Race Through NY Starring Jimmy Fallon

[WAJAS]

A great theme park tradition from New Orleans Square at Disneyland to Knockturn Alley. I'm at a loss as to why the parks aren't full of things like this. Everyone loves them.

They're relatively expensive compared to what you get out of them.

 

[JoeCamel]

They're relatively expensive compared to what you get out of them.

They don't make money directly but the GS is through the roof and I have to think UC gets a kick out of putting something like this together. Great for morale in-house and for the guest. They do have value IMO

 

[epcyclopedia]

It's an evolving art form.

First you have the lands of Disneyland. Where everything just sort of fits within a motif. It aren't really tied together in a cohesive narrative.

From those you got the much stronger individual attractions, but still singular entities.

Tomorrowland's redo and then EPCOT Center is where you have areas where the various attractions interplay with each other. In Tomorrowland it was just physical and aesthetically, but then at Epcot they start grouping them by themes/concepts.

I think rise of the movie set "theme" where everything has a "oh look it's fake" side eroded the progress for a while. You see in attractions from the early 80's that show lighting is recessed, baffles and curtains hide mechanics, etc... then in the 90's (age of Studio parks) the mechanics are all exposed in this "isn't what we did neat?" format. Almost like a boastful magician.

AK realigns from that, as did TDS and IOA. But then we dip back into the self referential and "aren't we neat?" for a while. Then Potter brings us back, but we regress a little, and then now we've got Volcano Bay and Pandora both opening and bother fairly elaborate in their place making and overall storytelling.

 

[epcyclopedia]

And there's talk of another possible World Showcase pavilion. It's been since like 1986 since the company seriously considered building one, pointing how things cycle and sometimes take a looooong time.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

From OU..

 

[Nick]

Those costumes look like they would fit in the WWoHP, but I assume they are supposed to be pages.

 

[Alicia]

Those costumes look like they would fit in the WWoHP, but I assume they are supposed to be pages.

I hear NBC Page, you know what I think, right?

 

[Kungaloosh1937]

They more or less match the newer NBC Page outfits introduced a few years back. You can google NBC Page and image search it.

 

[Scott W.]

From OU..

I pray that the building has AC for the TMs wearing that many layers.

 

[Jwhee]

Those costumes look like they would fit in the WWoHP, but I assume they are supposed to be pages.

I pray that the building has AC for the TMs wearing that many layers.

They're only wearing those jackets because it is around 45 degrees outside

 

[Nick]

They're only wearing those jackets because it is around 45 degrees outside

The jacket isn't why I said it looked like it could fit in WWoHP.

 

[Scott W.]

 

[wreck]

I want to give another perspective on the "I hate Fallon" meme...I hate New York.
There you have it. In 1987 I slept on the floor of Port Authority and got kicked in my stomach by a police officer the next morning to wake up.
Still looking forward to the ride.

Maybe they thought you were from Jersey
:box:

 

[GadgetGuru]

A great theme park tradition from New Orleans Square at Disneyland to Knockturn Alley. I'm at a loss as to why the parks aren't full of things like this. Everyone loves them.

If you're on a one-day trip and have to do everything in the park, you're not going to be paying a ton of attention to areas like this sadly. I'm a big believer that most people follow that model.

I'm a firm advocate for building more areas like that though. Those little nooks are the reason I enjoy theme parks.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Those alleys are immersive, but if there's a budget it's the first thing to go.
Knockturn has shops and NYC was used for filming

 

[Alicia]

Those alleys are immersive, but if there's a budget it's the first thing to go.
Knockturn has shops and NYC was used for filming

I remember on the (short-lived) production tram tour at Universal Florida they explained that the alley in the NY backlot area had been used in many movies and was made in a way that it could be dressed for several different time periods. They usually used "Matinee" starring John Goodman as an example of a film that shot in that alley, (although I don't believe there was much else actually shot there besides TV and commercials.) I know some Nickelodeon shows like "Clarissa Explains it All" and "All That" shot a little there. Almost the entire opening for All That was shot there, with additional shots from the garage doors next to what is now the Starbucks, and shots on the porches of the NY apartment buildings across from Fallon/Twister/Ghostbusters.



So yea, the alley in NY is awesome for guests and a nice quiet throughway for me, but was originally built with the intention of showing off how movie sets use curving alley designs to create a sense of going on forever, so they can shoot from many angles without seeing through to the other side.

EDIT: And a scene from "Parenthood" with Steve Martin was shot in that alley as well, dressed to look like the back of Mystery Fun House (remember Mystery Fun House?) And I wouldn't be surprised if a scene from Problem Child 2 was shot there as well. Those were all the movies mentioned on the tram tour. They were so proud of the 3 movies that shot there.

 

[Mad Dog]

I remember on the (short-lived) production tram tour at Universal Florida they explained that the alley in the NY backlot area had been used in many movies and was made in a way that it could be dressed for several different time periods. They usually used "Matinee" starring John Goodman as an example of a film that shot in that alley, (although I don't believe there was much else actually shot there besides TV and commercials.) I know some Nickelodeon shows like "Clarissa Explains it All" and "All That" shot a little there. Almost the entire opening for All That was shot there, with additional shots from the garage doors next to what is now the Starbucks, and shots on the porches of the NY apartment buildings across from Fallon/Twister/Ghostbusters.



So yea, the alley in NY is awesome for guests and a nice quiet throughway for me, but was originally built with the intention of showing off how movie sets use curving alley designs to create a sense of going on forever, so they can shoot from many angles without seeing through to the other side.

EDIT: And a scene from "Parenthood" with Steve Martin was shot in that alley as well, dressed to look like the back of Mystery Fun House (remember Mystery Fun House?) And I wouldn't be surprised if a scene from Problem Child 2 was shot there as well. Those were all the movies mentioned on the tram tour. They were so proud of the 3 movies that shot there.

Excellent & interesting trivia. :thumbsup:

 

[Alicia]

Excellent & interesting trivia. :thumbsup:

Thanks. Not to stray too far off topic (forgot this was the Fallon thread,) but I swear I'm going crazy. It's hard to find anyone else that remembers the tram tour at Universal Florida. A lot of my trivia about the park I learned from that ride, and it's like it has been erased from history.

Many theme park blogs report history as something like "Universal set their Orlando park apart from Hollywood by eliminating the tram tour and focusing instead on individual rides... which is half-true... or "After Disney MGM Studios opened featuring a tram tour, Universal decided to scrap theirs when building Universal Studios Florida," totally not true at all. Makes me nuts.

From Wikipedia:

The Production Studio Tour opened with the park on June 7, 1990. Guests would board a tram in front of soundstage 19 (which was located next to Nickelodeon Studios.) From there they would be taken on a 15-minute journey into and around various sound stages as well as being taken on a general tour around the park. Upon the completion of the tour, guests would exit into The Universal Studios Store where they could purchase a variety of merchandise. The tour was closed in 1995, yet The Universal Studios Store remains open to this day

Okay, sorry, aside over. Back to Fallon.

 

[Speed]

Looks like the glasses are called "Racing Goggles"

 

[graspthesun]

I know some Nickelodeon shows like "Clarissa Explains it All" and "All That" shot a little there. Almost the entire opening for All That was shot there, with additional shots from the garage doors next to what is now the Starbucks, and shots on the porches of the NY apartment buildings across from Fallon/Twister/Ghostbusters.

So what you're telling me is that I've stood on the same ground as Lori Beth Denberg? That's officially made my day.