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.

YOUR DISNEY LIBRARY: SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN

By Jim Korkis

I am fortunate that over the decades, my personal Disney library of books has grown to fill multiple shelves. It seems that more new Disney related books are coming out every month and it gets quite overwhelming.

Dave Shute recently suggested that once a month I select a book related to Walt Disney World that is either in print or easily attainable so that fans of the Florida project might consider expanding their own personal libraries.

Today, I am going to start with a book that is an important foundation for any WDW book library: Since The World Began – Walt Disney World The First 25 Years by Jeff Kurtti that was published on October 1, 1996 by Disney Editions and is 192 pages long.

There is both a hardcover and paperback edition and I would strongly recommend you purchase the hardcover edition because it will better survive constant use. While it has been out of print for nearly twenty years, it is still available at very reasonable prices on Amazon.com here.

Why would I strongly recommend a book that is twenty years out of date? It was originally rushed into print as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the popular Florida vacation destination. Disney’s Animal Kingdom had just opened six months earlier. The book is long overdue to be expanded and updated.

That being said, the information about the history, planning, design, building and philosophy of Walt Disney World is still accurate and valuable, with some of that material appearing nowhere else. The book also offers some glimpses of things that were announced but never built.

Do not use this book for vacation planning (use The easy Guide instead–Dave), but rather as a wonderful nostalgic time travel trip to a Walt Disney World that many remember and miss, as well as accurate documentation on things that no longer exist.

Author Jeff Kurtti is an acknowledged Disney historian with over two dozen books to his credit and countless articles. Disney fans will instantly recognize his name from his informative and accurate articles on all things Disney that have appeared in magazines and websites.

He worked for Walt Disney Imagineering and then in the Disney Corporate Special Projects department. He was a creative director, content consultant and media producer for the Walt Disney Family Museum in its earliest days. He continues to consult with the Disney company on a variety of projects including producing documentaries. He knows his stuff and has a clear and accessible writing style.

In fact, he has a book scheduled for publication in April 2008 entitled Travels with Walt Disney: A Photographic Voyage Around the World that I have already pre-ordered sight unseen.

Jeff presents the story of Walt Disney World in a somewhat chronological order in eight well written chapters that are filled with many interesting sidebars so as not to disrupt the main narrative, and fairly large colorful photos, including some appearing nowhere else. The foreword is by Roy E. Disney, then vice chairman of the Walt Disney Company, who was someone Jeff worked closely with on many different projects.

The text only occasionally displays the sanitized “Disney approved narrative” so common in recent books from Disney Editions trying to protect a brand image. Obviously, Jeff was constrained by the pre-determined length but is clever enough to pack in more historical details, anecdotes, and insights than books twice this size.

Jeff’s connections with Imagineers and unlimited access to the Disney Archives as well as other personal resources provides a perspective lacking in some other books. The book devotes a full chapter to each of the theme parks but Jeff also includes sidebars on resorts, background information on behind-the-scenes topics like Reedy Creek, and even squeezes in two pages about the Disney Cruise Line.

Personally, despite its age I still use this book frequently when I am writing articles usually to help verify information or to give me ideas for topics. So, as an inexpensive and valuable resource, I strongly recommend adding this book to your personal Disney library.

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Thanks, Jim! Since the World Began is available on Amazon here. And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Call Me Walt, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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.

THE DISNEY COAT OF ARMS

By Jim Korkis
“(Dad) is not one of those to think the family tree is terribly important because of any important connections you might have had,” Walt’s daughter Sharon recalled. “He just thinks that it’s interesting to know just where your family came from. What they did. He was proud that they were good, honest people who worked hard and amounted to something in their own little way.”

Isgny-sur-Mer is a small village on the French coast near Normandy where Allied troops landed during World War II.

From this location nine centuries earlier, French soldiers sailed to invade England and after the battles remained and established a new life. Among those soldiers was Hughes d’Isgny and his son Robert.

In that era, people were often identified by the town from where they came. So Robert d’Isgny meant it was the Robert who was from the French seacoast town. Over the decades, the name became anglicized to the more familiar “Disney”.

Some of Walt’s ancestors came over to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, and some of them ended up in the small village and parish of Norton Disney in the western boundary of the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire from around the 13th century.

St. Peter’s Church in the village has five monuments of Disneys (including Sir William, a knight) which have shields on them bearing three lions passant.

The “Disney window” in the church at Flintham, Nottinghamshire, has one quartering that is Argent, three lions passant in pale gules.

A surname like Disney may have many different Coats of Arms since it was granted to an individual rather than an entire family and passed on to the oldest son.

Just like at Ellis Island in America when immigrants arrived, medieval scribes in the 11th and 12th century often simplified or spelled names as they sounded so there were frequent variations of the name “Disney” including “Deisney” among others.

In addition, in recent years, selling family heraldry is such a big business that some examples have been fabricated so it is problematic to determine an exact Coat of Arms that belongs to Walt’s branch of the family.

According to the Disney Company, the Disney heraldry is:

Coat of Arms: Three gold fleur de lis on a red fess, representing purity or light.

Crest: A red lion passant guardant representing bravery or courage. A crest is a part of the Coat of Arms. Red symbolized a family who served in the military.

Motto: Vincit qui patitur.

Motto Translated: He conquers who endures.

A golden emblem of three lions passant in pale was installed on the archway above the draw bridge on Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle sometime between the end of June 1965 and early July 1965 in connection with the Disneyland Tencennial celebration. Decades later more accurate banners were hung on the backside of the castle.

At Walt Disney World, the Coat of Arms is prominently displayed on the Cinderella Castle archway facing Fantasyland.

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Cinderella’s Royal Table, known as King Stefan’s Banquet Hall until 1997, includes forty coats of arms representing some of people who were instrumental in Walt Disney World including Imagineer Roger Broggie Sr., Marc Davis, John Hench, Dick Nunis and Marty Sklar as well as the Disney Coat of Arms.

While Walt was always curious about his ancestry, he did not display his alleged Coat of Arms on his clothes, jewelry, office or home.

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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 latest, Call Me Walt, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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.

THE THEMING OF TOMORROWLAND AND THE KUGEL BALL

By Jim Korkis

“New Tomorrowland [which opened at the Magic Kingdom in 1994] was conceived as the meeting place of the universe,” stated Imagineer Alex Wright. “It is an interplanetary hub chosen to serve as the headquarters of the League of Planets. Everything in this land relates to excitement and optimism about the future. Every detail relates to this theme.

“Ours is a retro-future concept replete with all the trappings of an intergalactic spaceport. We all remember when we thought the future would be like this. Tomorrowland offers us the opportunity to visit it.”

In keeping with the theme that this is a city that exists in some alternative version of the future, at the entrance is a huge sign from the Tomorrowland Chamber of Commerce that welcomes guests with its motto: “The Future That Never Was Is Finally Here.”

Walking down the main street of the Avenue of the Planets, guests find themselves in the central hub of Rockettower Plaza. The names are a playful reference to New York’s famous Avenue of the Americas and Rockefeller Plaza.

This hub is the main transportation system for the community.

With so many interstellar travelers passing through this area, some are bound to need directions. So a map of the universe was installed near the Merchant of Venus merchandise shop.

The map is a large black granite ball floating on a very thin layer of water less than the thickness of a credit card. The water, pumped from below, lubricates the stone and creates a pressure so that the solid heavy piece of stone is easily rotated.

Looking closely on the exterior of the ball, there is a gold “You Are Here” star that marks the location of Rockettower Plaza. Further examination will reveal other clever notations including an exit from the fabled Route 66 and not far from that marking is a symbol indicating that fuel can be obtained just like on the iconic gas station road maps of the 1950s.

This unique ball is not a Disney creation, and several exist in similar fountains around the world with different images. It is just another example of a Kugel Ball.

The term kugel is from the German word meaning ball or sphere.

Kusser Fountainworks of Tampa, Florida represents the sophisticated fountain construction technology developed by Kusser Aicha Granitwerke, a leading European fountain company. This family-owned business with almost one hundred years of history is in the hands of its third generation.

In 1989 the first Kusser Fountain known as The Kugel was installed in the United States. Today there are similar versions in science museums, parks and more.

The granite must be a perfect sphere, placed on a base that has the exact same curvature as the ball in order for the magic of physics to make it possible for even a child to move the several tons easily with a push.

The kugel ball in Tomorrowland reportedly weighs about six tons, or over 13,227 pounds. Roughly that is the same weight of a full-sized adult African elephant. While low friction of the water bearing helps the ball to rotate, there is still some friction, so the ball will not perpetually roll, and guests can use their hands to stop the ball as well. Of course, shutting off the water pressure will also stop the ball from moving.

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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 latest, Call Me Walt, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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.

VENEZUELA AT EPCOT’S WORLD SHOWCASE

By Jim Korkis

Imagineer Alan Coats (son of Imagineer Claude Coats) was deeply involved in the creation of attractions for Epcot before it opened in 1982.

He worked on a film for the Universe of Energy pavilion that at one point was being written with Jim Algar and would have had a dialog between a scientist (writer Issac Asimov) and a reporter (actor Walter Pidgeon) with animated scenes of Jiminy Cricket interspersed to help explain things.

“I think the first piece I wrote was a sequence with Asimov, Pidgeon and the Cricket about using turbines for harnessing the wind to generate electricity, something common today but rare back then,” Alan told me at the Disneyana Fan Club Anaheim event in October 2017. “I wrote a scene where Jiminy in a lab coat demonstrates how to make a solar cell and in another, how to heat a house with sun power. When I re-read the script, it seemed he knew more than our expert did.

“When we finally pitched it to Ron Miller, it was called ‘Dialogue on Energy’ and we were now thinking of Arthur C. Clarke as the scientist and Hal Holbrook as the reporter. Ron loved it but when we later showed it to an Exxon executive, he fell asleep in the middle of the presentation. Later, Carl Sagan got involved but wanted to take over the whole thing and wanted it to focus more strongly on other alternatives than Exxon did who was paying for the thing. Sagan did like the use of Jiminy Cricket though.”

Among his other never realized projects for Epcot was a World Showcase pavilion that he told me about in an interview in 2012:

“I jump started development on the Venezuela pavilion with initial research on the country. Negotiation had been on going with several nations and the feeling was that it was a priority to include at least one country from the southern hemisphere. Brazil and Venezuela had shown interest in World Showcase participation.

“Using the WED research library, I assembled a series of storyboards, actually more like ‘subject boards’ on the history, culture, architecture, natural resources, festivals, whatever I could come up with as sort of a snapshot of the country. The overall idea for all the Showcase pavilions was to give the visitor a feeling of having been to the country, if only briefly, to taste the food, listen to the music, purchase the merchandise, and meet some of the young people from the nation who would be working there.

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“These subject boards became the basis for renderings, models, and ride-system layouts that would follow. My dad (Claude Coats) as show designer used every foot available. He laid out a suspended cable-car ride that snaked through the attraction giving visitors a bird’s eye view of activity below in the village sets filled with shops, the open restaurant, the musicians’ stage, and other scenes. The entire area was dominated by a large-screen projection of Angel Falls in the background on a continuous film loop.

“Collin Campbell painted a beautiful rendering of the interior in a nighttime setting. X. Atencio was show writer and also responsible for the theme song: ‘Discover Venezuela!’ The show was really coming together when Gordon Cooper acknowledged in an interview with Orlando-land magazine in October 1976 that among ten or twelve pavilions in the works, full scale sections had been built and ‘We’re very far along on the Venezuela pavilion’. However, as we know, that nation never was represented in Showcase, nor was any other country in South America.”

Of course, with Disney’s continuing popularity in Brazil, the Disney Company has also continued negotiations for a possible Brazil pavilion to be installed in the World Showcase.

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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 latest, Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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.

MARIACHI COBRE IN MEXICO AT EPCOT’S WORLD SHOWCASE

By Jim Korkis
The television commercial has a family returning to visit Walt Disney World and an excited mariachi band happily declaring “You’re back!” and bursting into song. That band is Mariachi Cobre.

For the October 1, 2017 event marking the 35th anniversary of Epcot, George A. Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort, was joined onstage by the patriotic Voices of Liberty ensemble and the Mariachi Cobre from the Mexico pavilion – two acts that debuted when that theme park originally opened in 1982.

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Mariachi Cobre is a band of internationally acclaimed mariachi musicians. The group was formed in 1971 with Randy Carillo on guitar, his brother Stephen on trumpet, Mack Ruiz on violin, and Francisco Grijalva as the arranger who also played in the group.

Over the years the company of players has expanded to include Chris Figueroa (violin), Pablo Hector Gama (violin), Miguel Angel Molina (trumpet), Israel Galvez Molina (violin), Roberto Juan Martinez (vihuela), Antonio Hernandez Ruiz (violin and viola), Javier Trujillo (guitarra de Golpe), Mario Trujillo (violin), and Adolfo Roman Garcia. Many of the members have played together since they were teenagers in Arizona.

Mariachi Cobre was founded in Tucson, Arizona, and evolved out of the mariachi youth group Mariachi Juvenil Los Chanquitos Feos De Tucson, which was formed in 1964. It was the first youth mariachi group to be formed in the United States.

Randy admitted he wasn’t very excited when his parents suggested he try out as a guitarist for the group. At the time, he was more interested in rock ‘n’ roll. But once he was introduced to the mariachi sound, he said he was hooked.

“At fifteen years old, to be playing in Anaheim at Disneyland for Cinco de Mayo, I would have never thought that at 63 I would still be so invested in the Walt Disney Company,” said Randy in October 2017.

Eventually, he and some of the members of the group formed Mariachi Cobre, taking their name from the Spanish word for “copper.” Randy explained that Arizona is known as “the Copper State” and that copper was a semiprecious metal to Mexican Indians.

“When we arrived here before the opening of Epcot, I couldn’t believe it. It was like a fairytale land,” said Randy. “The architecture, the lighting, the detail, it was all incredible.”

Since opening Epcot in 1982, Mariachi Cobre still performs seven shows a day, five days a week.

“It’s not the easiest job, but it’s a lot of fun,” Randy said. “You have to develop a certain discipline to accomplish all of those sets and to keep a good attitude and to keep yourself physically and musically healthy.”

In addition to that schedule, the Disney company allows the group to take breaks that have let it over the years perform with more than 44 orchestras in the United States and Mexico, including the Boston Pops and the orchestras of Minnesota, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Utah, Houston and Guadalajara, as well as record CDs.

Mariachi Cobre’s recordings include Mariachi Cobre, Este es Mi Mariachi, XXV Anniversary and The Latin Album with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. The group has accompanied a wide range of mariachi and non-mariachi artists including Linda Ronstadt, Lucha Villa, Lola Betran, Ana Gabriel, Guadalupe Pineda, Carlos Santana, Julio Iglesias, and Vikki Carr.

Since their founding in 1971, Mariachi Cobre has played a major role in the preservation and appreciation of one of the most respected cultural music folk forms of Mexico and delighted millions of guests, often giving them their first taste of this type of music. The mariachi musicians speak in both English and Spanish and encourage the audience to relax and have fun by clapping and cheering.

“We are all like brothers and we are all a family,” said Stephen in October 2017. “Day in and day out we get to meet people from all over the world and we get to share our culture and our music with them. It’s truly special and I really enjoy that.”

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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 latest, Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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.

THE BOOKS OF SKIPPER CANTEEN

By Jim Korkis

Several companies sell books by the foot or the yard to fill book shelves on stage sets for television series, movies, and stage plays. Many sell to interior decorators trying to create a particular look for the room of a house. Collections can be generic or made-to-order including not just content but binding, size and color.

The tomes in the book case in the Meridian on the Disney Cruise Line ships are specifically filled with vintage nautical volumes.

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However, sometimes Imagineers get creative, as in the garage of Mickey Mouse’s house at WDW’s former Mickey’s Toontown Fair, where the shelves had titles like Repairing Electrical and Bermuda Shorts, How to Toon Up Your Car, Replace Your Wheels Without Tiring and The Auto-biography of Susie the Blue Coupe (a reference to a 1952 Disney short cartoon).

At the Skipper Canteen, the table service restaurant in Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland, the shelves are filled with books that reference Disney parks (The Eyes of Mara by Jones, obviously a reference to Indiana Jones and the Disneyland attraction); Imagineers (Crooning Flowers by Sherman and Sherman referring to the Disney composers the Sherman Brothers and their songs for the Enchanted Tiki Room); in-jokes (Friends for Dinner by T. Sam, a reference to Trader Sam the cannibal from the Jungle Cruise attraction); as well as some books that are just silly wordplay (Spotted Tigers by G. Rowl) or punny amusement (Fleas Navidad and Other Winter Insects). Some books have neither title nor author.

The secret meeting room of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) is behind the bookcase and is accessed by pulling on a volume of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

Here are a handful of the many delightful titles here:

• In Search of the Yeti by Harrison Hightower III. Hightower is not only a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) but was based on Imagineer Joe Rohde, who was responsible for much of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, including Expedition Everest. Hightower has several different books on the shelves including Treasures of the Animal Kingdom.
• A Manor of Fact by Mystic is a reference to Henry Mystic and Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland. He is also represented by other books including Treasures from the Manor and Primates as Shipmates referring to his pet mischievous monkey Albert who causes trouble in that attraction.
• Captain Mary Oceaneer wrote Parrots as Pets referring to her diving companion parrot Salty. She also wrote Charting Course since she is an ocean traveler.
• Leaders Throughout History by Professor G. Kalogridis. This is George Kalogridis, the President of WDW.
• Songs of the Tiki Bird by Professor Boag honors performer Wally Boag, who helped write and voiced the parrot Jose in The Enchanted Tiki Room.
• Universus Arboribus by B.M. Evans is a tribute to Imagineer Morgan “Bill” Evans, who loved putting Latin names on the Disney park horticulture.
• A Journey to the Stars by Kimball references Imagineer Ward Kimball who wrote and directed the three Disneyland television Tomorrowland episodes about outer space.
• Hamlet: A Lion’s Tale by Shakes Speare acknowledges that the Disney’s animated feature film Lion King was inspired by the classic Shakespeare play.
• Native Orange Birds of the Southeastern United States by Dr. Sidd Truss, (pronounced Citrus) is a nod to the Florida Orange Bird of the Florida Citrus Commission that was prominent in the first decade of Walt Disney World.
• Banjos and Baboons, by Goff, is a reference to Imagineer Harper Goff who was a banjo player but also the designer of the Jungle Cruise attraction.
• Primates of the Caribbean by Coats, references Imagineer Claude Coats, who did set design for the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.
• A View from Above by S. W. Buckets recalls the former Skyway attraction.
• Mission to the Red Planet  by Tom Morrow is a reference to the former Mission to Mars attraction.

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Thanks, Jim! There’s more from Jim Korkis on Skipper Canteen here. And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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