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(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

DISNEY’S 2018 INTERNATIONAL FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVAL AT EPCOT

Every year from roughly early March into May, Walt Disney World presents the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.

In 2018, the Flower and Garden Festival is scheduled for February 28  -May 28.

The gardens at Epcot are almost always lovely, and they are at their loveliest during this period.

Disney’s own wonderful landscaping is supplemented by additional plantings, topiary, and specially themed gardens.

Also presented are special programs presenting gardening tips, and weekend concerts.

See the official Walt Disney World web page for the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival here.

[Read more →]

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.

FANTASIA GARDENS MINI GOLF

By Jim Korkis

The Walt Disney Company’s first miniature golf course opened in 1996 on eleven acres near the Walt Disney World Dolphin resort.

“Some of them (the items in the Fantasia Gardens’ course) were no-brainers,” claimed Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) Senior Concept Designer Joe Lanzisero in May 1996 after the area opened. “Things people identify with when they think of Fantasia: elephants and hippos, snowflakes, mushrooms, Mickey and the brooms. We wanted soft, classical sequences that were more garden-like and fit the environment. That’s why there’s no Rite of Spring section (with its oversized dinosaurs).”

The final plan included five sections from Fantasia that fit the gentle garden theme: Toccata and Fugue, The Nutcracker Suite, The Pastoral Symphony, Dance of the Hours, and finally, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as the dramatic conclusion.

For Fantasia Gardens, Joe Lanzisero was the senior concept designer along with another WDI concept designer, Robert Coltrin, who wrote the verses posted at each hole.

It was one of the first projects where WDI merged forces with the Disney Development Company (DDC). DDC’s Bob Kamerlander as construction manager and DDC’s Paul Katen as project manager were assigned to the project. Jack Wolfe of DDC and Charlie Hardiman of WDW were also involved in translating the WDI concepts into a physical reality.

As Kamerlander stated, “I believe our relationship demonstrated the strengths of each organization: the creative talent that dreams up the Fantasia Gardens and the development expertise that transforms the concept into a terrific guest experience, as well as a financially viable asset for the Company.”

However, as with any project, not everything went smoothly. At one point, budget constraints threatened to eliminate the home of Zeus from the plans, but some creative re-working of the figures allowed Mount Olympus to be built. Lanzisero considered it to be the focal point that organized the rest of the design of the course.

The 10th hole, where Bacchus is pouring wine down a hill, is a more difficult shot than originally intended by the Imagineers.

“After a misinterpretation of the design, the hill ended up being elevated about three feet higher than the drawings. But what it lacks in playability, it really makes up for in aesthetics,” stated Lanzisero.

Coltrin added, “It is pretty steep, like a 45-degree angle. You putt up the hill and the ball comes down the other side like a pachinko game, going ‘bink, bink, bink, bink’ as it hits the bubbles in the wine that’s he’s pouring down the hill.”

(C) Disney

The goal was to orchestrate each hole with varying levels of difficulty. Some holes are fairly simple so that guests get an immediate payoff — for example, where the statue of a little faun plays a tune on his pipe when the ball drops into the hole.

“Oh, the wonders of modern electronics!” enthused Coltrin. “Digitize the music, put into microchip, and push it through a 50-watt amp and two little, tiny speakers play it every time a ball drops in the cup. Nothing to it!”

Some holes are more interactive than others. One of the favorites of the Imagineers is the 16th hole, with the statues of the brooms standing above the fairway.

“Everyone gets the payoff here. You don’t have to do anything special to get the brooms to dump the water. The water squirts not only over the putting area, but over where the people walk, too. This is programmed so that the buckets shoot water in sequence, but if you make it to the putting green in one shot, the ball has to go by three sensors so all the buckets splash at one time,” smiled Lanzisero.

*  *  *  *  *

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

In the meantime, check out his books, including The Vault of Walt, Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?, and The Book of Mouse, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

MORE DISNEY WORLD HISTORY POSTS FROM JIM KORKIS

• “Summer Magic” on Main Street
• Muppets and Mama Melrose
• Peter Dominick and the Wilderness Lodge
• Dixie Landing and Port Orleans Riverside
• The History of Splash Mountain
• The First Disney World Hotel
• The “Sharing the Magic” Statue
• The First Disney World Monorails
• The Water Park River Country
• The Epcot Fountain
• The Fireplace at the Wilderness Lodge
• Sid Cahuenga at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Spaceship Earth
• Downtown Disney
• The Missing Resorts
• Echo Park Homages
• Typhoon Lagoon

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

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 15 TO AUGUST 23, 2015

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on August 2015 at Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/15/-8/23/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-12MN 8/15,  9a-12MN 8/16 through 8/19, 9a-11pm 8/20 and 8/21, 9a-12MN 8/22, and 9a-11p 8/23

Epcot will be open from  9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-10p 8/15 through 8/20 and 9a-9.30p 8/21 through 8/23

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-6 8/15 through 8/18, 9a-7p 8/19 and 8/20, 9a-5p 8/21, 9a-6p 8/22 and 9a-5p 8/23

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/15/-8/23/2015

Saturday 8/15 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom

Sunday 8/16 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Monday 8/17 Morning: none  Evening: Hollywood Studios

Tuesday 8/18 Morning: Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 8/19 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  none

Thursday 8/20 Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Friday 8/21 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Saturday 8/22 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: Magic Kingdom

Sunday 8/23  Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/15/-8/23/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p every evening

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/15-8/23/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p every night

Illuminations at Epcot: 9p every night.

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9 and 10.30p 8/15 through 8/20; 8.30 and 10p 8/21 and 8/22; 8.30p 8/23

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/15/-8/23/2015

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/15/-8/23/2015

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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

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.

WILDERNESS LODGE SCULPTOR WILLIAM ROBERTSON

By Jim Korkis

Many talented artists are responsible for the magic at Disney theme parks but their names are often unknown to guests.

A name you can learn about today is that of sculptor William Robertson, whose outstanding skills are on prominent display in the lobbies of both Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge.

Robertson was a Disney character sculptor before becoming self-employed. Disney hired him to build frames for topiaries, which he did in the backyard of his College Park home. One of those topiaries is the fourteen foot long bison out in front of the entrance of the Wilderness Lodge.

Robertson was also responsible for the topiaries in the Johnny Depp film, Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Displayed in the posts of the Wilderness Lodge lobby are many carvings by Robertson, showing along their height four corresponding levels of animal life living in the wilderness.

At the lowest level, you find the creatures of the field and meadows, such as the turkey, raccoon, squirrel and rabbit. The animals on the next are those on the lower mountain, such as the wolf, pronghorn antelope, bison and elk.

On the third are those of the high mountain level such as the mountain goat, sheep, bear and mountain lion. The highest level has the birds of prey such as the falcon, American bald eagle, hawk and owl.

It took four tons of wood to create these creatures. On average, it was ten days to carve each animal using an electric saw, rotary saw, a chisel and a hammer.

Robertson did massive research and then rendered drawings that he used to create scale clay or plaster models as guides.

Mountain goats and some Rocky Mountain sheep look similar so Robertson had to emphasize the subtle differences in head shapes.

Disney suggested animals for Robertson, but the artist said that after that point he had a free hand.

”I had to know how to fit the animals into the trees,” Robertson said. ”Each animal had to be carved around the limbs, knots and rotten spots. There was no way to change the tree.”

Robertson said he wanted to “show the mark of the hands of the artist—not slick but a rough, human feeling”.

”Disney will try and do something artificially to meet fire codes or to get it to be weather-resistant,” Robertson said. ”But in this instance everything was done in the traditional way, by the artist, by hand.”

Every night during the six months before the hotel’s Memorial Day 19994 opening, Robertson climbed scaffolds to chisel into the pine logs. ”We finished the day before the hotel opened,” he laughed.

Robertson’s sculpture work can also be seen on the six brass animals at the check-in desk that were purposely positioned at a children’s level so they could be petted by curious youngsters.

The beavers in the elevator holding a long stick that is used as a railing are also the work of the sculptor, who at one time worked with Disney Legend Blaine Gibson, renowned for his Disney sculpting.

As a bit of whimsy, Robertson also took months to carve the cedar character totem pole outside the gift shop that features Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck and Humphrey the Bear who was the official mascot of the resort.

”This wasn’t necessarily just another traditional Disney image,” he said. ”That was rather exciting as an artist. I had freedom to have a little fun. ‘I called an artist in Oregon to get advice on how to handle that kind of wood. I’d never have chosen cedar. It has to be kept sopping wet to cut it. But the other totem poles were also done in cedar.”

”The only problem was there was a lot for work to be done within a short period of time,” he remembered.

In seven months, Robertson went from working on eight-inch models approved by Disney directly to completing all the wood and bronze figures without ever making full scale models.

Robertson also came out of retirement to carve the animals in the lobby of the Villas at Wilderness Lodge that opened in the fall of 2000.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. For more from Jim on the Wilderness Lodge, see this. And come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including The Vault of Walt, Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?, and The Book of Mouse, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

MORE DISNEY WORLD HISTORY POSTS FROM JIM KORKIS

• “Summer Magic” on Main Street
• Muppets and Mama Melrose
• Peter Dominick and the Wilderness Lodge
• Dixie Landing and Port Orleans Riverside
• The History of Splash Mountain
• The First Disney World Hotel
• The “Sharing the Magic” Statue
• The First Disney World Monorails
• The Water Park River Country
• The Epcot Fountain
• The Fireplace at the Wilderness Lodge
• Sid Cahuenga at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Spaceship Earth
• Downtown Disney
• The Missing Resorts
• Echo Park Homages
• Typhoon Lagoon

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

Construction is expected to kick off at the Wilderness Lodge and Villas in late October of this year and extend (at least) through next year.

The largest impact will be on the Villas, but around 20% of rooms at the Wilderness Lodge itself may see diminished views, and noise from construction might affect all rooms at both.

Wilderness Lodge guests who book courtyard-view rooms should largely be isolated from view issues. Villa guests who avoid Bay Lake views will be better off than those who don’t–but since these rooms are not directly bookable as such, Villas guests will be facing more of a challenge.

CONSTRUCTION AT THE WILDERNESS LODGE

Most construction is between the southeast edge of the Wilderness Lodge and the northwest side of the Villas, with another smaller area affected at the northwest side of the Lodge.

See the map (click it to enlarge it), where using my sophisticated image skills I’ve put blue boxes in the affected areas.

On the map, the Lodge has the green roof, and the Villas the red roof.

Major construction will include (it seems) removing and re-doing the smaller pool outside of the Villas (the main pool in the middle of the Lodge wings was updated in 2014 and will remain open), adding a restaurant between the Villas and the beach, and adding bungalows along the shores.

As a result, the small pool, beach, boat rentals and playground on this side will be closed.

Main Lodge guests who book courtyard views will largely escape the construction.  It will be a lot harder for Villas guests to avoid, as while one can request a “woods” view at the Villas that might avoid the construction, this is not a separately bookable category.

So despite the panic out there on the internet, any first-time visitors who can afford the upcharges of the Courtyard views (about $100/night, depending on the year and season) should not much worry about this construction.

Villas guest will have a harder time.

About half of rooms will have views dominated by construction, so it will be much harder to avoid.

I’d advise avoiding the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge at least until we all have a better sense of how these rooms feel.

Many Villas guests are already re-booking, some with some pretty nice arrangements–see this thread on co-author Josh‘s site.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 8 TO AUGUST 16, 2015

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on August 2015 at Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/8/-8/16/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-12MN 8/8, and 9a-12MN 8/9 through 8/16

Epcot will be open from  9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-10p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-6 8/8 and 8/9, 9a-7p 8/10, 9a-6p 8/11, 9a-7p 8/12 through 8/14, and 9a-6p 8/15 and 8/16

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/8/-8/16/2015

Saturday 8/8 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom

Sunday 8/9 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Monday 8/10 Morning: none  Evening: Hollywood Studios

Tuesday 8/11 Morning: Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 8/12 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  none

Thursday 8/13 Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Friday 8/14 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Saturday 8/15 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: Magic Kingdom

Sunday 8/16  Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/8/-8/16/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p every evening

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/8-8/16/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p every night

Illuminations at Epcot: 9p every night.

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9 and 10.30p every night

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/8/-8/16/2015

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/8/-8/16/2015

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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