Originally Posted By Doobie This topic is for discussion of the October 19 article: Mini-Update: New Animation Tour at Disney-MGM Studios at <a href="News-ID508870.asp" target="_blank">http://LaughingPlace.com/News-ID508870.asp</a>.
Originally Posted By LPFan22 This tour looks like so much fun... I had no idea tours were available to the public. I can't wait to do this! Thanks for the update. =)
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Now everyone can see first hand how WDW dropped the ball. The DCA animation building is full of charm and mood and environment. The WDW version is as bad as the Paris version. It comes of as an office building space devoid of emotion. - urgh All who critize DCA should appreciate and embrace your animation building. It is a true gem.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I think we (and the disneysites guys) were the only ones offering some kind of entertainment in that tour, right Dennis??) "aarggh! look at this!!" "OMG!! awful look at that!!" "Black socks!! Get real!!" etc etc etc....
Originally Posted By netenyahoo It looks like there is little to no theming in the place. They did drop the ball. Do you have to sit thru the Mushu show or can you go directly to the interactive kiosks? They should have taken the Beast's Library and Ursula's Cave areas direct from DCA, those are my two favorite parts after the main big room with all the screens. I feel sorry for those people in FL. They need to go to CA to see the real thing.
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Agreed netenyahoo (love the name - by the way) As for the tour, you enter the MUSHU show (as good in all parks) and then you enter a large office buidling looking area that has the kiosks. These are the same interactive kiosks in DCA but there is no themeing. They have the same charm as an airline terminal check-in. After exploring in this area you are moved into a room to learn how to draw Mickey. Good stuff and similar to Paris. Overall this whole animation building falls *very* flat.
Originally Posted By Otownguy I cant wait till it opens to the public and guests think there gonna see ACTUAL ANIMATORS working. Cant wait to see THAT reaction.
Originally Posted By CTXRover I went through that tour so many times when the studio was in its heyday and I always wondered why it seemed like it was the rare occasion that I would be even lucky enough to see perhaps two or three animators working. It was always neat to see where they worked, but I rarely ever saw them actually "working". It was never THE reason I would take the tour. Most of the general public didn't enter that building even knowing they would see real animators, so I don't think this "new" tour is going to be a huge shock to them at all. I personally think the original tour with the Neverland movie, the drawing session with an "animator" followed by the re-cap of Disney animated moments was MUCH better than any of the newer versions, with or without animators. I just thought you came out with a much greater appreciation of what animation was all about in the original version. And in case anyone didn't know, the Drawn to Animation and Animation Academy were added when the animators were still there. Its only the interactive part that is new. Either way, this is at least A LOT better than looking down into an empty studio room. I was hoping they would do all the fancy themeing of the DCA version, but it certainly isn't bad what they did. I'm just thankful they added some zing to the animation building. It was virtually worthless since the studio closed. One could even say they kept it looking more like a studio rather than "dressing" it all up (but that's really just an excuse). And yes, despite it being "neat" and novel to see real animators, I think closing the Florida studio was a smart move...ever since the mega-expansion of Disney animation after the success of The Lion King to include studios in Florida, France and Japan, Disney's movies have lost a lot of their quality and lure. Nobody can deny that. Hopefully with everyone under one roof again, just like it was when Walt was there, they can start turning out smash hits again.
Originally Posted By CTXRover Just to add one more thing...the closing of the animation studio was NOT something WDW, the resort, was in control of. If WDW really "dropped the ball", they would have did nothing and tried to "fake" their way through a tour of a closed studio like they did for a few months after its closure. I'm sure creating an animation attraction on par with DCA's was not in any WDW budget in the near future for two obvious reasons...the closure was rather unexpected less than a year ago now and second most of the allotted budget for this and next year are being poured into MANY new projects across WDW (Soarin', Motor stunt show, Stitch's Great Escape, Expedition Everest, re-do of IASW, reclaimation of 20,000 leagues, Master Blaster type attraction at Typhoon, major rehab of New york Street at MGM, complete re-do of Castle hub at MK for Cinderellabration, etc.) I too think they could have done better, but at least its better than NOTHING or just closing the attraction completely.
Originally Posted By Labuda "I too think they could have done better, but at least its better than NOTHING or just closing the attraction completely." Very true.
Originally Posted By Coop Just wondering about what happened to the theatres where the Neverland and feature animation clips were shown. Are there now no actualy movie presentations? Cris
Originally Posted By CTXRover ^^The first theater where Return to Neverland was shown changed over to "Drawn to Animation" where a supposed animator interacts with a video of Mushu that explains how animation is done and how characters evolve through the process. Its the same first theater as before in appearance, but no longer has just a movie screen at the front, but rather a small stage and two smaller video screens on either side (see pics in the update). I only saw it once about a year or so ago when it was first added to MGM's tour and I found it to be a subpar replacement for the previous Neverland explanation of animation, but I know Return to Neverland had some obvious dated scenes (especially when they were "outside" in the beginning) and needed to be updated. The last theater on the original tour where the clips of Disney features were shown was changed over to "The Animation Academy", where you learn to draw a Disney character, some time last year when the Mushu intro was added. I didn't enter the room then, so I don't know what it looks like now, but its safe to say it doesn't look like a theater anymore.
Originally Posted By gmaletic Isn't it a little absurd to have an animation attraction that covers an animation process that Disney no longer practices? Shouldn't there have been at least a part of the attraction devoted to the process of CG animation?
Originally Posted By WDW1974 <<The DCA animation building is full of charm and mood and environment. The WDW version is as bad as the Paris version. It comes of as an office building space devoid of emotion. - urgh>> Uhm ... but Dennis, that's what the MGM 'attraction' is. That's what happens when you build an $80 million state of the art facility that's chock full of artistic people creating magic, and then decide to shutter and lay everyone off. You try and make a magical attraction out of that. <<All who critize DCA should appreciate and embrace your animation building. It is a true gem.>> I don't see how any rational person could. The DCA attraction shows showcases Disney animation ... it's great ... well, except for the one screen in the lobby that hasn't worked right for the last four months or so.
Originally Posted By WDW1974 <<And yes, despite it being "neat" and novel to see real animators, I think closing the Florida studio was a smart move...ever since the mega-expansion of Disney animation after the success of The Lion King to include studios in Florida, France and Japan, Disney's movies have lost a lot of their quality and lure. Nobody can deny that. Hopefully with everyone under one roof again, just like it was when Walt was there, they can start turning out smash hits again. >> I think you're wrong. Quite wrong. I won't deny that Disney expanded its animation ranks too much. I won't argue that Disney has been turning out some wretched cheapquels that water down the originals. That said, Feature Animation Florida was extremely profitable. Every feature made there -- Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, Brother Bear -- was very successful. They will generate billions to the WDC for decades to come in everything from DVDs, to character merchandise to providing content for the parks to use in shows and attractions. And that's not even counting the other things FAF helped churn out, including parts of hugely successful films like Lion King, Tarzan and Roger Rabbitt shorts etc ... Disney literally spread the talent to the wind when it opted to close the studio. A stupid decision that will haunt them for years. Traditional animation isn't dead, even if Eisner has done everything possible to kill it over the past decade. A good movie is a good movie. Period.
Originally Posted By WDW1974 <<I too think they could have done better, but at least its better than NOTHING or just closing the attraction completely. >> A serious question here -- because I've been told the same thing in many different discussions, most having nothing at all to do with Disney -- but why is anything (even crap) better than nothing? And why are people so willing to accept mediocrity from companies that promise so much more?
Originally Posted By WDW1974 <<Isn't it a little absurd to have an animation attraction that covers an animation process that Disney no longer practices? Shouldn't there have been at least a part of the attraction devoted to the process of CG animation?>> What a GREAT point!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>ever since the mega-expansion of Disney animation after the success of The Lion King to include studios in Florida, France and Japan, Disney's movies have lost a lot of their quality and lure<< I don't share this feeling at all... You have to remember some well received work came out of the non-Hollywood studios...such as Lilo & Stitch, which was made in FL as far as I know, plus Mulan which had some of the animation work done here as well...so you can split the animantion studios into ten different studios and create the same qulaity of work, AS LONG AS..the animators were trained at Disney. I have to admit the 2nd rate job applied to Disney animation for direct to video and TV does leave a lot to be desired, and that is because of the rush to meet datelines. What the newer Disney films have lost is 1) storylines and focus 2) budget, and 3) Katzemberg. Period. But the art is still there. Although I wish they didn't use so much CGI.
