In the Toy Box

The featured attraction at Pixar Place is Toy Story Midway Mania, housed inside a replica of the main building at Pixar Animation Studios. Step inside, though, and you'll discover the giant atrium lobby has been filled with an enormous interior set of Andy's room from the film.

All the iconic set pieces are here, from Andy's bed to the cloud sky wallpaper. Along one wall is the toy box. It's the same wall behind which the attraction queue is situated.

Guests waiting in the queue are inside Andy's toy box, winding their way among game boards, puzzle pieces, crayons and cards. It's here that we're greeted by Mr. Potato Head, all dressed up for the occasion with his Boardwalk Barker accessories (photo from wdwmemories.com). This Audio-Animatronic version of Mr. Potato Head is a variation on the Living Characters concept used elsewhere. In this instance, the illusion of interactivity is created through the deployment of dozens of canned comments and comedy bits.

Toy Story Midway Mania is actually one of the most fun attractions to have to wait for. There's so much to see. Look for the View Master reels of Peter Pan and Tomorrowland at Disneyland, circa 1967 (complete with images of Adventure thru Inner Space and the PeopleMover). You'll even see several of Andy's drawings, including renderings of Buzz & Woody and Nemo. Pay attention to the crayons scattered around the toy box. They're not all crafted from the same mold. Some colors have definitely been used more than others!

Soon, the wait is over, and it's time for the main event. All of the toys have set up Andy's new Midway Games Playset in the middle of the floor, and we're invited "into the box" to play along. Be sure to take a few moments to read the packaging. It promises Fold-Out Boardwalk Backgrounds, Spring-Action Shooters, Glows in the Dark! Then, of course, there's the UPC symbol and the small print (Action Figures Sold Separately).

Keep your eyes peeled before, during and after the game. Toy Story Midway Mania is literally packed with not only fun references to the toys and games of our childhood, but also nods to Disney and Pixar history. This ball, for example, was seen in Pixar's very first animated short film, "Luxo Jr."

Just inside the Fastpass entrance to the attraction is this book, "Magic Made Easy" by Joe Ranft. Ranft was a story man at Pixar who contributed, among many other things, the voices of characters like Red from Cars and Heimlich in A Bug's Life. Sadly, Ranft died in a tragic automobile accident in 2005.

At the attraction exit is this Little Golden Book of the story of "Tin Toy." "Tin Toy" was another early Pixar short and the predecessor to Toy Story. Elsewhere, look for books of "Red's Dream," "Knick Knack," and other Pixar films.

Always Something New at Animation

The Magic of Disney Animation attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios was originally a tour of a working animation production facility. When Disney's animation operations were consolidated in 2003, bringing everything back home to the Burbank studio, the attraction went through a transition. Today, it has become the place to go to learn about the latest animated feature films, try your hand at being an artist, admire animation artwork, and meet some of Disney's newest character stars.

The main stage at the heart of the attraction changes with each film release. The first to be featured here was The Incredibles back in 2004. Due to their "incredible" popularity, they continued to greet Guests long after the movie left theaters. Bob and Helen Parr spent some time in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom, but can currently be seen on the upper level inside the Animation building.

Not all the characters featured here have stuck around that long, however. Chicken Little and Abby Mallard spent the winter of 2005-06 in the park, but the sky soon fell, sending them back to Oakey Oaks only to make occasional special appearances.

The big film release for the summer of 2006 was Cars. In keeping with the design intent of the attraction, the main stage area was updated for the new movie, but the characters from Cars just wouldn't fit inside the building. Instead, an oversize Radiator Springs postcard was created as a fun photo opportunity for Guests in the traditional character greeting spot, while Lightning McQueen and Mater toured the streets of Disney's Hollywood Studios to meet their fans in person.

Meet the Robinsons followed in the spring of 2007. Lewis, Wilbur and the Bowler Hat Guy were soon sent back to the future, though, replaced by Remy and Emile just three months later when Ratatouille opened in theaters.

The summer of 2008 brought WALL-E and an ambitious plan to bring the little robot to full Animatronic life for real-time Guest interaction. The idea turned out to be a little ahead of its time. The Research & Development Team at Walt Disney Imagineering field tested WALL-E a handful of times (see the YouTube video embedded below), but he was never quite ready for the demands of an all day every day appearance schedule, so a stand-in took his place in the photo op.

Bolt, Mittens and Rhino from Disney's Bolt took their turn in the spotlight from November 2008 to May 2009, before finally deciding to retire from show businesses and live a normal life with Penny.

Their departure made way for one of the most elaborate sets to date, Paradise Falls from Disney-Pixar's Up. Carl Fredrickson, Dug and Russell meet young Wilderness Explorers in the shadow of Carl's flying house... and with an occasional surprise visit from Kevin.

When the decision was made that characters from The Princess and the Frog would appear exclusively at the Magic Kingdom, Carl & Co. got an extended lease at the Animation building, but they can't stay forever. Although details have yet to be finalized, the gang from Up will likely see more adventures in the Disney Parks once they leave here. After all, Up has become one of the most successful animated features of all time.

So what's next? Well, the next animated event comes June 18 with the release of Toy Story 3. The characters from the other Toy Story films are already well represented elsewhere, so look for The Magic of Disney Animation attraction to introduce us to one of the biggest new stars from this newest adventure. Meet Lotso, the Lots-o-Huggin Bear from Sunnyside Day Care. The exact date of his first appearance this summer hasn't been announced, but until then you can check him out in the recently released preview trailer of Toy Story 3.

A New Kind of Animal-tronic

I was honored this week to be a guest on the WDW Today podcast with Matt Hochberg, Len Testa, Mike Newell and (the fabulous) Annette Owens. For Episode 592, they invited me to talk about one of the many projects I worked on as a writer at Walt Disney Imagineering; a project very few people actually got to see.

In the late-90s, Imagineering Research & Development was starting to think about new ways to use technology to present characters in the parks in a natural, realistic way. Audio-Animatronics had been around since the 1960s, and while there had been many advances over the years, they were still restricted to performing in a specific area within an attraction or show.

One of the first projects designed to break the ties of traditional Audio-Animatronics was a dolphin, created in partnership between R&D and a motion picture effects firm and designed to be puppeteered in real time in an aquatic environment.

The dolphin figure was tested in two different applications. I was fortunate enough to be the show writer assigned to the dolphin test conducted at The Living Seas at Epcot. In that scenario, we dubbed the dolphin DRU-1: The Dolphin Robotics Unit. A key element of the story was that researchers at The Living Seas were studying live dolphins to learn about their cognitive and problem-solving abilities - how dolphins think. DRU-1 allowed scientists to study dolphin propulsion and hydrodynamics - how dolphins move - with the potential goal of discovering newer, more efficient methods of propelling boats, ships or submarines. The story was based on real science and was a great fit for Epcot. Because of the story being told, DRU-1 was "dressed" to look like a robot and operated tethered to a power cord. The show was presented at Epcot over a five-day period in October 1999.

In a separate test run, the dolphin was dubbed Del (short for delphinius, Latin for dolphin) and presented in the water at Disney's Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. For that test, Del was operated in just the dolphin skin and under battery power. Guests selected to participate in the experience were told up front that Del was robotic, but once they found themselves in close contact with it in the water, they still behaved as though it were real.

While both of these tests with the robotic dolphin were incredibly well-received by Guests, ultimately it was determined that aquatic figures (at least at that time) would be impractical for a daily theme park operation. It was the beginning, though, of a new way of thinking about technology and characters in the parks. Eventually, it would lead to what has become known as the Living Character Initiative at WDI, producing such marvels as Lucky the Dinosaur, Muppet Mobile Lab, Turtle Talk with Crush and Chef Remy.

I recently learned that the Show Producer on the dolphin project, Roger Holzberg, has uploaded a fantastic video of DRU-1 (and Del) to YouTube. Take a look:

An Illuminated Personality

The Pixar Studios district at Disney's Hollywood Studios opened last summer with the debut of Toy Story Midway Mania. The entire area is full of many exquisite details (such as the multi-colored brick pattern duplicated from Pixar's campus in Emeryville, California) and fun surprises (like the Green Army Men playing Scrabble). Although the main focus is on characters from the Toy Story films, a certain little lamp can also be found here. His name is Luxo Jr., and he has become the unofficial mascot of Pixar Animation Studios, appearing at the start of every Pixar film.

Luxo Jr. was the title character of Pixar's first computer animated short film (image below ©Pixar). The film grew out of John Lasseter's desire to learn how to model an object on the computer. He chose as his subject the Luxo brand lamp on his desk. Further inspired by a coworker's young son, John wondered what a child lamp would look and act like. Luxo Jr. was born. "Luxo Jr." had its public debut at SIGGRAPH in 1986 and was met with rapturous applause. Never before had such personality and life been seen from a computer-generated image. It was the beginning of a journey that would culminate in Toy Story, the first full-length computer animated feature, and lead to a successful run of wonderful stories and characters.

Now, Luxo Jr. has been given new life in the form of an incredible new Audio-Animatronics figure on Pixar Place at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Throughout the day, just outside the facade for the Luxo Jr. Lighting Department, the little lamp hops out to have a little fun. Music starts playing in the area, and Luxo Jr. can't help but dance along. The music changes, and he responds accordingly. At night, Luxo Jr. discovers a connection with the trees around him, each shimmering with hundreds of twinkling lights. As Luxo Jr. calls to them, the lights in the trees react, dancing and changing color with him.

Luxo Jr. appears intermittently (approx. every 15-20 minutes), weather permitting. Of the two vignettes, "dancing" runs during the day. "Dancing" and "conducting" alternate with one another after dark. Additional vignettes may be added in the future, so stay tuned!

UPDATE: The Luxo Jr. figure was retired in Spring 2010 after proving to be too difficult to operate reliably in this environment. Hopefully, we'll see him return at some point.

Les Chefs

Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenotre, Roger Verge, and... Remy the rat? That's right. There's a new chef in the kitchen at Les Chefs de France at Epcot, although this particular celebrity chef spends most of his time in the dining room mingling with Guests.

The latest project from Walt Disney Imagineering's Living Character initiative, Remy first made his debut at the Rendez-Vous des Stars restaurant in Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Resort Paris. Now, the star of Disney-Pixar's Ratatouille can be spotted daily at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

The Living Character program at WDI is an initiative to leverage technology to bring Disney characters to life in the parks like never before. The very first version of a Living Character was DRU-1, a robotic dolphin showcased in The Living Seas pavilion at Epcot for a five-day test run in October 1999.

Since then, other Living Character projects have included Meeko (appearing with Pocahontas for storytelling sessions at Disney's California Adventure), Lucky the dinosaur (now participating in Adventures by Disney tours at the WDI campus in Glendale), and Muppet Mobile Labs (currently entertaining Guests at Hong Kong Disneyland, after stints in DCA and Epcot).

The Living Character initiative has also produced amazing animated creations, beginning with the Stitch Phone once featured in Innoventions at Disneyland. That experiment ultimately grew into the creation of the Stitch Live! shows seen in Hong Kong and Paris. An animated, interactive Stitch will also soon be part of the Stitch's Supersonic Celebration live show in Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World. Beyond 626, Guests also now have the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Crush from Finding Nemo (Turtle Talk attractions are featured at Epcot, Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland) and a gang of comedic monsters at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor attraction in the Magic Kingdom Park in Florida.