ElecTRONica Is Here! - Part 1

Yes, ElecTRONica has arrived at the Disneyland Resort and is filling the hole that was left behind by Glowfest. The following information is from the Disneyland Resort website:

"This high-energy street festival ignites Hollywood Pictures Backlot with fun for the whole family. Journey under the Recognizer and get swept into The Grid, where a live D.J. spins techno and dance music. Check out TRON: Legacy 3D Sneak Peek. Watch Sirens groove to the beats of Daft Punk and others, while digitally projected Lightcycles zoom around you. Face off with enemies and allies at Flynn's Arcade. Try incandescent concoctions at the End of the Line club. Be amazed by an eclectic array of street performers, including laser and martial artists."


Above, is the official concept art for ElecTRONica and below, is a photo of the Hollywood Pictures Backlot entrance.


The ElecTRONica overlay is a little bit "darker" than Glowfest.

This piece of concept art shows the "Hollywood Studios" section of the Hollywood Backlot.

The structure that guests are walking under is "The Recognizer".

Here's a better view of it in the daytime.

It appears to have been built over the existing Hollywood Studios arch. Here's a "before" shot:

And here's the view from the other side:

While we're in this area, let's take a brief detour and visit my old friend from Walt Disney World. Hey wait a minute, "One Of Our Sea Serpents Is Missing!" The Sea Serpent from EPCOT to be specific. I wonder if he will be making a return or if he is gone for good? There's nothing left in this area now except for some rust spots on the ground where the former World of Motion props once sat.......

.....oh, and these four columns.

Back to ElecTRONica.....a DJ booth now sits on top of the Sorcerer's Apprentice fountain.

Here's a "before" shot. It looks like Mickey may have been removed for the temporary overlay.


At night, dancers perform in this area.

Across the way in the Muppet theater, a 3-D film plays giving guests a sneak peek of the upcoming "TRON: Legacy" which opens on December 17th.

A recreation of a light cycle from the film sits outside the doors to the theater.

Here's a shot taken with the "dreaded" camera flash, but it helps to show the figure on top of the cycle a little better.

The diner set in this area now has a function! A bar and lounge area have been added to it.

A daytime shot:

And a "before" shot:


Next door, a recreation of Flynn's Arcade from "TRON: Legacy" has been set up in the old Hollywood and Dine restaurant space.

Please check back for Part 2 of this post where we will go inside Flynn's and have a look around. We will also take a look at a piece of Tron ephemera that I have saved since the early 1980's.

POST UPDATE: Click (HERE) for Part 2 of this series.

ElecTRONica Is Here! - Part 2 (Flynn's Arcade)

Welcome to Part 2 of my ElecTRONica series (to read Part 1, Click Here.) The flyer below is being handed out to guests as they enter the Disneyland Resort parking structure.



Before we take a look inside Flynn's Arcade, I thought I would post just a few more general shots of ElecTRONica. Here's another view of the entrance.

And another attempt at a nighttime shot of "The Recognizer".

In Part 1 of my ElecTRONica series, I posted a daytime photo of the DJ booth in front of the Monsters Inc. attraction. Here's what it looks like at night. The people in the foreground are all dancing the night away.

And now we'll enter Flynn's Arcade, which is located in the former Hollywood and Dine restaurant.

It feels like 1982 all over again! The arcade is filled with vintage video games....LIKE, TOTALLY! Also, the music playing throughout the arcade appears to be specifically from 1982....."We Got The Beat", "Gloria" and "Rock The Casbah", just to name a few of the songs from memory.

The games all take special tokens that are available from a change machine. Each token costs .25 cents and the games all take just one token to play!

I experienced a temporary flare-up of "Pac-Man wrist" after playing just a few of these vintage games.

I never did get hooked on Donkey Kong. Where's the donkey anyway?

But I used to play Frogger a lot!

How can you not love that font and those graphics.....a frog trying to cross the road while wearing a tie and carrying a briefcase!


Watch out for the cars!

There's some cool neon artwork on the walls of the arcade.

"The Recognizer" from TRON is depicted in neon.

And here's the actual TRON video game from the 1980's.

The "flash" picture below, reveals a secret doorway hidden behind the game. Since "TRON: Legacy" doesn't come out until December 17th, I really can't tell you much more about this door other than the fact that it's shown very briefly in the "sneak peek" that's currently being shown in the Muppet Theater in the Hollywood Backlot. In the movie, the hidden doorway is located behind the Tron game in Flynn's arcade, just as it is here in the recreation. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: They show the door open in the preview and there's a dusty office with an old computer sitting on a desk located behind the wall.

I used to love the TRON arcade game too. The Starcade in Tomorrowland had several TRON machines once upon a time. The Buffalo Nickel Arcade below Knott's Bear-y Tales at Knott's Berry Farm had a few TRON machines as well.

Here are two of TRON's four games. The Lightscycle Grid:

And the Tank Maze:

The item below, is something that I've had since the eighties. It's a flyer from Bally/Midway, the makers of the TRON arcade game. These must have been distributed to arcade owners to try and get them to purchase the units.

Flynn's Arcade is supposed to be temporary, but it appears to be very popular.....ESPECIALLY with adults. I think it would be great if when ElecTRONica is over, they moved all the machines to the Starcade in Tomorrowland. It would definitely bring more business in there than what they get now....but who knows if they would be smart enough to do that? For now, I'll be reliving my video game-playing days over at California Adventure. See you all at Flynn's Arcade. I'll be the one wearing the wrist brace!

*****Post Update (April 2024)*****

 

I was recently going through my collection of vintage newspaper clippings, and I came across this advertisement from The Los Angeles Times.  It's for the 1982 theatrical release of the original Tron.  It looks like it had a limited or "select" release, at first.  I did go see the film that summer, but I can't remember how soon it was, after it's July 9th release.  I should consult my old calendars, since I would usually write that kind of thing down on them.