General

“Faster than the Speed of Gravity” – A Tower of Terror Review

The Official Opening of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is approaching quickly, DCA Central.com brings you it’s review of the new Tower of Terror.

Published

20 years ago

June 6, 2004

Tony Moore

When Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) opened in February, 2001, I remember the rumors on the Internet that The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror would be a part of the first phase of new construction on the agenda for the new park.

It made total sense; the Hollywood Picture Backlot (HPB) screamed for an E-ticket attraction. While HPB was one of the more highly themed and interesting areas of the park, it seriously lacked a strong central icon.

Disney Animation was featured as the premier attraction in HPB, but Animation never drew in the crowds that a ride like California Screamin’ or Grizzly River Run did. I’ve never seen a huge number of people standing around waiting for Animation. Don’t get me wrong, I love Disney Animation but it’s a bit slow for my tastes (it’s a great place to kick back in the air conditioning).

It was in January 2002, Disney’s Annual Report included Michael Eisner’s announcement that DCA was going to be the home of a second generation Tower of Terror attraction. This was really great news for all the west coast people like myself (even though I live in Phoenix, AZ) who loved Tower of Terror but rarely had the time and money to travel to Orlando to go on it.

The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror at DCA is based on the popular Disney attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida, which opened on July 22, 1994. The Tower of Terror is themed after a “lost” episode of the Twilight Zone in which five people entered an elevator on a dark and stormy night only to have the building struck by lightning. Part of the building disappeared along with the guests, never to be heard from again.

DCA Central.com’s Tower of Terror Ride Review (Spoilers Included!)
As guests walk up to the Tower they realize just how immense the building is. I have to admit I was really surprised since I’d always been at a distance from the building. The 183-feet tower sports the Pueblo Deco style, popular in the Los Angeles area during the 1920s.

“Pueblo Deco, popular when the hotel was built in the 1920’s, is characterized by the clean, geometric shapes common to the Art Deco style. However, from southwestern Native American art, it borrows elements such as radial sunbursts, arrowhead shapes, and simplified thunderbird motifs.A prime southern California landmark in the Pueblo Deco style is the L.A. City Hall Building.”

The building is properly detailed to be both timeless and haunting, which is wonderful for the setting of a “lost” Twilight Zone episode.

The overall impression of the tower is creepy and imposing. When guests look up at the crumbling “Hollywood Tower Hotel” signage, which part of flickers at night, hearing the other guests screaming out at the top of the elevator shafts, and you really start to think one of two things: “What have I got myself into?!” or “Oh, yeah!”

At the base of the Tower is a dry water fountain with a huge plaque inscribed with “Hollywood Tower Hotel”. As you stand there for a couple seconds the plaque starts to flicker with little fiber optic lights from behind with the words, “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror”.

To the left of the fountain and around the corner is the Tower Hotel Gifts, and to the right is the main entrance and FASTPASS distribution center for the attraction. The main entrance is a gold metal gate with Standby line on the left and FASTPASS return on the right. If you look around at the queue space what you notice is the FASTPASS guests have their own personal little queue space on the west side of the building which goes around another dry water fountain and a small angel statue. The Standby guests have a much larger queue space, with a good amount of overhead cover to keep guest shaded on those hot summer days.

Inside the Tower
The two queue lines converge on the main entrance of the hotel, and the lobby is really the beginning of the Tower of Terror experience. Guests come into a excellent lobby, ripe with period furniture in yellows, reds, and wood.

Everywhere in the lobby are spider webs and layers of dust. Around the lobby are indications that guests at the hotel just disappeared in quite a hurry on the night of the accident: a newspaper sits on the arm of a chair, a little girl’s doll lies on the couch, and a set of luggage waits at the front desk. As guests look around the room, they notice a card game at one table waiting for the next move, for a late night snack set at another table, and a large, dust and cobweb covered owl sitting on a perch at a center table.

A bellhop stands behind a podium taking “guest reservations” in parties of ones, twos, or fours. Guests are moved into another holding area on either side of the lobby on the other side of the front desk. If they get sent to the left, guests have to cross in front of the two (oddly not three) original guest elevators, which plummeted to the bottom on the fateful night of October 31, 1939. The two elevator doors are detailed with twisted metal and the walls look like they had experienced a huge amount of stress.

At opposite ends of this area are two paintings, portraits of Louis Napoleon and Eugenie hanging at opposite ends of the area behind the front desk. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was the nephew of Napoleon I. He ruled as emperor of France from 1848 to 1870. What they’re doing at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, I don’t know.

Around the corner guests enter a small library filled with tall bookcases, a window on one side, an armchair, and an old-fashioned black-and-white television set placed high up atop a bookcase. Numerous trinkets and collectibles are placed around the room, many representing different stories from the “Twilight Zone” television series that originally ran for five years on CBS, from 1959 to 1964. One of the noticeable items in the room is a miniature spaceman from the episode “The Invaders,” featuring Agnes Moorhead, who played Endora on the television show, “Bewitched“

The doors shut behind and the lights go out, a flash of lightning and thunder comes from the window. The original “Twilight Zone” music starts up, and the television flickers to life, directing guest’s attention. Guests hear the voice of Rod Serling, the Twilight Zone’s creator and host, start the show.

The story begins at the Hollywood Tower Hotel in 1939, amidst the “glitz and glamour” of Hollywood’s premier hot spot for the famous and the well-to-do, all until one dark and stormy night something happened. Five people (four guests and a bellhop) entered the guest elevator, and the building was struck by lightning. The front of the building disappeared, along with the guests on the elevators.

The show cuts to back to a clip of Rod Serling in front of a service elevator in the basement of the hotel. The service elevator is still in operation and is “waiting” for you to recreate the accident on that stormy night.

“The episode from which Rod Serling’s appearance was taken is entitled ‘It’s A Good Life,’ written by Rod Serling. This episode tells the story of a little boy who can read minds and control people.”

Rod invites you to experience what those five people experienced that night. A door in the back of the room opens, guests file out of the room and around the corner into a huge, two-story working boiler room overflowing with details. The boiler room contains six loading areas, three on each floor.

The room has hanging chains, gauges, and pipes all over. Creaks and noises come from all directions. There are several areas around the room where workers had set up their workstations, with notes, pictures, and personal items. On the second floor is a chalk drawing of a doorway from the episode, “Little Girl Lost“, which included a doorway into another dimension. A huge boiler sits at the end of the room with what appears to be a giant face.

Guests come around the corner of the walkways to a cast member who assigns them to an elevator. The guests are queued into one of six lines on the floor, representing which row of the elevator they’ll ride in during the show.

“Faster Then The Speed of Gravity”
The elevator door opens and guests are led to the waiting service elevator car with three rows of four and three rows of three, for a total of 21 people per car. Guests have a seat in their pre-assigned rows, and fasten their seat beats with a large yellow strap. The bellhop cast member reminds guests to keep their personal items like hats and glasses safely in hand or secured. They then process to ask everyone to put their hands up and then pull on the yellow seat belt strap.

With that said, the cast member retreats and wishes everyone a safe ride. The doors shut and the fun begins.

The lights go out, stars come out and Rod Serling’s voice fills the room, talking about the night of the accident when the hotel entered the Twilight Zone. The car begins to move backwards into the drop shaft. The car then quickly moves up the tube to the first show scene.

The doors open to a hallway with a large wooden table and huge oval mirror, and a voice tells you to wave good-bye to the people in the mirror, because they’re about to enter the “Twilight Zone“.

The door snaps shut and the elevator falls a floor the second show scene. The doors open to a long hallway with doors all down the way to a window at the end. As guests look down the hall, the five people who disappeared on the night of the accident appear as ghosts all translucent and blue. As they beckon guests to join them, the room appears to be struck by lightning and the ghosts disappear again. The walls display electricity running through them and the hallway fades to black with stars. At the end of the hallway, guests can see the a little image of an elevator with the five ghosts open and drop out of sight.

And then BOOM! The elevator drops! The elevator goes thought several up and down drops, finally rising all the way to the top of the shaft over looking the Disneyland Resort. A huge flash and the car plummets down the shaft. About half way down, the elevator stops, drops again, goes all the way back up and drops for the final time to the bottom of the shaft.

The doors open back up with Rod Serling giving you advice that the next time you “check into a haunted hotel” you better make sure you check the reservation, or you may become a permanent resident of the “Twilight Zone“.

After The Terror…

The exit from the elevator goes directly through the same area where you loaded up, but you typically exit around the corner, down the stairs if you where on the second floor of the boiler room, and around into a long hallway that goes behind the back of the boiler room to the exit. At the exit you’re dropped into the image capture area, where you can view you reaction to the drop. The Tower Hotel Gift shop is quite nice with lots of cool Tower of Terror specific merchandise, like “Hollywood Tower Hotel” bathrobes and towels. There are plenty of shirts, coffee cups, and some stranger stuff like swishy eyeballs.

At the “Picture If You Will…” area of the gift shop is where you may purchase the image captured from the top of the first large drop. The quality has improved quite a bit since Disney first started using digital images year ago that even I purchased a copy. Guests have a choice between 5×7 and 8x10s for around $15 each.

At the exit to the Tower Hotel Gift shop you exit to the outside on the east side of the building looking out at the side of the Hyperion Theater and a huge wall with trees and bushes.

Conclusion
Disney’s California Adventure’s latest edition is a much-welcomed attraction to the park. The theming around the attraction could have used a little bit more time and effort on the part of Disney before the park originally opened in February 2001.

The Tower of Terror team apparently was aware of that fact because they spent some time and money re-theming the side of the Animation building to look like a 1930s version of the Walt Disney Animation Studio with a large Mickey Mouse billboard along the side, and working lights in the windows.

But, given the fact that the Tower of Terror wasn’t going to be installed so quickly, I guess who knew that the theming back there wouldn’t have been conducive to the attraction. The theming behind the gate was done really well. The FASTPASS area and queue line look great. The trees and shrubs will look much better once they’ve had a chance to grow and get more “unkempt” with time.

The attraction ride itself is very enjoyable and thrilling. The attraction was designed with newer technology that is more reliable, but also re-programmable just like the original in Orlando.

Overall, if you’re into thrill rides at all, guests would be advised to go on Tower of Terror.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror officially opens May 5, 2004.

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