Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks (Part II)

Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
ob1thx1138 said:
I think it would be really neat to have glasses with built in screens that introduced augmented reality objects and animations to different areas of the park. You could even call it Pixie vision or something similar.
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There are "enhanced reality" projects like that at MIT.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
As mentioned before, my favorite thing at D23 was Walt's handwritten changes to the portal plaques over the entry tunnels. He knew Disneyland needed a title card like Star Wars did (long time ago in a galaxy, etc.) and he personally gave it one. Here are some snapshots of the paper he worked on.

http://gallery.me.com/boss_angeles#100471

Notice how he nixed the title "Disneyland" and moved "Fantasy" to the last thing you read. 4:3, the size proportion he wanted for the plaque is ironically the first aspect ratio of projected movies! Instead of the plaque describing Disneyland, he changed "where" into something more personal by adding "here". When he did that, he made that portal important and wanted you to know that, and set us all up for the transition from the real world to his. Note the date. Less than a month before opening. I guess bronze would not make opening, but a sign would? I will look to see if the plaques made it on July 17th, but I'm thinking they didn't. Will look into this and past what made it.


Anyway, to me this is revealing as to Walt's thought process and his notion for how the park is like a movie. He micromanaged the whole thing from the size, to the material, to the exact copy and location. I think this is the "Zapruder Film" of Disneyana, and I read nothing on any board talking about it. So we can do that right here if you want.
 
GrimGhost

GrimGhost

Member
Eddie Sotto said:
Anyway, to me this is revealing as to Walt's thought process and his notion for how the park is like a movie. He micromanaged the whole thing from the size, to the material, to the exact copy and location. .
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Eddie- I read this and it made me think of a story maybe you had heard as well? I read it in "Remembering Walt" that he and his pilot, went to a restaurant shortly before he passed away and Walt called over a waiter and manager and then began telling them "what he would do" if this place was his; move this here, change that archway, paint this, etc., The manager stood there and began feverishly writing down everything Walt said. Well, the pilot came back after Walt's death and the place was packed! They had done exactly what Walt described. The manager then went on to tell the pilot that since he made the changes Walt suggested, business had soared.. It seems his vision was without limits.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
GrimGhost said:
Eddie- I read this and it made me think of a story maybe you had heard as well? I read it in "Remembering Walt" that he and his pilot, went to a restaurant shortly before he passed away and Walt called over a waiter and manager and then began telling them "what he would do" if this place was his; move this here, change that archway, paint this, etc., The manager stood there and began feverishly writing down everything Walt said. Well, the pilot came back after Walt's death and the place was packed! They had done exactly what Walt described. The manager then went on to tell the pilot that since he made the changes Walt suggested, business had soared.. It seems his vision was without limits.
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WOW!!! I never heard that story, but wish he would have come to Rivera!
 
Jeanine

Jeanine

Member
That is a fabulous paper you found--I can't believe I didn't even see it there! Frankly, I spent almost all the time upstairs in lines for various presentations, so I barely got to see the floor in detail, (with the exception of the amazing Parks and Resorts booth,) and the Treasures of the Archive not at all.

The first change that catches my eye is the word order--I always loved how it goes from past, to future, to timelessness...
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Jeanine said:
That is a fabulous paper you found--I can't believe I didn't even see it there! Frankly, I spent almost all the time upstairs in lines for various presentations, so I barely got to see the floor in detail, (with the exception of the amazing Parks and Resorts booth,) and the Treasures of the Archive not at all.

The first change that catches my eye is the word order--I always loved how it goes from past, to future, to timelessness...
Click to expand...

I'm glad you enjoy it too. It has so many interesting insights to it. Like you say, the order of the genres is interesting. I love how he leaves you with something beyond time travel as the payoff.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
Wow - I got a chill just looking at that paper. I can just hear Walt reading the original, grtting that little twinkle in his eyes as he changed the word order, and reading it again with a satisfied grin. Thanks for posting the pics!
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Nemo14 said:
Wow - I got a chill just looking at that paper. I can just hear Walt reading the original, grtting that little twinkle in his eyes as he changed the word order, and reading it again with a satisfied grin. Thanks for posting the pics!
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Me too. I think he nailed it with the last revision. He knew what he wanted to do very clearly and sorted the words out to get the effect. I think riding in on the monorail from the Hotel to Disneyland took away this very important sequence of entry to the parks. When I was a kid, we used to come in on the monorail most of the time and neglect this series of events. Kind of betrays the reveal of the Castle.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Shanghai Castle

Thoughts on the 3 story Castle with boat integration? It's the home of the all the Princesses instead of one. (Princess timeshare?) Lots of new ground being broken here and it's pretty exciting, the big atrium lobby and all, although it's all in the execution.

Makes me wonder...Maybe it's more like a Princess Dorm. Are Prince's allowed in on weekends? (I'd love to see a Princess panel version of ABC's "the View" come live from the Castle). Finally the Castle is becoming a real destination in itself.

http://micechat.com/blogs/dateline-...ney-studios-disney-legends-archives-more.html
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
hahah... princess timeshare! love it! even the characters are being forced into buying DVC!

I always adored the DLP castle.. this seems to be taking it to the next level as both an attraction and a place to explore. Looks exciting from that point... the visuals so far seem.. odd.. but I'm willing to hold out and see what it looks like later down the line.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
flynnibus said:
hahah... princess timeshare! love it! even the characters are being forced into buying DVC!

I always adored the DLP castle.. this seems to be taking it to the next level as both an attraction and a place to explore. Looks exciting from that point... the visuals so far seem.. odd.. but I'm willing to hold out and see what it looks like later down the line.
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It's all in the execution. It could look clunky and ill proportioned as the 3D suggests at times. 3D can be very cold and crude looking, so the elegance has to come from a rich knowledge of how to develop and execute fine ornament in the right scale for each floor. I remember Imagineer Tom Morris spending a HUGE amount of time both on the clock and off developing the silhouette of the DLP Castle first and foremost and then, once he nailed it from many angles, bulked out the rest. So much time and care went into every finial and each piece of trim. Scale was everything. The unique composition of that Castle against it's rock mass was really tough to get right. There is a lot of scale and perspective finesse that will need to occur on the Shanghai Castle as it goes through the design development process.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
Eddie Sotto said:
It's all in the execution. It could look clunky and ill proportioned as the 3D suggests at times. 3D can be very cold and crude looking, so the elegance has to come from a rich knowledge of how to develop and execute fine ornament in the right scale for each floor
Click to expand...

Yeah, 'clunky' was the word I was searching for to describe my emotion, but could not land on it. I certainly appreciate the need for more mass to fit those interior spaces vs is (not) in the other castles, but as you say, it takes massive efforts to manipulate the brain into what you want to be perceived and obviously Disney are masters at that.. so why I'm willing to take the wait and see. To make the castle into an attraction I'm a big fan of if it can be pulled off.

Eddie, a question I'm hoping you could give answer with some of your 'real world' experience....

We keep hearing how Shanghi is still very much in the 'blue sky' phase because it's 5yrs out. I question that because blue sky should still be the dream up concepts.. flush them out a bit.. and then pick the path. To me, 'blue sky' isn't the design phase.. it's concept brainstorming. When you see it takes Disney 2 years to CONSTRUCT something major these days.. and you hear stories about attractions being in DEVELOPMENT for multiple years.. I have a hard time adding these concepts together and believing that Shanghi is still very much in blue sky concept phase. For something 4-5 years out of this scale, I have to believe they are in development of the concepts already... not simply brainstorming.

I get that many portions of the park are probably still 'TBD' as things are prioritized in the timeline.. but I have to believe things like the lands, major avenues, anchor attractions, look/feel are all pretty much established.

Your thoughts and insight on this timeline vs concept maturity?

. I remember Imagineer Tom Morris spending a HUGE amount of time both on the clock and off developing the silhouette of the DLP Castle first and foremost and then, once he nailed it from many angles, bulked out the rest. So much time and care went into every finial and each piece of trim. Scale was everything. The unique composition of that Castle against it's rock mass was really tough to get right. There is a lot of scale and perspective finesse that will need to occur on the Shanghai Castle as it goes through the design development process.[/QUOTE]
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
Another problem with the 3D models is that the angles being shown are not those that one will actually experience.
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True enough. Lens distortion enlarges rooms beyond what is real too. It's always good to storyboard something as the guest experiences it from their eye level point of view, moment by moment. To that point, the lower point of view of children is sometimes forgotten.
 

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