Forever Magical
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Seminar Day Two: July 20th - Disneyland Maps

Sam McKim

The following afternoon we were treated to the story of Disneyland Maps through the stories of Sam McKim, Nina Rae Vaughn and Terri Hardin. Sam McKim began his presentation by reminding us that maps tell us where we have been and where we are going. He learned about maps while in the military. Sam explained the first Disneyland map was done was by Herb Ryman over the legendary weekend he spent with Walt before Roy and Dick Irvine had to talk with the investors to get the $8.5 million loan. Ryman’s map sold them…the pictures, the castle the trains. Words can only go so far. Ryman, or "Herbie" as his friends called him, shared an office with Sam for awhile at the studio. After the park had been open for a bit they began to toss around the idea of doing a map as souvenir. But Ryman said it was involved with too much detail so he declined the project and so they gave it to Sam. Sam took the project home and worked on it after hours. After a couple of months they reviewed it and had him work on it in the office instead of home and he was able to complete it. Initially the maps were sold rolled for framing.

Many years later Marty Sklar and Tony Baxter asked Sam to do a souvenir map for Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris). Sam had to do some guesswork as the attractions were not quite completed when he drew the map but he expressed pleasure in his completed project. Sam hid his initials in the first Disneyland map he created but for the Disneyland Paris map he put his whole name in the leaves and also added "SM" in the upper left area just in case the other was spotted and removed. In the original map his initials appear near the banner. Sam also worked on the pirate map which comprised the end pages for the Walt Disney World Pirates souvenir book and was featured again at Disneyland’s recent Pirates of the Caribbean event. He also drew a map for a special Treasure Island event they were going to have at Walt Disney World.

Nina Rae Vaughn

The next speaker was Nina Rae Vaughn who is an art director, concept illustration for Walt Disney Imagineering. She began her career at WDI in 1981 as a special effects designer and has worked on animated fountains worldwide. Nina expressed what an honor she felt it was to do the map. Sam taught her at Art Center and she selected his classes for all her electives and had no idea he worked for Disney. She was pleasantly surprised when she was hired at Disney and found Sam there. She explained that maps cost a lot of money and time and therefore do not have large profit margin. Tony Baxter with spearheading the 40th anniversary map project. In creating it she used Sam’s 2nd map (that had the Matterhorn) as a base. She continued Sam’s pattern of hiding the back of warehouses and just showing the magic. Her research even led her to Bill Evans to determine the correct trees and their placement. He specifically directed her on five trees, their special meaning and location. It was originally budged eight weeks with four weeks to paint. However in the middle of doing the map the Skyway was removed and for legal reasons she had to remove Winnie the Pooh walk-around characters. She scratched out the line all the way across the map but she left a sky bucket.