I still can’t believe that they’re actually closing this place. All those great memories. All those good times … over forever? It’s just so sad.
You have to understand, folks, that — for me — the closure of Disney Feature Animation — Florida is a fairly personal thing. You see, over the past 15 years, I was lucky enough to befriend a number of people who actually worked at the studio. So I got to see some things and do some stuff that normal Disney dweebs didn’t.
Like what? Well, how about witnessing Jeffrey Katzenberg’s farewell appearance at the studio. This must have been late August of 1994. Right after Katzenberg and Eisner had had their big falling-out. Immediately after this happened, Jeffery took his family to Walt Disney World. To relax and regroup.
Though he was no longer a Disney Company employee, Katzenberg still felt the need to drop by Feature Animation-Florida. To try and say “Goodbye” to some of the people that he’d worked with over the past 10 years.
I’m told that — given the rather chilly reception that Jeffrey had gotten from the folks back in Burbank immediately after the news spread around the lot about his being removed as the head of Walt Disney Studios — that Katzenberg didn’t know what to expect as he went backstage at Disney-MGM to visit the animators there. Given the way the people out in LA had behaved, he halfway expected the WDFA-F crew to try to distance themselves from the fallen studio head too.
But that’s not what happened. Jeffrey walked through the door of the “fishbowl” building and immediately saw that the entire studio — all 200+ employees — had turned out to greet him. Katzenberg was obviously shocked and delighted as — in an elaborate ceremony — the folks from Feature Animation-Florida presented him with a barrel full of his favorite beverage (Diet Coke) as well as a specially designed cel (Which showed a caricature of Jeffrey surrounded by characters from all the Disney animated features that he’d supervised production of).
Then the entire WDFA-F got in line and — one by one — they each shook Katzenberg’s hand and told him “Thank you,” “Best of luck,” “You’ll be missed.” Jeffrey’s wife, Marilyn, just stood there — a big smile on her face as tears ran down her cheeks. It was obvious that this heartfelt reception really meant a lot to the Katzenbergs.
But that sort of thing was just the way Feature Animation-Florida operated. In the 15 years that I visited this facility, I saw stuff like that happen all the time. People going out of their way to make you feel welcome, special.
I mean, the playful feel of the place was just … infectious. I remember hearing about what happened back in the spring of 1998, when WDFA-F had its big “Open House” for their new 4-story-tall state-of-the-art production facility. All of the big wigs had flown in from Burbank to take part in the festivities. Including Michael Eisner.
Anyway … The theme of the Feature Animation-Florida’s “Open House” was “Exploration.” And — as a incentive to explore the various nooks and crannies of the new building — you were rewarded with various little tchotchkes. A coffee mug here, a compass there.
Well, where the party organizers made their big mistake was — up on the fourth floor — they handed out Frisbees. So here are all this young, crazy animators — up on the fourth floor — standing out on the balcony that looked out over Disney-MGM. It’s a beautiful, warm Central Florida night. And — seeing as the theme park below is still open to the public — all the lights are still on, the music is still playing.
And then one of the animators says “I bet I can throw my Frisbee so that it lands out on Sunset Boulevard.” And all his co-workers just scoff. Because … Well, it looks to be an impossible shot. The way the balcony is positioned plus given how far back the new Feature Animation building is from Sunset Boulevard, it would take a Frisbee expert to land that shot.
But the animator tries … and almost makes it! His Frisbee comes up just short. Landing on the roof of the Beverly Sunset shop, just shy of the street. His fellow WDFA-F staffers groan with disappointment. Then one of his pals says “Here. Let me try.”
And suddenly it’s a contest! With all these Feature Animation-Florida employees taking their turn at standing on the balcony, trying to throw their Frisbee hard enough and with enough accuracy so that it would land on Sunset Boulevard. Only about 1 in 10 ever actually made. (I’m told that — the next morning — that the rooftops of Sunset Boulevard were so covered with Frisbees that it looked like the buildings had measles.) But when one actually did make out into the street (no doubt hitting some poor unsuspecting tourist in the head), there was much rejoicing.
This had been going on for about a half hour when suddenly the animators heard a familiar gravelly voice say: “What’s going on, boys?”
They all froze. Then — pivoting slowly — the animators turned and saw the Walt Disney Company’s CEO, Michael Eisner, standing there — looking bemused at them. Haltingly, one of the WDFA-F staffers explained that they had just been goofing around. Trying to see if they could throw a Frisbee hard enough that it would land out on Sunset Boulevard.
Suddenly looking concerned, Eisner stepped out on the balcony. The animators stood there, just holding their breath, wondering if this was a fireable offense. Michael took a moment to survey all of the Frisbees that were already scattered along the rooftops of Disney-MGM, then said “I think I can make this shot. Get me a Frisbee.”
And — for the next 10 minutes — that’s just what the head of the Walt Disney Company did. Flung Frisbees off the fourth floor balcony of the new Feature Animation-Florida building as he tried to land one out of Sunset Boulevard. And — when Michael finally did it (Again probably knocking some poor WDW guest in the noggin), there was much rejoicing.
But that’s just how the WDFA-F crew were. Their high spirits were so infectious, you’d just get swept up in whatever they were doing.
Like the very first time that Michelle and I got o see “The Lion King.” We were living in Orlando at the time. And — given all the good things that we’d been hearing about this Disney Feature Animation film — we decided to catch its very first public screening in Central Florida. Which was held at the stroke of midnight on Thursday, June 23, 1994. (Which technically meant that this showing counted toward the film’s take for its official opening day of June 24th. Anyway …)
So we make our way to the Pleasure Island AMC, Disney World’s on-property multiplex. We have our daughter, Alice (who’s just three months old at this point), bundled up in a snuggly. We buy our tickets and make our way into the auditorium … to find ourselves surrounded by what seems to the entire staff of Feature Animation-Florida. The theater is absolutely filled with these guys.
“Why such a big turn-out for ‘The Lion King”s midnight show?” you ask. Because this would be the very first time that the film would be shown in Orlando before members of the general public. And — given that the crew from WDFA-F had worked so hard on TLK’s “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” sequence — they were desperate to know how that scene (or — to be honest — the whole movie) was going to play with a really-for-real paying audience.
I’ve never in my life been to another movie screening like this. Where the audience was so awake and aware as the witching hour approached. So obviously proud to have played even a small part in the creation of this picture.
Then the lights went down … And the room got even crazier. Every song got applauded. Every joke got a roar. Every new background or scene that came along got a new low murmur of conversation going. “I worked on that shot,” “Bob painted that background. Isn’t it great?,” etc.
And then-when “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” came on — an air of electricity ran through the room. These people were clearly thrilled to see their work up there on the big screen. To be in an audience that paid good money just to see the movie that they had worked on. And when that song ended … pandemonium erupted!
Seriously, for at least 5 minutes afterward, you couldn’t hear a single word of dialogue over the chattering of the Feature Animation-Florida staffers. They kept just going on and on about “Wasn’t that great?,” “Did you see my part?,” “Yeah, but did you see MY part?” On and on and on. It was really very sweet.
I’ll miss that about the folks at WDFA-F. Their excitement. Their innocence. You see — for a lot of the people who worked at Feature Animation-Florida — this was their first job out of college. So everything was new to these guys. You never got that sort of jaded feeling that you sometime get when you deal with movie folks out in LA. The people who worked at Feature Animation-Florida … They were genuinely thrilled to be there.
I’ll miss the opportunities that I used to get whenever friends who worked there would sneak me into the studio. Where I’d get to have sneak peeks at films like “Mulan,” “Brother Bear” and “Tarzan” as well as shorts like “John Henry.”
I also miss getting the chance to get to see things that NEVER made it to the big screen. The “Douse Out the Light” light sequence from “Kingdom of the Sun,” plus tests for “Roger Rabbit II.” Feaurettes like “Mickey’s Arabian Adventure” and “Lord Goofstroke: Goofy of the Ape,” plus the aborted fourth Roger Rabbit short, “In the Soup.”
Feature Animation-Florida was a great, great place that was loaded with many extremely talented, good hearted people. And I — for one — am going to miss it … and them.
Good luck, guys. Here’s hoping that your next employer treat you a whole lot better than Disney did.