Water for Travellers

Placemaking is one of the key elements of the Imagineering art. The designers of a set or location strive to fill it with details, some subtle some not, to help make it look lived in and authentic. In the words of Disney's Animal Kingdom Executive Designer Joe Rohde, "Detail is there to make you believe in the reality of the story you're immersed in."

The land of Asia has some of the finest examples of this work. The visitor doesn't feel that he or she is in an artificial theme park environment. Asia provides an escape into another world. Everything contributes to the creation of that illusion. Take the scene above as an example: the old stone floor, the crumbling brick and plaster walls, the layers of prayer flags, the harvested bamboo, the bicycle. This is a place inhabited by real people going about their daily lives.

One important aspect of daily life in Anandapur is the need to acquire fresh water. Since good sources of potable water are scarce, locals come to a place like this to stock up. Rather than standing in a long line and waiting for the water, though, they simply leave their vessels here. Different colors and designs identify individual owners, and since this is a community water source, people work together in a spirit of cooperation. When someone passes by and notices that a jug is full, he will replace it with another. If you left an empty jug in the morning, come back in the afternoon, and it's likely to have been filled.

Of course, this sort of detail is only possible because the team working on the Asia project for Disney's Animal Kingdom actually travelled throughout Asia for research. Observing a cultural practice such as this, unique to that part of the world, inspired designers to add another layer of detail and storytelling to what otherwise would have been a simple theme park drinking fountain.

Dreaming Down in New Orleans

When New Orleans Square was being built in the 1960s, Walt Disney envisioned a private apartment above the guest areas where he could entertain friends, family and business associates. Walt Disney passed away before New Orleans Square was completed, and the apartment idea was shelved. In 1987, the space above the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean was opened as The Disney Gallery. The Gallery operated there for two decades before moving to Main Street so Walt's vision of a dream apartment could finally be realized.

Opened in early 2008 as part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, the Disneyland Dream Suite brought to spectacular life the designs and plans originally commissioned by Walt Disney so many years ago. Imagineering artist Dorothea Redmond, who had previously done illustration and set design for films ranging from Gone with the Wind to Rear Window, produced a series of watercolors as design inspiration for the suite.

Today's Imagineering team went back to those designs and recreated them as closely as possible. The sitting room (above and below) is the first room of the Dream Suite guests experience. Decorated in a French Provincial style inspired by the New Orleans surroundings, the room has been plussed with some unique Disney touches.

There's a full-size carousel horse at one side of the room, as well as wall paintings of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and the Chateau Chenonceau in France, the real-world inspirations behind the look of Sleeping Beauty Castle. The castle itself is seen in silhouette on the fireplace screen, behind which a faux flame sparks with magical fireworks. Those who really know their Disney history will even appreciate the small mechanical bird in a cage on the mantle. It's a working replica of one Walt Disney purchased on a trip to New Orleans, inspiring him toward the creation of Audio-Animatronics.

Off the main sitting room are two bedrooms. The decor of the one closest to Adventureland takes its cue from that exotic realm. At bedtime, a special "kiss goodnight" effects show transforms the room into a tropical paradise as mermaids appear in the painting above the bed and a familiar pirate ship silhouette soars across the face of the moon.

The Adventureland bedroom connects to the other side of the Dream Suite by way of an open air patio. The patio is especially beautiful at night, illuminated by Chinese lanterns and the flickering glow of fireflies (more Imagineering magic, of course).

The other bedroom in the suite draws inspiration from Frontierland, with dark woods accompanied by model trains and ships. A copy of Peter Ellenshaw's iconic painting of Disneyland hangs above an antique cast-iron stove.

As with all the rooms of the suite, details abound. Take this chandelier, for example, complete with spurs and sculpted bison... not to mention the distinctive Disneyland "D" on each gas key.

Hidden Disney elements are everywhere in the Disneyland Dream Suite. The "kiss goodnight" moment in the Frontierland bedroom sends the model trail chugging along the ledge, bringing to life the model vignettes seen there. One of these vignettes depicts a small band beside a sign labeled "ISIGNEY." This is actually a reference to Walt's family origins. The Disneys' earliest known relatives came from the village of Isigney on the northern coast of France. The name "d'Isigney" (of or from Isigney) was later anglicized, becoming "Disney."

Of course, the best known Disneys today are the brothers Walt and Roy. Their initials can be found in the ironwork (recently enhanced with gold leaf) of the Dream Suite's balcony, overlooking the Rivers of America.

It's a spectacular view and one of the best places in the park to watch Fantasmic! It's too bad neither Walt nor Roy ever got the chance to take it in themselves.

The Year of a Million Dreams has since ended, but the Disneyland Dream Suite still hosts the occasional guests, typically winners of a sweepstakes or other promotion tied to the park.

Credit Where Credit's Due

The Jungle Cruise attractions in the Disney Parks transport Guests down exotic rivers of the world on a wacky, wild adventure. Many details go into the telling of the Jungle Cruise story, but perhaps none is as important as the landscape. Over the years, Imagineers have taken a California orange grove, Florida swamp and Asian landfill and converted them into lush, tropical environments.

Most of these efforts were conducted or directed by Disney Legend and Imagineering Master Landscape Architect Bill Evans. A tribute to him stands outside the entrance of the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom:

This ficus nitida (also known as a Chinese Banyan tree) sits crated on the Jungle Cruise dock, ready for transport. The crate bears the label, "Evans Exotic Plant Exporters, Ltd."

Bill's family nursery business in L.A. was popular among the Hollywood elite, due to the wide variety of exotic plants he was able to import and propagate. In the early '50s, when Walt Disney was creating his backyard railroad, he hired the Evans nursery to do the landscape design. A year later, Walt asked Bill to come work on Disneyland.

Bill stayed with Imagineering, ultimately working on every Disney Park through Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998.

Today, few may know his name (my son, Evan, thinks the crate refers to him), but many enjoy and appreciate the legacy Bill Evans left behind.

A Grand Canyon-scape

Disney's Contemporary Resort is meant to be thoroughly ultra-modern in design, from its dramatic A-frame structure to the sleek monorails whisking through its atrium. Even the room decor and furnishings have been updated over the years to keep the Contemporary looking, well... contemporary.

There's one aspect of the resort, however, that hasn't changed at all since it debuted in 1971 - the ninety-foot-high tile mural that graces the Grand Canyon Concourse. The warm earth tones of the mural were intended to balance the cold grey concrete, glass and steel used for the majority of the building, and it continues to serve that purpose well today.

The mural was designed by Imagineering artist Mary Blair, best known for her work on Disney films from The Three Caballeros to Peter Pan, as well as her masterpiece efforts on "It's a Small World." The Small World influence is easy to see in the bold colors, geometric shapes and styling of the Native American children depicted here.

Look up near the top of the mural, and you may just spot the infamous 5-legged goat. Several stories exist as to why one of the mountain goats has five legs. The most popular seems to be that this was Blair's way of saying that nature is perfect, but any man-made interpretation of nature is inherently imperfect. Sounds good to me. Of course, since Mary left us in 1978, we can't ask her, so we may never truly know.

Some More Emporium

The Emporium, the first department store in the town of Main Street, has been incredibly successful over the years. Starting as a relatively small corner store back in 1863, it has grown over the years to encompass an entire city block.

The most recent addition, The Emporium Gallery, takes things even more upscale, offering the citizens of Main Street only the "Latest and Greatest" products from around the world: Electrical Lamps, Graphophone Talking Machines, Edison Kinetoscopes, Imported Glassware, Ladies' Wearing Apparel, Finest House Furnishings and Children's Toys & Novelties.

A plaque over the door to the Gallery mentions it was established in 1901. The date has dual significance. This location, a true expansion of the original Emporium into the former Center Street Flower Market area, opened in 2001. Using a date one hundred years earlier fit the story. It also happens to be the year of Walt Disney's birth (the 100 Years of Magic celebration honoring Walt's centennial kicked off in 2001).

In regard to the period in which the story of Main Street takes place, 1901 also represented a cultural shift. Queen Victoria passed away in January that year, effectively bringing an end to the Victorian era. The majority of the design of Main Street, U.S.A. is Victorian, very eclectic and heavy on ornamentation. Victoria's reign was followed by that of her son, Edward, and the Edwardian era was marked with a move toward a more elite style influenced by his travels through continental Europe.

The Emporium Gallery demonstrates this shift. In contrast to the darker woods and elaborate carvings seen in the original section of the shop, the Gallery is open and airy, with a high domed ceiling and colored glass inspired by department stores like Le Bon Marché in Paris.

The expansion of Main Street's Emporium also came with the addition of new departments and custom offerings, some of which can be glimpsed from the floor of the Gallery. There's the Haberdashery, providing men's sportswear and formal wear, and the Millinery, creating fine ladies' hats.

Overlooking the entire space is this mural of happy citizens "Shopping in the Grand Style." The casual observer might be impressed with the diversity represented in the townspeople. Those in the know would realize these are actually portraits of several of the Imagineering team members who worked on the Emporium expansion project, all worked in by the mural's creator, Imagineering artist Joe Warren.

The woman with the yellow umbrella is Art Director Agnes David-Hoffman. The gent on the right in the brown jacket is Jim Heffron, Senior Concept Architect. That's Cicero Greathouse, Artistic Director and master of character paint treatments, wearing the top hat and monocle. On the left, the lady in pink is Katie Roser, responsible for the props and displays in the shop. Finally, the flowered hat in the lower left corner sits on the head of Joyce Carlson. While Joyce may not have been directly involved in this project, she was a Disney Legend who started with the company in 1944 and went on to influence every iteration of "It's a Small World" and countless fellow Imagineering artists.

Also on the left, the fellow in the straw hat is Graphic Designer Kevin Thomas. That's Program Architect Steve Grant carrying the stack of red, yellow and blue boxes. The woman on the top right, with the big pink bow on her hat, is Katherine Fredericks who supports Bernie Mosher, the Creative Director for Imagineering Florida.

There are likely other Imagineers depicted here. These are the ones I know. If anyone has more information and would like to contribute, please feel free to do so in the Comments.

Shop Full o' Details

Head inside Osh Popham's Main Street Emporium, and you'll discover a wealth of Victorian-era design. Every detail, from the sconces and furnishings to the columns and fine filigree work on the ceiling, tells the story of the finest department store in town.

It's especially fun to see how period display pieces have been utilized to showcase the decidedly-modern merchandise that's actually on offer. Setups like the gold frames with turn-of-the-century photographs (above a selection of Disney frames) and the Vinylmation figures stacked inside candy jars, are all the work of the park's Visual Presentation team.

The Imagineering Architects and Interior Designers who worked on the Emporium also did their part to set the stage. Details like doorknobs and velour wallpaper may blend into the background, but they're important elements in creating a sense of place and a feeling of quality.

Then there are those details so full of story, you may not even realize it. Take these brass chandeliers, for example. The town of Main Street, U.S.A. exists at a crossroads in time. It's a period when progress is being made, but the old and new can often still be found side-by-side. The upward-pointing fixtures on the chandelier are traditional gas-burning lamps. You can even spot the little key at the bottom of each arm used to turn on the gas for lighting. These chandeliers have been retrofit, though, with modern electric lights. They're the fixtures that point down.

So why have both? At this point in history, electric lighting was relatively new. Insistent on being the finest shop in town, the Emporium simply had to have electricity. Since it was new, though, it wasn't the most reliable. Maintaining a gas backup ensured the shop could remain open, even in the event of an outage.

Out West and Down South

Splash Mountain brings Joel Chandler Harris' tales of Br'er Rabbit to exhilarating, animated life in Frontierland. From the music and Audio-Animatronics characters to Chickapin Hill and the splashdown in the Brier Patch pond, this is a classic Disney Parks adventure. Since the tales of Splash Mountain are set in the Deep South, though, some might wonder what it's doing here in the Old West.

The truth is... it just didn't fit anywhere else.

The original Splash Mountain had debuted at Disneyland in 1989 and was an immediate hit. Plans were begun to add the attraction to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Although some consideration was given to placing it behind the Haunted Mansion or on the back portion of Tom Sawyer Island, the most practical site was the plot of land between Big Thunder Mountain and Pecos Bill Cafe.

To make it work, Imagineering designers altered the look of Splash Mountain's hillsides, choosing a reddish color palette that would blend better with the rock work of nearby Big Thunder. Other choices were made in regard to landscaping and architecture, creating a more rugged appearance, as opposed to the softer style of the Disneyland original.

For the most part, even the appearance of the characters is minimized outside the attraction. They show up in the form of weather vanes and wood carvings (Note: Some of the more cartoony elements in the area were added later with the implementation of Fastpass and to help Guests find their way.)

Once Guests enter the queue for Splash Mountain, a transition begins. The sounds of talking animals can be heard from tiny houses. Shadows on a wall allow us a glimpse of Br'er Frog telling tales to his grand-chitlins. Before we know it, we've moved past the old barn and down a rabbit hole that transports us to a magical time and place in the Deep South, when "folks was closer to the critters an' critters was closer to the folks."

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.