DHS Disney Animation-Inspired Experience Coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios

[Gusey]

That is incorrect. The AA is taking the place of the on screen interactions that Mushu used to have in this experience. The live animator is being replaced with an animator on the screen if I understand correctly.

Kind of. The Mushu show was just about how to make animation with an actor playing an animator but never did any demonstrations, and the animation experience was its own things with just an animator showing how to draw characters, like what they had as AK and Disney Quest. I can't tell the capacity or location from the concept art or details given, but if it's a similar size to what was the theater for the Mushu show, it will see more guests than the animation experience did

 

[FigmentFan82]

I think it's more that they are actually investing in this whole area again, with the updated Mermaid show (1992 vs 2025), a Disney Junior show that's not a dance party for the first time since 2019? and the updated animation building feeling more modern of what was there before. I'm not expecting this to be jam packed with people with queues out of the courtyard, but I'm expecting more people to visit this whole area compared to when it was just Launch Bay. Even last year with Cool Kid Summer, a juggler, a magician and the odd character appearance attracted more people than what was there the year before. The new permanent meet and greet areas that are 5 more characters compared to the 2 Star Wars and a robot, DHS's first playground since Honey I Shrunk the Kids (in the AC) will be seeked out as a respite for parents and the animatronic Olaf animation academy is a free interactive experience where guests can take home a free souvenir will all be seen as attractive things to do in between E-Ticket attractions and shows.

Well, put, I have a feeling this will be very well received and get some good attention from the crowds. Even if it’s not jampacked, I don’t think that’s ever what the intention was supposed to be.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Kind of. The Mushu show was just about how to make animation with an actor playing an animator but never did any demonstrations,

Oh that’s right! I had merged both of them in my memory. I probably mixed in some memory of California as well.

 

[James Alucobond]

Thank you for responding. My question, to you and everyone else, is why we should expect this attraction to enliven the area when the very similar predecessor did not.

To anyone who remembers the years after the actual studio closed, the attraction and courtyard was as dead as it was in the latter days of Launch Bay. Why will it work this time?

I think the core issue is really that Launch Bay was always a stopgap to quickly put something in the parks nearer to the Lucasfilm acquisition than the timeline for Galaxy's Edge allowed. It has gone out with a whimper in all three parks in which it appeared. I'm not sure if this refresh ultimately has the right mix of changes and improvements to be more successful than its older sibling experience, but I do still prefer this reversion to the state of, say, former Launch Bay in Disneyland.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think the core issue is really that Launch Bay was always a stopgap to quickly put something in the parks nearer to the Lucasfilm acquisition than the timeline for Galaxy's Edge allowed. It has gone out with a whimper in all three parks in which it appeared. I'm not sure if this refresh ultimately has the right mix of changes and improvements to be more successful than its older sibling experience, but I do still prefer this reversion to the state of, say, former Launch Bay in Disneyland.

Launch Bay though wasn’t a radically different concept for this space. It ultimately suffered from the same problem as the animation experience before it, a lack of investment and operational cuts.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I thought the job description we were analyzing was the one recently cut from the Animation Experience at DAK.

True, I don’t have empirical data about actual outcomes. Just theoretical reasoning.

Is it possible someone finds their long-term needs being met? Sure. If, in fact, there are people that found their self-actualization needs being met in that role, my inability to understand their perspective is a failure of mine. But, this possibility also doesn’t take away from my criticism that Disney should’ve given those individuals more autonomy, more variety, and more significance.

You are again resorting to mischaracterization. It was not a fixed, small set of lessons. The job offered great autonomy and variety than a good many guest facing roles. The animators all knew different lessons that they chose to present. On a quiet night they might even ask the audience what they would like to do because it wasn’t determined. What they presented was based on their knowledge. They also learned new lessons of their choosing. They had the opportunity to work on developing new lessons and also had other drawing related opportunities.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I think it's more that they are actually investing in this whole area again, with the updated Mermaid show (1992 vs 2025), a Disney Junior show that's not a dance party for the first time since 2019? and the updated animation building feeling more modern of what was there before. I'm not expecting this to be jam packed with people with queues out of the courtyard, but I'm expecting more people to visit this whole area compared to when it was just Launch Bay. Even last year with Cool Kid Summer, a juggler, a magician and the odd character appearance attracted more people than what was there the year before. The new permanent meet and greet areas that are 5 more characters compared to the 2 Star Wars and a robot, DHS's first playground since Honey I Shrunk the Kids (in the AC) will be seeked out as a respite for parents and the animatronic Olaf animation academy is a free interactive experience where guests can take home a free souvenir will all be seen as attractive things to do in between E-Ticket attractions and shows.

Disney is investing a fairly limited amount to revert Courtyard to almost the exact same state it was in 10 years ago, when it was every bit as much of a dead zone as it is now.

My consternation with all of this stretches beyond just the Courtyard. It’s the complete refusal to learn from history and direct experience. People see a project with obvious glaring problems, a project replicating something that absolutely didn’t work before, and they ignore the issues or talk themselves out of concern or say “let’s withhold judgement,” all because acknowledging and addressing the issues with the plans is too hard or unpleasent. Its behavior that infuriates me not just with the Courtyard, but with Epic Universe and with… other vastly more important matters that stretch way beyond theme parks and calamitously effect every aspect of our daily lives.

On a side note, I don’t think this playground is REMOTELY comparable to Shrunk. We’re also getting ANOTHER playground over by Monsters. These small lackluster playgrounds arent a solution to a problem, they’re an acknowledgment that management knows their design decisions are creating fundamental problems for the parks but that they don’t care enough to make meaningful changes.

 

[Casper Gutman]

The Animation/ Launch Bay space has become the Studios Communicore.

 

[lazyboy97o]

How have I mischaracterized? I accept that all of this is true.

Most people don’t describe having a bunch of choices as a lack of autonomy, especially in the context of a highly scripted theme park environment.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney is investing a fairly limited amount to revert Courtyard to almost the exact same state it was in 10 years ago, when it was every bit as much of a dead zone as it is now.

My consternation with all of this stretches beyond just the Courtyard. It’s the complete refusal to learn from history and direct experience. People see a project with obvious glaring problems, a project replicating something that absolutely didn’t work before, and they ignore the issues or talk themselves out of concern or say “let’s withhold judgement,” all because acknowledging and addressing the issues with the plans is too hard or unpleasent. Its behavior that infuriates me not just with the Courtyard, but with Epic Universe and with… other vastly more important matters that stretch way beyond theme parks and calamitously effect every aspect of our daily lives.

On a side note, I don’t think this playground is REMOTELY comparable to Shrunk. We’re also getting ANOTHER the playground over by Monsters. These small lackluster playgrounds arent a solution to a problem, they’re an acknowledgment that management knows their design decisions are creating fundamental problems for the parks but that they don’t care enough to make meaningful changes.

Its a bit funny though that in order to try to fend off the studio not being interested in paying for exhibits and meet and greets they’re instead choosing to very specifically fix the entire experience to a single piece of media. That definitely hasn’t backfired anywhere else in this very same park.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

Having trees in the center, a more consistent aesthetic among the three main buildings (in terms of paint schemes and signage), and actual narrative placemaking (tying it together as "a studio lot" rather than "an un-themed environment with three unrelated buildings") should be a significant step up from what was there, both aesthetically and thematically.

At the same time, "what was there" is a low bar, since it was, well, an un-themed environment with three unrelated buildings. So if the choice was between this and another decade of what was there, thank goodness for this. And if doing this allowed them to allocate more funding to other projects like Monstropolis, maybe it's a worthwhile tradeoff. But if this was determined to be "good enough" when the alternative was a more ambitious project for the area with a comparable timeline whose budget would not have significantly affected anything else, then it's unfortunate. It really all depends on the counterfactuals.

 

[James Alucobond]

Launch Bay though wasn’t a radically different concept for this space. It ultimately suffered from the same problem as the animation experience before it, a lack of investment and operational cuts.

Right, I'm just saying that as non-radically different concepts for this space go, I always preferred this one to Launch Bay, especially with the advent of Galaxy's Edge. It is at least a differentiated offering and not just somewhere that you might end up on accident when looking for Star Wars land. Would I like something more ambitious? Sure. But I can also prefer this without thinking it's going to be insanely popular or anything. There are many refurbs that I think improve the overall feel of the parks even if they're for attractions that aren't that much of a pull and/or I don't find particularly compelling.

We’re also getting ANOTHER playground over by Monsters. These small lackluster playgrounds arent a solution to a problem, they’re an acknowledgment that management knows their design decisions are creating fundamental problems for the parks but that they don’t care enough to make meaningful changes.

The Monsters playground seems more like a reactionary space filler after the ride building got pushed back than an intentional inclusion, honestly. The whole thing seemed fairly unresolved even in the updated art since it doesn't accurately represent the physical space between the existing Muppet facilities and the coaster entrance.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Having choices and having autonomy aren’t the same thing. In a field like drawing, where the possibilities are basically infinite, being limited to a list of approved options, even if 100 long, in the regular day to day work would be quite suffocating.

I think Disney could’ve added significantly more value to the employee and guest experience by giving these roles more creative freedom in their day to day work. Could’ve even brought the company a lot more money.

Sorry, you are digging in here.

Teachers, from preschool to college level, all teach the same material (over and over) and don't find it boring because the students and their reactions are unique every time.

In the case of a drawing class, the animators teach as diverse a group of students as one could possibly teach. All ages. all walks of life. From all over the world.

Not only that, but the more one teaches the same material, the more the teacher comes to know the material. People who enjoy drawing, enjoy drawing.

In 2019, I attended one of the animation classes that were part of the Epcot Art Festival before the pandemic. The instructor, a (former) Disney feature film animator, said he loved doing daily random sketches of people walking past his favorite coffee shop. He kept them simple, so even though there was a similarity to the drawing figures, he felt the more he practiced drawing, the better he got at it.

He said he felt the same way about teaching drawing classes. the more he taught other people to draw, the better he developed his own skills.

We didn't draw Disney characters in the class, we drew quick stick figures (in assorted poses). The skill was to develop balance and to capture body motion from a few simple lines. (Hard to explain in one line, but that is the gist).

I wasn't expecting to enjoy the class as much as I did, or to learn as much as I did that day. It was maybe 90 minutes. A neat part was that everyone got a sketch book, an awesome pen, and after class he gave everyone a personalized autograph- each w a small personalized drawing. WDW should 100% bring those classes back, but I don't think they have. The class was FULL, and students could earn Continuing Ed hours for attending. The class was a mix of professionals, art students, and people attending just for fun.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

this all suggests a level of creative freedom that isn’t permitted in the day to day role we’re discussing.

Can you give an example of a “normal” job that allows the level of creative freedom you keep referring to?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

There was no template. There was freedom. The artist felt empowered and autonomous in their dream job.

Was this everyday? Did the coffee shop pay the Artist to do this?

 

[Brer Oswald]

Plus a section dedicated to the Silly Symphony characters.

When I think of a new Toontown, I think Silly Symphony inclusion is implied. Though I guess it would be modern Disney designing it and not me…

 

[ToTBellHop]

Pardon me, but drawing with an AA Olaf in the studios park sounds like that “Disney Magic” to me.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Teaching how to draw marks the beginning of DHS's hard pivot to being an edutainment park. The park will be renamed to Disney Studious.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Can you give an example of a “normal” job that allows the level of creative freedom you keep referring to?

This! Most people whose job is to draw, or do anything considered artistic or creative, aren’t exploring the infinite possibilities of their medium. Even the actual animators who drew Disney’s shorts and features didn’t have that level of autonomy. Lead animators had to stick to the approved model of characters. In-betweeners had to fill the gap between the major poses developed by their leads, often to the tune of 24 drawings for just one second of film. Plenty of people burned out and left and others absolutely loved it.

There are architecture firms that specialize in prototypical typologies like public schools and chain retailers where someone picks from a menu and they make a few customizations. There are people who have entire careers of that and love it.

Scenic painters doing rockwork sure aren’t exploring the possibilities of painting. They’re making things look like rocks.

Many creatives have discussed how they appreciate different limitations and constraints because it helps them focus and be creative in different ways.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yes, the coffee shop paid the artist, and the artist received tips on top of that, of course. With regard to frequency, it depended on the time of year. Weekday afternoons. Usually three times a week. Sometimes two, sometimes 5. He was a barista too, so his responsibilities were quite varied and the coffee shop could be flexible.

You realize the artist who does their art at the coffee shop that is their primary employer is a trope right? One that most would expect as a setup for a story about a frustrated artist. You’re literally using someone who seems to have found joy in what others would consider frustration as an example for why a job must be frustrating.