The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (181 page)

Mission Tortilla Factory (Pacific Wharf)
(RIP May 31, 2011 – Now
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop
)

[
FastView:
 
Defunct.  This entry has been retained for historical interest only.  This is now the
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop
.
]

Just southeast of the
Boudin Bakery
was
Pacific Wharf
’s
Mission Tortilla Factory
, another of DCA’s opening day attractions.  Like the
Bakery Tour
, this was a minor attraction that celebrated one of California’s notable food products, and while it was interesting, Guests with limited time to spend in the park could skip it without worrying that they were missing anything
magical
.

Guests queue
d outside the entrance on the northeast corner of the building, and seldom had to wait more than a few moments to be admitted.

Guests enter
ed a room decorated with colorful murals and clever holographic displays of a family engaged in pounding corn (maize) and making tortillas in the time-consuming, laborious, traditional way. The holographic show was projected into four separate monitors, two mounted at adults’ eye level, two mounted at kids’ eye level.  Peering into the displays gave one the uncanny impression of watching Lilliputian actors performing their skit within a shadow box mounted in the wall.

The next stop
was the
Tortilla Factory
floor, where, behind glass partitions, labeled machines and equipment visually told the story of how corn and flour tortillas are crafted.

Mission Foods
was launched in 1949 by Don Roberto Gonzalez and his father, not in California but in Monterrey, Mexico.  Gonzalez had developed a modern, automated process that removed the back-breaking components of grinding corn flour and crafting tortillas and made the work faster and more efficient.  According to
Mission
’s website the company now has factories globally and produces a quarter of the world’s tortillas (
www.missionmenus.com/pressroom
).

When you finished examining the tortilla-making equipment, a Cast Member offered you a hot, fresh tortilla (delicious!).  If it was your birthday, you received a free tortilla pack.

If you
timed your visit right, the kitchen near the exit was hosting cooking demonstrations.

Before
Guests left, they often paused at the special scale near the exit and weighed themselves; the scale displayed Guests’ weight in tortillas!

On May 31, 2011, as summer was drawing nigh in So Cal,
Mission Tortilla Factory
said “goodbye”.  It reopened as the
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop
in summer 2012, a restaurant that has proven extremely popular with Guests.  This corner was once all but deserted; now, with the arrival of
Ghirardelli
, it’s a mecca for smiling chocolate lovers all day and night. 
Domenico Ghirardelli
emigrated to the United States in 1849 to strike it rich in the gold fields of California.  He didn’t make a fortune in gold–but the San Francisco confectionary company he founded became world-famous
Ghirardelli Chocolates
.  
Did You Know?
  Mexican cuisine is represented at
Pacific Wharf
by
Cocina Cucamonga
, which moved to more spacious premises in autumn 2009. 
FastPass:
  No.  This self-guided tour didn’t lend itself to the
FastPass
format.  It seldom to never had long waits or long lines. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  I love[d] the tortilla tour!  It [was] fun, and at the end you [got] a flour or corn tortilla.

Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cell
ar

[
FastView:
  Disney
fans will want to put this on their itinerary.  A glimpse into the
Imagineering
process, including sketches, models, and video presentations.  Sometimes Guests get a preview of new
Disney magic
yet to be unveiled.
]

When the
Imagineers
realized that
DCA
needed a substantial re-imagining, they understood that Guests would embrace the sweeping changes more readily and cheerfully if they understood the changes and were given a timeline and a concrete vision of what to expect.

Imagineers
also comprehended that Guests enjoy glimpses of the
Imagineering
process, seeing early drafts and projected renderings of attractions, reading blueprints, and hearing stories about everything the
Imagineering
team creates.

To achieve this goal, in October of 2008 the lightly attended
Seasons of the Vine Theater
in the
Golden State
’s wine country re-opened as the
Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar
.

Its ongoing mission is to entertain and inform Guests interested in the comprehensive improvements being made
at the resort.

The
Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar
is northwest of
“a bug’s land”
and north of
Pacific Wharf
, the district to which it’s presently assigned.  The stone and wood structure retains the handsome style of the former
Seasons of the Vine Theater
, including the
faux
casks of wine lining one wall, but now ambitious plans and designs, rather than vintages, are fermenting here.

Guests peruse the
Cellar
’s displays at their own pace and in whatever sequence they choose.  A lot of information is distilled in the compact space.

There are blueprints, colorful
illustrations, memos, models, and even
Imagineers
’ doodles on napkins or scraps of paper.  Great ideas come to
Imagineers
anytime, anywhere, and the range of materials on display here convey the journey from initial inspiration to fully realized attraction.

The
displays featured change and evolve over time.  In a brief film that continuously loops (and is continuously updated,
Disney Imagineers
and execs explain the origin of new attractions, their features, their ties to
Walt
, and the timelines for their construction and opening.

You never know what you’ll see. 
For a time during
DCA
’s renovations, the
Blue Sky Cellar
presented an amazing animated map that displayed “the new
DCA
,” including little vehicles (trolley cars, rafts, racers) that actually moved along the map’s routes.

Later
, in honor of
Cars Land
’s triumphant 2012 opening, the
Imagineering
film was replaced temporarily by a series of
Mater’s Tall Tales
, and the map was replaced by a wealth of
Cars
artifacts, part of a
Radiator Springs
exhibit curated by historian
Sally
.

In early 2013, the
Blue Sky Cellar
exhibited a video and sketches and models detailing the
Fantasy Faire
extension of
Fantasyland
. 
Fantasy Faire
opened on March 12, 2013, delivering storybook architecture, a new home for the princesses, and two new shows (based on
Beauty and the Beast
and
Tangled
) to
Fantasyland
, and
Blue Sky Cellar
gave Guests all sorts of wonderful “insider” glimpses.

Want to test your
Disney
smarts?  Interactive touch screens mounted below the wine barrels offer
Disney
trivia quizzes.  Get five out of five questions correct, and you get bragging rights as an “honorary”
Imagineer
!  Before leaving the attraction, take a moment to appreciate the
Imagineers
’ “punny” sense of humor by reading the clever labels on the wine barrels and the bottles of wine (“Zin-Fun-Del,” anyone?).

Whether you’re looking for specific intel on
new park projects, or you’re just interested in the
Imagineering
process in general, you’ll want to explore the nooks and crannies of this
Blue Sky Cellar
.  Visit this attraction frequently; there’s always something new to see. 
Did You Know?
 
Blue Sky
refers to part of the
Imagineering
process.  During a
Blue Sky
session, the sky is literally the limit, meaning there are no limits.  Any idea can be heard and nothing is second-guessed or taken off the table. 
Blue Sky
sessions encourage the broadest and deepest range of creativity, generating a wealth of concepts.  Even if an idea doesn’t come to fruition, it might be drawn upon later–even years later–for another attraction, shop, restaurant, show, or theme park. Companies in many different industries have adopted
Disney
’s
Blue Sky
approach to developing new products and services.  The principle of keeping an open mind and letting the sky be the limit in early development phases is applicable across industries. 
FastPass:
  A self-paced and self-guided tour, the
Blue Sky Cellar
doesn’t lend itself to the
FastPass
system.  Although popular, the
Cellar
usually has plenty of room for Guests to watch the film and observe all drawings, paintings, and models.

Pacific Wharf
Gear and Grub

Gear:

Embarcadero

[
FastView:
 
This small shop sells
Little Mermaid
and
World of Color
treasures.
]

When
Disneyland Resort
’s summer season launched on June 3, 2011, the eagerly anticipated
Little Mermaid
attraction opened on the western shore of
Paradise Bay.
Right next door, in
Pacific Wharf
, a shop called the
Embarcadero
opened in a structure that used to be dedicated to
backstage
usage.

The
Embarcadero
is a small store with a highly focused array of merchandise: 
Little Mermaid
souvenirs ranging from inexpensive T-shirts, towels, and pins, to high-end
Ariel
jewelry, and a colorful, glowing assortment of
World of Color
goods.

The
Embarcadero
is small and, located as it is at the nexus of
Pacific Wharf
,
Paradise Pier
, and
Grizzly Peak
, it can become crowded.  But don’t worry; the shop has multiple exits if you begin to feel a tad bit claustrophobic.

It’s nice to
finally
have a store in this section of the park, where a row of colorful Victorian structures evoke the “painted ladies” of San Francisco’s golden era.  Once merely a facade, this narrow block now hosts a massive rest room complex as well as the
Embarcadero
shop.  The Victorian homes are thematically tied to the facsimile rotunda of San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Fine Arts across the road; the rotunda anchors the entrance to
Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
and further enhances the San Francisco flavor of this district. 
Did You Know?
  The
real
, world-famous Embarcadero is the waterfront of the Port of San Francisco, California–literally, “the place from which one embarks”.  It’s a fitting name for a shop in
DCA
’s San Francisco-themed portion of the bay.  Does the city of San Francisco have any
Disney
connections?  Decidedly, yes. 
Walt
’s eldest daughter
Diane Disney Miller
and her family settled near San Francisco, and the
Walt Disney Family Museum
, which opened on October 1, 2009, is located at the Presidio (
http://www.waltdisney.org
).