Often unheralded, but used every day, Walt Disney World has top of the industry support and services for accommodating guests with disabilities. So it’s nice when they get recognized for it. The most recent award has come from across the pond. The Gold Autism Award was presented to Disney on behalf of The United Kingdom Autism Foundation for Disney’s efforts supporting and accommodating autistic guests.
The Gold Autism Award, accepted by Greg Hale, Chief Safety Officer and Vice President of Worldwide Standards and Auditing, was presented by Ivan Corea, father of an autistic child, Charin Corea. The award recognizes Disney’s initiatives to help guests with disabilities navigate the Walt Disney World Resort properties in an easy and effortless way.
Charin has inspired an entire autism movement in the United Kingdom. His parents initiated 2002 as Autism Awareness Year and they founded Autism Sunday which is now a massive international event celebrated in many countries including the United States. The inspiration behind all of this is Charin, a teenager with autism spectrum disorder and a communication disorder, who has inspired world leaders to speak up for people with autism and Asperger syndrome.
It won’t just be dozens of glow merchandise carts and the Headless Horseman that precedes the nightly parade at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, Main Street USA will be home a new dance party the “Not So Scary Street Jam!”. This interactive… Read More »New Dance Party Added to MNSSHP Pre-Parade
It’s hard to get a feel for how popular these Pixar themed Disney Cruises are this fall. There’s is still a big push from Disney Cruise Lines to get bookings, but the first cruise leaves in just a few weeks. DCL has finally released the list of which Pixar animators or executives will be on board each voyage, something I think would have been important months ago when people would be most likely to book a trip. That said, if I had the money I would definitely book any of these trips. They sound fabulous.
September 16
John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney Animation and Pixar Animation Studios; Principal Creative Advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering
Jay Ward, CARS Franchise Guardian, Pixar Animation Studios – Ward contributes his enthusiasm for cars and his artistic passions to the creation of anything and everything within the “Cars” Franchise, including the production of “Cars” as character team manager and consultant to the film’s director and co-director, John Lasseter and Joe Ranft.
September 23
Roger Gould, Creative Director, Theme Parks, Pixar Animation Studios – Gould collaborates with Walt Disney Imagineering in the creation of theme park attractions and lands inspired by Pixar’s films, most recently the creation and opening of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure park.
Tia Kratter, Shading Art Director, Pixar Animation Studios – Kratter served as the shading art director on “Brave,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “Cars,” where she was responsible for specifying the color and texture of every object modeled for a film.
September 30
Harley Jessup, Production Designer, Pixar Animation Studios – Jessup leads teams of artists who create and design the sets and characters for films, including “Monster’s Inc.,” and “Ratatouille.” He recently finished working as production designer for “Cars 2.”
Jeremy Lasky, Director of Photography/ Camera, Pixar Animation Studios – Lasky served as director of photography/camera on “Cars,” “Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E” and “Toy Story 3.” His most recent project was as director of photography/camera on “Cars 2.”
October 7
Rob Gibbs, Director, Pixar Animation Studios – Gibbs has contributed his story talents to a number of Disney•Pixar films, including “Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E,” “Up” and “Cars.” He has also directed and co-directed several of the studio’s “Cars Toons.”
Sharon Calahan, Director of Photography/Lighting, Pixar Animation Studios – Calahan served as director of photography/lighting on “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” “Finding Nemo,” “Ratatouille” and “Cars 2.” She previously served as lighting supervisor on the studio’s first feature film, “Toy Story.”
As usual, the schedule and presenters are subject to change! Which of these line ups interest you the most?
Below the cut is another video from John Lasseter making yet one more pitch to get you to book your trip on the Disney Wonder:
John Frost wrote up a nice article a little while ago about the failed WDAS project “My Peoples” and how it was set to be animated in the Orlando animation department…until they closed the Orlando animation department. It never transferred over to CA, many Orlando animators left Disney all together, and after a ton of other set backs…the project was canned.
For those of you unfamiliar, the story was very short, it was about how three small kids and a ghost brought together a couple in the Appalachia area of the USA in the 1940’s. The thought process was taken from Walt’s head, for every big and grandiose film, you include a low-budget and simply sweet film to even things out (Bambi is to Tarzan and Dumbo is to My Peoples). After much deliberation and “fighting” between Barry Cook (the creator of the story and idea), Michael Eisner (the then CEO), and Thomas Schumacher (the then president of WDAS) over budget issues and such, the plan would be this: the couple would be done in hand-drawn animation while the rest of the characters were done, in the style of folk art, in CGI. It saved money and gave the film a distinct look. Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Charles Durning, and more had already signed on to voice for the film and they had also already begun to write the bluegrass music for the film (which was supposed to evoke that sense of classic Appalachia).
Marvel’s The Avengers DVD/Blu-Ray is still only available for pre-order, but were getting some terrific sneak peeks at a few of the special features that will come with the movie. Earlier this week, we saw an Alternate Opening for the movie and today we get… Read More »The Avengers DVD Featurette: Creating the Helicarrier
Barneys New York is launching Electric Holiday, a holiday campaign that introduces the characters of Disney lore to New York’s High Fashion. Disney even allowed the store to take some of the characters “off-model” so they would fit the more traditional stature of a 5’11”… Read More »Disney Meets High Fashion at Barney’s New York
