Showing posts with label Walt Disney. Show all posts
Model Of New Magic Kingdom Fantasyland At One Man's Dream Attraction
Disney World fans do not have to wait until the construction is completed to get a detailed look at what the new Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom will look like. Visitors to the Walt Disney One Man's Dream Attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios can now see a large model of what Fantasyland will look like when all of the expansion construction is completed and the new attractions and restaurants are added.
The first phase of the Fantasyland Expansion recently opened to guests including the Barnstormer Starring The Great Goofini and half of the Dumbo The Flying Elephant Ride. During the Holiday Season during the end of 2012 is when the next phase is expected to be completed.
Disney World 40th Anniversary Celebration At The Magic Kingdom
The fans were definitely there to help Disney celebrate, as opposed to being there because Disney was holding a big party or giving things away.
The parade was filled was all of our favorite Disney Characters from Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse to Woody and Jessie. All of the Disney Princesses were escorted by their princes. The parade also included signs marking the previous milestone anniversaries that were previously celebrated at The Walt Disney World Resort.
Magic Kingdom Vice President Phil Holmes, who was a Cast Member that worked at the Haunted Mansion on opening day related a touching story about that first day and paid tribute to the Disney Cast Members and the work they do to make a visit to Disney World special for all guests.
This was certainly a day to celebrate, as one of the moved loved places in the United States, if not the world, celebrated it's 40th Birthday!
Celebrate Disney World's 40th Anniversary By Visiting One Man's Dream At Disney's Hollywood Studios
Project X
The code name for the Florida Project that Disney was working on was referred to as Project X. Within the One Man's Dream attraction you will find a recreation of the conference room where Walt Disney filmed his now famous video telling the public about what would eventually become the Walt Disney World Resort.
Remember that the plans that Walt Disney had created for this new venture was much more than establishing an East Coast version of Disneyland. He wanted to use the vast amount of land to create a prototype city, where many of his ideas around city planning and transportation methods could come to fruition.
This was the time that Walt Disney also presented his idea for EPCOT - Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow. Although Epcot was never built exactly as Walt envisioned it, many of the forward thinking principals of city planning, transportation, and public services were incorporated into the design of the Walt Disney World Resort and its theme parks.
If you look really closely at this set you will find a marked up version of the script that guided Walt's dialogue for the filmed presentation.
Walt's Narration
Here is an excerpt from the script:
Welcome to a little bit of Florida here in California. This is where the planning is taking place for our so called Disney World Project...So the sketches and plans you will see today are simply a starting point--our first overall thinking. Everything in this room may change time and time again as we move ahead. But the basic philosophy of what we're planning for Disney World is going to remain very much as it is right now. We know what our goals are: we know what we hope to accomplish. And believe me, it's the most exciting and challenging assignment we have ever tackled at Walt Disney Productions.
Today I want to share with you some of our thinking about Disney World.
Happy 40th Anniversary Disney World!
As Disney World celebrates its 40th anniversary, it continues to change and grow in its attempt to improve and "plus" itself. We at Only WDWorld look forward to celebrating the 40th anniversary of Disney World and many more in the future. Despite all of the changes it still exudes the passion and exuberance of the man who started it all - Walt Disney.
Iconic Partners Statue At Walt Disney World Resort
Disney World Icon
On June 19, 1995 the "Partners" statue was installed in the hub of the Magic Kingdom giving a fitting location for Walt Disney and his most well known character.
Walt is rendered as the visionary, in a hero's stance, pointing toward the future and leading the way for his creation, Mickey Mouse.Disney Urban legend states that Walt is pointing Mickey towards the statue of his brother Roy at the front of the Magic Kingdom as a sign of handing things over to him. The sentiment is nice, but the statue of Roy didn't arrive until 1999.
At the base of the statue is a quotation from Walt Disney: "We believe in our idea: a family park where parents and children could have fun - together." This one sentiment may have guided the development of the Disney Parks more than any other.
History of "Partners"
The "Partners" sculpture was created by Disney Legend Blaine Gibson. Blaine is most well known for creating all of the Presidents (prior to President Obama) for the Hall of Presidents attraction. You cannnot spend much time at Disney World without seeing characters that Blaine helped create ranging from the Pirates of the Caribbean to his later works with the figures for the American Adventure in Epcot. He retired after a long career at Disney in 1983, but was occasionally given special projects to work on afterward.
Marty Sklar approached Blaine about creating the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse for Disneyland. Blaine was in his mid-seventies at the time, but still was willing to take on the task. The finished product was placed in Disneyland on November 18, 1993 exactly 65 years after the launch of "Steamboat Willie." Additional copies of "Partners" were ultimately placed in each of the Disney Theme Parks around the world, with the Disney World version arriving in 1995.
Although Blain Gibson sculpted the "Partners" statue, it is not the first Disney commissioned work called "Partners." In 1980, Charles Boyer, a renowned Disney artist and ultimately a Disney Legend himself, created a special limited edition lithograph called "Partners" pictured above.
It is likely that Blaine Gibson was asked to use this "Partners" as inspiration for his legendary sculpture.
"Partners" Inspires
Regardless of origin or true meaning of the pose, the "Partners" sculpture plays an important role in Disney World's Magic Kingdom. It places Walt front and center as part of the "show" in the hub of the Magic Kingdom as the park guests are about to embark upon their day's adventures.
Discover Walt Disney At One Man's Dream In Disney's Hollywood Studios
Within Disney's Hollywood Studios you will discover an attraction that is called One Man's Dream that will help you to learn more about the special visionary that not only created Mickey Mouse, but who invented the standard by which all modern theme parks are measured.
The attraction called One Man's Dream is layed out like a timeline of Walt Disney's life, taking you on a self paced tour from his earliest achievements and accolades up through the development of Disneyland and the planning for Walt Disney World.
The use of genuine artifacts from the Disney Archives makes this much more than just a retelling of Walt's life. The ability to see some of these items, like Walt's 2nd Grade Desk (pictured above ) allows you to make a connection with Walt the person.
In the 1920's Walt made a splash by creating the Alice Cartoons which featured a young girl put into the world of the cartoons.
Walt had recruited Virginia Davis to play the role of Alice in what turned out to be a series of well over 50 Alice Comedy Cartoons.
The Alice Comedies had titles like "Alice Hunting In Africa" and "Alice's Spooky Adventure."
Oswald & Mickey
Walt Disney's first well-known animated character was Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, but after losing the rights to Oswald, Walt had to come up with a new character,. The year was 1928 and during a transcontinental train ride with his wife Lillian he can up with the idea for a Mouse that he wanted to call "Mortimer." Lillian didn't like that name and suggested the more friendly name of Mickey which became the name of Walt's mouse character.
Mickey Mouse made his debut in 1928 in the cartoon "Steamboat Willie." Soon Mickey Mouse became Walt's most memorable character with the sound and dialogue synchronized perfectly to the on-screen action. Walt even performed the voice for Mickey Mouse.
Innovations In Animation
Walt Disney may be best known for the advancements that he developed for the art form of animation. From the start of synchronizing the dialogue with the action, bigger and better developments were right around the corner. For the breakthrough Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees, Disney introduced color to animation.
One of the most amazing developments was the Multiplane Camera that gave the animated films a sense of depth. This camera broke up the painted scene into several sections on different layers that the camera could move through to show the illusion of depth. This added a sense of realism to the animated films that had never existed before.
At One Man's Dream, you can see an actual Disney Multiplane Camera on display.
This lead up to Disney's first full length animated feature film - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which was filmed in Multiplane Technicolor.
The next innovation that came was during the production of "Fantasia." Here Disney sought to create a true concert experience by improving the sound experience for the movie. They recorded on 8 tracks in the studio and mixed it down to 4 discrete tracks that fed into the very first surround speaker system. This was called "Fantasound" and it is nearly identical to audio systems in use today.
Just A Small Taste Of One Man's Dream
This is just a small taste of what you will find when you visit One Man's Dream at Disney's Hollywood Studios. There is plenty more to learn about Disney's progression of animated movies, true life adventures, and theme park creation.
Any fan of Walt Disney the man or the Disney Parks will enjoy this opportunity to learn more about the history of this amazing man.
Quotes From Walt Disney At The Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney was a brilliant man, who's imagination was second to none. At the Magic Kingdom you can find a selection of Walt Disney Quotes on signs that are mounted on the construction walls in Fantasyland. The signs are labelled Dream Builders and are sponsored by Stanley.
Walt Disney Quotes
Enjoy the quotes as Walt imparts a little of his wisdom upon all of us. He discusses his philosophies, motivation, innovation, and putting the effort forth to complete a successful project. He also shares a little about himself.
Walt never got to see the Florida swampland converted into Disney World , but his ideas and vision continue to inspire its development even 43 years after his death.
"I hope that we never lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse." - Walt Disney
"Most of my life I have done what I wanted to do. I have had fun on the job." - Walt Disney
"Get a good idea, and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it's done, and done right." - Walt Disney
"I've wanted to do things; I wanted to build things, to get something going." - Walt Disney
"When we consider a new project, we really study it - not just the surface idea, but everything about it." - Walt Disney
"I believe in being an innovator." - Walt Disney
"When we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right." - Walt Disney
"Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future." - Walt Disney
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney
"Everyone needs deadlines." - Walt Disney
