drawings, sketches and memories from Nemo’s many journeys and experiments. But especially the wall separating the dining room from the kitchen would have been attracting the guests’ attention as “energy lines” would have been moving across it constantly feeding off the same energy source which Nemo used to power the Nautilus. The bright lava like colours would twinkle and shine providing patrons the idea that the restaurant kitchen and energy was actually powered by the great forces of nature which Nemo had discovered.

What is even more mind blowing about this eatery is neither the elaborate and rich themeing of the building, nor the certainly great food offered at this top notch restaurant … truth is the real “show killer piece” of this whole Vulcania inspired restaurant was the biggest wall, located furthest away from the entrance … the one guests would have faced once they entered into the main dining room. This wall was actual to be a giant window - much like the one presently found inside the walkthrough Nautilius – closed with a large iris but to open up every ten minutes and provide guests with various scenes of under water life. But my friends, as much as this sounds fascinating and incredible Disney Imagineers not only actually planned to offer guests a giant window into a real aquarium with various scenes such as fish floating by or the Nautilus occasionally being seen in the distance. The greatest effect would have actually been appreciated especially by those guests which had already experienced the walk through attraction of the Nautilus: at certain set times during the day the iris would have actually opened to show the Nautilius under attack by the giant squid! This great effect would have been complimentary to the one experienced previously during the Nautilus walkthrough attraction. Through a mixed use of forced perspectives, lights, mirrors and projection screens the portal would have opened up and shown the side of the submarine (a model in forced perspective) quickly being attacked by the giant squid. The high speed of the effect would have come from the Imagineers being using a disappearing pepper ghost effect (as used inside Phantom Manor) of two animatronic squids, one for the “attached to the Nautilus” position and another for the “attacking the Nautilus” position.

Sounds like a great restaurant doesn’t it? One of those elaborate and richly themed top notch eateries which only the Walt Disney Imagineers could come up with. Unfortunately like so many high profile projects the Imagineers had it never made it of the drawing board, therefore nowadays providing EuroDisney guests with one more reason to sigh when crossing those Discoveryland rock work borders. That’s it for now my friends, next time you venture to any theme park please consider to take a few moments to actually appreciate the effort put into creating top notch eateries. Not many places like Walt’s at Paris, the Teddy Rosevelt lounge at Tokyo or even Mythos at Islands of Adventure exist, and for sure a tribute must be paid also to those involved in creating those amazing places!

For now it's TTFN - tatafornow

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