by Jim Korkis
Cocoa beans for the Ganachery are sourced from Brazil, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.
Imagineers created a fictitious history for Disney Springs and the buildings reflect the establishment and growth of the small town over the decades.
This particular building used to be the apothecary where residents of the Springs came for their medicinal needs. That explains the design of the vintage shelves and cubbyholes that were used to house various medicine bottles, boxes, and vials but now hold chocolate instead. The ceiling is covered with beautiful stamped metal tiles appropriate for the original time period.
The space was taken over by a South American couple who turned their love for the cocoa bean from which chocolate is made into a fantastic chocolate shop. Most cocoa beans come from South America, so the Imagineers wanted to layer in hints of a Latin American atmosphere to reflect the heritage of the founding owners, from the ceramic drawer pulls to background music that includes a South American rhythm.
Imagineer Theron Skees said:
We like to tell a story, because when guests arrive they want to feel like it’s a real place. It’s a fresh take on an old apothecary. Bottles, scales, and other props are inspired by drugstores of another era, and well-used copper pots add a layer of history. Be sure to check out the chandelier made from authentic copper pots and kettles used to make chocolate.
Walls are painted the color of chocolate, from dark brown to caramel. Photos on the wall are of the couple who opened the shop. The packaging design and all of the shop’s coloration are browns, caramel, cream, and ivory, inspired by all the colors of chocolate. The combination of design, costumes, graphics, props, and packaging combine seamlessly to tell the backstory.
Skees added:
The theming carries through, right down to the packaging. Traditional apothecary labels are ‘blocked’ with spaces for weights, measurements, and descriptions, so we were inspired by that idea and made it more modern for the elegant chocolate bars and chocolate boxes.
The clever tagline for the shop, “The Cure for Common Chocolate,” references both the original apothecary shop that might use the phrase “the cure for the common cold” and the current chocolate store.
Skees said:
This is where Old World meets New World. Our cast members will bring our story to life and make our guests feel part of it.
Disney Springs
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, a multi-sensory environment that combines groundbreaking technology, virtual reality, and the art of illusion, opened at the Marketplace section of Disney Springs on December 16, 2017.
The Disney Accelerator program that started in 2014 backs around ten companies every year by providing financial investment and a three-month mentorship program providing access to the Disney creative campus in Los Angeles.
In 2017, The Void was one of the companies selected. The Void is a location-based entertainment company that combines interactive sets, virtual reality, real-time effects, and state-of-the-art technology to bring guests into their experiences
The Void CEO Cliff Plumer said:
There’s a lot we’ve learned working closely with the Walt Disney Company. It’s not just what happens in the virtual world; it’s that whole journey that we’ve worked really hard on.
For the attraction, The Void also collaborated with Lucasfilm and ILMxLab, which is the collaboration between Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound that’s solely dedicated to creating “immersive experiences.”
Plumer feels that the attraction was truly a partnership with the Lucasfilm story team:
They spent time with us understanding our process and looking at how we go about creating our experiences, and they had a storyline in mind.
I wanted to be in the film industry the moment I saw the original Star Wars in 1977. I was fortunate enough to work with Lucasfilm on the original trilogy, and the second trilogy with George. I officially grew up with Star Wars, as did my kids. And this experience puts guests in that Star Wars universe making choices that have consequences so each experience is different.
The official description is that:
Under the orders of the budding rebellion, your team will travel to the molten planet of Mustafar. Your mission is to recover Imperial intelligence vital to the rebellion’s survival. Alongside the pragmatic droid K-2S0, your team must navigate through an enemy facility walking into danger at every turn. Disguised as stormtroopers, grab your blaster, solve puzzles, and fight giant lava monsters in an effort to fulfill your team’s orders.
This story, which takes place in the same era of the film Rogue One (2016), features three actors from that film: Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, and Sam Witwer as Athex.
Each group of four guests are now Rebel Alliance operatives tasked by Mon Mothma to go undercover disguised as stormtroopers. The experience includes firing weapons, teetering near the edge of disasters, facing off with the enemy, and coming virtual-face-to-virtual-face with familiar characters. All of this is complemented by visual and auditory stimulation as well as elemental effects, such as changes in temperature, smells, air blasts, and rumbling floors.
Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer of The Void, said:
Instead of just seeing a virtual world around you, you can feel it and touch it and interact with it. If you see heat you can feel it. If you see a chair to sit down on, you can actually sit down on the chair. The world isn’t just virtually imaginary around you. It’s there; it’s with you.
We designed this so that anybody can enjoy the experience and sort of know where they’re going and what they’re doing and why they’re there. But that being said, if you are a Star Wars fan, there’s definitely a lot here for you and a lot of really cool moments designed just for you, including the final climax.
Typhoon Lagoon
Miss Adventure Falls
Miss Adventure Falls opened at Typhoon Lagoon on March 12, 2017. Built on two acres near the pineapple fields of Crush’n’Gusher, the water rafting attraction was originally announced as Miss Fortune Falls. It was added to the water park to try to undercut the attention being given to Universal Orlando’s new Volcano Bay water attraction.
The fictitious Captain Mary Oceaneer, a treasure-hunting heroine who collects and protects deep-sea antiquities, got stranded with her pet parrot at Typhoon Lagoon years ago by a rogue storm.
On “treasure” rafts, Disney guests journey up past Mary’s wrecked ship, the M.S. Salty IV, which has a massive hole in the side hull revealing her talking pet parrot, an audio-animatronics figure who sings and talks at a telescope trying to keep track of the unique artifacts that were scattered when the ship crashed.
From there, it becomes a white-water adventure with twists, turns, and dips that also feature some of the treasures along the way that Mary and her parrot have gathered in their travels around the seven seas. With a ride time of two minutes, it is the lengthiest slide experience at any Disney water park.
Mary is part of a new on-going storyline at the Disney theme parks centered around the members of SEA (Society of Explorers and Adventurers) inspired by the affection for the former Adventurers Club that operated at Downtown Disney. Mary appears in a portrait of the SEA members in the queue of Tokyo DisneySea’s Mystic Manor.
Other prominent members of that fabled group include Harrison Hightower III, Lord Henry Mystic, Barnabas T. Bullion, Dr. Albert Falls, and Jason Chandler.
Captain Mary Oceaneer is the main character of the Oceaneer Labs on the Disney Cruise ships. Portraits of her and her parrot, Salty, show them to be treasure hunters, oceanographers, and deep-sea divers. In fact, her diving suit is on display.
Her backstory is that she and her parrot found treasure on and below Castaway Cay and established the first pirate party aboard the ship. For the new water park attraction, the parrot has been renamed Duncan.
The same storm that transformed Typhoon Lagoon
also beached her ship and left her stranded. The impact scattered her nautical treasures around the tropical paradise.
The entrance of the attraction is composed of items from the shipwreck, including a bird cage, a diving helmet, and a vintage adventurer’s magazine (“Under the Sea Quarterly: The Magazine by and for Divers—Special Edition”) with a cover painting of a smiling Mary. The article in that undated magazine is entitled “Treasures from the Deep. Meet Mary Oceaneer Collector & Protector of Deep Sea Antiquities.”
The queue is filled with items like unopened crates of S.E.A. artifacts, crackers for the captain’s parrot, and parrot-shaped footprints.
Also nearby is Mary’s diving bell with the SEA motto, “Exploration Continua,” and underneath Atlantean lettering first created for the Disney animated feature film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) that states “I come in peace.”
Burma Shave-style individual signs in the queue share the story:
Follow the adventures of Captain Mary Oceaneer aboard a family raft ride featuring rushing rapids, an enclosed slide flume, and treasures around every twist and turn. Captain Mary and her parrot… Dove for treasure hoping to share it… As they were hauling their treasures to port… A typhoon hit and cut their trip short. Bon Voyage.
A map is posted indicating where there are gold coins, pearls and gems, “shiney” objects, sandals, and crackers along the shores of Blustery Bay and Leaning Palms.
On the bookshelves of the Skipper Canteen restaurant in Adventureland is a copy of the book “Parrots as Pets” by Mary Oceaneer.
Disney Roads
Entrance Gateways
The concept for Walt Disney World was that guests would unexpectedly discover the resort so there was only minimal signage along the highways to build anticipation. The Ticket and Transportation Center was across a large body of water so that when guests finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom, they couldn’t see the parking lot or any other references to the real world.
Surrounding the Magic Kingdom were “infinity roads” that twisted and turned seemingly forever without any evidence of fencing, signage, or trimmed landscaping that would encourage drivers to turn around and go in the other direction.
By the time Michael Ovitz was hired as president in 1995 to take the role previously held by Frank Wells, park attendance had grown so large that this intriguing conceit was no longer effective. When Ovitz and his wife visited the Walt Disney World property, Judy Ovitz complained that she couldn’t tell where Disney property began.
Michael Ovitz approached CEO Michael Eisner with the complaint and as a gesture to show his willingness to work with the new president authorized the building of three gateways on the perimeter of Walt Disney World property.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were in April 1996 for three colorful gateways that would define when guests had arrived on WDW property. One gateway was planned for World Drive, another for Epcot Drive, and the final one at the beginning of Hotel Plaza Boulevard. Ovitz had suggested that they be decorated by huge iconic smiling figures of Mickey and Minnie because the primary audience was families with children.
Disney artist Don “Ducky” Williams told me:
Yes, that is my artwork of Mickey and Minnie, but I didn’t do it specifically for those entranceways. I did a lot of work of the Disney characters in poses that could be used on material and it was in the Disney Design Group files. Imagineering just took it which they often did and never told me and used it. That was not a problem. It was part of my job to do things like that.
The images of Donald and Goofy were done by Disney Design Group artist Darren Hunt.
The entranceways were officially completed in September of that year and were similar but with slight variations in size. Each gateway was thirty feet high with sixteen-foot-high characters and a purposely bright color palette of red, yellow, purple, and green to match already existing property signage.
Arches with colorful flags adorned the World Drive and Epcot Drive entrances, but no arch was placed on the one at Hotel Plaza Boulevard.
According to Hal McIntyre, vice president of WDI Planning and Infrastructure in 1996, the goal of the collaboration between Imagineering (designers of the gateways) and Walt Disney World was to “create a first class, high-quality image that marks the resort’s boundaries. The gateways’ message is simple: You have arrived at Walt Disney World!”
McIntyre pointed out that the idea of a prominent gateway to the property had continually been brought up over the years beginning as far back as 1988. At that time, gateways had been designed and were ready to move forward when for undisclosed reasons they were shelved at the last minute sometime in 1990.
Senior show designer Michale Warzocha emphasized that the gateways were meant to represent WDI’s “tribute to the WDW Resort front door.” He acknowledged the contribution and support of Ovitz to finally getting these gateways done.
Ovitz was let go in January 1997 after being vocal about his frustration with his interactions with Eisner and the vague definition of his authority.
Golf Courses
Winter Summerland
Senior show producer Ron Chesley said:
Because of the success of Fantasia Gardens, Walt Disney World Operations realized the potential of tapping into this new market and came to us with the idea of creating another miniature golf course.
With all of [creative director] Joe Lanzisero’s and [concept designer] Robert Coltrin’s experience from creating Fantasia Gardens, we could build ’em for the next twenty years!
In January 1998, the area next to Blizzard Beach was selected as the optimum location. This location influenced the direction of a storyline that tied into that unique water park where an unexpected snowstorm hit Florida and its effects remained for a period of time.
Senior concept writer and director Kevin Rafferty was brought in to develop a storyline that emphasized consistent and clever theming. After finishing his Christmas Eve rounds and on a flight path that would return him to the North Pole, Santa glanced down while over Florida and was surprised to see snow where it never had been.
Creative director Joe Lanzisero said:
Conceptually, the idea of Winter Summerland is a perfect marriage with Blizzard Beach. It’s got that whole screwy look of winter in Florida already going for it—that fish-out-of-water type thing that we Imagineers love to run with.
Rafferty, Lanzisero, Coltrin, and associate show producer Darrell Rodriguez spent four days together in a conference room in what Imagineers’ call a “mini-Blue Sky” retreat where ideas are shared without restriction.
Rodriguez said:
The way we worked together and built off of each other’s talents to create a holistic concept was amazing. Those four days were really a testament to how ideas gel at Imagineering as well as it all being a lot of fun. A lot of pizza was ordered, a lot of donuts consumed, and a lot of design was created.
The idea was to mirror the familiar sun and surf of Florida with the ice and snow of the North Pole. The bi-polar courses were built by Santa’s elves as a vacation destination for Santa when he wasn’t busy with Christmas.
The Winter Summerlodge serves as a sturdy and welcoming home built from logs for the Clauses and a summer toy shop was also built for workaholic elves and a beachfront barn for the playful reindeer.
Lanzisero said:
We wanted to create an integration between challenging play and really cool icons. We wanted to purposely increase the playability factor over what we had done in Fantasia Gardens. Plus, Santa apparently had some skiing and sunbathing mishaps which are evident in the course and hopefully will produce some giggles.
The Summer course features surfboards, sandcastles, and ornaments hanging from palm trees. The Snow course is a little easier with gravity helping younger golfers get the ball in the hole.
The logo for the course is a smiling surfing Santa with a camera hanging around his neck. The elves even built a statue of that image for guests to join in a photo op
portunity.
Golf Courses
Fantasia Gardens
Located near the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin hotels, Fantasia Gardens was meant to appeal to both families and conventioneers who were visiting those resorts, but it turned out to attract a much wider WDW audience.
Walt Disney World Operations had predicted roughly 400–600 plays per day for the miniature golf course, but during the first week alone, it averaged 800—950 plays per day.
Several concepts were explored for the quiet, beautifully landscaped area including one that would depict the many adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Another proposal would have been influenced by the Storybook Land attraction at Disneyland with miniatures that featured examples of architecture from classic Disney animated films like Snow White and Pinocchio.
In addition, there was a pitch for the course to be themed to Roger Rabbit with the wackiness of Toontown represented at each hole. However, CEO Michael Eisner decreed that using the popular cartoon character and his world was no longer an option for Disney projects.
So, it was decided that the animated feature Fantasia (1940) offered not only many different options for each hole but also the films 55th anniversary in 1995 helped bring it to everyone’s attention. In addition, while there had been many discussed possibilities of using the film for a park attraction over the decades, none had developed.
Concept designer Robert Coltrin, who also wrote the clever verse for each hole, explained:
Since you can’t cycle people through quickly, most companies won’t invest a lot into miniature golf courses.
So we were very lucky to have the flexibility to make this a better-looking course than might normally be found. It was a small budget related to other typical WDI-developed attractions, but by comparison to other miniature golf courses, it was a king’s ransom.