Photo of the Week – Mineral King Gateway Center At the end of Walt’s life, he was moving away from outdoor amusements and filmmaking and into community and resort developments, relying in large part on the knowledge he gained in project planning from Disneyland. These developments are often referred to as Walt’s Final Vision. They include a planned residential community (EPCOT), a college of the arts (Cal Arts) and a ski resort in the Sierras (Mineral King). Up on FB today is an unpublished illustration of the Mineral King Gateway Center—the centerpiece for Walt’s ski resort. This drawing was completed within a few months of Walt’s death and is likely how he saw Mineral King at the end of his life. The Gateway Complex, itself, would have been a multi-level building for recreation facilities and parking. Some of the things I most love about the plans are the inventive details designed to artfully disguise the parking structure. So where is the parking structure? You’re looking at it. “The main parking area is incorporated within the Gateway Center and will be multi-terraced with paid parking. Open-air decks (upper level) will be laid out so they will support trees, bushes, walkways, seats, and drinking fountains. The same concept used over the submarine cavern at Disneyland.” Yep, the parking structure is right there, under the snow, with trees no doubt tucked into planting pockets. Beyond its visual ornamentation, the structure would have been partially heated to insure that cars, without adequate anti-freeze, would not freeze over. Walt even contemplated using a WED-WAY PeopleMover to transport guests and their luggage from the parking structure to the individual hotels (located in the distance). The PeopleMover is not pictured here as the development team didn’t know if it would be financially feasible to install one at the resort. Remember: at this time the PeopleMover was still in development and didn’t yet exist at Disneyland. The Complex would also house restaurants, warming rooms, classrooms for arts-and-crafts, and of course “Go Go rooms,” which I’m pretty sure is 1960s-speak for dance clubs. From the second story, guests could catch a gondola to the top for skiing, camping (in summer) and a restaurant planned for the upper ridge. Someday I want to pull together all of the bits and pieces I’ve collected on Walt’s Mineral King into an essay. For example, Walt explored ideas about developing the 22-mile road from Hammond, CA to Mineral King as a naturalist “show road” and also building a Disney-Controlled Welcome Center at Three Rivers, partway up the mountain. In short, Walt wanted to manage the entire vacation experience, from the moment guests left the state highway. But for now, enjoy the long abandoned plans for the Gateway Center.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 01:13:27 +0000
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