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

wedenterprises

wedenterprises

Well-Known Member
Wow a part 2?! Eddie you could host your own Q&A call it Sotto Expo.

This is interesting stuff regarding brainstorming meetings. In an interview about ToT Dave Durham said that in initial brainstorming sessions, someone brought up the idea of the elevator moving forward and how everyone in the room sort of stopped and went "oooooh". I love that story, and I was wondering if you had any stories like this to share. Maybe some memorable moments in meetings where an idea was sparked and how that happened?
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
wedenterprises said:
Wow a part 2?! Eddie you could host your own Q&A call it Sotto Expo.

This is interesting stuff regarding brainstorming meetings. In an interview about ToT Dave Durham said that in initial brainstorming sessions, someone brought up the idea of the elevator moving forward and how everyone in the room sort of stopped and went "oooooh". I love that story, and I was wondering if you had any stories like this to share. Maybe some memorable moments in meetings where an idea was sparked and how that happened?
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I will give that some thought. I remember seriously proposing a gigantic (manmade) tree in the middle of a park as an icon once and everyone laughed and moved on, then years later someone else must have thought the same thing and there it was in AK. I'm not saying the tree was "my" idea either, only that ideas surface and recycle themselves through many people's minds. Look at how Tony has broken up Discovery Bay and parceled it out into so many developments over time. Discoveryland at DLP was taking Discovery Bay and filling the need for a land with it. TDS used Vulcania and the 20's Main Street with the El train. So ideas get built through many hands and become part of the WDI conciousness.
 
flavious27

flavious27

Well-Known Member
Eddie Sotto said:
I will give that some thought. I remember seriously proposing a gigantic (manmade) tree in the middle of a park as an icon once and everyone laughed and moved on, then years later someone else must have thought the same thing and there it was in AK. I'm not saying the tree was "my" idea either, only that ideas surface and recycle themselves through many people's minds. Look at how Tony has broken up Discovery Bay and parceled it out into so many developments over time. Discoveryland at DLP was taking Discovery Bay and filling the need for a land with it. TDS used Vulcania and the 20's Main Street with the El train. So ideas get built through many hands and become part of the WDI conciousness.
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Well didn't wre inspire splash mountain and big thunder?
 
KevinYee

KevinYee

Well-Known Member
Speaking of Timber Mountain at Knott's, do you know if they pipe in fake pine scent, or that really off-gassing of dead trees? I do love the Knott's log ride much more than I should. There was something inexpressably cool about the drop in the dark "Goonies" section.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
KevinYee said:
Speaking of Timber Mountain at Knott's, do you know if they pipe in fake pine scent, or that really off-gassing of dead trees? I do love the Knott's log ride much more than I should. There was something inexpressably cool about the drop in the dark "Goonies" section.
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I think it's fake pine scent, or was.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
Really wish I was in LA for that. Is this something you do semi-regularly, Eddie?

I so love DLP stuff. I keep trying to find a decent copy of that behind the scenes tome - I kick myself for not getting it when it was out. My "Disneyland Story" by Randy Bright needs a bedfellow, LOL.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
AEfx said:
Really wish I was in LA for that. Is this something you do semi-regularly, Eddie?

I so love DLP stuff. I keep trying to find a decent copy of that behind the scenes tome - I kick myself for not getting it when it was out. My "Disneyland Story" by Randy Bright needs a bedfellow, LOL.
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Wish you could make it. I have not done something like this in about 20 years. I don't get asked to do Disney stuff, but I get hired pretty frequently to do business and design lectures for big companies. They pay you! this thread has the best stories and some i will retell tomorrow. The videos are home movies of the site in 1988 when it was mud, and one year and one month from opening. A fun one in the office in 1988 before I left for France. We even go to the vendors that make the Steam Engines. Fun stuff. If it's well received I may do it again someday, but first things first.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
Got ya. :) I hope it's successful and an encore is demanded. ;)

Do you have any pictures of the dragon under the castle? I've never found many good ones. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that - it's something I wish every Disney park had. I'm a sucker for big AA's (that work, LOL).
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
Eddie' I remember reading something about how Disney's Animal Kingdom is the only Disney Park to be completely the brainchild of one Imagineer. (Joe Rohde) Obviously, that is not completely true but in the case of Disneyland Paris I know the system was Tony Baxter as overall supervisor and each land has a Show Producer (You -Main Street, Tim Delaney-Discoveryland, Chris Tietz-Adventureland etc.) Would it be fair to say that DLP would be Tony's brainchild or a complete team effort and more importantly does Joe Rohde get too much credit for Animal Kingdom?
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
AEfx said:
Got ya. :) I hope it's successful and an encore is demanded. ;)

Do you have any pictures of the dragon under the castle? I've never found many good ones. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that - it's something I wish every Disney park had. I'm a sucker for big AA's (that work, LOL).
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No I don't. Tom Morris would in his stash. Love the dragon, tried to get it into it's own bigger show at Disneyland.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
HMF said:
Eddie' I remember reading something about how Disney's Animal Kingdom is the only Disney Park to be completely the brainchild of one Imagineer. (Joe Rohde) Obviously, that is not completely true but in the case of Disneyland Paris I know the system was Tony Baxter as overall supervisor and each land has a Show Producer (You -Main Street, Tim Delaney-Discoveryland, Chris Tietz-Adventureland etc.) Would it be fair to say that DLP would be Tony's brainchild or a complete team effort and more importantly does Joe Rohde get too much credit for Animal Kingdom?
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Tony steered the design at a high level on DLP, but each of us interpreted that direction into the lands to be beyond his expectation. He approved the final look but did not design the elements, we each did, with our design teams. All of us designers back then could and did draw. I did the overall elevations and marked up molding profiles for the buildings that were new. We were very hands on. Today in my talk I'm showing videos that have the teams at work in the office so you can see how the design is done and how many people it takes. I want fans to know who these people are that made Main Street so good.
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
Eddie Sotto said:
Tony steered the design at a high level on DLP, but each of us interpreted that direction into the lands to be beyond his expectation. He approved the final look. Today in my talk I'm showing videos that have the teams at work in the office so you can see how the design is done and how many people it takes. I want fans to know who these people are that made Main Street so good.
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Wish I could come but considering I don't have a plane to Los Angeles booked, Yeah' that's not going to work
 
flavious27

flavious27

Well-Known Member
SeaCastle said:
I was listening to this in my car this morning, and felt it was relevant to the discussions over here. This NPR program talks about "Space-age" design and how it has been intertwined with America's astronomical ambitions over the course of several decades. It mentions Tomorrowland, and even better, towards the end it plays music from the WDW Tomorrowland BGM. :)

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137763046/out-of-this-world-designs-of-the-space-age
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I missed this, npr isn't posting enough stories on facebook enough anymore.

The architecture and designs of the 50's and early 60's had a distinct theme that is classic and appreciated by many sequent generations. The 70's had a design style that has come in and out of style with fashion but the architecture of that era is not appreciated.

I think that there will be a time in the near future that the architectural style in movies like star trek and tron along with the interior styles that apple and ikea has made will be the primary styles. What would need to go along with that is a fashion style that looks futuristic but isn't just pajamas.
 
ChrisFL

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Eddie Sotto said:
No I don't. Tom Morris would in his stash. Love the dragon, tried to get it into it's own bigger show at Disneyland.
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Was that before Fantasmic! got its own dragon instead?

I do like the fact that ideas (and even lots of AA's) are never dead at Disney, but get re-used or recycled into new ideas.
 

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