Destination D: Day Two Morning Sessions

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Mike

Wild and Wacky Disney Animation

When you ask animation buffs to describe the style of Disney animation, you’ll hear that the drawings are lifelike, the overall style realistic, the stories moving, the characters memorable.   Other studios like Warner Brothers and Fleischer get the adjectives funny, wild, zany, and of course looney.

But in the long history of Disney animation, there have been many wild and crazy bits of animation, and this morning’s session set out to provide that Disney can be just as wild and wacky as any animation department.

The evidence:

  • A clip of deleted material from Steamboat Willie, described as NSFW, and definitely NSF PETA members.   Mickey engages in various forms of animal abuse to create music.

Steamboat Willie deleted scene

  • A segment from The Barn Dance.   Mickey and Minnie are dancing, and he keeps stepping on her feet.  Oblivious, he walks on her feet, flattening them and then proceeding to her ankles and right up the leg, which is getting stretched out and starts being dragged across the floor behind them.   Eventually her tortured leg gets so long that she has to tie a knot in it to shorten it back to length, and then cuts off the excess.
  • Mother Goose Goes to Hollywood, a caricature piece featuring many Hollywood notables (Katherine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep, the Marx Brothers, etc.)

Little Bo Peep

  • Thru the Mirror, in which Mickey Mouse has an Alice in Wonderland experience.
  • Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom, a history of musical instruments
  • The Fantasia Dance of the Hours segment, featuring dancing hippos and alligators.
  • The Fantasia 2000 Carnival of Animals segments, in which a flamingo masters the yo-yo (and asserts his individuality over the flock)

Flamingo with Yo-Yo

  • Pink Elephants on Parade, from Dumbo
  • “After You’re Gone” segment from Make Mine Music
  • “Blame it on the Samba” from Melody Time
  • A bit of early Genie animation.   When Disney wanted to get Robin Williams to play the Genie, they wanted something to show him.  So they used audio of Robin performing his stand-up act and animated the Genie to that as a demo.
  • A few clips of never completed Alice in Wonderland scenes
  • The soup eating scene from Snow White (this is a bonus feature on one of the DVDs)
  • Donald’s dream sequence from Three Caballeros.

The verdict:  Disney can indeed be pretty wild and wacky.

Drawing with Personality

This was great to watch, and a write-up just won’t be able to do it justice because it was so visual.

Animator Andreas Deja brought a number of pencil drawings of well-known Disney characters drawn by top animators.   His comments were insightful, pointing out where certain poses really showed strength of line, or pointing out various things that make a drawing “work”, but that a non-artist would not likely notice.   (One thing that comes across again and again in all these presentations is the tremendous respect that the current animators have for those that preceded them … there is just such a legacy there, and it seems they never lose sight of that and are incredibly respectful of it).

Seeing so many great drawings from the archives was interesting, but the presentation really took off for me when Andreas picked up a marker and began drawing some of the characters he was the supervising animator for.

A gallery showing these drawings is here.

Tinker Bell: The Evolution of a Disney Character

Frankly, going in this was a session I was not really interested in … Tinker Bell isn’t a favorite of mine, and knowing that at least some of the talk was covering “modern” Tink (3D graphics and she talks!  The horror!)  I was tempted to duck out and take in a few rides.   I’m glad I stayed … although it wasn’t my favorite talk of the weekend, it was very well researched, contained some surprises, and was worthwhile.

The presenter, Mindy Johnson, is author of an upcoming book from which most of this presentation was drawn.   (The book, Tinker Bell: An Evolution, will be coming out in fall of 2013 so don’t go looking for it yet).

The presentation started with the earliest ideas about Tink in J. M. Barrie’s writing and early stage adaptations of his works.     Tinker Bell was represented on stage by just a light effect and the sound of a bell.   (Specifically a bell such as would be used on a tinker’s wagon to alert customers, not unlike an ice cream truck’s music or horns).   The character, originally called Tippy Toe, thus became Tinker Bell.

We saw early concept art of Disney’s Tinker Bell as a redhead before Marc Davis drew the character we know today.    We heard from Margaret Kerry, who was the live action reference model for Tinker Bell, and also from Ginny Mack, an ink and paint girl who was recruited as the facial model for Tink.

Moving on to the modern era, we also heard from Mae Whitman, who has voiced Tinker Bell in recent releases, and director Peggy Holmes, director of Secret of the Rings, the next film in the Tinker Bell series.

That was it for the morning panels … come back tomorrow to hear about the afternoon panels.

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Destination D: Day 1 Afternoon & Evening Highlights

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Mike

(for coverage of the Saturday morning presentations see here)

Inside Walt Disney Animation Studios Today

Based on the title, I thought we might be getting some insight into how the animation department works today (how CG and hand-drawn animation departments compete or co-operate, and similarly for Disney and Pixar animation groups).   Instead, this was really a look at upcoming animated features and shorts.

Frozen

The first feature that we heard about was Frozen.  This is a Holiday 2013 release.  I had not heard anything about this feature prior to Destination D, so it was exciting to get a look at something completely new.

The presenter was CG animator Darrin Butters (Prep & Landing, Bolt, Fantasia 2000, and others).

Frozen is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.   We saw a number of story sketches here; no finished animation was previewed.

The story focuses on two sisters, younger Anna (Kristen Bell) and older Elsa (Idina Menzel from Wicked, Rent, and Enchanted).   Few plot details were given other than it involves a curse, some prophecy, and snowmen sidekicks.

Songs will be provided by Bobby Lopez & Kristen Anderson Lopez (Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Winnie the Pooh).   We heard one song from the movie, “Let it Go”, performed live for us on stage to close out the presentation.

Paperman

The short film Paperman will play in front of Wreck-it Ralph coming this November.   We were shown this delightful film in its entirety, and were the first non-industry audience to see it.

The presentation prior to showing the film described the unique animation style that is a blend of hand-drawn and computer generated.  The idea is to preserve the animators original sketch lines (which usually get cleaned up) all the way to final animation.   The technique was interesting but it was really the story that made this stand out.

Paperman is the story of a chance encounter; boy meets girl on subway platform, then they are separated.   While at work, he spots her in a building across the street, and tries desperately to reach her with a paper airplane.   Then another.   Then another.    You’ll have to see the film to find whether it all works out in the end.

Wreck-it Ralph

The final film discussed in this presentation was Wreck-it Ralph, coming in November.    We were shown about 10 minutes of footage from the movie.  I think most of the information that was shared with us (casting, plot details) was already known, so I’ll just recap briefly.

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain in the 80s style arcade video game Fix-it Felix Jr.  (Felix is Jack McBrayer).   But Ralph doesn’t want to be a bad guy anymore.  So he leaves his game in search of a place he can be the hero.  (The premise here is that the power cord for the game leads to a ‘Game Central Station’ — a power strip where all the games are plugged in — allowing characters to come and go, and enter other games.

Ralph’s adventures will take him to the Sugar Rush game (think Mario Cart) where he’ll meet Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) and Hero’s Duty (similar to Call of Duty or any first-person shooter) where he’ll encounter Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch).

The different games have very different visual styles which definitely makes things  interesting to look at.   There are many, many cameos by game characters dating from classics such as Pac-Man and QBert right up to present day.

The Greatest Disney Animation You Never Saw

This sounded like it would be a fun presentation, and it certainly was.   This was a presentation of Disney rarities — I probably had seen close to half of what was presented here, and given the Disney Geek quality of the audience I was probably not unusual in this respect.   But the animation that was shown has been in the vault for a long time, so it’s certainly hard-to-find, rare footage that it was fun to see again, or for the first time, as the case may be.

Don Hahn and Dave Bossert were the hosts.   The format was to alternate film snippets (or in some case complete shorts) with commercials; it was very entertaining to get a look back at a time when Disney was more than willing to have their characters used in ads for all sorts of products.

The playlist:

  • Back to Neverland.   I absolutely loved seeing this again — it was the original introductory film to the Animation Tour at the Disney-MGM Studios park.  The film features Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite and is vastly superior to the current film with Eddie Murphy’s Mushu character from Mulan.   Can we bring this one back, please?   Also, we were told that Robin’s performance here led to his being approached for the role of the Genie in Aladdin.
  • A 1950’s “I Like Ike” commercial produced by Roy O. Disney  (Walt’s brother, Roy E.’s dad)
  • The Roger Rabbit short “Tummy Trouble” (1989).
  • A commercial for American Motors featuring Jiminy Cricket (for the 1955 Nash Ambassador).
  • The pre-show film from Cranium Command at EPCOT’s Wonders of Life pavilion.  Directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale who would go on to do Beauty and the Beast.
  • A commercial for Peter Pan peanut butter featuring Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook
  • Film of Walt performing Mickey’s voice for “Mr. Mouse Steps Out”
  • A commercial for Jell-O featuring Alice and the Cheshire Cat.
  • An extended deleted sequence from Who Framed Roger Rabbit where Eddie is “tooned” (has a pig’s face painted on his head).
  • Roger Rabbit advertising Diet Coke
  • Early pencil animation for a very different version of the Fantasia 2000 Pomp and Circumstance segment.   In this one, we get a parade of all of the Disney princesses and many other characters both major and minor.   At the end of the segment, a flock of storks, led by Dumbo, deliver babies to each of the princesses.   A true what-were-they-thinking moment that had the audience unsure whether to laugh or cringe.
  • An ad for Disney Magix cereal, from the 1990s, featuring Mickey.
  • A sequence pitch for a never-produced Hiawatha movie.
  • Another Peter Pan ad, this one with a cowboy and a spaceman.   (Definitely not Woody and Buzz, but maybe this was inspiration)
  • and finally, the Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah segment from Song of the South.

This whole presentation was just wonderful; kudos to whoever curated the content as it was a great mix of historically significant pieces, just-for-laughs segments, and great nostalgia for bygone attractions.

Animating the Disney Parks

Like some of the morning sessions, this was a session that focused very much on personalities rather than technical aspects.    Essentially there are three individuals whose contributions to the parks were featured, although a lot of other imagineers and animators were mentioned along the way.

Claude Coats was the first to be featured.   Tony Baxter (Sr. VP, Imagineering and future Disney Legend) who worked with Claude, did this part of the presentation.   Claude did the show design for some of Disneylands’s most memorable attractions, including the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland, and Mr. Toad.  At EPCOT he contributed to Horizons, World of Motion, Universe of Energy, and several others.    On several projects he collaborated with Mary Blair.

Claude Coats with Mary Blair

 

The next Imagineer to be featured was Herb Ryman.   If you’ve ever seen concept art for Disneyland or EPCOT, it was most likely Herb’s work.   The original concept drawing for Disneyland, shown to investors to help line up financing for the park, is a Herb Ryman piece.

Herb Ryman’s Disneyland concept art

 

Next we hear about Marc Davis.   As an animator, Marc worked on Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan (Tinkerbell), and others.  He drew some of the definitive Disney villains including Maleficient and Cruella de Vil.   As an Imagineer he worked on it’s a small world, the Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and others.

An Evening with Dick Van Dyke

After a day full of presentations, after dinner we had a fabulous performance by Dick Van Dyke and his a capella group, the Vantastix.   They opened with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and continued with selections from Bye Bye Birdie. Mary Poppins (of course!), Jungle Book, Dumbo and quite few others.   It was a magical evening of music and laughter, if you ever have the chance to see this group perform, don’t miss it.   (Buy their CD here)

Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix perform

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Destination D: Day 1 Morning Session Highlights

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Mike

On August 11th and 12th 2012, D23 (The Official Disney Fan Club) presented the third Destination D event.   The theme of this one was “Celebrating 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation.

The event was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel.

I’ll be recapping the event over the next several blog entries — in this first post, I’ll cover the two Saturday morning presentations, which covered different eras in the history of Disney animated features.

Walt and the First Golden Age of Disney Animation

The first presentation of the day covered the earliest days of feature animation.  This panel was hosted by Disney Archives director Becky Cline, and included panelists:

  • Disney Legend, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and director Burney Mattinson
  • Layout artist and producer Joe Hale
  • Documentary filmmaker Ted Thomas, son of Disney Legend Frank Thomas

Becky Cline, Ted Thomas, Joe Hale, Burny Mattinson. In background, the Nine Old Men

The discussion started off with anecdotes about working with Walt and generally what it was like to be working in animation during that era.  Then the discussion focused on each of the nine old men, with anecdotes about working with them, and discussions of specific films and scenes that each man was responsible for.

Anyone who has an interest in animation is familiar with how storyboards are used to present ideas for the story; we were treated to a video of Burny doing a story pitch using storyboards for the “Eeyore loses his tail” segment of the new Winnie the Pooh movie.

Overall the panel was very informative and did a great job of setting up the history of the animation studio.

Roy and the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation

The second panel of the morning moved on to the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation, a period that started with the Little Mermaid.   This period of studio history is very well chronicled in Don Hahn’s  Waking Sleeping Beauty.

The panel was led by Tim O’Day and included panelists

  • Roy Patrick Disney, son of Walt’s nephew Roy E. Disney, who was head of animation.
  • Don Hahn, director (Waking Sleeping Beauty) and producer (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King)
  • John Musker and Ron Clements, directing team of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog

(No photos were allowed during this session so I can’t show the panel)

The panel opened with a film called “Mickey’s Audition”.   Although it wasn’t identified as such I’m pretty sure this used to play as part of the Backlot Tour at the Disney-MGM Studios park (as it was then called).   Very entertaining with cameos by Angela Lansbury, Mel Brooks, and other stars.  The significance here was that it featured the acting debut of Roy E. Disney, portraying Walt  (and there is quite a resemblance).

The second panel was far more energetic and lively than the earlier one.   Don Hahn is always entertaining, and moderator Tim O’Day kept things moving along and frequently injected a bit of humor (not that it was lacking otherwise).   It seemed to be generally agreed among everyone, as Don Hahn stated, that Roy E. didn’t just save animation at Disney, he saved the company.

There was an amusing anecdote about a scene in a True Life Adventure where a scene of a duck sliding across the ice was cut short by the cameraman before the inevitable collision with another group of ducks just standing around.   When Walt was shown the sequence, he insisted that they had to “find” the “missing” footage of the collision, but it didn’t exist — the cameraman had stopped filming.   But Walt was insistent, so eventually Roy E. and a crew had to head back out and get the footage — bowling with ducks.

We also got to see, courtesy of Roy P., some candid family photos of the Disney family.    A favorite was a shot of him and his siblings standing in front of a nondescript pile of dirt — a pile of dirt in the spot where Cinderella Castle would soon be built.

Overall, this was less of an animation history lesson and more of a tribute to Roy E., and that seemed an appropriate and fitting way to conclude our first morning.

Would love to hear from other attendees in the comments — what were your favorites in the morning sessions?

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Disney’s Aulani Resort

Posted on June 20, 2012 by castilloclan

We are DVC members since it first started 20-years ago.  We booked 7-months in advance and I suggest you do the same if you want to stay here.  As it gets more popular that might not even guarantee you get the dates you want.  Also keep in mind that this resort is still very new (opened Aug. 2011) and kinks are being worked out, plus there is the “Hawaiian attitude” which is much more laid back than Silicon Valley.  We were able to stay here only because we are DVC members; it’s way too expensive otherwise.

While we (2 adults, 2 older teenagers) definitely enjoyed the resort, it was teaming with adolescent children and infants because the resort definitely caters to families.  I can see it being very busy come peak times so if you don’t want to be surrounded by children, many of whom are not watched closely by adults, then I suggest you pick a time other than peak times of summer and holidays.

Check out all the particulars including accommodations, services, etc. on-line at http://resorts.disney.go.com/aulani-hawaii-resort/

Accommodations

Wonderful accommodations as one would expect from Disney.  Large resort with (6) connected buildings with about (12) floors of rooms/suites/villas.  We stayed in a one-bedroom villa (sleeps 5) which included a full living room, kitchen, eating area, washer/dryer.  Reminiscent of the villas at Disney’s Grand Californian.

To-Dos

Because the resort is accessible to non-guests (who would love to enjoy all that Aulani has to offer without paying the cost of staying there), those who are guests are given daily color-coded wristbands to wear in order to use the various facilities and activities.  From some of the reviews I’ve read, some guests were unhappy with this policy but it’s non-intrusive and I think it’s necessary.

Water

– There is a lazy river, water slides, double-decker infinity spa overlooking the beach, several pool/wading areas, a couple additional Jacuzzis.  Pathways meander throughout all these areas.  At night, the lighting is very reminiscent of Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

– There is an adjoining beach area surrounding a lagoon that is shared with the other timeshare hotels on either side of Aulani.  Lounge chairs, umbrellas, sand toys and games are free and first-come, first-served.

– For additional fees there is kayak and paddle board rentals ($20+/hr) , feeding the stingrays ($50 pp – a lot of fun), a small lagoon for snorkeling ($40 adult) (they also have glass viewing areas along one of the sides)

Activities and Entertainment

– There is something going on for everyone throughout the entire day.  You could easily not leave the resort and still enjoy yourself with something to do other than lay in the sun.

– Disney characters’ breakfast and photo ops during the day with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Stitch, Chip & Dale

– Outdoor Disney movies, storytelling, musical duets and trios, live shows, exercise facilities and classes, and fee-based activities like stargazing ($39 pp)

– On-site Tour agency for booking excursions (can also be done on-line) but expect to pay more than if you did it on your own before arriving.  I researched and booked our activities about (3) weeks before we arrived.  (Lori Jay at Tom Barefoot’s Tours – lori@tombarefoot.com)

Food

As expected there were options (simple to fancy) to eat on-site but also as expected, it’s expensive and not necessarily worth the cost.  There are also multiple bar locations.  I think we only ate (3) meals on-site (one of which resulted in stomach problems for my daughter).  We shopped at the local stores and ate several meals “at home” as well as at nearby restaurants.

Location

The resort is located on the West coast of Oahu about 40min drive NW of Honolulu airport.  The area looks more like desert than the typical image of a lush, tropical Hawaiian island.  Driving around the island is easy but there is definitely traffic during the week and it can be congested getting into Honolulu and Waikiki.  Be ready to slow down with not only driving, but your attitude.  Freeways are 50-55mph with a minimum speed posting.

There are a couple large shopping centers just a 5-min drive south of Ko’Olina resort area including Target, Wal-Mart, Safeway, Longs, and lots of food places like Chili’s, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc.   There is also a new area across the street from Aulani still in growing stages with Joe’s Tacos (nice Mexican restaurant and bar with 300 tequila offerings), a Hawaiian BBQ/Asian food and an ice cream parlor, plus a small market.

End Result

Must do’s …

–       Try to get an ocean view room – it is amazing and can be enjoyed from the balcony

–       Enjoy the pools, spas, slides and especially the warm ocean water and clean beach

–       Stingray experience, watch an outdoor movie, sit and listen to live music

–       Outside excursions including Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona and Battleship Missouri, Dolphin Excursions, Hawaii Surf School, Hawaiian Parasailing, rent a car and explore on your own ‘cuz it’s pretty easy to get around

Maybe . . .

–       Germaine’s Luau (or any other luau’s) … show pretty good but food sucked and it’s expensive

Would we go again?

Possibly, because it is a beautiful resort.  We enjoyed everything we did on-site including doing nothing.  Everyone should go at least once.

Will we go again?

Not for awhile because there are other vacations we would like to do first before we redo this one

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Coming Attractions

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Mike

Now that the new blog is up and operational, I’m looking forward to some of the things that I’ll be blogging about here in the months to come.

June and July will probably be light, but things will begin to pick up after that.

In August, I’ll be attending Destination:D, Celebrating 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation, at the Disneyland Resort.   So in mid-August I’ll be blogging about

  • The D23 Destination:D Event
  • The new Cars Land expansion to Disney’s California Adventure
  • The re-themed Buena Vista Street area of DCA
  • Some fine dining experiences at Napa Rose and Carthay Circle restaurants

Then in September, it’s off to Florida for an incredibly jam-packed week including

  • The inaugural Tower of Terror 10-mile race
  • D23’s EPCOT 30th Anniversary celebration
  • Any other in-park events for EPCOT’s 30th anniversary
  • The first weekend of the Food & Wine festival at EPCOT
  • Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom
  • WDW Radio’s e-Ticket event
  • Plus other events by WDW Today and WDW Celebrations to commemorate EPCOT’s 30th.

Then, in 2013 there will be a cruise on the Disney Dream, and the 3rd D23 Expo.  So much to look forward to!

UPDATE: Edited 6/8/12 to add link to the D23 EPCOT Event details

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Waiting for the train

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Mike

This past week was supposed to be the kickoff of my 18 week training period for the Tower of Terror 10 mile race in September.   In reality, I started running in January — as a total couch potato I figured I needed all the time I could get for training.    I’m glad I got the early start, as this week I wasn’t able to train at all.

Just before Memorial Day, while doing an easy slow jog, I felt a really severe cramping in my calf.  I was unable to continue that run, but hoped that with a couple of days’ rest I’d be right back at it.   That hasn’t happened.   I’ve been icing it, working it over with a foam roller, and stretching it (gently, no bouncing).   It’s been feeling a little better each day, and today I thought I’d be able to get in my 4 miles as scheduled and be right on track.    But just as I started out — barely a minute into my run — it tightened up again, and I turned around and headed back in.

Very frustrating.    I’m traveling this week so I think I’ll just plan on not running while I’m away, but will continuing icing, stretching, and rolling the calf.   Next weekend, I’ll see whether I’m ready to pick up with the training.

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Hello world!

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Mike

Apple’s MobileMe service is being discontinued, forcing me to find a new home for theYawns.com.   For quite some time I’ve really only been using the domain as my email address, and the web presence has been rather neglected.

Maybe I’ll be inspired now to update the site more frequently, now that it’s moved to WordPress.

But don’t hold your breath.

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