General

Why (For) did Walt Disney actually have Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage built ?

Jim Hill reveals the hidden history of this soon-to-be-re-opening Tomorrowland attraction. Which only came about because the Ol’ Mousetro was determined to “one up” the competition. Which — back in 1958 — was this recently rethemed Santa Monica amusement pier that had just been dubbed “Pacific Ocean Park”

Published

18 years ago

June 7, 2007

Jim Hill

Julie L. writes in to say:

All of the other Disney sites have been running stories this week about Disneyland‘s “Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage“. So what’s your take on this classic Tomorrowland attraction coming back to life after being shut down for almost nine years now ?

Dear Julie —

To be honest, what I find interesting about Disneyland’s old Submarine Voyage attraction isn’t that it’s returning with a “Finding Nemo” -themed overlay. Or even that this Tomorrowland classic is returning to service at all.

No, what I find fascinating about the Submarine Voyage is that it may be the very first theme park attraction to ever have been built out of spite.

Don’t believe me ? Then check out this article that legendary Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper wrote for the Los Angeles Times back in February of 1965, which featured this attention-getting headline:

Rumored Sell-Out Denied by Disney

Another rumor bit the dust when I called Walt Disney to check the story that he was selling out everything — studio and Disneyland — to CBS. “Absolutely untrue,” said he. “With the business ‘Mary Poppins‘ is doing, Disney might make an offer to buy CBS. Years ago, I tried to sell them on coming in with me at Disneyland. They weren’t interested. They put their money in Pacific Ocean Park instead, and lost their shirts.”

Vintage postcard courtesy of Google Images

Walt sounds pretty angry in that quote, don’t you think ? Well, there’s good reason for that. You see, in September of 1953, Roy Disney flew out to NYC to meet with the various heads of the television networks. Roy was looking to trade a Disney-produced weekly TV series for the funds that Walt desperately needed to get started on construction of Disneyland.

As the story goes, Roy’s first stop was the corporate headquarters of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Which only made sense given that CBS was then known as the “Tiffany Network” because it was perpetually No. 1 in the ratings. More importantly, because execs who worked at this network always made sure that they only presented top-quality programs that featured the very biggest stars.

Anyway … It would have been quite the feather in Roy’s cap if he had been able to cut a deal with CBS. Have Disney’s very first weekly TV series debut on the nation’s No. 1 network. But the way I hear it, CBS officials rejected Roy’s proposal. Supposedly because Walt refused to shoot a pilot. But also because the “Tiffany Network” didn’t want to be associated with something that sounded as low-class as that “Coney Island” clone that the Disneys wanted to build in an Anaheim orange grove.

Vintage postcard courtesy of Google Images

Of course, hindsight is always 20 / 20. And once Disneyland opened in July of 1955 and proved to be a huge financial success, CBS immediately wanted in on the theme park business. So after spending a year or so scoping out possible construction sites (As well as persuading executives from the Los Angeles Turf Club — I.E. The operators of the Santa Anita Race Track — to come in on the project as their financial partner), “Tiffany Network” officials officially unveiled the project in January of 1957.

According to an article that appeared in the January 30th edition of the New York Times :

The Columbia Broadcasting System is going into the amusement park business, following in the footsteps of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres and Walt Disney.

Vintage postcard courtesy of Google Images

C.B.S. and the Los Angeles Turf Club, it was announced today, will develop the Ocean Park Pier area in Los Angeles and Santa Monica into a thirty-acre family amusement park. The project, featuring an Oceanarium and a South Seas island among other attractions, will be operated as a year-round enterprise. It is expected to be ready for business early in the summer of 1958.

The joint announcement by Frank Stanton, president of C.B.S., and Charles H. Strub, executive vice president of the Turf Club, said the Santa Monica City Council had voted to grant a twenty-five year lease on the tidelands property.

Now did you notice the most important part of the above article? That CBS was going to take a previously existing amusement pier and radically retheme it? So that this new entity (Which would eventually become known as Pacific Ocean Park) would be as good as Disneyland? If not better?

Vintage postcard courtesy of Google Images

So Ocean Park Pier closes in March of 1957. And CBS hires top people in the then-still-new field of theme park design to come create new rides, shows and attractions for this nearly 60-year-old structure. While press accounts from this period talk about how the “Tiffany Network” was planning on spending some $30,000,000 on their Southern California amusement park project … Truth be told, the total amount that CBS & the Los Angeles Turf Club were willing to invest in the initial overhaul of this Santa Monica landmark was just $10,000,000.

Anywho … Pacific Ocean Park opens with great hoopla on July 28, 1958. With over 20,000 guests turning up for the festivities. Which — of course — featured appearances by dozens of celebrities who were then appearing in various CBS television shows. And over the next week or so, POP (As Pacific Ocean Park eventually came to be known) actually proves to be a bigger draw than Disneyland. With hundreds more tourists pushing their way through the turnstiles in Santa Monica then there were out in Anaheim.

This — of course — does not go unnoticed by Walt Disney, who is just livid about this whole development. First of all because CBS had initially rejected the idea of Disneyland as being something that was far too carny for the “Tiffany Network” to be associated with. And then because the theme park designers that this top-rated television network had hired had so blatantly ripped off many of the rides, shows and attractions that Walt’s designers had created for his park.

Vintage postcard courtesy of Google Images

By that I mean : Disneyland had a “Rocket to the Moon” attraction. Pacific Ocean Park had a “Flight to Mars” ride. Disneyland had an Autopia. Pacific Ocean Park had a “Union 76 Ocean Highway.” Disneyland had a Skyway. Pacific Ocean Park had an Ocean Skyway. The list goes on and on …

But perhaps the rip-off that galled Walt the most was that Pacific Ocean Park had taken Disneyland’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Seas” walk-through and then used it as the inspiration for their own submarine-themed walk-through attraction. Only — in this case — it was the modern version of the Nautilus that POP guests got to tour. The USS Nautilus, to be precise. The world’s first nuclear-powered vessel. The first submarine to ever travel underneath the pack ice and reach the North Pole.

As Todd James Pierce (I.E. The author of a forthcoming book that documents the history of Disneyland’s earliest competitors) explains it, this was a crucial moment for the ol’ Mousetro :

Throughout his life, Walt was not so much an innovator as he was a person driven to produce technologically superior products. The early Alice comedies are a technologically superior version of the Koko (Out of the Inkwell) cartoons. “Steamboat Willie” is a technically superior interplay of sound and image compared to other earlier cartoons who experimented (rather unsuccessfully) with sound. “Steamboat Willie” is usually trotted out at the first “sound” cartoon. But as you know, more accurately, it is the first cartoon to very successfully synchronize music and movement.

Guidebook scan courtesy of Todd James Pierce

From where I stand, I see this same impulse at play (with Disney’s response to POP’s submarine attraction) … POP had a walk-through version of the USS Nautilus. So therefore Walt (– in order to “one up” his competition — had to then create) an actual working version of the Nautilus that took people beneath the polar ice cap.

I know, I know. Some of you may find it very hard to believe that kindly old Uncle Walt actually worked this way. That he could be fiercely competitive. But consider this : The memo that outlined Disneyland’s submarine project — listing which WED employees would tackle what aspects of this new Tomorrowland attraction construction — was dated July 23, 1958. Just five days before Pacific Ocean Park officially opened to the public.

And Walt ? He certainly wasn’t shy when it came to talking with the press in late 1958 & early 1959. During this period (When Pacific Ocean Park was viewed as being a pretty significant threat to Disneyland’s financial future), Disney regularly gave interviews where he talked about how his theme park was …

… pushing rapidly toward completion of a $5,500,000 development program, which will bring the total investment (in the Anaheim theme park) to some $29,000,000 and increase to forty-eight the roster of attractions. These numbered twenty-two when the park opened in 1955.

The big new additions are a scaled-down replica of the Matterhorn, the great peak in Switzerland; a mile-long monorail, and a submarine voyage, all executed with Walt Disney’s ever-surprising Barnum-like flair.

In the underwater feature, visitors will be transported on eight forty-passenger submarines through a man-made seas involving 9,000,000 gallons of water. It will be populated by hundreds of specimens of simulated marine fauna and other features, including a 2,300 pound sea serpent.

Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Walt also made sure that the actual construction of Disneyland’s subs got as much press as possible. Check out this January 1, 1959 article from the Los Angeles Times:

Disneyland Orders Eight Submarines for Sight-Seeing

A West Coast shipyard with considerable experience in turning out ocean-going merchant ships and men-of-war had received an order to build a fleet of eight submarines.

The undersea craft, however, will never fire torpedoes in anger or stalk an enemy convoy. Instead they will be underwater passenger carriers on submarine sight-seeing tours at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.

The order received by the Los Angeles division of the Todd Shipyards Corporation calls for the construction of eight fifty-two-foot submarines complete with conning towers and diving planes. They will be powered by Diesel-electric machinery.

Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Each of the craft will provide air-conditioned quarters for forty passengers, who will view underwater scenes through heavy-glass port lights. The submarines will operate in a lagoon being built in an expansion of Disneyland. The new section will be known as Tomorrowland.

The submarine flotilla is to be completed by May 1. Previously the shipyard built for Disneyland the steel hull for the stern-wheeler Mark Twain and the hull and skeleton framework of the square-rigged vessel Columbia, both of which are in operation at the park.

Then — of course — the actual opening of this new Tomorrowland attraction was one of the high points of “Kodak presents Disneyland ’59,” a 90-minute-long ABC television special that aggressively hyped all of the rides that had just been added to the Anaheim theme park. Which (hopefully) would then prove to the world that Walt wasn’t a man who’d just lie down and let his competition roll right over him.

Then-U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Lillian Disney
board Disneyland sub for inaugural voyage on June 14, 1959.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Of course, the irony of this whole situation was — by the Summer of 1959 — Pacific Ocean Park was already in serious financial trouble. This rethemed amusement pier never even came close to making the amount of money that CBS executives had originally hoped it would. Which is why — in November of that same year — rather than continue to ” … lose their shirt,” the “Tiffany Network” sold its oceanside theme park at a loss.

POP then changed hands a number of times before it finally closed for good in October of 1967. The now-abandoned theme park then became a popular hang-out for the local surfing community.

Anyhow … Long story short : That’s why (I guess) that I look at Disneyland’s subs a bit differently than most folks do. I see these vehicles for the interesting place that they occupy in theme park history. Back when Walt Disney was in an amusement park equivalent of an arms race. And he was determined that the “Happiest Place on Earth” had to top POP.

Vintage postcard courtesy of Google Images

Your thoughts ?

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

10 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

10 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

10 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015