On Friday afternoon this past weekend during D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, we attended the “Bringing the Worlds of Disney Animation to Life in Disney Parks” panel on the Premiere Stage at the Anaheim Convention Center, and below is my recap of this informative presentation.
The moderator for this discussion was Jeanette Lomboy from Walt Disney Imagineering, and the Imagineer panelists included Daniel Jue, Charita Carter, Emily “Emo” O’Brien, Dustin Schofield, Roger Gould, and Michel den Dulk.
The presentation began with Roger Gould talking about the legacy of Walt Disney Imagineering, and then den Dulk going over World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland.
WDI created an all-new version of Frozen Ever After for the Hong Kong resort, along with the Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs attraction.
Next they moved on to Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland. “You might get a word in with Flash, if you’re lucky,” said Schofield.
The Imagineers went through the attractions in Zootopia, then turned to Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea.
Again we got a tour of the attractions in Fantasy Springs, then visited Rapunzel’s Forest and the Snuggly Duckling.
We also learned about Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival.
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is another breathtaking attraction in Fantasy Springs’ Frozen Kingdom area.
Then it was time to hear about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort. Charita Carter mentioned an Easter Egg nodding to animator Eric Goldberg in the attraction’s queue.
Carter showed more images of characters and details from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and then we heard about story development for Zootopia: Hot Pursuit.
The Imagineers talked about the challenges of bringing animation to real-life, fleshed-out experiences in theme parks around the world.
Imagineers also sometimes take research trips for their projects, much like animators do.
For example, they visited Norway as research for Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs. And St. Olaf’s church in Norway was used as inspiration for both the Frozen movie and for the lands in the theme parks. Carter got to experience Mardis Gras in New Orleans as research for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
We also heard about working with film talent like Josh Gad (voice of Olaf the snowman) and Japanese voice actors to develop Frozen theme park attractions.
We were introduced to more voice actors who were brought in for Disney Parks attractions, and saw original animation that was also created for the parks.
There was new animation created for the Zootopia: Hot Pursuit attraction.
The Imagineers talked about creating audio-animatronic figures based on characters from animation. The Gazelle animatronic from Zootopia: Hot Pursuit looks especially amazing! And voice actress Jennifer Lewis got to meet the Mama Odie animatronic for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
“It’s always really special to share opening day with our team members,” said Daniel Jue. Director Jared Bush got to visit the Zootopia land in Shanghai, and Carter was excited that The Princess and the Frog voice cast rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
For much more coverage from D23 2024, be sure to check right back here at Laughing Place.