How do you turn a “Superstar” into a “Monster”?

Jeff Lange

20 years ago

As the painters at the Disneyland Resort slowly transform the exterior of DCA’s old “Superstar Limo” attraction …

Photo by Jeff Lange

… into something that will (eventually) look more like this …

The Imagineers are already hard at work on all the interior elements of this new DCA attraction. Which will be called …

Now given that this “Monsters, Inc.” – inspired attraction is going to be a dark ride in the tradition of “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” and “Peter Pan Flight,” the Imagineers who are working on this California Adventure project are following the time-honored methods. Which means they initially start out with a piece of concept art …

Which then is used to create a dimensional model …

Which is then used for reference as WDI’s sculptors begin work on the final version of the figures to be used in the attraction.

As you can see, these folks have done a superb job of translating concept drawings like the one I’ve posted below …

… into full-sized figures.

With these talented artists handling the physical translation of the “Monsters, Inc.” characters from the CG world to the 3D world, even the slug-like Roz …

… becomes a thing of beauty.

Now, as to what DCA’s new “Monsters, Inc.” attraction will actually be like … Well, Jim tells me that we’ll be doing another story about “Mike & Sulley to the Rescue” sometime next week.

But — if you really can’t wait ’til then — Shelly Smith has some additional information about this California Adventure addition up on her website, www.fabsfaves.com. So if you head over there, you can immediately get the skinny of this dark ride’s storyline as well as check out some more “Monsters, Inc.” concept art.

But — so far — this “Superstar Limo” substitute looks pretty snazzy, don’t you think?