A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Disney Springs

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

DISNEY SPRINGS

By Jim Korkis

Downtown Disney, which was three separate unconnected sections in terms of an overall story, has recently been re-imagined as a re-themed cohesive retail and entertainment venue now called Disney Springs that encompasses approximately 120 acres.

When the new plans were announced on March 14, 2013, Walt Disney World Imagineer Theron Skees, executive creative director of the project said, ” It’s kind of a unifying storyline that we felt would really reinvigorate the property and really give it an identity all of its own.”

With more than 900 springs, Florida has one of the largest concentrations of freshwater springs on Earth. A few springs gave birth to towns, including Silver Springs in Marion County, Green Cove Spring in Clay County, and De Leon Springs in Volusia County.

The Imagineering storyline is that Disney Springs also attracted its first settlers “more than a century ago” and, over the decades, the town continued to expand naturally into four distinct districts: Town Center, The Landing, Marketplace and West Side. The architecture of Disney Springs varies by district.

For instance, on the West Side there are remnants of overhead train tracks that were supposedly built for the fictional 1950 Springs Centennial Expo that is shown on a poster in D-Luxe Burgers and Guest Relations. That Expo had hot air balloons and a big distinctive central structure like most World’s Fairs that later became Characters in Flight and the Cirque du Soleil building.

“The story is really of a small town that grew up around a natural spring,” Skees said. “It’s a story that’s really not unlike lots of small towns in Florida that grew up in the same kind of way. It has sort of a nod to the history of Florida as it developed and grew up over the years.”

As Briana Ricci, an Imagineer in charge of character paint and finishing, said about creating the actual springs, “We started with a base coat, followed by air compressor hoppers that poured out our accent colors which resulted in a color blend you would get in a nice water color painting. We only had a half hour or so before the cement dried completely and became as solid as a rock which made it all a challenge.

“We included colored glass, which was a very critical element because we have a limited palette, so we needed something to enhance and push our colors and depth, something bright and vibrant as well as long lasting with zero maintenance,” she said.

Natural elements that already existed in the area like oak trees, cypress trees and plants were saved and incorporated into the design. However, Imagineering also created some other elements like carving tree roots in the water so that the entire area felt integrated.

Disney Springs was inspired in part by Kismet, Florida, now a vanished town that was once located in the Ocala National Forest area. Before the early 1900s, it was a new community built around citrus groves near Alexander Springs. Kismet was where Walt and Roy Disney’s parents met and married, although they moved to Chicago not long afterward where Walt and Roy were born.

Skees stated: “When Walt came to Florida and bought the property to begin with, we love the idea that maybe his parents told him about the area and when it was purchased that this idea of Disney Springs was sort of central to it.”

The goal of the Imagineers was to capture the warmth and nostalgia of an old-fashioned small town neighborhood, in much the same spirit as Main Street U.S.A., from a simpler time but with an “upscale vibe” when it came to the stores and restaurants. They didn’t want just another shopping and dining location, but for guests to be immersed in an experience.

Tom Staggs, former Disney Chief Operating Officer and the former chair of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, stated: “That sense of welcome, that sense of embrace, especially with this great center around The Springs, is going to be instinctive and natural for our guests.”

“We get asked … why we spend so much time on the storytelling, even in a place that isn’t a theme park. It guides our development and keeps us rooted in a sense of place.”

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

RELATED STUFF

• A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis
• w. Most Recent Stuff