Greetings from the Holiday Inn Fairborn.
I’m here in Fairborn, Ohio for Dayton Disneyana. Which is this terrific weekend-long event that’s hosted by the “Plane Crazy” chapter of the Disneyana Fan Club.
This year’s event is particularly exciting, given that Mike & Patty Peraza are here. For those of you who don’t know: Mike is an award-winning designer with over 35 years of experience creating magic for the Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Television, Walt Disney Comics, and Walt Disney Imagineering. He has worked with legendary film makers Tim Burton (classmates at Cal Arts), Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Don Bluth and 8 of the 9 “Old Men” at Disney. From working as Art Director for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” on the big screen, designing “DuckTales” for the small screen, or drawing pages for Disney comics and children’s books, Peraza’s talents have helped shape the animation world, and usher in the fabled Disney Renaissance.
Mike’s more recent assignments for Walt Disney Imagineering included CARSLAND at Disney California Adventure, New Fantasyland at WDW’s Magic Kingdom and the Shanghai Disney Resort. Which is where Peraza teamed up with his old pal Tim Burton to design Shanghai Disneyland’s Alice in Wonderland maze.
As for Patty, given that she was the first female to be hired straight out of Cal Arts by Walt Disney Studio, Ms. Peraza is a true trailblazer. Upon her arrival at the Mouse House, Patty’s very first assignment was working on the motorcycles for 1982’s “Tron.”After tackling several challenging assignments for EPCOT Center & Tokyo Disneyland, Ms. Peraza then became the very first female effects animator at Disney Studios.
These two had a front seat for a lot of modern-era Disney Company history. Just the stories that Mike & Patty have shared with me over dinner last night & breakfast this morning have been mind-blowing. So trust me: You don’t want to miss it when the Perazas take the stage and then start talking about all their adventures at the Mouse House.
I’ll also be giving a couple of talks at Dayton Disneyana myself. On Saturday, I’m using the 25th anniversary of the official opening of the Disneyland Paris Resort to look back at the origins of that project. And then on Sunday, I’ll be using last month’s opening of “Pandora – The World of Avatar” as an excuse to talk about how a certain boy wizard spur the creation of this impressive new “land” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.
Right now, all of the vendors are still in the process of setting up in the Holiday Inn Fairborn’s big function room, getting ready for tomorrow & Sunday’s big Disneyana Collectibles Expo.
All in all, it looks like this year’s Dayton Disneyana event is going to be great fun. And If you’re a Disney history buff, you’re definitely going to want to be there when Mike & Patty Peraza start sharing their Mouse House memories.
Dayton Disneyana is being held June 10 & 11th at the Holiday Inn Dayton/Fairborn. Which is located at 2800 Presidential Drive in Fairborn, Ohio.