just fyi...we've put in a bid for a resale Disney Vacation Club "property". It's not real property as this is Disney's version of the timeshare but there are good deals out there as the economy pushes folks into financial issues and they want to sell their interest. Also, Disney is not buying these back as much now as they have their own to sell. We plan on taking family and friends over the years so be nice to us!! Other than owning stock, it's the only way to "own" part of the magic....
anything in particular anyone wants to know about? It's been awhile since I posted, I know.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Pinocchio
February 7, 1940..what, 68 years ago tomorrow, Pinocchio opened at the Roxy Theatre. Walt and his animators, not to mention animators and critics since, consider Pinocchio Walt's best picture from a technical aspect. It's detail and first feature use of the multi-plane camera gave the picture more vividness and depth than any disney feature before or since. Based off an old Italian story, Pinocchio had to "grow" into the picture it became. Did you know in the original story, Jiminy Cricket is a background character that ends getting squished by Pinocchio? So Walt came up with the idea of him being Pinocchio's conscience. Walt was keenly aware of needing the audience to gain sympathy for the main character and by using Jiminy, you could see and hear the battle going on over right and wrong in Pinocchio's little wooden head.
There are interesting side stories about how they came up with Jiminy's look and name...for another time (thank you Ward Kimball, one of the famed "Nine Old Men"). You may wonder why I'm focusing on the cricket. Well, at Disneyland's animation building down in the "Sorcerer's Workshop", you can take a test to see which Disney character you most resemble. Yep, mine was Jiminy. Maybe Heather will share hers in a response. Can anyone guess?
Pinocchio didn't really make money for Disney until it was re-released years later. You see, much of Snow White's revenue was made in Europe. Well, in late 1940, there was a bit of a disruption going on in Europe, so Pinocchio didn't make it over there. Maybe Hitler should have seen the picture. Maybe it would have awakened his inner Jiminy Cricket.
And yes, Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney comes from Pinocchio. I'm waiting for this one on dvd by the way.....
There are interesting side stories about how they came up with Jiminy's look and name...for another time (thank you Ward Kimball, one of the famed "Nine Old Men"). You may wonder why I'm focusing on the cricket. Well, at Disneyland's animation building down in the "Sorcerer's Workshop", you can take a test to see which Disney character you most resemble. Yep, mine was Jiminy. Maybe Heather will share hers in a response. Can anyone guess?
Pinocchio didn't really make money for Disney until it was re-released years later. You see, much of Snow White's revenue was made in Europe. Well, in late 1940, there was a bit of a disruption going on in Europe, so Pinocchio didn't make it over there. Maybe Hitler should have seen the picture. Maybe it would have awakened his inner Jiminy Cricket.
And yes, Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney comes from Pinocchio. I'm waiting for this one on dvd by the way.....
Monday, February 4, 2008
Epcot
MAD...know you don't like Epcot, and I'm not so sure that Walt wouldn't be right there with you. We'll never know, I guess.
Walt had pushed the envelope of modern culture several times in his career and after the success of Disneyland, Walt had a crazy idea. What if he could create a model city where everything was intertwined perfectly...residential, retail, commercial? It would look like a hub with monorails running back and forth to the city center. It would be clean. It would stretch the mindset of how city planners thought cities should look. It would be the highlight at the new property in Florida. Walt had visions of Epcot while laying in the hospital close to death.
After his death, there was a pause in the Florida project, but Roy soon picked it up and pledged to finish WDW (which he did). Epcot, however was a problem. The Disney Imagineers just couldn't see Walt's vision and couldn't justify it economically. See, Walt didn't worry about economics much. He could make things work by sheer force of will. Now, who knows if Walt would have had to back off his plans. It would have been a first. We'll never know, but what Epcot DID become is still a point of controversy. It does have the World Showcase, which was discussed as part of another project, and does incorporate the "World's Fair" look that Walt loved so much. And, it involves rides and showcases of technology, but that feels a bit too much like big advertisements if you ask me. They've tried to revive it with a couple of high thrill rides, but it does have to grow on you. As a kid, I hated the World Showcase, but now find it one of the best things about Disneyworld. Dining there is pretty cool.
Epcot, the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow...a name that doesn't fit what the park actually is.
Walt had pushed the envelope of modern culture several times in his career and after the success of Disneyland, Walt had a crazy idea. What if he could create a model city where everything was intertwined perfectly...residential, retail, commercial? It would look like a hub with monorails running back and forth to the city center. It would be clean. It would stretch the mindset of how city planners thought cities should look. It would be the highlight at the new property in Florida. Walt had visions of Epcot while laying in the hospital close to death.
After his death, there was a pause in the Florida project, but Roy soon picked it up and pledged to finish WDW (which he did). Epcot, however was a problem. The Disney Imagineers just couldn't see Walt's vision and couldn't justify it economically. See, Walt didn't worry about economics much. He could make things work by sheer force of will. Now, who knows if Walt would have had to back off his plans. It would have been a first. We'll never know, but what Epcot DID become is still a point of controversy. It does have the World Showcase, which was discussed as part of another project, and does incorporate the "World's Fair" look that Walt loved so much. And, it involves rides and showcases of technology, but that feels a bit too much like big advertisements if you ask me. They've tried to revive it with a couple of high thrill rides, but it does have to grow on you. As a kid, I hated the World Showcase, but now find it one of the best things about Disneyworld. Dining there is pretty cool.
Epcot, the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow...a name that doesn't fit what the park actually is.
Friday, February 1, 2008
The Palm Tree
Another story behind the story...
Disneyland was built on an orange grove (Orange county, CA, get it?). Some questioned "Why is he building this way out here? It takes half an hour to get here from the city". But Walt knew that being close to Interstate 5 and between LA and San Diego, development would come his way. His only mistake was not buying more land, even though he really couldn't...he was over-extended as it was.
Anyway, the Dominguez family that owned 10 acres of the orange grove land had 2 requests when they sold to Walt. Their son, Ron, needed a job and there was a palm tree that they requested stay put. Many had been wed under that tree and it was very special to them. Walt honored both requests.
Ron Dominguez started working in 1955 as a ticket taker and retired in 1994 as an executive at the park. His name is on a window on main street. By the way, those names up there are all Disney legends, which you can find listed if you google "disney legends".
That palm tree, just outside where the Dominguez home once stood (just outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), is...yes, still there. I saw it last time I visited. It's a majestic palm tree located just outside the Indiana Jones ride and Tarzan's Treehouse in Adventureland. If you're ever there, ask a cast member where the Dominguez palm tree is. Then, go take a picture under it and tell people something they probably don't know.
Disneyland was built on an orange grove (Orange county, CA, get it?). Some questioned "Why is he building this way out here? It takes half an hour to get here from the city". But Walt knew that being close to Interstate 5 and between LA and San Diego, development would come his way. His only mistake was not buying more land, even though he really couldn't...he was over-extended as it was.
Anyway, the Dominguez family that owned 10 acres of the orange grove land had 2 requests when they sold to Walt. Their son, Ron, needed a job and there was a palm tree that they requested stay put. Many had been wed under that tree and it was very special to them. Walt honored both requests.
Ron Dominguez started working in 1955 as a ticket taker and retired in 1994 as an executive at the park. His name is on a window on main street. By the way, those names up there are all Disney legends, which you can find listed if you google "disney legends".
That palm tree, just outside where the Dominguez home once stood (just outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), is...yes, still there. I saw it last time I visited. It's a majestic palm tree located just outside the Indiana Jones ride and Tarzan's Treehouse in Adventureland. If you're ever there, ask a cast member where the Dominguez palm tree is. Then, go take a picture under it and tell people something they probably don't know.
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