Recently, I took a trip to Sarasota to visit with a buddy of mine from college. It was great to catch up with him and hear about what he has been doing in his career as an artist. He often took trips to visit me back when I worked at Disney.
During one visit back in 2009, he brought a video camera and recorded some of my shows at the Magic of Disney Animation. Unfortunately, the videos were shot on 8mm tape and he did not have a way to convert it to digital so they sat in his storage unit for 10 years…
I am so very grateful because after all this time, he decided to dig them out of storage and get them converted by a local video company! Seeing myself back then opened up a flood gate of memories. It was a very fun time in my life and I enjoyed working at this attraction so much.
The Magic of Disney Animation
The Magic of Disney Animation attraction at The Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) used to be a real working animation studio. Originally, the Animators here only worked on small portions of the Walt Disney Feature Animation films (which were primarily produced at the main studio in California) and also created several cartoon shorts. They produced all three “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” shorts in the late 80’s/early 90’s, worked on a few scenes here and there during the “Disney Renaissance” (starting with The Little Mermaid), and eventually permitted to create their own feature film length movies. Three full movies were produced entirely in Florida, starting with Mulan. Lilo & Stitch came next, and they ended with Brother Bear. When the production of Brother Bear was complete, Disney made the decision to close the Florida studio in 2003 and they moved all production back to California in favor of moving in the direction of 3D computer animated films over hand-drawn animation.
The animation attraction originally featured a short film hosted by Robin Williams before giving guests the opportunity to walk through the building and see the animators hard at work. Since there were no animators now, they had to close the attraction and re-tool it to be more of an experience and less of a tour.
During my 11-year career as a Disney Cast Member, I spent 5 years at The Magic of Disney Animation. Prior to that, I was an artist at DisneyQuest. Ironically, the Eyes & Ears Cast Member magazine announcing the opening of the new animation tour also featured me in an article at Disney Quest!
Drawn to Animation with Mushu
In the newly re-tooled version of the animation attraction, theme park guests learn how Disney characters are created in a 15-minute show called “Drawn to Animation.” During the presentation, the host chooses a Disney character (Mushu the dragon from Mulan) to demonstrate the process. Mushu literally comes to life right in front of the audience and starts interacting with the live person on stage. It was a cute show and I always enjoyed performing it. Below is the taping from one of my “Drawn to Animation” shows.
When the show ended, you entered an area called the “Animation Station.” Here, you would see concept art and meet the characters from the latest Disney and Pixar feature films. It was also the home of meet-and-greets with Sorcerer Mickey Mouse and The Incredibles. In addition to characters, there were several interactive games: you could digitally color a character, record your voice to classic Disney film clips, and find out which Disney character you were most like. The real star of the whole experience however, was the Animation Academy, where you could learn to draw a Disney character step-by-step with the help of a Disney Artist.
Animation Academy Drawing Class
Often revered as one of Walt Disney World’s “best-kept” secrets, the Animation Academy drawing class was the shining gem of the revamped animation tour attraction. There were classes every thirty minutes from park open to park close. Initially, there were only eight characters you could learn to draw: Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Stitch. As the years went on, we started teaching more and more characters, many from the latest Disney films. My favorites to teach were always the classic Disney characters, but I would throw in a new one every so often, just to mix things up!
Below are two of my drawing classes. The first one features Mickey Mouse and the second features Donald Duck:
When the drawing class was over the guests kept their drawings as a souvenir. Then they would exit through the gift shop (in typical Disney fashion) but not before walking through an art gallery of classic Disney animation art, including art from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, and more.
In 2015, The Magic of Disney Animation closed permanently, as the now-Disney’s Hollywood Studios park was undergoing a major overhaul. The park was originally conceived as a real-working film studio, however it had evolved into solely a theme park based around movies. The acquisition of LucasFilm and the Star Wars franchise had Disney eyeing the park for areas they could create new Star Wars-themed attractions in and unfortunately, the Animation Tour building was prime real estate, particularly in a park that did not have much to start. In addition to closing the Backlot Studio Tour, the Animation Tour also closed to make way for new Star Wars-themed attractions. Although I had moved on in my career by that point, I was able to be there on the final day of the attraction to say goodbye to Mushu and fellow artists.
It’s ultimately a sad tale to tell the story of the attraction and how it evolved over the years. It was my dream job to work there when I visited it as a child and saw the show with Robin Williams and animators working. I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to make my dream reality, even if the attraction had evolved into a very different experience.
Many of the talented Disney artists that I worked with are now teaching a new drawing class called “The Animation Experience” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s a slightly different take on the Animation Academy drawing class idea, where you learn to draw wild animals from Disney films like The Lion King and The Jungle Book. It’s nice to know that they are still keeping the dream alive, albeit in a slightly different way!
I left Disney in 2011 to further pursue my career as an artist. I moved to Tampa in 2012 and started on a new career path, now working as the Art Director for Wacky World Studios.
I’ll always look back fondly on my time working at Disney and now I have these videos to help me remember.
Schmitty out.