One man's observations today about the worlds of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy.
Friday, April 30, 2010
DAILY DOSE OF DISNEY
Thursday, April 29, 2010
SURPRISE: Hidden spot on Disneyland's Mark Twain
After you have been walking through the park and it is time to take a rest, I can't think of a better place than this special little spot on the Mark Twain Riverboat. 
Walt Disney thought the idea of a 5/8 scale model steam powered riverboat was so essential to his original vision of the park he mortgaged his vacation home to finance the project. This was the first large paddle wheeler built in the United States in more than 50 years. The location of the boat dock was one of the earliest design decisions. The ship is the visible "wienie" from the hub that draws you through the gates of Frontierland. 
The hull of the ship was built in Long Beach with the upper decks built at the Studios in Burbank. It is roughly 5/8th scale of a full size ship but that isn't consistent throughout the structure. It can hold approximately 350 passengers. A few days before the park opened, Walt and his wife Lillian held an anniversary party and a ride on the Mark Twain was part of that party. It is said that the ship has traveled more than 260,000+ miles in its 50+ years of operation. 
Plus it is fun to think about the time when bands did use this stage. I think back to the incredible performance from Louis Armstrong in the 1962 film called Disneyland After Dark. Thanks to Daveland's incredible collection of historic Disneyland photos, I have been able to share some of those moments. 
To be fair, on really, really busy days, right in the middle of the afternoon, you might get a bit of company. But it is better than the alternatives. I hope you will take ride and let me know how it went.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail: The Trail
- Big Sir - you get to walk through a tree
- the Millennium Tree - this California redwood goes back more than a thousand years
- Wawona Walk - named after a section of Yosemite National Park, here you can track the footprints of various animals
- Cliff Hanger Traverse Rock Climb - grab on tight and do a little rock climbing
- Rock Slide - a slide down a rock
- Kenai's Spirit Cave - what animal is inside you?
- Eagle's Ascent - up or down a ramp made of rope
- Squirrel Scramble - bounce along this system of rope bridges
- Sequoia Smoke Jumpers Training Tower - a zip line
- Hoot - n- Holler logs - the rock slide but inside of tree log
- Shake-a-log - time to crawl
- Quail Trail - trees and totems
- Ahwahnee Camp Circle - visit with Koda and Kenai if you dare
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Introduction to the Samland Urban Design Focus
An Introduction to the Samland Urban Design Focus
As a result of my continuing education as a city planner, I have learned that successful urban design is the result of policies and the combination of fundamental design patterns that lead to environments that are alive and have meaning.
I discovered that in 1963 developer James Rouse clarified where my intellectual curiosity was taking me. My search is in how you create the policy structure that leads to creating places where the “standard is so high in its performance, in its respect for people, in its functioning for people, that it really does become a brand new thing.” Those spaces usually contain some or all of these elements - Quality, Variety and Surprise. These essays are a search for those elements within the Disney theme parks.
What do I mean by good design? Let me compare placemaking with the preparation of a gourmet meal. If you want to succeed in cooking, you can improve your odds with three things; a great recipe, quality ingredients, and some talent. Possess all three of these things and you can create something truly special and memorable.
For the urban designer, a great recipe is a project that has vision, a purpose, and strong guiding principles. Combined, these elements become the foundation for a good plan. The guiding principles, or back-story in theme park nomenclature, are the tool that ties all of the design details together seamlessly.
When you cook, frequently you use common ingredients like sat and pepper. Sometimes you introduce exotic ingredients to achieve a specific result. You have to be careful when you use these special ingredients. They can be touchy. Too much or too little can make a profound difference.
How do you quantify objectively when good urban design is happening? In A Pattern Language, Architect Christopher Alexander outlined 253 patterns that are the solutions to problems that reoccur over and over again in our built environment. These patterns have become a vocabulary where various combinations provide an infinite array of solutions. But like the ingredients in cooking, you have to get the mix of ingredients or patterns just right. Learning about these patterns and applying them properly is what keeps good urban designers busy.
A key aspect to successful environment design is the way one blends the materials, technology, showmanship, and magic so that is can embellish and enhance the story. When done correctly, you have something that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The last quality is talent. Talent is the ability of the urban designer to rise above the ordinary. This talent is very rare and that is why there are so few special places within our urban environment. When we find those places that work we come to love them and cherish them. For many, this is something you find quite frequently within the Disney theme parks.
Some people ask me how do I know this stuff and is it necessary to go through years of training to recognize good urban design from bad? My reply is no. We all have it in us. Start by thinking critically about the spaces you encounter. For many, the real struggle is to describe what they see. In their heart and heads they know what works and what does not work. That is the voodoo we planners and designers exploit to keep our jobs. For the truly talented and committed designer, the challenge and excitement is exceeding people’s expectations.
The Disney theme parks are like other magical place based entertainment districts. The most spectacular of these areas have been World’s Fairs going back to the London Great Exhibition of 1851. Sometimes, ideas from these fairs were carried over to the real world. The biggest influence on how actual cities got built was the World’s Colombian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. The Civic Centers of Pasadena, Indianapolis, Washington DC, San Francisco and dozens of other cities also owe a debt to that fair. In fact, Walt Disney's father was a carpenter and work on the Chicago project before Walt was born.
Are there differences in designing theme parks versus urban design for the real world? I would argue there is a difference and many designers have not figured this out. The result is why we get such bland or over the top public spaces.
Outside the theme park gates, successful and dynamic urban environments work because there is, as Robert Venturi once said, a “messy vitality over obvious unity.” Noted author Jane Jacobs described “the city as organized complexity.” These qualities are necessary for things to work in the real world.
John Hench, who spent more than 60 years working for The Walt Disney Company, stated that the goal of the theme park designer is different than that of the urban planner. He said that the job of designing theme parks is to successfully eliminate visual contradictions. Visual contradictions are the active clutter that you see in the real world, which creates mixed messages, sets up conflicts, creates tension, and may even feel threatening. Marty Sklar, another long time Walt Disney Company executive, describes the process as the “architecture of reassurance.”
This drive toward the elimination of visual contradictions comes straight from Walt Disney. One day, while he was making his usual rounds at Disneyland, Walt spotted a guy dressed in a spacesuit walking from the backstage area through Frontierland on his way to Tomorrowland. That is a visual contradiction of the first order! It destroyed the theme and that was unacceptable. That was something they have been trying to eliminate every since.
Disney Imagineers have integrated lessons learned from Disneyland into every theme park they’ve built. You will see that at all of the parks at Walt Disney World.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
DAILY DOSE OF DISNEY
- It's Tough to be a Bug
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
- Wildlife Express Train
- Affection Section
- Conservation Station
- Discovery River Boats
- Festival of the Lion King
- Countdown to Extinction
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
DAILY DOSE OF DISNEY
Book Review: Cast Member Confidential
Cast Member Confidential: A Disneyfied Memoir
Chris Mitchell
2010
Citadel Press – Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
$15.95
258 pages
I bought this book at Compass Books in Downtown Disney
Last week I described a pretty straightforward memoir of a Cast Member at Disneyland who really loved his job and the Company and presented both in a very positive light. Chris Mitchell is really telling a very personal story and uses working at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as a transformational force. Warning. If you are easily offended by inappropriate sexual contact between Disney characters then you might want to turn away.
Chris’s journey begins with being on top of his world. He was the editor of a skate magazine, had lots of friends in Los Angeles, a strong family, and he was in love. Just like a Disney theme park attraction, suddenly everything went wrong. He lost his job, his friends abandoned him, his soul mate went in another direction, and his mother became gravely ill. So what did he do? He ran away to Florida and got a job at Walt Disney World. The author describes himself as a self-centered jerk and this would become obvious during his early days at the parks.
The idea to work for Disney came about when he was assigned to Florida to take photos of a skater who also worked in the Festival of the Lion King show. That is when the author found out he didn’t have a job to back to. He got fired. His buddy suggested he apply for a job at Disney and told him about the “dark side” of working at Disney. He claimed that many of the Cast Members lead a double life. This notion intrigued the author so he got a job as a Photopass person.
When Chris first got the job, he thought his experience, as a professional photographer would lead to taking nature photos. He was disappointed to learn that he would only be taking photos of guests and the characters. In his previous life, he enjoyed playing the role of the anti-establishment person but now he was frustrated that he was just part of the “machine.” This really irritated him and he wasn’t shy about showing it.
In LA, he thought he was the big man on campus. At WDW, his attitude guaranteed that nobody wanted to have anything to do with him. His job meant he was around the Cast Members who were the “friends” of the characters. This is how these staffers referred to themselves when out of costume. Chris boldly stated “children are idiots” which is not something you say to people barely making more than minimum wage but love doing it because they know they can bring a touch of happiness to the guests.
He consistently refers to the Disney cast member guidelines while being "on-stage" and contrasts that with behavior "backstage". He even alleges he got into trouble trying to help a guy who was having a heart attack as that is not his role and contrary to the Guidelines.
The book outlines the different between Face characters (who can talk) and Fur characters (who are enclosed in suits). You are cast by your height. Examples include Mickey who is between 4’ 10” and 5’, Pluto who stands at 5’ 6” to 5’ 8”, the Genie, Captain Hook, and all of the Princes who are 6’. The Queen of Hearts is 6’ to 6’ 3” and is usually played by a man. After awhile, people are described by being either Goofy or Pluto height. Typically, a character is onstage 30 minutes and then off-stage for 30 minutes. During the summer, that is adjusted to 20 minutes on with a 40-minute break. The process of the brief photo opportunity is called “love and shove.”
To curry favor with his coworkers, he tried to psycho analyze their double lives (Disney by day and their alter ego at night) and took photos of them as characters in very compromising photos. This may have worked to make him a bit more popular but it would come back to haunt him. This is not a child friendly book.
We become privy to the sub groups of guests. They include The Family Reunion and The Mouseketeer. Others included the Parkhopper who had 4 days to cover every park, the water parks, and toss in a round of golf. There are the Pin Traders who stop every cast and try and make a deal. I would fall into the category of a Disniac. We tend to wear limited edition clothing, have an annual pass, and know way too much about the parks and are not afraid to share that knowledge.
The group he hated the most was the Collectors. The author tells the story of how a couple were able to cut the Camp Minnie-Mickey patch off the costume while they were getting autographs. They are the evil version of the Disniac.
As he was becoming more accepted by the “friends” of the characters, he started to see his life turn around. He stopped being so cynical and started to understand the joy that the characters bring. It was one story about a girl who was about to die who had a chance to meet Ariel that seemed to make one the biggest impressions. He was so motivated by this experience he even tried out to be a “friend.”
But it was too late. He had caused enough trouble and made enough enemies that his career would come to a quick end. As a guy who was always trying to be the outsider he saw the magic and finally came around. As Chris was being fired, his boss said, “It’s so easy here. You settle down at Disney and you meet all these people who are more deviant than you could ever be – weird and wonderful – and it’s like, for the first time, you’re not the black sheep of the family. You’re just part of somebody’s magical experience.”
He moved back to LA, reconnected with his family, found happiness that was enabled by his journey at the World, and wrote this book.Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Knott's Preserved Event and The Tender Car
In the afternoon there was a multi-media presentation by author Christopher Merritt and that got folks fired up for the fried chicken dinner. The big show was a panel discussion with six of the men that created America's very first theme park. And what is up with Beary-Tales?
The train. Knotts owns the rolling stock of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad. Compared to Disneyland's locomotives, these are hulking beasts. As you know, I am a huge fan of riding on the tender car at Disneyland. At a public hearing I was conducting, I got into a conversation with some rail fans. They mentioned that Knotts also grants this same privilege. I vowed to find out on this trip. So Werner of Yesterland and I walked over after lunch and gave it a go.
This thing is a monster. You don't sit and look in. You stand on a railcar following the locomotive with a constantly moving floor. The heat coming from the boiler was intense. I pity the crew on a very hot summer day. At Disneyland, the boiler is in front of the crew for the most part. At Knotts, they stand on either side of the massive metal machine. This is a working machine not a model. I just loved it. I wonder what it would be to ride one when it get a chance to move like it was capable of doing. I can't recommend this experience enough.
Along one part of the track, the grade raise something under 1%. But that was enough to get the locomotive chugging on a different song. What startled me was the reaction of the firebox. We were standing only a few feet away. The movement of the fire breathing in and out of the cover was of a supernatural nature. Here is a short video that may illustrate my point.Monday, April 19, 2010
DESIGN: Disney's Animal Kingdom land by land - Part 5
ASIA
Asia is a remarkable land that sprawls from the Flights of Wonder Theater all the way to Expedition Everest. Unlike Africa, which featured a strong center in Harambe, the little village of Anandapur weaves in and out of the jungle along the floodplains and lower foothills of the Himalayas. Asia is not set in any one country but reflects the design and urban form of rural communities throughout Nepal, India, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Anandapur means “place of delight” in Sanskrit and the underlying theme is the conflict between the population explosion and traditional respect for animals and wild places. On Discovery Island nature and the built environment were in balance. In Africa, that balance was being restored but there is a clear distinction between the urban and rural edge. In Asia, nature seems to have the upper hand as many structures are being reclaimed and the foliage is taking over.
The architecture varies from Nepalese, Javanese, and Thai influences. The hand built feel is everywhere. But the real star of the show is the landscape architecture. One of the designers, Paul Comstock said, “If you’ve been in the wild, surrounded by the foliage and flowers, you know you have to go over the top. We had to convince them that landscape was the show.” As you move toward Serka Zong (Fortress of the Chasm), the little village at the base of Expedition Everest, you will see a greater use of the color red. Red is the color of protection. Enhancing the authenticity of place is the use of prayer flags. These are common in Tibetan villages and meant to bring prosperity, long life, and happiness to those who put them on display. The flags also add kinetic energy to the landscape.
The paving materials along the pathways add to the story. Look down (careful) and you will see imprinted on the rough surface footprints, bicycle and truck treads, leafs, and animal prints. As you move toward Everest, the bicycle tires fade away as that mode of travel becomes impractical. Here you will more hoof marks. It is as if you just missed the residents.