General

Wednesdays with Wade: Disneylanders look back at the birth of their park

JHM favorite Wade Sampson has a real winner this week, folks. He’s got members of “Club 55” talking about what it was like to work at Disneyland in the Summer of ’55.

Published

20 years ago

February 8, 2005

Jim Korkis

Are you a Disneylander?

That is what the first employees at the Disneyland theme park were called back in the Fifties. There was even an employee publication called “The Disneylander.” Did you have a name tag? Nope, you didn’t. You had a badge with a number on it that was based on seniority. Walt’s badge was “Number One” of course and some of you may remember him flashing it to Disneyland’s first Ambassador, Julie Reihm, on the “Wonderful World of Color” Tenth Anniversary show. Were you there on Opening Day with drinking fountains not working because of a plumber’s strike or food locations running out of food or guests with children on their shoulders trying to throw them onto the carousel horses or kids aiming their Autopia cars at cast members or women’s high heels sticking in the recently laid asphalt on Main Street?

No? You only HEARD those stories? Well, as we start to celebrate the Happiest Celebration, I dug through my files to bring you some memories from Disneyland’s opening on July 17, 1955 in the words of those front line cast members who were there. (After the opening of Disneyland, these cast members formed an organization known as “Club 55” and often got together to share memories. At the twentieth anniversary, they even published a memory book of some of these memories for their members. It was called appropriately “Club 55”).

Joyce Belanger:

“A couple of days before we opened, I had my costume fitting. The Seamstresses must have worked 24 hours a day getting costumes ready. I had one day of cash handling and then the night before the Park opened, we got to see inside the Park. Nothing seemed finished. But the Castle…that was impressive. It belonged and looked like it had always been there.

I found out I was working next to the ‘Mark Twain’ in a Ticket Booth that wasn’t completed yet. I went home and didn’t know how things were going to work out. The next day, everyone there was supposed to be an invited guest, so my Ticket Booth wasn’t open, but it was finished. I couldn’t believe how everything looked so chaotic the 16th and then the next day it was sparkling clean and ready. I had lunch that day at Carnation. Sitting at the next table was Ronald Reagan. Who’d have known? I do remember he was putting on his contacts.

On Opening Day for the Viewliner, Walt was at the controls. There were some beautiful new flower beds at the station and as everybody crowded closer and closer to see Walt, they got into the flowers. This kinda bothered Walt a bit and he asked the people to ‘Please keep off the flowers!’

“I can still see Walt strolling through the Park. He didn’t talk down to the children. He’d bend down so they could talk to him at their level. Kids always came up to talk to him. He’d pose for pictures and always had time for them. And they loved him. They’d follow him all over the Park. He was like the Pied Piper and wherever he went, the kids followed. He had a very child-like quality about him and never seemed to tire of the Park.”

Ray Van Der Warker:

“Bob Penfield and I just got out of high school and we were good friends and had played football together, so we decided we’d go out together to get a job. Well, we hit about four places with applications before we came to Disneyland. We got hired and we started about a week before the Park opened.

They brought us in the Park and none of the attractions were finished. None. Main Street was just dirt and the Mark Twain was just a shell. Anyway, one of our jobs was to test out the new attractions. We sat for about two days behind the Castle because it was the only cool spot and there wasn’t anything else to do. But I’ll never forget the first ride we got to test out. I can’t think of the name of the thing, but it was some sort of satellite and you got on this conveyor belt that took you around to what was supposed to be a look down at Earth. It didn’t impress me and we had to test that thing nearly all day and we got sick of it.

But the night before the Park opened, Bob and I were asked to work overtime because they had just finished ‘Peter Pan’ and we were the only ones who were trained on it. When we started, we looked at the Pirate Ship and it still hadn’t been painted. We practiced all night and we knew we had to come back the next day for a full shift for Opening. Well, we got out around 2:00 am and the Pirate Ship had been painted! The next day, we basically trained the night crew during the day.

Fantasyland was the last area to open that day. Boy, when they lowered that drawbridge, it seemed like all 30,000 of them came in at once. And there were so many people that they had to close the Carousel a few times because guests climbed over the chains and we couldn’t control them.

Bob Penfield and I were supposed to learn how to operate the attractions but they were never made ready until an hour and a half before opening.”

Earl Anderson:

“In July of 1955, I came to Disneyland and my first job was helping to build the lumber storage building. I would get down on my hands and knees in the rain and mud to work on the foundations. On Opening Day, John Yarber and I got a call that the gate had fallen off the Mule Pack Ride, and that we were to go and fix it. We had not the slightest idea where the Mule Pack Ride was.”

Jim Barngrover:

“On July 10, 1955 the local musicians’ office got a call for musicians at Disneyland. It was to last for two weeks and a 16 piece band was wanted. The band was put together by Tommy Walker and Tommy’s father, Vesey Walker. He soon became the first Disneyland Band director. We used to play on a gazebo in what is now Plaza Gardens. There were no seats for the guests and there was no shade. So nobody came to listen! That’s when we started marching.”

Chuck Boyajian:

“Before Opening Day, I was working nights and I never believed that we’d get open. But come July 17th, we opened with a bang. We had open trash cans then, and we had trouble getting the trash removed. It piled up in a gigantic heap behind City Hall…trash was overflowing everywhere.”

Roy Brem:

“I remember on Opening Day that the movie star kids were, to put it mildly, UNRULY! I started up on the steam trains as a conductor.”

Imogene Brinkmeyer:

“I remember Opening Day. I ought to!! I spent Opening Day at home in bed with a strep throat. I couldn’t find a doctor around anywhere and finally I got hold of a pediatrician. He gave me some penicillin but it didn’t do any good. So I missed Opening Day, but they were so busy with the crowds, they didn’t even know I was missing! Anyway, I came to work the next day and it was HOT AS HADES…you couldn’t get a drink anywhere. There had been no training for the Ticket Sellers, but everyone pulled together and everything fell into place. I still don’t know how it all worked out!”

Rima Bruce:

“Opening Day was bedlam! Nobody knew their way around the Park…took an hour to get from Personnel to my job. Then we turned out offices over to the Press and I went out to watch the celebrities. I remember that Hawaiian Abe was in front of the Bazaar in Adventureland making palm frond hats for Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.”

John Catone:

“I sure remember Black Sunday. There was a plumbers’ strike and very few toilet facilities were ready. Roy Disney said, gently, that he didn’t mind if the people urinated in the bushes! Walt was like a little boy with a new toy!”

Dominic Conte:

“The night before, we stayed up all night! We never believed that it could open! Sunday morning it was a picture! Beautiful! T.V. cameras…really exciting! The first week in the Park, I got lost several times!”

Pete Crimmino:

“If you watch the T.V. program of Opening Day, you’ll see me guiding a boat through the Hippo Pool. Adventureland was the last attraction to show…and became the most popular. In those days, we didn’t have microphones and used megaphones. Also, the narration was not canned, and we developed most of it by ourselves. Those were very busy days. I think one guy had a record of 97 trips without a break.”

Stan Gomez:

“Don’t even mention it! The day before opening I worked from 6 am to 6 pm and then came back at midnight. I had to distribute 500 or more lockers all over the Park. Then I went on foot to check each key against the locker. That look till 7 am. After that I left and spent Opening Day at home asleep. I was in charge of the old burro trail for awhile and then Tom Sawyer Island when it first opened. It sure was a headache with the kids pulling up shrubbery faster than I could replace it.”

Frank Martines:

“I didn’t get much of a view as I was at the Main Gate. We all looked like bellhops, with Eisenhower yellow jackets, green trousers, gold ‘overseas’ caps…we were pretty proud! At the end of the summer, I went to Main Street as Foreman and then I became an Assistant Supervisor. The Company bought the supervisors grey suits with ORANGE ties…the better to be seen in the area!”

Earl Wuestneck:

“What do I remember? People…people…people! We would open the gates for twenty minutes and then close for twenty minutes. Celebrities everywhere…miles of film taken. I wore a little military hat on the side of my head, a gold ‘Ike’ jacket, green pants, brown shoes and white gloves!”

Cal McMurtre:

“Everything was a mess. I was workin’ on Tom Sawyer Island trying to bring up grass. I ran the sprinklers and I repaired them and, of course, I was the one that had to put them in. One day, before opening, I spent 16 hours on the island…they had forgotten me! Opening day I was kept busy trying to keep out of sight of the guests, when I saw Fess Parker coming down the mule trail.”

George Mills:

“As the guests were coming in the FRONT door, we were going out the BACK door to the boneyard with EVERYTHING that wasn’t nailed down! The boneyard was a gigantic sea of junk. In the castle courtyard you could see a little blue flame where a gas main had never been capped! We had problems pumping the Adventureland River…bluegills were in all the water systems. The strainers were all plugged with the little fish.”

Gunter Otto:

“I had worked many hours in the Jungle with Joe Delfin. The work skiffs had no motors, then, and were too heavy to paddle, so we put on tennis shoes, jumped into the river and pushed the boats, laden with their cargoes of plants and flowers. I remember on Opening Day, I was to turn on sprinklers at a signal given by a television director. He gave a wrong signal and I turned on the sprinklers just as Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen came riding out of the Living Desert..they got soaking wet and I was sure that I’d get fired for that one!”

Cora Lee Sargent:

“Bob Cummings stopped and talked to me and I wasn’t any good for three hours after that! Being fitted for costumes, a wardrobe girl suggested that the ‘not so well endowed’ wear FALSIES. There were no lockers. We just hung our clothes on poles with our names on them. The first winter we wore our own coats. There were no requirements on shoes and I wore tennis shoes sometimes.”

Marion Schawacha:

“Hectic! Painters still painting. Carpenters still sawing. The waiting lines were all mixed up and criss-crossing each other. The line from Autopia would end up at the Space Bar and vice versa. All you could see in Tomorrowland was PEOPLE! The guy who was supposed to be the manager almost blew the place up. He turned the gas on for the big oven and then went down the corridor to get a match. BOOM!!…he later became a treasurer.”

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