General

California Misadventure — Part 1

Find out all about Disney’s California Adventure’s origins, the wheeling and dealing it took to get the park off the ground, the struggles, the setbacks… as well as the problems that potentially lie ahead for the project in this article series classic from Jim Hill.

Published

24 years ago

December 31, 2000

Jim Hill

Walt Disney was desperate.

Here it was, early 1955. Walt had pumped every penny he had into building “The Happiest Place on Earth” out amongst the orange groves of Anaheim. When he suddenly realized: “There’s no place for them to stay.”

Who’s “them?” Disneyland’s customers. AKA the guests.

All those people who are going to drive up from San Diego, or down from San Francisco. They’d be tired after a full day of touring his “Magic Kingdom.” Disney knew that these folks would want a nice, clean place nearby where they can stay.

But Walt didn’t have the dough necessary to build a hotel next to Disneyland. He barely had enough cash to finish the park itself, let alone build lodgings nearby. But Walt knew that having a nice hotel right next to the park would play a crucial part in the project’s success.

But what could he do? Roy certainly wouldn’t give him the money. ABC was completely tapped out. And Walt had already cashed in his life insurance.

In desperation, Walt turned to an old friend: television producer Jack Wrather. Jack was someone Walt had been friendly with for years. They were both old pros when it came to surviving in the cut-throat world of the movie business.

These days, though, Jack was definitely on a hot streak. Having produced two of TV’s earliest syndicated hits (“Lassie” and “The Lone Ranger”), Wrather was flush with cash. He had also invested wisely in real estate around Southern California — ending up with big holdings in oil and natural gas.

Using the excuse that he wanted to pick Wrather’s brain concerning his Disneyland project, Walt asked Jack to join him out in Anaheim for a tour of the construction site. It was only after Wrather got there that Jack finally realized that Disney didn’t want to pick his brain. Walt was out to pick his pocket. There among the construction footings, Walt told Jack the story of Disneyland. How he dreamed of building a different kind of family fun park. How he’d need a clean new hotel nearby for visitors to stay in.

Jack listened. Nodded. Smiled. Then said “No.”

Walt persisted. Jack resisted. I mean, to Wrather, Disney’s idea made absolutely no sense. A 17-million-dollar amusement park, built out in the middle of the citrus groves on Anaheim? Who the hell was going to drive out from LA to visit this place, anyway? Walt didn’t need a hotel. He needed his head examined.

But Walt wouldn’t give up. He kept trying to sweeten the deal, first offering Wrather a 99-year lease on the property. Then Walt threw in the Disney name, saying that Wrather could use it on any other hotels he built in Southern California.

At this point, Walt was near tears. Embarrassed at the sight of the weepy movie mogul, Jack finally caved in and agreed to help his friend. But he wasn’t going to build a hotel next to Disneyland. That would just be too expensive. Walt would just have to settle for a motel. And a small one at that.

Of course, everyone knows that Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. After a somewhat shaky first summer, the park proved to be a hit with the public. On October 5th of that same year, the Disneyland Motel opened on a 60-acre site right across the street from the park. It too would prove to be very popular with the public.

Walt is thrilled with the success of Disneyland. But no more than Jack Wrather was with the success of his Disneyland Motel, which he rapidly turned into a resort-style hotel. Three huge high-rise towers — the Bonita, Sierra and Marina — were quickly thrown up, bringing the total number of rooms on property to over 1,100. Wrather also added several spectacular swimming pools as well as a convention center to the complex.

Walt never forgot Jack’s generosity when it came to building the Disneyland Hotel. When few in Hollywood had any faith at all in Disney’s theme park project, Wrather (albeit somewhat reluctantly) agreed to help his friend. This gesture had meant the world to Walt, so he was constantly looking for ways to repay Wrather for his kindness.

Take, for instance, the Monorail. When the Disneyland-Alweg monorail system was first installed at the park in 1959, it just took guests on a quick trip around Tomorrowland. But that wasn’t good enough for Walt. He wanted his new train to actually go somewhere and provide a real service.

So, in 1961, Walt decided to extend the monorail’s route. He had a track installed that took the trains out of the park and ran them across the street over to the Disneyland Hotel. Here, passengers could disembark to do some shopping and dining at the resort. Or they could just sit tight in their seat for the return trip to Tomorrowland.

Walt spent millions building the track to get the monorail over to Wrather’s property. Mind you, he never asked Jack to help shoulder the cost. All Disney did was charge the Wrather Corporation a nominal fee to help maintain the hotel’s monorail station.

This one generous gesture added immeasurably to the allure of the Disneyland Hotel. While there may have been other hotels in Anaheim that were more luxurious and better laid out, none of them were directly linked to Disneyland via a state-of-the-art transportation system. It was this distinction that led to the Disneyland Hotel having the highest occupancy rate in all of Orange County.

In his lifetime, Walt always made sure that Jack Wrather and the Wrather Corporation were well taken care of by Walt Disney Productions. It was only after Walt’s death in December 1966 that the coziness between the two companies began to curdle.

The key sticking point was that deal Disney had worked out with Jack Wrather way back in 1955. By giving the Wrather Corporation a 99 year lease on the Disneyland Hotel site as well as the exclusive right to use the Disney name on any hotels built in Southern California, Walt had effectively cut his own company off from a huge revenue stream ’til 2054.

Think about it: All those hotels in Anaheim, making millions of dollars each year off guests who have come to see Disneyland. And the Mouse doesn’t get a nickel of it — all because of some desperate deal Walt cut with Jack Wrather while weeping in the Disneyland construction site.

Mind you, it’s not like the Mouse didn’t try. Each year, Disney representatives would contact Jack Wrather, saying that they wished to discuss terms for buying out his Disneyland Hotel contract. Each year, Jack would just laugh and say “Thanks but no thanks. I’m happy with the arrangement as is.”

This continued right up until June 1984, when Disney Chairman Ray Watson personally approached Jack about buying back the Wrather Corporation’s Disneyland Hotel holdings. Wrather — whose health was fading at the time — hinted at this particular meeting that he might finally now be ready to sell his property back to the Mouse. But before negotiations could officially get underway, Wrather died in November 1984.

By then, Michael Eisner and his new management team had already taken up residence at Walt Disney Productions. One of Eisner’s first goals was to radically improve the company’s bottom line, which meant he had to quickly increase the amount of money the company’s theme parks generated.

To do this in Florida, Eisner just okayed construction of two huge new hotels at the WDW resort: The 900 room Grand Floridian and the 2,100 room Caribbean Beach Resort. Eisner had planned to do the same thing at Disneyland — only to discover that A) the Disney Company didn’t own any hotels in Anaheim, B) they didn’t have sufficient land to build any new resorts, anyway, and C) only the Wrather Company had the rights to use the Disney name on hotels built in Southern California.

Eisner was dumbfounded when he heard about this. He turned to his newly hired Disney Chief Financial Officer Gary Wilson and said: “Handle this. I don’t care how you do it, but I want that contract broken. The Walt Disney Company has to be the sole owner and operator of the Disneyland Hotel.”

Wilson met with Watson and learned that Wrather had really almost been ready to sell Disney back the Disneyland Hotel when he passed away in November. In the meantime, Wilson gathered intelligence about the Wrather Corporation. He learned that — since Jack’s death — the company had fallen on extremely hard times. To keep afloat financially, the Wrather Corporation had already sold off several premium assets: Its oil and natural gas holdings, as well as the syndication rights to “The Lone Ranger ” and “Lassie.”

It seemed like this financial crisis might be the ideal time to approach Wrather with an offer to buy up the Disneyland Hotel acreage and contract. And Wilson was just getting to do this, when word came from Wall Street that a New Zealand-based firm — Industrial Equity — had bought up 28% of the Wrather Corporation.

This firm — run by corporate raider Ronald Brierley — quickly made its intentions known: It filed reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it intended to buy up at least half of Wrather Corporation.

Sensing that Disney’s opportunity to gain control of the hotel was slipping away, Wilson and his team moved quickly. They immediately asked for a meeting with Wrather Corporation management. While in that meeting, Wilson voiced Disney’s disapproval that the ownership of the Disneyland Hotel could slip away to a foreign green-mailer like Brierley.

While Disney officially could do nothing to derail Wrather’s deal with Industrial Equity, Wilson did point out that the hotel’s monorail maintenance contract was soon up for renegotiation. Wilson then told Wrather management that the Mouse was considering a slight hike in the monorail maintenance fee. Like to — say — $10,000 a day?

Disney’s threat was none so subtle, but very clear. Should Wrather try to sell off their Disneyland Hotel holdings to anybody but the Mouse, Disney would make operating the monorail so prohibitively expensive for the new owners that there was no way that they could ever make money off the hotel. Faced with these terms, Wrather had no choice but to begin serious sale talks with the Mouse.

Unfortunately, the Disneyland Hotel sale negotiations dragged on for months. Disney felt that Wrather was asking too high a price for the property, while Wrather’s people thought that the Mouse’s offers were embarrassingly low. With no resolution in sight, the sales talks plodded on into 1987, eventually rolling into 1988.

Desperate to finally get its hands on the Disneyland Hotel, the Mouse did the unthinkable: It actually got in bed with Ronald Brierley and Industrial Equity. Together, the two companies bought up the remaining 78% of Wrather Corporation for $109 million. Each firm got 50% of the Wrather Company. But only the Mouse got the rights to run the Disneyland hotel as well as develop the surrounding Anaheim property.

Six months later, the Mouse turned around and bought out Industrial Equity’s portion of the Wrather Corporation. This took over $85 million, which Brierley gleefully pocketed before heading back to New Zealand.

So, in January 1989 — after 34 years and a total of $161 million dollars — the Mouse had finally regained control of the Disneyland Hotel. Given that Wrather Corporate has allowed the hotel’s 1,100-plus rooms to fall into disrepair, the first order of business was a $35 million rehab of the entire resort.

But the big news is the Walt Disney Company had finally regained control of its own name. Now it could launch a whole series of Southern California hotels if it chose to …

Only Michael didn’t choose to. He realizes that Disneyland — as it is currently configured — is strictly a one-day park. Guests would typically arrive in Anaheim that morning to see the park and its new attractions, then drive back home that night.

Consequently, there was no point in doing a Walt Disney World-style ramp-up of the number of Disney-owned hotel rooms at the Disneyland resort.

Unless…

Unless there was a reason for all those people to now stay two days in Anaheim. Like — say — a brand new Disney theme park in Southern California for them to see?

Intrigued by this idea, Eisner calls in the Imagineers. He outlines his idea of building a second Disney theme park in Southern California. He sends them back to WDI, telling them to return in one month’s time with plans for new Disney theme parks. His one creative directive: “Amaze me. Astound me.”

When the Imagineers finally do return one month later to show Eisner their proposals for new Southern Californian theme parks, they did actually amaze their new boss.

They’d proposed building two distinctly different Disney theme parks in two unlikely locations — one in Disneyland’s old parking lot, the other along the waterfront in Long Beach.

General

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

Published

9 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

9 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

9 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