Category — A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

By Jim Korkis

The Walt Disney Company asked architects Bernardo Fort Brescia and Laurinda Hope Spear of the Miami based architectural firm Arquitectonica to design a classic American kitschy motel resort for Disneyland Paris. They were working on a concept of a 1950s coast-to-coast roadside trip from the alligators and palm trees of Florida to teepees and giant cowboy boots in the western United States.

That project never evolved but as Fort-Brescia recalled, it led to the design of the All Star resorts: “It was there that we started evolving the notion, asking the question of why a theme would have to refer to an actual place. We began to explore the idea of themed architecture without place references but idea references instead.

“What if we remove ourselves from architectural themes and go more into the theme as an idea, not as a place or a time? Look at popular entertainment, at sports, music and movies.

“What if we make those the themes and turn them into popular architecture? After all, it’s a very American phenomenon. So we presented it as Pop Art and it worked.”

To create a value resort, the motel units with outdoor hallways were all identical, cast from the exact same mold, so the thing that makes Pop Century a Disney resort is the additional details of the railings, parapets, stairwells and vertical supports for the balconies decorated with gigantic, iconic images like surfboards, Coca-Cola cans and more.

“It comes from the same American culture as roadside architecture,” said Fort-Brescia. “You drive down the roads and there’s a big jack rabbit, a big hat or a big cup of coffee.”

For Pop Century, Arquitectonica expanded on the All Star resort design with what they referred to as “supergraphics” meaning huge words and phrases from the appropriate decade above the parapets to blend with the other icons.

However, for me, my favorite part of Pop Century is in the lobby.

A shadow box is an enclosed square or rectangular display case with a glass cover containing a variety of different objects usually centered on a specific theme. These decorative cases with memorabilia began as a military tradition for someone retiring and filled with badges, pin, flags and more from their service.

The lobby at Pop Century: Classic Years has a wall across from the front desk known as Memory Lane filled with shadow boxes showcasing roughly 750 items commemorating the different decades of the resort.

Jayne Alcorn, Show Production Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, worked with her team for six months to bid in online auctions and comb flea markets, antique shops, yard sales and vintage clothing stores as far north as Massachusetts and as far west as California to obtain items that would help set the resort’s nostalgic tone.

Alcorn said when the resort opened, “We searched for what America was playing with, what it was wearing and eating, what the popular TV shows and movies were, what inventions came out and what families did for vacation. We think Guests will just come in and reminisce on their own. Who could not be moved by all these memories?”

Then Walt Disney World President Al Weiss added, “Because of the popularity of our other value-category resorts – Disney’s All-Star Resorts – and the exciting atmosphere created by things like the pop culture icons, shadow boxes and incredible theming, we believe this will be a great addition to our resort inventory.”

A 1970s shadow box is dedicated to Walt Disney World with a copies of LOOK and LIFE magazine devoted to the opening of WDW, a page from the Orlando Sentinel of the opening of WDW, the official guidebook, a Mickey Mouse back scratch souvenir, a lunch box, ticket book and more. Nearby is a framed photo from the 1976 Magic Kingdom Bicentennial Parade.

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Thanks, Jim! And for more on Disney’s Pop Century Resort, see this.

And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Kungaloosh! The Mythic Jungles of Walt Disney World and Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World Resorts: Histories, Mysteries, and Theming, much of which was first published on this site.

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

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (41)

By Jim Korkis

• Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks: Celebrations Around the World from Fall to Winter by Graham Allan, Rebecca Cline and Charlie Price

Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks, a nearly seven pound, nearly 400 page book, is the very definition of a “coffee table” whose purpose is for display on a table that can be used to occasionally browse and also inspire conversation.

Some of you may already have a copy because when it was first published in October, it sold out its entire print run in the first month resulting in the secondary market charging three times the already hefty price for a copy. So it was hugely popular and remains so to this day. Thankfully, Disney Editions released a second printing in February, but it is still a chunk of change to purchase.

Like many Disney Editions books, Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks focuses primarily on illustrations that are absolutely stunning in color. In fact it has close to 2,000 large photographs (two-thirds of them taken just for this book), and that probably helped add to its final cost.

Like most Disney Editions there are more photos than words but while the accompanying text is concise, it is well written and researched. It is obvious that the stars of the book are the pictures, and you hear more people who purchased it exult over the beautiful photos than the accurate text.

When I first heard of the book, I was hoping it would also cover Easter (still celebrated elaborately at Tokyo Disneyland), Thanksgiving, July 4th and perhaps a few of the other holidays that the Disney parks have celebrated in the past.

As apparent by the book jacket, Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks focuses on Halloween and Christmas, but the bonus is that the large amount of space is used to showcase all the Disney parks, some parades, some Disney resorts and the Disney cruise ships celebrating those two holidays, so it is hard to grumble.

As a historian, I was especially appreciative of the black-and-white photos of vintage celebrations, most of which I had never seen before in my years of research. Too often, these books have slighted early Disney park history. I was also appreciative of the pointing out of some decorating details that I have missed in the past.

“After 10 years of research and more than 180,000 miles visiting every Disney park and resort around the world, we’re so excited to share the thrills, chills, fun, and breathtaking beauty of Disney Parks at the most festive times of the year,” said Becky Cline, current Director of the Disney Archives and a co-author of the book.

“We worked very hard to include new historical information about how the holidays were celebrated in the earliest days at Disneyland, along with many rare photos from the Walt Disney Archives. We also showed how Disney has developed over the years from those early homegrown type of events into some of the most wonderful holiday magic in the world.”

While my book arrived in perfect condition, please be warned that because of its size and weight, some people have received copies that had covers with varying degrees of damage, including corner dings and inside tearing. Part of the problem may be because the book is glued to the cover, probably to lower cost, rather than the traditional stitching. I have not heard of anyone receiving a copy with damage to the interior.

These large books are always more of a challenge to maneuver and I wonder if anyone is also buying book stands sometimes found in a library to support and read such a book.

Having written my own books with chapters about Disney’s celebrations of Christmas and Halloween (Vault of Walt Volume 7: Christmas Edition and Vault of Walt Volume 9: Halloween Edition), I willingly spent part of my recent stimulus check to add this book to my collection and I was not disappointed.

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

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Kungaloosh! The Mythic Jungles of Walt Disney World and Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World Resorts: Histories, Mysteries, and Theming, much of which was first published on this site.

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

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

MICKEY’S PHILHARMAGIC IN FANTASYLAND AT MAGIC KINGDOM

By Jim Korkis

Mickey’s PhilharMagic is a twelve minute long 3-D animated film that is enhanced by interactive effects like scents, vibration, jets of air and water.

Donald Duck must set up the instruments on the stage for the performance but is warned not to touch Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice magical hat that Mickey will use to conduct the instruments. Of course, Donald disobeys and finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magic that swirls the hat away.

Image (c) Disney

Donald follows to try to catch the hat that spins through several animated features including Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Aladdin and The Lion King.

“This is where all the Disney characters go to see concerts,” said Kevin Rafferty, senior show writer and director for Walt Disney Imagineering. “Today’s performance will feature Mickey Mouse conducting the PhilharMagic orchestra.

“What’s neat about this space is this is where Mickey made his debut as a conductor in the Mickey Mouse Revue when the Magic Kingdom Park opened. It’s exciting that Mickey is coming back in a next generation version of a classic character attraction.

“The theater has a beautiful musical motif inspired by the classic music halls of Europe, mixed with the design elements of Fantasyland. The décor inside has royal blues and golds, and the carpet has musical notes and instruments in the design. As soon as guests walk in the door, they’ll know it’s a very special, enchanted place.

“Donald decides he wants to be the conductor, so he puts on the enchanted hat and begins to conduct the instruments. The instruments give him a hard time and send him into this vortex like Alice in Wonderland.”

Creative Executive for Theme Park Productions at WDI George Scribner directed the animation. He also directed the animation for the Gran Fiesta Tour at the Mexico pavilion in Epcot. He started at Disney as an animator and became a director on Oliver & Company (1988).

He said, “For example, all of the close-ups and tight shots of Lumiere were done by Beauty and the Beast animator Nik Ranieri who animated the character in the original feature film. He was amazing. Here’s an animator who shifted from traditional animation to learn computer-generated techniques and nailed it.

“Then there was The Little Mermaid animator Glen Keane who animated Ariel in the original feature film. We wondered how we could make a scene with Ariel and Donald better, and Glen went in, reanimated it in computer-generated animation and it really showed.

“Music is an important element. Our goal was to convey the storyline through music and not have to rely on dialog, thus making the production more universal in scope which is one of the reasons that Donald was perfect for the starring role.”

According to the posters in the queue area, previous performances in the theater have included:

• “An Evening with Wheezy – Now in its final squeak!” Wheezy is a squeaky toy penguin from Toy Story movies.
• “Genie Sings the Blues.” Aladdin’s Genie is of course blue.
• “Hades Sings Torch Songs.” From Hercules, Hades is fond of fire.
• “Ariel’s Coral Group- A Must Sea.” The Little Mermaid’s poster is a pun on both undersea coral and musical “choral”.
• “Wolf Gang Trio performing Sticks, Stones and Bricks in B flat.” The Wolf Gang Trio is a musical group made up of the Three Little Pigs who defeated the Big Bad Wolf.
• “Festival de los Mariachis- Una Fiesta Festiva”. This poster advertises the Three Caballeros: Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles.

The large mural found in Mickey’s PhilharMagic’s queue is titled “Music on Parade,” and according to a plaque it was donated by Minnie Mouse. The mural features imagery from classic Disney cartoons that showcased music including: Toot, Whistle, Plunk & Boom (1953), Melody Time (1948) and Fantasia (1940).

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Thanks, Jim! And for more from Jim on Mickey’s PhilharMagic, see this and this.

And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Kungaloosh! The Mythic Jungles of Walt Disney World and Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World Resorts: Histories, Mysteries, and Theming, much of which was first published on this site.

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

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

FANTASY FAIRE IN FANTASYLAND AT MAGIC KINGDOM

By Jim Korkis

Disney fans like the joke that Disney purposely puts a merchandise shop at the exit of its ride attractions as a way of squeezing more money out of guests.

Actually, the original concept was more innocent. It was felt that after enjoying the emotional experience of an attraction, that guests might like a physical souvenir as a memento, and that by placing a merchandise location near the attraction would make things easier and perhaps prompt an impulse buy.

Over the decades, the shops became more themed to the particular attraction in addition to offering other general park merchandise.

Image (c) Disney

For instance, with the opening of Mickey’s PhilharMagic in 2003, the Fantasy Faire shop in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom underwent a transformation so that it was an extension of the new attraction.

The name of the store refers to the Renaissance fair atmosphere of Fantasyland and the outside banner design reinforces that theme. It opened in May 1995, replacing the Mad Hatter hat shop that had occupied the space since 1971.

The shop’s themed architecture features musical-instrument accents and fixtures situated around a hanging sculpture from the ceiling of an exasperated

Donald Duck entangled in thirteen musical instruments (thirteen because it is an unlucky number that is referenced in several Donald Duck theatrical short cartoons).

“In the attraction, Donald steals Mickey’s Sorcerer’s hat and the instruments attack him,” said Joni Van Buren, art director at Walt Disney Imagineering. “In the sculpture, he’s totally tied up in them and has that typical angry Donald ‘I couldn’t be more frustrated’ look.”

Not only does the shop offer attraction-logo merchandise but also many items featuring Donald Duck.

“Since Donald figures prominently into the attraction’s story, we needed a good selection of products with him,” said Kevin-Michael Lezotte, who was in charge of merchandise for the shop. “At the end of the story, Donald gets shot out of a trombone and crashes into a wall, so we created a design called Donald Breakthrough.

“Every product with this art is two-sided. With the T-shirt, Donald’s head and arms stick out through the front and his tail sticks out of the back, like he’s crashing through the shirt.

“We also created an Attitude Donald design with hats that say, ‘I’m not mad at you. I’m just naturally crabby’ and “Crabby yet loveable’. Like our successful Grumpy products that feature Grumpy and his attitude, we’ve taken Donald and allowed him to have that attitude.”

“Any time we have a new merchandise offering, it’s another great way to bring to life a tangible memory that guests can take home,” said Merchandise General Manager Mary Burns.

The shop also offers general park merchandise including custom embroidered Mickey Ears as well as character plush, pins, hats, plush dolls and t-shirts.

The shop also showcases a full-sized sculpture of Mickey Mouse dressed in a tuxedo but wearing the Sorcerer Apprentice’s hat and holding a baton standing behind a music podium getting ready to conduct an orchestra.

The shop has a pressed penny machine with four different images of Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Winnie the Pooh playing musical instruments.

The background music loop in the shop plays the same songs heard in the queue line to the attraction.

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

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Kungaloosh! The Mythic Jungles of Walt Disney World and Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World Resorts: Histories, Mysteries, and Theming, much of which was first published on this site.

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

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

CARS AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

By Jim Korkis

One of the four sections at Walt Disney World’s Art of Animation Resort is dedicated to the 2006 Pixar computer animated feature film Cars.

The section is painted to resemble the desert backdrop of the fictional town of Radiator Springs along the fabled Route 66. The full-sized automotive residents of the small town, like Sally, Mater, Doc, Luigi and Guido, as well as Lightning McQueen, greet guests as they walk down the freshly blacktopped road to the rooms situated in a building representing the Cozy Cone Motel from the movie.

The resort includes many references to the popular film that spawned two film sequels and tons of merchandise.

Of course, there are the beloved Hidden Mickeys in all four sections of the resort including the section devoted to Cars that has a Hidden Mickey made out of tires and hubcaps on the edges of the carpet. However the Cars section also has “Hidden Cars” in the cloud formations at the top of the buildings.

On the full-sized cars are details that are often unnoticed by guests. Like NASCAR cars, McQueen has a bunch of ads on his cars featuring parodies of human products including Gasprin and Leak Less Adult Drip Pans.

Fillmore is covered in bumper stickers with clever takes on being pro-recycling and environmentally friendly like “Pardon my back fire I eat veggie fuels”. Although Pixar is known for its 3D computer animation, Fillmore has a sticker that proclaims, “Save 2D Animation”.

Fillmore also has a registration like-sticker that mentions “Luxo.” Luxo is the official mascot of Pixar and is that little lamp you see jumping across the screen at the start of every Pixar film. Fillmore’s license plate (51237) is the birthday of George Carlin, the comedian who voiced the character. Carlin passed away in 2008, two years after the first Cars film.

Mater’s plate is A-113 and this is a reference that can be seen in some form in all Pixar films (in fact, it is the license number for all the cars in the animated feature). It refers to classroom A113 at the California Institute of the Arts where many students included John Lasseter and other future Pixar artists had classes.

Luigi’s plate strangely has the numbers 44.5-10.8 that seems to be a joke about the metric system used in his home of Italy. However, it may be a bit clever than that obvious assumption since it is also the GPS coordinates for a Ferrari manufacturing plant in Maranello, Italy.

While Flo’s SHO GIRL vanity plate may not seem all that clever, the Motorama 1957 above it is. The 1957 refers to John Lasseter’s birth year, and the Motorama refers to a wild and crazy car show that takes place every two years on the campus of Pixar.

In addition there is the Cozy Cone Pool with oversized orange traffic cones as cabanas. The rooms in the Cars section have a motel (motor hotel) “feel” where tool chests serve as drawers and storage spaces, while a map of Radiator Springs adorns the top of the coffee table.

The storyboard chandelier in Animation Hall has a storyboard drawing of McQueen signed by John Lasseter. Jerome Ranft, a character sculptor for Pixar signed a drawing of Mater tractor tipping. Pixar artist Josh Cooley autographed the drawing of Lightning McQueen chasing down Chick Hicks and The King.

In that drawing McQueen is numbered “57” instead of the number “95” he was in the film. Originally McQueen was going to be “57”, a reference to Lasseter’s year of birth but it was eventually changed to “95”, the year Toy Story debuted.

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Thanks, Jim! There’s much more on Disney’s Art of Animation Resort here. And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Kungaloosh! The Mythic Jungles of Walt Disney World and Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World Resorts: Histories, Mysteries, and Theming, much of which was first published on this site.

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

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (40)

By Jim Korkis

• The Ride Delegate and Would You Like Magic with That? by Annie Salisbury

Former Executive Vice President Dick Nunis would tell newly hired Walt Disney World cast members that “I can’t promise that you will like your job. I can’t promise that you will like the people you work with. I can promise you that as soon as you tell someone you work at Disney they will want to talk to you about it.”

It is definitely true that for people who have never worked at Walt Disney World there is a eager fascination in knowing what working there is like, and they often picture a pixie-dusted world. In truth, WDW is a business like any other, and so has its share of office politics, stupid arbitrary decisions, clueless managers, bad scheduling, poor pay, and worse.

Even some of the more high profile roles are plagued by these same things. When I worked at Epcot in Guest Relations, I had many Guest Relations friends who were part of Disney Special Activities–the VIP Tour Guides you see in the parks wearing plaid and herding people to ride).

The Private VIP Tour is an exclusive, customized experience lasting a minimum of seven hours.  Private Tours can accommodate groups up to ten guests. Celebrities and special guests of the Walt Disney Company usually have VIP Tour Guides to get them through crowds.

A Private VIP Tour is not a narrated history like the regular tours that can be booked, although guests can ask questions and do. Basically, the VIP Tour has a guide who can maneuver a guest quickly thanks to backstage access to the shows, rides (thanks to unlimited Fast Pass access), parades, and nighttime spectaculars (preferred viewing) or even transportation by van to another park so with a large group it is possible to pack the maximum amount of activity into a minimum amount of time.  Guests can pick their own itinerary.

Such Private VIP tours are not cheap. Pricing varies seasonally but can run up to $4,500 for the first seven hours.  Additional hours may be added at a rate of $425 – $750 per hour. Valid Theme park admission is required and is not included in the tour price. (By the way, the guide is paid their regular hourly rate, and does not receive a proportion of that exorbitant price).

Annie Salisbury (a pseudonym), the author of these two books, spent roughly three years working at Walt Disney World, primarily in Guest Relations and Disney Special Activities. Before being hired at WDW, she was a huge Disney fan and a frequent visitor with her family.

The Ride Delegate and Would You Like Magic with That? share some of her personal experiences in her roles in Guest Relations and Disney Special Activities, and her strong opinions. The books have short, anecdotal chapters and present the working situation through the perspective of the author.

These are not happy books, although you may find yourself smiling or laughing especially about how some Disney guests behave, like the female guest who complained long and loudly about not being able to hear the carousel music everywhere in the Magic Kingdom, because that was what was supposed to happen in an amusement park, and wouldn’t leave until it was fixed. She does not hesitate to share warts and all about her experiences, the frustrations and stress surrounding the job, and some may feel there might be too much whining and condescending about her situation, co-workers and guests.

However, for those interested in how some Disney Guest Relations cast members perceive their work and the guests they deal with during the day, these books will provide an insight into all of that and more.

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

In the meantime, check out his books, including his two new books,  Vault of Walt Volume 9: Halloween Edition, and Hidden Treasures of the Disney Cruise Line.

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