A Funny Story on Animated Classics from WDW

[AwallaceUNC]

I meant to share this story w/ UD, but forgot until now. I was at the Disney-MGM Studios a few weeks ago, and my family split up for about one hour to each do something we wanted to. My grandmother and I headed to the Magic of Disney Animation Tour.

As for the tour itself, I'll say this: now that the Orlando animators have been fired, they shouldn't even bother paying anyone to run this "tour" (by tour, they mean brief film segment and a guy who talks for about 5 minutes). If you're going soon- don't waste your time until they do something to spruce it up.

Anyways, that's not where the story lies. All the guests are ushered into a big room where they can sit and stand- there were probably 40 or 50 people there, a good mix of adults and kids, with a few teens in the mix. The first question the guide enthusiastically asked the crowd was, "Anybody here seen HOME ON THE RANGE??" 2 hands went up- mine and my grandmother's. Unfortunately, we were behind the guide in a corner and couldn't be seen. The rest of the room sat in silence. I felt a little bad for the guide.

He moved on, though, hoping the next question would get a response. "Ok, well it's still in some theaters now. But I'm sure we've got some BROTHER BEAR fans here! Eh??" I thought about raising my hand- I really did feel bad for him. But I couldn't be seen anyways, so I thought I'd let the point be made for itself. There were no hands raised. Nothing but silence. And if you're the guide- it was awkward silence.

"Oooook, then, well," he said, "I'm sure some of you have at least seen MULAN!" Finally, he gets a break. Of the 40 or 50 people in the room, maybe around 20 hands went up, and a few (very few) cheers from little kids. This at least got a relieved smile out of the guide. "Well, all three of them were animated right here in this building!"

That's pretty much the extent of the tour. 3 questions and a little thirty second spill. The majority of the time is occupied by instructions for entering and exiting, and by people wondering why they are touring a hallway filled with boxed-up windows (the resting ground of animators once at work). The only cool thing about the tour is being in the building where they were drawn- but then I don't think it was all done in that particular building, as there are other studios (animation studios among them, I think) in the backlot.

I couldn't help but smirk at the idea of Michael Eisner being in the room and what his reaction might be. More than anything, though, it's just sad. From the tour to the audience's reception of the movies, it's just... sad.

Just thought I'd share.

-Aaron

[Luke]

Your story intrigues me. It is both amusing and sad.

And as disappointing as it sounds, I'd still like to take this fabled tour someday, if possible.

[Disneykid]

Wow, that's pathetic, though it doesn't surprise me. At my school we do a movie on the lawn thing once a month where we show a family film using a projector on the school wall and different groups like student council and the PTF sell popcorn, pizza, and candy. Well, when we were deciding on a film for March, I suggested Brother Bear and was met with blank stares and a "What's that?" The saddest part about this, though, is that my friends are huge Disney fans and they had never even heard of Brother Bear prior to that point (though it ended happily; we showed BB at the movie on the lawn and everyone liked it).

[AwallaceUNC]

I've had much of the same reaction for Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, and Home on the Range from many people. That film on the lawn thing is awesome, I wish we could've done that in HS (but then, we had a thousand more students than yours, lol). We get to do it at our dorms, though, so it's all good. No Disney movies being shown there as of yet, lol.

-Aaron

[PatrickvD]

sad story... saw Home On The Range today and I sincerely loved it... I loved the animation and the songs, even the story. But it definitely felt like it never reached its potential... the yodeling sequence was definitely close to disney quality as seen in the nineties. However, Disney brought it on themselves. If they dont care about their movies, then the audience wont either. Thats why I feel the DTV movies are succesful, disney promotes them with enthusiasm.

I was their last year when the hard working people had no idea they would be looking for a new job at the end of the year... I think sad is an understatement

[Uncle Remus]

thats a good story Aaron. sad to hear that most people don't know about the recent Disney animated movies like Brother Bear and Home on the Range.
makes me very sad that people could ignore such good movies

[AwallaceUNC]

Yeah, maybe the word "funny" in the title is a little misleading. But like Luke, I was both amused and saddened.

-Aaron

[toonaspie]

Treasure Planet, Home on the Range, and Brother Bear have one thing in common though, they were all released no where near the usual summer season (June was the month of Disney ya know) That maybe why so few people know of these films

I was actually in Disney World when I got to see a behind the scenes look at the making of Mulan

[DreamerQ18]

sad story... saw Home On The Range today and I sincerely loved it... I loved the animation and the songs, even the story. But it definitely felt like it never reached its potential... the yodeling sequence was definitely close to disney quality as seen in the nineties. However, Disney brought it on themselves. If they dont care about their movies, then the audience wont either. Thats why I feel the DTV movies are succesful, disney promotes them with enthusiasm.

I was their last year when the hard working people had no idea they would be looking for a new job at the end of the year... I think sad is an understatement

Wow it is really sad that most people dont know about the new Disney movies as well as the others. And I agree the last few movies that were relased had a lot of Potential to be great movies. And I agree the movies have not been receving the same amount of promtion as they should. In the 1990s the movies had great trailers and a great deal of promotion combined with other companies. Its not fair to say that movies such as treasuer Planet, Brother Bear, and Home on the Range movie because Lilo and Stitch did so well. But look as the great trailers it had i even recall a special on ABC on the movie. And it did great I agree there needs to be or should have been more enthusiasm. But thats just my opinion.

[Prince Adam]

I remember going to the Art of Animation tour, and we saw them doing work on Hercules. There were actually quite a few people who were told to put their cameras away or they'd be escorted out. Don't know why they didn't listen to the rules.

[Christian]

Brother Bear and Treasure Planet are fine films but it is hard to be fanatical about them.

[AwallaceUNC]

I disagree. Treasure Planet is in the upper echelon of Disney films, imo, and therefore quite easy to be fanatical over. I agree with you on Brother Bear, though.

-Aaron

[Christian]

My statement is not so much a value judgment over each of the films as much as it is to say that I can kind of see why they got the response that they did from the guy leading the tour. Ugh . . . it's hard to explain. For example, I thought "Whale Rider" was a great film and I can just pop it in the ol' DVD player and watch it any time without getting bored. But I like it in a different way than I like The Lion King, which I have a bunch of different merchandise of (not nearly as much as some people though) as well as three different websites devoted to it. It's just a different type of admiration for each.

[AwallaceUNC]

Right, I get what you are saying. So much of that is due to marketing that it's understandable that undermarketed films don't get that same admiration. I got the feeling that these people had never even heard of these movies, though, let alone seen them.

(Just a note: Treasure Planet was not one of the ones mentioned, as I don't think it was done in FL).

-Aaron

[Christian]

Yeah, I'm just speaking in broad, sweeping generalizations here.

[Kram Nebuer]

Sorry for bringing up this kind of old topic again, but the title caught my eye. That is probably the worst job to have at WDW! Touring an empty building! Do you mean they don't show that funny film with Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite anymore? That was a great film! Didn't the tour guide mention Lilo and Stitch? That could've definitely boosted up his morale! lol.

We went last year and saw an animator draw Koda. It was funny because while the main group went to the next room a small group of about 6 or 7 of us all were thinking the same thing and headed to the animator. Unfortunately, when someone asked to keep the picture, the animator said they weren't allowed to give it out and had to keep it for archives or something. I also remember a film in that hallway you are talking about, Aaron, with a montage of clips from almost every Disney Animatead Feature. I think the only one they neglected to show was The Black Cauldron.

[AwallaceUNC]

The Robin Williams/Walter Conchrite film has been replaced by a brief film starring Mushu, that interacts with a host when you enter the room. It's amusing, but not worth anyone's time, really. That montage film sounds cool, but it wasn't there.

-Aaron

[Escapay]

We've only seen the animation tour twice, once in 1991, and again in 2003, and the only thing I remember from 1991 was the Robin Williams/Walter Cronkite movie, which at the time wasn't as dated as it is now (if they still show it). It's really sad that people are paying Disney to get into a park and look around at an empty building (save for a couple films and pictures on a wall). Even more sad that Disney didn't have faith in their Florida studios that they couldn't keep it running just for the sake of touring.

What are the open studios again? Just the one in California and the one in Australia?

Escapay

[Escapay]

The Robin Williams/Walter Conchrite film has been replaced by a brief film starring Mushu, that interacts with a host when you enter the room. It's amusing, but not worth anyone's time, really. That montage film sounds cool, but it wasn't there.

-Aaron

Guess they cut out that montage film. IIRC, it was about 10ish minutes, featuring almost all the Animated Classics (except of course for The Black Cauldron, which I was a little miffed about, it's one of my favorites). It showed different types of scenes, and the one that stands out the most would have to be the "sad" segment of the montage, showing things like Dumbo's mother in jail, Bambi not finding his mother, Belle crying over Beast, etc.

And they replaced Robin Williams/Walter Cronkite with MUSHU??? The annoying lizard? Well...on the bright side, it's from an AC drawn in Florida.

What I'd like to see is the host fumble his/her lines with the "interactive" Mushu. Or intentionally make them dirty, like:

Host: Mushu, I must say, you made a wonderful belly dancer at Eisner's keg party last night!
Mushu: Why, thank you!

Escapay

[2099net]

What are the open studios again? Just the one in California and the one in Australia?

It depends on what you call studios. A lot of the Disney TV animation is sub-contracted out. I would guess to companies in South Korea, India and China.