Category — Imagineering

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune profiles a team of three Cal State Fullerton Students who were finalists in a Walt Disney Imagineering contest to design and build a prototype of an attraction. Their idea is an interactive adventure featuring a guy named Otto.

Their concept, called Operation SNAP: Destination Dragon, would supplant riders as explorers on a boating adventure with Otto as he pursues a legendary Chinese dragon.

The real culprit is total immersion — in the ride, in the scenery, in Otto — something Berger would want riders to experience, too.

To that end, guests on Operation SNAP (Otto’s Society of Natural and Artificial Phenomena, of which he is the sole member) would be equipped with mounted camera devices to collect photographic evidence of all the mythical creatures residing in and around the professor’s Chinese wildlife preserve. The more photos, the more points earned by riders.

Click through to the article to see some of the concept art and storyboards from the attraction.

LaughingPlace.com has posted two reports from the Newport Beach Film Festival, and one of them is my column.  Two screenings were of special interest to Disney fans.  “the boys” (lack of capitalization intended) is a new documentary about the Sherman Brothers.  It is fascinating and very informative.  The Shermans were a songwriting team that Walt Disney himself literally brought on-staff to write music for Disney projects - both on big screen and in theme parks.  Enchanted Tiki Room?  Yup.  “it’s a small world”?  Them.  “Mary Poppins” and Winnie the Pooh projects… But their work hasn’t been limited to Disney.  They have worked on other live-action and animated projects, and pop songs.  Their work is being featured in major stage musicals as I type.

But the personal interaction between the brothers is also detailed in this film, and that is a fascinating subject by itself.

The other screening was mostly Disney animated shorts that haven’t been seen on the big screen in decades - going as far back as 1929!  Click through for the details about both screenings.  Doug Marsh also has his report as well.

It’s hard to express how talented an artist Marc Davis, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men, was. You’ve no doubt seen his animation (Aurora, Maleficient, and Tinkerbell to name a few) and his concept art (Pirates, Country Bears, and Haunted Mansion are just the beginning), but you don’t really understand until you’ve seen his non-Disney drawings and paintings.

Beginning this Friday is your chance to be amazed. Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale is presenting The Art of Marc Davis. For a little more background, Alice Davis talks about the exhibit in the Glendale Press.

The art show runs from May 8th through July 26th, 10:00am–5:00pm everyday except Mondays when the museum is closed. For more information, check the Forest Lawn website.

In the Los Angeles Times, Hugo Martín writes about Precision Dynamics’ microchip wristband, which has uses at places like the Disney resorts.

The wristbands use the same technology as electronic tollbooths, security key cards and the newest U.S. passports. But at Precision Dynamics, this sophisticated electronic know-how has found its niche at theme parks, where the high-tech wristbands act as high-security admission passes, cashless debit cards, hotel room keys and a form of identification to reunite lost children with parents.

Check out the story, which includes a quote from a privacy watchdog.

Imagineers Rolly Crump and Don Edgren were recently honored at Disneyland by having their name added to what are effectively the ‘credits’ for the theme park, the Windows on Main Street.

Don Edgren was known for his mastery of resort development and his ‘can-do’ attitude. Rolly Crump was a designer who created many of the iconic looks that have come to symbolize the ‘Disney theme park’.

LaughingPlace.com was there and brings some great video and photos of the dedication event.

Upcoming Pixar has an interesting rumor about which Pixar character is next to get the Living Character Initiative treatment from Walt Disney Imagineering. Ratatouille’s lead rat Remy appeard first in Paris Disneyland Resort and is now in EPCOT’s France Pavilion. The rumor is that Luxo Jr., the iconic lamp from the first Pixar short, will be animated via audio-animatronics at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

There already is a ‘hidden’ Luxo Jr. in the Pixar Place area of DHS. Look for the street sign near the huge Pixar Studios sign as you enter from the central plaza.

While I think a ‘live’ Luxo Jr. would be interesting, I’d rather WDI concentrate its efforts on the larger LCI like Muppet Labs.

Here’s a video of Disney’s smallest Audio-Animatronics figure ever. Watch as the Living Character Initiative brings ‘Chef Remy’ from Ratatouille to life at Les Chefs de France in Epcot.

The full press release is below the cut:

[Read more →]

So today on twitter, I thought I’d ask a poll as I do from time to time. Well this one really got people excited. So what was the question?

If you could have Disney Imagineers theme your house/apartment to one Disney attraction (ala Extreme Makeover) which would you choose?

I correctly felt that Haunted Mansion would be the most popular. But I really thought that Pirates Of the Caribbean would be second best. It wasn’t even close. Here are the full results with the number of votes listed first.

8 Haunted Mansion
5 Enchanted Tiki Room
4 Tower of Terror
3 Peter Pan
3 The Matterhorn
3 Rock’n'Rollercoaster
3 Splash Mountain
2 Carousel of Progress
2 Cinderella Castle
2 Indiana Jones
2 it’s a small world
2 Great Movie Ride
2 Mickey’s Toon Town
2 The Adventurers Club
2 Swiss Family Robinson (with plumbing)
2 Space Mountain
Alice in Wonderland
Beauty & The Beast Stage Show
Castaway Cay
Canada Pavilion (EPCOT)
Cinderella Castle Suite
Contemporary “Bay Lake Towers” Rooms
Expedition Everest
Fab 5 themed
Germany Pavilion (EPCOT)
Haunted Mansion (NBC version)
Horizons
Innoventions Dream Home
Italy Pavilion (EPCOT)
Maelstrom
Mexico Pavilion (EPCOT)
Muppets
Pirates of the Caribbean
Snow White Adventures
Toy Story Midway Mania
UK Pavilion (EPCOT)
Winnie The Pooh

Thank you to everyone for participating! Let’s do it again sometime.

If you’ve gotten this far and wonder what I’m talking about, you should sign up for Twitter and follow @TheDisneyBlog. In the meantime, feel free to add your own ideas in the comments.