General

For Why?

We’re doing things a little bass ackwards today, folks. Instead of having Jim Hill answer your Disney-related questions … This time around, it’s JHM readers who are actually going to provide intriguing new information about various stories that have run on this site over the past week or so.

Published

20 years ago

March 10, 2005

Jim Hill

You know what I love about the Web? This whole give-and-take thing.

I mean, here I thought that I had come up with a fairly interesting pile of new stories to post on the site this week. But leave it to JHM’s readers to come up with tales that actually top my own.

Take — for example — last week’s “Why For.” Where I wrote about how the former Chairman of Disney Attractions, *** Nunis, had once wanted to bring Disneyland’s Matterhorn to WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Now — as part of that article — I revealed that *** had originally wanted to build this thrill ride right on top of the same parcel of land that Mickey’s Toontown Fair currently occupies. And — given that it was Mr. Nunis himself (Who I was lucky enough to interview ‘way back in the early 1990s) who was my source for this piece — I was fairly confident in my information.

Well, imagine my surprise when I began getting notes from longtime WDW cast members. Who told me in no uncertain terms that I had the proposed location of the Magic Kingdom’s proposed Matterhorn wrong. Take — for example — this e-mail from Hooch, which said:

Hello Jim,

I read your “Why For” column today and actually a while back I contacted Dave Smith about the Matterhorn rumor at WDW. He responded (by saying) that footers (had been) installed behind “it’s a small world” in preparation for the construction of the Matterhorn in Fantasyland. They are there to this day.

I am not disputing what Mr. Nunis planned to do. However this is another piece of the Matterhorn puzzle that I feel should be mentioned.

Thanks!

Hooch

Then Steve stepped forward to back-up Hooch’s story:

Hey Jim,

Just one small correction to your recent “Why For” column. The original intent for the Matterhorn at WDW was not in the Mickey’s Toontown area, but behind It’s a Small World.

The mountain would have been in that corner of the park, complimented by the Swiss Chalet themeing and architecture of both Pinocchio Village Haus and The Skyway Station at either end. The entrance would have been in the area of that little alcove where the Pinocchio restrooms are.

In fact, If you go backstage near the entrance to the Utilidors and the Cast member bus stop, on the Small World side, about halfway up the wall you will see exposed rebar sticking out of the wall where the Matterhorn structure was intended to tie in. A friend of mine once questioned my sources on this information, and he now has in his possesion a signed letter from Marty Sklar verifying this information.

Keep up the great work.

Steve

Given what Dave Smith told Hooch and what Marty Sklar told Steve’s friend, I’m now wondering if what *** Nunis told me was right. I mean, given all the Swiss themed material that’s already in place over in that corner of Fantasyland, it now makes perfect sense now that the Imagineers had once planned on building a Matterhorn in this part of the Magic Kingdom.

So now one has to wonder: Why did *** tell me something different? Could it be that Nunis didn’t really agree with the Imagineers about where this mountain should be placed?

Hmmmn … Given that *** doesn’t really like to talk about his days at Disney anymore (I’ve heard that Nunis — who once ran the entire Walt Disney World resort like it was his own personal fiefdom — left the Mouse House on fairly bad terms. And — given that ***’s one of the guys who was raised to believe that “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” — Nunis has pretty much refused to talk with the press since he officially retired from the Walt Disney Company in 1999), I seriously doubt that I’m going to get another chance to quiz him about WDW’s version of the Matterhorn.

So — for now — given the logic of what Hooch & Steve have been telling us, why don’t we now go with their explanation about the Matterhorn’s location? And — instead of dropping this Disneyland thrill ride on top of Mickey’s Toontown Fair — let’s go instead with Fantasyland, somewhere behind the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant and “it’s a small world”?

Okay. So that’s one story that I sort of got wrong. Mind you, I do occassionally get a story right.

Case in point: This week’s “The short, short life of WDW’s STOLport” piece. Particularly where I talked about how that long-abandoned runway was once used in the field test of some very interesting speed bumps. This part of the story actually brought back a lot of fond memories for many WDW cast members. Among them MH, who wrote in to say:

Hi Jim.

Thanks for all your wonderful articles. The article today about Walt Disney World’s STOLport reminded me of the day I actually got to experience the “Zip-a-dee Strips.” (That’s what I was told they were called.)

I was in a company vehicle with a supervisor one day and on a lark we drove out onto the runway to experience the strips. I could definitely tell that the strips sounded like “Zip-a-dee Doo Dah.” I had the biggest grin on my face, and couldn’t wait until they were installed in a guest area (I was told that they would be installed on a section of World Drive as you neared the Toll Plaza.)

I never heard why they were not installed.

Thanks for taking me down memory lane.

MH

Then there was TR, who sent me an e-mail that sort of explained how these musical speed bumps actually worked … As well as offering some additional information about how — long after WDW’s STOlport had officially been closed to the public — Walt Disney Company officials still found ways to use this abandoned airfield.

Jim:

I also remember the “musical roadway” during my time in the WDW cast. I met the man who designed it, and for his first test, he created a roll-up mat, into which he inserted plastic pieces about the size of standard wooden rulers (come to think of it, they may have been rulers) between the layers of this mat. They were set at varying intervals to change the frequency (note) of the song. It was only about 12″ wide and he drove over it with just one side of the vehicle. He explained to me that the main difficulty was that there was a slight delay, caused by the front tires and rear tires running over the “notes” due to their distance from each other. I always thought this was a neat idea, and told my mother about it (she was a civil engineer with the Alabama DOT) and suggested that we do the same on the interstates at the state line, using the song “My Home’s in Alabama.”

One note about the STOLport; it has been used on occasion by helicopters. After a shareholders meeting, I drove MDE and his assistant there to take a hop to Orlando Executive Airport via Bell Jet Ranger.

Thank you for your very interesting articles and your great website.

TR

Well, that’s kind of neat to know how that musical speed bump thing would have worked, don’t you think.

And — speaking of thinking … Every so often, I’ll hear from some JHM reader who’ll say that he thinks I’m lying. Who’ll claim that I’ve spun a story out of whole cloth, invented some controversy, all in an effort to drive up traffic levels at this site.

I got a number of notes like that last week after I posted my “A casino at Walt Disney World?! Don’t bet on it” story. It seems that a fair amount of JHM readers just couldn’t believe that the Mouse would ever entertain the notion of offering gambling at Disney World. Let alone surveying WDW guests to see what they thought of the matter.

Well, thankfully, someone who actually worked for Walt Disney World’s research department finally came forward to address this controversy. And — via e-mail — he explained what Disney was really trying to do when they first began polling WDW guests on this subject back in November of 2004:

I wanted to set the record straight on the WDW Casino rumor. As a member of the staff of WDW’s Research department, I am very familiar with this project.

There was a research project the 1st week of Nov when about 600 1 on 1 interviews (not focus groups) were conducted about gambling in central Florida. The survey was because of the new gambling law and Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. The purpose was to understand how much the potential future presence of gambling in Orlando would damage the WDW brand image.

The possibility of a casino on WDW property was randomly floated in some of the interviews, but strictly to measure response to different kinds of scenarios, and to guage how close to WDW a casino would have to be to hurt our image. The possibility of any casino at WDW was effectively killed forever after a ’94 gambling study showed very heavy negative feelings towards the idea.

So there you have it. Confirmation that Disney really wasn’t toying with the idea building a casino on property. But — rather — the Mouse was just trying to guage how Florida’s changing attitude toward gambling might potentially impact people’s impressions of the Walt Disney World resort.

And — finally — as an interesting sort of sidebar to yesterday’s “Don’t Like the Way your Cartoon is turning out? Just hit ‘rewind’ and recast” article — CK (A WDFA vet) chimes in with some additional information about how Disney’s contracts with celebrity voice talent actually work:

I wanted to respond a bit to your “recasting voice talent’ article. I liked it very much, and what you have said is true. But, unfortunately, when the actor has signed on the dotted line to voice a character, the battle isn’t over. Their contracts are often split into several subsections (or entirely different contracts). One being for the actual voice work in the film, another for their participation in marketing (Katie, Jay and Dave) and still others for additional work to be used with toys, rides, attractions, etc.

As you know, Robin Williams was very concerned about how Disney would use his ‘star power’ and exploit his involvement with the Genie. From what I understand, he even went to the point of having his contract stipulate that posters, trailers and commercials could only feature the Genie to the extent that the Genie appeared in the movie.

For example: if the Genie only actually appeared in 35% of the movie, he could only be featured in 35% of the trailer or 35% of the poster. Oh, and Robin William’s voice was not allowed to be heard on any commercial that was directly created to sell a toy (unlike, let’s say, a Happy Meal spot whose purpose is to sell burgers, but also get people into the theaters.) This ‘Toy Commercial’ stipulation was, I believe, a line that Disney crossed at least one time that I know of, further fueling the bad blood between Williams and Disney. (The commercial I remember was for a projecting View Master.)

Also, sometimes actors simply refuse to do additional work. When approached with the offer to do voice work for Hopper action figures, Kevin Spacey replied: “I don’t do toys.”

Fortunately, Andrew Stanton had been doing the rough ‘scratch’ dialogue for Hopper during the whole production and was often mistaken for official ‘Kevin Spacey’ work. So, in a pinch, they went with Andrew. And that’s his voice you hear in all of those Hopper toys (there were a lot of them) as well as the amazing Hopper figure in the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” 4-D movie. Sounds like Kevin Spacey to me – Andrew is a talented guy.

I was told that later, when Kevin Spacey actually held one of the toys in his hands and saw how cool they were, he was a little bummed that he’d passed on the job.

So there you have it, folks. All sorts of cool little stories that actually expand on some of the columns that we’ve run on JHM over the past week or so. Did you like this version of “Why For”? If so, let me know … And we then might actually use today’s column as a springboard for a brand new feature at the site: “JHM readers respond.”

Speaking of responses … Scott Liljenquist tells me that we’ve gotten a great response to the JHM Disneyland tours that we’ve got scheduled for next weekend. I’m told that both of the tours on Sunday are already virtually sold out at this point. Whereas on Saturday … We’ve still got a few slots left open on both the morning & the afternoon tour.

Sooo … If you’d like to spend some time in Anaheim hearing the sorts of stories that you won’t hear on the official Disneyland tour, then I suggest you click on this link and sign up for a JHM tour ASAP.

Anyway … Normally, this would be the part of the column where I’d say “That’s it for this week, folks. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you again on Monday, okay?” Well, this week, I’d like to try something different.

Just as sort of a let’s-throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks kind of test … We’re going to post some new content up on JHM this weekend. A new column called “Le Plug,” which will talk about many of the books, CDs, DVDs and games that nice people have sent to this site. With the hope that we’ll then say something nice about these new products.

Well, I’ve got a huge pile of this stuff on my desk right now. And — to be honest — I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to say about any of it. So (in theory) this could be a fun, spontaneous column … And/or it could be an awful, self-absorbed bore.

Either way, I’m sure you folks will let me know how you feel about this new column. So — if you get the chance this weekend — drop on by JHM and check out “Le Plug” and then let me know if it “Les Sucks.”

Then … After that column runs tomorrow … We’ll get back on our usual schedule. Which means all new content up on JHM starting on Monday.

Anyway … That’s it for today. Talk to you later, okay?

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