Yum Yum Palace Construction

This fanciful artist's rendering was featured on early park postcards.   The original plan featured a much more elaborate rooftop display than was ever created because of budgetary constraints
A surveyor's level sits on the site of the Yum Yum Palace as workers form the foundation for the concrete block kitchen portion of the building
View from near the Aqua Stadium, it appears the basic concrete block structure of the kitchen is nearly complete
The intricate steel work of the curved corners on the porch is beginning to reveal the finished shape of the building
Workers piece together the intricate angles of the steel structure to create the buildings graceful curves
The steel structure for the first of the four porch corners is in place.   The elegant grace of the structure will eventually be covered with the fanciful fiberglass ice cream scoops
Workers top off the highest point of the building with the traditional American Flag
The wooden facade begins to take shape around the porch.   Another of the steel towers awaits placement on the roof, and some of the fiberglass columns lay on the ground wrapped in plastic, waiting for placement around the steel columns
The fiberglass columns are fabricated off-site and painted in their fanciful colors before they are trucked to the park
Workers spend hours creating the elaborate decorative paint scheme  by hand on each of the column tops
Workers install one of the decorative columns along the edge of the porch.  
With the columns in place, the large scoops of ice cream for the roof begin to arrive
The two tops of the sundaes arrive at the park awaiting placement
Workers install one of the massive ice cream swirls atop the arch over the front of the building.   The larger than life scale of all the buildings in the park is unique since no forced perspective (gradual reduction in scale as a building grows in height) is used...the larger than life aspect is consistent as seen here
The panels that make up the lower portions of the sundaes sit ready to be placed on the roof.   The building itself seems to be nearly complete with the large windows in place as well as the decorative edge panels.   Additional details have yet to be added as well as the massive doors and ornate porch railing
The decorative band is applied along the edge of the roof, and the Skyride tower stands waiting for the cables
A crane lowers the topmost layer of the sundae on the first of the corners to be completed.   Only two of the four corners received the full set of fiberglass decorations due to shortages in funds after cost overruns in other areas of construction
From the roof the arch of colorful ice cream swirls appear to be complete while the sundae looks nearly complete minus a few final touches.   Just beyond, the roof of the Carousel appears to have just started construction, though the newly restored Carousel appears to be ready to run
As opening day gets closer the Yum Yum Palace looks like it's nearly complete as workers continue to install lights along Dream Street
Go to the Construction Overview See the Yum Yum Palace (Character Cafe) as it stands today