Disney Shuffles Its Plans, Cuts Hollywoodland : Entertainment: The re-creation of the famed boulevard in its heyday was shelved because of the proposed Westcot theme park.

A year after announcing a decade-long schedule of new rides and attractions at Disneyland, officials at the nation’s first theme park have reshuffled the projects and axed plans for a fantasy version of famed Hollywood Boulevard.

The changes include an earlier debut for a ride featuring the Roger Rabbit movie character, dropping plans for a Dick Tracy attraction, delaying a planned renovation of Tomorrowland by a year and using the character Indiana Jones as a ride instead of a stage show.

Several rides and shows based on Muppets characters had to be removed from the schedule after Disney and heirs of the late Muppet creator Jim Henson failed to reach agreement on use of characters such as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. After a bitter legal spat recently, Disney bought rights to use the characters in its Florida theme parks but not in California.

Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner last year announced a list of Disneyland projects scheduled until the year 2000, dubbing the changes “the Disney Decade.” Although the agenda has shifted radically since, Disneyland President Jack Lindquist said scheduling changes are a reflection that “things are always in a state of flux” at Disneyland.

The biggest change in Disney’s plan was the elimination--at least for now--of what company officials once described as their “most ambitious” project for the 1990s: Hollywoodland.

The stylized re-creation of Hollywood’s heyday in the 1930s and 1940s was shelved because its proposed construction would come at the same time as development of the proposed Westcot theme park nearby. Trying to keep Disneyland open while major construction projects are under way both inside and outside the park would be unworkable, Lindquist said.

“That is not to say it will never happen,” he said of Hollywoodland. “But it is not on the menu right now.”

Westcot, a proposed $3-billion theme park patterned after Florida’s Epcot Center, would open in 1998, a year before Hollywoodland. In announcing the Westcot project two weeks ago, Disney said it will decide by the end of 1991 whether to build Westcot or a competing ocean-themed park near the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

If the Long Beach project is chosen, Lindquist said, Hollywoodland could be put back on the schedule.

Situated next to Tomorrowland, the proposed Hollywoodland would be set against a large-scale model of the Hollywood sign. It would include such rides as Baby Herman’s Runaway Buggy, based on Roger Rabbit cartoons, and Great Movie Ride, an idea borrowed from the Disney-MGM Studio theme park in Florida.

The removal of Hollywoodland from the construction schedule comes as Disney is attempting to acquire about 70 acres of undeveloped land for “future expansion” cater-corner to Disneyland. Disney executives said, however, that there are no immediate plans to develop a movie-theme attraction on the undeveloped land.

Kerry Hunnewell, a vice president for Disney Development Co., said the 70-acre property is slated to be used for “entertainment” such as a new or expanded theme park.

“We do not have any concrete plans for what the specific use of the property would be other than another entertainment facility that would be consistent with our goal of developing a world-class resort,” Hunnewell said.

Some analysts agreed that delaying or canceling Hollywoodland makes sense given the enormity of the Westcot project.

“I think they have got to take care of everything in order,” said Stephen J. Clark, a theme park consultant in Tustin.

Remodeled Renovation Plan

1991 Plane Crazy--A daily stage show featuring characters from the Disney Afternoon television shows.

Afternoon Avenue--A photo location area and play areas involving characters from the Disney Afternoon.

Celebration USA--Daily parade along Main Street to celebrate various aspects of life in America, featuring a different American hero every day as grand marshal.

1992 Imagination--A live show with special effects daily on

the “Rivers of America” in Frontierland, the circular lake where the

steamboat sails.

1993 Mickey’s Toontown--Like Mickey’s Starland, a mythical village that includes homes and haunts of Disney characters.

Roger Rabbit Ride--A ride based on the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

1995 New Tomorrowland--One of Disneyland’s most famous “lands” will be completely renovated. It will include a new Alien Encounter ride, new 3-D film and circle-vision movie. The Mission to Mars will be among the outdated attractions due to be scrapped. Same as previous plan, only a year later.

1997 Indiana Jones Ride--A new ride using a revolutionary type of technology to take guests on one of Indy’s adventures.

1999 Hollywoodland--Dropped from plan. An entirely new “land” that would have catapulted visitors into an idealized Hollywood Boulevard in its movie-making heyday. A towering backdrop would have featured the Hollywood sign, and several rides would have been themed on movie and television production. Could be resurrected if Long Beach, instead of Anaheim, is chosen as the site of Disney’s second theme park.