Backstage Magic Tour - WDW October 10, 2008

[YoPaulie]

LOL... those do take a while to type.


And yeah, that was me after our lunch at Whispering Canyon Café.

I would have LOVED to take you, Mortis, but there was no tarp for you to sleep on.

[Mortis]

I don't sleep on it, I sleep under it.

[Doofy]

If there was a dumpster nearby that would have worked too.

[YoPaulie]

(cont'd)

So, we get off the bus at the Costuming Department, which I remark to Wayne is themed a LOT more than other backstage areas. He explained that when the Studios was built, it was meant to be a real working studio much of the time, so several backstage areas would be designed for the comfort of the production crew, as well as the animators in the Disney Animation Florida shop.

Once we walked into the lobby of the costume shop, we needed to be announced over the PA by the receptionist. The reason for this is that this facility is where the majority of the costumes are fitted and designed, so there is a fair amount of outfit changing going on. The announcement gives people time to close their doors! We see on the table in the lobby the original mockups of several outfits: Belle's gown, Prince Charming's suit, Cinderella's gown, and (I think) Prince Eric's suit. These are the original models, and they are slightly larger than 16" tall. The designers make these out of a gray material (color choices come later) and make them this small so as to not waste valuable material. We are told that the materials used for Disney Costumes are authentic, and the show costumes can be quite expensive. Belle's gown in the Beauty and the Beast stage show costs thousands of dollars in materials alone!

After everyone has had a chance to cover up or close doors, we are led down a hall with various design sketches framed on the wall, then into a kind of "pit" area where wheeled clothes racks are congregated and we are introduced to a cast member (didn't catch her name) who went on to pass around a "from concept to completion" example of a costume; in this case it was from Festival of the Lion King, and one of the main male narrators (not doing well with names here).

We saw concept sketch boards, a fabric swatch sheet, and got to hold the final product for his vest, which was fashioned in a traditional African style of sewing seashells. The thing weighed a good 20 pounds! After everyone got a chance to see the example, we were led down the hall, past fitting rooms and designer workrooms, and into the large workroom you see while on the Backstage Studio Tour.

In here, we saw a lot of dresses being prepared for the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique, as well as some show costumes. We also saw the huge pattern cutter machine up close, which is what lets Walt Disney World create such a variety of costumes at every size imaginable. It was not in operation while we were there, unfortunately.

Now it was on to Lunch at the Whispering Canyon Café, at the Wilderness Lodge.

(cont'd)

[Mortis]

Must have been a awesome trip to have the trip report continue once a month. Almost like "Lost".

[YoPaulie]

LOL... I didn't think about doing the trip report in episodes!

[YoPaulie]

(cont'd)

We arrived at The Wilderness Lodge, and the bus let us out near the main entrance. As we walked in, Wayne explained some of the challenges with landscaping the Pacific Northwest in Central Florida. He also noted the Disney tendency of using real materials (wood, stone, etc.) when it can be actually touched by guests, while using faux materials when it can only be seen. Some exceptions to this are the flagstone at the Lodge, as it is painted cast concrete, and the large pillars at the Lodge are in fact large steel beams with concrete, however there is a lot of real lumber used at the Lodge, just not for structural members.

Wayne also pointed out to us the very determined way Disney wants you to feel when you enter the lobby. You walk into the low entryway, which is primarily the way to make you feel closed in, then, entering the main building, you are almost forced to look up at the expansive hall, which is a subtle way to make the immense building look even more immense.

Lunch was the skillet at Whispering Canyon, with your normal exceptional service. If you don't know, I won't spoil it here, but, these waiter and waitress cast members are fantastic at their roles.

After lunch, we went outside to observe the rockwork and the way the resort itself is situated. As Wayne tells it, it's the ONLY Disney resort that has no view of any other resort or park; and it's meant to be that way. This location was chosen specifically for this fact, and, even when Discovery Island was operating, the dock was on the far side of the island, keeping the illusion of the Pacific Northwest intact.

Getting back on the bus, Wayne pointed out a few of the topiaries, and discussed the different ways they can be constructed. The buffalo (bison) that are adjacent to the main entrance are stuffed and take less than a week to construct, in contrast to the topiaries seen at The Magic Kingdom, which can take months or years to grow into the correct shape.

We headed out from the Wilderness Lodge area, under the water bridge, past the Contemporary, and drove past the Magic Kingdom on our left. Wayne pointed out the Monorail and train barn on our right. I asked if they had a tour that did a behind the scenes specifically for monorail, and they do not. I would take that in a heartbeat. Anyway, about a quarter mile Northeast of the Magic Kingdom, we entered a massive backstage complex of buildings, including the bus depot, a gas station, Central Shops, and the Magic Kingdom Laundry facility, which was our next stop.

(cont'd)

[YoPaulie]

(cont'd)

Wayne showed us that the Laundry services is the only WDW group that has their own unique logo... it' Mickey's head made of bubbles. You can see this next time you're on property... look closely at the laundry bins (both for clean and unwashed laundry).

Amazingly, this facility and the others on property (I think there are 2 others, could be 3) turn around 250,000 articles EVERY DAY. All of the costume pieces have the bar code and are in the laundry system (as discussed back when I was at the Epcot Cast costuming department). Linens go to one facility, dry cleaning to another, and costume articles go to the respective facilities. The articles are sorted by hand and placed into huge steel hoppers. Those feed the washing machines; which when we entered were the first things encountered... HUGE front-loading drum washers, about 10 times the size of what we have at home.

Once washed, the articles get placed into dryers, where they are dried anywhere between 5%-50%. Nothing is ever dried completely, as it's difficult (if not impossible) to get wrinkles out of dry clothes. Once taken out of the dryers, each article is scanned into the system, along with the hangar it is hung onto. The computer then sorts the articles to the appropriate press or ironing department. The pieces flow overhead like the doors in Monsters, Inc. Once the items are pressed, they are placed onto that cast member's wheeled rack, which is then, when full, wheeled to the loading dock. From there they are placed onto vans, to be delivered to the various Cast Costume departments.

The volume was staggering, but, again, if you factor that each Cast member could theoretically have 25 articles of clothing with Laundry services at one time... it gets big quickly.

Our next stop was my favorite... Central Shops. We were handed safety glasses (union rules) but never told to put them on (oops on Wayne). Central Shops is where any and all off site repair, paint, modification, or creation is done for WDW attractions, shows, and scenes... from animatronics to fences to benches to ride vehicles. The layout of Central Shops is genius in it's simplicity, and I'll see if I can describe it adequately.

The building is at least a quarter mile long, with a large central corridor running down the middle, about 100 feet across. At each end of this central corridor are large garage doors, and up above is a heavy-lift crane that runs on I-beams up near the ceiling. The garage door to the North is where the equipment to be worked on enters, and the garage door to the south end is where the finished piece is transported back to the respective park, resort, or section of WDW.

Now, running the entire length of this large hallway, to both the left and the right, are the individual "shops", which are delineated by what job they do. There is a welding shop, a woodworking shop, a casting shop (for animatronic skin, for example), a paint shop, a design shop, an animatronics shop, and so on. The shops nearest the door are for stripping down the ride vehicles or whatever down to their base components, and each piece is cataloged and logged by the date in, the work done, who worked on it, when, and for how long. From there, the piece just moves down the length of the central corridor, hitting every appropriate shop as it's needed, until it reaches the end.

In Walt Disney World, everything that moves or that guests touch have a "life span" before it is pulled from service in the parks or wherever and sent to Central Shops for a complete overhaul. This preventative maintenance is key to keeping attractions running smoothly and consistently.

Some of the many hundreds of things that were "in the shop" while we were there were a Space Mountain train car (half disassembled, wheels off), a Jungle Cruise boat (just entered the process, roof off), a Primeval Whirl car (completely disassembled, saw the metal frame underneath, getting fiberglass repair) an animatronic elephant from the Jungle Cruise (getting reskinned), some temporary stanchions from The Magic Kingdom parade route along Main Street (getting a fresh coat of gloss white paint; drying), and a flume log from Splash Mountain (getting new foam and vinyl coverings for the cushioning). It was such a wonderful mix of equipment, showcasing the true variety and ingenuity of the Imagineers that work there... I WISH I had been allowed to take a picture of it!

We walked over into the animatronics shop, and Wayne demonstrated some animation techniques with the former host of Kitchen Cabaret, Bonnie Appetite. There also was an animatronic dog and hundreds of solenoids, valves, miles of tubing, wires, etc. in this shop.

When we got to the paint section, Wayne told us that the monorails and buses get painted in this facility as well; the paint section has garage doors that open to the outside. There is a special flatbed tuck that can ferry the monorail cars over for touch ups if needed. Also, the overhead crane is used if a piece needs to "jump" ahead of others down to the next stop... typically if something needs welding it doesn't need woodworking, etc.

On our way out we entered the design shop, and on the wall were some examples of Disney's attention to detail. There is a mock up of the different types of "wood" used in Frontierland... at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, on Tom Sawyer's Island, and on Splash Mountain. Since they take place in different sections of the country, the wood appearance is different for each, and different yet from the real wood used in the Frontierland facades.

Awesome.

Next stop: The Magic Kingdom and the utilidors.

(cont'd)

[Doofy]

I am shocked to see posts here again. I thought he just ended the tour half way through.

[Mortis]

You took a trip to WDW?