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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 ICONS OF DISNEY’S ALL-STAR MOVIES RESORT

By Jim Korkis

All-Star Movies was the third and final resort hotel to be completed in the All-Star Complex of value resorts that also includes All-Star Sports and All Star-Music. It features buildings themed to Disney movies.

The Mighty Ducks and 101 Dalmatians sections opened January 15, 1999, the Fantasia (based on both the original movie and its 2000 sequel) and Herbie: The Love Bug sections opened in March, and the final section, Toy Story, opened in April 1999.

The Disney character icons at the resort were all created at Walt Disney Imagineering’s Tujunga facility in North Hollywood, California. (Dave note: images of almost everything Jim refer to in the post are here.)

“The Dalmatians (Pongo and Perdita) are tall but thin. With Buzz Lightyear (forty-seven feet high and weighing thirty thousand pounds) you’ve got spindly legs topped by a Winnebago. You could literally have an apartment in his chest cavity,” said technical director for show production John Nelson.

“It is one of the biggest sculpted pieces Tujunga has ever done. Painting him in terms of time and materials was equivalent to painting fifteen cars.”

Pongo is forty feet tall and Perdita is thirty-five feet and their ninety-nine spotted puppies decorate the railings. There is a total of four miles of handrails on the buildings at the resort. Impressions of paw prints and dog bones are embedded in the cement walkways.

The building also cleverly features thirty-six foot high fire hydrants to imply that all those dogs have an outlet for relief.

Woody from Toy Story is only twenty-five feet high but the brim of his cowboy hat measures eighteen feet in diameter. There is a total of 142 Green Army Men with an average height of eight feet tall standing guard on two building rooftops and in the six Buckets O’Soldiers.

Eric Merz, who supervised the structural engineering for the icons, was especially fond of the thirty-six foot tall brooms from Fantasia that carried buckets. He recalled, “As far as taking an inanimate object like that, combining the engineering and making it come alive…Well, when the brooms and buckets got to the field and were all assembled, everyone took a breath and said, ‘wow’!”

The Fantasia section contains elements from the sequel Fantasia 2000 that wouldn’t be released until a year after the section opened, so special permission was required of Roy E. Disney, who among other titles was then chairman of Feature Animation and the producer of the film.

“It’s been a great lot of fun to watch these characters (from the sequel) get replicated in the size they are,” said Roy Disney. “The ballerina is such a pretty little thing in the movie – just a six-inch high doll. It’s fantastic to see her blown up to this giant size!”

Besides the ballerina, characters from that film included a jack-in-the-box and several toy soldiers.

Herbie is approximately five times his normal size and each car weighs seven tons with tires that are nine feet in diameter.

Imagineer John Hench designed several of the icons working with director of sculpting Valerie Edwards in producing the maquettes used for the final figures. Hench commented, “We use startling icons, beautifully finished in gutsy colors. People smile when they see them. It’s one of the magic elements of Disney Parks – engaging optimism.”

While the character icons were created at Tujunga, an additional sixty or so other objects were fabricated by outside contractors in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Providence R.I., New Orleans, Los Angeles and even Orlando.

“There is no one in the country that has the capacity to build all of these,” stated construction manager Rob Brown.

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Thanks, Jim! Images of almost all these icons are 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.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: APRIL 7 TO APRIL 15, 2018

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on April 2018 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/7-4/15/18

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-12MN 4/7, 9a-11p 4/8 and 4/9, 9a-10p 4/10 through 4/13, 8a-12MN 4/14, and 9a-11p 4/15

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

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

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-11p 4/7, and 9a-9.30p 4/8 through 4/15

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/7-4/15/18

Saturday 4/7 Morning: Animal Kingdom   Evening: none

Sunday 4/8 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 4/9  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 4/10  Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 4/11 Morning:  none  Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 4/12 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 4/13 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 4/14 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 4/15  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening:  none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/7–4/15/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/7-4/15/18

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 8.55p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot:  9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:  8.30p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.15p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom 8.45, 10 and 11.15p 4/7; 8.45 and 10p 4/8 through 4/15

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/7-4/15/18

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

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I’ve updated the review of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, based on our most recent stay here—our 13th here, out of 150+ stays in Disney World-owned rooms, villas, suites, studios, cabins and campsites—in January 2018. You can find the first page of the updated Wilderness Lodge review here.

I’d already done a fairly extensive update to the Wilderness Lodge review in the summer of 2017 after our stays in brand-new Copper Creek Studio and a Copper Creek One Bedroom Villa. The net effect of the Copper Creek development was to reduce capacity and add amenities—making what was already a great choice even better.

Our January stay was in a standard woods-view room in the main Wilderness Lodge. So it includes fresh pictures in the photo tour of a standard Wilderness Lodge room that begins here. As other rooms at Disney World have their theming thinned by recent refurbs, I appreciate the theming of these small but darling rooms even more.

This was also my first stay in a higher woods view room that had fireworks views after so many trees on this side were cleared for the Copper Creek Cascade Cabins.

The fireworks view was pretty good. The distance was about the same as that from the Polynesian Village, and the viewing angle was similar to that from the Grand Floridian (although on the opposite side, of course).

See the chart, which either does, or does not, fully explain both of these points (click it to enlarge it).

You’ll find a total of seven pages in the updated review of the Lodge itself:

• An overview and summary of the Wilderness Lodge
• Theming and accommodations at the Wilderness Lodge
• A photo tour of a standard room at the Wilderness Lodge
• Amenities at the Wilderness Lodge
• The main Copper Creek Springs pool at the Wilderness Lodge
• The new Boulder Ridge Cove pool at the Wilderness Lodge
• Dining at the Wilderness Lodge

There are also separate reviews on the site of the Copper Creek Villas and Boulder Ridge Villas.

Kelly, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can book your Disney World vacation at the Wilderness Lodge or anywhere else.  Contact her by using the form on this page.

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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: WALT AND THE PROMISE OF PROGRESS CITY

By Jim Korkis

• Walt and the Promise of Progress City by Sam Gennawey

Today, Walt Disney World immediately conjures up an image of the Magic Kingdom and Cinderella Castle, but Walt Disney’s vision of WDW was of an international community of the future that showcased new technology and was to be a living laboratory of change.

Of course, there would be an entertainment venue similar to Disneyland, which became Magic Kingdom, but that was just to be a minor element of the overall plan and in fact, was shoved to the very top of the map on the very worst piece of land on the property.

Many books and articles have been written about how Walt’s original concept evolved into the familiar vacation destination that was focused on theme parks and resorts. One of the best is Sam Gennawey’s Walt and the Promise of Progress City .

It begins with the design of the Disney Studio and continues through everything from Walt’s backyard to Disneyland to CalArts to the Winter Olympics to World’s Fairs and more before even discussing the Florida Project.

In fact, half the book is devoted to those projects before exploring the idea of WDW. Sam approaches WDW not as a brief final vision of Walt Disney but as a natural outcome from decades of previous experiences in urban planning, so those early chapters serve as a fascinating roadmap to get to the final destination.

Sam’s writing is not only accessible to an average reader but also deeply researched, and provides a new perspective to familiar material.

Sam is also the author of two other books I recommend: Universal vs. Disney: The Unofficial Guide to American Theme Parks’ Greatest Rivalry and The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream.

His professional training is as an urban planner where he has collaborated with California communities on more than a hundred different projects over the years. He brings that point of view to his writing about theme parks.

He is a senior associate at the planning firm of Katherine Padilla and Associates, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Regional Planning History Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving municipal, county, and private sector planning documents from throughout Los Angeles County.

So his approach at looking at Disney architecture and design is much different than the typical Disney writer looking at the same material, and is peppered with insights and quotes from urban planners like Christopher Alexander and architects and shows how those theories connect directly to Disney’s work.

One of the most intriguing chapters is a speculative visit to what Walt Disney World might have looked like if it had followed Walt’s initial planning. Of course, like any Disney project, it would have changed during the process but this is a nice glimpse of what Walt saw when he first proposed it.

He even interviewed Disney Legend Buzz Price who assures Sam that Walt’s vision of Epcot without hesitation would have worked but it would have taken a Walt Disney to make it happen. “Epcot would have been more famous than Walt Disney World,” Price tells Sam and explains why.

As Sam writes, “So the thirty story Cosmopolitan hotel in the center would have worked. The themed environment was basically Disneyland. The distance from the transportation center to the outer edge of the dome was less than 1,500 feet, which is two to three large city blocks – an easy, easy walk.

“Along the outer edges, he was going to create a critical mass of offices, and companies would have bellied up and put offices there just to be close to the Disney magic. Surrounded by that was apartments. So on a three-block walk was the critical mass of tourists in the center, full-time residents on the side and they all have to pass through each other. It is exactly what one wants when you want to build a city.”

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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!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MARCH 31 TO APRIL 8, 2018

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on April 2018 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/31-4/8/18

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-11p 3/31 and 4/1, 8a-12MN 4/2 through 4/7, and 9a-11p 4/8

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

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

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-11p 3/31, 8a-10p 4/1, 8a-11p 4/2, 8a-10.30p 4/3 through 4/6, 8a-11p 4/7, and 9a-9.30p 4/8

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/31-4/8/18

Saturday 3/31 Morning: Animal Kingdom   Evening: none

Sunday 4/1 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 4/2  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 4/3  Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 4/4 Morning:  none  Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 4/5 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 4/6 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 4/7 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 4/8  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening:  none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/31–4/8/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: noon and 3.30p 3/31 through 4/3; 3p 4/4 through 4/8

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/31-4/8/18

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 8.55p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot:  9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:  8.30p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.15p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom 8.45 and 10p 3/31 through 4/6;  8.45, 10 and 11.15p 4/7; 8.45 and 10p 4/8

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/31-4/8/18

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

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PICKING WHICH DAY TO SEE WHICH DISNEY WORLD PARK

The Disney World theme parks can be roughly predicted to have higher or lower crowds on certain days of the week compared to other days that week.

These predictions come from the combination of the overall patterns of visitation and the presence in the operating calendar of various “attractors” and “repellers”—of which the most significant are variations in operating hours and evening entertainment.

Note that by lower crowds, I don’t mean “no crowds” or “inconsequential crowds.” Low crowd periods, as used in this site and its crowd calendars, are low when compared to other times of the year with higher–often spectacularly higher–crowds.

That does not necessarily mean that the parks will feel uncrowded compared to your expectations, as that depends on your expectations, because low does not equal empty. Not even close…

So “Low Crowds” does not necessarily mean lower than you think they will be, or a low as you wish they were; it means lower than the other choices you have.

And even on the quietest of days, if you arrive at 11a, have a poor plan, don’t make good Genie+ or Individual Lighting Lane choices, and then target the more popular rides at that time, you will experience long waits. A good plan with well-chosen Genie+ and ILL, arrival at the parks well before they open, and a judicious approach to which rides you will visit first, will defeat the crowds almost every week of the year. You can find such plans in my itineraries.

But even so, there is usually some value to also making good choices on which park to visit which day, and this is particularly important during the “party season” which traditionally runs from later August through the first two-thirds of December–if it returns after COVID.

GOOD AND BAD DISNEY WORLD PARK DAYS MOST OF THE YEAR

Because both shorter and longer trips typically include weekends, weekends (and Mondays) are typically the times that see the most people in the Disney World parks. Operating hours are often extended over weekends, but not necessarily in proportion to demand, so crowds can be high even during low times of the year.

In the past, an added factor was “Extra Magic Hours”–a now defunct program. Extra Magic Hours used to attract to individual parks on the one or two days they offered them disproportionate crowds.

They have been replaced by “Early Entry,” when for eligible guests every park is open at least half an hour early every day.  Since with Early Entry the draw is now the same at every park every day, it now has no additional effect on crowd patterns.

Traditionally, the most common pattern has visitors seeing Magic Kingdom first, and the Studios and Animal Kingdom last, and visitors on shorter, long-weekend style trips particularly focus on Magic Kingdom. While all the parks are busier on weekends, Magic Kingdom is thus particularly rough on weekends.

GOOD DISNEY WORLD PARK DAYS DURING THE PARTY SEASON

Note: the following assumes that the Halloween and Christmas parties come back after COVID.

During weeks with highly varied show schedules and/or operating hours, the parks can show real variation in crowding across the week.

This is particularly an issue many weeks in later August through much of December, when because of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party the Magic Kingdom often closes to the general public using regular tickets at 6p, with no fireworks available to the general public, multiple times a week.

As a result, people are both “repelled” by the 6p closings and lack of evening shows, reducing crowds those days, and “attracted” to the days when the park is both open late and showing fireworks…and those days can be mobbed. During the Halloween part of this period, Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival will attract many locals to World Showcase on weekends and especially Friday and Saturday evenings, leading to (tipsy) crowds in World Showcase those nights.

The best way to handle these party season periods is to see the Magic Kingdom on days when it closes at 6p, and see its evening events on a different day, without having spent the earlier part of that day at MK except with a few select Genie+ or ILL.

THE JUDO OF DISNEY WORLD CROWDS

This last point is an example of how to think about crowds at Disney World.

Think about why you are drawn to Walt Disney World in general during a particular week, or to a specific park on a particular day, and whether your reasons are the same as those of the typical family with children.

If the reasons you have are also those of the typical family with children, then you will likely run into disproportionate crowds.

So as much as you can, do the opposite of the typical family–that’s the judo.

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