Walt Disney Studios & Archives Tour

Hey everyone! Well, yesterday I spent an amazing 3 hours at the Walt Disney Studios and Archives in Burbank, CA. This tour was put on by D23. If you haven't been to the Studios, it is incredible! If your a D23 member, this tour is a must! It's $50, but that's cheap compared to what we got to do. Everything was well worth it. I have a ton of pictures for you, and I'll do my best to describe to you what is going on.







We arrived early, expecting more traffic than we hit. So we parked down the street, and walked down one side of the studios. I took these pictures, and about 10 steps later a 'D Security' guy found us and wanted to know why we are taking pictures. We explained we are crazy tourists, I mean, D23 members that get to tour the Studios today. He said we saved him a bunch of paperwork! Every employee has a Disneyland name tag, and dressed the same as in Disneyland. The atmosphere here is identical to Disneyland's, the gate's have mickey heads, the colors, bushes/plants/hedges, etc.








The parking structure. We are in the Zorro parking lot. (It was built where they filmed Zorro.)





Check-in, and a store that is being remodeled.











This is the original Hyperion room, where Walt worked with his animators. They moved it to the Studio. We waited in there after checking in, to find out that Josh, from D23's Armchair Activists, was joining us for our tour! (Very funny guy!)
The Hyperion room has pictures of Walt and the Sherman Brothers, along with many others in it. It has huge desks in the middle, and crown molding and other fancy elements inside. I have to say, being into lighting and atmosphere, not one lamp/fan/light on the ceiling or anywhere else was random. Everything looked like it came right out of Disneyland. Detail is still important here!

Also, here is a picture of the Hyperion Health Club, and the one & only Disney Co. flag that is flown.











(If the pictures seem out of order, it's because of Blogspot..)

Here you can see Josh, along with my mom and I. This street sign is actually just a prop.














The Theater, and the Animation building.







Inside the Animation building-


There are 24 frames-per-second in a film, which means 24 drawings per second. That is thousands of pictures per film.








We got to walk through an underground tunnel that goes under the street, which led from the Animation building, to the Ink and Paint Department. Pictures weren't allowed on the other side.

Roy E. Disney, when he was a kid, stood on some cells and paintings, and slid down this hallway.






Mary Poppins, and parts of Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed on Stage 1. In the Shorts building, Snow White came to life.































The next few pictures are from the Archives. With or without my flash, pictures through glass didn't turn out very well. Some of the costumes include Alice In Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Prince of Persia. Along with hats from various movies.

















The next few pictures are from INSIDE the Archives. My mom and I got to hold an Oscar that Walt won, the first Disneyland ticket ever sold, the first passes, we met Dave Smith, and we saw a ton of awesome things like the wardrobe from Chronicles of Narnia, crowns from various movies, collectables, and just a ton of incredible things that inspired Walt, or that were used in movies. This was probably my favorite part.
































The next few pictures are from the Legend's Plaza. I was looking forward to this part also. I took about 30 pictures of all my favorite people's hand prints, but I won't be putting them all up on here, due to space. The seven dwarfs on the building look small, but in real life they are huge!











Seeing some of these Disney Legend's hand prints.. And knowing some of them passed, and passed recently, is really nostalgic. The hospital Walt passed away in is right behind the studios. It's all very surreal, and I promise you can feel his presence there.




















And so the tour comes to an end, and we head back to the Zorro parking garage. But I took a couple more pictures on the way out-

(Please note that I wasn't able to take pictures of EVERY little thing. I was trying to listen to our Guide tell the history, and some things you weren't allowed to take pictures of. I'm actually surprised at how many pictures they did let us take.)












They sold merchandise there, so I bought 3 pins and a bag. They gave away the fan, and the badge.


















A special thank you to D23, for providing this incredible tour! I know I will be back next year to see it all again.

And thank you for taking the time to read my adventure. If you ever have the opportunity to do this, don't pass it up. Especially if your a huge Disney fan like I am. I promise, no matter how much you know of the Company, and of the Parks, you will learn something new. Not to mention see and experience things not many people get to do!






"Yes, Walt's marvelous entertainments- most of them imagined, designed, and created in this tree-lined campus in the heart of Burbank, California- will always live closest to our hearts, but it's here that Walt's spirit wraps us the most warmly, here where we can still almost hear his purposeful steps. It is here that his spirit will roam forever." -D23, Spring 2010 issue

Tour with D23

This Saturday, the 23rd, I will be touring the Walt Disney Studios and Archives with D23! I am extremely excited about this, it's going to be awesome!

Expect a ton of pictures, and a full trip report when I come back. I will be tweeting about it as much as I can, so follow me if you want. (Look to the right of the screen, you can find my Twitter there)

You know what's weird? I will be with D23 on the 23rd.. Awesome! (Just noticed that..)

Anyway, can't wait to tell you all about it!

To Go Or Not To Go?

So, for the past month I've planned and saved for a Disney trip on August 1st. But I recently found out that I'm going the 11th for sure with my family. I'm rethinking this trip on the 1st because I will most likely be alone, or be alone for half of the day. That sounds incredibly relaxing to me- strolling around the parks without a worry or care, taking some pictures, crowd watching, etc. But, I know it will be fun with friends also. I'm trying to talk my friend who lives in Anaheim to come with me, but she might have to work. If I go the 1st, I'll also get more use out of my AP. I'm really not sure what to do. I've never been in the parks by myself before.

I guess I'll just think about it for a few days and see.

Halloween Update

Welcome, my friends, to our Christmas Delight. Come witness a ghoulishly glorious sight. It's time for our holiday tale to begin, there's no turning back now, please, come all the way in.




If this is your first time here, and you have no idea why I'm talking about Halloween in July, please visit this post to get caught up: Halloween Face


However, if you are a returning guest, Welcome! I have some new pictures of progress over the past few days, and a video of my Halloween face in action! Lets jump right in~







After I finished attaching all the rope light, I bought a king size sheet and put it on the back. This will serve 2 purposes in my show- 1. It will separate the areas, creating a wall. 2. It will look better, and you won't see through the wire and into the next scene as you walk by it.






The original plan was to move the face into my room so I can program it, and it would be out of everyone's way. That didn't happen, it won't fit in my room. So it currently lives in the office, and that's where I'm programming it. I'm happy- more room for me to work on it, and more room in my room! (It's a massive 7 1/2 X 7 ft.)










The video you are about to watch is no where near perfection. I quickly programmed the first paragraph of the narration, just to see how it looks. The finished product will be more fluent, I always go back and revise every little detail when I'm done. Hope you like my creation, and if your in the area, stop by and see the full show consisting of many more special effects including Madame Leota, singing pumpkins, and much more!














Help me fund my Halloween and Christmas shows- Take A Quiz

Change

I have learned over the years not to get frustrated at every little problem. I have learned to accept the changes, and just go with it. Yea, you have an idea of what you want in your mind or on paper, but for some reason it doesn't come out that way when you work on the final project. If you just go with it and let it mold into something else, it will turn out better. It always does. The hard part is patience and time.


My Halloween face is finished. And I am very proud of what the final result is. The original plan was to bring it into my room, and start programming it. Of course, it took a different turn. It is too large to fit into my room. So now, it is in my front room covering the sunny, side window. After spending an hour setting up my show computer in my room, I now have to move it to the front room also. Perfectly fine with me, now I have more room to do stuff. My mother, however, is not very happy about it. hehe

I'm excited to say all that's left is connecting all the extension cords to start programming it. While I'm just getting started on this project overall, I already feel accomplished at creating something not many people have tried yet, although it is becoming a growing project across the U.S.

You may still be confused on why I'm working on Halloween in July, or what I'm doing, but I think I might answer your questions with a video. Not right now, but by Sunday, if everything goes as planned. Which it won't, and that's alright.

I'm extremely excited this year for both of my shows. I can't wait to show you everything, and I hope you will join me in person on Halloween night, and opening night of Winter Light!



-Austen

The Script

I just finished printing the script for Halloween, and now it's time to mark every single pronunciation above the words. This will help me program the mouth to be as accurate as possible.

I'm also still fixing and changing little things on the face, but as soon as I'm done I will post some more pictures of it standing up, and hopefully will start programming it by Sunday. Expect a video of all this awesomeness!

Halloween Face

Yesterday I bought my wire frames so I can start working on my face for my Halloween show. This is my first time making a face, so I wanted to take my time and perfect it. Five hours later, I finished it. I am amazed at how well it turned out. By the end of this week I'll be able to start programming it and playing with it, so expect a little tester video soon. As for now, here are some pictures of this creature. A heads up though- I have cords all over the grid right now, I still have some minor changes, and I'm putting a black background on it to hide the extension cords, and to make it look better. These are just some pictures I took after I finished a section. Enjoy!




























Not all of the combinations I can do are shown. There are a total of 7 movements he can do.

I'll keep you updated on what's going on, and will continue to give my blog readers some previews.

Thanks for supporting my creativity and hobby!

My 2 Cents on DCA's Flags

If you haven't heard, the DCA entrance has new flags. That are fake. No, it's not a big deal. Fantasmic! isn't being shut down, Indiana Jones isn't closing up, it's not the end of the world. However, I do have an opinion on it that I'd like to share with you. I'm not here to complain, I agree with 98% of whatever Disney decides. I'm just here to 'Plus' Disney in a guest-ly way.

First off, let me explain Atmosphere. Disney is known for it. No one else can create a truly memorable atmosphere setting. Why is this? Because Disney does things that aren't picked up by the eye, but by the mind. Yes, smell is one of them. But here's an example- The doors on Main Street. If your a huge Disney fan like myself, you know that the doors on Main Street are always open, to give off a 'welcome' sense. Would the casual Disneylander realize this? Probably not. But their mind does, and subconsciously they do feel more welcomed. It's a secret, it's a trick, and it's effective.

Atmosphere is hard to create. There are so many factors that go into it. It takes time and money. But they do it, and do it well.

Here is a definition from Walt Disney Imagineering Terminology:

Kinetics- Movement and motion in a scene that give it life and energy. This can come from moving vehicles, active signage, changes in lighting, special effects, or even hanging banners or flags that move around as the wind blows.



I know there's a reason behind these fake flags. But I don't know it yet. Straight from Imagineering they say real flags give off atmosphere. Will people care? Most likely no. Will I even notice? Not the second, or third time. But if they want to create atmosphere in DCA, something that I thought was being worked on, they should put up real flags. Big deal? Nah. But it is a thought I have. I'm just a curious guest who wants the absolute best for Disney. And I'm practicing my 'Plussing" techniques.


"Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved." -Walt Disney

Time To Get Busy

So, summer is more than halfway gone. What does this mean? That my "on" season starts. Now, I start getting busy by working on my Halloween and Christmas shows, the Fair, various Disney trips, Holidays, birthday parties, and school.

My resting months are over, and my next big break time will be January. It's bittersweet. I love working on my shows. It's relaxing to me. Even the problems. I love to solve the problems that I encounter each year. Two years ago on my Christmas show, I was expecting a huge crowd, and none of my lights would turn on. Since everything was wet from the rain, I changed a few little fuses in the lights and tried. Nothing. I knew my problem was larger. So I quickly drove to Radio Shack and bought some fuses for my controllers. Came back, changed them, and nothing. Although I was panicking at this time, I still enjoyed this puzzle. An hour later I found out that the problem was in my panel on the house, and I blew a fuse in there. I turned the switch, started the show, and 5 minutes later my audience drove up. Close call, right?

I'm very excited about the Fair this year. I'm no longer a member of the Jr. Fair Board. I'm now an adviser, so I get to help run everything which is a nice change. This year's group is amazing and fun. We have some very talented people in there, and I can't wait for our activities we perform at the fair. Looking forward to this! (After 5 years, this will most likely be my last. I've been participating in the fair by showing animals, entering various contests, and the Fair Board since I was 9 years old.)

Look for new blogs about all this excitement headed my way.

Have a great night!
-Austen

Walt Disney Quiz

Hey everyone-

Remember my "Are You The Ultimate Disneyland Fan?" quiz? Well, I made another one: "Do You Know Walt Disney?"



In case you missed it- here is the Disneyland fan one: Are You The Ultimate Disneyland Fan?



Here is the new one on Walt Disney: Do You Know Walt Disney?


Thanks for taking them, and post your scores!

The 4th Of July

I hope you all had a great 4th! My day consisted of BBQing with family, swimming, and just relaxing outside.


Later in the evening I went to a friends house to do fireworks. I brought some "good" (illegal) ones. Yea, we had a blast. (No pun intended) Thankfully nothing burned, and we didn't explode. There were some close calls though..


Overall it was a great 4th of July!


Now, I need to replenish my stash of fireworks before New Year's..