Author: Mike

Expedition Everest Challenge, Part 2: The Run

The run portion of the Expedition Everest Challenge is a 5K. Our course started out by running around the circumference of the Animal Kingdom parking lot.   This portion of the run made up approximately a mile of the 5K course.   Just before we reached the park entrance, we came to the first of 3 obstacles along the course — the hay bales.   These were pretty low — probably a foot high and a foot long.   It would certainly be possible to just step over them, but I got into the spirit of the challenge and tried to take them at speed.

The first obstacle – Hay Bales

Soon after that I was at the 1 mile marker.   I was running with the new Apple Watch, and had decided to try to workout app on the watch rather than running with the Garmin that I usually use.   I was a little concerned that we hit the 1 mile marker while the watch showed me still well short of a mile (I think about .8).   After the race, I learned from other runners that it wasn’t my watch — the course was not officially certified and was in fact quite a bit short (somewhere in the 2.7 – 2.8 mile range).   That’s a surprisingly large miss even for a non-certified course.

Our course through the park was essentially a clockwise lap around the park — through the Oasis, left in front of the Tree of Life into Africa / Harambe, then cutting across to Asia and the Expedition Everest area.   Our path then took us into backstage areas.   There was a long out-and-back stretch along a roadway, and here we came to the second obstacle, which was to crawl under netting.   Fortunately this was on clean dry grass so it wasn’t too tough, although it was surprisingly exhausting and I really felt glad to get back to my feet at the far end.

Coming out of the second obstacle

At this point, continuing on the roadway away from the Animal Kingdom, I was overtaken by a couple of riders on bicycles.   Other runners were alerting everyone to move right so the riders could get by.   Someone said ‘Fire Department’; I’m not sure if that was correct but they were certainly EMTs from somewhere, as within a minute of them passing me I came upon the scene where they were performing CPR on a runner.   I heard conflicting stories about the outcome, so I’m not sure if he was OK or not.   I certainly hope that it turned out OK.

After we finished the out-and-back leg of the course on the roadway, we turned left and merged with runners who were finishing up the ‘scavenger hunt’ portion of the challenge which comes after the 5K.   At this point there were signs and recorded audio telling runners to merge to the right, and scavengers to merge to the left.   After this, it was a turn into the finish chute for the run.    But unlike other races, when you finish the run, you’re far from done (and there is no medal awaiting you for “just” finishing the 5K).   There was a stop for water bottles, and then race volunteers handing out sharpies with small LED flashlights attached.   Then you picked up your first clue for the scavenger hunt.

The details of the scavenger hunt will be in the third and final Expedition Everest Challenge recap post.

May 20, 2015
Expedition Everest Challenge, Part 1: Before the Race

I recently returned from my latest WDW trip and wanted to write up some memories of the trip while it was still fresh in my mind.

The main purpose of this trip was to run in the Expedition Everest Challenge (EEC).   I’ve always thought this looked like an interesting race but the timing has never worked out for me to run it.   When it was announced that 2015 would be final year for the EEC, I committed right away to attend.   Several of my friends were also planning to be there the same week — one for the EEC, another for her birthday — so I knew it would be a fun week to be there.   And the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival happening at the same time was another plus, although as it turned out we only spent one day at Epcot and didn’t see as much of that as we might have liked.

Registration and “Expo”

I knew from talking to friends who had run the EEC before that there wasn’t really a race expo — but I still wasn’t prepared for just how scaled down this event would be.   First of all, final race instructions didn’t even arrive until I was in Florida, so I wasn’t really even sure what was going to be happening when.   When I did receive the final race instructions email, I learned that the location for the registration was the Animal Kingdom parking lot.   When we arrived at the park, directions were non-existent — I never saw a single sign directing runners how to get to the registration location.    Since the registration didn’t open until noon our plan was to spend the morning in the Animal Kingdom then pick up my bib and other materials on the way out.   As we were trying to get into the park there was all “all stop” on the trams as a guest was walking down the tram-only roadway trying to find a way through the barriers and into the registration area.     Partly — OK, mostly — his fault, but again the complete lack of directions on how to get to the tents didn’t help.   (When we exited the park and were ready to head over to registration, we had to ask a cast member the best way to get there as I never saw a directional sign. It was definitely arranged in such a way that they clearly expected you to ride the tram to the front entrance and then walk back to the tents — but this was unclear from the parking lot and it looked like the trams would take you away from where you needed to be).

The registration area was just a big tent; you went into one side to turn in your waiver and get your race packet (bib, wristband for the after party) and then to the other side to get your race shirt and a plastic bag for the bag check.   It was by far the quickest registration I’ve ever been through for a runDisney event – I was probably out of there in under 10 minutes.    There was no official runDisney merchandise.   New Balance had a booth to sell this year’s monochrome shoes (so glad I got the 2014 version) and Fit2Run had a booth there as well.   (I think there was one other tent but can’t recall which company it was for).   That was the totality of the ‘expo’; I didn’t make any stops other than the registration tent and then we headed back to the car to spend the rest of the day in another park.

Pre-Race

On race night, I had dinner with friends at Jiko and then made the short drive over to the Animal Kingdom parking lot.    We arrived about 8:45 for a 10 p.m. start, and had a chance to do some visiting before time to head into the corrals.   I was in corral I (J was the last, so I’m definitely a back-of-the-pack run/walker).   The first corral started at 10, and I believe it was about 10:40 when our corral was scheduled to start.   Unlike other runDisney starts there were no fireworks as each corral started — I’m guessing that this is out of consideration for the animals rather than due to the relatively small scale of the race.   From the corral I watched the other groups start one by one. Because of the way the corrals were arranged we didn’t move from our assembly spot until we were the next corral to go.    Once we were up and in position, it was a pretty quick countdown to our start … and that’s where I’ll pick up the story in the next post.

Expedition Everest 2015 Starting Line

May 16, 2015
Dumbo Double Dare 2013: The Half-Marathon
Back-to-back runs is something new for me, so I wasn’t sure how Saturday’s 10K run was going to affect my run in the half on Sunday.    Even during training, there were no back-to-back runs.   I was following Jeff Galloway’s training plan for the Dumbo, and in that training plan he has you do long walks, rather than runs, on Saturday, and then the long runs on Sunday.    That seemed odd to me, but who am I to question the master?   So that was my training regimen, imperfectly followed to be sure, but long walks on Saturday and long runs on Sunday.

The good news is that I did not feel any ill effects from Saturday’s 10K. No soreness, aches and pains, or notable fatigue as I was getting ready on Sunday.    And I decided the motto for the day was “no excuses”.   Saturday was done, it was not going to affect my performance on Sunday.    The weather was again unseasonably warm, and while that would undoubtedly affect my speed, it was not going to keep me from finishing and having a great time.   I had three medals waiting for me at the finish line and I would run, walk, or crawl across that finish line to get them.

Pre-Race

The corral situation was less confusing today.   As soon as I turned the corner to head to my corral, I saw the “G” balloon clearly — and now that I know where G corral actually is, I’m pretty sure that the marker balloon had not been there on Saturday.    I knew I’d be slow today, and that starting in the last corral gave me no margin to fall behind pace, so I wanted to at least give myself the advantage of being in the front of the corral.    Mission accomplished — I was ready to enter the corral at 4:20 a.m. and was in the front row.   I sat on the pavement and passed the time texting and Facebooking, although I eventually realized I had better make sure I had enough battery power for the race and put the phone away.

We watched corrals A-F start; I think the intervals were 7 or 8 minutes apart.    As F was moving to the start, they began moving our barricade forward, and we edged our way closer to the start.   Once F had gone they moved us into place — so I had a front row view of Mickey, Minnie, and our race announcer as they counted us down to the race start.

First half of the race

And then we were off.    Being at the front of the corral certainly has its advantages — yesterday I had been so hemmed in that I felt like I couldn’t set my own pace at all.   Today with nothing but pavement in front of me, I was able to establish a good pace early, and the first couple of miles established a good faster-than-PR pace that I hoped would carry through.     Very early on I realized that there was some lingering effect from yesterday’s run — although I had felt nothing standing or walking, once I started to run I felt some twinges in the thighs indicating that I wasn’t 100% recovered from the 10K.   But this never became a factor, just something I was aware of without feeling it was affecting my run.

We did not run around by the convention center today, instead turning left on Katella, and then left on Harbor, to enter the park earlier than in the 10K.   Somewhere before mile 2, there was a big cheer coming from behind us, I turned in time to see the eventual race winner loping past us (Mile 2 and Mile 12 ran parallel for a while behind DCA).   Interestingly enough, I did not see the 2nd place or any other runners, so I have to assume the winner took it by a pretty good margin.

Our course through the parks was different than yesterday.   Instead of coming in through Cars Land, we ran behind Paradise Pier and California Screamin’, and entered the park at the western side of the Pier.   World of Color was again on for us as we ran along the northern side of the lagoon and headed into Cars Land.    From there we ran in front of the Tower of Terror and then headed toward the front of the park, essentially the reverse of yesterday’s course.    As we passed Soarin’ we turned right and exited the park, crossing the Esplanade and then entering Disneyland.

Backstage at DCA

Our course through Disneyland again took us down Main Street, but this time we went left rather than right at the hub and entered Frontierland.     We were able to run the Big Thunder Trail — this has been closed the entire month I’ve been here due to Big Thunder Mountain construction, I wonder if it will be closed again after the race.   We came out into Fantasyland, ran through the castle (yay!), and then turned into Tomorrowland.    We wound our way past it’s a small world and through Mickey’s Toontown, this time exiting Toontown through the same backstage entrance that we came into Toontown through in the 10K.    Our backstage run here was more curtailed than yesterday, heading straight out onto Disneyland Drive and then making a right towards Ball Road.    (I was a little unclear on the exact geography here … it seemed like we were running through the same area the corrals had been.   But that can’t be because the early wave runners would have been through here before the late corrals had emptied.   But I’m now curious — if I’d been at the back of the corral rather than the front, and looked behind me, would I have been able to spot the first wave of runners coming out of the park?

The Mile 4 marker was just as we came out of the park.   Now we had a long stretch of road running ahead.    At most of the mile markers, a couple of sweepers on bikes would tell us how we were doing vs. the required pace — 8 minutes ahead, 8 1/2 minutes ahead, 9 minutes ahead.    I’ve never heard these announcements before, but then I’ve never started in the last corral so I guess I’d never cut it as close.    The good news is the numbers were going up, I was building a little buffer ahead of the sweepers at each mile.

Miles 6 and 7 were all just road running.   Water stops were more frequent than the 10K (the 10K had been criticized for not having enough).    I was getting water at each stop, but had not adjusted sufficiently for the heat and humidity — I didn’t realize it at the time but I was not hydrating enough, and that was going to bite me very shortly.

Second half of the race

Between Mile 7 and 8 we went by a series of classic cars that lined both sides of the route.   I was amazed at how many there were — I figured there would be 20 or so cars, but then you’d turn the corner, and there was another row,   We entered the parking lot of the Honda Center, and there were still more.   There had to be at least a couple of hundred cars on display.   I was really starting to feel the heat at this point; I stopped trying to follow my pre-programmed run/walk ratio and decided instead to just run enough to keep my pace ahead of the required 16 min/mile pace.

At mile 9 we came to Anaheim Stadium.    We got a lot of encouragement here … cheerleaders, marching bands, scout troops — a lot of organizations had turned out to cheer.   (And actually there had been a lot of this along the route prior to this — but this was the main concentration).

It was nice to have the cheerleaders rooting us on, although a lot of them were encouraging us to fight, which seemed a bit strange for a friendly run.    Must be an L.A thing, maybe our race jerseys looked like gang colors.

About this point, the heat caught up with me.    I walked my way through the stadium, not running at all between miles 9 and 10.    I assured myself I just needed to cool off a bit, get some fluids into me, and then I could pick up the pace for the last three miles.   But the reality was I was done running, for all practical purposes — I’d do a few short 15-20 second runs maybe once a mile or so, and across the finish line, but I just didn’t have anything left in the tank.

Mostly it was the heat that had gotten to me, but I won’t deny that I hadn’t been as consistent with my training as I should have been, and always trained in the coolest part of the day in a more temperate climate — so I just had nothing to prepare me for the heat wave that manages to follow me to every runDisney event.    Also, it’s hard to find that motivation to run when everyone around you is walking … we were definitely the back of the pack at this point, and I think everyone within sight of me was content to just walk it in from this point in the race.    (Also, those helpful sweepers who had been calling out our pace at each mile marker did not appear again after mile 8 … I suspect that due to the heat they may have relaxed the pace requirement.)

Somewhere along mile 11 I realized I wasn’t even walking a straight line, so at the next water stop I took a little extra time to get more fluids in me, and had them refill the water bottles I was carrying (one was empty, and the other was as warm as bath water).

The finish was uneventful … I remembering walking by the spot at Mile 12 where we had spotted the leader run by 3+ hours ago, and walking around the Paradise Pier hotel and crossing through Downtown Disney, where we were being cheered on by a lot of the early finishers.    Then we rounded a curve and I could see the finish line.    I didn’t think I could run it from there, so I waited until I’d closed about half the distance to the finish line before I broke into a jog.    I made my way to the left side were Goofy and Mickey were awaiting, and got high fives from both just before I crossed the timing mat.

Post-Race

After the finish, I turned into the post-race area and had the big “D” Disneyland medal hung around my neck.   Then I made my way over to the Dumbo Double Dare tent, where I exchanged my wristband for a Dumbo medal.   And then to the Coast-to-Coast tent, where I again exchanged a wristband for a medal. (Dumbo is for doing both the 10K and the half this weekend, Coast-to-Coast is for doing a half-marathon or greater at Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the same calendar year)

Disneyland Half medal

Dumbo Double Dare medal

Coast-to-Coast medal

Water and Powerade were next — not just cups, as along the race, but full, cold bottles.   I took two Powerades and drained them right on the spot, then a water bottle to carry with me.   Photographers were moving through the crowd taking pictures, I had two or three taken around here so I bypassed the photo lines were you got your picture in front the official backdrop.     I grabbed a food box at the runner refreshment tent and sat down on the pavement to rest a bit — the walk back to the buses was a half mile or more and I needed a minute before I headed out.

I think I sat for 5 to 10 minutes.   I posted something to Facebook saying I’d finished, and then stood up (an amazing accomplishment) to head through Downtown Disney and to the shuttle bus area.     About midway through DTD, I felt I needed to sit down for a minute.   I had gotten a little light-headed.    I still had my water bottle with me, so I sat for probably 15 minutes sipping water.    I spotted a drink cart nearby, and decided another Powerade was in order.    I stood up again, found that the lightheadedness had passed, and walked to the drink cart, and then continued on to the buses.

I took a few hours of rest in my hotel room, and then put on my Half Marathon shirt, hung my medals around my neck, and headed back to Disneyland to get some pictures with my friends the princesses.

Next up: Wine & Dine half marathon in early November.   Between now and then, I’ll be doing my training runs in Atlanta, where the humidity will be more comparable to Florida.    And I’m hoping to get cool weather for that one … my WDW and DL halves have set the bar pretty low for a PR, so there’s no reason not to clear it easily in my next run.

Related articles
- Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Course Maps and Corral Placement (runningatdisney.com)
September 2, 2013
Dumbo Double Dare 2013: The 10K
This morning I was up before 4 a.m. to get ready for the first leg of the Dumbo Double Dare, the inaugural Disneyland 10K.    I tend to be a morning person anyway so this didn’t throw me off much — I think I prefer this to night races, at least that’s been my experience so far.

I’ve been watching the weather forecast for a while, and I have to say, if accuracy in forecasting matters I’m not sure how any of these meteorologists stay employed.   Every day for at least a week, the temperature has been significantly above forecast — 99 on a day where 90 was the forecast high, for example.

The forecast for this morning was about 73 degrees, and one of the first things i did when I got up was check the temperature.   81.   Well, it’s not going to be a PR day, that’s for sure; and visions of the Tower of Terror race came back to me.    (Actually, this is my third runDisney race — Tower of Terror 2012, WDW Half 2013, and now Disneyland Half 2013, and all 3 have been “unseasonably warm”.    I hope things balance out and give me 40 degree temps for the Wine & Dine half in November, that would be spectacular.

The bus service was a pleasant surprise — I’d asked drivers a few times over the past few days where the bus stops were going to be, and they were not really sure, which made me a bit nervous.   But when I got downstairs, there was a prominent runDisney sign in the lobby indicating our pick-up was in front of the Embassy Suites (right next door).   So I walked over and joined about 8 people already waiting; we had a full busload of 25+ by the time the bus pulled up 10 to 15 minutes later.

Our dropoff was about half a mile from the starting corrals — a nice stretch and warm up pre-race, but I suspected it would seem far longer after.   (Actually, not too bad today, but the real test comes tomorrow).

The Disneyland 5K ran before our 10K started, so they sent the 5K runners ahead to the corrals while the 10K runners were held in a pre-race staging area, with entertainment, water, backdrops to have photos taken, and tents sent up by various charities and race sponsors.   I stayed near the water tables to get extra fluids in me, the high temp and high humidity combination made me want to make sure I was hydrated, even though that probably meant I’d be making a pit stop along the way.

Pre/Post-race assembly area

Pre-race entertainment

Follow Mickey to the starting corrals

The 5Kers took off – I heard they were a bit late starting but I hadn’t memorized the schedule so I didn’t notice the discrepancy.   We then made our way over to the corrals.   I was in corral G and honestly — I never saw it.   I saw balloons for D, E, and F   (A, B, and C were off in a different direction) and started making my way to the back of F where G was supposed to be.   I never saw it, but eventually started seeing G bibs mixed in with the Fs so I just merged my way into the crowd.    By this time the early corrals had already begun running so we started surging forward to get to the start.

I started my Garmin at 6:37 a.m. so that’s when my section of the mob was crossing the start.   Sunrise has been just a few minutes earlier, the temp had dropped a few degrees (79 now) but was still uncomfortable.

Our first two miles was on surface street. We started on Disneyland Drive next to the Disneyland Hotel, and proceeded south.   We crossed Katella and turned left to run in front of the convention center, where the D23 Expo banners were still hanging.

I had a run-walk strategy of run 20 seconds, walk 40, which was slower (more walking) than the ratio I’ve used in past races.   But I thought it would give me a better chance of finishing strong.   As it turned out, the race was just too congested for any sort of strategy other than run when there’s pavement in front of you, walk when there are people in front of you.   I tried to avoid doing too much running side-to-side, but occasionally when there was obviously clear space ahead I’d occasionally make a detour to the side to get around a slower group.

We continued down Convention Way to Harbor, and made the left to take us toward the parks.    We entered Disney’s California Adventure through Cars Land.    Mater and Lightning McQueen were out for photos.    Disney employees waved us ahead with checkered flags — I appreciated the well-themed encouragement.    Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree was whirling to add a little fun and background music to the run.   For some reason I missed getting pictures of any of this, but here are a few backstage shots as we headed into DCA.

Coming into DCA

The back side of rock

From there we continued onto Paradise Pier, and made a big loop of the lagoon.   The World of Color show was going … obviously it loses a lot during the daylight, but I loved running to the music and enjoyed glancing over at the fountains.   I saw the first race photographer of the morning along here but I’m not sure if he got me.   Mickey’s Fun Wheel was also going — in both parks, a few rides were operating (riderless) just to add a little kinetic energy to those of us who were losing ours.

A loop around the west side of the park brought us to Mile 3, just in front of Soaring Over California.    We continued across in front of Carthay Circle and headed down toward Tower of Terror, where we exited the park.

Here we descended and ran through a tunnel I didn’t know existed — I’m not sure exactly where it’s located but it seems it must be running under the shuttle bus drop-off area at the East end of the Esplanade.   Coming back up, we were in backstage areas surrounding Disneyland — I saw Cast Scheduling and Cast Costuming buildings, along with others that weren’t as prominently labeled.    We went from backstage to the Esplanade, through an open gate, and then under the train tracks onto Main Street USA.

Head toward the light

Cast Costuming, Cast Scheduling buildings

This is starting to look familiar

Running down Main Street was obviously a highlight so I stopped for a few pictures, then made the turn into Tomorrowland and continued around to it’s a small world.   From here we went backstage again, and passed a succession of interesting areas — vehicle maintenance, parade floats, seeing the backside of various areas such as ToonTown, etc.    At this point I checked my timing and realized I had enough of a buffer that I didn’t need to fear the sweepers … so I started taking more pictures, talking to those around me more, and just enjoying the morning walk.    I’d still take off at a jog when there was clear space in front of me, but that wasn’t happening all that often.

Main Street USA

Train Roundhouse and Monorail Barn — all 4 trains were visible but this photo really only captured one.

A nice display put on by costuming shop

Loved seeing vehicles awaiting maintenance.

Doom buggies

Bobsled

More bobsleds

Parade floats

Makeshift petting zoo

Custodial employees lined the backstage route to cheer us on. Now I want to go back and pick up that water cup I dropped.

Behind Mickey’s Toontown

Mickey’s Toontown backdrop

We came back onstage into Mickey’s Toontown and made our way through Fantasyland. Dumbo was running, appropriately. Of course, getting a picture running through the castle is one of the great shots everyone hopes to get, but I think after some couple decided to quite literally jump in front of me and mug for the race photographer’s camera I probably missed that opportunity.

We headed through Frontierland and then were backstage again .. I remember seeing what I assume is an employee commissary and Imagineering, as well as the back side of Indiana Jones.   We then came out into Downtown Disney for our final mile (or so).    A lot of the early finishers had made their way back here to cheer on those of us bringing up the rear, and with that motivation I did a bit more running along this last mile than I’d done for miles 4 and 5.    When I turned the corner past the ESPN Zone, I could see the finish line, and kept my slow jog going until I crossed the timing mat.

From the finish, we were herded through the finisher chutes where we picked up first our medals, then Dumbo wristbands for those racing again tomorrow, then water.   Race photographers were there to take pictures with the medals, the lines were a bit long but I felt it was worth the wait.   Then we picked up our runner refreshment boxes and were turned loose into the wild to reunite with family and friends.    I’m solo on this trip and while I know several other people who were running today, I hadn’t made any plans to meet up with them. So I decided that heading back to the hotel for a shower and some rest was the way to go … and then see what I felt like after that.

A few hours of rest and I made my way back to Disneyland, wearing my 10K race shirt and finisher’s medal.   I hadn’t checked out the photo ops available in Fantasy Faire before, so I thought this would be the perfect time.    I got pictures with Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora, took in a few rides, and then decided to head back to the hotel again rather than spending more time on my feet.

10K Finisher’s Medal

10K Finisher’s Medal and ribbon

I’m very happy with today’s result — and more than a little worried about tomorrow’s.   It’s supposed to be cooler, but I have zero faith in the forecasters on that.   We are scheduled for an earlier start and that will also help with the heat and humidity.    I think I will again start by trying to do 20:40 intervals, although in the early going it’s quite likely there won’t be space enough to stick to any predetermined pattern.

Should be an interesting, and challenging, morning.   Looking forward to it!

Related articles
- Disneyland Half Marathon and 10k Courses Are Here! (lifelaugheatrun.wordpress.com)
- DDD Race Goals (prairieprincessrunners.wordpress.com)
August 31, 2013
Dumbo Double Dare 2013: Race Expo

I started off 2013 by running in the WDW Half-Marathon in January.    I knew that if I completed that (it was my first run of that length), that I would than want to do the Disneyland Half over Labor Day weekend, as completing both of these in the same calendar year earns the Coast to Coast medal.

Injuries prevented me from training for the WDW Half the way I intended, but I did complete the race, and so set my sights on DL.

But wait — there’s more!   runDisney announced that this year, in addition to the half-marathon, there would also be a 10K race added to the weekend lineup.    And, if you chose to run both the 10K and the half-marathon back-to-back (the 10K on Saturday and the half on Sunday), then this earns you the special Dumbo Double Dare medal.

My initial thought was that, with only a single half-marathon under my belt, running a 10K and half back-to-back was something that could wait.    But then a friend pointed out that you only get one chance to run an Inaugural event — and this would be two, the inaugural 10K and the inaugural Dumbo Double Dare.    So when registration opened up, I jumped right on it … which was a good thing, as the Dumbo was sold out in just a few hours after registration opened.

The Expo

Notice how I conveniently skip over all the training and preparation.    Just like I did I real life.     (That’s not entirely true, but my longest long run coming in to the weekend is a little over 10 miles in July.    After that, things got hectic with buying and selling houses, preparing for a cross-country move, attending the D23 Expo, and miscellaneous other things that always seemed to be more compelling than going for a run).

Friday August 30th was Expo day.    The only must-do task for the day is simply to pick up a race bib.    But like many (perhaps most) people on Friday, I wanted to hit the Expo (merchandise area) before the registration — after all, they aren’t going to give my race bib away to someone else, but someone else could grab the last limited-edition runDisney shirt if I didn’t get there early.

Just about everyone I’ve talked to, or seen post online, agrees — the Expo was a disaster.    I’m not sure how, given that runDisney knows exactly how many registrations were sold, they could be so completely unprepared for the crowd that appeared this morning.     Maybe they thought the crowd would spread out over the two-day expo — but by their history of constantly running short of high-demand items, they have guaranteed that everyone who can is going to show up at opening before the merchandise is gone.   And this fustercluck will only reinforce that behavior for the next Expo.

The lines were disorganized — ask where the end of the line was, and you’d frequently get people pointing off in opposite directions.   The merchandise line and registration line were jammed together so it was difficult to discern which was which.    Nearly all of the line was outdoors in full sun, and it was quite hot.

I lined up nearly an hour before the Expo opened, so I was in pretty good shape.   After we were admitted to the Expo hall, I made my selections fairly quickly and proceeded to get into the checkout line — which was comically poorly thought out.    After switching back and forth a few times, the line outgrew its designated area, and extended across the show floor.   Now, all the people trying to get into the hall to shop had to cross the checkout line to do so — really poorly planned.   An area was set up for speakers right in the middle of the floor, as if someone tried to locate the most inconvenient place for it and was successful.   The checkout line crossed this area as well, leading to complaints from people trying to see and hear the speakers that the line was noisy and distracting.

Getting in early meant I made it through checkout in about half an hour.   In the early afternoon I heard the line was over two hours, and at some point they actually closed the shopping floor to allow the cashiers to work through the backlog of people trying to check out.

A lot of this stuff could have been put online ahead of time rather than turning the expo into a free-for-all like your worst Black Friday nightmare.   The lines could have been sized appropriately and laid out more intelligently.   Limits could be put on purchases — I saw many, many people heading to the checkout with armloads of shirts.    I mean, they’re really nice shirts and all, but nobody needs 10 of them.     If the shirts, pins, hats, and other merchandise was made available online for purchase, runDisney would probably sell far more of it, and pocket quite a bit more money.   There would then be no reason for the eBay resellers to clog the expo buying up dozens of items for resale, and it would turn into a better experience for everyone.

So, roughly 90 minutes of standing in line (to get into the expo and to make purchases), and I have a few shirts to show for it.   I still haven’t done the only must-do task for today, which is pick up the bib, so I head to that line next.    While I was in the Expo the lines have grown, and the organization of the lines has descended into chaos.   I got into the line I was directed into, only to have it stopped cold while some other line was merged in and went ahead of us.    Someone in front of me was livid, insisting the people in our line had been waiting longer, but having just gotten in the line myself I have no idea if that was true.   (I certainly hadn’t been waiting long at this point).     I didn’t time it, but I’m sure I spent less than an hour in the registration line.   Probably not a lot less, though.

Once the line actually made its way to the actual registration area, things started to hum along more smoothly.   The single registration line fed into dozens of individual lines — first you head in the general direction of your event (5K, 10K, Half, or Dumbo), and then once you’re in the right area, there are different registration lines based on your bib number.    (If you followed instructions and printed out your waiver ahead of time, then you had your bib number … if you didn’t, then you went to the penalty box in the middle where workstations were provided for you to print out and sign your waiver, then head off to the appropriate line).

After this, still not done.   Now the line leads out of the registration area, and back into the Expo hall … this time to pick up race shirts.   Fortunately this area of the hall was nothing at all like the runDisney retail area — it was organized and moving quickly.    Once again you sorted yourself out based by event, and then again by shirt size.   Once I found my line there were only about 10 people ahead of me, after less than 5 minutes I had a bag (that I’ll use at the bag check if I have anything to check at the races) with all 3 of my shirts (10K, Half-Marathon, and Dumbo).

I’m excited for the upcoming runs, but the debacle of the expo is not getting the weekend started off in an appropriately magical way.   I’m glad I went early as it seemed to only go downhill through most of the morning.    Reports indicated that the registration lines weren’t nearly as bad later in the afternoon, but I didn’t hear whether the expo merchandise area ever recovered after their afternoon shutdown.

August 30, 2013
D23 Expo 2013: Disney Interactive, Part II (everything that’s not Disney Infinity)
During the Disney Interactive presentation, Disney Infinity (see this post) was the main feature, and was honestly the only reason I was interested in attending the session. But there was quite a bit more content, and Disney Interactive was successful in getting me interested in more than just the Infinity system.

The non-Infinity content included:
- Fantasia: Music Evolved. A game that allows you to “perform and transform” your favorite music.
- Interactive Web Series, including Blank and it’s a small world
- The Animated app for iPad
Fantasia: Music Evolved

This new game is coming to the XBox Kinect in 2014.    It has somewhat of a Guitar Hero or Rock Bank style of gameplay, but instead of playing instruments, the player is in the role of the orchestra conductor.    If you’ve ever picked up a pencil and mimed leading the orchestra as your favorite music plays, then you know how to play this game.   On screen cues tell you whether you should be gesturing with one hand or both, and in what direction; as you do better (hit more of the cues), you earn new instruments and unlock additional gameplay possibilities.

The game is set in various fantastic realms — one that was demoed was an underwater oasis called The Shoal.   We saw a demonstration of playing in this environment with Bohemian Rhapsody as the score.

There is something of a mixing board aspect to the game as well, although I did not completely catch on to how that is manipulated by the player.   But there are three different recordings of Bohemian Rhapsody in the game; the Queen version, an all-orchestral version, and another that I didn’t get the details of.   The game player can blend from all three of these to create a unique arrangement.

There is also a Musical Manipulator that comes up occasionally (as it is earned for certain in-game achievements) that allows adding additional effects.

Night on Bald Mountain is another track that was mentioned as being included.

New score for the game’s classical tracks was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, accompanied by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

At this point, the gameplay demonstration was done, but a live orchestra platform slid onto stage and we were treated to a live performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.    Classy and totally unexpected way to wrap up the segment.

Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story

This is a 12-episode web series coming this fall.   We saw a lengthy bit of this (not sure if it was a full episode, but definitely enough to make me want to catch a bit more).    Even as someone not into the collecting aspect of vinylmation, I found this to be charming and cute — and somewhat amazing, as we have two animated characters that have no faces, and yet are able to convey emotion just from their posture and head tilt.

Trailer available here.

it’s a small world

Another animated series — very little was said about this one, other than there will be new Richard-Sherman composed music for it.

If I was able to find anything about this online I’d link to it, but I did not see anything … it may be too early for teasers to have started appearing.

Animated

This iPad app was the sleeper hit of the presentation for me.    It is, in some respects, the complete history of Disney Animation captured in a single app.   Every animated feature from Snow White to Frozen can be accessed and studied.

In the app, you can explore all the different phases of developing an animated feature, including Art in Motion, Story, Visual Development, Character, Layout & Background, Animation, Visual Effects, Sound Design & Music, and Putting it All together.

There is a very strong learning aspect to the app — including exercises to help you learn how animation is done, and try your hand at it.   Starting with a simple stretch-and-squash exercise with a bouncing ball, and proceeding up through manipulating complex CGI characters much the way animators do today.

So much of the app is animated … if you are reading text on a page, and there is an image of Steamboat Willie in the corner of the page, that isn’t just a static image.   Touch it and it turns into a film clip from the Steamboat Willie cartoon.    I’m not sure how many such clips are in the app, but it seems there must be hours’ worth — every page has images scattered around the border, and each such image links you to interactive content.

A timeline allows you to see all 53 Disney Animated films to date (represented by their movie posters).   But like everything else in the app, it’s not just a string of static images.   Click on any one to drill down and learn move about the film.   Each major character is represented (of course, with a clip).   Links allow you to download music from the film in iTunes.    Background art, concept sketches, trailers — there is just so much to explore.

A unique “color map” feature almost seems to have every frame of the film represented (I’m sure it’s not — but a very generous sampling was used to show the color tones used throughout the feature).      It’s actually kind of mesmerizing to zoom out to the view that shows you all the animated films on one page … pick an interesting patch of color and see what it is.   Click and and see individual frames from the film, along with a selection of music from the film’s score).   Scrub your finger along the movie’s color map and you can watch the movie (in extremely condensed form) in just a few seconds.

There are hours of entertainment here, and it’s a great demonstration of the kind of application where the iPad really excels.   Animated is $13.99 and is available here.    (By the way — the app is 1.78 GB in size, you don’t want to download this over your cellular connection.   And you may have to delete something to make room).

Related articles
- New Scores for “Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved” Video Game (geekguardian.wordpress.com)
- New trailer for Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved (destructoid.com)
August 24, 2013
D23 Expo 2013: The Imagineering Pavilion
At this year’s D23 Expo, there were no big presentations from the Parks & Resorts division as there had been at previous expos.   The stated reason was that Parks and Resorts was coming off of some major expansions – Cars Land and Buena Vista Street at the Disneyland Resort, and New Fantasyland at Walt Disney Resort — and that other projects were not at an appropriate place for any new announcements to be made.

Instead of a big splashy arena presentation, Parks & Resorts was represented by an extensive Imagineering pavilion on the show floor.   The pavilion was themed (at least externally) to look like Imagineering’s headquarters building, with banners announcing an open house.

Inside, the pavilion was almost a show floor unto itself … a series of exhibits that in some cases were focused on specific projects, and in other cases to specific disciplines within Imagineering.

This is a pavilion where I could have easily spent a full day, but the Expo schedule was so jam-packed that I unfortunately took it in on two way-too-brief visits.   I tried to take lots of pictures, but in looking at other blogger’s write-ups I realized I missed a lot; this was definitely a pavilion that rewarded careful scrutiny and taking your time, and not just dashing through on your way from one presentation to the next.

Before sharing all the pictures, I have to mention the most striking exhibit within the pavilion, which is one where no photography was allowed.   It was a series of drawings or paintings by some of Disney’s best-known Imagineers, tracing the evolution of the concept of Disneyland.   (Although I wasn’t able to take photos in the exhibit, all of these images are available online in some form, so I’m including some images found on the web below).

In the first of 3 rooms, we saw some drawings by Harper Goff that are the earliest drawings of what would evolve into Disneyland.    This was before Anaheim, when the park was targeted for a small area of land adjacent to the studios.   While the drawings look nothing like Disneyland, you can see certain ideas, such as Rivers of America, were there from the earliest concept.

Harper Goff sketch of an early theme park concept

In the second room, we see perhaps the most famous Imagineering drawing of all time — Herb Ryman’s original pencil sketch of Disneyland.    This was not one of the many reproductions, but the actual original.    I believed that I had seen this before somewhere … perhaps in the Disney Gallery? — but after seeing it here, now I suspect I had never before seen the original.   The reason I suspect that is on this drawing, you can very clearly see the paper is not flat — indentations are very obvious where Herb shaded in areas vigorously, and I had never noticed that before on any version of the drawing I had seen.

Herb Ryman’s Disneyland pencil drawing, done over a weekend to show to investors.

In the final room, we set Peter Ellenshaw’s painting of Disneyland, done about a year before the park opened.   One of the amazing things Ellenshaw did with this painting is to use some black light paint that was around for use in some attraction, and go over the entire painting dotting in streetlights, lights in windows, and other details that could only be seen under black light.    We were told the painting has never been shown to the public this way; and were then able to view the painting under normal lighting (Disneyland by day) and then under black light (Disneyland at night).     I think if Imagineering were to find a way to reproduce this, they could have sold one to just about every person that toured the exhibit — I know I would have bought one!

Disneyland painting by Peter Ellenshaw

Now, on to the Imagineering pavilion photos.

Banner outside the Imagineering pavilion

The exterior is themed to the Imagineering building at 1401 Flower Street in Glendale

One of the first things seen when you enter the pavilion is a model of Disney Springs … a major rework of what is currently known as Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World

Disney Springs (showing new parking structure)

Disney Springs – the area formerly known as Pleasure Island

Disney Springs. Most buildings in foreground are new (built on existing parking lot).   One of two new parking structures can be seen at right edge of this photo.

We saw a model of the Space pavilion that has recently been discovered in the archives.    (I think — unless this is another manufactured artifact to tie in to the Tomorrowland shenanigans.   Who can tell what’s real and what is planted fabrication anymore?)

One of the famous never-built projects is Tony Baxter’s Western River Expedition.   Here are some models and concept art pieces from that project.

Model for a never-built International Street area at Disneyland

When Stars Wars was being filmed, the fake title Blue Harvest was used for the production.    The Orange Harvest boxes obviously are a hint to the under-development Episode VII.   And if that clue was too subtle, R2-D2 certainly makes it plain.

The restraining bolt is off — he’s making a break for it!

Early concept model of Spaceship Earth (EPCOT)

Early concept model of The Land Pavilion (EPCOT)

More shots of Imagineers and props from around the exhibit .. and there is much, much more that I didn’t capture, this is really just giving a bit of overall flavor of the pavilion.

The Imagineering Pavilion was one of the highlights of the show floor — and one of many things at the Expo that I wished I had more time to explore.

The famous Hatbox Ghost — an effect that didn’t work well enough to be included in the Haunted Mansion. Could he finally be ready to make an appearance in the attraction?

Related articles
- D23 Expo 2013 recap: Adventure Trading Company playtest (Photos) (examiner.com)
August 23, 2013
Richard Sherman and Alan Menken: The Disney Songbook
This first-ever joint performance by Disney Legends Richard Sherman and Alan Menken was probably the single thing I was most looking forward to at the D23 Expo.

Between the two of them (and their writing partners), they are responsible for so much of the music that is associated with Disney films and theme park attractions.   It was truly a wonderful trip down memory lane.    There’s just no way to capture the magic in words, so I would highly recommend watching the linked videos of each performance.    If you can’t spare the time to do that, then just scanning the list of songs performed by each of them will give you a feel of how much each of these gentlemen has contributed to the Disney songbook

In the first half of the concert, Richard Sherman played and sang (age before beauty …. and the beast, as Alan said after they were introduced and he yielded the stage to Richard).   This first segment was hosted by Tim O’Day, a frequent host at the D23 events, who kept things moving along and kept a nice conversation going with Richard between songs.

Richard Sherman’s Set

Richard opened with the first thing he wrote for Disney, Taul Paul, a song written for Annette Funicello.   The Sherman brothers collaborated on a number of other songs for Annette; the second piece performed was Pineapple Princess, also written for Annette.

The Shermans also wrote for Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap; Let’s Get Together was the next piece on the program.

When Walt decided to be one of the first to start producing television shows in color, he asked the Shermans to write “something about color”.   The resulting Wonderful World of Color was used to open the television show, and still plays in Disney’s California Adventure every evening as the opening number in the World of Color water show.

The Ugly Bug Ball was written for Burl Ives to perform in Summer Magic .. I think this may be the only song Richard performed that I wasn’t previously familiar with.

Next we were treated to a trio of songs from Winnie the Pooh; the title song, Pooh’s exercise song, and The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers.

Then a couple of songs from The Jungle Book .. That’s What Friends are For (the vulture song) and I Wanna Be Like You.     (Trivia note: The Bare Necessities is not a Sherman Brothers tune, it was the only bit of music that survived from an earlier story treatment that predated the Sherman’s involvement).

While introducing the next number, The Aristocats, Richard mentioned that his father was also a composer, and had also written for the theme song’s singer, Maurice Chevalier.

From Bedknobs and Broomsticks, we heard The Age of Not Believing.

We heard some of the best-known Sherman Brothers theme park songs:   The Tiki Room, and from Epcot’s Imagination pavilion, One Little Spark and Magic Journeys.

At this point, Richard was joined on stage by Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak who play Richard and his brother Robert in the upcoming film Saving Mr. Banks.    They performed A Spoonful of Sugar. Richard then continued with other Mary Poppins tunes Chim Chim Cheree and Feed the Birds.

Another theme park favorite, There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, was used to close out the set.    After leaving the stage briefly, Richard returned to serve up an encore of Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious.

Watch Richard Sherman’s full set here.

Alan Menken’s Set

Richard and Tim left the stage, and Alan came out to perform his set.    While Richard performed full songs, for the most part, Alan relied heavily on medleys of songs from each of his Disney productions.   This allowed him to cover just about twice the number of songs in roughly the same amount of time as Richard’s set.

Alan opened with The Little Mermaid, performing Part of Your World, and then a medley of Under the Sea, Poor Unfortunate Souls, Les Poissons, and Kiss the Girl.

Next he did a medley of additional songs that were added to the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid;   If Only, She’s in Love, and Her Voice.

From Beauty and the Beast, we heard a medley of Belle, Gaston, Be Our Guest, and Beauty and the Beast.

From Beauty and the Beast’s Broadway production we heard Human Again (originally written for the movie, but cut) and If I Can’t Love Her.

From Aladdin, a medley of Arabian Nights, One Jump Ahead, and Friend Like Me.

From Newsies, Carrying the Banner, King of New York, and Santa Fe.

Next was Pocahontas, from which we heard In the Middle of the River, If I Never Knew You, and Colors of the Wind.

A medley of Hunchback of Notre Dame songs included The Bells of Notre Dame, God Help the Outcast, and One Day Out There.

The Hercules medley comprised The Gospel Truth, Zero to Hero, and Go the Distance.

From Home on the Range, we heard Little Patch of Heaven, Yodle-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo, and Will the Sun Ever Shine Again.

For Enchanted, Alan shared that before he came on to the project, they were looking for a composer who could parody his musical style.    Turns out, he was just the guy to do that, and with True Love’s Kiss and Happy Working Song we hear songs that are amazingly good reproductions of Menken’s style, by Menken.

We heard four songs from Tangled: When Will My Life Begin, Mother Knows Best, I’ve Got a Dream, and I See the Light.

Alan actually wrote a bit of music for Captain America. Star Spangled Man With a Plan is played during the 1940’s era of the film when Captain America is being used to pitch savings bonds.

He also provided a song for The Neighbors sitcom episode “Sing Like A Larry Bird”, the song The Broadway Allen Song has been nominated for an Emmy and, if it wins, will give Alan the EGOT (Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar, and Tony), as well as a Razzie.

To close out his set, Alan performed Somebody’s Got Your Back, from the under-development Broadway production of Aladdin.

Alan performed a solo encore of How Does She Know (from Enchanted).

Watch Alan Menken’s full set here.

Sherman & Menken Encore

Richard Sherman and Tim O’Day returned to the stage.    Tim asked, in an obvious set up, if either them had written any songs about “worlds”.

Alan responded with A Whole New World (Aladdin).

Richard then took the piano and asked Alan to perform the counterpoint as they led the audience in it’s a small world to close out the evening.

Watch the joint encores here

Related articles
- The Disney Songbook: Richard Sherman and Alan Menken in Concert (mentalfloss.com)
- D23 Expo – A Magical Performance from Richard Sherman and Alan Menken (candoitmom.com)
- Richard M. Sherman & Alan Menken to Perform One-Night-Only Concert in LA Tonight (broadwayworld.com)
August 22, 2013
D23 Expo 2013: Highlights from the Imagineering Panels
Sunday at the D23 Expo was Imagineering day. Early on, when schedule details were first being announced, it was revealed that there would be five Imagineering sessions on Sunday, but it wasn’t until the last week or so before the Expo kicked off that attendees were given any information about the sessions.

The sessions were similar in that each one was a panel, and the panels were somewhat more free-form than other panels and presentations. As a result, there was some overlap, and in reviewing my notes, I felt it would be better to just combine my notes and create a single blog post for the three panels I was able to attend (attending the Disney Infinity presentation required me to miss the other two Imagineering panels. I’ve also included a few items from Marty Sklar’s solo presentation on Friday, which I had not previously written up.

The Panels

The three panels I attended on Sunday were:

Working with Walt, with panelists
- Marty Sklar. Disney Legend; Currently International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering; previously VP of Concepts and Planning, Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive. Among many other things, guided the creative development of Epcot.
- X Atencio. Disney Legend. Wrote the story for attractions such as the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean; also wrote the songs “A Pirate’s Life for Me” and “Grim Grinning Ghosts”.
- Alice Davis. Disney Legend. A costume designer for attractions such as it’s a small world and Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as Disney films and television. Widow of Disney Legend Marc Davis.
- Bob Gurr. Disney Legend. Designer of ride vehicles including Autopia cars, the OmniMover system (Doom Buggies and similar), Matterhorn Bobsleds, Submarine Voyage submarines, and the Disneyland Monorail.
Leading a Legacy, with panelists
- Marty Sklar. See above
- Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering
Leave Em Laughing, with panelists
- Dave Fisher, show writer
- Kevin Rafferty, story development, senior concept writer
- George Scribner, story development, director
- Joe Lanzisero, Creative VP for Tokyo Disneyland
- Jason Surrell, show writer and producer
The Content

Here are some of the things that I thought worth jotting down notes about during these presentations

(Marty) The last time Walt appeared on film (October 1966) was in the much-shown introduction to “the Florida Project”, where Walt introduced the plans for what would become Walt Disney World, including EPCOT.   Marty was the writer for this.

(Alice) The first time she met Walt was when she was having dinner with her husband Marc at the Tam.   (Tam O’Shanter, a restaurant near the studios popular with studio personnel).   Walt asked about her work.   She was in the garment industry — making girdles and brassieres.   Walt was fascinated (and as far as I can tell she was relating this entirely seriously) by her expertise with elastic.   Two years later, Walt called and asked her to do costumes for it’s a small world.

(Bob) Asked about first time meeting Walt, he said he was doing sketches for the Autopia cars.   Someone came through the office and took a look, and it wasn’t until he was on his way out and someone said “bye, Walt” that Bob realized who it was.   He thought maybe it was a night watchman or something, so I guess it must have happened after hours.

(Marty) His first job at Disney was to produce a tabloid-style newspaper that would be sold on Main Street for ten cents.    It showed how, for Walt, Main Street was a real place, not just a mock-up.   No real small town of that era would be without a newspaper, so there had to be one or the story wouldn’t be right.

(Bob) When doing the Lincoln animatronic, Walt had an actor do the speech, and filmed it as a reference.   Bob felt the first take done by the actor was excellent.   But Walt kept making him do it over, and over. He knew what he wanted and kept pushing (but wasn’t giving any direction to the actor, just having him do it again).   The last take was the one Walt wanted. The actor was clearly exhausted by that point, and Walt felt that was the way Lincoln would have been at Gettysburg.   That was the kind of authenticity that Walt looked for.

(Alice) Making the dolls for it’s a small world, at some point she told Walt that no one had told her how much she could spend on each costume for fabric, buttons, etc.   Walt told her he had a building full of people to do “pencil work”, that she was to design the best costume that anyone from 1 to 100 would love to wear, and they (the pencil people) would figure out how to pay for it.   “People will know the difference; give them your best and they’ll be back. Cheat them and you’ll never see hide nor hair of them again”.

(X) After 20+ years in animation, Walt brought him over to do the script for Pirates.   Marty asked, having never done a script, why did Walt trust you to do that?   X: it was a direct command performance from the man himself.

(Bob) Walt was never interested in what you had done, but only in what you were going to do next.

(Alice) Walt would give you something you didn’t think you were capable of doing. And you’d find a way to do it, because you didn’t want to disappoint Walt.

(Bob) Walt remembered almost everything he ever heard, if you told him something, and came back with a different story later, he’d call you on it.

(Alice) A young man came to Walt with a drawing and asked him “what do you think of this”?   After looking for a moment, Walt said “It’s very difficult to choose between one”.   He always wanted options.

(Marty) The job of leading Imagineering is largely a job as a casting director.   For example, Marc Davis and Claude Coats were very different – they wouldn’t be caught dead going to lunch together.    (Not anything negative, they were just very different).   But putting them together created a really complementary team.

With the Haunted Mansion, Claude felt it should be scary, and Marc thought it should be funny.    The back and forth between them gave us the ride we have today, probably better than if we had gotten just Marc’s version or Claude’s version.

(Marty) asked about how to train for a job in Imagineering, Marty suggested learning as much as you can about as many things as you can.   Imagineering comprises 140 different disciplines (but Marty acknowledges they don’t really know how many, that’s just the number they use).   Cross-disciplinary skills are a must.

(Marty) leading Imagineering is about casting, motivation, and gently helping someone understand when they have the wrong idea (“a bit of an art form”)

(Marty or Bruce — didn’t note) An interesting thing with Hong Kong Disneyland (Shanghai will be similar) is that because of the one child law, the kid-to-adult ratio is inverted from other worldwide parks; influences a lot of what you do in park design.

(Bruce) told a funny story about World of Color.   After investing millions in this very advanced fountain system, they decided to create new versions of many classic Disney songs. So they had the London Symphony Orchestra record a brand new score for the show.   And when they first tried it out, it just wasn’t working.   Someone even said “what if fountains are just boring?” after they had invested tremendous time and money in the show.   Then, they dropped in the classic music (the arrangements we all know) — and immediately it worked.   We are just really wired to respond to that music the way we know it.

Someone from the audience asked about Harry Potter at Universal; Bruce didn’t really rise to the us vs. them challenge, but used the question to re-affirm that it’s all about story — that ride, that area of the park is so powerful because it starts with a great story.

(not sure who told this one) When Disneyland was about 6 years old, Walt sent Marc Davis over since he was between projects.   Walt asked what he thought, and Marc said what was missing was humor.   So Marc added things like the men climbing the tree to get away from the rhino in the Jungle Cruise.   (and apparently the original Jungle Cruise script was not funny; it appears from history that the script got punched up at about the same time Marc began working in the parks).

(Kevin) The version of one of the songs at Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree where Mater forgets the words to the song was completely intentional (which is different than the story I’d heard about it previously).    The story is, when Kevin was demoing the song for Larry the Cable Guy (voice of Mater), he actually did forget some words and filled in with a “something something something”   — Larry said “we have to do that!” and did it in one take.

(Kevin) Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree also is the first ride to have a “Joke” button; when the ride is loading, if it is taking a little longer than ideal, the operator can hit a “joke” button on the console and Mater tells a joke.    He played a number of the recorded jokes for the audience.   I don’t remember any or I’d share.

There was obviously a lot more in all of these panels, but those were the highlights as I saw them.    The biggest thrill was just being able to see so many Disney Legends and hear their stories.
August 21, 2013
Disney Legends 2013
At the previous D23 Expo in 2011, the Disney Legends ceremony was the kick-off event for Day 1; it was a fantastic session that set the bar for everything that followed.   The inductees in 2011 including the singing voices of 4 Disney princesses (Jodi Benson – Ariel, Page O’Hara – Belle, Lea Salonga – Jasmine & Mulan, and Anika Noni Rose – Tiana), among other honorees.   The four voice actresses sang individually, as well as together, as part of the ceremony.    We also got a live performance from Brian Henson as his father Jim was inducted as a Disney Legend.   These performances were so memorable that there didn’t seem to be any way the 2013 ceremony could top that.

The 2013 Disney Legends included 8 new honorees, 4 of whom were present plus 4 that were being honored posthumously.    There were no performances this time, so the ceremony was not as energetic or exciting — but it was moving, and I think everyone in the audience was touched and felt privileged to be a part of the celebration of the work of the newest Disney Legends.

Tom Bergeron (Host of Dancing with the Stars and Americas Lamest Jokes with Videos) hosted along with Bob Iger (Disney CEO)

Tony Baxter

The first honoree was Tony Baxter, for Imagineering.   Tony worked his way up at Disneyland, starting out scooping ice cream in the park.    Tom shared a brief recap of the story of how during a break, Tony snuck in to the still-under-construction Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, where he got a personal tour of the ride from legendary Imagineer Claude Coats (who would later become Tony’s mentor in Imagineering).   I’ve heard Tony tell a longer version of this story at another D23 event, and it really captures some of the pride of craftsmanship and eagerness to share that characterizes the greatest Imagineers.

Tony was moved into Imagineering in 1970 and participated in development of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.    He returned to California to work on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.   He participated in the development of many well-known attractions at various Disney parks after that, including The Living Seas, The Land, Journey Into Imagination, Star Tours, Indiana Jones Adventure, and Splash Mountain.   He was the executive producer of Disneyland Paris and continued work on various Imagineering projects until his quasi-retirement in 2013   (he remains an advisor to Imagineering).

In his remarks, Tony said that one of the secrets to success is recapturing the naive optimism of a 12 year old who believes that anything you can imagine is possible, and said that Disney is a company that encourages employees to find that childlike place again.

Ed Wynn

Ed Wynn’s career started in vaudeville and continued in television, movies, and on Broadway.    He was best known as a comic actor but did dramatic roles as well (earning an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for The Diary of Anne Frank).

His association with Disney begin with voicing the character of The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.    (The King Candy character in Wreck-it-Ralph is a tribute, as Alan Tudyk does a pretty spot-on impression of Wynn’s voice in the role) .

He did many other Disney roles in films such as Babes In Toyland, The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, and several others, but no role was better remembered than that of Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins.

Mr. Wynn’s granddaughter accepted the Disney Legends award on behalf of her grandfather.

Collin Campbell

Collin Campbell was an animator and, later, an Imagineer with Disney.    As an animator, he worked on such classics as Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians.    He’s another case of someone working their way up on the inside, having started with the company as a messenger.

Collin was one of the employees assigned to WED (the precursor to Imagineering) to produce attractions for the 1964 New York World’s Fair.    He built models and sets for the fair exhibits Magic Skyway, it’s a small world, and Carousel of Progress.   At Disneyland he worked on The Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Club 33.

Moving on to Walt Disney World, Collin produced concept art for the resort hotels and worked on areas such as Tom Sawyer Island and the entrance and queue to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Collin retired in 1990, but returned to work on the Tom Sawyer Island renovation at Disneyland.   He passed away in 2011.

The Disney Legends award for Collin was accepted by his son Jim.

John Goodman

John is best known for his work outside of Disney, as an actor in both dramatic and comedic roles in movies, TV, and on Broadway.   He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Music for Big River.   He frequently appears in Coen Brothers films such as Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink.

He is probably best known for playing Dan Conner in the long-running sitcom Roseanne, earning a Golden Globe and seven Emmy nominations.

His Disney appearances include the films Arachnophobia, Born Yesterday, Stella, Coyote Ugly, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

His most loved Disney/Pixar work as as Sulley in Monsters, Inc. and this year’s Monsters University, but he has also lent his voice to animated characters in The Emperor’s New Groove, Kronk’s New Groove, The Jungle Book 2, and The Princess and the Frog.

In accepting the award, he indicated that he really felt he and Billy Crystal were being honored as a team; somewhat unusually for animated voice work, they performed their lines together in the studio rather than recording them separately.    (He also was thankful that he didn’t have to follow Billy in his acceptance).   John also said that it the true honor was just in being cast to work with the Disney artists in the first place.

Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal was a successful stand-up comic who gained a national audience through his appearances on the shows Soap (1977-81) and Saturday Night Live (1984-1985).   He hosted several Comic Relief fundraisers along with Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams.

He appeared in a number of Rob Reiner films including The Princess Bride (“Have fun storming the castle!”) and When Harry Met Sally.     He was nominated for Golden Globes 3 times for his film work.

He turned down the opportunity to voice Buzz Lightyear in the original Toy Story film before voicing Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc, a role he has called his favorite character he ever played.    He recently reprised the role for this year’s Monsters University.

As a 9-time host of the Academy Awards, Billy has surpassed everyone but Bob Hope in the number of times hosting the show.

In accepting the award, he reflected on the change in how we watch entertainment today — specifically recalling how watching Disney movies was something that brought the whole family together, with everyone watching together, rather than everyone wrapped up on their own iPad / iPhone or other device and doing their own thing.

Dick Clark

Dick Clark was recognized for his enormous contributions in the television industry, as a host and producer.

His best-known contributions are American Bandstand, which he hosted for over 30 years, and the annual New Years Rockin’ Eve special which he also hosted for over 30 years.   In addition to those shows, he performed on or produced many game shows, awards shows, and specials.

Dick won five Emmy awards and is a member of both the Television Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll hall of fame.    He passed away in 2012 and his Disney Legend award was accepted by his wife, Kari.

Glen Keane

Glen spent 38 years as a Disney animator, and is the pencil (or computer-pointing device) behind some of the most beloved characters of the second Golden Age of Disney Animation.

His father, Bil Keane, is the cartoonist behind the long-running Family Circus comic and devised all six of the jokes used in the strip.

Glen joined Disney just as the last animators that directly worked under Walt were approaching retirement, and was mentored by such greats as Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston and Eric Larson.

Characters animated by Glen include Penny (The Rescuers), Elliott (Pete’s Dragon), Tod, Vixey, and the bear (The Fox and the Hound), Ariel (The Little Mermaid), the Beast (Beauty and the Beast), and the title characters in Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan.

Glen did much of the original development work on the Rapunzel story that eventually morphed into Tangled.

Glen retired from Disney in 2012 but continues to teach and inspire new artists.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is obviously best-known for his contributions to Apple, but his contributions to Pixar are bigger than many (or most) people realize.   Before reading Walter Issacson’s biography, I had assumed Steve was just an investor / owner; only after reading about his involvement did I realize how important his contributions were to the company that Pixar became.

When Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Steve became Disney’s largest shareholder and a member of the Board of Directors.

Steve’s award was accepted by Pixar and Disney future legend John Lasseter.   The acceptance was certainly the most moving part of the Legends ceremony, and perhaps the most moving moment of the entire expo.     I recommend watching it here.

That concludes the 2013 Disney Legends; inductions are now biannual to coincide with the Expo so then next class of inductees will be named in 2015 shortly before that year’s Expo.

Related articles
- Recent Disney Legend Award Winner Tony Baxter (stonevips.wordpress.com)
- D23 Expo 2013 Disney Legends Award Honorees to Be Celebrated (jedimouseketeer.com)
- Pixar’s John Lasseter Emotionally Accepts Disney Legends Award For Steve Jobs [Video] (cultofmac.com)
August 21, 2013