The topiaries are always imaginative at the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, but this year, Disney has debuted its first-ever projection-mapped topiary.
The Details
The topiary is of Dante from the Pixar Animation Studios film “Coco,” and it sits next to a topiary of Miguel in the Mexico Pavilion.
By day it is a beautiful design of flowers, but at night, it is enhanced with special projection effects to make it stand out to guests.
Brittany Smith, Production Designer for Senior Specialty Design with Walt Disney Imagineering, explained to the Disney Parks Blog, “Once we decided to create Dante, I immediately began testing glowing materials, like solar-charged paint, and various effects to portray his ethereal glow. During the day, Dante looks like the rest of the topiary family.”
“As the sun begins to set, guests should start to see hints of the solar-charged paint beginning to glow. At night, Dante’s glow will shine even brighter through the use of projection-mapping technology. Pushing contrast between day and night allows us to incorporate more lifelike elements into these characters, providing guests with an unexpected element of surprise in the evening.”
Here is a video from Walt Disney Imagineering of the creation of the Dante topiary, and how they added the effects:
And here’s another video showing the creation of Dante, as well as the Asha, Valentino, and Star topiaries at the entrance, and the Groot topiary near “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.”
If you want to see these topiaries, along with the rest of the festival, the 2024 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival will continue through May 27th.