Tag: Disney

  • Destination D: Day Two Morning Sessions

    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.

  • Destination D: Day 1 Morning Session Highlights

    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?

  • Disney’s Aulani Resort

    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