Dining Like the Stars

As I mentioned in an earlier post, much of the food service available at Walt Disney Studios Park comes from stands and trucks positioned around the lot as if they were Craft Services or Catering at a working studio. There are two exceptions, however.

Restaurant des Stars, on the border between Production Courtyard and the Backlot, is an Art Deco homage to the studio commissaries of yore. This is the place where producers, agents, movie stars and studio executives would all meet to mingle and nosh during the lunch hour. The photographs on the wall depict some of the greats of Hollywood and European cinema who have frequented this establishment. Among them are none other than French culinary impresario August Gusteau and those brothers in fine dining, Remy and Emile, from the Disney-Pixar film Ratatouille.

These days, it seems Chef Remy is working the kitchen at Restaurant des Stars. From time to time, he even wanders into the dining room with one of his sous chefs, to see how the Guests are enjoying everything he's prepared.

On a personal note, I have never managed to see Remy in his appearances at Les Chefs de France at Epcot, but I rather enjoyed the fact that my first encounter with him was in an actual restaurant in actual France!

Of course, should Guests of Restaurant des Stars miss their opportunity to see and get a photograph with Remy, they can always pose with the little chef at this cute photo op just outside.

Moving out onto the Backlot, we come to Blockbuster Cafe, another example of dining the movie studio way. In this case, it's as though we're part of a huge cast shooting on the lot, where catering is brought to us for a lunch break on and around the set.

The environs surrounding Blockbuster Cafe include sets from popular films, such as The Chronicles of Narnia (above) and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, below), an award-winning French film from 1964 starring Catherine Deneuve.

Where things get really interesting, though, is inside the warehouse-style building of the Blockbuster Cafe. The loading dock at the side of the building is where the enormous sets are brought in for productions, and at the moment two major films are sharing the space: Pirates of the Caribbean and High School Musical.

No, that was not a typo. The interior decor of Blockbuster Cafe is divided between the two major film franchises. The ordering area and one of the dining rooms is the East High gymnasium set from High School Musical. There are pep rally banners, lockers, trophy cases and even a couple basketball hoops. You half expect Zac Efron to come running up for a slam dunk!

Meanwhile, the dining rooms on the opposite side of the building belong to a completely different production. Here, you can dine on the deck of the Black Pearl and admire some of the actual costumes used in the making of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Don't spend too long eating, though. Lunch break will be over soon, and then it's on with the show!

It's the End of the World As We Know It

Positioned right at the entrance to the Backlot from Production Courtyard is Studio 7, housing the special effects workshop and shooting stages of Walt Disney Studios Park, and it's clear that today's demonstration of "Les Effets Speciaux" will center on scenes from the 1998 blockbuster film Armageddon. The Michael Bay-directed Armageddon, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures division, became an international hit grossing more than half a billion dollars. In fact, the movie did even better abroad than it did in the States, so it's no surprise to see it featured here.

Positioned just outside Studio 7 is one of the full-scale Armadillo vehicles built for Armageddon. It's an impressive prop and a pleasure to see it here (as opposed to the Boneyard of the Studio Tram Tour), where you can spend time appreciating it in detail.

The Armadillo definitely adds some testosterone to this corner of the park. Of course, just as it would be in a real studio, the aesthetic of the Backlot is very utilitarian, with exposed pipes and steel and plenty of equipment around.

From the grip truck parked in the street to the action genre movie posters used on the light & sound towers, it's an area of Walt Disney Studios Park that, by design, is heavy on edge and light on Pixie Dust. There are still plenty of Disney touches, though. Just take a look at the license plate on that truck: WED 1901 (for Walter Elias Disney, born in 1901).

There are also some really cool props to be found on the Backlot. Appropriately standing outside the special effects stage is this giant wind machine.

Getting back to the attraction, Armageddon: Les Effets Speciaux is positioned at the entrance to the Backlot, just beyond the security gates. According to the story, there's production taking place inside Studio 7 today, so it's a Hot Set. As we'll soon learn, that designation on the barriers delineating the queue has more than one meaning.

We head past the podium and toward the building, where signs warn unauthorized personnel of the dangers inherent with the sort of special effects being used on set today.

Luckily, we've been deemed honorary members of the Special Effects Crew, so we're granted access. We gather in a small room to be introduced to the story of Armageddon and our role in the upcoming scene. One of the stars of the film, Michael Clarke Duncan, even "stops by" to give us some encouragement.

With that, we're off to either Stage 7-A or 7-B (the same show is mirrored on each stage for added attraction capacity), where we find ourselves on the set of the Russian space station from one of the action sequences in the movie. Windows open onto a view of outer space, and when the director calls "Action!" we're suddenly thrust into the middle of the meteor storm.

Meteorites begin hitting the station. Lights flicker. Pipes burst, sending clouds of gas into the room. Flames erupt, closer and hotter than you can imagine would be safe. Ultimately, a vacuum opens into space, and everything gets sealed and shut down just as we hear, "Cut!"

Armageddon: Les Effets Speciaux is an intense experience, thrusting Guests into the middle of some of the real special and physical effects used in the making of this action movie extravaganza.

Slip Him a Mickey

During Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, the hero of the film being shot sees a lot of action, but if he's looking closely, he might notice one or two other things... Hidden Mickeys!

The most subtle of these is in the window of the Motomania shop - the one through which he crashes in his efforts to elude the bad guys. Tucked behind the top right pane of glass (actually Plexiglas panels) is a set of gears and belts arranged in the classic three-circle pattern:

Slightly more obvious (and even visible from the grandstand by those with sharp eyes) is the Mickey in the window of the antiques shop next door to Motomania. More accurately, it's on the window, where you'll spy an image of a 1930s-era Mickey Mouse toy.

The Stunt Master

When the precursor of Lights, Motors, Action!, Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, opened at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, nothing like it had ever been done before. In order to bring the appropriate level of thrills, credibility and safety to the production, Disney's Imagineers partnered with legendary French stunt coordinator Rémy Julienne (photo below ©Le Post/Tony Frank). Since the 1960s, Julienne has created memorable stunts for films ranging from the original The Italian Job (1969) to The Da Vinci Code (2006).

Rémy is perhaps best known for his work on several of the James Bond films, including For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights and GoldenEye. It's no coincidence that the faux film shoot that's part of the show bears a striking resemblance to a 007 adventure. In fact, had it not been for a contentious relationship between Disney and Bond's home studio of MGM, the park may well have been able to boast a James Bond stunt show.

While the "film" being shot may be generic, the stunts performed are anything but. When the villain cars bump up on two wheels during the show, they're performing a balance routine pioneered in the 1971 Bond outing Diamonds Are Forever.

The prototype cars featured in the show are equipped with a unique gear system, based on a design by Rémy Julienne, allowing the driver to go into reverse regardless of the amount of revolutions per minute. This provides incredible maneuverability in performing stunts like the close encounters in the Ballet Chase.

At the conclusion of each show, the footage from "today's" sequences is edited together with previously shot scenes to give the audience a sense of what the finished film will look like when it all comes together. In that film, the "hero car" is actually driven by Rémy Julienne's nephew. In all, three generations of the Julienne family worked on the show, included Julienne's son Dominique.

The "finished film" that plays on screen as part of the finale of Lights, Motors, Action! is the same one originally shot for the Paris version. The sets for the two shows match almost exactly, although a close observer may be able to pick out some subtle differences.

One thing that's the same, though, whether you see the show in France or Florida, is the pure rush of adrenaline that comes from this high-octane production, one of the most thrillingly realistic stunt spectaculars ever staged.

LMA from another POV

Anyone who has seen Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show knows how exciting the stunts and precision driving action can be from the grandstand. Today, we take a look at some vantage points typically seen only be the drivers as they're speeding across the stage (often mere inches from another vehicle).

Below is a view from backstage of the "backwards hero car" (if you haven't seen the show yet, I won't explain what that means), ready to take action and appear on the set right on cue.

During the Ballet and Touch & Go sequences, cars have to get up to speed quickly in order to accomplish the jumps and other maneuvers called for in the show. That's where Acceleration Alley comes in. This long stretch (seen out between the buildings below) allows the drivers to back up to the fence and accelerate as much as they need to.

Acceleration Alley runs parallel with part of the route and load zone for the Studio Backlot Tour. Timing your tour right, you can get a particularly unique view of the drivers on this part of the stage during a show or rehearsal.

The finale of Lights, Motors, Action! comes as the "hero car" jumps through a fiery explosion... straight toward the audience! From the driver's point of view, the grandstand looms ahead and over the relatively small opening through which he or she must aim the vehicle. It's an exciting moment, and one that happens with precision and safety every day of the week.

Putting the Motors in Lights, Motors, Action!

It's easy to take for granted some of the things that happen during a performance of Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. After all, any show within a theme park environment automatically takes on a patina of artificiality. The stunts on display at Lights, Motors, Action!, though, are real. They're performed in real time, and there's real danger. The professionals who work the stage, from Technicians to Precision Drivers, are among the most skilled anywhere... and safety is always the top priority.

The show is pretty spectacular, but just as fascinating is what goes into each production. I recently had an opportunity to step behind the scenes at Lights, Motors, Action! It gave me a whole new appreciation for what the team there pulls off every day.

Backstage, the Cast has a lot of fun. When the Stage Manager calls "Places," though, it's all business. They take their jobs seriously. Many of the Drivers and other Stunt Performers on the show have also worked on real film and TV productions, everything from The Fast & the Furious movies to the USA network series "Burn Notice."

All the vehicles used in the show are maintained by a team of Mechanics and Engineers working out of a fully-equiped garage (visible from the Guest queue).

The cars are modified Opels from Europe, adapted to be lighter weight and have a better center of gravity. They are equipped with 1300 CC motors and weigh less than half that of a regular car, but they have more than twice as much power.

To keep the weight down, there's nothing in the cars that isn't necessary to get the job done. That includes air conditioning. In the photo below (that's our tour guide, Driver Ron Fox), you may notice a small blue cooler under the hood. That's filled with ice water at the top of the show and plugged into tubes that feed cool suits worn by the drivers. According to Ron, though, it gets so hot the ice melts and the water turns warm after just a few minutes.

The vehicles for the show were designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and produced in the Opel Live design workshops in Frankfurt, Germany. In fact, while the "villain cars" (the black ones) are based on production models, the "hero car" (the red one) is a one-of-a-kind model designed by WDI.

Inside each car is a reinforced steel roll cage, designed to protect the driver in the event of an accident. Fortunately, with as good as this team is, incidents are rare.