Where Walt and Pixar Intersect

Welcome back, Pixar! It's been two long years since the last theatrical release from Lasseter and company. Monsters University premiered in June 2013 and The Good Dinosaur, originally slated for 2014, was pushed back to later this year to sharpen its story.

Inside Out graced the silver screen last Friday, June 19th and has - again - raised the bar on Pixar quality. Pete Docter, who last spun gold with UP, shows us his gift for connecting us with the human spirit. Inside Out gracefully displays the balance we all have with our inner emotions. Simply put, we can't truly enjoy happiness and joy without understanding and appreciating the counterbalance of sadness.

Like all Pixar features before it, the film is peppered with hidden Pixar references. Fan favorites such as the Pizza Planet truck, the Luxo Jr. ball and A113 – the CalArts classroom where the future Pixar animators cut their proverbial teeth – all make an appearance. John Ratzenberger provides his voice to a secondary character, making him the only actor to appear in all fifteen films. There’s a brief tribute to Finding Nemo in the form of a board game box labeled Find Me! with a cartoon clown fish below it. Underneath that board game is another called Dinosaur World, a likely nod to the next Pixar film.

The aviary flock from the early short “For The Birds” can briefly be seen on a power line as Riley, the protagonist from Inside Out, and her family trek cross country from Minnesota to San Francisco (the same flock of birds can be seen in Cars, during that film’s cross country montage sequence).

Fans of the Disney theme parks are in for a treat as well, when the background music from the Haunted Mansion is briefly heard during a dream sequence Riley has.

However, perhaps the most unique and original Disney tribute can briefly be found in the film. Since the physical realm of Inside Out is set in San Francisco, Pixar animators, from their nearby headquarters in Emeryville, didn’t have to travel far for field research. San Francisco’s unique architecture, often set again dramatic hills, is well represented, including Lombard Street’s unique hairpin turn configuration. Disney fans know that the Walt Disney Family Museum is located in the City by the Bay, in the historic Presidio district. From a southern viewpoint, Guests can sight the museum in the foreground and the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge in the background. And that’s the setup.

(image courtesy of The Walt Disney Family Museum)

Docter and his crew created a briefly seen exterior set of an ice rink building, where Riley goes to try out for a local hockey team. This building is flanked by others that feature the distinctive terra cotta roof design used on the structures along Montgomery Street in The Presidio.

(image courtesy of the Pixar Animation Studios)

The placement isn’t accidental; the filmmakers used the location of the Walt Disney Family Museum, which honors the man that elevated theatrical animation to an art form and inspired countless boys and girls to aspire to be animators, as a deliberate tip of the hat to Walt Disney.

Well done, Pixar!

Today's two-for-one special

To borrow an expression, “the only constant is change” is an apt phrase that can apply to Walt Disney World. Attractions, lands, restaurants all come and go, occasionally leaving behind a trail of metaphorical crumbs to guide us through the past. Today, we’re going to review a small corner of property that’s undergone significant change since opening day.

The Magic Kingdom’s gradual expansion of Fantasyland, dubbed New Fantasyland, was announced at the 2009 D23 Expo, and includes land formerly occupied by Mickey’s Toontown Fair and fallow property formerly occupied by one of Walt Disney World’s original E-Ticket attractions, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. This submarine voyage simulation, similar in size and scope to Disneyland’s 1959 addition Submarine Voyage, retraced Captain Nemo’s aquatic journey both through the lagoon, visible to Guests in the queue and around its perimeter, and an oversized show building, obscured by foliage, rock work and waterfalls, which hosted many of the sights featured in the attraction. It operated for over twenty years, from 1971 to 1994 when it was temporarily closed. Alas, the attraction’s longstanding weaknesses - low hourly ride capacity, slow loading, frequent ride breakdowns chief among them - finally caught up with it and Disney management shuttered the attraction for good.

This image, circa 1995, shows the lagoon still filled with water and the massive show building behind the tree line (on the far left is the it’s a small world show building, and on the right are the tents from Mickey’s Toontown Fair, the site repurposed from the ‘temporary’ Mickey’s Birthdayland originally set up in 1988).

(image courtesy Google Earth)

The lagoon was eventually drained of water and filled in and the show building removed. A tree line was stood up to hide the former property, and a small portion was modified into Pooh’s Playful Spot, a playground for restless children. Naturally, it was across from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, itself an attraction in the show building formerly occupied by Mr. Toad. This next image, from March 2005, shows the outline of the former lagoon and show building.

(image courtesy Google Earth)

So, what do to with this site? The Magic Kingdom is the smallest of the four Walt Disney World theme parks and its most popular. Fantasyland was expanded, functioning as a glade and hosting new eateries - Be Our Guest and Gaston’s Tavern, and new attractions and shows - Enchanted Tales with Belle, Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Sitting on the footprint of the former 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea now is the Little Mermaid attraction. The last entry to open in New Fantasyland is the Mine Train, a lateral replacement of the shuttered Snow White’s Scary Adventures, which yielded to Princess Fairytale Hall. New Fantasyland is now complete.

(image courtesy Google Earth)

Today, tributes to the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Snow White’s Scary Adventures can be subtly found in New Fantasyland. When aligned, icons of both can be found along an upper sightline. A weather vane atop a building in Prince Eric’s castle features a squid, one of the notable antagonists from the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea film and the attraction. Just beyond it is a vulture found on the first lift of the Mine Train ride. The vulture is the former Audio-Animatronic previously featured in Snow White’s Scary Adventures.

Both of these original attractions are gone, but keepsakes and reminders remain.

But wait - there’s more. The iconic image from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is Captain Nemo’s submarine Nautilus, a terrifyingly original submarine designed by Disney Legend Harper Goff. His design influences for the sub include an alligator and shark - the green eyes and rough skin of the ‘gator and the imposing dorsal fin and tail of the shark led to the Nautilus’ unique appearance. An outline of the Nautilus could be found in a tree knot outline on the tree in Pooh’s Playful Spot. Presently, a larger outline of the Nautilus can be found in the rock work along the outside queue for the Journey of the Little Mermaid attraction.

For more information of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction, visit this wonderful fan tribute site.

An Office For Rent

Disney fans and historians know that 1923 plays a significant role in the Walt Disney Company. It’s the year that a young Walt Disney relocated from Kansas City to Los Angeles to pursue dreams of animation and filmmaking. His Laugh-O-Gram venture ended in bankruptcy, and it seemed that a fresh start - a blank canvas - in Los Angeles was the ideal way to reboot his dream. Older brother Roy was already in southern California so the prospect of family made the decision easier. The legend goes that Walt arrived to Los Angeles that summer with all his worldly possessions in a cardboard suitcase, $40 in his pocket, and ambitious dreams. The initial working space was borrowed from their Uncle Robert, whose garage at 4406 Kingswell Avenue can perhaps be claimed as the origin of The Walt Disney Company, where Walt cobbled together an animation camera rig.

The young entrepreneurs needed office space but were tight on funds and couldn’t venture far. The solution was nearby on Kingswell. They rented a room from the Holly-Vermont Realty office for $10 a month. On October 16, 2013 Walt and Roy signed a contract with film distributor Margaret Winkler to create a series of films known as the Alice Comedies and the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was born. They soon outgrew the realty office room and relocated to another address on Kingswell. Within two years, they were expanding again to the Silver Lake region of Los Angeles. The Walt Disney Studio, as it was then called, made its home at 2719 Hyperion Avenue. For the next twelve years, Walt’s animators at this seminal location created Oswald, Mickey, Donald Duck and the beginning of the Silly Symphonies and the groundbreaking animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The profits from Snow White were plowed back into the company when Walt and Roy created from scratch a working studio to fill their every need. This facility, in Burbank, has been the home of the Walt Disney Company since 1940, where Disney has created animation, live-action and television classics. The genesis of the Disney theme parks took root in Burbank as well.

With so much of the classic Disney products coming from Burbank and the now-gone studio at Hyperion, it’s easy to forget the company’s humble roots on Kingswell Avenue. However, Disney fans on both coasts can find a subtle tribute to those early years.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in the Echo Lake section, there’s a service door on the backside of Keystone Clothiers. It’s used only by Cast Members, but Imagineers took the extra step to dress it up for the region and to reflect Disney history.

(image courtesy Google Maps)

The door label reads Holly-Vermont Realty, Hollywood, Beverly Hills. It honors the realty company that gave Walt and Roy their first office space. The name, no doubt, was picked to identify the locale. Hollywood is a central component of the Los Angeles ethos, and Vermont Avenue runs perpendicular to Kingswell.

A similar tribute can be found on the Buena Vista Street expansion of Disney California Adventure in Anaheim. The texture of this new area is hip-deep with Disney history references and includes a sly tribute to the Holly-Vermont Realty company. Next time you’re there, look for a Hollymont Property Associates sign, a subtle variation of its DHS cousin.

(image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company)

Today, the site on Kingswell Avenue still stands and is a nondescript copy shop. Its owner is aware of the Disney history and has a sign in the window of Mickey’s famous side profile and the label indicates that it’s the home of the Disney studio, 1923 - 1931. The copy shop owner has reason to be proud of the building’s history but nonetheless has taken liberty with the dates.

(image courtesy Google Maps)

Inside, the owner has photos and newspaper clippings that commemorate Walt and Roy’s new venture, including a photo of a prodigious Ub Iwerks crafting the early Mickey Mouse shorts. Ub was a Kansas City business partner of Walt and joined him again in Los Angeles. Although Mickey didn’t come into existence until 1928 when they worked at Hyperion, Ub worked with Walt on Kingswell on the Alice Comedies. Ub went on to become a visual effects wizard for the Disney company with camera optics.

This story has a fascinating sidebar. It seems that the most interesting American success stories involve startups that began in a garage. Our beloved Spaceship Earth at Epcot briefly plays on this theme when discussing the personal tech revolution - “The solution comes in of all places, a garage in California. Young people with a passion for shaping the future put the power of the computer in everyone's hands.” Cadillac recently featured a promotion highlighting famous garages in history, which included the simple, detached unit owned by Uncle Robert. Robert’s ranch house is still there on Kingswell, but the garage has been relocated to the Garden Grove (California) Historical Society, where Disney fans can experience it first-hand.

An Incredibly talented team

I had the recent pleasure of attending the National Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Pixar in Concert at our nearby outdoor amphitheater, Wolf Trap. It was a beautiful evening for a engaging performance. Highlights from each Pixar film were presented on a large screen while the orchestra majestically performed highlights from each film’s score. The music of Randy Newman, Thomas Newman, Michael Giacchino and Patrick Doyle filled the summer night.

While enjoying scenes from every Pixar treasure, I realized again that Lasseter and company create many layers of hidden secrets. Sure, A113 and the Pizza Planet truck quickly come to mind. And Pixar’s clever habit of cross-pollinating its films with references to future releases is worth mentioning - think of Jessie The Cowgirl’s cameo in Boo’s bedroom in Monsters, Inc. However, it’s the more esoteric entries that I find fascinating. In that vein, let’s examine a few that can be found in The Incredibles.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland have signs on windows, crates or posters that typically carry a deeper meaning or message. Similarly, two very brief scenes at the end of the film showcase members of the Pixar team that helped bring Bob Parr and his family to life.

As the Omnidroid is wreaking havoc on Metroville, the Incredibles and Frozone band together to fight back. In one tense sequence, Helen Parr rescues Violet and Dash from the crushing orb. In the background, a building is emblazoned with the name IMAGIRE CO.

This is a quick tribute to Bryn Imagire, an art director for Pixar. The film’s credits list her as art director: shading. Extra credit goes all around for having a very Pixar-esque name. Her additional Pixar credits include UP, Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life and Toy Story Two.

In another brief scene, Violet and Dash are seen in front of another Metroville building that bears the name LOZANO RECORDS. 

(images courtesy of Disney/Pixar)

Not only is this a peak into a bygone era when music came in the form of vinyl platters, but it’s a quick tribute to Pixar Art Director Albert Lozano. In addition to The Incredibles, Lozano has worked on Monsters University, UP, Cars and Finding Nemo.

There are probably other hidden tributes to Pixar’s vast team of artisans in The Incredibles, but these are two that I caught on a recent viewing.

Stay tuned to Hidden Disney - I’ll be featuring other Pixar personalities who have tributes on screen.

Fencing In The Imagination

One sign of a Disney park attraction (never a ride) is the overwhelming attention to detail. You won’t find simple lines for attractions. Instead, you have elaborate queues. The interior queue for the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is stacked with details worthy of your attention as you meander closer to the limo. The excitement within the G-Force recording studio makes the time spent outside in the bland (but covered) queue worth the wait. The studio also serves as a museum of sorts, featuring gold records, vintage guitars, poster and album artwork among the artifacts. The pre-show features a mockup of a recording studio with the band members from Aerosmith winding down their session. Their manager (who is channeling her best Bobbi Flekman) whisks them away to a performance for which they’re late. Steven Tyler, ever so courteous, arranges for a stretch — no, make that a super-stretch — limo, parked out back in the alley, to take us to the show.

This is where it gets fun. The indoor attraction has the luxury of utilizing a small and dimly lit space to reconstruct a faux alley, complete with a parking garage next to it, cheap apartments and a gritty, utilitarian fence separating the guests from the road. There are bills plastered along the wall advertising the Ska Review, about as diametrically opposed to Aerosmith as you can get, musically. 

Signs at Disney parks always have some meaning, if only to help elaborate on a theme, project a pun or offer a hidden layer of Disney goodness. Several signs here are worth noting. Two fall into the bad pun department: First up is an overhead sign by the parking garage entrance that reads Lock 'n Roll Parking Systems. A smaller sign on the wall is an advertisement for Sam Andreas & Son, Earthquake Busters, specializing in structural retrofitting, an obvious nod to the earthquake-prone antics of Los Angeles.

The best sign, albeit small and nondescript, is for the Buena Vista Fence Company and is attached to the chain-link fence: 

The phone number isn’t for a fence company, but instead for a different organization that’s near and dear to our hearts. It’s the number to the front desk of 1401 Flower Street in Glendale, California, home to Walt Disney Imagineering (minus the local area code, of course).

Walt created what was then known as WED Enterprises (for Walter Elias Disney) in 1952 as his ‘personal playground’ to develop Disneyland and its attractions. Buena Vista further adds a layer of Disney history, which references Buena Vista Street in Burbank that runs along the western edge of the Disney Studios. It’s also the name of the distribution arm that Disney established in 1953 for its films. Finally, it references Lake Buena Vista at Walt Disney World.

There you have it. A subtle tribute to Imagineering which, among other things, developed one seriously intense coaster. Keep your eye out for this sign the next time you’re there. Oh, and don’t forget Chris’ black Les Paul. 

The details that are underfoot

There are no accidental props or artifacts at Walt Disney World’s theme parks. All items and signage serve to enhance or extend the overall story in a given area. Think of the elaborate scenery in the external queue and eventually inside the show building for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, for example.

The smaller the item, the better, I say. The reward is finding the minor, esoteric details that Disney designers and Imagineers have concocted. Sometimes, they’re simply underfoot, waiting to be discovered.

Utility holes, in their most basic state, exist to allow access to the necessary underlying infrastructure that any municipality needs, including theme parks. Given their, well, utilitarian nature, they are typically of the no-frills variety. Not at Walt Disney World.

Around the property, you can find the old-school “Globe D” icon embedded in the center of utility lids. My favorite moderate resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, has lids that read “City of Port Orleans,” adding depth to the overall theming of the resort.

In this regard, I was thrilled to find another small nugget on a utility hole cover at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, near the intersection of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. The cover I found had a basic grid of raised squares, to allow for traction with the multitude of footsteps that fall upon it. There in the center in a square pattern is a four letter acronym RCID and a water wave icon, combined to make a larger central square. What, exactly, is RCID? And why is it important?

RCID is shorthand for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, and its roots trace back to Walt himself. As the Walt Disney Company was determining how to make Walt’s dream of an experimental prototype community of tomorrow a reality, it knew it needed land, and lots of it. Further, it would need an autonomous agency to aid and assist with the development of the property. Disney petitioned the Florida State legislature to create an Improvement District that “could act with the same authority and responsibility as a county government. The new legislation said that landowners within the Reedy Creek Improvement District, primarily Walt Disney World, would be solely responsible for paying the cost of providing typical municipal services like power, water, roads, fire protection etc.”* The legislation was passed, and the newly minted Improvement District was named for a nearby existing waterway, Reedy Creek.

Orange County and Osceola County sheriffs have legal jurisdiction at Walt Disney World, but the environmental and municipal issues are handled by RCID. The logo on a utility hole cover is perfectly natural.

RCID also provides fire protection at Walt Disney World. It’s why the fire houses on property sport the RCFD — Reedy Creek Fire Department — logo. 

For an in-depth review of development of Disney’s Florida property, including the Reedy Creek Improvement District, turn to Chad Emerson’s fascinating and detailed book, Project Future.

*From rcid.org

A two-for-one Main Street special

One of the  many reasons I enjoy visiting Walt Disney World is for the immersive experience it provides. In Adventureland, I’m transported to exotic ports and  layers of intrigue. Liberty Square is Disney story-telling at its finest, from the patriotic tones of the Hall of Presidents to the playfully spooky Haunted Mansion. Everything has a beginning, and for the Magic Kingdom that’s Main Street U.S.A. It’s a fanciful recreation of a bygone era, showcasing life at the turn of the century - the 20th, that is.

The Walt Disney Company, diversified as it is today, built its foundation on movie making, first with animation and then live-action. The Magic Kingdom borrows many filmmaking elements, beginning with how Guests are introduced to the park. As you arrive, you walk underneath the train station along red carpeting, as if you’re attending a movie premiere gala. Attraction posters line up either side of the tunnel, as if they are trailers for future films. As you exit the tunnel, you enter into Main Street, transported back in time. Continuing to use filmmaking concepts, the buildings utilize forced perspective, a technique that alters the ratio of second and third stories, making them appear larger. We’ll start with the establishing shot, which takes in the broad avenue of Main Street and ends with Cinderella Castle, it too featuring forced perspective, allowing us to believe that its spires are magnificently tall. The wide shot of Main Street also features store fronts and a horse-drawn trolly gently clip-clopping along. Next, a medium shot is featured, highlighting the town square and the adjacent Town Square Theater. A dolly shot, tracking alongside its subject, showcases the eatery Tony’s Town Square and the nearby confectionary shop and The Chapeau, featuring Disney hats and custom monogramming. Finally, a closeup shot fixates on a pink hat box hanging outside The Chapeau. That’s where our story begins.

(quick sidebar - whenever I think hear the word chapeau, I immediately recall Steve Martin’s monologue about the French language: “Chapeau means hat. Oeuf means egg. It’s like those French have a different word for everything!” But I digress . . .)

A pink hatbox hanging outside a hat shop? Perfectly natural, of course.The Main Street barbershop still uses the traditional red, white and blue striped pole to indicate the service offered within. The ornate hatbox, complete with a bow, elegantly states Chapeau, indicating it’s a fancy store. If our story ended here, it would be, pardon the pun, neatly wrapped up in a bow. Instead, this is where it gets interesting.

Recall that Tony’s Town Square is next door. Its inspiration is from the 1955 Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp, a canine love story. A key scene in the movie is set at an Italian restaurant, lending an air of authenticity to Tony’s Town Square. There’s a clever nod to the film outside Tony’s, where a paw-drawn heart, pierced by Cupid’s arrow, is forever memorialized in the cement. Two sets of paws are within, one from Lady and the other from Tramp. However, the key establishing shot from the movie is Lady’s entrance. Jim Dear presents a gift to his wife, Darling, one Christmas morning, in a beautiful lavender- and cream-striped hat box. As Darling unwraps the bow, the lid pops up to reveal Lady, a sweet cocker spaniel pup. There it is - Tony’s Town Square and The Chapeau shop next door, each cleverly referencing and reinforcing each other.

But wait - there’s more.

Disney fans will be thrilled to learn that the Christmas scene from the film also has a story, taken directly from Walt’s life. Walt longed for a family pet but his wife Lillian was steadfastly against it. Walt researched the ideal dog breed to counter Lillian’s objections and settled on a chow, given their disposition, odor and fur. The next challenge - how to deliver it. Walt used a Christmas eve family gathering to present his special gift to Lillian. While family guests weren’t looking, he placed the chow pup into a hat box and set it under the tree. The label read: To Lilly, from Santy Claus. When presented with the hat box, Lillian made the logical conclusion that she was getting a hat. To her great surprise, instead it was a dog! She quickly fell in love with the gift, and named the chow Sunnee. You can hear more about this special gift in Walt’s own words, courtesy of the Walt Disney Family Museum.

There you have it - Main Street U.S.A.’s two-for-one hidden Disney tributes. The chapeau sign cleverly referencing a classic Disney animated feature, and also pays tribute to a special moment between Walt and Lillian Disney.

Monsters love Disneyland too

Pixar and Disney have a long and rich history together. Many Disney animators, notably John Lasseter, sharpened their skills originally at Disney Animation, and of course there’s the original multi-film agreement in which Pixar created and Disney marketed and distributed the early films, all which defined Pixar as a studio above the rest. Disney’s purchase of Pixar in 2006 made permanent this amazing relationship.

With this background, it should come as no surprise that Pixar films include nods to Disney and its history. One such instance recently bubbled back into my head while enjoying the deliciously oversized Poster Art of the Disney Parks book. This treasure highlights poster art from the Disney parks around the globe and is a wonderful way to capture a unique slice of Disney history in vibrant color.

Two such classic Disneyland posters from the 1950’s are featured, albeit briefly, in Monsters, Inc. 

Near the end of the movie, Mike Wazowski is trying out his standup routine in a little boy’s bedroom, working to elicit laughs instead of screams. The boy’s room has the usual artifacts - bed, dresser, bookshelf, and toys and clothes on the floor. Two posters on his wall, however, are directly inspired by Disneyland posters from its early years.

Above his bed headboard is a fleeting glimpse of the AstroJet ride in Tomorrowland. This is a direct reference to the 1956 attraction poster by artist Bjorn Aronson.

 

Next to the boy’s bedroom door and above the bookshelf is another classic poster, also by Aronson, of the Sailing Ship Columbia. This three-masted vessel, which debuted in 1958, is celebrating its 55th year and continues to serve as an iconic attraction with lineage tracing back to the early years of the park.

 

The next time you’re enjoying Monsters, Inc, keep a sharp eye out for these quick nods to Disney. There are other unique tributes tucked inside the film, but those can be shared another day. And on a related note, I’m looking forward to seeing hidden tributes in the Mike and Sully’s prequel, Monsters University.

Finally - if you’re a fan of the Disney parks, then you must add this book to your collection.

Finding Sunny

In honor of the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo, let’s examine a little tribute to Pixar placed within the film. No, it’s not typical in-house reference to A113 or the Pizza Planet truck. No, it’s not the Buzz Lightyear action figure briefly seen in the dentist office.

Pixar presents a short film before each theatrical release. Early shorts were done to hone creative and technical talent within the Studio. Lately, the shorts are a way to continue character development of established franchises, such as Cars or Toy Story.

The short that premiered prior to Finding Nemo on May 30th 2003 was a much earlier Pixar work titled Knick Knack, created in 1989. It's about the sheltered life of a snow globe snowman. He’s trying to find different ways to escape, caught by the lure of Sunny the mermaid and other tropical delights. 

In the end he does escape - only to find himself back in the snow globe. In Finding Nemo, Sunny makes a cameo in the dentist office fish tank, so sharpen your eye to spot her on the prow of the sunken ship in the tank!

Humphrey the Bear

Disney’s animation heritage isn’t limited to the theme parks of Walt Disney World. Mickey and the other members of the fab five - Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto - are evident throughout the entire resort, if only on guide maps and other signage.

But If you dig a little deeper into the pantheon of Disney’s animation characters, you’ll find a rather obscure creature named Humphrey the Bear. 

He’s a easy-going brown bear who hangs his proverbial hat at Brownstone National Park. He starred in six Disney animated shorts, debuting in 1950. Humphrey’s antics, including his eternal quest for food from park visitors and his nemesis, ranger J. Audubon Woodlore, inspired Yogi Bear.

Although he’s not an instantly recognizable character to Disney fans, he blends in nicely in the cavernous Wilderness Lodge lobby. He can be found on the bottom of a totem pole just outside the ‘mercantile’ store. The brown bear is the official mascot of this amazing resort, and Humphrey gladly stands duty, perhaps waiting for an opportunity to grab a snack from an unsuspecting Guest.

Welcome to Frontierland, Mr. Smith

File this one under ‘extinct.’ One of the cleverest hidden Disney tributes in the Magic Kingdom has, apparently, walked away.

You remember the slapstick scene from Mary Poppins in which Bert and Uncle Albert are oddly floating high in the air, giddily singing “I love to laugh,” as if the lyrics were a combination of nitrous oxide and helium. While Mary Poppins, Jane and Michael watch  from below, they hear hysterical dialog, including this classic exchange:

Mary - “Why, it's the most disgraceful sight I've ever seen, or my name isn't Mary Poppins.”

Bert - “Speakin' o' names, I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.”

Uncle Albert - “What's the name of his other leg?”

This misplaced modifier causes even more riotous laughter and they continue with their airborne antics.

Disney Imagineers cleverly paid tribute to this scene by placing a wooden leg high on a shelf in the Frontierland train station, along with other lost items. Naturally, the leg is labeled Smith. Sadly, this hidden tribute didn’t survive a recent furbishment of the train station, since I didn’t see it there on my last few visits. But just thinking about it is worth a laugh.

Looking UP for inspiration

Let's return to the silver screen, to find a sweet and endearing hidden Disney tribute. But first, the setup.

Disney Legends Marc and Alice Davis are figurative giants within the Disney community. Marc's sketches and illustrations were brought to life in the iconic attraction Pirates of the Caribbean, and Alice's contributions to the Pirates wardrobes, as well as the multinational dolls in It's a Small World can't be understated. But perhaps more enchanting is their lifelong partnership with each other, and their appetite for travel and living life to its fullest.

Pixar director Pete Docter was seeking inspiration for the UP characters Carl and Ellie Fredricksen. This couple spends a long and rich life together before Carl is widowed, in the twilight of his life. He's not quite sure how to proceed without his life partner. Pete Docter and other Pixar writers and animators interviewed Alice Davis, to capture the spirit of the life she and Marc had together. Alice herself is a widow, following Marc's death in 2000. The interview was conducted in Alice's home and included a tour of Marc's studio. It was there that one of the Pixar animators found inspiration.

In one brief scene, we see Carl coming downstairs in an electric chair. Various photos and artwork hang on the wall. Pay close attention to the rectangular frame on the left, featuring a chirping bird. This was directly inspired by a similar prominent sketch in Marc's studio, honoring his bold and beautiful tropical-inspired illustration “C'ote d'Azur” that singularly captures Marc and Alice's adventurous life together. In one corner of the illustration is a colorful chirping bird.

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Look for Alice Davis listed in the Credits of UP –

“Dedicated to the real life carl and ellie fredricksens who inspired us to create our own adventure books

Joe Grant Ralph “Papa” Lopez Mike Oznowicz Alice Davis”

This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival. Head over there to see more great Disney-related posts and articles

Harper and The Old Mill

Let's return to the Magic Kingdom, where there's a subtle "two-for-one" hidden tribute to Disney. Tom Sawyer Island is an adventurous place for fun and excitement, serving as a time-machine to whisk you back to another era. The Island opened in May, 1973 and the main attractions on Tom Sawyer Island are the mysterious caves and Fort Langhorn. However, one very distinctive bright red building is Harper's Mill, which is quite appropriate given that water mills dotted the landscape in the pre-electrical era. You might think that its name pays tribute to perhaps Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a town that played a pivotal role in American history. The name “Harper” comes several sources. Tom Sawyer’s good friend was Joe Harper, so this name makes sense, keeping with the theme of the island. But it's also named after Disney Imagineer and Disney Legend Harper Goff. Goff is famous for his design work on the classic Disney attraction the Jungle Cruise, as well as his work on the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Disney tributes don’t stop here, however. Inside Harper’s Mill is a subtle tribute to one of Disney’s earlier animation efforts. Before Disney delved into feature-length animation, the company was famous for cartoon shorts. Mickey Mouse, of course, was an original star but Disney had another impressive series of animated shorts, culled together as the Silly Symphonies. Although they didn’t feature any particular character, they were increasingly used as an animation “testing ground” for techniques and styles, much like Pixar’s use of animated shorts. In 1937, Disney released The Old Mill, a story about how animals now occupy an abandoned windmill. Dave Smith, the recently retired Walt Disney Company archivist, lists this as one of his favorite animations. Disney used a groundbreaking technique of a multiplane camera, allowing for a rich depth to the scenery. This method would again be used to great acclaim in Disney’s first feature-length animation effort, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

One key scene in The Old Mill features a bluebird atop her nest inside one of the cogwheels of the defunct mill. During a thunderstorm, the mill springs to life and as the blades turn, the gears inside move as well. It looks like the bluebird will be crushed, but fate intervenes. The opposing gear is missing a cog and the two gears pass by gracefully at the exact location of the bird.

Why is this scene significant? Because inside Harper's Mill there is a series of gears, and resting inside one of them is a little bluebird atop her nest!

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

We travel back again to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to examine another emblem honoring the legacy of the Walt Disney Studios. Recall from an earlier post that an earlier animation center was on Hyperion Avenue. With the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt and Roy Disney were able to fulfill a larger dream of a fully encapsulated studio. Located in Burbank California, the studio remains today as the headquarters of the Walt Disney Company. Built at the time to fully streamline the animation process, the physical layout of the campus was designed with animators in mind. Office space for artists was designed to facilitate the ideal levels of daylight for their animation tables. Unique shutters over the windows could be manipulated to control the lighting. The campus included plenty of green space, to encourage collaboration outside of the traditional office environment. Naturally, the streets on the campus were named for Disney stars. The intersection of Dopey Drive and Mickey Avenue has an iconic sign that clearly tells Guests that this is a working studio; animation, multi plane and ink & paint are on the Mickey side, and in between, special effects and the layout department are on Dopey’s side.

According to recently retired Disney archivist Dave Smith, the sign was installed in its location for the Studio Tour segment of The Reluctant Dragon in 1941 and never removed.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a similar sign exists paying homage to its ancestor back at the home office. Just outside of Pixar Place, look for the sign at the intersection of Mickey Avenue and Minnie Lane. Naturally, the DHS sign features Minnie.

(Images courtesy of the Walt Disney Company)

Hyperion – What’s in a Name?

Homage to Disney’s past isn’t just limited to the parks and the silver screen. The latest example is at Downtown Disney, where the redevelopment of Pleasure Island will bring us Hyperion Wharf. Hyperion is the Greek God of light, and the evocative renderings of Hyperion Wharf illustrate that Disney’s Imagineers will bathe the outdoor pavilion in a sea of lights.

However, a lesser-known reason for choosing the term Hyperion is because it recollects the street upon which Walt Disney built his first major animation studio. Walt and his brother Roy established the Walt Disney Company in 1923, and their first animation efforts involved the successful Alice Comedies. Within a few years the growing company was in need of a little more “elbow room”, so Walt purchased a vacant lot on Hyperion Avenue in Los Angeles and a new animation studio was constructed. Walt and Roy enjoyed fourteen years of success here, where many of today’s most recognizable Disney animation stars were “born” – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy, to name a few. With the success of Snow White in 1937, Roy and Walt were again able to move to a larger location, settling on Burbank in what is still the headquarters of the Walt Disney Company

(Images courtesy of the Walt Disney Company; top - artist rendering of Hyperion Wharf, bottom - Walt (bottom row, right) and his staff at the Studio on Hyperion Avenue)

Villains - What's In A Name?

A good, compelling story requires an antagonist, to make the hero's journey all the more rewarding. In Disney*Pixar's UP, that role belongs to dapper yet eccentric explorer Charles H. Muntz. He serves as a foil to the protagonist Carl Fredricksen and his journey to Paradise Falls.

Disney historians' ears may perk up a bit at the mention of Charles Muntz. Why? Because it bears a striking resemblance to an earlier Disney antagonist. Walt Disney himself, in the infancy of his career, had created a wonderfully charming animated character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Lacking the deep pockets of a mature Studio, he was reliant upon business partners to distribute the Oswald animated cartoon shorts. Universal was the heavy in the business, and served in that capacity. The success of Oswald wasn't lost upon Universal and its designated producer. He sought to take control of Oswald directly, and schemed to hire away Disney's animators. That unscrupulous person? Charles H. Mintz.

In 1928, Walt traveled to New York to meet directly with Mintz. Walt and his animators had high production standards, and he wanted to change the original terms of the contract, essentially requesting a raise. Mintz refused and instead told Disney that he was going to cut the budget, and if Walt did not agree, Mintz would take over Oswald for himself. Disney refused, and most of Disney's employees left for Mintz. Only Disney legend Ub Iwerks remained, staying loyal to Walt. Lost in the deal was Oswald himself. It was on the train ride back to Los Angeles that a certain, plucky new character was born, giving rise to the familiar refrain "it was all started by a mouse."

All good things come to those who wait, and Oswald made his triumphant return to the Walt Disney Company in 2006. That story alone is intriguing. The Walt Disney Company also owns ABC and ESPN, and when the television broadcast rights for Sunday Night Football went from ESPN to NBC (ESPN opted not to enter into the SNF broadcast rights competition, instead opting to keep Monday Night Football "in house" by switching it from ABC to ESPN). SNF broadcaster Al Michaels, then under contract with ABC, wanted to continue working with SNF and its new partner NBC and its parent corporation Universal. With Universal and Disney each having properties the other sought, an Al Michaels for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit trade was arranged, returning one of Walt's original characters back into the fold.

It's not entirely clear if Pixar was inspired by this true-life Disney villain Charles Mintz when they created the character of Charles Muntz, but it's certainly a tantalizing idea.

Disney's Hollywood Studios and the Second World War

Disney’s Hollywood Studios offers a great variety of entertainment for the Disney Guest, ranging from thrills and chills (Tower of Terror) to musical shows (Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage). As would be expected from the park’s title, there are plenty of attractions highlighting the elements of show business and movie making. In this context, we examine closely the opening sequence of the Backlot Tour, featuring a water tank set for controlled filming of scenes set on water. The fictional World War II movie is “Harbor Attack” and the set features a recreation of a PT boat as well as an interior of the ship’s engine room. Guests are chosen to recreate the roles of sailors, and of course get quite wet. A close inspection of the PT boat reveals an interesting emblem of a mosquito carrying a torpedo. This image is no accident; it’s a deliberate nod to the role that the Walt Disney Studios played during World War II.

The Walt Disney Company was entering the nascent era of feature animation when the war temporarily shuttered the studio operations. Many animators joined the armed forces, and the U.S. military briefly commandeered the studio itself. Before and during America’s involvement in the war, the Disney company was involved with the military with logo design, dating back to 1939. In 1940, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C, led by Lieutenant Earl S. Caldwell, requested from Walt Disney an insignia for America’s fleet of torpedo boats. Disney artist Hank Porter conceived of the emblem – an angry mosquito flying over rough water, carrying a torpedo seemingly to be dropped at will.

This wasn’t the first insignia that Disney created for the military, but given its role with PT boats, it’s only fitting that it be on prominent display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

(images courtesy of Eric Steinmetz)