Disney Press recently announced plans for a series of picture books called Camp Mickey & Minnie, and Disney Vacation Club Members were among the first to experience the first entry in the series aboard this year’s DVC Member Cruise. The upcoming picture book was transformed into a live radio play reading of the first story, Camp Mickey & Minnie: One Wild Summer, coming to bookstores on June 18th. It just so happened that the author and illustrator were among the special guests aboard this Mediterranean sailing on the Disney Dream.
Written by Ryan March (editor of the DVC magazine Disney Files and Senior Creative Content Manager for Disney Vacation Club) and illustrated by Bret Iwan (artist and current voice of Mickey Mouse), the presentation began with an anecdote about the storybook’s origin. It was over dinner on a previous Member Cruise that Ryan and Bret first began to talk about collaborating on a Mickey Mouse project. With so much of today’s Mickey Mouse content being aimed at a preschool audience, they wanted to create something that would appeal to kids between the ages of 6 and 11. They also knew that whatever they did, they wanted to spark conversations between kids and parents with every story they told.
Around the same time, Bret Iwan was busy creating a series of screen prints for Disney Fine Art that combined two of his passions, Mickey Mouse and the National Parks. Done in the style of 1930s WPA posters, Ryan March collected the entire series, and it soon became clear what their books should be about. Bret and Ryan are both fans of camping and outdoor recreation, so it seemed like a natural setting for Mickey and his pals to tell stories about the environment. The Camp Mickey & Minnie series follows the characters as they open and operate a summer camp.
In One Wild Summer, Goofy is in charge of the Art of Water Sports club. He’s concerned that the abundance of frogs in the lake will impact his activities, so he comes up with a plan to scare the frogs away. But without the frogs, the natural balance of Camp Mickey & Minnie is thrown off, creating even bigger problems. Will Goofy be able to make things right before the campers arrive?
For DVC Members, Ryan and Bret turned Camp Mickey & Minnie: One Wild Summer into a live radio play, with Ryan taking the role of the narrator and Bret voicing Mickey Mouse. They were joined by Kaitlyn Robrock as Minnie Mouse and Disney Legend Bill Farmer as Goofy, who also donned a visual aid in the form of an owl costume that Goofy wears in the story. Two participants from the audience were recruited to voice Donald and Daisy Duck, with a third adding foley sound effects. There weren’t many kids on board the sailing, so the radio play version of the story was a fun way for adults to experience Ryan and Bret’s creation, with Bret’s artwork displayed on monitors thoughout D Lounge.
As mentioned, Camp Mickey & Minnie: One Wild Summer doesn’t hit shelves until June 18th, but a small number of signed copies were available to purchase on board the ship, which quickly sold out. Bret Iwan is the first voice of Mickey Mouse to also professionally draw the character since Walt Disney himself, and while his work has been available to art collectors through Disney Fine Art, this project marks the first time he has illustrated a picture book.
Click here to pre-order your copy of Camp Mickey & Minnie: One Wild Summer.
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