MousePlanet - your resource for all things Disney

You are here: Home / Podcast / World of Color and What’s Next at the Disneyland Resort

World of Color and What’s Next at the Disneyland Resort

by

MouseStation 410 – World of Color and What’s Next at the Disneyland Resort

(Download show – Main podcast page – Subscribe – Podcast radio player)

Show run time 1:06:48

On today’s show, Steven Ng discusses the World of Color premiere press event at Disney California Adventure park. Also, Disney’s E3 Expo announcements, Ask the Kid, a Magical Moment and this week’s Twitter/Facebook poll.

You can subscribe to MouseStation from the links at the bottom of this page, or via your favorite podcast aggregator. If you’d rather pop up our podcast radio player into a separate window so that you can continue browsing MousePlanet in this window, click here. (NOTE: Our podcast radio requires Adobe Flash Player. You can dowload the player here.)

Let us hear from you!

Send in your suggestions, comments or tips via our email feedback form or via voicemail on our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278).

We’ve put together a new listener survey to help us learn more about you and what you like most about this podcast. This one is much more targeted than the old Podtrac survey. Please take a few minutes to fill it out and let us know what you think.

If you want to contribute a story for our Tuesday Magical Moment segment (and possible inclusion in the Cast Place column here on MousePlanet), you can either use our email Magical Moment story form or the toll-free feedback line. (We love it when you use the voice mail system, because then we can play your call on the show!)

Reminder: An Important Announcement

We’ve got some important news for you this week. Due to scheduling conflicts for us here at the MouseStation, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get the show out to you each week. We’re going to have to take a look at how we’re recording the show and how we’re doing post-production. We’ve been trying to work things out without halting production, but there’s just no time to do that. In order to figure out what we need to do, we’re going to need to take some time off to work on our schedules and to consider options. We’re going to take a hiatus after the next couple of shows to use the time we usually spend recording and producing to rethink and retool the show and the production stream. Our last show before the hiatus is currently planned for Episode 411 on June 24. We’ll spend that show looking at our first 410 shows and sharing your thoughts on the show. If you’d like to share your thoughts for that show, please get them to us by Sunday, June 20. We plan to be back in the fall, but we don’t know what the show will look like yet, so if you want to tell us to keep or drop any part of the show, please let us know. You can keep sending us feedback once we go on hiatus and we’ll consider what you say while we retool the show. We’ll miss doing the show over the summer, but we need to do this to ensure that we can keep doing the show for the longer term.

Feature: World of Color and What’s Next at the Disneyland Resort

Steven Ng joined Mark and Mike to discuss the World of Color premiere press event at Disney California Adventure park.

Here’s a look at all of our other World of Color coverage:

Steven’s AudioBoo interview audio is at the bottom of the scrolling Liveblog section, including brief interviews with Richard Sherman, George Kalogridis, Tom Staggs and Bob Iger. Only in the podcast can you hear Steven’s conversation with Vincent Martella, voice of Phineas in Phineas and Ferb. Steven’s video interview with Sayre Wiseman (and blue-carpet interview with Richard Sherman) are in the Video Interviews section. Video & photos from What’s New/What’s Next presentation, including a video virtual walkthrough of Cars Land, are in the Video & Photos from “What’s New, What’s Next” section.

Steven explained some of the interesting things you might miss in the World of Color show, and described the Summer Nightastic Glowfest event. We described the rest of the Nightastic events. Steven then gave an overview of the What’s New/What’s Next presentation and the round robin interviews that followed the presentation.

Mark messed up his Roger Rabbit reference, referring to Cloverleaf Enterprises as Shamrock Enterprises (yes, Mark knows that Cloverleaf was used for the highway interchange reference – it was late at night).

The Blue Sky Disney blog post that mentions the lack of a story line in World of Color is located here.

Round Robin Interviews were held for selected media outlets, including MousePlanet, after the What’s New/What’s Next presentation. There were 8 sets of interviewees rotating between 8 tables of journalists. Take a look inside Steven’s reporter’s notebook for highlights of those interviews:

1. DCA Expansion

  • George Kalogridis, President, Disneyland Resort
  • Bob Weis, Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering and Portfolio Creative Leader for the expansion of Disney California Adventure Park.
  • The Cars Land time line is on the original schedule with a car now on the track for testing.
  • When the Buena Vista Street construction begins, guests will be diverted to the right after they enter the DCA turnstyles and enter the park between the Grand Californian Hotel and Soarin’, however be prepared for changes to the entrance pattern during Buena Vista Street construction.
  • As you enter Cars Land near the Blue Sky Cellar, you become completely immersed in to the town of Radiator Springs.

2. Summer Nightastic

  • Doug McIntyre, Director of Entertainment Development and Production for Creative Entertainment.
  • Mary Niven, Vice President, Disney California Adventure Park and Guest Services at the Disneyland Resort.
  • Glowfest was inspired by the opening of World of Color, creating a “premium party experience.” Something to do before and after World of Color. The fest starts in the Sun Hub at 6:00 PM and moves into the Hollywood area after dark and continues until park close.
  • Niven emphasizes that Glowfest is something the whole family can participate in. Personal note: Having visited Glowfest Friday night, I can easily see it families crowded out by young adults and teenagers.
  • There are two Interactive video activities include body motion video painting and image capture and projection. The later uses an IR image capture in the dance zone projects images of dancers on the large wall of the Hyperion Theatre.
  • The World of Color picnic meals will be offered through the balance of the summer. Continuation of the meals past summer will be based on popularity.
  • Only enough meals will be sold to cover the number of available reservations. At last Friday’s shows, 425 meals were prepared for the first show and 400 for the second.
  • As of Friday, the picnic meals for the first week for the first show were sold out
  • Planning for two shows every day of the summer. Park management uses the number of World of Color fast passes distributed to determine if they will add a third show.
  • Show times are 9, 10:15, and 11:30. Park hours extended to 11.

3. World of Color: Technical

  • Chuck Davis, Technical Producer, “World of Color” for Disneyland Entertainment
  • Jennifer Magill, Senior production manager, Disneyland Entertainment.
  • Water Screens run 8000 gallons per minute (gpm) in bypass mode and 9500 gpm when operating.
  • If all the fountains were running at once, the amount of water in the air would shrink the lagoon no more than 1/10 of a foot.
  • It takes 6 technicians and one stage manager to run The World of Color. If you count maintenance personnel, 8.
  • Technology used to create World of Color leverages existing robotic technology.
  • Davis is named in a Disney patent covering the moving fountains.
  • The biggest challenge was designing a control system to insure the timing of the fountains.
  • Wind is the one thing that can spoil a show. Imagineers are still evaluating how wind can affect the show. The World of Color is more tolerant of winds than other outdoor spectaculars such as Fantasmic or the fireworks shows.

4. World of Color: Animation

  • Roger Gould, Creative Director, Theme Parks, Pixar Animation Studios
  • Dave Bossert, Creative Director and Head of Special Projects, Walt Disney Animation Studios.
  • The original story was developed over 3 days in a conference room at the Grand Californian Hotel three years ago.
  • Animation production was done in the last year and a half. * The show was first seen on the water 5 months ago.
  • Gould: “This is a medium that never existed before, to combine water, and projection, and lasers, and fog and fire, and sound and music in this way. And you think, ‘Okay, this seems like a good idea, let’s put it up.’ And you have to react to it.” It’s a process of “discovery and experimentation, finding the strengths to the medium and playing to them.”
  • More than 50% of the animation is new, or newly composed. Gould said that the Buzz and Woody scene you see in the show didn’t exist in the original movie, which consisted of 14 cuts. The scene was animated from scratch with the original dialogue.
  • Even though the show was worked out at the Grand Californian meeting, when they put it up on water, it completely changed.

5. World of Color

  • Steven Davison, Vice President, Parades & Spectaculars
  • Sayre Wiseman, Director, Show Production, Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment.
  • Steven Davison reveals a secret, the old mill is not printed from the original film. It is Computer Graphic Imagery (CGI). It’s crafted in such a way that everyone thinks it’s the original.
  • According to Steven Davison, the park management wanted a night time E-Ticket attraction, and the lagoon was the place. They didn’t want to go back to “the fireworks nightmare”, but they wanted something totally different, this time with water. They had the fantasy water show at the Disneyland Hotel, but “it was just time to take that element and make a bigger story out of it… To tell an unique story with water.”
  • They originally wanted to avoid using the Sun Wheel, but Lasseter told them to use it. They incorporated the environment into the show by acknowledging the giant Mickey at the beginning of the show,
  • On the night of the premier the biggest issue was the wind. They pushed the water as far as they could, but pull some of the effects out the further they went into the show.
  • You will get wet in the front row..

6. Ways to Enjoy the Parks

  • Bob Deuel – Public Relations Director Worldwide Sales & Travel Opportunities
  • Summer offer – 5 day for the price of 3. 5 days of theme parks and 5 nights of lodging if you purchase a standard 3 day/3 night package (3 days of park hoping and 3 nights of hotel lodging) and you get two extra days free. The broad vacation offer.
  • The Summer Fun Pass is for Southern California residents from Northern Baja to Bakersfield. 3 day single park ticket for $108, equivalent to $36 per day. A park hopper costs an additional $21. These are 45 day ticket available today thorugh August 29.
  • The Summer Fun Pass is available on line and through Blackhawk Kiosks at supermarkets.
  • The Summer Fun Pass value can be used toward the purchase of an AP. The AP is activated on the day you purchase the AP.
  • Summer hotel offers are a 40% discount at the Grand Californian Hotel, 35% discount at the Disneyland Hotel, and a 30% discount at the Paradise Pier Hotel. All require a 2 night minimum. Travel must be completed 9/26.
  • The Aulani Resort in Hawaii construction continues. It will be a dual use resort (vacation club and hotel).
  • Bob Deuel reports that the Black Pearl is in Hawaii.

7. Disneyland Hotel Enhancements

  • Tony Bruno, Vice President of Resort Hotels and Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort
  • John Mauro, Development Manger, Walt Disney Imagineering
  • Major renovation started 9 months ago and they have completed the first tower.
  • According to Bruno, renovation includes, “Taking the building down to its concrete” and upgrading to dual pane windows, energy efficiency, low flow toilets and motion detectors.
  • According to John Mauro, the want to emphasize keeping the the mid-century modern architecture and finding a way to be upscale and sophisticated to appeal to the convention traveller without forgetting the base, the family and kinds.
  • All rooms will have carved headboards and a kiss good night — the Disney magical elements and connect back to Disneyland.
  • The Fairy Tale Suite is the newest and has an upscale elegance with european design. It would be an ideal honeymoon suite. Fireworks may be seen from the suite. The bathroom has a castle mosaic and twinkle lights the vanity.
  • The Big Thunder Suite has a wood theme telling the story of recycling and the story of Big Thunder with original Tony Baxter artwork.
  • The center of the property will have a new pool and dining complexes themed to the 1950’s and 60’s.
  • The pool will be themed to the old Disneyland icons including the Disneyland sign and the original monorails.
  • The details of the restaurant complex are still being developed, but according to Bruno and Mauro, the complex will have a Tahitian Terrace/Tiki Bar theme.
  • The restaurant will be fast casual and combined with a unique bar with “fun special effects.”
  • Pool upgrades start in August to be completed by Summer 2011.
  • The resort will not be without a pool during construction.
  • Hotel enhancements should be completed by March, 2010.

8. Disney Cruise Lines

  • Rachel Quinn, Cruise Director, Disney Cruise Line
  • Al Weiss, President, Worldwide Operations
  • West Coast cruises will consist of 7 nights to Mexican Riviera and Alaska.
  • The new Dream and Fantasy ships will have Caribbean itineraries.
  • The Magic will got to the Mediterranean with Summer baltic cruises.
  • According to Weiss, they have no plans to go to Hawaii yet.
  • According to Quinn, they have no date to announce Alaskan excursions yet.
  • Alaskan cruises will not be going to Glacier Bay, but will go to Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juno and Ketchikan.
  • While there is a Kids Sail Free offer, Weiss suggests if adults wish to find deals, to look during off months when bookings are down and kids are in school such as May, September, and January.

E3 Expo Report

Mike has monitored the news from the E3 Expo and brought us up to speed on the latest in Disney video games.Here are links for more information on what he discussed:

Toy Story 3:

Tron Evolution

Epic Mickey – Nintendo Wii

Guilty Party

Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned

Kinect Game

ESPN on Microsoft Xbox 360

ESPN Pinball

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Sony PlayStation Portable

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

Kingdom Hearts for Nintendo 3DS

Ask the Kid

Brian Jonas asked:

  • Kid, What is your most favorite souvenir from your trips to the Disney parks?

Magical Moment

This week’s Magical Moment came via voicemail from ralfrick from the San Francisco Bay Area, who talked about pin trading at Disneyland Paris, where he made the day of some cast members by allowing them to pick which pin they wold receive in a trade.

Twitter/Facebook poll question

Last week’s question was:

What do you think of Disney Vinylmation and pin trading?

via Facebook:

  • I don’t care for it. I want to know what I am buying for the price they are asking for those things (Vynalmation). As for pins, I am indifferent. I by the ones I like and keep them.
  • Not my thing. Either one. I used to really like shopping at WDW. Now, not so much. Nothing is interesting and individual. It’s all so homogenized now.
  • I don’t get why it’s so popular.

via Twitter:

  • Uggg
  • Not about the Vinylmation myself, but can see the collector draw. Big pin collector and trader.
  • I’ve never been a big pin trading fan, but I love Vinylmation. Disclaimer: I own pins, but no Vinylmation toys… strange.
  • not into Vinylmation but my family loves pin trading
  • I don’t really “get” Vinylmation or the appeal of it, but then again I don’t like blindly buying things w/o knowing the design I get. Pin trading on the other hand, omg I don’t want to think of how much money I’ve invested in those little hunks of metal. ADDICTED.

Mike VM looks cool but doesn’t want to start another collection.

Next week’s question:

  • What is your favorite moment from the first 410 episodes of the @MouseStation podcast?

What do you think?

Join our networks

Facebook

Become a fan on Facebook:

Join our Facebook groups:

Twitter

Follow us:

Wrapping up

We’ve put together a new listener survey to help us learn more about you and what you like most about this podcast. This one is much more targeted than the old Podtrac survey. Please take a few minutes to fill it out and let us know what you think.

Don’t forget to go to the iTunes podcast directory and give us a good rating for the combined feed!

You can get your MousePlanet (or MouseStation) swag from the MousePlanet CafePress store and the MouseStation CafePress store. If you’ll be walking in the March for Babies or CHOC Walk; running the Walt Disney World Marathon, the Disneyland Half Marathon or any other endurance event; or even just trying to keep fit, you can also get your Team MousePlanet running wear from our Team MousePlanet Zazzle store!

Also remember to go out to our main podcast page and stick a pin into our Frappr map.

Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.

Thank you for listening!

Subscribe to the podcast

Author